जॉन जे. मियरशाइमर John J. Mearsheimer
Books and writing
Conventional Deterrence (1983)
Cornell University Press. His first book grew out of his Cornell doctorate. It asks when conventional armies deter attack and when they fail to. It won the Edgar S. Furniss Jr. Book Award.
Liddell Hart and the Weight of History (1988)
Cornell University Press. A study of the British military thinker Basil Liddell Hart and how he shaped his own reputation.
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001)
W. W. Norton (revised 2014). The statement of offensive realism. It argues that anarchy drives great powers to seek regional hegemony and to block rivals elsewhere. It predicts that China cannot rise peacefully. The 2014 edition expanded the chapter on China. It won the Joseph Lepgold Book Prize. It made him a much-read author in China.
John Mearsheimer: Biography · Wikipedia: John Mearsheimer
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy: With Stephen M. Walt (2007)
Farrar, Straus and Giroux. An expansion of the 2006 essay. It argues that a loose coalition of groups pushes US policy towards Israel’s preferences. It says this harms American interests and in the long run Israel’s too. It reached the New York Times bestseller list. Leslie Gelb called it “mostly wrong, as well as dangerously misleading”. Tony Judt and Michael Massing defended its right to be debated.
Wikipedia: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy · World Politics Review: Gelb on Mearsheimer and Walt (19 September 2007) · NPR: Debate over controversial Israel lobby continues (20 September 2007)
Why Leaders Lie: The Truth about Lying in International Politics (2011)
Oxford University Press. A short study of international lying. It finds that leaders lie more to their own people than to other states. It weighs the costs of lies that backfire or breed a culture of deceit at home.
John Mearsheimer: Biography · Wikipedia: John Mearsheimer
The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities (2018)
Yale University Press. A critique of liberal hegemony. It argues that America’s attempt to remake the world in its image after the Cold War ran into nationalism and realism and failed. Named best book of 2019 by the Valdai Discussion Club. William Wohlforth argued it sits uneasily with The Tragedy.
John Mearsheimer: Biography · Wikipedia: John Mearsheimer
How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy. With Sebastian Rosato (2023)
Yale University Press. It argues that most states are rational most of the time. Rationality means using credible theories and deciding through deliberation. Ten historical cases test the claim. Keren Yarhi-Milo in Foreign Affairs said deliberation does not remove bias. Lawfare found the cases too brief to rule out other explanations.
Lawfare: What makes a state rational? Review of How States Think (24 October 2023) · Foreign Affairs: Thinking Like a State. Yarhi-Milo and Mearsheimer–Rosato exchange (2023)
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