Kenneth W. Thompson (August 29, 1921 – February 2, 2013) was an American academic and author known for his contributions to
normative theory
Normative generally means relating to an evaluative standard. Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A Norm (ph ...
in
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 ...
. In 1978 he became director of the
Miller Center of Public Affairs
The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in United States presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history.
History
The Miller Center was founded in 1975 through the philanthrop ...
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 ...
. He retired as director in 1998, but continued to head its Forum Program until 2004.
Biography
Thompson received his Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
in 1950 and taught there and at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
from 1949 to 1955. He resumed teaching 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 1975. Between 1955 and 1975, he worked in the area of institutional philanthropy, becoming vice president for International Programs at 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 ...
.
He helped to organize eight
national commissions on topics ranging from presidential disability to the selection of federal judges.
Thompson's ''Principles and Problems of International Politics'', a volume of readings co-edited with his mentor,
Hans Morgenthau
Hans Joachim Morgenthau (February 17, 1904 – July 19, 1980) was a German-American jurist and political scientist who was one of the major 20th-century figures in the study of international relations. Morgenthau's works belong to the tradition o ...
,
provided the intellectual guidelines for his thinking through the succeeding four decades. Primary among these guidelines is a reliance on history. Thompson has seen himself as part of the influential tradition of political realism, the heir of the thought of Morgenthau and Reinhold Niebuhr, and the sustainer of the subsequent generation of scholars. He organized and coedited the innovative seventh edition of ''Politics among Nations'' released by
McGraw Hill
McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...
.
Thompson's desire to ground international relations thought in history led him to distrust mono-causal theories, whether the Marxist championing of class and economic relations, the liberal faith in democratic government, or the "scientific" theorizing of much of international relations thought since the behavioral revolution. For Thompson, theory picks out what is most essential from reality, but theory that strays too far from the complexity of reality revealed in history is more likely to be the projection of the theorist's own prejudices than a useful way of understanding the international states-system.
His distrust of the great simplifiers has led to his refusal to rely on one truth and to his acceptance of the
Niebuhrian belief that all political insights are partial, motives are usually mixed, and any one truth taken to its
logical extreme will prove harmful. Unlike many students of normative theory in international relations, he has been reluctant to judge one side in a dispute entirely right and the other irrevocably wrong, granting instead that both may have some claim of justice which they might press too far if unopposed. This belief has led in turn to Thompson's consistent position that ethically tolerable outcomes in international politics are more likely to be achieved through a counterbalancing of power than through moral exhortation.
A distribution of power that prevents any one actor from dominating the rest is what he sees as the great insight of ''
The Federalist Papers
''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The co ...
'', an insight that remains fully applicable to international relations, despite changes in technology, ideologies, and economic ties. Thus he has engaged in a lifelong effort to synthesize the austere world of the realist, a world always verging on cynicism, with the ideals of the moralist, ideals that run the risk of pretentiousness.
Thompson's assertion of the truths derived by the realist tradition from political philosophy, international history, and Christian theology has been questioned by behaviorists and
neo-realists,
[ who see it as "soft," and by moral critics, who see it as cynical. His energy and learning, however, have helped ]classical realism
Classical Realism is an artistic movement in the late-20th and early 21st century in which drawing and painting place a high value upon skill and beauty, combining elements of 19th-century neoclassicism and realism.
Origins
The term "Classic ...
survive and enjoy a renaissance in the 20th to the 21st century.
Selected publications
*1951 Principles and Problems of International Politics: Selected Readings. With Hans Morgenthau. New York: Knopf.
*1960 Political Realism and the Crisis of World Politics: An American Approach to Foreign Policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
*1966 The Moral Issue in Statecraft. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
*1978 Interpreters and Critics of the Cold War. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America.
*1980 Morality and Foreign Policy. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
*1981 Cold War Theories. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
*1985 Toynbee's World Politics and History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
*1992 Traditions and Values in Politics and Diplomacy. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
*1996 Schools of Thought in International Relations: Interpreters, Issues, and Morality. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Source: William David Clinton, American Political Scientists: A Dictionary 2nd ed. Edited by Glenn H. Utter and Charles Lockhart. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
References
Miller Center of Public Affairs - Kenneth W. Thompson
External links
Prophets and Politics, by Kenneth W. Thompson
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Kenneth W.
1921 births
Writers from Des Moines, Iowa
University of Chicago alumni
Political realists
University of Virginia faculty
Miller Center Affiliates
2013 deaths