William Thornton Rickert Fox

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William Thornton Rickert Fox (1912-1988), generally known as W.T.R. Fox, was an American foreign policy professor and international relations theorician at the Columbia University (1950-1980, emeritus 1980-1988).[1] He is perhaps mostly known as the coiner of the term superpower in 1944. He wrote several books about the foreign policy of the United States of America and the United Kingdom (and its predecessor: the British Empire). He was also a pioneer in establishing the systematic study of statecraft and war as an academic discipline.

Contents

[edit] Academic career

He obtained his Ph.D at the University of Chicago.[2] He became in 1951 the first director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies (which was later renamed into the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies).[3] He was also an advisory board member of the Journal of International Affairs from 1952 until 1988[4] and the president of the International Studies Association (ISA) in 1972-1973.[5]

[edit] Superpower

A world map of 1945. According to William T.R. Fox, the United States (Blue), the Soviet Union (Red), and the British Empire (Turquoise) were superpowers.
A world map of 1945. According to William T.R. Fox, the United States (Blue), the Soviet Union (Red), and the British Empire (Turquoise) were superpowers.

Fox coined the word "superpower" in his 1944 book Superpowers: the United States, Britain, and the Soviet union—their responsibility for peace to identify a new category of power able to occupy the highest status in a world in which, as the war then raging demonstrated, states could challenge and fight each other on a global scale. According to him, there were (at that moment) three states that were superpowers: the United States, the Soviet Union, and the British Empire.

[edit] Notable students

[edit] Books and articles

[edit] Articles

  • "Science, Technology and International Politics" in International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 1. (Mar., 1968), pp. 1-15.
  • ""The Truth Shall Make You Free": One Student's Appreciation of Quincy Wright" in The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 14, No. 4. (Dec., 1970), pp. 449-452.
  • "The Problems of War Termination: The Causes of Peace and Conditions of War" in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 392, How Wars End. (Nov., 1970), pp. 1-13.

[edit] Books

  • Superpowers: the United States, Britain, and the Soviet union—their responsibility for peace (1944)
  • Theoretical Aspects of International Relations (editor, 1959)
  • Nato and the range of American choice (1967)
  • European Security and the Atlantic System (editor, 1973)
  • A Continent Apart The United States and Canada in World Politics (1985)

[edit] References

  1. ^ William T.R. Fox
  2. ^ William T.R. Fox
  3. ^ Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/iwps/
  4. ^ JIA Previous Advisory Board Members
  5. ^ http://www.isanet.org/handbook/hist.html
  6. ^ Conversation with Kenneth N. Waltz, p. 3 of 7