On the night of December 9, 2021, EST, the famous political scientist Robert Jervis died of lung cancer in New York State at the age of 81. Throughout his 53-year academic career, Professor Robert Jervis has focused on political psychology and the perspective of human cognition, and has demonstrated a strong concern for reality. His books include Cognition and Misconceptions in International Politics, The Significance of the Nuclear Revolution, System Effects: The Complexity of Political and Social Life, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the New Era. At this moment, the great master has died, but the achievements and spirit of the master will undergo the washing and precipitation of history, and will continue to be passed on and continued. Little I wrote this article to express mourning.
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On the night of December 9, 2021, EST, the famous political scientist Robert Jervis died of lung cancer in New York State at the age of 81.
Renowned political scientist Professor Robert Jervis
Robert Jervis was born in 1940 in New York, USA. Beginning with his Ph.D. from Berkeley in 1968, Robert Jervis has served as a professor at Harvard University (1968-1974) and UCLA (1974-1980) during his 53-year academic career. He has been a member of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University since 1980. From 2000 to 2001, he served as President of the American Political Science Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American School of Politics and Social Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences, and a corresponding member of the British Academy. If you summarize Jervis's academic achievements in one sentence, you can quote Professor Tang Shiping, who has studied and exchanged it for a long time in the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University: "In the field of international relations, if I only list three masters who have achieved mastership in the last century, I will list Jervis (Robert S. Thompson). Jervis), Robert Keohane, and Waltz (Walneth Waltz). ”
Professor Robert Jervis's academic research has always focused on political psychology and the perspective of human cognition, and has demonstrated a strong concern for reality. In 2018, professor Jervis summed up his academic career in a comprehensive review of his career in the American Political Science Association's Annual Review of Political Science: "Throughout my life, I have been intertwined with politics and political science. I handed out flyers to Adelaide Stevenson when I was 12 years old and participated in protests in Oberlin and Berkeley. As my expertise has grown, I have also worked with national security agencies. The issue of 'conflict' has always been of interest to me. In particular, the situation is analysed in terms of 'security dilemmas' or 'aggressiveness'. In exploring this question, I was drawn to political psychology and signal theory, although the two are very different. I've been studying both on an ongoing basis and occasionally try to combine them. My reflections on strategic interactions led me to a long-winded exploration of systemic effects. I believe that this way of thinking is still not sufficiently valued in the discipline and among policymakers. I don't think this way of thinking is undervalued in the discipline and among policymakers. My research continues to be stimulated by the development of the discipline and international political developments. ”
Professor Jervis's major publications include Cognition and Misunderstanding in International Politics (1976), The Meaning of the Nuclear Revolution (1989), System Effects: Complexity in Political and Social Life (1997), and American Foreign Policy in a New Era (2005). In many works, Professor Jervis embodies his extensive knowledge and profound insights, especially the skillful study of historical processes and historical events, and on the basis of inheriting the achievements of the international political science community since World War I, he integrates his own personal experience of World War II, especially the Cold War period, into his works. In his masterpiece, Cognition and Misconceptions in International Politics, Professor Jervis expressed the main idea: Why do countries, which could have kept peace, go to war? Why do countries, which could have cooperated, opt for conflict? Why is it that hostility between nations heats up so easily, while friendship is so difficult to maintain? To this end, it is necessary not only to analyze the international system and the national system, but also to study the personal cognitive psychology of decision makers and even each participant in international political events, to explore the reasons for the formation of perception, and to analyze the possible consequences of wrong perception. These reflections are not only the core of Jervis's academic thought, but also reflect the master's deep concern for the fate of all mankind. What we feel from it is not only the academic wisdom of the master, but also his convincing personality charm.
In Professor Tang Shiping's memories of the close interaction with Professor Jervis, we can also be touched by the encouragement and promotion of the master to the younger generation. They had more than ten years of mail exchanges, and Professor Jervis, a junior they had never met, had carefully read and given detailed opinions on many of Professor Tang Shiping's articles. "From him, I felt the humility of a true master scholar. I think the best reward for him is to work hard and do a good job, and also to give my juniors the support and encouragement they can. ”
Professor Jervis remained active in academia and policy in his later years. His last book, published in 2017, is the culmination of a half-century of his research on international political psychology: How State Ministers Think: The Psychology of International Politics. And continue to publish his views on realistic policies in academic journals. His last published scholarly work is the chapter he contributes to the forthcoming collection of essays, Before and After the Collapse of the Soviet Union: World Politics and the End of the Cold War<Nuclear Age: The Cold War and post-Cold War >. The last sentence in this paper can also be said to be Professor Jervis's academic last words— "we are left uncertain," that is, "we know very little." The master's cautious mind in the face of the complex dynamics of international politics, as well as his sincere desire to learn and be challenged, are truly admirable and breathtaking.
At this moment, the great master has died. Looking back on the career of the master, Xiao I seems to have the melody of the musician J.S. Bach's posthumous work "Unfinished Fugue" that is also a human giant, lamenting that time and space and fate have inadvertently taken away human lives, even the greatest people. And how similar the spirit of the masters is, in the face of the vast reality and spiritual world, constantly explore until the last moment, with an end to face the world of infinity, although there is an end, there is no shame. How could Jervis's career in the field of international politics not be a fugue that has been interrupted at this moment and will continue indefinitely? The achievements and spirit of the master will undergo the washing and precipitation of history, and will continue to be passed on and continued.
Columbia University Department of Political Science website, https://polisci.columbia.edu/content/robert-jervis.
"The Jervis I Know and Understand", Xiaoxiang Swordsman, February 5, 2011, http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_744a73490100ozcc.html.
Robert Jervis, "Politics and Political Science," Annual Reviews, Vol.21, 2018.
"The Jervis I Know – Remembering the Political Scientist Robert Jervis", No Corner, December 11, 2021, https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/j9Ei5Xud52qkdcuEHz965w.
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