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.