Kenneth Jowitt (born 1940) is 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 ...

. He was the President and Maurine Hotchkis Senior Fellow at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

and the Robson Professor, emeritus, of

Political Science 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 ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, positions he has held since 2001 and 1995 respectively.

Biography

Jowitt was born and raised in Ossining, New York, approximately thirty miles north of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

.Kreisler, Harry (December 7, 1999)
Ken Jowitt Interview.
Conversations with History. After graduating from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1962, Jowitt pursued post-graduate and doctoral studies at the

, earning his Master's in 1963 and his doctorate in 1970. Jowitt also spent some of his post-graduate life in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

during the Ceauşescu regime, where he studied the political and cultural dynamics of post-Stalinist Communist Europe.

Professional career

Jowitt has been a professor at UC-Berkeley since 1968. Among other honors and forms of recognition, he won the University Distinguished Teaching Award in 1983, and has been the recipient of two Stanford Hoover fellowships. From 1983 to 1986 he was dean of undergraduate studies at his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, the University of California-Berkeley. Focusing on social theory and comparative politics, Jowitt specializes in the study of post-

Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

studies. He has published numerous essays, articles, books, and scholarly theses related to these and other Cold War and post-Cold War era subjects. One of Jowitt's more notable scholarly works is ''New World Disorder: The

Leninist Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...

Extinction'', a collection of essays written between 1974 and 1990 that focuses on the nature of Communist regimes. The last three essays argue against a popular early 1990s philosophy that espoused Western triumphalism, and the essays dispute the "

end of history The end of history is a political and philosophical concept that supposes that a particular political, economic, or social system may develop that would constitute the end-point of humanity's sociocultural evolution and the final form of human go ...

" theory propounded at the time by former

neoconservative Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party along with the growing New Left and ...

scholar

Francis Fukuyama Francis Yoshihiro Fukuyama (; born October 27, 1952) is an American political scientist, political economist, and international relations scholar, best known for his book '' The End of History and the Last Man'' (1992). In this work he argues th ...

. He also contributed an essay, entitled "In Praise of the Ordinary: An Essay on Democracy," to

Adam Michnik Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1989), dissident, Intellectual#Public intellectual, public intellectual, as well as co-founder and editor-in-chief of the P ...

's anthology, ''Letters from Freedom''. Jowitt is noted for receiving standing ovations at the conclusion of his course lectures at UC-Berkeley.

Middle East

Jowitt has taken what some would consider a qualified, anti-

Wilsonian Wilsonianism, or Wilsonian idealism, is a certain type of foreign policy advice. The term comes from the ideas and proposals of United States President Woodrow Wilson. He issued his famous Fourteen Points in January 1918 as a basis for ending Wor ...

stance with respect to the Global War on Terror, and criticizing—both in print and during public debates—writers such as

David Frum David Jeffrey Frum (; born 30 June 1960) is a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is a senior editor at ''The Atlantic'' as well as an MSNBC contributor. In 2003, Frum authored the ...

, who have articulated a desire for the United States to change the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

into a more pluralistic, democratic region, primarily through military intervention. Although he initially supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he later became a critic of what he viewed as an unwillingness on the part of the Bush administration to implement a " realist" foreign policy, especially with respect to the Middle East and the ongoing War on Terror.

Bibliography

* ''Revolutionary Breakthroughs and National Development: The Case of Romania.'' (University of California Press, 1971) * ''The New World Disorder: The Leninist Extinction'' (

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 1992) * "Really Imaginary Socialism", (''East European Constitutional Review'', spring/summer 1997) * "In Praise of the Ordinary: An Essay on Democracy", published in Adam Michnik's ''Letters from Freedom'' (University of California Press, 1998) * "Russia Disconnected", (''Irish Slavonic Studies'' 19

998 Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescentius II (the Younger) and his followers ...

* "Challenging the Correct Line", (''East European Politics and Society'', fall 1998) * "Ethnicity: Nice, Nasty, Nihilistic", in ''Ethnopolitical Warfare: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions'', ed. Daniel Chirot and Martin E. P. Seligman (American Psychological Association, 2001)

References

External links

Conversation with Ken Jowitt
Conversations with History: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley
''Rage, Hubris, and Regime Change''

Really Imaginary Socialism

Communism, Democracy, and Golf
*
''Why the Bush Doctrine Makes Sense''

Toward a New Foreign Policy

Rock My Worldview: How To Win The War On Terror
Transcript of an Uncommon Knowledge debate between Jowitt and

, hosted by Peter Robinson. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jowitt, Ken 1940 births Living people American political scientists American political writers American male non-fiction writers Columbia University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty