James D. Fearon PhD (UC Berkeley) is the Theodore and Francis Geballe Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Stanford University, known for his work on the theory of civil wars, international bargaining, war's inefficiency puzzle and audience costs.
Fearon's work on wars emphasizes the need to explain why rationally-led states end up fighting a war instead of bargaining, in light of the fact that bargaining can make both sides better off a-priori. He also elaborates on how democracies are better able to signal intent in war based on domestic audience costs.
His numbers-based approach toward complicated problems like war has received criticism from some political scientists. It has been argued that he ignores important sociological elements, such as culture.