Richard Ned Lebow is an American political scientist best known for his work in international relations, political psychology, classics and philosophy of science. He is Professor Emeritus of International Political Theory at the Department of War Studies, King's College London, Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, and James O. Freedman Presidential Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth College. Lebow also writes fiction. He has published a novel and collection of short stories and has recently finished a second novel.

Early life and education

Lebow was born in 1941 in France and was a refugee from Europe, the only member of his family to survive World War II. He was taken to an orphanage before being adopted by an American family and grew up in New York City. He graduated from Lynbrook Senior High School in 1959 in Long Island, New York. Lebow gained his BA degree from the University of Chicago, his masters from Yale University and his doctorate from City University of New York.

Career

Lebow taught political science, international relations, political psychology, political theory, methodology, public policy at universities in the United States and Europe and strategy at the Naval and National War Colleges. From 2002 until becoming emeritus in 2012, he was James O. Freedman Presidential Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. He taught courses in international relations, political psychology, political theory and Greek literature and philosophy. Since 2012, He has been professor of international political theory in the War Studies department of King’s College London and Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. He taught courses on philosophy of science, scope and methods and ancient Greek conceptions of order and justice. Lebow has held visiting positions, including: In 2018, Lebow was accused of making an inappropriate joke riding in an elevator during a conference. Simona Sharoni, a feminist scholar and activist, took offense at the joke and reported Lebow to the International Studies Association (ISA). Lebow emailed her to apologize, but said that focusing on minor offenses harms the general fight for women rights. He refused to apologize in the way that the ISA sought from him.

Analysis

Lebow is a realist. Writing with Benjamin Valentino and critiquing power transition theory, Lebow states, "Power transition theorists have been surprisingly reluctant to engage historical cases in an effort to show that wars between great powers have actually resulted from the motives described by their theories."

Honours

Fiction

Scholarly Books since 2003