Robert A. Pape

Robert A. Pape is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago specializing in international security affairs. His most recent book Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It (University of Chicago Press 2010. His other publications include, is DYING TO WIN: THE STRATEGIC LOGIC OF SUICIDE TERRORISM (Random House June 2005), also published in Great Britain, Australia, India and Spain and in paperback (July 2006), BOMBING TO WIN: AIR POWER AND COERCION IN WAR (Cornell 1996), and numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as "Why Economic Sanctions Do Not Work," INTERNATIONAL SECURITY (1997), "The Determinants of International Moral Action," INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION (1999), AThe Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW (August 2003), The True Worth of Air Power, FOREIGN AFFAIRS (March/April 2004), “Soft Balancing against the United States,” INTERNATIONAL SECURITY (Summer 2005), and “Empire Falls,” THE NATIONAL INTEREST (January 2009).

His commentary on international security policy has appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, NEW REPUBLIC, BOSTON GLOBE, LOS ANGELES TIMES, and BULLETIN OF ATOMIC SCIENTISTS as well as on THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER, NIGHTLINE, ABC NEWS, CNN’S WOLF BLITZER, ANDERSON COOPER and LOU DOBBS, FOX’s JOHN GIPSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL, and NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.

In recent years, he has spoken to numerous universities (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, University of Southern California, Northwestern, Ohio State, Tufts, and others), many political and government agencies (Capitol Hill - 4 times, Office of Secretary of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, FBI Counter-Terrorism, CIA, DIA, National Counter-Terrorism Center, other intelligence agencies, Army War College, Special Operations Command, Headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Division, Us Air Force Association, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Australian Parliament, the Australian Defence Department, the International Atomic Energy Association, and others) and many policy, journalist and community groups (National Press Club, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Carnegie Endowment for Peace, New York, Washington, and Chicago Councils of Foreign Affairs and others).

Before coming to Chicago in 1999, he taught international relations at Dartmouth College for five years and air power strategy for the USAF's School of Advanced Airpower Studies for three years. He received his Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in 1988 and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982. His current work focuses on American grand strategy, causes and solutions to suicide terrorism, the logic of soft balancing in a unipolar world, and the limits and advantages of precision air power.