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Michael C Williams

Curriculum Vitae

Current Positions

  • University Research Professor in Global Political Thought
    Graduate School of Public and International Affairs University of Ottawa, Canada
    613-562-5800 x2552

Publications

BOOKS
  • Security Beyond the State: Private Security in International Politics
    Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011 [Co-authored with Rita Abrahamsen].
  • Culture and Security: Symbolic Power and the Politics of International Security
    London: Routledge, 2007.
  • Realism Reconsidered: Hans Morgenthau and International Relations
    Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. [Editor]
  • The Realist Tradition and the Limits of International Relations
    Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
  • International Relations Theory and the Politics of European Integration
    London: Routledge, 2000 [Co-edited with Morten Kelstrup].
  • Critical Security Studies: Concepts and Cases
    Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997 [Co-edited with Keith Krause].
SPECIAL ISSUE JOURNAL EDITORSHIPS
  • Classical Realism Meets Critical Theory.
    Journal of International Political Theory, 12(4) 2016  [Co-edited with H. Behr].
  • Security in an Urban Age.
    Special Issue of Security Dialogue, 40(4/5) 2009  [Co-edited with R. Abrahamsen and D. Hubert].
  • Security Privatization in Contemporary Africa.
    Review of African Political Economy, 35(118) 2008. [Co-edited with R. Abrahamsen and D. Hubert].
  • Security Beyond the State.
    International Relations, 21(3) 2007  [Co-edited with R. Abrahamsen].
ARTICLES IN REFEREED JOURNALS
  • The Darkness at the End of History: A dialogue with Francis Fukuyama.
    Polity, 54(4) 2022: 794-801.
  • From Critique to Reaction: The new right, critical theory, and international relations.  
    Journal of International Political Theory, 18(1) 2022: 23-45 [co-author Jean-François Drolet].
  • The radical right, realism, and the politics of conservatism in post-war international thought.
    Review of International Studies 47(3) 2021: 273-293 [co-author Jean-François Drolet].
  • Confronting the International Political Sociology of the New Right.  
    International Political Sociology 14(1) 2020: 94-107 (co-authors R Abrahamsen, J-F Drolet, A Gheciu, K Narita,  S Vucetic].
  • America First: Paleoconservatism and the ideological struggle for the American Right.
    Journal of Political Ideologies 25(1) 2020: 28-50 [co-author Jean-François Drolet].
  • The view from MARS: US paleoconservatism and ideological challenges to the liberal world order.
    International Journal, 74(1) 2019: 15–31 [co-author Jean-François Drolet].
  • International Relations in the Age of the Image.  
    International Studies Quarterly, 62, 2018: 880-891.
  • Radical conservatism and global order.
    International Theory, 10(3) 2018: 285-313.  [co-author Jean-François Drolet].
  • Interlocuting classical realism and critical theory:
    Negotiating divides in international relations theory.

    Journal of International Political Theory, 12(4) 2016: 1-15 [co-author Hartmut Behr].
  • Reviving the Rhetoric of Realism: Politics and Responsibility in Grand Strategy.
    Security Studies, 24(1) 2015: 37-60 [co-author Vibeke Schou Tjalve].
  • Rethinking the Logic of Security: Liberal Realism and the Recovery of American Political Thought.
    Telos, 170 2015: 1-22 [co-author Vibeke Schou Tjalve].
  • Securitization as Political Theory: The Politics of the Extraordinary.
    International Relations, 28(4) 2014: 19-25.
  • In the Beginning:
    The International Relations enlightenment and the ends of International Relations theory.  

    European Journal of International Relations, 19, 2013: 647-665.
  • The New Economy of Security.
    Global Crime 13(4) 2012: 312-19.
  • Securitization and the liberalism of fear.
    Security Dialogue, 42(4/5) 2011: 453-463.
  • The legacies of raison d’etat: A brief commentary on R. Harrison Wagner’s War and the State. International Theory, 2(2) 2010: 306-316.
  • The Public, the Private, and the Evolution of Security Studies.  
    Security Dialogue, 41(6) 2010: 623-630.

    Waltz, Realism, and Democracy.
    International Relations, 23(3) 2009: 328-340.
  • Guest Editors’ Introduction.
    Security Dialogue, 40(4/5) 2009: 363-372 [co-authors Rita Abrahamsen and Don Hubert].
  • Security Beyond the State: Global Security Assemblages in International Politics.
    International Political Sociology, 3(1) 2009: 1-17 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • Public/Private, Global/Local: The Changing Contours of Africa’s Security Governance.
    Review of African Political Economy, 35(118) 2008: 539-553 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • The Bush Doctrine and the Iraq War: Neoconservatives vs. Realists.
    Security Studies, 17(2) 2008: 1-30 [co-author Brian Schmidt].
  • Introduction: The Privatization and Globalization of Security in Africa.
    International Relations, (21) 2007: 131-141 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • Securing the City: Private Security Companies and Non-State Authority in Global Governance.
    International Relations, (21) 2007: 237-253 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • Security sector reform: bringing the private in.
    Conflict, Security, and Development, 6(1) 2006: 1-23 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • What is the National Interest?: The Neoconservative Challenge in IR Theory.
    European Journal of International Relations, 11(3) 2005: 303-337.
  • Why Ideas Matter in International Relations:
    Hans Morgenthau, Collective Identity, and the Moral Construction of Power Politics.

    International Organization, 58(4) 2004: 633-666.
  • Words, Images, Enemies: Securitization and International Politics.
    International Studies Quarterly, 47(4), 2003: 511-31.
  • The Discipline of the Democratic Peace:
    Kant, Liberalism, and the Social Construction of Security Communities.

    European Journal of International Relations 7(4), 2001: 525-553.
  • From Alliance to Security Community: NATO, Russia, and the Power of Identity.
    Millennium: Journal of International Studies 29(2), 2000: 357-87 [co-author Iver B. Neumann].
  • The Myths of Europe: Legitimacy, Community and the “Crisis” of the EU.  
    Journal of Common Market Studies 37(2) 1999: 233-49 [co-author Lene Hansen].
  • The Practices of Security: Critical Contributions (a reply to Eriksson).
    Cooperation and Conflict 34(3) 1999: 381-84.
  • Identity and the Politics of Security.
    European Journal of International Relations 4(2) 1998: 207228.
  • Modernity, Identity and Security: a Comment on the ‘Copenhagen Controversy’.
    Review of International Studies 24, 1998: 433-437.
  • The Institution of ‘Security’: Elements of a Theory of Security Organizations.
    Cooperation and Conflict 32(3) 1997: 287-307.
  • Hobbes and International Relations: a reconsideration.
    International Organization 50(2) 1996: 213-36.
  • Broadening the Agenda of Security Studies?: Politics and Methods.  
    Mershon Review of International Studies 40, 1996: 229-54 [co-author Keith Krause].
  • Neo-Realism and the Future of Strategy.
    Review of International Studies 19(2) 1993: 103-122.
  • Reason and Realpolitik: Kant's ‘Critique of International Politics’.
    Canadian Journal of Political Science 25(1) 1992: 99-119.
  • Rethinking the ‘Logic’ of Deterrence.
    Alternatives 17(1) 1992: 67-94.
  • Rousseau, Realism and Realpolitik.
    Millennium:  Journal of International Studies 18(2) 1989: 188-204
BOOK CHAPTERS
  • International Institutions and the Radical Right. In Michael Barnett and Duncan Snidal, eds.
    The Oxford Handbook of International Institutions. Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
  • Writing the Right: Radical Conservative Narratives of World Order. In John Ikenberry, Karoline Postel-Vinay and Daniel Deudney, eds.,
    Narratives of World Order, forthcoming.
  • Historical Realism. In Christian Reus-Smit, et.al., eds.,
    The Oxford Handbook of History and International Relations. Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
  • Conservatism, Civility, and the Challenges of International Political Theory. In Vassilios Paipais, ed.,
    The Civil Condition and World Order: Beyond Tragedy and Utopianism.
    Bristol: University of Bristol Press, 2022. 160-177.
  • Aesthetic Realism. In Nicolas Guilhot and Brian Schmidt, eds.,
    Historiographical Investigations in International Relations. London: Palgrave, 2019. 51-7.
  • Security and Modernity. In Alexandra Gheciu and William Wohlforth, eds.,
    The Oxford Handbook of International Security. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. 14-28 [co-author Keith Krause].
  • Realist Exceptionalism: philosophy, politics, and foreign policy in America’s ‘second modernity’.
    In Jean-Francois Drolet and James Dunkerley, eds., American Foreign Policy: Studies in Intellectual History. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018. 96-116 [co-author Vibeke Schou Tjalve].
  • Golden assemblages: security and development in Tanzania’s gold mines. In Paul Highgate and Mats Utas, eds., Private Security in Africa. London: Zed Books, 2017. 15-31 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • Global Policing and the Nation-State. In Ian Loader, et. al. eds. Sage Handbook of Global Policing. London: Sage, 2016, 179-92.
  • Global Security Assemblages. In Rita Abrahamsen and Anna Leander, Handbook of Private Security Studies. London: Routledge, 2016.
  • A Dialogue with Thomas Hobbes. In Richard Ned Lebow and Hidemi Suganami, eds.,
    The Return of the Theorists. London: Palgrave, 2016.
  • A neoHobbesian Future?  In Ken Booth and Toni Erskine, eds.
    International Political Theory Today, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016.
  • Publics, Practices, and Power. In Jacqueline Best and Alexandra Gheciu,
    The Return of the Public in Global Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014: 243-256.
  • Tracing Global Assemblages, Bringing Bourdieu to the Field: A Conversation with Rita Abrahamsen and Michael Williams. In Michele Acuto and Simon Curtis, eds.,
    Reassembling International Theory: Assemblage Thinking and International Relations. London: Palgrave, 2014: 25-32.
  • Power, Culture, Practice. In Rebecca Adler-Nissen, ed.,
    Bourdieu in International Relations: Rethinking Key Concepts in IR. Routledge: 2012: 131-147
  • The Potential and Perils of Opposition. In Shannon Brincat, Laura Lima, Joao Nunes, eds.,
    Critical Theory in International Relations and Security Studies. Routledge, 2012: 197-206.
  • Privatization in Practice in Vincent Pouliot and Emmanuel Adler, eds.,
    International Practices. Cambridge University Press, 2011: 310-331 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • Rethinking the ‘Hobbesian Tradition’ in International Relations.
    In Raia Prokhovnik and Gabriella Slomp eds.,
    International Political Theory After Hobbes, London: Palgrave, 2011: 147-167.
  • The Politics of Theory: Waltz, Realism and Democracy. In Ken Booth, ed.,
    Realism and World Politics. London: Routledge, 2011: 50-63.
  • The Continuing Evolution of Securitization Theory. In Thierry Balzacq, ed.,
    Securitization Theory: How Security Problems Emerge and Dissolve. London: Routledge, 2011: 212-222.
  • Securing the City: Private Security Companies and Non-State Authority in Global Governance.
    In Bryan Mabee and Alex Colas, eds.,
    Mercenaries, Pirates, Bandits and Empires: Private Violence in Historical Context,
    New York: Columbia University Press, 2011: 213-235 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • Identity and the Politics of Security. In Barry Buzan and Lene Hansen, eds.,
    International Security: Key Readings. London: Routledge, 2007 [reprint].
  • Introduction. In Michael C. Williams, ed.,
    Realism Reconsidered: The Legacy of Hans Morgenthau in International Relations.
    Oxford University Press, 2007: 1-17.
  • Morgenthau Now: Neoconservatism, National Greatness, and Realism Today.  
    In Michael C. Williams, ed.,
    Realism Reconsidered: The Legacy of Hans Morgenthau in International Relations.
    Oxford University Press, 2007: 216-240.
  • The ‘Hobbesian Theory of International Relations’: Three Traditions. In Beate Jahn, ed.,
    Rereading the Classics in International Relations. Cambridge University Press, 2006: 253-276.
  • Privatisation, globalization, and the politics of protection in South Africa. In Jef Huysmans, ed.,
    The Politics of Protection. Routledge, 2006: 34-47 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • Privatization, globalization, and the politics of protection in South Africa. In Jef Huysmans, ed.,
    The Politics of Protection. Routledge, 2006: 34-47 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
  • The Postmodern Politics of the New World Order. In B. Hansen and B. Heurlin, eds.,
    Theories of the New World Order. Macmillan, 2000: 81-111.
  • Introduction: International Theory in the New Europe. In Morten Kelstrup and Michael C. Williams, eds., International Relations Theory and European Integration. Routledge, 2000 [co-author Morten Kelstrup].
  • Introduction: International Theory in the New Europe. In Morten Kelstrup and Michael C. Williams, eds.,
    International Relations Theory and European Integration. Routledge, 2000   [co-author Morten Kelstrup].
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
  • A new approach is needed to blunt the appeal of far-right movements.
    Globe and Mail, 16 February 2022, A16
  • “Forward” to Vibeke Schou Tjalve, ed., Geopolitical Amnesia: The Rise of the Right and the Crisis of Liberal Memory. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2019.
  • “Forward” to Hans J. Morgenthau, La Notion du Politique et la Théorie des Différends Internationaux,
    [Libraire Recueil Sirey, Paris 1933], edited by Hartmut Behr and Felix Rösch, translated by M. Vidal. (London, Palgrave: 2012): ix-x.
  • “Privatizing Africa’s Everyday Security.
    openDemocracy.   July 1, 2010. [co-author Rita Abrahamsen]
  • “Cape Town: Private Security and Public Space”.
    In Human Security for an Urban Century. Ottawa: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 2008 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].

    “Beyond the Privatized Military: The Growth of Global Private Security” [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].  Human Security Bulletin [electronic version]. Vancouver: Canadian Consortium for Human Security, March 2008]
  • “Selling Security: Assessing the impact of military privatization” [co-author Rita Abrahamsen]. Review of International Political Economy 15(1), 2008: 131-146.
  • ‘Security Privatization and Human Security: Trends and Implications’ [co-author Rita Abrahamsen]. Baseline Study (35pp.), Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Government of Canada.  March, 2007.
  • CASE Collective (contributor), “Critical Approaches to Security in Europe: A Networked Manifesto”, Security Dialogue 37 (4), 2006: 443-87.
  • “Briefing: The Politics of Private Security in Kenya” [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
    Review of African Political Economy 104(5), 2005: 425-431.
  • “The Globalization of Private Security” ISP/NSC Briefing Paper 05/02 [co-author Rita Abrahamsen].
    The World Today, Royal Institute for International Affairs [Chatham House] (November 2005): 5-7.
  • “Country Report: Kenya” [co-author Rita Abrahamsen],
    Private Security Research Project, Economic and Social Research Council UK / University of Wales, Aberystwyth. January, 2005.
  • “Country Report: Nigeria” (with R. Abrahamsen),
    Private Security Research Project, Economic and Social Research Council UK / University of Wales, Aberystwyth. January, 2005.
  • “Critical Security Studies”, entry in: Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics,
    edited by Martin Griffiths. Routledge, 2005: 145-47.
  • “NATO, Russia and Future of European Security” (with Iver B. Neumann) in Peter Burgess and Ola Tunander, European Security Organisations: Two Europes, Two Philosophies PRIO Report no. 1/2000. January 2000. Oslo, Norway.

Research Grants and Awards

2021

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada  Standard Research Grant (co-investigator, with A. Gheciu).   Project: A Community of Values? NATO in a Post-Pandemic World. $137,102

2020
  • Rockefeller Foundation. Rockefeller Archival Research Center Research Grant.  New York, New York. USA. $3,000
  • Hoover Institution. Silas Palmer Fellowship for Archival Research.   Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. USA. $5,000
2017
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada  Standard Research Grant (Principal investigator, with R. Abrahamsen, A.  Gheciu, S. Vucetic). Research project: The World of the Right. $221,000
  • Visiting Research Fellow. United States Studies Center. University of Sydney, Australia. $17,000
2015
  • Danish Council for Independent Research. Senior Researcher.  Research Project: Images in International Relations. [Principal investigator, Prof. Lene Hansen, University of Copenhagen]. 80,000 / Total grant $800,000.
2012
  • Leverhulme Foundation, International Network Grant.  Classical Realism Meets Critical Theory: Crisis, Modernity, and the Return of Humanity (one of five Investigators). £97,888. $152,000
2011
  • Norwegian Research Council. Research Grant (with R. Abrahamsen)
    Research Project: Urban Governance and Global Governance. $60,000
2010
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
    Standard Research Grant (with R. Abrahamsen)
    Research Project: Private Security and the Resource Curse in Africa.    $109,166
2006
  • Member, Organizing Group, ESRC Seminar Series 2007-08:
    The New Economy of Security: Contemporary Insecurities and the Pluralization of Coercive Force
    [Primary organizer, Ian Loader, Oxford University]. £14,000.
2004
  • Economic and Social Research Council, UK. New Security Challenges Research Program.
    Major Research Grant (with R. Abrahamsen). Research Project: The Globalisation of Private Security. £125,488
  • British Academy, International Conference Grant.
    Reconsidering Realism: The Legacy of Hans Morgenthau in International Relations. £1995
2002
  • British Academy, Small Research Grant (with R. Abrahamsen).
    Research Project: The Globalization of Private Security. £3,800
  • University of Wales, Aberystwyth.  University Research Fund (with R. Abrahamsen).
    Research Project: The Globalization of Private Security. £2,500
1997
  • Copenhagen Research Project on European Integration, Copenhagen, Denmark. Personal Research Grant. DKK 300,000
  • Copenhagen Research Project on European Integration,  Copenhagen, Denmark. Conference grant, with M. Kelstrup. DKK 125,000
1993
  • Cooperative Security Research Program, Department of External Affairs, Government of Canada (with K.Krause).  Research and Conference grant. $CDN 25,000
1992
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
    Postdoctoral Fellowship (declined).
1991
  • Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security, Doctoral Fellowship.
1989
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Doctoral Fellowship

Visiting Professorships and Fellowships

  • Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Center for Global Cooperation Research. University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
    January-June 2021.
  • Visiting Research Fellow, United States Studies Center.  University of Sydney, Australia.
    February – May 2017.  
  • Velux Visiting Professor, Department of Political Science. University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
    January – June 2016.
  • Visiting Professor, CERI/SciencesPo-Paris Paris, France.
    January - May 2015.
  • Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Center for Advanced Security Theory. University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
    May-June 2010.
  • Senior Research Associate, INEX Project. Peace Research Institute Oslo, Oslo, Norway. May-June 2009.
  • Visiting Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies University of Queensland. Brisbane Australia.
    January-April 2009.
  • Visiting Fellow, Department of Law  European University Institute. Florence, Italy. 2007.
  • Visiting Fellow, Graduate Institute of Humanities,  University of Cape Town, South Africa. 2003.
  • Visiting Research Associate, Department of Political Science University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 1997.

Previous Positions

  • Professor, Department of International Politics. University of Wales, Aberystwyth.  2002-2008.
  • Senior Lecturer, Department of International Politics. University of Wales, Aberystwyth. 1998-2002.
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science. University of Southern Maine, USA. 1992-1998.

Academic Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Political Science, York University, Toronto, Canada. 1992.
  • M.A. in Political Science. Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. 1985.
  • B.A. (honours). University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada. 1984.