Looking (More Closely) at Arms Racing

Erik Gartzke is currently serving as Scholar-in-Residence at USCYBERCOM. Join us on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET.

For more information visit the event website.

Register here

Dr. Erik Gartzke is Professor of Political Science and founding Director of the Center for Peace and
Security Studies (cPASS) at the University of California, San Diego, where he has been a faculty
member since 2007. Previous academic postings include Columbia University (2000 to 2007)
and the Pennsylvania State University (1997 to 2000). He has also held temporary positions at
the Australian Defense College, the Naval Postgraduate School, University of Essex, U.C. Santa
Barbara, the Ecole des Affaires Internationales (Sciences Po) and Dartmouth College. Dr.
Gartzke received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Iowa in 1997. He is also a
U.S. military veteran (Commissioned Infantry Reserve, Enlisted Combat Engineer).

Professor Gartzke’s research focuses on war, peace and international institutions. His scholarly
interests include deterrence, democratization, nuclear security, the liberal peace, information and
war, cyberwar, alliances, arms racing and the evolving technological nature of interstate conflict.
He has written on the effects of global commerce, development, system structure and climate
change on war. Recent studies include the role of technological change and military automation
on patterns of interstate conflict, geography/seasonality and disputes, cross/multi-domain
deterrence and research contributing to the intellectual foundations of cyber conflict.

Professor Gartzke is among the most widely cited scholars of his generation in the study of world
affairs. He is the most cited researcher in the topic “war and peace studies,”
and the twelfth most cited researcher in “international security”). Dr. Gartzke has served as
“primary investigator” on dozens of grants totaling over $15 million dollars in funding. He has
published over one hundred books, articles and chapters. Professor Gartzke’s scholarship has
appeared in most of the top journals of his discipline and field: American Political Science
Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science,
International Organization, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal
of Conflict Resolution, the Journal of Politics, Security Studies, World Politics, and elsewhere.
His latest book, co-authored with Dr. Jon R. Lindsay, is titled Elements of Deterrence: Strategy,
Technology, and Complexity in Global Politics, published in 2024 by Oxford University Press.