Teaching/Research

Christopher F. Gelpi is professor of political science at The Ohio State University. His primary research interests are the sources of international militarized conflict and strategies for international conflict resolution.

Gelpi is currently engaged in research on American public opinion and the use of military force, on popular attitudes and beliefs about terrorism, on modeling international conflict behavior in the laboratory, and on the impact of peace education curricula on the development of empathy. He has also published works on American civil-military relations and the use of force, the impact of democracy and trade on international conflict, patterns of transnational terrorist violence, the role of norms in crisis bargaining, alliances as instruments of control, diversionary wars, deterrence theory, and the influence of the international system on the outbreak of violence.

He is author of The Power of Legitimacy: The Role of Norms in Crisis Bargaining (Princeton University Press, 2002), co-author (with Peter D. Feaver) of Choosing Your Battles: American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force (Princeton University Press, 2004), and co-author (with Peter Feaver and Jason Reifler) of Paying the Human Costs of War: American Public Opinion and Casualties in Military Conflicts (Princeton University Press, 2009).

Some of his other works have appeared in the American Political Science Review, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, International Organization, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, the Journal of Peace Research, Political Behavior, American Behavioral Scientist, Political Science Quarterly, and Public Opinion Quarterly.

Faculty Links

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Department web page
High-resolution photo

Media Links

Mershon Center: Mershon Center launches new strategic plan (2019)
Arts and Sciences: Gelpi named director, Mershon Center for International Security Studies (2017) 
Mershon Center: Conference to explore war, media and public opinion (2017)
Media Relations: Election 2016: American Foreign Policy (2016)
Mershon Center: Gelpi named new chair of peace studies (2012)

Mershon Projects

Conflict to Peace Lab
War, Media Coverage, and American Public Opinion (2016-17)
Risk and Security (2015-16)
Training to Talk Peace: An Experimental Analysis of Non-Violent Communication Workshops (2014-15)