Walt grew up in Los Altos Hills.[4] He pursued his undergraduate studies at Stanford University. He first majored in chemistry with an eye to becoming a biochemist but then shifted to history and finally to international relations.[4]
After attaining his BA, Walt began graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a MA in political science in 1978 and a PhD in political science in 1983.
Career
Walt taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, where he served as master of the Social Science Collegiate Division and deputy dean of social sciences. As of 2015, he holds the Robert and Renee Belfer Professorship in International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.[3][5]
On the twentieth anniversary of the war against Iraq, Walt characterized the rules-based world order as "a set of rules that we [the US] had an enormous role in writing, and of course which we feel free to violate whenever it's inconvenient for us to follow them."[11]
In the comprehensive 2005 article "Taming American Power", Walt argued that the US should "make its dominant position acceptable to others—by using military force sparingly, by fostering greater cooperation with key allies, and, most important of all, by rebuilding its crumbling international image." He proposed for the US to "resume its traditional role as an 'offshore balancer,' " to intervene "only when absolutely necessary," and to keep "its military presence as small as possible."[12]
In a late 2011 article for The National Interest, "The End of the American Era," Walt wrote that America is losing its position of world dominance.[13]
Walt gave a speech in 2013 to the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, "Why does US foreign policy keep failing?" The institute later described him as seeing "an overwhelming bias among US foreign policy institutions toward an activist foreign policy" and "a propensity to exaggerate threats, noting the chances of being struck by lightning have been far greater since 2001 than death by terrorist attack." He also characterized the US as lacking "diplomatic skill and finesse" and advised Europeans "to think of themselves and not rely on the US for guidance or advice on solving their security issues." Ultimately, he argued that "the United States is simply not skilled enough to run the world."[14]
In 2013, Walt asked "Why are Americans so willing to pay taxes in order to support a world-girdling national security establishment, yet so reluctant to pay taxes to have better schools, health care, roads, bridges, subways, parks, museums, libraries, and all the other trappings of a wealthy and successful society?" He said that the question was especially puzzling given that "the United States is the most secure power in history and will remain remarkably secure unless it keeps repeating the errors of the past decade or so."[15]
Hawks like to portray opponents of military intervention as "isolationist" because they know it is a discredited political label. Yet there is a coherent case for a more detached and selective approach to U.S. grand strategy, and one reason that our foreign policy establishment works so hard to discredit it is their suspicion that a lot of Americans might find it convincing if they weren't constantly being reminded about looming foreign dangers in faraway places. The arguments in favor of a more restrained grand strategy are far from silly, and the approach makes a lot more sense than neoconservatives' fantasies of global primacy or liberal hawks' fondness for endless quasi-humanitarian efforts to reform whole regions.[16]
Europe
In 1998, Walt wrote that "deep structural forces" were "beginning to pull Europe and America apart."[17]
Walt argued that NATO must be sustained because of four major areas in which close co-operation is beneficial to European and American interest.[18]
Defeating international terrorism; Walt saw a need for cooperation between Europe and the United States in managing terrorist networks and stopping the flow of money to terror cells.[18]
Limiting the spread of weapons of mass destruction; Walt argued that anti-proliferation efforts are most successful when Europe and the US work in concert to bring loose nuclear material into responsible custody. He cited the case of Libya's willingness to abandon its nascent fission program after being pressured multilaterally as evidence of this.[18]
Managing the world economy; lowering barriers to trade and investment particularly between the US and the EU would accelerate economic growth. Notable differences in trade policy stem mainly in areas of agricultural policy.[18]
Dealing with failed states; failed states are breeding grounds for anti-Western movements. Managing failed states such as Afghanistan, Bosnia and Somalia require a multinational response since the US has insufficient wealth to modernise and rebuild these alone. In this area, European allies are especially desirable because they have more experience with peacekeeping and "nation-building".[18]
Eastern Europe and Russia
In 2015, a year after Russia invaded Crimea, Walt wrote that extending invitations for NATO membership to countries in the former Soviet bloc is a "dangerous and unnecessary goal" and that Ukraine ought to be a "neutral buffer state in perpetuity." He further argued that, although Obama had refrained from arming Ukraine, doing so would be "a recipe for a longer and more destructive conflict."[19] The Obama administration avoided arming Ukraine for the duration of its term, in keeping with Walt's strategy, but the Trump administration angered Russia by approving a plan to provide anti-tank missiles in 2017.[20]
Middle East
Walt said in December 2012 that America's "best course in the Middle East would be to act as an 'offshore balancer': ready to intervene if the balance of power is upset, but otherwise keeping our military footprint small. We should also have normal relationship with states like Israel and Saudi Arabia, instead of the counterproductive 'special relationships' we have today."[21]
An article by Walt entitled "What Should We Do if the Islamic State Wins? Live with it." appeared on June 10, 2015, in Foreign Policy magazine.[22] He explained his view that the Islamic State was unlikely to grow into a longlasting world power on Point of Inquiry, the podcast of the Center for Inquiry in July 2015.[23]
Walt suggested in 2010 that State Department diplomat Dennis Ross's alleged partiality toward Israel might make him give Obama advice that was against US interests.[24]Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), defended Ross and criticized Walt in a piece published by Foreign Affairs, which had published Walt's piece a few days earlier.[25] Satloff wrote that Ross's connection to WINEP is innocuous (Ross was a distinguished fellow at WINEP throughout George W. Bush's administration, and Mearsheimer and Walt's book described WINEP as "part of the core" of the Israel lobby in the United States) and that Walt mistakenly believes that the US cannot simultaneously "advance strategic partnership both with Israel and with friendly Arab and Muslim states."[25]
After the Itamar attack, in which a Jewish family was killed on the West Bank in March 2011, Walt condemned the murderers but added that "while we are at it, we should not spare the other parties who have helped create and perpetuate the circumstances." He listed "every Israeli government since 1967, for actively promoting the illegal effort to colonize these lands," "Palestinian leaders who have glorified violence," and "the settlers themselves, some of whom routinely use violence to intimidate the Palestinians who live in the lands they covet."[26]
Walt criticized the US for voting against a Security Council resolution condemning Israel's West Bank settlements and called the vote a "foolish step" because "the resolution was in fact consistent with the official policy of every president since Lyndon Johnson."[27]
Iran
Walt has frequently criticized America's policy with respect to Iran. In 2011, Walt told an interviewer that the American reaction to an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in the United States "might be part of a larger American diplomatic effort to put Iran on the hot seat."[28]
"Washington continues to insist on a near-total Iranian capitulation," wrote Walt in December 2012. "And because Iran has been effectively demonized here in America, it would be very hard for President Obama to reach a compromise and then sell it back home."[29]
Walt said in November 2013, "Americans often forget just how secure the United States is, especially compared with other states," thanks to its power, resources, and geography, and thus "routinely blows minor threats out of all proportion. I mean: Iran has a defense budget of about $10 billion... yet we manage to convince ourselves that Iran is a Very Serious Threat to US vital interests. Ditto the constant fretting about minor-league powers like Syria, North Korea, Muammar al-Qaddafi's Libya, and other so-called 'rogue states.'" Therefore, whatever happens in the Middle East, "the United States can almost certainly adjust and adapt and be just fine."[15]
Libya
After visiting Libya, Walt wrote in Foreign Policy in January 2010 that while "Libya is far from a democracy, it also doesn't feel like other police states that I have visited. I caught no whiff of an omnipresent security service—which is not to say that they aren't there. … The Libyans with whom I spoke were open and candid and gave no sign of being worried about being overheard or reported or anything like that. … I tried visiting various political websites from my hotel room and had no problems, although other human rights groups report that Libya does engage in selective filtering of some political websites critical of the regime. It is also a crime to criticize Qaddafi himself, the government's past human rights record is disturbing at best, and the press in Libya is almost entirely government-controlled. Nonetheless, Libya appears to be more open than contemporary Iran or China and the overall atmosphere seemed far less oppressive than most places I visited in the old Warsaw Pact."[30]
David E. Bernstein, Foundation Professor at the George Mason University School of Law, criticized Walt in 2011 for accepting funding from the Libyan government for a trip to Libya in which he addressed that country's Economic Development Board and then wrote what Bernstein called "a puff piece" about his visit. Bernstein said it was ironic that "Walt, after fulminating about the American domestic 'Israel Lobby' " had thus become "a part of the 'Libya lobby.' " Bernstein also found it ironic that "Walt, a leading critic of the friendship the US and Israel, concludes his piece with the hope 'that the United States and Libya continue to nurture and build a constructive relationship.' Because, you know, Israel is so much nastier than Qaddafi's Libya."[31]
Under the headline "Is Stephen Walt Blind, a Complete Fool, or a Big Liar?", Martin Peretz of the New Republic mocked Walt for praising Libya, which Peretz called a "murderous place" and for viewing its dictator as "civilized." Peretz contrasted Walt's view of Libya, which, Peretz noted, he had visited for less than a day.[32]
Syria
In August 2013, Walt argued that even if it turned out that Bashar al-Assad of Syria had used chemical weapons, the US should not intervene. "Dead is dead, no matter how it is done," wrote Walt. "Obama may be tempted to strike because he foolishly drew a 'red line' over this issue and feels his credibility is now at stake. But following one foolish step with another will not restore that lost standing."[33]
China
Walt posits that offshore balancing is the most desirable strategy to deal with China.[34][35] In 2011, Walt argued that China will seek to gain regional hegemony and a broad sphere of influence in Asia, which was comparable in size to the US position in the Western Hemisphere.[34] If that happens, he predicts that China would be secure enough on the mainland to give added attention to shaping events to its favour in far flung areas. Since China is resource-poor, it will likely aim to safeguard vital sea lanes in areas such as the Persian Gulf.[36][37]
In a December 2012 interview, Walt said that "the United States does not help its own cause by exaggerating Chinese power. We should not base our policy today on what China might become twenty or thirty years down the road."[38]
Balance of threat theory
Walt developed the balance of threat theory, which defined threats in terms of aggregate power, geographic proximity, offensive power, and aggressive intentions. It is a modification of the "balance of power" theory, whose framework was refined by neorealist Kenneth Waltz.[39]
Snowden case
In July 2013, Walt argued that Obama should give Edward Snowden an immediate pardon. "Mr. Snowden's motives," wrote Walt, "were laudable: he believed fellow citizens should know their government was conducting a secret surveillance programme enormous in scope, poorly supervised and possibly unconstitutional. He was right." History, Walt suggested, "will probably be kinder to Mr Snowden than to his pursuers, and his name may one day be linked to the other brave men and women—Daniel Ellsberg, Martin Luther King Jr., Mark Felt, Karen Silkwood and so on—whose acts of principled defiance are now widely admired."[40]
Books
In his 1987 book The Origins of Alliances, Walt examines the ways in which alliances are made and "proposes a fundamental change in the present conceptions of alliance systems."[41]
Revolution and War (1996) exposes "the flaws in existing theories about the relationship between revolution and war" by studying in detail the French, Russian, and Iranian Revolutions and providing briefer views of the American, Mexican, Turkish, and Chinese Revolutions.[42]
Taming American Power (2005) provides a thorough critique of US strategy from the perspective of its adversaries.[43]Anatol Lieven called it "a brilliant contribution to the American foreign policy debate."[44]
In March 2006, John Mearsheimer and Walt, then academic dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, published a working paper, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"[45] and an article entitled "The Israel Lobby" in the London Review of Books on the negative effects of "the unmatched power of the Israel Lobby." They defined the Israel lobby as "the loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively work to steer US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction."[46] Mearsheimer and Walt took this position: "What the Israel lobby wants, it too often gets."[47]
The articles, as well as the bestselling book that Walt and Mearsheimer later developed, generated considerable media coverage throughout the world. Contending that Walt and Mearsheimer are members of a "school that essentially wishes that the war with jihadism had never started," Christopher Hitchens concluded that "wishfulness has led them to seriously mischaracterize the origins of the problem."[48] Former US ambassador Edward Peck wrote that the "tsunami" of responses condemning the report proved the existence of the lobby and "Opinions differ on the long-term costs and benefits for both nations, but the lobby's views of Israel's interests have become the basis of US Middle East policies."[49]
Campus Watch is a web-based project of the Middle East Forum, a think tank with its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to its website, Campus Watch "reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them." Critics of Campus Watch say that it is a pro-Israel lobbyist organization involved in harassing, blacklisting, or intimidating scholars critical of Israel.
The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), formerly named the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, is a Washington, D.C.–based, non-profit and think tank.
Mortimer Benjamin Zuckerman is a Canadian-American billionaire media proprietor, magazine editor, and investor. He is the co-founder, executive chairman and former CEO of Boston Properties, one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the US. Zuckerman is also the owner and publisher of U.S. News & World Report, where he serves as editor-in-chief. He formerly owned the New York Daily News,The Atlantic, and Fast Company. As of August 2024, his net worth is estimated at US$2.6 billion.
Eliot Asher Cohen is an American political scientist. He was a counselor in the United States Department of State under Condoleezza Rice from 2007 to 2009. In 2019, Cohen was named the 9th Dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, succeeding Vali Nasr. Before his time as dean, he directed the Strategic Studies Program at SAIS. Cohen "is one of the few teachers in the American academy to treat military history as a serious field", according to international law scholar Ruth Wedgwood. Cohen is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He is also, with Eric Edelman, a co-host of the Shield of the Republic podcast, published by The Bulwark.
John Joseph Mearsheimer is an American political scientist and international relations scholar. He is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago.
Dennis B. Ross is an American diplomat and author. He served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush, the special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton, and was a special adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ross is currently a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think tank, and co-chairs the Jewish People Policy Institute's board of directors.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), also known simply as The Washington Institute (TWI), is a pro-Israel American think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the Near East.
Samantha Jane Power is an Irish-American journalist, diplomat, and government official who is currently serving as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. She previously served as the 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017. Power is a member of the Democratic Party.
Walter Russell Mead is an American academic. He is the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College and taught American foreign policy at Yale University. He was also the editor-at-large of The American Interest magazine. Mead is a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, a scholar at the Hudson Institute, and a book reviewer for Foreign Affairs, the bimonthly foreign policy journal published by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Offshore balancing is a strategic concept used in realist analysis in international relations. It describes a strategy in which a great power uses favored regional powers to check the rise of potentially-hostile powers. This strategy stands in contrast to the dominant grand strategy in the United States, liberal hegemony. Offshore balancing calls for the United States to withdraw from onshore positions and focus its offshore capabilities on the three key geopolitical regions of the world: Europe, the Persian Gulf, and Northeast Asia.
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is a book by John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, published in late August 2007. It was a New York Times Best Seller.
Charles "Chas" W. Freeman Jr. is an American retired diplomat and writer. He served in the United States Foreign Service, the State and Defense Departments in many different capacities over the course of thirty years. Most notably, he worked as the main interpreter for Richard Nixon during his 1972 China visit and served as the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1989 to 1992, where he dealt with the Gulf War.
The Arab lobby in the United States is a collection of formal and informal groups and professional lobbyists in the United States paid directly by Gulf Arab states and private donors on behalf of the Arab states.
The Israel lobby in the United States comprises individuals and groups who seek to influence the U.S. federal government to better serve the interests of Israel. The largest American pro-Israel lobbying group is Christians United for Israel, which has over seven million members. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a leading organization within the lobby, speaking on behalf of a coalition of pro-Israel American Jewish groups.
Israel lobby may refer to:
The Jewish lobby are individuals and groups predominantly in the Jewish diaspora that advocate for the interests of Jews and Jewish values. The lobby references the involvement and influence of Jews in politics and the political process, and includes organized groups such as the American Jewish Committee, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, B'nai B'rith, and the Anti-Defamation League.
Criticism of the United States government encompasses a wide range of sentiments about the actions and policies of the United States. Historically, domestic and international criticism of the United States has been driven by its embracement of classical economics, manifest destiny, hemispheric exclusion and exploitation of the Global South, military intervention, and alleged practice of neocolonialism, with its unipolar global position giving it a special responsibility which many feel is misused purely for self-gain, in contradiction with the beliefs and values of American people. This perpetuates negative sentiment towards the US and fuels criticism which is pervasive around the world.
The Arab Lobby: The Invisible Alliance That Undermines America's Interests in the Middle East is a book written by Mitchell Bard, the head of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and the director of the Jewish Virtual Library, published in August 2010. It was written in response to John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's bestselling albeit controversial The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, which focused on the role of the Israel lobby in shaping U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction.
The Hell of Good Intentions: America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy is a book by Stephen M. Walt, which focuses on the foreign policy of the U.S. government. According to the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Walt unveils the reality of White House foreign policy and argues that past U.S. presidents such as Clinton, Bush, and Obama, avoided accountability for repeated failures of their foreign policies. He also argues that such foreign policy mistakes contributed to the election of Donald Trump as president. In the book, Walt offers his take on what U.S. foreign policy should be and suggests that U.S. politicians should change their foreign policy approach.
This is a list of works by John Mearsheimer. In his later years, he focused increasingly on current events.
1 2 "Stephen M. Walt Interview (2005)". Conversations with History; Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
↑ Walt, Stephen M. (25 October 2011). "The End of the American Era". National Interest. Archived from the original on 2013-12-28. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
↑ Lederman, Josh (23 December 2017). "US agrees to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, angering Russia". Army Times. Sightline Media Group. Retrieved 12 September 2024. The Trump administration has approved a plan to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, a long-awaited move that deepens America's involvement in the military conflict and may further strain relations with Russia. Moscow responded angrily on Saturday.
1 2 Satloff, Robert (8 April 2010). "Defending Dennis Ross". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 27 April 2015. A copy of the Satloff piece is available hereArchived 2015-05-18 at the Wayback Machine on the website of WINEP.
↑ Walt, Stephen M. (13 March 2011). "On the murders at Itamar". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 2014-01-14. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
↑ John Mearsheimer; Stephen M. Walt (23 March 2006). "The Israel Lobby". London Review of Books. 28 (6). Archived from the original on 2014-01-15. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
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