International Organization
Vol. 77, Issue 4, Pages 871-880
Fall 2023
Abstract
With the untimely death of our colleague and friend, John G. Ruggie, the world has lost a brilliant international relations scholar and a global public servant who made enduring contributions to world politics. Ruggie was involved in developing some of the major concepts of modern IR: international regimes, constructivism, epistemes, multilateralism, and embedded liberalism. He had a direct influence on our work and the work of countless other students and scholars of international politics. Ruggie's intellectual trajectory was intimately linked to the journal International Organization because some of his most enduring theoretical contributions were published here. More than any other international relations scholar we have ever met, Ruggie combined scholarship about international organization with top-level involvement in international organizations, especially the UN. But he didn't just manage to do both scholarship and public policy at the same time: his public policy work drew directly on his theoretical conceptualization of the world. The successes of his policy efforts were due not only to his well-recognized collegiality and diplomacy, but to his astute application of theory to craft, diffuse, and legitimate new sets of norms.
Citation
Emanuel, Alder, and Kathryn Sikkink. "What Made John Ruggie's World Transformation Theory and Practice Hang Together." International Organization 77.4 (Fall 2023): 871-880.