William R. Thompson is Distinguished Professor and the Donald A. Rogers Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is a former president of the International Studies Association (2005-06), former editor in chief of International Studies Quarterly (1994-1998 and 2009-13), and has been on the editorial boards of numerous journals. He has published numerous articles in leading journals and his most recent books include Transition Scenarios: China and the United States in the Twenty-first Century (with David P. Rapkin) and How Rivalries End (with Karen Rasler and Sumit Ganguly). Professor Thompson is also the recipient of the World Society Foundation's Award of Excellence in World Society Research, the International Global Research Association and Moscow State University's V. I. Vernadsky Gold Medal of Honor (for contribution to global studies), and the International N. D. Kondratieff Foundation and Russian Academy of Sciences' Silver Kondratieff Medal (for contribution to the social sciences). He is presently the Editor in Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics.