Kalevi Holsti: A Pioneer in International Relations Theory, Foreign Policy Analysis, History of International Order, and Security Studies

162 Pages·2016·2.28 MB·English

by  Kalevi Holsti (auth.)

SPRINGER BRIEFS ON PIONEERS IN
SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 41
Kalevi Holsti
Kalevi Holsti: A Pioneer
in International
Relations Theory,
Foreign Policy Analysis,
History of International
Order, and Security
Studies
123
SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science
and Practice
Volume 41
Series editor
Hans Günter Brauch, Mosbach, Germany
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10970
http://www.afes-press-books.de/html/SpringerBriefs_PSP.htm
http://afes-press-books.de/html/SpringerBriefs_PSP_Holsti.htm
Kalevi Holsti
Kalevi Holsti: A Pioneer
in International Relations
Theory, Foreign Policy
Analysis, History
of International Order,
and Security Studies
123
KaleviHolsti
LiuInstitute for Global Issues
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Canada
Acknowledgment: The cover photograph as well as all other photos in this volume were
takenfromthepersonalphotocollectionoftheauthorwhoalsograntedthepermissionontheir
publication in this volume. A book website with additional information on Kalevi Holsti,
including videos and his major book covers is at: http://afes-press-books.de/html/
SpringerBriefs_PSP_Holsti.htm.
ISSN 2194-3125 ISSN 2194-3133 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs onPioneersin ScienceandPractice
ISBN978-3-319-26622-0 ISBN978-3-319-26624-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-26624-4
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My academic life’s work
was inspired and often aided
by my brother Ole Holsti,
by my late colleagues and friends
Mark W. Zacher and James N. Rosenau,
and by Raimo Väyrynen in Finland.
I am pleased to acknowledge their role in my
academic career through this dedication.
Withfriendandlatecolleague,JimRosenau,atStudentConference,Morelia,Mexico,2006
Foreword
KalHolstiwasborninGenevain1935,butwasacitizenofFinlanduntil1956.He
received all three of his degrees from Stanford, culminating in a Ph.D. in 1961.
Since 1962 he has been at the University of British Columbia. In 1984 he was
elected president of the Canadian Political Science Association, and 2 years later,
presidentoftheInternationalStudiesAssociation.In1985hewaselectedaFellow
of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1997 his university named him University
Killam Professor, only the seventh to be so designated since the founding of the
University of British Columbia in 1915. Holsti is now professor emeritus.
His initial impact on the field was made by a very widely used textbook:
InternationalPolitics:AFrameworkforAnalysis,(1967,with7editions,thelastin
1995).ManystudentshadtheirfirstintroductiontoInternationalRelationsthrough
thisbook,andweretreatedtoaclearandsystematicsettingoutofthesubjectwhich
tookseriouslyboththeoryandhistory:featureswhichcontinuetobeahallmarkof
Holsti’swork.Therearetwointellectualengagementsthatmakehisworkstandout
within IR. One is his consistent and measured commentary on the state of IR as a
‘discipline’(thoughherejectstheviewthatIRisadiscipline).Hehasobservedthe
various‘greatdebates’inIR,perhapsmostnotablyinhis1985book:TheDividing
Discipline, maintaining a balanced view when many others resorted to ideological
position-taking,personalattacks,andtotalrejectionoftheviewfromtheotherside.
vii
viii Foreword
He has been a stabilizing force, caring for the trust and intellectual pluralism that
areessentialtotheacademicenterprise.Hehasbeenskepticalabouttoogreatadrift
into philosophy of knowledge questions, but kept an open mind about the insights
to be gained from other approaches. Although adhering to a state-centric approach
to IR, he has been critical of the one-sidedness of Realists in focusing only on the
conflictual side of IR, and not on the collaborative one.
Both this pluralist outlook, and his commitment to the importance of history
reflecthissecondmainengagement,whichhasbeenwiththe‘classical’or‘English
school’ tradition. In much of North American IR during the core decades of his
career such an engagement put one outside the mainstream, and required intellec-
tual courage. His main contributions here have been studies on war and on the
institutionsofinternationalsocietyasawayofunderstandingandtheorizingchange
in the international system. The engagement with change and institutions can be
trackedbacktohis1991bookChangeintheInternationalSystem,andculminated
in his important 2004 volume Taming the Sovereigns: Institutional Change in
International Politics. His two books on war—Peace and War: Armed Conflicts
and International Order 1648–1989 (1991) and The State, War, and the State of
War (1996)—understand war as a systemic and a historical phenomenon repre-
senting the ultimate failure of politics.
I had the good fortune to be taught by him in 1965, when I was a second-year
undergraduate, and he was using the ‘Introduction to International Politics’ course
todevelophisbook.Ithadneveroccurredtomethatonecouldstandbackfromthe
detailsofhistory,andlooknotonlyatwar,butalsoatthesystemthatgaverisetoit,
as a set of bold, abstract patterns. I became quite entranced as his story unfolded
week by week in a series of elegant and entertaining lectures. Kal showed his
students that Realism was a good place to start building an understanding of
international relations, but he left room for the idea that history matters, and that
Realism may not be such a good place to end up. For me, and I am sure for many
Foreword ix
others,Kalwastheclassiccasenotonlyofateacherwhoseinitialinspirationmade
a real difference to one’s life, but also whose subsequent work continued to stim-
ulate and guide my own.
London, London School of Economics Barry Buzan
and Political Science Professor Emeritus
February 2015 Department of International Relations
and
Honorary Professor
Copenhagen and Jilin universities
Barry Buzan (UK) is Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the LSE, and honorary
professoratCopenhagenandJilinUniversity(China).During1993hewasvisitingprofessoratthe
International University of Japan, and in 1997–1998 he was Olof Palme Visiting Professor in
Sweden. He was Chairman of the British International Studies Association 1988–1990,
Vice-Presidentofthe(NorthAmerican),InternationalStudiesAssociation1993–1994.In1998he
waselectedaFellowoftheBritishAcademy,andin2001hewaselectedasanAcademicianofthe
AssociationofLearnedSocietiesintheSocialSciences.Hismostrecentbooksare:(withRichard
Little, 2000): International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International
Relations;(withOleWæver,2003):RegionsandPowers:TheStructureofInternationalSecurity;
(2004):FromInternationaltoWorldSociety?EnglishSchoolTheoryandtheSocialStructureof
Globalisation;(2004):TheUnitedStatesandtheGreatPowers:WorldPoliticsintheTwenty-First
Century; (with Lene Hansen, 2009: The evolution of international security studies (Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversityPress);(withAnaGonzalez-Pelaez,eds.,2009):Internationalsocietyand
the Middle East: English school theory at the regional level (Basingstoke: Macmillan); (with
Amitav Acharya, eds., 2010): Non-Western international relations theory: perspectives on and
beyondAsia(London:Routledge);(withMathiasAlbert,MichaelZürn,eds.,2013):Worldpolitics
as differentiation theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); (with both, eds., 2013):
Bringingsociologytointernationalrelations:worldpoliticsasdifferentiationtheory(Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversityPress);(withYongjinZhang,eds.,2014):Contestinginternationalsociety
inEastAsia(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress);Internationalsecurity(London:Sage);An
IntroductiontotheEnglishSchoolofInternationalRelations:TheSocietalApproach(Cambridge:
PolityPress,2014);(withGeorgeLawson,2015):TheGlobalTransformation:History,Modernity
and the Making of International Relations, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); Address:
Prof.BarryBuzan,DepartmentofInternationalRelations,LSE,HoughtonStreet,LondonWC2A
2AE,UK;Email:<[email protected]>.