Bruce Russett

Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations

Bruce Russett, BA Williams College, M.A., Ph.D. Yale University, faculty member at Yale since 1962, you have distinguished yourself throughout your career as one of the world’s foremost scholars of International Relations. research on the relationship between regime type and interstate militarized conflicts opened up new avenues for research for scores of scholars and established “the democratic peace” as one of the dominant, nearly inviolable, theories in political science. Your research exemplifies the best tradition of combining theoretical insights with empirical analysis.  Always knee-deep in data, a keen and discerning observer of the real world, you were able to rigorously test and illuminate complex theories of inter-state relationships.

Your stature in the field of International Relations is very high. You were always a numbers person and the numbers speak for themselves: with 27 books and 238 articles; with 11 NSF grants and an even larger number of grants from the MacArthur, Guggenheim and Ford Foundations (among other organizations). You have had great impact in your discipline, as the 11th most cited political scientist and the 2nd most cited in International Relations over a period of 45 years (from 1960 to 2005). You have been a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; a long-time editor of the Journal of Conflict Resolution (from 1973-2009), which you established as a leading journal in the field; the Founder and Director of United Nations Studies at Yale; and a Visiting Scholar and Professor in several Universities and Research Centers around the world. Your long list of honors includes a Founder’s Medal from the Peace Science Society (international) for “significant and distinguished life-long scientific contributions to peace science” and your book Triangulating Peace: Democracy, Interdependence and International Organizations (co-authored with John O’Neal) won the 2010 International Studies Association prize for Best Book of the Decade, 2000-2009.

In addition to your scholarship, your teaching has also shaped the discipline: a long line of your students are now established scholars around the world and they, as well as your junior colleagues at Yale, are all grateful for the high standard of excellence that you continually set for yourself and for all of us. As you retire from the active faculty, your colleagues salute you and look forward to continue learning from you in the International Relations workshop—from which we are happily certain you will not be able to stay away.

Tribute Editor: Penelope Laurans