Waltz, Kenneth

Waltz, Kenneth (June 8, 1924 - )

An American political scientist and one of the most prominent international relations scholars, largely associated with neo-realism, or structural realism. Waltz is a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University. He is best known for his contributions to explaining state behaviour in an ‘anarchic’ international system. Contrary to popular belief, Waltz argued in 1981 that nuclear proliferation would increase the probability of international peace. Some of his publications include Reflections on Theory of International Politics: A Response to My Critics (1986), The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed (1995), and Realism and International Politics (2008).