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This is a research seminar organized around key ongoing debates in international relations, such as the role of institutions, audience costs, leaders, bargaining, reputation, interdependence, and ideas. The course will emphasize critical engagement of the empirical evidence presented in favor of theoretical arguments, encouraging students to devise rigorous new ways to test their observable implications. Can bargaining theory help us understand the outbreak, as well as the termination of, international conflict? Has growing economic integration among states changed the nature of military conflict? Are certain economic interest groups more prone to support military expansion than others? Do democratic institutions enable states to better signal their resolve to adversaries? By the end of the course, students will be able to recognize, engage, and develop their own taste for theoretical arguments, as well as present the most compelling empirical evidence for or against them. Note: successful completion of this course fulfills the capstone requirement for second-year MAIR students. <a href="https://livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/SAISInsider2/SitePages/DC-Capstones,-Professional-Skills-Courses.aspx" target="_blank">Click here for Capstone course application information</a>