William C. Wohlforth
Professor
Appointments
Professor of Government
Daniel Webster Professor
Area of Expertise
International relations theory,
International Security,
US Foreign Policy,
Russian foreign policy
Biography
A member of the Government Department's faculty since 2000, I teach and conduct research on international relations, with an emphasis on international security and foreign policy. Before coming here, I taught at Princeton and Georgetown. I graduated with a degree in international relations from Beloit College, worked as a legislative aide in the U.S. House of Representatives and did my graduate work at Yale University, earning an MA in international relations and PhD in Political Science. My personal website has all the details on current research and teaching.
Education
B.A. Beloit College
M.A. Yale University
M.Phil. Yale University
Ph.D. Yale University
Taught Courses
Publications
S. G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth "The Myth of Multipolarity: American Power's Staying Power," Foreign Affairs May/June 2023: 76-91
Kastner, J. and W.C. Wohlforth, "A Measure Short of War: The Return of Great Power Subversion," Foreign Affairs (July/August 2021), 118-131.
Wohlforth, W.C. "Realism and Great Power Subversion," International Relations 34: 4 (December 2020)
Sambanis N., S. Skaperdas & W.C., Wohlforth, "External Intervention, Identity, and Civil War" Comparative Political Studies 2020. Vol. 53(14) 2155 –2182
Paci., S., Sambanis, N., & W.C. Wohlforth, "Status-Seeking and Nation-Building: The 'Piedmont Principle' Revisited" Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 51, No. 1, Summer 2020, pp. 65-95.
Sushentsov, A. A. & William C Wohlforth, "The Tragedy of US-Russian Relations: NATO Centrality and the Revisionists' Spiral," International Politics 57 (3) (2020), pp. 427-450.
"Realism," The Oxford Handbook of International Relations Rues-Smit and Snidal, eds., 2009
Torkunov, A. V., W. C. Wohlforth and B. F. Martynov, eds., History of International Relations and Russian Foreign Policy in the 20th Century (2 vols.) (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020)
Norrlöf, C, & W.C. Wohlforth, "Raison de l'Hégémonie (The Hegemon's Interest): Theory of the Costs and Benefits of Hegemony,"Security Studies 28, no. 3 (July–September 2019).
Norrlöf, C, & W.C. Wohlforth, "Is US Grand Strategy Self Defeating? Deep Engagement, Military Spending and Sovereign Debt," Conflict Management and Peace Science Vol. 36(3) (2019): 227–247
Brooks, S.G. and W.C. Wohlforth, America Abroad: The United States' Global Role in the 21st Century (Oxford, 2016) (paperback ed. 2018)
Wohlforth, W.C., B. de Carvalho, I.B. Neumann & H. Leira "Moral Authority and Status in International Relations: Good States and the Social Dimension of Status-Seeking," with B. de Carvalho, I.B. Neumann and H. Leira Review of International Studies 44/3 (July 2018), pp. 526-546.
Wohlforth, W.C., & V. Zubok, "An Abiding Antagonism: Realism, Idealism, and the Mirage of US-Russian Partnership in the End of the Cold War" International Politics, 2017, 54(4): 405-419
Brooks, S. G. & W.C. Wohlforth, "The Rise and Fall of Great Powers in the 21st Century: China's Rise and the Fate of America's Global Position," International Security 40, No. 3 (Winter 2015-16), pp. 7-53.
Gheciu, Alexandra and W.C. Wohlforth, eds., The Oxford Handbook of International Security (Oxford University Press, 2018).
Sambanis, N., S. Skaperdas W.C. Wohlforth, "Nation Building Through War," American Political Science Review Vol. 109, No. 2 May 2015, 279-296. .
Speaking Engagements
The 14th Annual Kenneth N. Waltz Lecture in International Relations: "American Power and the Short Peace" with William C. Wohlforth. February 1, 2024
Works in Progress
Kastner, J., Wohlforth, W.C., A Measure Short of War: A Brief History of Great Power Subversion (Oxford U. Press, forthcoming January 2025)
Norrlöf, C., Wohlforth, W.C., "American Power and the Short Peace," working paper.
Andersen, M. ., & Wohlforth, W.C., "The Balance of Power," forthcoming in Leira and de Carvalho, eds, Routledge Handbook of Historical IR
Sushentsov, A. A,m & William C Wohlforth, "The Tragedy of US-Russian Relations: NATO Centrality and the Revisionists' Spiral," International Politics.
Contact