John J. Mearsheimer (born December 1947) is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is a well known international relations theorist. Perhaps best known for his pioneering book on offensive realism, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, more recently Mearsheimer has attracted considerable public attention for co-authoring and publishing an article on the Israel Lobby, which was subsequently published as a book. Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political Science is the field concerning the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... In international relations, offensive realism is a variant of realism. ... For other uses of the term Israel lobby, see Israel lobby (disambiguation). ...

Early Years

Mearsheimer was born in December 1947 in Brooklyn, New York. He was raised in New York City until the age of eight, when his parents moved his family to Croton-on-Hudson, New York, a suburb located in Westchester County. At age 17, Mearsheimer enlisted in the U.S. Army. After one year as an enlisted member, he chose to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. He attended West Point from 1966-1970. After graduation, he served for five years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. While in the Air Force, Mearsheimer earned a Masters Degree in International Relations from the University of Southern California in 1974. He subsequently entered Cornell University as a graduate student and earned a Ph.D. in government, specifically in international relations, in 1981. From 1978-1979, was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C. From 1980-1982, he was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs. Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the borough of New York City. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... // Mayoral Election (vote for one) Ann Gallelli (D,CT) 44% Gregory Schmidt (A) 56% Trustee Election (vote for two) Leo Wiegman (D,CT) 25% Sally Odlandt (D,CT) 23% Thomas Brennan (A) 26% Susan Konig (A) 26% SOURCE: Village of Croton on Hudson Certified Results Croton-on-Hudson is a... Westchester County is a suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S. state of New York. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... “USMA” redirects here. ... West Point painting West Point is a federal military base (and a census-designated place) located in the Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Seal of the Air Force. ... “The U.S. Air Force” redirects here. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate course of one or two years in duration. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      International relations (IR), a branch of political science, is the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). ... The Trojan Shrine, better known as Tommy Trojan located in the center of University of Southern California campus. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... “Cornell” redirects here. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... The Brookings Institution is a United States nonprofit public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C.. Described in 1977, by TIME magazine as as the nations pre-eminent liberal think tank,[1] the institution is devoted to public service through research and education in the social sciences, particularly... For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ...

University of Chicago

Since 1982, Mearsheimer has been a member of the faculty of the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He became an associate professor in 1984, a full professor in 1987, and was appointed to the Harrison chair in 1996. From 1989-1992, he served as chairman of the department. He currently holds a position as a faculty member in the Committee on International Relations graduate program. In addition to referring to the United States as "Uncle Sugar," he regularly receives standing ovations at the culmination of his classes. A faculty is a division within a university. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... A professor is a senior teacher and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... The meaning of the word professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) varies. ... The U.S. House Committee on International Relations (also known as the House International Relations Committee, the House Foreign Relations Committee or the House Foreign Affairs Committee), is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives which is in charge of bills and investigations related to the foreign...

Mearsheimer has written extensively about national security policy and international relations theory, especially neo-realism, which he defines as a state’s tendency to attempt to gain as much relative power as possible and eventually become the hegemon of the international system. Security measures taken to protect the Houses of Parliament in London, England. ... Neorealism is a cultural movement in cinema that, following the realism in literature, brings elements of true life in the stories it describes, in contrast with a tendency to depict a world mainly existing in imagination only. ... Hegemony is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; or more broadly, that cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group. ...

Mearsheimer’s books include Conventional Deterrence (1983), Nuclear Deterrence: Ethics and Strategy (1985), Liddell Hart and the Weight of History (1988), and The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001). He has also written numerous book chapters, journal articles, and newspaper op-ed pieces.

Finally, Mearsheimer has won a number of teaching awards. He received the Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching when he was a graduate student at Cornell in 1977, and he won the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at the University of Chicago in 1985. In addition, he was selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar for the 1993-1994 academic year. In that capacity, he gave a series of talks at eight colleges and universities. In 2003, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The House of the Academy, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...

"Israel Lobby" Controversy

Main article: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

In March 2006, Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, the academic dean and Robert and Rene Belfer Professor of International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, published a working paper ^[1] and an article^[2] in the London Review of Books discussing the power of the "Israel lobby" in shaping US foreign policy. They define the Israel lobby as "a loose coalition of individuals and organisations who actively work to steer US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction." Those pieces generated considerable media coverage throughout the world, and led to a heated debate between supporters and opponents of the argument. Others view this criticism as the manipulative censorship of genuine academic discourse.^[3] For other uses of the term Israel lobby, see Israel lobby (disambiguation). ... Stephen Martin Walt (born July 2, 1955) is a professor of international affairs at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government is a public policy school and one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. ... The London Review of Books (or LRB) is a twice-monthly British literary magazine. ...

Offensive Realism

John Mearsheimer is the leading proponent of a branch of realist theory called offensive realism. Offensive realism is a structural theory which, unlike the classical realism of Morgenthau, blames security competition among great powers on the anarchy of the international system, not on human nature. In contrast to another structural realist theory, the defensive realism of Waltz, offensive realism maintains that states are not satisfied with a given amount of power, but seek hegemony for security. Mearsheimer summed this view up in The Tragedy of Great Power Politics: Main International Relations Theories and derivates Realism & Neorealism Idealism, Liberalism & Neoliberalism Marxism & Dependency theory Functionalism & Neofunctionalism Critical theory & Constructivism The term realism or political realism collects a wide variety of theories and modes of thought about International Relations that have in common that the motivation of states is in the... In international relations, offensive realism is a variant of realism. ... Hans Joachim Morgenthau (February 17, 1904 – July 19, 1980) was an International Relations theorist and one of the most influential to date. ... Kenneth Neal Waltz (born 1924) is a member of the faculty at Columbia University and one of the most prominent scholars of international relations (IR) alive today. ...

Given the difficulty of determining how much power is enough for today and tomorrow, great powers recognize that the best way to ensure their security is to achieve hegemony now, thus eliminating any possibility of a challenge by another great power. Only a misguided state would pass up an opportunity to become hegemon in the system because it thought it already had sufficient power to survive.^[4]

In this world, there is no such thing as a status quo power, since according to Mearsheimer, "a great power that has a marked power advantage over its rivals is likely to behave more aggressively because it has the capability as well as the incentive to do so." He has also dismissed democratic peace theory (which claims that democracies—specifically, liberal democracies—never or rarely go to war with one another). This article is about the English rock band. ... The democratic peace theory or simply the democratic peace is a theory and related empirical research in international relations, political science, and philosophy which holds that democracies—usually, liberal democracies[1]—never or almost never go to war with one another. ... Liberal democracy is a form of government. ...

Although Mearsheimer does not believe it is possible for a state to become a global hegemon, he believes states seek regional hegemony. Furthermore, he argues that states attempt to prevent other states from becoming regional hegemons, since peer competitors could interfere in a state's affairs. States which have achieved regional hegemony, such as the U.S., will act as offshore balancers, interfering in other regions only when the great powers in those regions are not able to prevent the rise of a hegemon.

Mearsheimer has been a vocal critic of American policy toward China. Though China does not have openly militaristic ambitions today, he thinks that by trading with China and helping its economy, the United States is providing a base from which the Chinese could seriously threaten American national security in the years to come. Furthermore he thinks that China's neighbours are increasingly worried about the growing power of China and that there are already indications that they are trying to balance China by improving ties with the United States, making the U.S. an offshore balancer. [2]

Conventional Deterrence

Mearsheimer's first book Conventional Deterrence (1983) addresses the question of how decisions to start a war depend on the projected outcome of military conflict. In other words, how do decision makers' beliefs about the outcome of war affect the success or failure of deterrence? Mearsheimer's basic argument is that deterrence is likely to obtain when the potential attacker believes that a successful attack will be unlikely and costly. If the potential attacker, however, has reason to believe the attack will likely succeed and entail low costs, then deterrence is likely to breakdown. Specifically, Mearsheimer argues that the success of deterrence is determined by the strategy available to the potential attacker. He lays out three strategies. First, a war-of-attrition strategy, which entails a high level of uncertainty about the outcome of war and high costs for the attacker. Second, a limited-aims strategy, which entails less risks and lower costs. And, third, a blitzkrieg strategy, which provides a way to defeat the enemy rapidly and decisively, with relatively low costs. For Mearsheimer, failures in the modern battlefield are due mostly to the potential attacker's belief that it can successfully implement a blitzkrieg strategy -- in which tanks and other mechanized forces are employed swiftly to effect a deep penetration and disrupt the enemy's rear.^{[citation needed]} The other two strategies are unlikely to lead to deterrence failures because they would entail a low probability of success accompanied by high costs (war of attrition) or limited gains and the possibility of the conflict turning into a war of attrition (limited aims). If the attacker has a coherent blitzkrieg strategy available, however, an attack is likely to ensue, as its potential benefits outweigh the costs and risks of starting a war.^{[citation needed]}

Besides analyzing cases from World War II and the Arab-Israeli conflict, Mearsheimer extrapolates implications from his theory for the prospects of conventional deterrence in Central Europe during the late Cold War. Here, he argues that a Soviet attack is unlikely because the Soviet military would be unable successfully to implement a blitzkrieg strategy. The balance of forces, the difficulty of advancing rapidly with mechanized forces through Central Europe, and the formidable NATO forces opposing such a Soviet attack made it unlikely, in Mearsheimer's view, that the Soviets would start a conventional war in Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Positions

Nuclear proliferation

In 1990 he published a controversial essay called Back to the Future where he predicted that following the Cold War, Europe would revert to a multipolar environment similar to that in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Polarity in international relations is a description of the distribution of power within the international system. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ...

In this essay and in the 1993 article in Foreign Affairs The case for a Ukrainian nuclear deterrent, he argued that to reduce the dangers of war, the United States should encourage Germany and Ukraine to develop a nuclear arsenal, while working to prevent the rise of hyper-nationalism. The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... ‹ The template below is being considered for deletion. ...

Also, in op-ed pieces on the New York Times written in 1998 and 2000, Mearsheimer defended India's right to acquire nuclear weapons. In support of this position, he argued that India has good strategic reasons to want a nuclear deterrent, especially in order to balance against China and Pakistan, guaranteeing regional stability. He also criticized US counter-proliferation policy towards India, which he considered unrealistic and harmful to American interests in the region.

Iraq War (1991)

In January and early February 1991, Mearsheimer published two op-eds in the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times arguing that the war to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi forces should be quick and lead to a decisive US victory, with less than 1,000 American casualties. This view countered the conventional wisdom at the start of the war, that predicted a conflict lasting for months and costing thousands of American lives. Mearsheimer's argument was based on several points. First, the Iraqi Army was a Third World military, unprepared to fight mobile armored battles. Second, US armored forces were superiorly equipped and trained. Third, US artillery was also far better than its Iraqi counterpart. Fourth, US airpower, unfettered by the weak Iraqi air force, should prove devastating against Iraqi ground forces. Fifth and finally, the forward deployment of Iraqi reserves bode ill for their ability to counter US efforts to penetrate the Iraqi defense line along the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. All these predictions came true in the course of the war.

Iraq War (2003-present)

Mearsheimer is an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War. In 2002, he was one of thirty three professors to sign a letter in the New York Times arguing against President Bush’s intention to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein from power. He felt that invading Iraq would distract from the war against al Qaeda, which he described as a greater threat to national security. The war was unnecessary, Mearsheimer felt, because the United States could continue to effectively contain Hussein, as it had done for over a decade since the Gulf War. His thinking on the matter is underpinned by a belief in a rational deterrence theory of weapons of mass destruction - namely, that there is no way by which a power with nuclear weapons equal to or less than another power can effectively coerce it into policies against its choosing (this presumes, and he holds, that Saddam Hussein was a rational actor). Mearsheimer predicted that after invading Iraq, the U.S. would need to occupy it for decades. He also wrote several Op-Ed pieces in 2003, including An Unnecessary War ^[5] and Keeping Saddam in a Box ^[6] in which he made the same points. For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq and Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council from 1979 until his overthrow by US forces in 2003. ... Map of major attacks attributed to al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (also al-Qaida or al-Qaida or al-Qaidah) (Arabic: ‎ , translation: Warrior of God) is an international alliance of militant Sunni jihadist organizations. ... This article is about foreign policy. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ... Deterrence theory is a defensive strategy developed after World War II and used throughout the Cold War. ... For the Xzibit album, see Weapons of Mass Destruction (album). ... Rational choice theory assumes human behaviour is guided by reason. ... An Op-Ed is a piece of writing expressing an opinion. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In a December 2004 interview ^[7], Mearsheimer argued that the architects of the invasion, however misguided, were motivated by a sincere desire to protect American interests. In his March 2006 paper with Walt (discussed in the section above on the Israel Lobby) he argued that "the war was motivated in good part by a desire to make Israel more secure". ^[8]

He further wrote in an article in Foreign Policy in May 2006 ^[9]:

We also traced the lobby’s impact on recent U.S. policies, including the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Neoconservatives inside and outside the Bush administration, as well as leaders of a number of prominent pro-Israel organizations, played key roles in making the case for war. We believe the United States would not have attacked Iraq without their efforts. That said, these groups and individuals did not operate in a vacuum, and they did not lead the country to war by themselves. For instance, the war would probably not have occurred absent the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which helped convince President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to support it.

Bosnia and Kosovo

Between 1993 and 1999, Mearsheimer wrote a series of op-eds on the New York Times defending the partition of Bosnia and Kosovo as the only viable solution to conflict in the Balkans. In 1993, he criticized the Vance-Owen plan for peace in the former Yugoslavia, arguing that a more ambitious plan backed by the United States was needed, with the creation of three ethnically homogeneous states (Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian), drawing new borders and transferring populations across them, creating a comprehensive settlement that solves problems in Croatia and Kosovo, and threatening the use of force against Serbians (by arming and training their enemies) if Serbia fails to adhere to such a plan. Later, in 1996, in a piece co-authored with Stephen Van Evera, and the following year in another op-ed, Mearsheimer criticized the Dayton accords on the same basis, adding evidence that the people of Bosnia have, through polls and elections, said no to living in a multi-ethnic state. If the United States fails to recognize the power of modern nationalism and insists in keeping Bosnia as it is, Mearsheimer wrote, armed conflict would reemerge as soon as US troops were withdrawn from the region. Once again, the authors defended partition as the only viable solution to the Bosnian problem. Similarly, in 1998 and 1999 (after the air-war against Serbia over Kosovo) Mearsheimer defended the partition of Kosovo as the only viable solution to conflict in that region. He criticized the deal brokered by Richard Holbrooke, argued that neither Albanians nor Serbs were likely to abide by it. Instead, Mearsheimer proposed a partition of Kosovo, granting independence to most of the region and incorporating a portion of northeast Kosovo (which is of historical value to the Serbs) into Serbia proper.

References

1. ^ The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government Working Paper, Submitted 13 March 2006
2. ^ The Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, London Review of Books, 23 March 2006
3. ^ [1].
4. ^ Mearsheimer, John (2001). The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W. W. Norton, 35. ISBN 0-393-02025-8. 
5. ^ An unnecessary war, John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2003.
6. ^ Keeping Saddam in a Box by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, New York Times, 2 February 2003
7. ^ American Amnesia Interviews John Mearsheimer
8. ^ Alex Safian in CAMERA, Will the real John Mearsheimer please stand up
9. ^ http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3506

Stephen Martin Walt (born July 2, 1955) is a professor of international affairs at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government is a public policy school and one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. ... Stephen Martin Walt (born July 2, 1955) is a professor of international affairs at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government. ... The London Review of Books (or LRB) is a twice-monthly British literary magazine. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Stephen Martin Walt (born July 2, 1955) is a professor of international affairs at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government. ... A countrys foreign policy is a set of political goals that seeks to outline how that particular country will interact with other countries of the world and, to a lesser extent, non-state actors. ... Stephen Martin Walt (born July 2, 1955) is a professor of international affairs at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government. ... Large format camera lens. ...

See also

• Great Powers
• Hegemony
• Realism in international relations
• Political power
• Power projection

In the context of international relations and diplomacy, power (sometimes clarified as international power, national power, or state power) is the ability of one state to influence or control other states. ... Hegemony (pronounced or ) (Greek: ) is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; more broadly, cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group. ... Main International Relations Theories and derivates Realism & Neorealism Idealism, Liberalism & Neoliberalism Marxism & Dependency theory Functionalism & Neofunctionalism Critical theory & Constructivism The term realism or political realism collects a wide variety of theories and modes of thought about International Relations that have in common that the motivation of states is in the... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... USS , and HMS Illustrious, two aircraft carriers on a joint patrol. ...

External links

• John Mearsheimer's Home Page
• All Publications by John Mearsheimer
• John Mearsheimer a Short biography, The Globalist
• Conversations With History Interview, conducted by the Institute of International Studies at Berkeley
• Lying in International Politics by John J. Mearsheimer, University of Chicago, August 22, 2004
• American Amnesia Interviews John Mearsheimer, American Amnesia Blog, December 2004
• Hans Morgenthau and the Iraq War: Realism Versus Neo-Conservatism by John J. Mearsheimer, OpenDemocracy, May 19, 2005
• Recent survey recognizing Mearsheimer as one of the five most important IR scholars of his time.
• The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy A Harvard Study, March, 2006
• WSJ response to Mearsheimer-Walt working paper on the Israel Lobby
• Kennedy School removes its logo from lobby 'study' Rosner's Blog, Haaretz, March 22, 2006
• Study Decrying "Israel Lobby" Marred by Numerous Errors, March 20, 2006
• Analysis of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
• "A Lobby, Not a Conspiracy" by Tony Judt, The New York Times, April 20, 2006
• "Yes, It's Anti-Semitic" by Eliot A. Cohen, Washington Post, April 5, 2006
  • "Stephen Walt Responds to the Washington Post's Nazi Smear" -New York Observer
• (a response to the critiques) John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt, May 11, 2006
• Transcript of C-SPAN interview, June 23, 2006
• "Pronouncing Blame on the Israel Lobby Authors" -Timothy Stinson, Al-Jazeerah.info
• What the Israel lobby wants, it too often gets Mearsheimer and Walt respond to their critics in Foreign Policy