John Mearsheimer
American political scientist
John Joseph Mearsheimer (; born December 14, 1947) is an American political scientist and international relations scholar and professor at the University of Chicago.
He developed a neorealist (or structural realist) theory of offensive realism, which describes the interaction between great powers as being dictated by the state's motives for self preservation and the rational desire to achieve (or maintain) regional hegemony in an anarchic international system. In accordance with his theory, in the 2001 book The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, Mearsheimer says that China's growing power may lead to a conflict with the United States.
In his 2007 book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, Mearsheimer argues that the Israel lobby wields disproportionate influence over U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
Some of his more recent work has focused on criticism of the "liberal international order" (laid down in his 2018 book The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities) and why he believes that the West is to blame for the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Early life and education
Mearsheimer was born on December 14, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York City as one of five children to Thomas Joseph Mearsheimer (1918–2007) and Ruth Margaret Baumann Mearsheimer (1922–2011), in a family of German and Irish descent. His father was a civil engineer and a colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve. As a United States Military Academy (USMA) graduate, his father served in the United States Army Air Corps during WWII, and with the Air Force Reserve during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. As a civil engineer, he worked for various railroads and was the chief engineer of the Grand Central.
When he was eight, Mearsheimer moved with his family to the village of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, a suburb in Westchester County, New York.
The public source identifies “John Mearsheimer” as american political scientist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Mearsheimer and American.
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