The Jervis Effect

The Scholarship and Legacy of Robert Jervis

Richard H Immerman editor Diane N Labrosse editor Stacie Goddard editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Columbia University Press

Published:6th Jan '26

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Jervis Effect cover

Robert Jervis (1940–2021) was a titan in the field of international relations. Part political scientist, part psychologist, part historian, and part policy analyst, he drew on a vast array of theoretical approaches and empirical methods to develop keen and distinctive insights on a wide range of topics. From academic political science to the policy world, the scope of Jervis’s influence is astonishing.

Bringing together top scholars in political science, international relations, and history, this book offers a deep dive into Jervis’s pathbreaking scholarship and its legacy across disciplines. The authors consider how his work reshaped subjects such as nuclear strategy, arms control, deterrence theory, structural realism, diplomatic history, intelligence analysis, and the causes of war. They further discuss Jervis’s leadership on the CIA’s declassification board, which provided a bridge between academics and the intelligence community, and his influence as a public intellectual. The contributors also pay tribute to Jervis as a mentor, colleague, and friend who worked to build and sustain a broad intellectual community. Offering a wide-ranging overview of Jervis’s most important contributions to many fields, this book provides a deep understanding of Jervis’s scholarly work, which continues to inspire new generations of scholars who seek to follow in his footsteps.

Who else other than Robert Jervis could have attracted some of the top names in the academy, gathered together in this outstanding volume to write about him and his contribution to scholarship with such warmth, respect, and sense of loss? An inspiration to students and a constant source of original ideas who was not afraid of speaking truth to power, there was really nobody else in our field like him. -- Michael Cox, emeritus professor of international relations, LSE, and a founding director of LSE IDEAS
A witty, warm, and very readable collection. Jervis’s curiosity, enthusiasm, and scholarship over more than fifty years is revealed in these essays. A book for every bookshelf, and the most thoughtful guide to a deeper understanding of how international relations actually work. -- Anne Deighton, emeritus professor of European international politics, University of Oxford
An appropriately substantial and multifaceted monument to the work and impact of the late Robert Jervis. Leading scholars in the field provide detailed reviews of the pathbreaking contributions Jervis made to the analysis of relations between states. But they also testify to the impact he made beyond his writings—as a teacher and mentor, through his personal qualities as well as his intellectual ones. A giant in the field of international relations, Jervis was also quite clearly an exceptional person. -- John Thompson, emeritus reader in American history, University of Cambridge
The Jervis Effect is more than a celebration of Robert Jervis’s esteemed scholarship—though it is certainly a loving presentation of him. The book also shows the breadth of Jervis’s service, and the result is revelatory regarding the application of theory and research to real-world events. -- Thomas Zeiler, director of the International Affairs Program, University of Colorado Boulder

ISBN: 9780231221559

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

392 pages