Time is of the essence: Event history models in political science

Many questions of interest to political scientists may be answered with event history analysis, which studies the duration and timing of events. We discuss the statistical analysis of event history data-data giving the number, timing, and sequence of changes in a variable of interest. These methods are illustrated by examining three substantive political science problems: overt military interventions, challenger deterrence, and congressional career paths; many other applications are possible. Our article is intended to provide a better understanding of the growing number of applications that currently exist in political science and to encourage greater use of these models by showing why event history models are useful in political science research and explaining how one specifies and interprets these models.