Mearsheimer, John J. 1947–

(John Joseph Mearsheimer)

PERSONAL:

Born December 14, 1947, in Brooklyn, NY; son of Thomas J. (a civil engineer) and Ruth M. (a homemaker) Mearsheimer; married Mary T. Cobb (a homemaker), June 14, 1970; children: Ann, Max, Nicholas. Education: U.S. Military Academy, B.S., 1970; University of Southern California, M.A., 1974; Cornell University, M.A., 1978, Ph.D., 1981.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Chicago, IL. Office—Department of Political Science, University of Chicago, Pick Hall 416, 5828 South University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637; fax: 773-702-1689. E-mail—j-mearsheimer@uchicago.edu.

CAREER:

Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, research fellow, 1979-80; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, research associate at Center for International Affairs, 1980-82; University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, beginning 1982, began as associate professor, became R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and codirector of Program on International Security Policy. Intern at Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in Washington, DC, summer, 1978; executive secretary of strategy and arms control seminar at Harvard University, 1981-82. Member of various advisory committees. Military service: U.S. Army, 1965-70. U.S. Air Force, 1970-75; became captain.

MEMBER:

Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society (member of board of directors).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Clark Award from Cornell University, 1977, for distinguished teaching; peace studies fellowship from Cornell University, 1978-79; research fellowship from Institute for the Study of World Politics, 1979-80; Hubert H. Humphrey doctoral fellowship, 1979-80; Morris Abrams Award in International Relations, 1980; postdoctoral fellowship from Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, 1980-81 and 1981-82; Edgar S. Furniss, Jr., Award from Mershon Center of Ohio State University, 1983, for Conventional Deterrence; grant from American Philosophical Society, 1984; Quantrell Award for distinguished teaching, University of Chicago, 1985; Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, 1993-94; Whitney H. Shepardson fellow at Council on Foreign Relations, 1998-99; elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2003; Joseph Lepgold Book Prize, for The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Conventional Deterrence, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1983.

Liddell Hart and the Weight of History, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1988.

The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, Norton (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Stephen M. Walt) The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, Farrar (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to books, including International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity, edited by Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki, and Steve Smith, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2006; One Hundred Year Commemoration to the Life of Hans Morgenthau (1904-2004), edited by G.O. Mazur, Semenenko Foundation (New York, NY), 2004; Realism and Institutionalism in International Studies, edited by Michael Brecher and Frank P. Harvey, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2002; and Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics, edited by Ian Shapiro, Rogers M. Smith, and Tarek E. Masoud, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY). Contributor of articles to periodicals, including International Security, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Orbis, Ethics, and Survival. Member of editorial board of International Security, Security Studies, JFQ: Joint Forces Quarterly, Journal of Transatlantic Studies, Asian Security, China Security, and International Relations. Mearsheimer's work has been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese, Greek, Portuguese, Arabic, Indonesia, Polish, Spanish, and Turkish.

SIDELIGHTS:

John J. Mearsheimer is a scholar of international relations with special emphasis on national security policy and world power politics. His 2001 publication The Tragedy of Great Power Politics expounds upon the concept of "offensive realism" as he explores the way in which superpower nations jockey for international superiority. In Mearsheimer's view, to quote a Publishers Weekly reviewer, each state "seeks to ensure its survival by maximizing its share of world power." The same reviewer noted that Mearsheimer's book "will appeal to all devotees of political science." James R. Holmes in the Library Journal likewise deemed The Tragedy of Great Power Politics "one of the finest works of the realist school."

In an Atlantic review of another of Mearsheimer's books, Liddell Hart and the Weight of History, John Paret concluded that Mearsheimer "has written an interesting and challenging book. Liddell Hart is worth attention not only for his ideas, and because they and their reception tell us something about the recent past, but also because his life is relevant to the present. Mearsheimer draws some general conclusions from his study with which we can all agree."

Mearsheimer and his coauthor Stephen M. Walt sparked considerable controversy with their study The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. The book originated as an article for the London Review of Books which drew a great deal of criticism. Mearsheimer and Walt later expanded this initial article into a full-length study of Israel's lobbying efforts in the United States and its effects, not only on American foreign policy but also on how America is perceived by other nations throughout the world. Their central argument is that Israel is accorded strong and virtually unquestioned support from the United States, and that this close relationship is ultimately detrimental to both countries. The authors look at which people and organizations make up the Israel lobby in U.S. politics and their reasons for working toward a U.S. foreign policy that unwaveringly gives support to Israel. "The authors state many times that the lobby is not a cabal or conspiracy, that by no means are all its members Jews, though most of them are, and that it includes groups from the American Christian Zionist Right who were also important in edging George Bush into the White House," stated Jonathan Mirsky in the Spectator. He added: "They also emphasise that Israel has a right to exist and that the U.S. should support and, if genuinely necessary, defend it." Yet, as Mirsky observed: "Those who hated the article, and probably will hate this book more, maintain that Israel is a special country, historically, morally, and as an American ally. Anyone who denies that this entitles it to total support, they insist, is either anti-Semitic or is a self-hating Jew." Minsky mentioned some "points of disagreement" but felt that ultimately, "this densely footnoted and courageous book deserves praise rather than abuse."

David Remnick, reviewing for the title for the New Yorker, stated that Mearsheimer and Walt "are not anti-Semites or racists. They are serious scholars, and there is no reason to doubt their sincerity." Nonetheless, he found the book unbalanced, stating that it "recounts every lurid report of Israeli cruelty as indisputable fact" but fails to report the other side of the story. In its oversimplification, "their account is not so much a diagnosis of our polarized era as a symptom of it," concluded Remnick. Yet another perspective was offered by Paul Findley who, in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, commended the authors for offering "a comprehensive study of the staggering damage to U.S. national interest by the American Israel Public Affairs committee and other pro-Israel advocacy groups. In it, they set a new standard of political bravery."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Atlantic, November, 1988, John Paret, review of Liddell Hart and the Weight of History, p. 94.

Booklist, October 1, 2001, Allen Weakland, review of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, p. 273.

Commentary, November, 2007, Bret Stephens, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 73.

Economist, March 4, 1989, review of Liddell Hart and the Weight of History, p. 84; October 6, 2001, review of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics; September 29, 2007, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 88.

Futurist, November, 2001, Dan Johnson, review of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, p. 10.

Library Journal, August, 2001, James R. Holmes, review of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, p. 138.

Middle East Policy, fall, 2006, John J. Mearsheimer, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

New Statesman, September 17, 2007, Andrew Stephen, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 50.

New Yorker, September 3, 2007, David Remnick, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 39.

New York Times, November 26, 2001, Patricia Cohen, review of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, p. E6.

New York Times Book Review, September 23, 2007, Leslie H. Gelb, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 18.

Publishers Weekly, August 27, 2001, review of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, p. 65; August 27, 2007, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 74.

Sewanee Review, winter, 1992, Hans A. Schmitt, review of Liddell Hart and the Weight of History, p. 141.

Spectator, September 29, 2007, Jonathan Mirsky, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 47.

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May 1, 2006, Paul Findley, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 19; November, 2007, Paul Findley, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 62.

ONLINE

California Literary Review, http://calitreview.com/ (March 31, 2008), James Abourezk, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

Foreign Affairs Online, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/ (September-October 2006), L. Carl Brown, review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

Guardian Online, http://books.guardian.co.uk/ (March 31, 2008), review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

John J. Mearsheimer Home Page, http://mearshemier.uchicago.edu (March 31, 2008).