CHARLES LIPSON

Dr. Charles Lipson teaches international relations at the University of Chicago, where he is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor in Political Science and the College. His research deals with international cooperation and conflict and with political aspects of the world economy. His most recent book on international relations, Reliable Partners: How Democracies Have Made a Separate Peace, explains one of the most striking features in world politics: why democracies do not fight wars against each other. (Princeton University Press, 2003). Dr. Lipson has also written extensively on international trade, debt, and investment. His book, Standing Guard: Protecting Foreign Capital in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, has been widely praised for combining politics and economics. It is concerned with the problems faced by successful corporations when they operate in difficult political environments around the world.

Dr. Lipson has also written extensively and spoken extensively about education and academic integrity. His book, Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success, published by the University of Chicago Press, is now in its second edition. It is the first book for college students that deals comprehensively with academic honesty, plagiarism, and citations, including effective use of the Internet. It is now given to all incoming undergraduates at the University of Chicago, McGill University in Montreal, Georgetown, DePauw, and a number of other universities across the United States and Canada. A Chinese translation has been published by the East China Normal University Press and a Korean translation is in progress. A second book, How to Write a BA Thesis, also published by the University of Chicago Press, has been widely adopted in undergraduate honors programs. Dr. Lipson has written a comprehensive, easy-to-use book on all citation styles: Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More (2nd edition). Professor Lipson has spoken about these issues at many universities and delivered the keynote address to the Center for Academic Integrity's annual convention.

Charles Lipson was born and raised in Marks, Mississippi (a town of 2,000, about ninety miles south of Memphis, Tennessee). After high school in Marks, he graduated from Yale College and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he won the Chase Prize in International Relations. He has been a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics and at Harvard.

Professor Lipson has chaired several major programs at the University and is the founding director of PIPES, the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security.  Faculty, students, and policymakers from around the world come to PIPES to study international cooperation and conflict. Indeed, PIPES has helped make the University of Chicago one of the world's leading institutions for understanding international politics--a center recognized for its excellence.

Dr. Lipson has also been an officer of the American Political Science Association and editorial board member of two leading journals, International Organization and World Politics. He is a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Chicago Committee, the British-American Project, and other organizations. He is a frequent Study Leader for Smithsonian Journeys and spoken to their guests on numerous world tours.

Dr. Lipson frequently gives public talks on international issues and consults with senior government officials, diplomats, and corporate leaders. He often writes editorials on foreign policy issues and appears regularly on radio and television. He is a regular guest on Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg (WGN in Chicago), Beyond the Beltway with Bruce DuMont (nationally syndicated and Sirius-XM), public television, and public radio. He appears often on cable news networks and has served as a foreign affairs analyst for NBC5 in Chicago.

Dr. Lipson actively supports policies to encourage international trade, including the World Trade Organization. He also supports programs to encourage regional peace and security, as well as greater tolerance, in the Middle East.

His most recent books on international politics are

Reliable Partners: How Democracies Have Made a Separate Peace (Princeton University Press, 2003)

Theory and Structure in International Political Economy, with Benjamin J. Cohen (MIT Press, 1999), and

Issues and Agents in International Political Economy, with Benjamin J. Cohen (MIT Press, 1999)

Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success, 2nd edition (University of Chicago Press, 2008)

Succeeding as an International Student in the United States and Canada (University of Chicago Press, 2008)

How to Write a B.A. Thesis: A Practical Guide from Your First Ideas to Your Finished Paper (University of Chicago Press, 2005)

Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions and More, 2nd edition (University of Chicago Press, 2011)

For a complete c.v., please click here.

Details on these books are available here.