Joshua Schwartz
Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology
- Posner Hall 370
- 412-268-2451
Bio
Joshua A. Schwartz is an Assistant Professor in the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology (CMIST). His research focuses on questions related to the effectiveness of military force and technology, public and policymaker support for the use of force and technology, and the spread of military technology around the world. Dr. Schwartz has written widely on topics such as the global proliferation of armed drones and their counter-terrorism effectiveness, public and policymaker support for the use of weapons of mass destruction, the role of gender stereotypes in international politics, whether countries should go to war to bolster their reputations for resolve, the nexus between domestic political polarization and foreign policy, and even the lessons that can be learned from dragon power in Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. His academic work has been published in top peer-reviewed journals like International Organization and International Security, as well as in prominent policy outlets like Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, Lawfare, and War on the Rocks.
Before joining CMU, Dr. Schwartz received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and his BA in Economics and Political Science from the George Washington University. He was also a Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Predoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, a Grand Strategy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Hans J. Morgenthau fellow at the University of Notre Dame, and a Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Emerging Scholar.
CMIST Course Offerings
- 84-274/84-674 An Introduction to Technology and War
- 84-280 Popcorn and Politics: American Foreign Policy at the Movies
- 84-387/84-687 Remote Systems and the Cyber Domain in Conflict
Publications
“Us and Them: Foreign Threat and Domestic Polarization.” 2025. Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 69, No. 2-3, pp. 352-380 (with Dominic Tierney).
“To Compete or Strategically Retreat? The Global Diffusion of Reconnaissance Strike.” 2025. Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 847-862 (with Michael C. Horowitz).
"Popcorn and Politics: A Course on American Foreign Policy and Film." 2025. Journal of Political Science Education.
“When Foreign Countries Push The Button.” 2024. International Security, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 47-86.
“Fossil Fuel Divestment and Public Climate Change Policy Preferences: An Experimental Test in Three Countries.” 2024. Environmenta
“Dracarys: Unleashing the Lessons of Nuclear Conflict from House of the Dragon.” 2024. Journal of Political Science Education.
“The Gendered Peace Premium.” 2023. International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 67, No. 4 (with Christopher W. Blair).
- Winner of the 2022 APSA Presidents and Executive Politics Section David Naveh Founders Award for Best Graduate Student Paper
“Madman or Mad Genius? The International Benefits and Domestic Costs of the Madman Strategy.” 2023. Security Studies, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 271-305.
“Do Armed Drones Counter Terrorism, Or Are They Counterproductive? Evidence from Eighteen Countries.” 2022. International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 3 (with Matthew Fuhrmann and Michael C. Horowitz).
“The Two Faces of Opposition to Chemical Weapons: Sincere Versus Insincere Norm-Holders.” 2022. Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 66, No. 4-5, pp. 677-702 (with Christopher W. Blair and Jonathan A. Chu).
“Who’s Prone to Drone? A Global Time-Series Analysis of Armed Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Proliferation.” 2022. Conflict Management and Peace Science, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 119-142 (with Michael C. Horowitz and Matthew Fuhrmann).
“Do Women Make More Credible Threats? Gender Stereotypes, Audience Costs, and Crisis Bargaining.” 2020. International Organization, Vol. 74, No. 4, pp. 872-895 (with Christopher W. Blair).
- Winner of the 2019 Special Competition for Young Investigators, Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS)