David Sylvan 

Principal investigator

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David Sylvan is professor of international relations/political science at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. Before coming to the Institute, he taught at the University of Minnesota and Syracuse University. He works on foreign policy and organization theory (US Foreign Policy in Perspective), qualitative and computational methodology (A Rationalist Methodology for the Social Sciences; "Computing Narratives"), and the sociology of international relations ("A World Without Security or Foreign Policy").

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Ashley Thornton

Senior researcher 

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Ashley Thornton is senior researcher on the Garrison State Project. Her doctoral dissertation developed text-analytical techniques to examine the arguments parliamentarians in New Zealand and France put forth in support of or against proposed welfare reforms over 40 years ("How Does Ideology Influence Welfare Retrenchment Proposals?" Party Politics). She also teaches political psychology and qualitative methods at the Graduate Institute. Within the Garrison State Project, Dr. Thornton works on developing text-analytical techniques for the extraction of reasons from parliamentary speeches; she also codes debates from the UK parliament.