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This is a memorial for Karl Wolfgang Deutsch, a pioneering
political scientist, international relations specialist and peace
scholar of the 20th century. Born in Prague, he was a professor at
MIT, Yale and Harvard and spent a decade at the Social Science
Center Berlin (WZB). He was a global leader in the theory and
scientific analysis of international relations and comparative
politics who published on nationalism, social communication,
European integration, war and peace, arms control, social
cybernetics, general systems analysis, and global modelling. He
pioneered the development and analysis of large-scale political and
social data across nations and over time and proposed a widespread
access to these data and their scientific evaluation. This book
offers biographical data on Karl W. Deutsch, reproduces chapters
from his PhD thesis and his book Nerves of Government. Colleagues
from the USA (A.S. Markovits, H. Alker, R.L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.,P. J.
Katzenstein, T.R. Cusack, C.L. Taylor), Germany (D. Senghaas, R.
Wildenmann, R. Mackensen, K. v. Beyme) and the Czech Republic (M.
Hroch) offer Collegial Critiques and Memorials. It provides a
comprehensive bibliography of his publications and memorials for a
great scholar, a superb academic teacher and world citizen. * Karl
Wolfgang Deutsch was a major global pioneer in Political Science,
internationalrelations and peace research in the 20th century. *
His most creative contributions were the concept of social
mobilization, the use of cyberneticsto study human relationships,
the introduction of politics in world modeling, and the role of
communication in governance.* He was president of the American
Political Science Association (1969-70) and of theInternational
Political Science Association (1976-79) and was a Director of the
SocialScience Research Center Berlin (1977-87). * Academics,
including graduate students, exploring nationalism, political
integration,social communications, cybernetics, and global modeling
will find this volume instructive.
From the Preface to the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition:This was a
controversial book, and likely remains so.? The world 25 years
later looks quite different. With the end of the Cold War, the
United States is now the world's only superpower. If this country
cannot shape the international system and bring peace and stability
to much of the world, surely no other state can. Yet the will to a
broadly internationalist foreign policy cannot currently be found
in the United States. The near-consensus that ranged across foreign
policy elites before the Vietnam War has never been restored. Maybe
that's just as well. But I hold to much of the basic perspective of
this book as offering some guidance for fellow ?cooperative
internationalists.? The power to shape international affairs is
limited; military intervention is a costly, blunt, and dangerous
instrument. The five questions I ask on page 108 of this book
remain appropriate. I do believe there are appropriate
circumstances for military action in international affairs. In most
circumstances I do not believe that it is desirable, effective, or
just to try to spread democracy or other American values by force
of arms. Much more could be done by way of financial assistance as
well as consistent ideological and technical support to create a
more democratic and interdependent environment within which peace
can be secured.? If the Vietnam War derived in substantial part
from an overconfident and unilateral interpretation of history,
that is a mistake from which we can still learn.
From the Preface to the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition: This was
a controversial book, and likely remains so.... The world 25 years
later looks quite different. With the end of the Cold War, the
United States is now the world's only superpower. If this country
cannot shape the international system and bring peace and stability
to much of the world, surely no other state can. Yet the will to a
broadly internationalist foreign policy cannot currently be found
in the United States. The near-consensus that ranged across foreign
policy elites before the Vietnam War has never been restored. Maybe
that's just as well. But I hold to much of the basic perspective of
this book as offering some guidance for fellow "cooperative
internationalists." The power to shape international affairs is
limited; military intervention is a costly, blunt, and dangerous
instrument. The five questions I ask on page 108 of this book
remain appropriate. I do believe there are appropriate
circumstances for military action in international affairs. In most
circumstances I do not believe that it is desirable, effective, or
just to try to spread democracy or other American values by force
of arms. Much more could be done by way of financial assistance as
well as consistent ideological and technical support to create a
more democratic and interdependent environment within which peace
can be secured.... If the Vietnam War derived in substantial part
from an overconfident and unilateral interpretation of history,
that is a mistake from which we can still learn.
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