William Thornton Rickert Fox (1912-1988), generally known as
W.T.R. Fox or as
William T.R. Fox, was an American
foreign policyA country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
professor and
international relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
theoretician at the
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(1950-1980,
emeritusEmeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
1980-1988). He is perhaps mostly known as the coiner of the term
superpowerA superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
in 1944. He wrote several books about the foreign policy of the
United States of AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(and its predecessor: the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
). He was also a pioneer in establishing the systematic study of statecraft and war as an academic discipline.
Academic career
He obtained his Ph.D at the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. He became in 1951 the first director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies (which was later renamed into the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies). He was also an advisory board member of the
Journal of International AffairsThe Journal of International Affairs is a foreign affairs academic journal published bi-yearly by the students at the School of International and Public Affairs...
from 1952 until 1988 and the president of the
International Studies AssociationThe International Studies Association was founded by a group of scholars and practitioners in 1959 to pursue mutual interests in international studies. Representing eighty countries, ISA has over three thousand members worldwide and is the most respected and widely known scholarly association in...
(ISA) in 1972-1973.
Superpower
Fox coined the word "superpower" in his 1944 book Superpowers: the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union—their responsibility for peace to identify a new category of power able to occupy the highest status in a world in which, as the war then raging demonstrated, states could challenge and fight each other on a global scale. According to him, there were (at that moment) three states that were superpowers: the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
Articles
- "Science, Technology and International Politics" in International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 1. (Mar., 1968), pp. 1-15.
- ""The Truth Shall Make You Free": One Student's Appreciation of Quincy Wright
Philip Quincy Wright was an American political scientist known for his pioneering work and expertise in international law and international relations.- Biography :...
" in The Journal of Conflict ResolutionThe Journal of Conflict Resolution is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scholarly articles and book reviews dealing with international conflict and conflict resolution. Its scope is similar to that of the Journal of Peace Research...
, Vol. 14, No. 4. (Dec., 1970), pp. 449-452.
- "The Problems of War Termination: The Causes of Peace and Conditions of War" in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
The American Academy of Political and Social Science was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences. Sparked by Professor Edmund J. James and drawing from members of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and Bryn Mawr College, the Academy sought to...
, Vol. 392, How Wars End. (Nov., 1970), pp. 1-13.
Books
- Superpowers: the United States, Britain, and the Soviet union—their responsibility for peace (1944)
- Theoretical Aspects of International Relations (editor, 1959)
- Nato and the range of American choice (1967)
- European Security and the Atlantic System (editor, 1973)
- A Continent Apart The United States and Canada in World Politics (1985)