Waldemar Gurian (February 13, 1902 – May 26, 1954) was a Russian-born German-American

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, author, and professor at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...

. He is regarded particularly as a theorist of

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regu ...

. He wrote widely on

political Catholicism The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. Historically, the Church opposed liberal ideas such as democracy, freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state und ...

. Gurian was born into a Armenian-Jewish family in 1902 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was brought to Germany in 1911 by his mother, who had him christened in 1914 as a Catholic. He studied with political philosopher

Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt (; 11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and prominent member of the Nazi Party. Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. A conservative theorist, he is noted as ...

at the University of Bonn but disagreed on issues of

political theology Political theology is a term which has been used in discussion of the ways in which theological concepts or ways of thinking relate to politics. The term ''political theology'' is often used to denote religious thought about political principled qu ...

. In 1939 after escaping Nazi Germany Gurian took a professorship at Notre Dame, where Gurian founded ''The Review of Politics''. The quarterly scholarly journal was modeled after German Catholic journals. It quickly emerged as part of an international Catholic intellectual revival, offering an alternative vision to positivist philosophy. For 44 years, the ''Review'' was edited by Gurian, Matthew Fitzsimons, Frederick Crosson, and Thomas Stritch. Intellectual leaders included Gurian,

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...

Frank O'Malley Frank O'Malley (19 August 1909 – 7 May 1974) was a professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. He spent his entire career at Notre Dame, where he was renowned as an undergraduate teacher. Early life and education O'Malley was born i ...

, Leo Richard Ward, F. A. Hermens, and John U. Nef. It became a major forum for political ideas and modern political concerns, especially from a Catholic and scholastic tradition.Thomas Stritch, "After Forty Years: Notre Dame and the Review of Politics" ''Review Of Politics'' 1978 40: 437–446
in JSTOR
/ref>

Selected bibliography

For a complete list, see B. Szczesniak, "Select Bibliography of Waldemar Gurian." ''The Review of Politics'' 17.01 (1955): 80-81. * ''The political system of Alexander Hamilton, 1789–1804'', 1929. * ''The political and social ideas of French Catholicism, 1789-1914'', 1929. * ''The integral nationalism in France: Charles Maurras and the Action Française'', 1931. * ''Bolshevism: Theory and Practice'', New York, Macmillan, 1932. * ''Hitler and the Christians. Studies in Fascism: Ideology and Practice'', AMS Press, 1936, 175 p. * ''The Future of Bolshevism'', Sheed & Ward, 1936, 125 p. * ''The Rise and Decline of Marxism'', Oates & Washbourne, 1938, 184 p. * ''Russia and the Peace'', 1945. * ''Soviet Russia: A University of Notre Dame Symposium'', University of Notre Dame, 1950.
"The Development of the Soviet Regime: From Lenin to Stalin"
''The Soviet Union: Background, Ideology, Reality'', University of Notre Dame Press, 1951. * ''Bolshevism: An Introduction to Soviet Communism'', University of Notre Dame Press, 1952. * ''Soviet Imperialism: Its Origins and Tactics, a Symposium'', (ed.), University of Notre Dame Press, 1953. * ''The Catholic Church in World Affairs'' (with

M. A. Fitzsimons Matthew Anthony Fitzsimons (1912 – October 24, 1992) was an American historian. He was a professor at the University of Notre Dame and was the longtime editor of ''The Review of Politics''. Biography Fitzsimons was a native of New York City. H ...

), University of Notre Dame Press, 1954, 420 p. * "Totalitarianism as Political Religion", ''Totalitarianism'', New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1964.

Notes

. "The Personality of Waldemar Gurian." ''The Review of Politics'' 17.01 (1955): 33-42
in JSTOR
* Hürten, Heinz. "Waldemar Gurian and the Development of the Concept of Totalitarianism." ''Totalitarianism and Political Religions'' 1 (2004): 42-52. * Kohn, Hans. "Waldemar Gurian: Witness of the Twentieth Century." ''The Review of Politics'' 17.01 (1955): 73-79
in JSTOR
* Mosely, Philip E. "Waldemar Gurian and Russian Studies in America." ''The Review of Politics'' 17.01 (1955): 44-46
in JSTOR
* O'Malley, Frank. "Waldemar Gurian at Notre Dame." ''The Review of Politics'' 17.01 (1955): 19-23
in JSTOR
* Schneck, Stephen F. "Waldemar Gurian: Rediscovered," ''The Review of Politics'' 74#4 (2012), pp. 685–689
in JSTOR
* Thümmler, Ellen. "Totalitarian Ideology and Power Conflicts—Waldemar Gurian as International Relations Analyst after the Second World War." in Felix Roesch, ed., ''Émigré Scholars and the Genesis of International Relations'' (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014) pp. 132–153. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurian, Waldemar American political scientists German political scientists American anti-fascists German anti-fascists American Roman Catholics German Roman Catholics Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism American people of Russian-Jewish descent 1902 births 1954 deaths Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany German emigrants to the United States 20th-century political scientists

Selected bibliography

Notes

Further reading