ABOUT

Michael Barnett
Michael Barnett

 

Michael Barnett is University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at the George Washington University. His research interests span the Middle East, humanitarianism, global governance, global ethics, and the United Nations. Among his many books are Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda; Dialogues in Arab Politics: Negotiations in Regional Order; Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism; Rules for the World: International Organizations in World Politics (with Martha Finnemore); Security Communities (co-edited with Emanuel Adler); Sacred Aid (co-edited with Janice Stein); Power and Global Governance (co-edited with Raymond Duvall); Humanitarianism in Question (co-edited with Thomas Weiss). His most recent books include The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of the American Jews; the edited volume Paternalism Beyond Borders; and the edited collection Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Worlds of Differences? Global Governance in a World of Change (co-edited with Jon Pevehouse and Kal Raustiala); and Israel and the One State Reality (co-edited with Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch, and Shibley Telhami).

His current book projects are: The End of Humanity: An Autopsy of the Present and Future (with Unni Karanukara and to be published with Cambridge University Press; The Oxford Handbook of International Institutions (co-edited with Duncan Snidal); and The Spectre of the West ( to be published with Oxford University Press and co-authored with Janice Stein).


A former Associate Editor of International Organization, he previously taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, Macalester College, Wellesley College, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; was a visiting scholar at the New School for Social Research and the Dayan Center at Tel-Aviv University; and was a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Professor Barnett is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the recipient of many grants and awards for his research.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

Ph.D., Political Science, University of Minnesota

Professional Affiliations
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • International Humanitarian Studies Association
  • Centre for Conflict, Development, and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
  • American Political Science Association
  • Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel-Aviv University
  • Center for Studies of Social Change, New School for Social Research
  • CHS Alliance
Awards and Honors

2012 Yale Ferguson Award, ISA-Northeast for Empire of Humanity

2007 Academic Council on the United Nations System Book Award for Rules for the World

2006 International Studies Association Book Award for Rules for the World

1999 Vilas Associate, University of Wisconsin

1993 ISA’s Quincy Wright Book Award for Confronting the Costs of War

1991 APSA’s Gabriel Almond Award for Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics

Publications

Among his many books are Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and RwandaDialogues in Arab Politics: Negotiations in Regional OrderEmpire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism; Rules for the World: International Organizations in World Politics (with Martha Finnemore); Security Communities (co-edited with Emanuel Adler); Sacred Aid (co-edited with Janice Stein); Power and Global Governance (co-edited with Raymond Duvall); and Humanitarianism in Question (co-edited with Thomas Weiss). His most recent books include The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of the American JewsPaternalism Beyond Borders; and, most recently, the edited collection Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Worlds of Differences?