Ted Robert Gurr
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Ted Robert Gurr (February 21, 1936 – November 25, 2017) was an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
author and professor of
political science 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 ...
who most notably wrote about political conflict and instability. His widely translated book ''Why Men Rebel'' (1970) emphasized the importance of social psychological factors (
relative deprivation Relative deprivation is the lack of resources to sustain the diet, lifestyle, activities and amenities that an individual or group are accustomed to or that are widely encouraged or approved in the society to which they belong. Peter Townsend, ''Po ...
) and ideology as root sources of political violence. He was Distinguished University Professor emeritus at the
University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
and consulted on projects he established there. He died in November 2017.


Career

Before joining the University of Maryland faculty in 1989 Gurr held academic positions at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
(1965–69),
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 ...
(1970–83), where he was Payson S. Wild Professor and chair of the political science department (1977–80), and the
University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...
(1984–88). In 1968 Gurr was asked to join the staff of the
National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence The U.S. National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (National Violence Commission) was formed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in on June 10, 1968, after the April 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the June 5 assassin ...
, established by President
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
after the assassinations of
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
and
Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
. He teamed with historian Hugh Davis Graham to prepare the 1969 report Violence in America: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, which was widely publicized and published in many editions, the last of them in 1989, Violence in America, vol. 1, The History of Crime, and vol. 2, Protest, Rebellion, Reform. The Polity study, begun by Gurr in the late 1960s, profiles the democratic and autocratic traits of all regimes worldwide from 1800 to the present. The project is now directed by Dr. Monty G. Marshall of the Center for Systemic Peace, one of the two dozen Ph.D.'s whose doctoral work he has supervised. The Polity data is widely used by researchers and government agencies to track
democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a ful ...
and to assess the stability of contemporary regimes. The
Minorities at Risk Minorities At Risk (MAR) is a university-based research project that monitors and analyzes the status and conflicts of 283 politically-active communal groups in many countries throughout the world from 1945 to 2006. Those minorities included have ...
project, which he began in 1985, assesses the political status and activities of more than 300 ethnic and religious minorities world-wide. The MAR project, which is continued by a research team at the University of Maryland's Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM), provides data for his and others’ analyses of the causes and management of ethnopolitical protest and rebellion, most recently in Peoples versus States: Minorities at Risk in the New Century and Ethnic Conflict in World Politics, coauthored with Barbara Harff. In 1994-95 Gurr helped establish the State Failure Task Force (now the
Political Instability Task Force The Political Instability Task Force (PITF), formerly known as State Failure Task Force, is a U.S. government-sponsored research project to build a database on major domestic political conflicts leading to state failures. The study analyzed facto ...
) at the request of Vice President Gore's office, to provide global risk assessments of impending intrastate conflicts. He continued to serve as senior consultant to the Task Force under the George W. Bush Administration and the Obama Administration. Gurr was a member of a network of scholars concerned with risks and prevention of
genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
since 2001, and participated in the 2004 Stockholm International Forum on the Prevention of Genocide, an international conference hosted by the Foreign Ministry of Sweden. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the
University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...
, Bulgaria. In 2004-05 he organized a workshop on economic roots of terrorism for the
Club of Madrid Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization created to promote democracy and change in the international community. Composed of 121 regular members from 72 countries, including 7 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and 20 first female heads ...
's International Summit on
Democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
,
Terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
and
Security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...
, which was convened by the Spanish Foreign Ministry to commemorate the first anniversary of the
Madrid train bombings The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's g ...
in March 2004. His recent projects included periodic assessments of risks of genocide and
politicide Political cleansing of population is eliminating categories of people in specific areas for political reasons. The means may vary from forced migration to genocide. Politicide Politicide is the deliberate physical destruction or elimination o ...
, with Barbara Harff, and a comparative study of "unholy alliances" between terrorists and international criminal networks, with Lyubov Mincheva of the University of Sofia. In 2012 Gurr accepted an offer to be a lecturer and Visiting Scholar at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.


Work

Gurr has written or edited more than twenty books and monographs. Most recent was Peace and Conflict 2012, with University of Maryland co-authors J. Joseph Hewitt and
Jonathan Wilkenfeld Jonathan Wilkenfeld (born March 24, 1942) is an American political scientist and professor emeritus at University of Maryland, specialized in foreign policy, terrorism and simulation methodology in political science. He is the Founding Director ...
. He and Monty G. Marshall established this biennial report series in 2001 to provide scholars, analysts and journalists with current information on global conflict trends and risks of future instability. Earlier editions documented the global decline in internal wars during the 1990s and the ascendancy of negotiated agreements for managing ethnic and other internal conflicts. His latest academic book, coauthored with Lyubov Mincheva, is Crime-Terror Alliances and the State (2013) He also coauthored two books in genealogy and social history, Coming of Age in the West 1883-1906 and A Gurr Family Odyssey, with Paul Magel.Paul Magel and T. R. Gurr, A Gurr Family Odyssey: From England to the American West, A Social History Covering Six Generations (Winnipeg: McNally Robinson, 2014) Gurr held a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
(1972–73), a Fulbright Senior Fellowship (Australia, 1981–82), and a
US Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other peac ...
Fellowship (1988–89). In 1993-94 he was president of the
International Studies Association The International Studies Association (ISA) is a US-based professional association for scholars and practitioners in the field of international studies. Founded in 1959, ISA has been headquartered at the University of Connecticut in Storrs since ...
, an international body of 3000+ scholars and policy makers. In 1996-97 he held the Swedish government's Olof Palme Visiting Professorship at the
University of Uppsala Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...
.


Books

*'' Why Men Rebel'' (Princeton, 1970) *'' Violence In America'' (with historian Hugh Davis Graham, U.S. Government Printing Office, Bantam Books, and Praeger, 1969; Sage Publications, 1979) *'' Handbook of political conflict: Theory and research'' (The free press, New York, 1980) *'' The State and the City'', coauthored with Desmond King (University of Chicago Press, 1987) *'' Ethnic Conflict in World Politics'', coauthored with
Barbara Harff Barbara Harff (born 17 July 1942) is professor of political science emerita at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In 2003 and again in 2005 she was a distinguished visiting professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide S ...
(Westview Press, 1994, revised edition, 2003). *'' Early Warning of Communal Conflict and Genocide: Linking Empirical Research and International Responses'' (United Nations University Press, 1996) *'' Preventive Measures: Building Risk Assessment and Crisis Early Warning Systems'', coedited by Gurr and John L. Davies (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998). *'' Peoples Versus States: Minorities at Risk in the New Century'' (U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 2000) *'' Peace and Conflict 2010'', coauthored with Joseph Hewitt,
Jonathan Wilkenfeld Jonathan Wilkenfeld (born March 24, 1942) is an American political scientist and professor emeritus at University of Maryland, specialized in foreign policy, terrorism and simulation methodology in political science. He is the Founding Director ...
(Paradigm Publishers, 2009)


See also

*
Charles Tilly Charles Tilly (May 27, 1929 – April 29, 2008) was an American sociologist, political scientist, and historian who wrote on the relationship between politics and society. He was a professor of history, sociology, and social science at the Univ ...
*
Theda Skocpol Theda Skocpol (born May 4, 1947) is an American sociologist and political scientist, who is currently the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. She is a highly influential figure in both sociology and poli ...


References


External links


About Ted Robert Gurr

University of Maryland

Minorities at Risk Project



Political Instability Task Force
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurr, Ted Robert Princeton University faculty New York University faculty University of Maryland, College Park faculty University of Maryland College of Behavioral and Social Sciences people 1936 births Reed College alumni 2017 deaths Experts on terrorism American political scientists