John Mearsheimer
R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Leading proponent of offensive realism in international relations theory.
Affiliations
Cross-Conflict Consistency
Premises this commentator applies across multiple conflicts - indicating a consistent analytical framework rather than ad-hoc positions.
Conflict-Specific Premises
NATO expansion provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine War
Russia has legitimate security concerns about NATO military infrastructure on its borders
Ukraine War
Israel possesses sufficient military capability to defend itself without direct US military involvement
Iran-Israel War 2026
US foreign policy on Israel is significantly shaped by domestic lobbying rather than rational strategic calculation
Iran-Israel War 2026
Positions
Ukraine War · 2022-06-10
The West is principally responsible for the Ukraine crisis. The taproot of the trouble is NATO expansion. The Russians made it clear at every turn that they viewed NATO expansion into Ukraine as an existential threat, and we ignored them. This is Geopolitics 101.
Iran-Israel War 2026 · 2026-01-20
The United States has no vital strategic interest in a war with Iran. Israel is a regional superpower capable of defending itself. American involvement would be a strategic blunder driven by the Israel lobby's influence on US foreign policy, not by rational national interest calculation.