Bruce M. Russett: Pioneer in the Scientific and Normative Study of War, Peace, and Policy

198 Pages·2015·4.585 MB·English

by  Harvey Starr (eds.)

SPRINGER BRIEFS ON PIONEERS IN
SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 34
Harvey Starr E ditor
Bruce M. Russett:
Pioneer in the
Scientific and
Normative Study
of War, Peace, and
Policy
123
SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science
and Practice
Volume 34
Series editor
Hans Günter Brauch, Mosbach, Germany
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10970
http://www.afes-press-books.de/html/SpringerBriefs_PSP.htm
http://afes-press-books.de/html/SpringerBriefs_PSP_Russett.htm
Harvey Starr
Editor
Bruce M. Russett: Pioneer
in the Scientific
and Normative Study
of War, Peace, and Policy
123
Editor
Harvey Starr
Department of Political Science
Universityof South Carolina
Columbia,SC
USA
Acknowledgment: The cover photograph as well as all other photos in this volume were
takenfromthepersonalphotocollectionoftheauthorwhoalsograntedthepermissionon
their publication in this volume. A book website with additional information on Bruce
M. Russett, including videos and his major book covers is at: http://afes-press-books.de/
html/SpringerBriefs_PSP_Russett.htm.
ISSN 2194-3125 ISSN 2194-3133 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs onPioneers inScience and Practice
ISBN 978-3-319-13849-7 ISBN 978-3-319-13850-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-13850-3
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For the 80th birthday of my
mentor, colleague and friend Bruce Russett
PhotoofProf.BruceM.RussettwithseveralofhisformerstudentsathisretirementdinnerinNew
Haven, 2011: from left to right, Roy Licklider, Bethany Lacinia, Bruce Russett, Fred Chernoff,
DavidKinsella,andHarveyStarr(editor).SourceThisphotoisfromthepersonalphotocollection
ofBruceM.Russettwhograntedpermissiontoincludeithere
Preface
Theterms‘pioneer’or‘giant’inafieldofstudyareoftentossedaboutloosely.Butin
thecaseofBruceM.Russett,theybarelybegintodescribetheplaceandimpacthe
hashadinthestudyofinternationalrelationsandworldpolitics.Brucewasafounder
of, and continues to be a pioneer in, the empirical analytic study of international
relationsandforeignpolicy.Hehasproducedpioneeringworkonmethodology,data
collection,andtheapplicationofeconomicstothefieldofinternationalrelations—
especially in the area of analytical relationships between theory, policy, and nor-
mative standards for morality and ethics. His work has clarified and furthered our
understandingofpeacestudiesbylookingatpowerandconflict,cooperation,inte-
gration, and community, the democratic/Kantian peace, economic development,
dependency, and inequality, and the relationships between domestic and foreign
politics. His academic achievements and stature derive from bringing these areas
together as a coherent entity, based on his eclectic ability to ‘cross boundaries’ in
regard to academic disciplines, sub-disciplines, methods of data gathering and
analysis,broadtheoreticalperspectivesaswellasbasicandappliedresearch—andall
withinastrongnormativeperspective.Additionally,throughhistrainingofstudents,
hisservicetovariousprofessionalassociationsandespeciallyhisstewardshipofthe
JournalofConflictResolutionwhichheeditedfrom1973to2009,hehasinfluenced
almosteverycornerofinternationalrelationsscholarship.
IfirstmetBruceRussettintheSpringsemesterof1968,duringmyfirstyearatYale
for graduate school. I took his graduate seminar in international relations theory.
WhileIhadtakentwoverygoodundergraduateIRcoursesatSUNYBuffalofrom
Glenn Snyder, Bruce’s course opened (blew!) my mind to the richness of the
subfield—andIwashooked.Thiswastobemymajorfield,myacademicpassion,and
mycareerpath.Whatcouldbeabetterdescriptionoftheroleandimpactofamentor?
As a major figure inthedevelopment (and later publication)ofmy dissertation,
Bruce was also theco-authorofmyvery first publication—achapterin his award-
winning book What Price Vigilance? (a chapter that was based on one of my
comprehensiveexaminationpapers,forwhichBrucewastheadvisor).Wehaveco-
authoredseveraltimessince,mostnotablyinthewell-received(and,indeed,highly
cited) undergraduate textbook, World Politics: The Menu for Choice which first
vii
viii Preface
appeared as Russett and Starr in 1981. The 10th edition appeared in 2013 (as
Kinsella, Russett and Starr). We have had a number of common interests, which
only partially overlap, including the broad study of conflict and cooperation, and
morespecificallyinthedemocraticpeace.Indeed,whenaskedaboutwhatresearch
he was most proud of, Bruce replied that it was the democratic peace and his
extension of it into the Kantian peace.1
Oneconstantinmyacademiccareer,fromgraduateschoolatYaletomypresent
status as Dag Hammarskjöld Professor in International Affairs Emeritus at
the University of South Carolina, has been Bruce Russett as “teacher, mentor,
colleague,friend,andmostofall—inspiration…”2Ihavealwaysbeenhumbledthat
Bruce willingly took on the role of mentor, not just to me, but to generations of
internationalrelationsscholars.Iamhonoredtobeabletorepaythatdebt,atleastin
part,bypresentinganintellectualbiographicalsummaryofhislongandacclaimed
career,andinselectingahandfulofarticlesthatreflectsomeofthemainthemesof
his intellectual journey.
Oneimportantnotetothereader:thisbookwilllooksomewhatdifferentfromother
volumesinthe‘Pioneer’seriesfromSpringer.Here,Ihaveservedaseditoraswellas
theauthorofthePrefaceandtheessayoutliningBruceRussett’sintellectualbiography.
Thatessaydiscussesthegeneralthemesofhiswork,andhowtheitemsselectedfor
inclusionreflectandrepresentthesethemes.TheremainderofthePrefacewillcontain
much of the biographical information that in other Pioneer volumes was autobio-
graphical, written by the subject of the volume. All of the different aspects of the
volumeweredonewiththeincrediblygenerousaidofBruce,whoaskedmetotakeon
thesetasks.ThatiswhythePrefaceandAcknowledgmentsaredifficulttoseparate,as
oneflowsintotheother—asthereaderwillseeintheAcknowledgmentsbelow.3
As I discovered in an earlier book on Henry Kissinger (Starr 1984), any
scholarly/intellectual biography (or analysis) must be grounded in a number of
basic biographical factors of the individual involved. Fortunately for me, Bruce
Russetthasleftanumberofpublishedandunpublisheditemspresentingsomekey
elements of his personal history that includes his life experiences along with his
intellectual journey. In particular, a 2011 statement at Williams College after
receivinganhonorarydoctoratefromthatinstitution,a2013presentationatYale’s
1See the March 2014 interview with Bruce by MINDfields—Founding Conflict Scholars Look
Back/Forward http://mindfields.weebly.com/. As noted on the MINDfields website: “We as
researchers are pretty bad sometimes about understanding the history of the fields that we par-
ticipatein,andwearenotalwaysgoodaboutrecognizingorcelebratingwhathasbeendoneinthe
past… MINDfields—Political Conflict/Peace was designed to address this problem within the
specificsubfieldofpoliticalconflictandpeaceresearchinpoliticalscienceandsociology.”
2WhichishowIdescribedBruceinthededicationtomy2006editedfestschriftvolume,Approaches,
LevelsandMethodsofAnalysisinInternationalPolitics:CrossingBoundaries(Starr2006).
3ThreeoftheimportantintellectualautobiographicalpiecesIhavedrawnfromare:Russett(1976)
in Rosenau’s edited volume, In Search of Global Patterns; Russett (1989) in the Kruzel and
Rosenaueditedvolume,JourneysThroughWorldPolitics:AutobiographicalReflectionsofThirty-
fourAcademicTravelers;andRussett(2001)inThomasLandy’seditedvolume,AsLeavenforthe
World:ReflectionsonFaith,Vocation,andtheIntellectualLife.
Preface ix
HenryKoernerCenterfor Emeritus Faculty,anda2014talkatBerkeley,provided
important autobiographical details. In the talk at Berkeley, Bruce noted:
“I give an undergrad seminar on the history of international relations theory,
starting with Thucydides and Kautilya, proceeding through Machiavelli, Hobbes,
Kant, Clausewitz, Lenin, Schumpeter, Schelling… The central theme is that, like
theancients,allofuswhostudy,write,orpracticeinternationalrelationscomewith
ourownimplicittheories,whetherornotwethinkofthemastheories.Andwe,like
our predecessors, write from very particular personal, political, and international
experiences that shape those theories (emphasis added).”
Bruce Russett was born in 1935, in North Adams, Massachusetts, in the north-
western corner of the state. While currently touted as ‘the smallest city in
Massachusetts,’ it is no longer the small industrial city in which Russett grew
up.Brucerecallsthathisearliestpoliticalmemorieswereaboutwarandpeace,with
the attack on Pearl Harbor occurring in December 1941. The next year he put
togetherwhathejokinglycallshis“firstbook”—ascrapbookofphotosandpurple
prose about the attack. It has since been lost. Along with Pearl Harbor, prominent
early memories included air raid drills, and the dropping of the atom bomb on
Hiroshima.Hismorecompletediscussionofsuchearlyexperienceshelpstoexplain
alifelonginterestinwarandpeace,deterrence,andindeed,inhiswords,a“strainof
populism and distrust of authority that runs through my work” based on what he
came to realize were government actions that hugely exaggerated the immediate
threattoNorthAdams,Massachusetts(seealsoRussett’sMINDfieldsinterview).In
sum,Brucehasnotedthat“WorldWarIIwasanintenseexperience”(Russett2001).
One of the key events in Russett’s life was winning a partial scholarship to
WilliamsCollege,onlyafewmilesfromhishome.Thiswastobeoneofthemajor
formativeinfluencesonhislife.Brucehadwanted‘todogood’insomeareaoflife,
andatWilliamsdecideditwouldbeinpoliticsandinternationalaffairs,asamajorin
politicalsciencewouldhelphim‘tolearnwhatdoinggoodmightmean,andhowto
do it.’ Even as early as high school (as a member of the World Federalists) this
concern with policy was evident, and to become a major component of Bruce’s
scholarly work (along with war and peace, and deterrence). Equally important, he
later switched majors to ‘the elite hybrid major in political economy,’ setting the
stage for later graduate work at Cambridge University and for his contributions in
bringing the theories and methods of economics to the study of international rela-
tions (see especially Russett 1968). Russett acknowledged in his 2011 statement a
numberof‘finefaculty’atWilliamsinbothpoliticalscienceandeconomics—“All
were men of the world as well as intellectuals, and under their influence I took
seriouslythepossibilityofteachingatacollegeoruniversity.”Therewerealsothree
inparticularthatencouragedhimtoseetheworldanddopost-graduatework,putting
together a package of small grants that allowed him to do a one year Diploma in
Economics (an M.A. equivalent) at King’s College, Cambridge. Bruce has said
simply ofthese three individuals: “Theychanged my life.”
TheyearatCambridgewasimportantmanyways.Brucenotes(Koerner2013):
“IntellectualactivitymatteredatKingsandinthefriendshipsImadethere.Istudied
economics—especially development economics—in the shadow of John Maynard