Patrick Thaddeus Jackson is currently Director of the General Education Program, and Associate Professor of International Relations in the School of International Service, at the American University in Washington, DC. He previously taught at Columbia University and New York University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in 2001. In 2003-4, he served as President of the International Studies Association-Northeast. He is presently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Relations and Development.
Jackson’s research interests include culture and agency, international relations theory (particularly the intersection of realism and constructivism), sociological methodology, the role of rhetoric in public life, the concept of ‘Western Civilization,’ and the political and social theory of Max Weber. He teaches courses on world politics, political philosophy, International Relations theory, research methodology, the philosophy of social science, and the intersection of popular culture and international politics. He has three times received university awards for the innovative use of technology in the classroom, and was the AU Honors Program’s Faculty Member of the Year for 2004-5.
Among his recent publications are “Hegel’s House, or, ‘People are States Too’,” Review of International Studies 30 (2004), pp. 281-287; “Glocal Hero: Harry Potter Abroad” (co-authored with Peter Mandaville), in Harry Potter and International Relations, ed. Daniel H. Nexon and Iver B. Neumann (Routledge Press, 2006); “Twisting Tongues and Twisting Arms: The Power of Political Rhetoric” (co-authored with Ronald R. Krebs), European Journal of International Relations 13:1 (2007), pp. 35-66; “Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy: A Failure of Weberian Activism” (co-authored with Stuart J. Kaufman), Perspectives on Politics 5:1 (2007), pp. 95-103; and “Foregrounding Ontology: Dualism, Monism, and IR Theory,” Review of International Studies 34:1 (2008), pp. 129-153. His book Civilizing the Enemy: German Reconstruction and the Invention of the West was published in 2006 by the University of Michigan Press. He is presently working on a book about the philosophy of science and its implications for International Relations scholarship.
Jackson is also a devoted (some might say “obsessive”) baseball fan, and a self-proclaimed sci-fi geek.
