Thomas G. Weiss

Thomas G. Weiss (born 1946) is a scholar of international relations, with special expertise in the politics of the United Nations. He is Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, Presidential Professor of Political Science at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), and Research Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. His research interests focus primarily on the United Nations, global governance, humanitarianism, human rights, the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, and the power of ideas in shaping world order.

Biography

Weiss received a BA at Harvard University and both a MA and PhD from Princeton University. He held professional posts in the Office of the UN Commissioner for Namibia, the University Program at the Institute for World Order, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and the International Labour Organization. He served as a Senior Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva from 1975 until 1985

After leaving UNCTAD, he became Executive Director of the International Peace Academy (now the International Peace Institute), until he left in 1989 to become Research Professor at Brown University and Associate Director of their Watson Institute for International Studies. He was also Executive Director of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS)from 1992 and 1998, and co-director of the Humanitarianism and War Project.

Since 1998, Weiss has been a member of the faculty of the CUNY Graduate Center and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies.

Academic work

He is "one of the leading experts on the theory and practice of humanitarian intervention,"^[1] and is recognized as an authority on the United Nations system.^[2]

Weiss has authored or edited some 45 books and over 200 articles and book chapters. His current research focuses on the Future UN Development System,^[3] and on the Wartime United Nations.^[4]

• Director of the United Nations Intellectual History Project, with Louis Emmerij and Richard Jolly, 1999-2010. In addition to overseeing seventeen volumes of study concerning the United Nations, the three directors notably introduced the idea that there are "three United Nations."^[5]
• Research Director of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, 2000-2002. This initiative popularized the concept of the "responsibility to protect," and Weiss co-authored the supplementary volume—which traced the ethics, assessed the operational mechanics, and analyzed the political dimensions of the undertaking—that accompanied the final report of the commission.
• President of the International Studies Association, the preeminent professional association of scholars of international politics, 2009-2010.
• Chair of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, 2007-2009.

At present he serves as an advisory board member for the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect,^[6] and sits on the editorial boards of Journal of ---tervention and Statebuilding,^[7] Third World Quarterly,^[8] Global Governance,^[9] and Global Responsibility to Protect.^[10] He is also an editor of Routledge's "Global Institutions Series."

Books

Weiss's books from the last decade include (most recent editions are listed):

• Weiss, Thomas G.; Forsythe, David P.; Coate, Roger; Kelly-Kate Pease (2014), The United Nations and Changing World Politics, Seventh Edition, [Westview Press], ISBN 978-0813348476, http://www.westviewpress.com/book.php?isbn=9780813348476.
• Weiss, Thomas G.; Serrano, Monica, eds. (2014),The International Politics of Human Rights: Rallying to the R2P C-use? [Routledge], ISBN 978-0-415-62634-7, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415626347/.
• Weiss, Thomas G.; Wilkinson, Rorden, eds. (2014), International Organization and Global Governance, [Routledge], ISBN 978-0-415-62760-3.
• Weiss, Thomas G. (2013), Global Governance: Why? What? Whither, [Polity Press], ISBN 978-0745660462, http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745660455.
• Weiss, Thomas G. (2013), Humanitarian Business, [Polity Press], ISBN 978-0-7456-6332-6, http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745663319.
• Weiss, Thomas G. (2012), Humanitarian Intervention: Ideas in Action, Second Edition, [Polity Press], ISBN 978-0745659800, http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745659800.
• Weiss, Thomas G. (2012), What's Wrong With the United Nations and How to Fix It, Second Edition, [Polity Press] ISBN 978-0-7456-4297-0, http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745659831.
• Barnett, Michael; Weiss, Thomas G. (2011), Humanitarianism Contested: Where Angels Fear to Tread, [Routledge], ISBN 978-0415496636, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415496643/.
• Mani, Rama; Weiss, Thomas G., eds. (2011), Responsibility to Protect: Cultural Perspectives in the Global South, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415781855, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415781855/.
• Weiss, Thomas G. (2011), Thinking about Global Governance, Why People and Ideas Matter, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415781930, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415781930/.
• Weiss, Thomas G.; Thakur, Ramesh (2010), Global Governance and the UN: An Unfinished Journey, Indiana University Press, ISBN 978-0253221674, http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=145358.
• Boulden, Jane; Thakur, Ramesh; Weiss, Thomas G., eds. (2009), The United Nations and Nuclear Orders, [United Nations University Press], ISBN 978-9280811674, https://unp.un.org/bookshop/details.aspx?sku=9789280811674.
• Jolly, Richard; Emmerij, Louis; and Weiss, Thomas G. (2009), UN Ideas That Changed the World, [Indiana University Press], ISBN 978-0253221186, http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=95548.
• Barnett, Michael; Weiss, Thomas G., eds. (2008), Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics, [Cornell University Press], ISBN 978-0801473012, http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100666490.
• Weiss, Thomas G.; Daws, Sam, eds. (2007), The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations [Oxford University Press], ISBN 978-0199560103, http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199560103.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199560103.
• Weiss, Thomas G.; with Korn, David A. (2006) Internal Displacement: Conceptualization and Its Consequences, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415770804, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415770798/.
• Hoffman, Peter J.; Weiss, Thomas G. (2006), Sword & Salve: Confronting New Wars and Humanitarian Crises, [Rowman & Littlefield], ISBN 978-0742539778.
• Weiss, Thomas G. (2004), Military-Civilian Interactions: Humanitarian Crises and the Responsibility to Protect, Second Edition, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-0742530171.
• Weiss, Thomas G.; Caryannis, Tatiana; Emmerij, Louis; and Jolly, Richard (2005), UN Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice, [Indiana University Press], ISBN 978-0253346421, http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=22228.
• Weiss, Thomas G., Crahan, Margaret E.; Goering, John, eds. (2004), Wars on Terrorism and Iraq: Human Rights, Unilateralism, and U.S. Foreign Policy, [Routledge], ISBN 978-0415700634, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415700634/.
• Boulden, Jane; Weiss, Thomas G., eds. (2004), Terrorism and the UN: Before and After September 11, Indiana University Press, ISBN 978-0253216625, http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=21665.
• Weiss, Thomas G., Hubert, Don (2002) The Responsibility to Protect: Research, Bibliography, Background, [International Development Research Centre], ISBN 978-0889369634, http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-9439-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html.
• Louis Emmerij; Jolly, Richard; and Weiss, Thomas G. (2001), Ahead of the Curve?: UN Ideas and Global Challenges, [Indiana University Press], ISBN 025321467X, http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=21187.
• Aall, Pamela; Miltenberger, Daniel; Weiss, Thomas G. (2000), Guide to IGOs, NGOs, and the Military in Peace and Relief Operations, [US Institute of Peace], ISBN 978-1929223053.

Lectures and Talks

References

External links

• Thomas G. Weiss's faculty profile at City University of New York.
• The United Nations Intellectual History Project website
• The FP Survey: The United Nations, "an exclusive poll of top experts" that includes Thomas G. Weiss