Patricia A. Weitsman

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Weitsman in 2006

Patricia Ann Weitsman (October 23, 1964 – March 30, 2014) was an American

political scientist and international relations professor at Ohio University where she was also Director of War and Peace Studies.[1] She specialized in security studies and international relations theory, especially on topics related to military alliances.[2]

Life and career

Weitsman attended Indiana University as an undergraduate and spent one year during that time at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[3] She did her graduate studies at Columbia University, resulting in M.A., M. Phil., and Ph.D. degrees, the last coming in 1994.[2][3] She was a pre- and post-doctoral fellow at the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva.[3]

She began at Ohio University in 1995. There she developed a reputation for teaching, winning the College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award in 1997, the campus-wide University Professor honor in 1997–98 and again in 2000–01 and the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award in 2008.[4][5] In 2009 she was the Ohio University Graduate Commencement Speaker.[2][6] She was also nominated for the Statewide Excellence in Education Award by Ohio Magazine.[4] She noted that working with students was vitally important to her as it lightened her feelings given the "very dark" subject matter of her research.[6] In 2010, Weitsman created a new interdisciplinary War and Peace Studies major, as well as a certificate program under that name, within the university's Center for International Studies.[2][5] She became Director of War and Peace Studies in 2012.[2]

Weitsman's 2004 book Dangerous Alliances: Proponents of Peace, Weapons of War analyzed military alliances as not just a means by a state to protect against threats from other countries, but also to improves ties with a particular nation (she termed it "hedging") or to manage conflict with a particular nation (she termed it "tethering").[7] It used case studies from European history during the 1873–1918 period and sought to synthesize previous scholarly research on alliance formation and cohesion into a more robust theoretical framework that incorporated realist, rationalist, and institutionalist thinking on the subject.[8] The book was heavily reviewed in academic journals, with scholars generally praising the work as a valuable contribution to the study of alliances while sometimes taking issue with particular points or judging that the work did not fulfill all of its ambitions.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] For one, Joseph M. Grieco wrote that it was an "original and thoughtful analysis ... and contributes greatly to our understanding of alliances and their impact on war and peace."[7] Nicholas Onuf said that her emphasis on "tethering" was a valuable new concept validated by her historical survey.[13] Dangerous Alliances was a finalist for several book prizes.[6]

Her second book, Waging War: Alliances, Coalitions, and Institutions of Interstate Violence, was published in 2014. It sought to establish a theoretical model for how coalition warfare in Iraq and elsewhere had affected the U.S. projection of power.

rape during the Rwandan Genocide.[5][16]

Weitsman was very active in the 1,400-member International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association (ISA); the section is the world's largest association of security studies scholars.[2] She was elected to its governing board in 2006 and was selected as its vice chair in 2009.[2] She then served as its chair from 2011 to 2013.[17] During her time as chair, the section became the largest within the ISA.[5]

Weitsman was married to

bone marrow transplant for it in 2011, went into remission and was able to resume work.[19] But the disease returned as leukemia in 2013 and she succumbed to it in 2014 at age 49.[1][2]

The International Security Studies Section's annual Patricia Weitsman Award for Outstanding ISSS Graduate Paper is named in her honor.[20] A panel session honoring her contributions to the field was held at the 2015 ISA Conference in New Orleans.[21]

Publications

  • Politics of Policy Making in Defense and Foreign Affairs: Conceptual Models and Bureaucratic Politics (Third Edition, Prentice Hall, 1993) [co-assistant with Laura Gaughran for author Roger Hilsman]
  • Towards A New Europe: Stops and Starts in Regional Integration (Praeger Publishers, 1995) [co-editor with Gerald Schneider and Thomas Bernauer]
  • Enforcing Cooperation: "Risky" States and the Intergovernmental Management of Conflict (St. Martin's, 1997) [co-editor with Gerald Schneider]
  • Dangerous Alliances: Proponents of Peace, Weapons of War (Stanford University Press, 2004)
  • Waging War: Alliances, Coalitions, and Institutions of Interstate Violence (Stanford University Press, 2014)

References

  1. ^ a b "Obituaries: Patricia Ann Weitsman". The Athens News. April 1, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "University Mourns Dr. Patricia Weitsman, Political Science Professor". Ohio University. April 3, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Director, War and Peace Studies: Patricia Weitsman". Ohio University. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Recent Faculty Awards". Ohio University. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d Parker, Jay (April 18, 2014). "News From ISA – In Memoriam – Patricia Ann Weitsman". International Studies Association.
  6. ^ a b c "Noted professor, author to give keynote". Ohio University. June 8, 2009.
  7. ^
    JSTOR 20202407
    .
  8. ^
    S2CID 140468117
    .
  9. JSTOR 3699714
    .
  10. S2CID 164984988
    .
  11. S2CID 145277730
    .
  12. S2CID 152907029
    .
  13. ^
    JSTOR 40109668
    .
  14. S2CID 220990767
    .
  15. ^ Fontenot, Georgory, Col. (ret.) (September 2014). "The 'Science' of Joint Warfighting" (PDF). ARMY Magazine. 64 (9). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-14.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. S2CID 143000182
    .
  17. ^ "ISSS Governance and Leadership". International Studies Association. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  18. ^ a b Heagney, Meredith (February 11, 2011). "He'll be a charitable man". The Columbus Dispatch.
  19. ^ "Patricia Weitsman to discuss her life saving bone marrow transplant on Wednesday". Ohio University. August 23, 2012.
  20. ^ "Patricia Weitsman Award". International Studies Association. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  21. ^ "ISA's 56th Annual Convention: ISA 2015 Program" (PDF). International Studies Association. p. 131. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
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