John Mearsheimer bibliography

This is a list of works by John Mearsheimer (born 1947), an American political scientist and international relations scholar who is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. Mearsheimer's works cover international relations theory, international security and deterrence theory and he is best known for developing the neorealist (or structural realist) theory of offensive realism which describes the interaction between great powers as being primarily driven by the rational desire to achieve regional hegemony in an anarchic international system. His most notable publications include "Why the Soviets Can't Win Quickly in Central Europe" (1982), Conventional Deterrence (1983), Liddell Hart and the Weight of History (1988), The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001) where he postulates that China's growing power will likely bring it into conflict with the United States, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007) about the Israel lobby in the United States, ' (2011) and ' (2018) which criticizes the "liberal international order".

His literary output has been the subject of an academic paper, which concluded that in his later years, he has focused increasingly on "current events and conflicts".

Thesis

Articles

Journal articles

• Criticised by Dan Gouré and Gordon McCormick the following year, published with a rejoinder by Mearsheimer. Referenced in several later studies on the topic but without extensive discussion: by Robert Mandel, David Blagden, Lauren Kahn and Michael C. Horowitz.
• Described by Barry Posen as "a critical discussion of the possible tactical implications of the military reformers' prescriptions for ground warfare" and regarded as important though not convincing by David P. Calleo, it was referenced in the first years after its publication, but its first detailed critique came from Joshua M. Epstein and several others in the context of the replacement of combined arms with maneuver doctrine in the United States Armed Forces around 1989 and in the context of NATO's tactical future after the Cold War. It has seen occasional treatments in retrospective literature since that time.
• — (1982). "Why the Soviets Can't Win Quickly in Central Europe". International Security. 7 (1): 3–39. . .
• The article's thesis turned out to be incorrect, but the article itself was retrospectively praised for its testable framing by Junio and Mahnken 2013.

• This article was Mearsheimer's defense of his The False Promise of International Institutions.
• cite-14
• This article was Mearsheimer's defense of his book, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.
• Revised version published as Spanish translation published as cite-400
• The article was presented before the National Press Club the year of its publication. In response to widespread criticism, the authors published a response as
• Also delivered in lecture form at the Centre for Independent Studies, which on account of being widely viewed is sometimes cited instead. John Ikenberry debated the article with Mearsheimer in 2021.
• Also delivered in lecture form at The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, sometimes cited instead on account of its over 4 million views. A transcript of the speech was published by Harvard Kennedy School's Russia Matters, with a response by national security analyst Joseph Cirincione. To that lecture, the director of the EUI, political scientist Alexander Stubb who was also the president of Finland at the time, published a critical response. Two political scientists from the same institute had already published a brief critique, mainly of his theories on the role of NATO. Another EUI political scientist followed up Stubb's video with his own critique.

Magazine and newspaper articles

• Criticised by Vojtech Mastny in a letter to Foreign Affairs.
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• Not to be confused with its dlivery in the form of a lecture at the University of Ottawa, widely viewed.
• Delivered as a lecture at The University of Chicago, sometimes cited instead. It was also delivered before Carleton University.
• A lecture he delivered on this article was viewed over 30 million times on YouTube. Critiqued by historian Jeff Rich.
• Criticised by Michael McFaul and Stephen Sestanovich in the same edition, including a response from Mearsheimer. Their criticism was in turn critiqued by Susan Eisenhower.
• Delivered in lecture format before the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, the University of Chicago and Reed College. Critiqued by historian Jeff Rich.
• Originally published in The National Interest.
• Criticised by John Ikenberry, Andrew J. Nathan, Susan Thornton and Sun Zhe, with a response by Mearsheimer.
• Originally presented as
• Released as a lecture.

Books

• An influential book within the United States Army. Positively reviewed by George E. Orr, but less positively by David Calleo. Reviewed by Jed Snyder in 1985. It became a combat textbook. As a standard reference, it has been extensively employed in works by Corbin Williamson, Philip J. Romero, and others.
• Positively reviewed for its historical insight by John Paret for the Atlantic. Also reviewed by the Economist, and the Sewanee Review.
• The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. W.W. Norton & Company. 2001. . .
• Positively reviewed as a realist primer by James R. Holmes for the Library Journal and by the Publishers Weekly. Also reviewed by Patricia Cohen for the New York Times.
• The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2007. . .
• The book received mixed reviews, prompting the authors to respond with an article in Prospect, Jonathan Mirsky and Paul Findley responded to the criticism with positive reviews, while David Remnick though critical of the book defended the subject of the book as a serious scholarly topic. Also reviewed by Bret Stephens, Leslie H. Gelb, Dan Johnson, James Abourezk, L. Carl Brown, Booklist, Middle East Policy, the Economist, New Statesman, Publishers Weekly, the Guardian. After the initial presentation of the Prospect article, it was presented as a lecture before the Council for the National Interest, Code Pink, the GBH Forum Network, the Center for International and Regional Studies, and most prominently at the University of Chicago, sometimes cited instead of the book Bruce Feiler debated Mearsheimer on the book in 2018.
• '. Oxford University Press. 2011. . .
• It grew out of the material from of a 2010 lecture at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. The book itself was presented as a lecture viewed over 6 million times on YouTube.
• Ashley J. Tellis debated Mearsheimer on the book in 2023. The book was reviewed by Christoph Rohde.