• Current Position

• Thomas C. Sorensen Professor of Political and Social Thought and Director, Interdisciplinary Program in Political and Social Thought; and

• Associate Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs More >>

  • Write to:
    P. O. Box 400786 (Cabell Hall 248A)
    Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4786
    [434] 924-3192 or 982-2235; fax, 924-3359
    E-mail address: mjsmith@virginia.edu

• Previous Positions

• Lecturer in Politics: Merton College, Oxford (1975-76). More >>

  • Fulfilled the responsibilities of the college's politics fellow during his sabbatical leave. Duties included teaching the basic politics subjects (Theory of Politics, Political Institutions, American Politics) in the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program; teaching "special subjects" in International Relations; residing in college and helping to prepare students for university- wide preliminary and final examinations.

• Assistant Professor of Government and Social Studies, Harvard, 1982-1985.More >>
  • Gave junior tutorials on "International Relations: Theory and Practice" in the Social Studies program, a selective inter-disciplinary major involving history and political economy.
  • Taught and lectured in the Social Studies sophomore year tutorial on classics of social theory, with readings from Smith, Tocqueville, Mill, Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Freud.
  • Directed Junior Tutorial Program in Social Studies: arranged and staffed a range of tutorials

• Degrees

• Harvard University, Ph.D. in Political Science, 1982.

• Oxford University, M.Phil. in International Relations, 1976.

• Harvard College, A.B. (Magna cum laude) in Government, 1973.

• Yonkers High School, New York, 1969.

• Distinctions

• Harvard University Graduate Fellowship, 1977-81.

• Marshall Scholarship to Oxford University, 1973-1976.

• Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Chapter, 1973.

• Aid Association for Lutherans All-College Scholarship, 1969-73.

• Harvard College Scholarship, 1969-1973.

• Personal

• Contact Info
• Mailing Address: 717 Village Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903
• Phone Numbers:
• 434 296 2708 (voice)
• 434 296 6903(fax)
• E-mail Address: mjsmith@virginia.edu

• Websites
• www.Virginia.edu/pst
• http://faculty.virginia.edu/
  irandhumanrights/

• Realist Thought from Weber to Kissinger. Louisiana State University Press, 1987, Paperback edition, 1990; new preface for Japanese translation edition, 1997.

• Editor and Contributor, Ideas and Ideals: Essays on Politics in Honor of Stanley Hoffmann (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993). (With Linda B. Miller).

• "Global Responsibility and Human Rights,” Commissioned background paper for the United Nations Commission on Sovereignty and Intervention, Thomas Weiss, chair, March 2001.

• “On Humanitarian Intervention,” in Neal Riemer, ed., Preventing Genocide: Mission Impossible? Praeger Press, 2000. Shorter version of this in Harvard International Review,  Fall 2000.

• “Strengthen the UN and International Efforts for Cooperation and Human Rights,” in Glenn Stassen, ed. Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War. The Pilgrim Press, 1998.

• “Humanitarian Intervention: An Overview of the Ethical Issues,” Ethics and International Affairs, Volume 12, Spring 1998.

• “Growing up with Just and Unjust Wars: An Appreciation," Ethics and International Affairs, Volume 11, Spring 1997.

• “Some Lessons of the Conflict in the former Yugoslavia,” Gaiko Forum, Tokyo, Japan, February 1996.

• More >> (Click to View)

  • “Ethical Issues and International Politics: The Substantive Challenges,” in Sophia Peterson, ed., Human Rights and Ethics in International Relations Proceedings of the 15th FACDIS Conference, U.S. Institute of Peace, 1997.

  • "Liberalism and International Reform," in Terry Nardin and David Mapel, eds., Traditions of International Ethics. Cambridge University Press, 1992.

  • Contributor, The Oxford Companion to World Politics (Oxford University Press, 1993), two short articles: "Anarchy" and "Idealism."

  • "American Realism and New Global Realities," Ethics and International Affairs, Spring 1992.

  • "Henry Kissinger, Theorist and Practitioner," in L. Carl Brown, ed., Centerstage: Forty Years of American Diplomacy, Holmes and Meier, 1990.

  • "Ethical Choice in the World of States," Dialogue, Spring 1990. 
    "Ethics and Intervention," Ethics and International Affairs, Spring 1989.

  • "Foreign Policy: A Vapid Campaign," Dialogue, Fall 1988.

  • "Nuclear Deterrence: Behind the Strategic and Ethical Debate," Virginia Quarterly Review, Winter 
    1987.

  • "Moral Responsibility in International Affairs: Thoughts on Leaders and Citizens," in Kenneth W. Thompson, ed., Ethics and International Relations. Transaction Books, 1985.

  • “A Moral Stand: American Universities Should Divest,” Op-Ed Page, The New York Times, 24 June 1983 (with Stanley Hoffmann).

  • “Hans Morgenthau and the American National Interest in the Early Cold War,” Social Research Winter 1982.

  • "What Is the International System?" Harvard International Review, March 1981.

  • "Kissinger Remembers," (Review essay on White House Years), Harvard International Review, February 1980.

• Current Research in Progress

• Taming Cold Monsters: Ethical Choice in the World of States, with Stanley Hoffmann, under contract with Harvard University Press. This is a long-term project that aims to present an overview and argument about ethical issues, including human rights, in the contemporary state system.

• Current Courses

• "Ethics and Human Rights in World Politics"

• "Evolution of International Relations"

• "World Order"

• Graduate Seminars: "Theory of International Relations", “Ethics and Human Rights in World Politics”   
  University Seminar on "Novels of Politics and Conscience"

• Core seminar in Political and Social Thought

• Previous Courses

• "International Conflicts in the Modern World" (Core curriculum)

• "War" (Core curriculum, with Stanley Hoffmann)

• "Ethics and International Relations" (Core curriculum)

• Graduate Seminar: "Political Theory and International Relations"

• More >> (Click to View)

  • Graduate Field Seminar: "Approaches to World Order" (with Stanley Hoffmann)

  • Freshman Seminars on the moral dilemmas of nuclear deterrence, and on the history and literature of modern war.

  • Junior Tutorials in Social Studies and in Government on varied topics, e.g., "Domestic Politics, Ideology and Foreign Policy," "Intervention: Causes, Cases and Judgments"

  • Senior Thesis Supervision on a wide range of topics.

  • Co-Head Tutor, Social Studies program, with special responsibility for planning, curriculum review and administration of the junior year tutorial program; typically there were about 25 different tutorial seminars on topics ranging from Latin American Development to Ideology and Popular Culture in Contemporary America.

  • Assistant Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia,  1986--1991; Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, 1991.

  • Associate Director, Program in Political and Social Thought, 1996-99: includes co-teaching a full- year seminar for third year students and leading a "thesis workshop" for fourth year students .

  • Sorenson Professor of Political and Social Thought and Program Director, 1999-

• Chair, Faculty Standing Committee on Educational Policy and the Curriculum, 1993-95

• Chair, University Self-study Committee on Academic Assessment, 1994-95.

• Member Faculty Senate, 1994--; Appointed Secretary to the Executive Council of the Senate, 1995-96; elected to a three-year term on the Executive Council, 1996-1999;

• Elected as Secretary of the Senate and member of Executive Council, 2000--

• Elected to be Chair-Elect of the Senate, May 2001; term as Chair to run from June 2002--May 2003
• Member, Faculty Steering Committee for the Institute for Practical Ethics, 2000—

• Honored by Seven Society, “for selfless service to the University,” 1998.

• Chosen for “Last Lecture Series,” by IMP, IFC, ISC, 2000. Honor for faculty member who gives a "last lecture to 800-1000 studnts.

• More >> (Click to View)

  •  

  • Member, University of Virginia Committee to Review and Revise the Undergraduate Liberal Arts Curriculum, 1988-91.

  • Member, University Fulbright Committee, 1986-91.

  • Faculty Fellow, Brown College on Monroe Hill, 1987--

  • Faculty Advisor, Echols Special Scholar Program, 1987--

  • Member, Faculty Committee on Interdisciplinary Majors, 1987-92.

  • Member, Faculty Committee on the Program in Political and Social Thought, 1992—

  • Member, Faculty Advisory Committee for the Division of Continuing Education's Global Change Program, 1992-98.

  • Member, Faculty Advisory Committee, Virginia Film Festival, 1995—

  • Member, Faculty Steering Committee for the Institute for Practical Ethics, 2000—

  • Director, Government Department Distinguished Majors Program, 1993-99.

  • Faculty Advisor, University chapter of Amnesty International, 1997—

  •  

•  

• Member, International Studies Association.

• Founding member of the International Ethics Section of the ISA; Vice-chair, 1993-94; chair 1994-96; currently member of its executive committee.

• Member, Board of Trustees, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, New York, 1994--

• Resident Scholar, Rockefeller Foundation Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy, May-June 1988. (with Stanley Hoffmann)

• More >> (Click to View)

  • Member, Younger Scholars Exchange with USSR Academy of Sciences, 1988-91.

  • Whitney Sheppardson Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, 1992-93.

  • U. S. Institute of Peace Research Grant, 1993.

  • Awarded a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship to direct a College Faculty Seminar on Teaching Ethics and International Affairs in Summer 1994. The $186,000 grant was co-sponsored by the Department of Government and Foreign Affairs, and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.

  • Led faculty development seminars for the Carnegie Council in June 1995 (Monterey Institute for International Affairs); September 1995 (U.S. Military Academy at West Point); June 1996 (U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs); June 1997 at Merrill House, New York City; June 1998 at Boston University; participant in seminar at University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1999.

  • Led Seminar for the Religion Department of the Chautauqua Institution on Reinhold Niebuhr, summer 1996.

  • Member, Working Group of the Society of Christian Ethics to write a Joint Statement of Principles of Just Peacemaking, 1994- 98. This group, composed mainly of theologians, met in February 1994 at the Gethsamani Abbey in Louisville, KY and in October 1996 at the Carter Center in Atlanta; the statement and book of supporting essays was published in Fall 1998.

  • Led seminar for Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellows on teaching in small groups, November 1995; led workshops on the same subject for the Teaching Resource Center at the University of Virginia from 1994 through 2000.

• Senior Warden, St. Paul's Memorial Church (Episcopal), Charlottesville, 1987-89; also served on the church's Adult Education Committee, University Commission, and as chair of planning committee for the Decade of the 1990s; chalice bearer, 1994--2001; choir member, 1986—2001

• Chair, Board of Directors, Montessori Community School of Charlottesville, 1989-94. This non-profit school serves children aged 3-12 years.

• Member, Steering Committee for Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, 1988-92; a new clinic in Charlottesville was established in this period.

• Member, Board of Directors, Youth Orchestra of Charlottesville-Albemarle, 1999-2001

• Frequent lecturer in the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decision series at the Charlottesville Senior Center.

• Member, Charlottesville Democratic Party City Committee.

Web Design by Cheyenne Sheafe (c) 2001