Alexander Wendt | |
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| Born | (1958-06-12)12 June 1958 (age 67) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota,Macalester College |
| Known for | Constructivism |
| Awards | Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science (2023) Elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences (2025) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | International relations,political science |
| Institutions | The Ohio State University,University of Chicago,Dartmouth College,Yale University |
| Doctoral advisor | Raymond Duvall |
Alexander Wendt (born 12 June 1958) is an Americanpolitical scientist and a founding figure ofsocial constructivism in the field ofinternational relations, and a key contributor toquantum social science. Wendt and academics such asNicholas Onuf,Peter J. Katzenstein,Emanuel Adler,Michael Barnett,Kathryn Sikkink,John Ruggie,Martha Finnemore and others have, within a relatively short period, establishedconstructivism as one of the major schools of thought in the field.
A 2017 Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) survey of 1,400 international relations scholars worldwide ranked Wendt as the most influential scholar in the field over the past 20 years.[1] Earlier TRIP surveys in 2006 and 2011 also recognized his work as among the most impactful in the discipline.[2] Wendt’s scholarship has garnered over 50,000 citations on Google Scholar, making him one of the most cited researchers in international relations, alongside figures likeJoseph Nye andJames Fearon.
Alexander Wendt was born in 1958 inMainz in West Germany, attended high school in St. Paul, Minnesota and studied political science and philosophy atMacalester College before receiving his Ph.D. in political science from theUniversity of Minnesota in 1989, studying under Raymond "Bud" Duvall. Wendt taught atYale University from 1989 to 1997, atDartmouth College from 1997 to 1999, at theUniversity of Chicago from 1999 to 2004, and is currently the Ralph D. Mershon Professor of International Security at theOhio State University. Wendt was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2025.[3]
Wendt's most widely cited work to date isSocial Theory of International Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1999), which builds on and goes beyond his 1992 article "Anarchy is What States Make of It".Social Theory of International Politics places itself as a response toKenneth Waltz's 1979 work,Theory of International Politics, the canonical text of theneorealist school with Wendt centering states as the object of study and replicating Waltz's division between international relations andforeign policy. Like Waltz, Wendt believed that the actual production that individuates states happens through domestic processes that require a separate theory from international relations; thus: "Much of the construction is at the domestic level, as Liberals have emphasized, and a complete theory of state identity needs to have a domestic component."[4]
Wendt's book advances an argument ofcritical realism, and the ontological and methodological claims of constructivism. Critical realism, drawing upon the work ofRoy Bhaskar (amongst others), seeks to explain un-observables within the world and constitutive questions of the world.[4]
Constructivism, as imagined by Wendt, builds upon the work ofNicholas Onuf andAnthony Giddens, and argues for the mutual constitution of agents and structures, the historical contingency of cultures of anarchy, the role of constitutive and regulative norms in state behavior, the role of intersubjective social structures in identity, and the power of ideas. Anarchy, for Wendt, "has no logic apart from process and that interactionis structured, albeit not at a macro-level."[4] There are three empirical cultures of anarchy in international relations: Hobbesian (where enmity dominates), Lockean (where rivalry dominates), and Kantian (where friendship dominates).[5]
InQuantum Mind and Social Science (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Wendt proposes a synthesis ofquantum physics and social theory, arguing that consciousness and social phenomena exhibit quantum-like properties.[6] The book has sparked significant debate, with philosopherSteve Fuller describing it as "the most intellectually challenging work of social ontology published in my career."[7] While some scholars, such as Colin Wight, remain skeptical,[8] others, including quantum physicists and philosophers, have praised its interdisciplinary ambition.[9][10]
Since 2008, Wendt has researchedUAP (UFOs) and their implications for national security. His article "Sovereignty and the UFO" (Political Theory, 2008) challenges conventional assumptions about state sovereignty in the context of unexplained aerial phenomena.[11] A forthcoming book, The Last Humans: UFOs and National Security (Oxford University Press), expands on this work, examining the potential societal and political impacts of UAP.[12]
In 2009, Wendt co-founded the journalInternational Theory withDuncan Snidal. From 2009 to 2019, he served as co-editor of the journal, withChristian Reus-Smit joining as a co-editor in 2014. Published by Cambridge University Press.[18]
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