J. Patrick Rhamey Jr. is a Professor of International Studies and Political Science at the Virginia Military Institute, USA and Board Member of the TransResearch Consortium. His research includes the impact of systemic hierarchy on international order, the causes of international conflict, and theorizing in the subfield of comparative regionalism. He is the author of Power, Space, and Time: An Empirical Introduction to International Relations, a textbook intended to introduce undergraduates to data-driven international relations approaches with an emphasis on hierarchy as an ordering principle.

Spencer D. Bakich is a Professor of International Studies and Political Science, Director of the National Security Program at the Virginia Military Institute, USA, and Senior Fellow at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. He is the author of The Gulf War: George H. W. Bush and American Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War Era and Success and Failure in Limited War: Information and Strategy in the Korean, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Iraq Wars.