John Hugh "Adam" Watson (10 August 1914 – 24 August 2007)
''The Telegraph'', 28 September 2007 was a British
International relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...
theorist and researcher. Alongside
Hedley Bull
Hedley Norman Bull (10 June 1932 – 18 May 1985) was Professor of International Relations at the Australian National University, the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford until his death from cancer in 1985. He was Montague ...
,
Martin Wight
Robert James Martin Wight (1913–1972) was one of the foremost British scholars of international relations in the twentieth century. He was the author of ''Power Politics'' (1946; revised and expanded edition 1978), as well as the seminal essay ...
,
Herbert Butterfield
Sir Herbert Butterfield (7 October 1900 – 20 July 1979) was an English historian and philosopher of history, who was Regius Professor of Modern History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is remembered chiefly for a shor ...
, and others, he was one of the founding members of the
English school of international relations theory
The English School of international relations theory (sometimes also referred to as liberal realism, the International Society school or the British institutionalists) maintains that there is a 'society of states' at the international level, despit ...
.
He was born John Hugh Watson and educated at
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
and
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
. As an undergraduate at Cambridge, where he read History, Watson was taught by
Herbert Butterfield
Sir Herbert Butterfield (7 October 1900 – 20 July 1979) was an English historian and philosopher of history, who was Regius Professor of Modern History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is remembered chiefly for a shor ...
(later Sir Herbert, and Regius Professor of History). After a period of travel in central Europe in the late 1930s, he joined the
British Diplomatic Service
His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which d ...
in 1937, taking the nickname Adam "after noticing that every head in the Foreign Office seemed to turn when someone asked for John". During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he acted as a liaison with the
Free French
Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, played an unknown role in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
, based in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
, and was finally posted to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, where he witnessed the victory celebrations of 1945, standing alongside the
Soviet Politburo
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (, abbreviated: ), or Politburo ( rus, Политбюро, p=pəlʲɪtbʲʊˈro) was the highest policy-making authority within the Communist Party of the ...
and where he remained for the next four years.
In 1949 Watson joined the Foreign Office's new
Information Research Department
The Information Research Department (IRD) was a secret Cold War propaganda department of the British Foreign Office, created to publish anti-communist propaganda, including black propaganda, provide support and information to anti-communist pol ...
(IRD), which the historian Richard Aldrich has described as a 'covert political warfare section', as successor to the
Political Warfare Executive
During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale and sustaining the morale of countries occupied ...
(PWE) that had operated during the Second World War. A key figure in this organisation, he was first assistant to its Head,
Ralph Murray
Sir Francis Ralph Hay Murray (3 March 1908 – 11 September 1983) was a British journalist, radio broadcaster and diplomat. He was also once the head of the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret branch of the UK Foreign Office dedica ...
, with the job of recruiting 'left-of-centre intellectuals' for the production of
anti-communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
'grey' propaganda, and was later posted to
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
.
[Andrew Defty, ''Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda'' (Routledge, 2004)] In the USA he served as Britain's 'psywar
sychological warfareliaison officer' (Aldrich) in Washington between 1950 and sometime in the mid-1950s, before becoming Head of the African Department of the Foreign Office during the
Suez Crisis of 1956. He served as Her Majesty's Ambassador to
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
(1960–61),
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
,
Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
and
Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
(1960–62), and finally
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
(1962–66). He returned to London in 1966 to spend two years as Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office before retiring early. After a period with
British Leyland
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...
in the late 1960s, he entered academia, first at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
, at the invitation of Hedley Bull, and then in the United States, where he was Professor of International Studies at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
.
In the late 1950s, it is likely that, given his extensive contacts in the United States and together with
Kenneth W. Thompson
Kenneth W. Thompson (August 29, 1921 – February 2, 2013) was an American academic and author known for his contributions to normative theory in international relations. In 1978 he became director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the Univ ...
, Watson was instrumental in facilitating the funding of the
British Committee on the Theory of International Politics The British Committee on the Theory of International Politics was a group of scholars created in 1959 under the chairmanship of the Cambridge historian Herbert Butterfield, with financial aid from the Rockefeller Foundation, that met periodically in ...
, chaired in its early years by his former supervisor, Butterfield, and funded by the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
. Watson became a member of Committee, attending when he was in the UK, and later becoming its third chairman, in succession to Butterfield and to
Martin Wight
Robert James Martin Wight (1913–1972) was one of the foremost British scholars of international relations in the twentieth century. He was the author of ''Power Politics'' (1946; revised and expanded edition 1978), as well as the seminal essay ...
. He was instrumental in the production of ''The Expansion of International Society'' (1984), edited with Hedley Bull, a key text of the English school of international relations. He also wrote a number of other significant works, including ''The Nature and Problems of the Third World'' (1968), ''Diplomacy'' (1982) and ''The Evolution of International Society'' (1992), a wide-ranging comparative study of historical international systems.
Works
*195
''Problems of Adjustment in the Middle East''(Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 282)
*196
''The War of the Goldsmith's Daughter''(Chatto & Windus)
*1984 (ed. with H. Bull) ''The Expansion of International Society'' (Clarendon Press)
*1992 ''The Evolution of International Society: A Comparative Historical Analysis'' (Routledge)
*1997 ''The Limits of Independence'' (Routledge)
*199
''The British Committee for the Theory of International Politics, some historical notes''(University of Leeds)
*200
''International Relations and the Practice of Hegemony''(University of Leeds)
*200
''Recollection of my discussions with Hedley Bull about the place in the history of International Relations of the idea of the Anarchical Society''(University of Leeds)
*2004 ''Diplomacy: The Dialogue Between States'', 2nd ed. (Routledge)
*2007 ''Hegemony & History'' (Routledge)
References
* Richard J. Aldrich
''The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence''(Woodstock & New York: Overlook, 2002)
* Adam Bernstein
obituary, ''Washington Post'', 14 September 2007
External links
Obituary in ''The Times'', 17 October 2007*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Adam
1914 births
2007 deaths
British expatriate academics
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Mali
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Mauritania
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Cuba
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Togo
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Senegal
People educated at Rugby School
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Australian National University faculty
University of Virginia faculty
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Scholars of diplomacy
Information Research Department