Public intellectual and the prison of theory: John J. Mearsheimer

This article explains the relationship between Mearsheimer’s theoretical work and role as a public intellectual on three contemporary issues: Russia, China and Palestine. The argument is twofold. First, Mearsheimer’s theory sets limits on state behaviour that are dictated by the requirement of survival, while offering little normative theorisation on how policymakers should address the consequences of these limits. Second, the combination of too much limit and too little normative theorisation turns Mearsheimer’s theory into a prison that he seeks to escape in his public commentary through inconsistency and/or referring to rhetorical hopes. These rhetorical hopes absolve Mearsheimer of the responsibility to explore alternative actions to address the normative challenges in these cases. By surrendering these alternatives, Mearsheimer’s hope serves his theory’s ideological rationalisation of the status quo. Mearsheimer’s experience showcases that IR theorists should not restrict theories to the point where they enclose future possibilities of political action and become ideologies of state power in the status quo. Theorists can discharge this responsibility by taking seriously the role of power in the operation of their concepts and limiting their concepts’ elevation above the political as the realm of the contestation of interests.