"Robert Jervis’s Contradictory Contributions to International Relations Theory" - by CWP's Thomas J Christensen

I am  grateful  to  Richard  Immerman,  Stacie  Goddard,  and  Diane  Labrosse for asking me to contribute to this volume honoring my men-tor, colleague, and friend, Robert Jervis. This chapter focuses on two of  his  books  published  in  2017:  the  new  edition  of  his  classic  Perception and  Misperception  in  International  Politics  and  a  collection  of  his  essays  under the very appropriate title How Statesmen Think, the question that motivated Jervis’s work for six decades.1 These books encapsulate Jervis’s ability  throughout  his  career  to  illuminate  broad  forces  in  international  politics without losing sight of the role of individual decision makers who perceive  and  misperceive  those  broad  forces  in  consequential  ways  that  ultimately determine international outcomes.Before I turn to his many professional contributions, however, I wanted to share a story that I believe partially captures Bob’s generous, humble, and humorous personality. I told this story several years ago when I spoke at a session in his honor at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association

Christensen, Thomas J.. "9 A LEADER AND A SUBVERSIVE: Robert Jervis’s Contradictory Contributions to International Relations Theory". The Jervis Effect: The Scholarship and Legacy of Robert Jervis, edited by Richard H. Immerman, Stacie Goddard and Diane N. Labrosse, Columbia University Press, 2026, pp. 127-134. https://doi.org/10.7312/imme22154-010

Thomas J. Christensen is Professor of Public and International Affairs and Director of the China and the World Program at Columbia University.  He arrived in 2018 from Princeton University where he was William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War, Director of the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program, and faculty director of the Masters of Public Policy Program and the Truman Scholars Program.   From 2006-2008 he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs with responsibility for relations with China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. His research and teaching focus on China’s foreign relations, the international relations of East Asia, and international security.  His most recent book is Lost in the Cold War: The Story of Jack Downey, America’s Longest-Held POW (Columbia Univ. Press, 2022).  His earlier book, The China Challenge:  Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power (W.W. Norton) was an editors’ choice at the New York Times Book Review, a “Book of the Week” on CNN”s Fareed Zakaria GPS, and the Arthur Ross Book Award Silver Medalist for 2016 at the Council on Foreign Relations. Professor Christensen has also taught at Cornell University and MIT. He received his B.A. with honors in History from Haverford College, M.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. He has served on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, as co-editor of the International History and Politics series at Princeton University Press, and as a member of the Academic Advisory Committee for the Schwarzman Scholars Program. He is currently the Chair of the Editorial Board of the Nancy B. Tucker and Warren I. Cohen Book Series on the United States in Asia at Columbia University Press.  Professor Christensen is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Non-Resident Senior Scholar at the Brookings Institution. He was presented with a Distinguished Public Service Award by the United States Department of State.

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