The MacArthur Foundation Workshop on case study methods, to be held at the Center for Science and International Affairs (CSIA) at Harvard University on October 17–19, 1997, will focus on improving both case study research methods and their application to specific topics in international peace and security research. The first half of the workshop will critique draft chapters of a book by Alexander George and Andrew Bennett on case study methods, forthcoming with the CSIA–MIT Press series on international affairs in 1998. Preliminary drafts of some of these chapters were presented at the International Studies Association Conference in Toronto in March 1997 and are available through Columbia Online, and updated drafts and additional papers will be available through Columbia Online after the workshop.

The second half of the workshop will critique case study research designs on specific topics in international peace and security, including civil wars (Mike Brown, Harvard, Chaim Kaufmann, Lehigh, And Roy Licklider and Pierre Atlas, Rutgers), authoritarian structures and international aggression (Stuart Gottlieb, Brown), national security panics (Jane Kellett Cramer, MIT), policy choices in limited wars (Brent Sterling, Georgetown), and emulation and diffusion of military practices (Colin Elman, Arizona State). Pending approval by these authors, these research designs will be made available through Columbia Online.