R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor

R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor
University of Chicago



Co-director, Program on International Security Policy
University of Chicago


E-mail: j-mearsheimer@uchicago.edu

Office Address:
Political Science Department
University of Chicago
5828 S. University Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637






Education:

Ph.D. (Government), Cornell University, 1981

M.A. (Government), Cornell University, 1978

M.A. (International Relations), University of Southern California, 1974

B.S. West Point, 1970

Honors:

"Remains of Education" Address to Class of 2005, University of Chicago, June 10, 2005

E.H. Carr Memorial Lecture, Aberystwyth, UK, October 14, 2004

Graduation Speaker, University of Chicago, June 11-12, 2004

Distinguished Scholar Award, International Studies Association (ISA), March 18, 2004

The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, recipient of Joseph Lepgold Book Prize

Conventional Deterrence, recipient of Edgar S. Furniss, Jr. Book Award

S. Rajaratnam Professorship in Strategic Studies, IDSS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 2004

Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Whitney H. Shepardson Fellowship, Council on Foreign Relations, 1998-1999

"Aims of Education" Address to Class of 2001, University of Chicago, September 21, 1997

Quantrell Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of Chicago, 1985

Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching, Cornell University, 1977

PhD dissertation, honorable mention for APSA's 1980 81 Helen Dwight Reid Award

Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, 1993-1994

George Kistiakowsky Scholar, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1986-1987

Academic Positions:

1975-1979, Graduate Student, Cornell University

1979-1980, Research Fellow, Brookings Institution

1980-1982, Research Associate, CFIA, Harvard University

1982-Present, member, Political Science Department, University of Chicago [Assistant Prof., 1982-1984; Associate Prof., 1984-1987; Professor, 1987-1995; Harrison Chair, 1996-Present; Department Chair, 1989-1992.]

1992-1993, Visiting Scholar, Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University

Books:

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007). Translated into Arabic, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.

John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (New York: Norton, 2001). Translated into Chinese, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Romanian, and Serbian.

John J. Mearsheimer, Liddell Hart and the Weight of History (New York: Cornell University Press; London: Brassey's, 1988).

John J. Mearsheimer, Conventional Deterrence (New York: Cornell University Press, 1983).

Russell Hardin, John J. Mearsheimer, Robert E. Goodin, Gerald Dworkin, eds. Nuclear Deterrence: Ethics and Strategy (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1985)

Articles and Book Chapters:

John J. Mearsheimer, "Structural Realism," in Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki, and Steve Smith, eds., International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 71-88.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Forward," in Naoto Yoshikawa and Kazuhiko Noguchi, Perspectives on International Relations (Tokyo: Keiso Text Selection, 2006), pp. i-vi.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "The Israel Lobby," London Review of Books, Vol. 28, No. 6 (March 23, 2006), pp. 3-12. Reprinted in numerous places. Also see John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "Letters: The Israel Lobby," London Review of Books, Vol. 28, No. 9 (May 11, 2006), pp. 4-5.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," Faculty Research Working Paper No. RWP06-011, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, March 13, 2006. For a revised, updated, and unabridged version, see John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," Middle East Policy, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Fall 2006), pp. 1-59.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "The War over Israel's Influence," Foreign Policy, No. 155 (July/August 2006), pp. 57-58, 64-66.

John J. Mearsheimer, "China's Unpeaceful Rise," Current History, Vol. 105, No. 690 (April 2006), pp. 160-162.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Conversations in International Relations - Interview with John J. Mearsheimer (Part II)," International Relations, Vol. 20, No. 2 (2006), pp. 231-243.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Conversations in International Relations - Interview with John J. Mearsheimer (Part I)," International Relations, Vol. 20, No. 1 (2006), pp. 105-124.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Zu Diesem Buch," in Carlo Masala, Kenneth N. Waltz: Einführung in seine Theorie und Auseinandersetzung mit seinen Kritikern (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2005).

John J. Mearsheimer, "Hans Morgenthau and the Iraq War: Realism versus Neo-Conservatism," opendemocracy.com, posted May 19, 2005. Excerpted as "Realism is Right," in The National Interest, No. 81 (Fall 2005), p. 10. Also published as "Hans Morgenthau und der Irakkrieg: Realismus versus Neokonservatismus," in Merkur, Vol. 59, No. 677/678 (September-October 2005), pp. 836-844. Also published as "A Case Study of Iraq - Analogies to Vietnam?" in Christian Hacke, Gottfried-Karl Kindermann, and Kai M. Schellhorn, eds., The Heritage, Challenge, and Future of Realism (Gottingen: V&R Unipress, 2005), pp. 139-148.

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Mores Isms the Better," International Relations, Vol. 19, No. 3 (September 2005), pp. 354-359. [My response to five pieces responding to my "E.H. Carr vs. Idealism" piece]

John J. Mearsheimer, "E.H. Carr vs. Idealism: The Battle Rages On," International Relations, Vol. 19, No. 2 (June 2005), pp. 139-152.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Clash of the Titans," A Debate with Zbigniew Brzezinski on the Rise of China, Foreign Policy, No. 146 (January-February 2005), pp. 46-49.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Real World," letter published in the New Republic, August 9, 2004, p. 4.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Power and Fear in Great Power Politics," in G.O. Mazur, ed., One Hundred Year Commemoration to the Life of Hans Morgenthau (1904-2004) (New York: Semenenko Foundation, 2004), pp. 184-196.

John J. Mearsheimer, "A Self-Enclosed World?" in Ian Shapiro, Rogers M. Smith, and Tarek E. Masoud, eds., Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 388-394.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "An Unnecessary War," Foreign Policy, No. 134 (January-February, 2003), pp. 50-59. Reprinted in Australian Financial Review, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (Germany), Prospect (UK), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Magyar Narancs (Hungary), Foreign Policy-Arabic Edition, Foreign Policy-Turkish Edition, Gestion (Ecuador), Opposing Viewpoints: Middle East (Gale Group); and in Micah L. Sifry and Christopher Cerf, eds., The Iraq Reader: History, Documents, Opinions (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003), pp. 414-424.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "Can Saddam Be Contained? History Says Yes," (Cambridge, MA: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, November 12, 2002).

John J. Mearsheimer, "Hearts and Minds," The National Interest, No. 69 (Fall 2002), pp. 13-16.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Realism, the Real World, and the Academy," in Michael Brecher and Frank P. Harvey, eds., Realism and Institutionalism in International Studies (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2002), pp. 23-33.

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Future of the American Pacifier," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 5 (September/October, 2001), pp. 46-61.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Kissinger's Wisdom ... and Advice," The National Interest, No. 65 (Fall 2001), pp. 123-129.

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Case for Partitioning Kosovo," in Ted Galen Carpenter, ed., NATO's Empty Victory: A Postmortem on the Balkan War (Washington, DC: CATO Institute, 2000), pp. 133-138.

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Aims of Education," and "Teaching Morality at the Margins," in Philosophy and Literature, Vol. 22, No. 1 (April 1998), pp. 137-155, 193-198.

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Future of America's Continental Commitment," in Geir Lundestad, ed., No End To Alliance: The United States and Western Europe (New York: St. Martin's, 1998), pp. 221-242.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Van Evera, "When Peace Means War," New Republic, December 18, 1995, pp. 16-21.

John J. Mearsheimer, "A Realist Reply," International Security, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer 1995), pp. 82-93. [My response to four pieces responding to my "False Promise" piece]

John J. Mearsheimer, "The False Promise of International Institutions," International Security, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Winter 1994/1995), pp. 5-49. Reprinted in Michael E. Brown et al., eds., The Perils of Anarchy: Contemporary Realism and International Security (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995), pp. 332-376; Michael E. Brown et al., eds., Theories of War and Peace: An International Security Reader (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998), pp. 329-383; Karen Mingst and Jack Snyder, eds., Essential Readings in World Politics (New York: Norton, 2000); Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, 7th ed, revised by Kenneth W. Thompson and W. David Clinton (New York: McGraw Hill, pp. 569-585. Originally published as Working Paper No. 10 for the Project on the Changing Security Environment and American National Interests, John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University, November 1994.

John J. Mearsheimer, "McNamara's War," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 49, No. 6 (June/July 1993). Review of Deborah Shapley, Promise and Power: The Life and Times of Robert McNamara (New York: Little, Brown, 1993).

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Case for a Ukrainian Nuclear Deterrent," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Summer 1993), pp. 50-66.

John J. Mearsheimer and Robert A. Pape, "The Answer: A Three-Way Partition Plan for Bosnia And How the U.S. Can Enforce It," The New Republic, June 14, 1993, pp. 22-28.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Disorder Restored," in Graham Allison and Gregory Treverton, eds., Rethinking America's Security: Beyond Cold War to New World Order (New York: Norton, 1992), pp. 213-237.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Back to the Future: Instability in Europe After the Cold War," International Security, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Summer 1990), pp. 5-56. Reprinted in Sean M. Lynn-Jones, ed., The Cold War and After: Prospects for Peace (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1991), pp. 141-192; Michael E. Brown et al., eds., The Perils of Anarchy: Contemporary Realism and International Security (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995), pp. 78-129. and Michael E. Brown et al., eds., Theories of War and Peace: An International Security Reader (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998), pp. 3-54.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Correspondence: Back to the Future, Part III: Realism and the Realities of European Security," International Security, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Winter 1990/1991), pp. 219-222.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Correspondence: Back to the Future, Part II: International Relations Theory and Post-Cold War Europe," International Security, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Fall 1990), pp. 194-199.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Why We Will Soon Miss the Cold War," The Atlantic, August 1990, pp. 35-50. Reprinted in numerous places. Also see "Letters to the Editor: The Cold War Reconsidered," The Atlantic, November 1990, pp. 8-16.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Assessing the Conventional Balance: The 3:1 Rule and Its Critics," International Security, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Spring 1989), pp. 54-89.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Correspondence: Reassessing Net Assessment," International Security, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Spring 1989), pp. 128-144.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Numbers, Strategy, and the European Balance," International Security, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Spring 1988), pp. 174-185.

John J. Mearsheimer, "A Strategic Misstep: The Maritime Strategy and Deterrence in Europe," International Security, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Fall 1986), pp. 3 57. Reprinted in Robert J. Art and Kenneth N. Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, 3rd ed. (New York: University Press of America, 1988), pp. 590-617; and Steven E. Miller and Stephen Van Evera, eds., Naval Strategy and National Security (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), pp. 47-101.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Prospects for Conventional Deterrence in Europe," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 41, No. 7 (August 1985), pp. 158 162. Reprinted in Len Ackland and Steven McGuire, eds., Assessing the Nuclear Age (Chicago: Education Foundation for Nuclear Science, 1986), pp. 335-343.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence in Europe," International Security, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Winter 1984/1985), pp. 19 46. Reprinted in Hylke Tromp, ed., War in Europe (Aldershot, Eng.: Avebury, 1989), pp. 71-100.

John J. Mearsheimer, "War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495-1975," Journal of Modern History, Vol. 56, No. 4 (December 1984), pp. 710-711. Review essay of Jack S. Levy, War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495-1975 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1983).

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Military Reform Movement: A Critical Assessment," ORBIS, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Summer 1983), pp. 285-300.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Why the Soviets Can't Win Quickly in Central Europe," International Security, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Summer 1982), pp. 3 39. Reprinted in Robert J. Art and Kenneth N. Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, 3rd ed. (New York: University Press of America, 1988), pp. 442-463; and Steven E. Miller, ed., Conventional Forces and American Defense Policy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), pp. 121-157.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Maneuver, Mobile Defense and the NATO Central Front," International Security, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Winter 1981/1982), pp. 104 122. Reprinted in Steven E. Miller, ed., Conventional Forces and American Defense Policy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), pp. 231-249.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Correspondence" [regarding the "British Generals Talk"], International Security, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Winter 1981/82), pp. 227 229.

John J. Mearsheimer, "The British Generals Talk," International Security, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Summer 1981), pp. 165 184.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Rejoinder" in "Debate on Precision guided Munitions," Survival, Vol. XXII, No. 1 (January February 1980), pp. 20 22.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Precision guided Munitions and Conventional Deterrence," Survival, Vol. XXI, No. 2 (March April 1979), pp. 68 76.

Op-Ed Pieces:

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Rise of China Will Not Be Peaceful at All," The Australian, November 18, 2005.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "Keeping Saddam Hussein in a Box," New York Times, February 2, 2003.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Guns Won't Win the Afghan War," New York Times, November 4, 2001.

John J. Mearsheimer et al., "War with Iraq Is Not in America's National Interest," New York Times paid advertisement, September 26, 2002.

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Impossible Partition," New York Times, January 11, 2001.

John J. Mearsheimer, "India Needs The Bomb," New York Times, March 24, 2000.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Van Evera, "Redraw the Map, Stop the Killing," New York Times, April 19, 1999.

John J. Mearsheimer, "A Peace Agreement That's Bound To Fail," New York Times, October 19, 1998.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Here We Go Again," New York Times, May 17, 1998.

John J. Mearsheimer, "The Only Exit From Bosnia," New York Times, October 7, 1997.

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Van Evera, "Hateful Neighbors," New York Times, September 24, 1996.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Shrink Bosnia to Save It," New York Times, March 31, 1993.

John J. Mearsheimer, "Will Iraq Fight or Fold Its Tent? Liberation in Less Than a Week," New York Times, February 8, 1991.

John J. Mearsheimer, "A War the U.S. Can Win - Decisively," Chicago Tribune, January 15, 1991.

Work Experience:

July 1981 July 1982, Executive Secretary, Strategy and Arms Control Seminar, Harvard University.

May 1978 August 1978, Internship at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), Washington, D.C.

June 1970 August 1975, Officer, U.S. Air Force.

June 1965 July 1966, Enlisted Man, U.S. Army.

Other:

Member, Advisory Committee, National Interest.

Member, Board of Advisors of Foreign Affairs.

Member, Editorial Board, International Security.

Member, Editorial Board, Security Studies.

Member, Editorial Board, International History Review, 1997-2000.

Member, Editorial Board, JFQ: Joint Forces Quarterly.

Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Transatlantic Studies.

Member, Editorial Board, Asian Security.

Member, Editorial Board, China Security.

Member, International Editorial Committee, International Relations.

Member, Council on Foreign Relations (New York).

Member, Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Member, International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Member, Visiting Committee of MIT Political Science Department, 2004-2008.

Member, International Academic Advisory Board, BESA Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, 1993-2006.

Member, Board of Advisors, Center on Peace and Liberty, Independent Institute.

Consultant, RAND Corporation, 1985-1986.

Secretary-Treasurer, Inter University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, 1985-1987.

Senior Fellow, John M. Olin Center for Inquiry Into the Theory and Practice of Democracy, University of Chicago.

Testified before Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 3, 1985. See U.S. Congress, SFRC, A NATO Strategy for the 1990's, Part 5, 99th Cong., 1st Sess., October 3, 1985.

Testified before Senate Armed Services Committee on October 20, 1987. See U.S. Congress, SASC, Alliance and Defense Capabilities in Europe, 100th Cong., 1st Sess., October 20, 1987. Also reprinted in John T. Rourke, Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in World Politics, 2nd ed. (Guilford, Ct.: Dushkin, 1989), pp. 224-230.

Section Chairperson for "National Security Policy" for the 1987 American Political Science Association Convention.

Member, Chicago Study Group on U.S. National Interests after the Cold War (Sponsored by Council on Foreign Relations), 1996.

Member, James Madison Award Selection Committee, American Political Science Association, 1999.

Member, Helen Dwight Reid Award Selection Committee, American Political Science Association, 2006.

Co-chair (with John L. Gaddis) of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' "Committee on History, the Social Sciences and International Security Affairs," 1987-1990.

Associate member of the London School of Economics’ "Cold War Studies Centre" (CWSC).

Member, Selection Committee for President of the University of Chicago, 2005-2006.

Updated: August 09, 2007