John G. Stoessinger, Ph.D. (Harvard), a prize winning author of ten leading books on world politics Politics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the, has been the recipient of the distinguished Bancroft Prize The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948 by a bequest from Frederic Bancroft. The prize is generally considered the most prestigious award in the field of American history writing and comes with a $10,000 stipend for History for The Might of Nations, and has served as Acting Director for the Political Affairs Division at the United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and. On the eve of World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history. In a, Dr. Stoessinger fled from Nazi-occupied Austria Austria /ˈɔːstriə/ (German: Österreich (help·info)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and to Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992. From 1939 to 1945 the state did not have de facto existence, due to its forced division and partial incorporation into Germany, but the Czechoslovak government-in-exile nevertheless. His family was saved by a Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, who issued three visas to transit Russia, allowing them to escape to Shanghai Originally a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew to importance in the 19th century due to its favourable port location and as one of the cities opened to foreign trade by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. The city flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became a multinational hub of finance and business by the 1930s. However, via Siberia Siberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century and Kobe Kobe is the sixth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture and a prominent port city in Japan with a population of about 1.5 million. The city is located in the Kansai region of Japan and is part of the Keihanshin (京阪神, Keihanshin?) metropolitan area. Kobe is classified as one of Japan's seventeen designated cities. Dr. Stoessinger is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, lecturing extensively throughout the world, and serves as Distinguished Professor of Global Diplomacy at the University of San Diego The University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic university in San Diego, California. USD offers more than sixty bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral programs. The university consists of six schools: the School of Business Administration, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the School of Law, the School of Nursing & Health Science, and is a visiting lecturer at the University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego is a public research university located in La Jolla, San Diego, California, United States. UCSD is one of the ten general campuses of the University of California system and was founded in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 22,048 undergraduate and 5,073 graduate students.
In 1976, Stoessinger pleaded guilty to concealing fraud totaling at least $260,000 committed by Anne Lament, who used letters of recommendation from him which she addressed to overseas banks and governments.[1] He subsequently received a full Presidential Pardon A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. It is granted by a head of state, such as a monarch or president, or by a competent church authority. Clemency is an associated term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime itself. The act of clemency is a reprieve. Today, pardons and from Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975), thereby nullifying the original offense.[2]
Contents |
Theories on International Relations
Stoessinger was only a child when Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), popularly known as the Nazi Party. He was the authoritarian leader of Germany from 1933 to 1945, serving as chancellor from 1933 to 1945 and as head of state ( invaded his home of Austria in order to obtain Anschluss The Anschluss ( [ˈʔanʃlʊs] ; German for "link-up"), also known as the Anschluss Österreichs (help·info), was the 1938 de facto annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime. As a Jewish family, they felt the need to escape from the Nazis. They received a visa to Shanghai, China from a kind Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara who was interested in helping victims escape from the Nazis Nazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. These were the beginnings that shaped Stoessinger's world view and interest in 'why nations go to war.' Much like the scholar Thucydides Thucydides (Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukydídēs) was a Greek historian and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" due to his strict standards of evidence-gathering and in the days of the Peloponnesian Wars, Stoessinger believes that war is neither impersonal nor inevitable. One cannot blame merely events for the start of a war, as it eventually comes down to the decisions made by men and women. A strong defender of diplomacy, he asserts that many wars (including the most current Third Gulf War) could have been avoided or solved without the use of violence. One of the main theories that can be contributed to him is the idea of perceptions and misperceptions. He believes that on the eves of most major conflicts, the political leaders involved make critical judgments (often misplaced) which send their country into the conflict. These misperceptions occur on four main levels. The first is a misperception of themselves, their role in the world, and their loyalty to an outcome. According to Stoessinger, George W. Bush George Walker Bush ( /ˈdʒɔrdʒ ˈwɔːkər ˈbʊʃ/ ; born July 6, 1946) was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 made the transition from pragmatist to crusader during his terms as President, developing misperceptions of himself in the process that have proven detrimental to finding peace in the Middle East The Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. The corresponding adjective to the Middle East is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. The second level is misperceptions of the adversary. Often this includes demonization and a lack of understanding and objectivity in a situation. The third level is misperception of the intentions of the adversary and the last level is misperception of ability of the adversary. Stoessinger also states that two countries on the brink of instability cannot afford for each political leader to anticipate an attack. In this case, war is almost a certainty. These strong assertions about the importance of personalities of political leaders and how they play in to International Relations International relations or International studies (IS) represents the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). It is both an academic and public policy offer a new view on the world stage. Without the excuse of events beyond human control, Stoessinger puts into the hands of leaders a powerful tool, the ability to keep the world at peace.
Partial Bibliography
- The Refugee and the World Community (1956 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar)
- The Might of Nations: World Politics in Our Time (1962 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar)
- Financing the United Nations System (1964 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1964 Gregorian calendar)
- Power and Order (1964 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1964 Gregorian calendar)
- The United Nations and the Superpowers (1965 1965 was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar)
- Nations in Darkness: China, Russia, and America (1971 1971 was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar) (Note: The sixth and most recent edition was retitled Nations at Dawn: China, Russia, and America)
- Why Nations Go to War (1974 1974 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar, 10th ed. 2008)
- Henry Kissinger: The Anguish of Power (1976 1976 was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar)
- Night Journey (1978 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar))
- Crusaders and Pragmatists: Movers of Modern American Foreign Policy (1979 1979 was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar))
Sources
Stoessinger, John (2007) [1974]. Why Nations Go to War, Tenth Edition.
Stoessinger, John (1994) [1971]. Nations at Dawn: China, Russia, and America, Sixth Edition.
Stoessinger, John G. Crusaders and Pragmatists: Movers of Modern American Foreign Policy. New York City: n.p., 1979.
External links
- Memorial Lecture by John G. Stoessinger (Japanese) at the Holocaust Education Center in Hiroshima, Japan
- "University of San Diego"
Footnotes
- ^ "Love and Leverage". Time Magazine. December 6 December 6 is the 340th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 25 days remaining until the end of the year, 1976 1976 was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911860-1,00.html. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^
Categories: Living people Possibly living people, disappeared people and dead people are not included here, including the recently deceased, for which see Category:2009 deaths and preceding categories listing deaths for 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, etc | Harvard University alumni Categories: Alumni by university or college in Massachusetts | Harvard University people | Ivy League alumni | University of San Diego faculty | University of California, San Diego faculty
