Robert Jervis
{{Short description|American political scientist and academic (1940–2021)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Robert Jervis
| birth_date = {{birth date|1940|04|30}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|12|09|1940|04|30}}
| discipline = Political science
| education = {{Plain list|
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| image = Robert Jervis (7045512599).jpg
| workplaces = {{Plain list|
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| children =
| influenced = Shiping Tang
| influences = {{Plain list|
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| doctoral_students = {{Plain list|
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| spouse =
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Robert Jervis (April 30, 1940 – December 9, 2021) was an American political scientist who was the Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. Jervis was co-editor of the Cornell Studies in Security Affairs, a series published by Cornell University Press.
He is known for his contributions to political psychology, international relations theory, nuclear strategy, and intelligence studies.{{Cite journal |last=Wirtz |first=James J. |date=2022 |title=Robert Jervis: remembering the dean of intelligence studies |journal=Intelligence and National Security |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=732–740 |doi=10.1080/02684527.2022.2055707 |s2cid=247901751 |issn=0268-4527|doi-access=free }}{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Remembering Robert Jervis |url=https://tnsr.org/roundtable/remembering-robert-jervis/ |website=Texas National Security Review |language=en-US}} According to the Open Syllabus Project, Jervis is one of the most-frequently cited authors on college syllabi for political science courses.{{Cite web|url=https://opensyllabus.org/results-list/authors?size=50&fields=Political%20Science|title=Open Syllabus: Explorer|access-date=January 25, 2020|archive-date=January 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112022102/https://opensyllabus.org/results-list/authors?size=50&fields=Political%20Science|url-status=dead}}
Early life and education
Robert Jervis was born in New York City in 1940.{{Cite web|last=Jervis|first=Robert|title=H-Diplo Essay 198- Robert Jervis on Learning the Scholar's Craft|url=https://issforum.org/essays/198-jervis|access-date=June 8, 2021|website=H-Diplo {{!}} ISSF|date=March 4, 2020|language=en-US}} He earned a BA from Oberlin College in 1962. At Oberlin, he developed an interest in nuclear strategy, and was influenced by Thomas Schelling’s Strategy of Conflict and Glenn Snyder’s Deterrence and Defense.{{Cite web|last=Jervis|first=Robert|date=December 28, 2016|title=Thomas C. Schelling: A Reminiscence|url=https://warontherocks.com/2016/12/thomas-c-schelling-a-reminiscence/|access-date=December 10, 2021|website=War on the Rocks|language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Robert Jervis, 1940-2021 {{!}} Political Science |url=https://polisci.columbia.edu/content/robert-jervis-1940-2021 |access-date=2022-09-07 |website=polisci.columbia.edu|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240520002041/https://polisci.columbia.edu/content/robert-jervis-1940-2021|archive-date=20 May 2024|url-status=live}} In 1962, he began graduate work at University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under Glenn Snyder. He received a PhD from UC Berkeley in 1968.{{Cite web|date=December 9, 2021|title=The Institute Mourns the Passing of Robert Jervis|url=https://www.siwps.org/the-institute-mourns-the-passing-of-robert-jervis/|access-date=December 11, 2021|website=Columbia SIPA|language=en-US}}
Career
From 1968 to 1972, he was an assistant professor of government at Harvard University and was an associate professor from 1972 to 1974. According to Jervis, Schelling brought him to Harvard. In 1974, Jervis was a candidate for the tenured chair vacated by Henry Kissinger when he started working in the Richard Nixon administration, but the Government department at Harvard did not consider Jervis qualified.{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Gov Dept. Fails to Fill Kissinger Chair |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1974/5/29/gov-dept-fails-to-fill-kissinger/ |website=The Harvard Crimson}} At Harvard, he developed a close friendship with Schelling and Kenneth Waltz. From 1974 to 1980, he was a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a member of the Columbia University faculty from 1980 until his death in 2021. He was a member of the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies in the School of International and Public Affairs. He was president of the American Political Science Association in 2000–2001.
Jervis consulted for the CIA.
He worked on perceptions and misperceptions in foreign policy decision making. Jervis played a key role in introducing insights from psychology to International Relations scholarship.{{Cite book|last=Cohen|first=Benjamin J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H79WVDwMzCEC|title=International Political Economy: An Intellectual History|date=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-13569-4|pages=121|language=en}} Charles Glaser described Jervis's work on the security dilemma as "among the most important works in international relations of the past few decades."{{Cite journal|last=Glaser|first=Charles L.|date=1997|title=The Security Dilemma Revisited|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/security-dilemma-revisited/0174D23352D9303257AAAC18911F3AB7|journal=World Politics|language=en|volume=50|issue=1|pages=171–201|doi=10.1017/S0043887100014763|s2cid=41736348 |issn=1086-3338|url-access=subscription}}
According to Jack Snyder, "Jervis's body of thought can be categorized in terms of five interrelated themes: communication in strategic bargaining, perception and misperception in international politics, cooperation in anarchy, the nuclear revolution, and complex system effects and unintended consequences."{{Cite journal |last=Snyder |first=Jack |date=2000 |title=Robert Jervis: Illuminating the Dilemmas of International Politics |journal=PS: Political Science & Politics |language=en |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=663–666 |doi=10.1017/S1049096500061783 |issn=1537-5935 |s2cid=155198741|doi-access=free }} According to Thomas J. Christensen and Keren Yarhi-Milo, "in seeking to understand both behavior and outcomes in world affairs, Jervis championed the role of individuals’ perceptions and formative experiences rather than just broad political, social, and economic forces... [His] work was always rooted in the complexities of actual decision-making by real people with quirks and flaws."{{Cite news |last1=Christensen |first1=Thomas J. |last2=Yarhi-Milo |first2=Keren |date=2022-01-07 |title=The Human Factor |journal=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2022-01-07/human-factor |access-date=2022-01-07 |issn=0015-7120}}
Jervis was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+Jervis&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=March 12, 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}} In 2006 he was awarded the NAS Award for Behavior Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War from the National Academy of Sciences. He participated in the 2010 Hertog Global Strategy Initiative, a high-level research program on nuclear proliferation.
In 2021, he was elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/2021-nas-election.html|title=News from the National Academy of Sciences|date=April 26, 2021|access-date=July 4, 2021|quote=Newly elected members and their affiliations at the time of election are: … Jervis, Robert; Adlai Stevenson Professor of Political Science, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York City}}, entry in member directory:{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/45214.html|title=Member Directory|access-date=July 4, 2021|publisher=National Academy of Sciences}} Jervis was the recipient of the 1990 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
Personal life and death
Jervis met his wife Kathe (née Weil) Jervis in 1961 on a student trip to the Soviet Union.{{cite web|date=December 10, 2021|title=Robert Jervis Obituary|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/9270091/obituary-robert-jervis|access-date=December 10, 2021|website=H-Diplo}} Together they had two daughters, Alexa and Lisa. Lisa Jervis is a co-founder of Bitch magazine.
In the early 1960s, while studying for his PhD in Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley, Jervis participated in the Free Speech Movement.
Jervis died of lung cancer in his Manhattan home on December 9, 2021, at the age of 81.{{cite web |title=In Memory of Robert Jervis |url=https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/news/memory-robert-jervis |website=sipa.columbia.edu |publisher=Columbia School of International and Public Affairs |access-date=6 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241106023213/https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/news/memory-robert-jervis |archive-date=6 November 2024 |date=12 December 2021 |url-status=live}} He is honored at Columbia University with an annual conference bearing his name.{{Cite web |date=May 1, 2024 |title=Second Annual Jervis Conference Examines Overclassification and the ‘Dark State’ |url=https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/news/second-annual-jervis-conference-examines-overclassification-and-dark-state |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=sipa.columbia.edu}}
Selected publications
Books
- The Logic of Images in International Relations (Princeton, 1970) {{ISBN|978-0-231-06932-8}}
- Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton, 1976) {{ISBN|978-0-691-10049-4}}
- The Illogic of American Nuclear Strategy (Cornell, 1985) {{ISBN|9781501738654}}
- The Meaning of the Nuclear Revolution (Cornell, 1989) {{ISBN|978-0801495656}}
- System Effects: Complexity in Political and Social Life (Princeton, 1997) {{ISBN|978-0-86682-003-5}}
- American Foreign Policy in a New Era (Routledge, 2005) {{ISBN|978-0-41595-101-2}}
- Why Intelligence Fails: Lessons From The Iranian Revolution And The Iraq War (Cornell, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-8014-4785-3}}
- How Statesmen Think: The Psychology of International Politics (Essay Collection) (Princeton, 2017) {{ISBN|978-0-691-17644-4}}
Articles
- {{cite journal |title=System Effects Revisited |journal=Critical Review |date=September 2012 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=393–415 |doi=10.1080/08913811.2012.767048 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08913811.2012.767048|last1=Jervis |first1=Robert |s2cid=143974640 |url-access=subscription }}
- {{cite journal |title=Black Swans in Politics |journal=Critical Review |date=January 2009 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=475–489 |doi=10.1080/08913810903441419 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08913810903441419|last1=Jervis |first1=Robert |s2cid=144232450 |url-access=subscription }}
- {{cite journal |title=Bridges, Barriers, and Gaps: Research and Policy |journal=Political Psychology |date=August 2008 |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=571–592 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9221.2008.00650.x |jstor=20447145 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20447145|last1=Jervis |first1=Robert |url-access=subscription }}
- {{cite journal |title=Understanding Beliefs |journal=Political Psychology |date=September 2006 |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=641–663 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9221.2006.00527.x |jstor=3792533 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3792533 |issn=0162-895X|last1=Jervis |first1=Robert |url-access=subscription }}
- {{cite journal |title=The Implications of Prospect Theory for Human Nature and Values |journal=Political Psychology |date=April 2004 |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=163–176 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00367.x |jstor=3792560 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3792560|last1=Jervis |first1=Robert |url-access=subscription }}
- {{cite journal |title=Realism, Neoliberalism, and Cooperation: Understanding the Debate |journal=International Security |date=July 1999 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=42–63 |doi=10.1162/016228899560040 |url=https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article-abstract/24/1/42/11630/Realism-Neoliberalism-and-Cooperation |last1=Jervis |first1=Robert |s2cid=57572295 }}
- {{cite journal |title=Complexity and the Analysis of Political and Social Life |journal=Political Science Quarterly |date=Winter 1997–1998 |volume=112 |issue=4 |pages=569–593 |doi=10.2307/2657692 |jstor=2657692 |url=https://www.psqonline.org/article.cfm?IDArticle=13897|last1=Jervis |first1=Robert |url-access=subscription }}
- {{cite journal |title=Cooperation under the Security Dilemma |journal=World Politics |date=January 1978 |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=167–214 |doi=10.2307/2009958 |jstor=2009958 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/cooperation-under-the-security-dilemma/C8907431CCEFEFE762BFCA32F091C526 |last1=Jervis |first1=Robert |hdl=2027/uc1.31158011478350 |s2cid=154923423 |hdl-access=free }}
References
Further reading
- Utter, Glenn H. and Charles Lockhart, eds. (2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=HTXDxjW6OBAC American Political Scientists: A Dictionary] (2nd ed.). {{ISBN|031331957X}}.
- [https://issforum.org/admin/jervis-tribute-part-1 H-Diplo. Tribute to the Life, Scholarship, and Legacy of Robert Jervis: Part I.]
- [https://issforum.org/ISSF/PDF/ISSF-Jervis-Tribute-2.pdf H-Diplo. Tribute to the Life, Scholarship, and Legacy of Robert Jervis: Part II]
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060216234005/http://mjtier.people.wm.edu/intlpolitics/teaching/surveyreport.pdf Teaching and Research Practices, Views on the Discipline, and Policy Attitudes of International Relations Faculty at U.S. Colleges and Universities]
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20081023202211/http://www.theory-talks.org/2008/07/theory-talk-12.html An interview with Robert Jervis by Theory Talks]}}
- {{C-SPAN|76075}}
{{American Political Science Association presidents|state=uncollapsed}}
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Category:American political scientists
Category:American international relations scholars
Category:Oberlin College alumni
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:Columbia School of International and Public Affairs faculty
Category:20th-century American writers
Category:American political psychologists
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences