Hayward Alker
Encyclopedia
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
at the University of Southern California School of International Relations
University of Southern California School of International Relations
The University of Southern California School of International Relations is the 3rd oldest school of international relations in the world...
, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. Professor Alker specialized in research methods, core international relations theory, international politics and security http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/ir/faculty/g-alker.htm.
Education
He received his B.S. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, and both his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Career
He served as John A. McCone Professor of International Relations at USCUniversity of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
from 1995 until his death in 2007. Previously, he was a senior professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, and before that was a full Professor at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
by age 29.http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/14186.html From 1992-1993, he was the President of the International Studies Association
International Studies Association
The International Studies Association was founded by a group of scholars and practitioners in 1959 to pursue mutual interests in international studies. Representing eighty countries, ISA has over three thousand members worldwide and is the most respected and widely known scholarly association in...
(ISA). Professor Alker received appointments as a visiting professor at a number of institutions, including Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth University is a university located in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding Member Institution of the former federal University of Wales. As of late 2006, the university had over 12,000 students spread across seventeen academic departments.The university was founded in 1872 as...
, and the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He was the first Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
Professor at the University of Uppsala and University of Stockholm in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. He was awarded a 1996 fellowship to study chaos theory
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
at the Santa Fe Institute
Santa Fe Institute
The Santa Fe Institute is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, including physical, computational, biological, and social systems.The Institute houses a...
.
Research and Influence
His 1996 book, Rediscoveries and reformulations: humanistic methodologies for international studies (Cambridge U, ISBN 978-0521461306) collected his essays that offer humanistic alternatives to the conventional scientific approaches within international studies. Professor Alker was one of the 12 key contemporary thinkers covered in the 1997 book "The Future of International Relations," edited by Iver Neumann. His writings have influenced numerous scholars.His former students recall his generosity with time and his intellectual creativity. Rather than rewarding only the PhD students who followed his own research program, as some professors do, he stimulated and inspired a wide variety of budding intellects.http://www.watsoninstitute.org/pubs_news/alker_tribute.pdf Prof. Joshua Goldsteinhttp://www.joshuagoldstein.com/, wrote: "He was consciously, purposefully multi-methodological and multi-theoretical. He always pushed his students to find other theoretical perspectives and to use multiple methodologies. That had a huge effect on my career."http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/14186.html Prof. Thomas J. Biersteker
Thomas J. Biersteker
Thomas J. Biersteker is an American political scientist. He became the first Curt Gasteyger Professor of International Security at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland in 2007. He is an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the...
wrote: "When I think of the intellectual legacy of Hayward Alker, a number of phrases come immediately to mind – enormous intellect, insatiable curiosity, exuberant enthusiasm for ideas, intellectual breadth, extraordinary generosity, and most of all, immense vitality... Hayward had an influence on the profession and scholarship of international relations that went far beyond the small number of us who were fortunate enough to have been his students... I have received testimonies from prominent scholars at Oxford, Brown, and the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva – from individuals who were never formally students of Hayward’s – about his impact on their work."http://www.watsoninstitute.org/pubs_news/alker_tribute.pdf Prof. Patrick Jacksonhttp://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/ptjack.cfm wrote: "He was a thoughtful reader even of the work of a young scholar who had not been one of his students, or even one of his grandstudents. I find that attitude somewhat rare in academia these days... And his enthusiasm -- for methodological pluralism, for humanistic-but-rigorous IR scholarship, for ideas -- was contagious!"http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com/2007/08/hayward-alker.html
A memorial conference in his honor was held at the Watson Institute for International Studies
Watson Institute for International Studies
The Watson Institute for International Studies is a center for the analysis of international issues at Brown University, focusing mainly on global security and political economy and society. Its faculty span a wide range of disciplines, including, anthropology, economics, political science, and...
, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, 6–7 June 2008. A festschrift
Festschrift
In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
in his honor resulted in a book, Alker and IR: Global Studies in an Interconnected World (Routledge 2011, ISBN 978-0415615976), edited by Renée Marlin-Bennett
Renee Marlin-Bennett
Renee Marlin-Bennett is a professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University.She conducts interdisciplinary research on global political economy issues, focusing on the political economy of information, science, and technology....
. Another book, edited by Tahir Amin
Tahir Amin
Dr. Tahir Amin is a Pakistani political scientist. He is a Professor and Chairman of the Department of International Relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Previously, he was the Iqbal Chair at the Centre for International Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Dr....
, is entitled Word Orders in Central Asia: Essays in honor of Hayward R. Alker (Brown University, forthcoming). The Department of International Relations at Quaid-i-Azam University
Quaid-i-Azam University
The Quaid-i-Azam University is a public, research university in Islamabad Capital Territory of Pakistan. It was initially founded as the "University of Islamabad" in July 1967...
in Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, inaugurated the Dr Hayward R. Alker Library in his honor in 2009, containing hundreds of books and papers from Alker's collection.http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online//Regional/10-Apr-2009/Dr-Hayward-Alker-IR-library-set-up-at-QAU
The USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
Center for International Studies has a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship named in his honor.http://usccis.org/pages/3943/HAYWARD_R._ALKER_POST-DOCTORAL_RESEARCH_COMPETITION_2011-2012.htm The ISA posthumously recognized him with its Susan Strange
Susan Strange
Susan Strange was a British academic who was influential in the field of International Political Economy. Her most important publications include Casino Capitalism, Mad Money, States and Markets and The Retreat of the State : The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy.For a quarter of a century,...
Award, which recognizes a person whose intellect most challenges conventional wisdom in the international studies community.
Social scientists whom Alker taught include Mitchel Wallerstein, Thomas Biersteker, Takashi Inoguchi
Takashi Inoguchi
is a Japanese academic researcher of foreign affairs and international and global relationships of states. He is also a professor emeritus of University of Tokyo. He is the president of University of Niigata Prefecture since April 2009 .- History :Inoguchi is from Niigata, Niigata. He was born...
, Thomas Homer-Dixon
Thomas Homer-Dixon
Thomas Homer-Dixon holds the Centre for International Governance Innovation Chair of Global Systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario, and is a Professor in the Centre for Environment and Business in the Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo...
, Tahir Amin
Tahir Amin
Dr. Tahir Amin is a Pakistani political scientist. He is a Professor and Chairman of the Department of International Relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Previously, he was the Iqbal Chair at the Centre for International Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Dr....
, Ijaz Gilani, Peter M. Haas
Peter M. Haas
Peter M. Haas is a professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the Karl Deutsch Visiting Professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin....
, Renee Marlin-Bennett
Renee Marlin-Bennett
Renee Marlin-Bennett is a professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University.She conducts interdisciplinary research on global political economy issues, focusing on the political economy of information, science, and technology....
, Gavan Duffy, L.H.M. Ling
L.H.M. Ling
L.H.M. Ling is Associate Professor on the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School.She graduated from Wellesley College, and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Ph.D.-Books:...
, Dale D. Murphy
Dale D. Murphy
Dale D. Murphy is a professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He teaches international relations, international business, international economics, entrepreneurship, and corporate social responsibility in the Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy. ...
, Laura Sjoberg
Laura Sjoberg
Laura Sjoberg is a feminist scholar of international relations and international security. Her work specializes in gendered interpretations of just war theory, Feminist Security Studies, and women's violence in global politics...
, Joshua Goldsteinhttp://www.joshuagoldstein.com, Roger Hurwitzhttp://www.csail.mit.edu/user/1929, John C. Malleryhttp://www.internationalcybercenter.org/workshops/cs-ga-2010/jcmallery, Loren Kinghttp://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?f_id=166&grp_id=586, Eileen de los Reyeshttp://www.goddard.edu/eileendelosreyes, Neta Crawfordhttp://www.bu.edu/polisci/people/faculty/crawford/, William D. Stanleyhttp://www.unm.edu/~polsci/faculty.htm#stanleyWilliam, and Eric Blanchard.
Personal life
Alker was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1937 and raised in Greenwich, CT. He attended Brunswick School, where he was the first student in the school’s history to earn straight A’s.http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/14186.html He was married to J. Ann Tickner
J. Ann Tickner
J. Ann Tickner is a feminist international relations theorist. She is a professor at the School of International Relations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles...
, also a professor of International Relations at USC. They have three daughters. He sang with a leading Los Angeles County sacred choral group, Cantori Dominohttp://cantoridomino.org/, with whom he toured Italy in summer 2007.
Alker died on August 24, 2007 at the age of 69 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage at his family's summer home in Block Island
Block Island
Block Island is part of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and is located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately south of the coast of Rhode Island, east of Montauk Point on Long Island, and is separated from the Rhode Island mainland by Block Island Sound. The United States Census Bureau defines Block...
, R.I.
See also
- University of Southern California School of International RelationsUniversity of Southern California School of International RelationsThe University of Southern California School of International Relations is the 3rd oldest school of international relations in the world...
- University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
- International RelationsInternational relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
- Laurie BrandLaurie BrandProfessor Laurie A. Brand is the current director or the University of Southern California School of International Relations. Professor Brand specializes in the international relations of the Middle East, including political economy of the region and inter-Arab relations. She received her B.S. in...
Director of the School of International Relations