Edward Henry Buehrig (October 4, 1910 – August 31, 1986) was an American

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

who spent most of his career at the

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

. He was known as a leading authority on the foreign policy of

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

Early life and education

Buehrig was born in

Minier, Illinois Minier is a village in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,154 at the 2020 census. Minier is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The village was named for its founder, G. W. Minier, a f ...

, and attended

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

where he served as an editor of the ''Vidette'' student newspaper. He subsequently transferred to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, from which he graduated. Buehrig went on to receive a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

International relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

, also from Chicago, with a thesis titled "Why the United States took the Philippines Islands", and later earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the same institution with his dissertation, "American Intervention in Europe, 1917".

Career

In 1934 Buehrig began teaching at Indiana University, where he would remain – except for three, short interludes – until his retirement in 1981. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Buehrig worked in the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

and served as Secretary-General of the Italo-Yugoslav Boundary Commission; after the war he again departed Indiana to spend a year at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

researching the foreign policy of Woodrow Wilson. A third hiatus came in 1957 when he spent one year teaching at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

(AUB). According to Elsa Marston, she met her husband Iliya Harik at an AUB lecture given by Buehrig. Buehrig served as acting president of the

Midwest Political Science Association The Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. It was founded in 1939, and publishes the '' American Journal of Political Science'' in conjunction with Rice University. ...

during 1955. On being appointed chair of the political science department at Indiana in 1980,

Elinor Ostrom Elinor Claire "Lin" Ostrom (née Awan; August 7, 1933 – June 12, 2012) was an American Political science, political scientist and Political economy, political economist whose work was associated with New institutional economics, New Institution ...

recalled that she "realized that Professor Buehrig would be retiring within a year ndI shuddered to think of all the memory and insight about the Department that might be lost to future generations". At Ostrom's request, Buehrig wrote "Political Science at Indiana: An Historical Essay", chronicling the history of the department up to that point. In May 1986, three months before his death, Illinois State University awarded Buehrig an honorary degree.

Selected publications

* Buehrig, E (1950).
Wilson's Neutrality Re-Examined
. ''

World Politics The terms "world politics" or "global politics" may refer to: *Geopolitics, the study of the effects of geography on politics and International Relations (IR) *Global politics Global politics, also known as world politics, names both the disciplin ...

'', Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 1–19 * Buehrig, E (1950).
The United States, the United Nations and Bi-Polar Politics
. ''

International Organization An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own le ...

'', Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 573–584 * Buehrig, E (1955) ''Woodrow Wilson and the Balance of Power'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press. * Buehrig, E (1957) ''Wilson's Foreign Policy in Perspective'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press. * Buehrig, E (1965).
The International Pattern of Authority
. ''World Politics'', Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 369–385 * Buehrig, E (1966) ''Essays in Political Science'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press. * Buehrig, E (1971) ''The UN and the Palestinian Refugees: A Study in Nonterritorial Administration'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press. * Buehrig, E (1986) ''The Perversity of Politics'' Dover, N.H.: Croom Helm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buehrig, Edward 1910 births 1986 deaths People from Tazewell County, Illinois University of Chicago alumni Indiana University faculty American international relations scholars Writers from Illinois Writers from Indiana Illinois State University alumni 20th-century American political scientists