Paul Poast’s research uses quantitative analysis and diplomatic history to understand international relations. Specifically, he is interested in how anarchy can complicate the ability of sovereign actors to make credible commitments, such as repaying debt, honoring an alliance, or upholding a bargain. His research is presently focused on four projects: the political economy of international security, alliance politics, research methods for international relations, and the international politics of the American Civil War. Poast is the author of The Economics of War (McGraw Hill-Irwin, 2006) and the developer of NewGene, a data management tool for creating data sets for use in the quantitative analysis of political science.