Randall Schweller

Randall Schweller
Known for
  • Revisionist and Status-Quo States
  • Balances of Interests theory
  • International bandwagoning
Academic background
Alma materSUNY Stony Brook (B.A.) Columbia University (M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.)
InfluencesThomas Schelling, Stephen Walt, Robert Jervis
Academic work
School or traditionNeoclassical realism
InstitutionsOhio State University
InfluencedShiping Tang, Jessica L.P. Weeks

Randall L. Schweller (born 1958)[1] is Professor of Political Science at the Ohio State University, where he has taught since 1994. He is a current member of the International Security editorial board and former Editor-in-Chief of the journal Security Studies.[2]

He earned his PhD from Columbia University in 1993 and was as an Olin Fellow at Harvard University in 1993-94. His primary teaching and research interests include international security and international relations theory, and he is perhaps best known for his Balance of Interests theory, a revision to Kenneth Waltz's Balance of Power theory and Stephen Walt's Balance of Threat theory. His work on this subject includes: Randall Schweller, "Tripolarity and the Second World War", International Studies Quarterly 37:1 (March 1993) and Randall Schweller, Deadly Imbalances: Tripolarity and Hitler's Strategy of World Conquest (Columbia University Press, 1998).[3]

Often associated with Structural Realists like Kenneth Waltz and Stephen Walt, he may more accurately be portrayed as a Neoclassical Realist[4] (a term coined by Gideon Rose) because of his willingness to consider non-structural explanations of state behavior (other neoclassical realists include Fareed Zakaria, Thomas J. Christensen, and William Wohlforth). For instance: Randall Schweller and David Priess, "A Tale of Two Realisms: Expanding the Institutions Debate," Mershon International Studies Review 41:2 (April 1997)

He is also credited with reemphasizing the distinction between status-quo and revisionist states and incorporating that difference into realist theories of state behavior. Randall Schweller, "Bandwagoning for Profit: Bringing the Revisionist State Back in", International Security 19:1 (Summer 1994) and Randall Schweller, "Neorealism's Status-Quo Bias: What Security Dilemma?" Security Studies 5:3 (Spring 1996).

Schweller is an avid guitarist and fronted a cover band of the Grateful Dead named "Timberwolf."[5]

  1. ^ 69107441
  2. ^ "Randall Schweller | Ohio State University - Academia.edu". osu.academia.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  3. ^ Taliaferro, Jeffrey W.; Ripsman, Norrin M.; Lobell, Steven E. (2012). The Challenge of Grand Strategy: The Great Powers and the Broken Balance between the World Wars. Cambridge University Press. pp. 27–29, 188, 216, 313. ISBN 9781139536776.
  4. ^ Davidson, Chase O. (2008). Neoclassical Realism and the Collapse of the 1994 Agreed Framework. p. 60. ISBN 9780549595687.
  5. ^ kent277 (2012-04-20). Timberwolf - Grateful Dead - Scarlet Begonias - 1980. Retrieved 2024-06-05 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)