Nils Petter Gleditsch: Introduction: R J Rummel: A multi-faceted scholar -- Dawn Akemi: Dad -- Doug Bond: R J Rummel, citizen scholar: An interview on the occasion of his retirement -- Sang-Woo Rhee: Rummel as a great teacher -- Richard Chadwick: Contextualizing Rummel's field theory -- Matthew Kroenig & Bardia Rahmani: R J Rummel, Nuclear superiority, and the limits of détente -- Erich Weede: Rummel’s unfinished legacy: Reconciling peace research and realpolitik -- James Lee Ray: Understanding Conflict and War An overlooked classic? -- Frank Whelon Wayman: Rummel and Singer, DON and COW Rummel and Singer, DON and COW: To what extent should we focus on the regime, or the inter-state system? -- H-C Peterson: Regime type matters.

Open Access

This book is open access under a CC BY license. The book provides a critical and constructive assessment of the many contributions to social science and politics made by Professor R. J. Rummel. Rummel was a prolific writer and an important teacher and mentor to a number of people who in turn have made their mark on the profession. His work has always been controversial. But after the end of the Cold War, his views on genocide and the democratic peace in particular have gained wide recognition in the profession. He was also a pioneer in the use of statistical methods in international relations. His work in not easily classified in the traditional categories of international relations research (realism, idealism, and constructivism). He was by no means a pacifist and his views on the US-Soviet arms race led him to be classified as a hawk. But his work on the democratic peace has become extremely influential among liberal IR scholars and peace researchers. Above all, he was a libertarian.