Kugler is one of the founders of Power Transition Theory in International Relations Theory. His work on economic consequences of war, long term power transitions and political performance of nations have been widely debated within the field of international relations. He is a student of A.F.K Organski.
He is currently the Elisabeth Helm Rosecrans Professor of International Relations and Political Economy in the Department of International Studies, School of Politics and Economics.[1] Kugler is former Fulbright scholar and research fellow[2] at the Nobel Peace Prize Institute.[3] He was President of International Studies Association (2004-5) and Peace Science Society (1995-6). He was also editor of International Interactions, and editor for special issue of Journal of Conflict Resolution and International Studies Review. He is also a founding member of the TransResearch Consortium.
Kugler is an expert on war, peace, deterrence, power transition theory, formaldecision making, political economy, economic development, and political demography. Through extensive publications on the causes and consequences of war, he has forged a reputation for innovative formal modeling and empirical analysis. His extensions of the theory of power transition explain the initiation of World War I and II and account for peaceful relations among major powers during the Cold War. Professor Kugler is pioneering a new perspective on world politics that logically and empirically challenges well-established formulations of the realist school. His formal work on policy advances agent based models that can anticipate the outcome of complex negotiations and provides systematic aid to policy makers involved in day-to-day decisions.[6]
Power Transitions: Strategies for the 21st Century (with A.F.K. Organski, Ronald L. Tammen, Douglas Lemke, Carole Alsharabati, Brian Efird), CSQ press, 2000.
Birth, Death and Taxes: Political and Demographic Transition (with A.F.K. Organski, T. Johnson, and Y. Cohen), The University of Chicago Press, 1984.
The War Ledger (with A. F. K. Organski), The University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Foundations of Power Transition Theory (with Tammen, Ronald, Jacek Kugler and Douglas Lemke), Oxford Encyclopedia of Empirical Relations theory, William Thompson, Editor, 2017.
The Asian Ascent, International Studies Perspectives, 2006, 7, 36–42.
ISA Student Paper Award
Jacek Kugler Political Demography and Geography Student Paper Award was established in 2014 to recognize the best paper with a political demography and geography theme presented at the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention. Graduate students presenting at ISA are allowed to apply for the award which is screened by a committee that conduct a blind review of all nominated papers and is responsible for choosing the winner and two runners-up for the award.[7]