Stephen M. Walt (left). |
|
| Full name | Stephen M. Walt |
|---|---|
| Born | 1955 |
| Era | International relations theory |
| Region | American Northeast |
| School | Neorealism |
| Notable ideas | Defensive realism, Balance of threat theory |
Stephen Martin Walt (born July 2, 1955) is a professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Among his most prominent works are Origins of Alliances and Revolution and War. He coauthored The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy with John Mearsheimer.
Contents |
In 1983, he received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He did his undergraduate studies at Stanford University. Walt developed the 'Balance of Threat' Theory, which defined threats in terms of aggregate power, geographic proximity, offensive power, and aggressive intentions. More recently Walt has attracted attention for co-authoring and publishing with John Mearsheimer an article, which was subsequently published as a book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, a New York Times Best Seller. Walt is an influential scholar in international relations,[1] generally associated with defensive realism. Jonathan Chait of The New Republic has called Walt an "ultra-Nixonian realist."[2]
In March 2006, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, academic dean of the Kennedy School of Government, published a working paper entitled The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy 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 define the Lobby as "the loose coalition of individuals and organisations who actively work to steer US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction". The articles generated considerable media coverage throughout the world.
Walt believes that President Barack Obama erred by breaking with the principles in his Cairo speech by allowing continued Israeli settlement activity and by participating in a "well-coordinated assault" against the Goldstone Report.[3] Walt argues against the "safe-haven myth" in Afghanistan and that Obama's justification for escalating the war is flawed.[4] Which he received criticism for by terrorism expert Peter Bergen.[5]
Walt is married to Rebecca E. Stone[6] and has two children.[7]