Martin Wight

Martin Wight (Brighton, 16 novembre 1913 – Speldhurst, 15 luglio 1972) è stato un politologo e storico britannico. Fu membro del British committee on the theory of international politics. La sua riflessione storico-teorica sulla politica internazionale viene oggi associata alla nascita di una corrente contemporanea dello studio delle relazioni internazionali, la cosiddetta "Scuola inglese"

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Martin Wight

Biografia

Primi anni

Gli anni del Dopoguerra

Opere

Martin Wight ha lasciato notevoli studi di teoria e storia della politica internazionale, filosofia della storia, storiografia, teologia, storia del pensiero politico. Allievo del filologo e storico Arnold Toynbee, il suo contributo non si limita alla riflessione sulla teoria della politica internazionale, che egli chiama semplicemente "teoria internazionale", bensì investe, più in generale, gli studi storici, filosofici e teologici nella più ampia accezione. La frammentarietà e dispersione della sua opera, ampiamente non pubblicata e in parte restituita dal lavoro dell'allievo Hedley Bull, ne impedisce una considerazione unitaria e completa. Nel campo degli studi internazionali di orientamento politologico è tuttavia considerato uno dei più brillanti protagonisti della seconda metà del Novecento.

Note

Bibliografia

Wight scrisse molte accurate recensioni, specialmente per The Observer e per International Affairs. Le sue opere principali sono:

• "Christian Pacifism", Theology, 33:193 (July 1936), pp. 12-21.
• Letter on "Christian Pacifism", Theology 33:198 (December 1936), pp. 367-368.
• "The Tanaka Memorial", History 27 (March 1943), pp. 61-68.
• Power Politics Looking Forward Pamphlet, no. 8 (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1946).
• The Development of the Legislative Council 1606-1945, vol. 1 (London: Faber & Faber, 1946).
• "Sarawak", New Statesman and Nation 31, 8 June 1946, pp. 413-414.
• "The Realist’s Utopia", on E. H. Carr, The Twenty Year’s Crisis, The Observer, 21 July 1946, p. 3.
• The Gold Coast Legislative Council (London: Faber & Faber, 1947).
• "The Church, Russia and the West", A Ecumenical Review: a Quarterly, 1:1 (Autumn 1948), pp. 25-45.
• "History and Judgment: Butterfield, Niebuhr and the Technical Historian", The Frontier: A Christian Commentary on the Common Life, 1:8 (August 1950), pp. 301-314.
• With W. Arthur Lewis, Michael Scott & Colin Legum, Attitude to Africa (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1951).
• Preface & amendments to revised edition of Harold J. Laski, An Introduction to Politics (London: Allen & Unwin, 1951).
• British Colonial Constitutions 1947 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1952).
• "Spain and Portugal", "Switzerland, The Low Countries, and Scandinavia", "Eastern Europe", "Germany" & "The Balance of Power" in A. J. Toynbee & F. T. Ashton-Gwatkin (eds.) *Survey of International Affairs 1939-1946: The World in March 1939 (London: Oxford University Press & Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1952), pp.138-150, pp. 151-165, pp. 206-292, pp. 293-365 & pp. 508-532.
• Note on A (III) (a) Annex I "Spiritual Achievement and Material Achievement", "The Crux for an Historian brought up in the Christian Tradition" & numerous notes in Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History, vol. VII (London: OUP & RIIA, 1954), pp. 711-715 & pp. 737-748.
• "What Makes a Good Historian?", The Listener 53:1355, 17 February 1955, pp. 283-4
• "War and International Politics", The Listener, 54:1389, 13 October 1955, pp. 584-585.
• "The Power Struggle within the United Nations", Proceedings of the Institute of World Affairs, 33rd session (Los Angeles: USC, 1956), pp. 247-259.
• "Brutus in Foreign Policy: The Memoirs of Sir Anthony Eden", International Affairs vol. 36, no. 3 (July 1960), pp. 299-309.
• "Are they Classical", Times Literary Supplement 3171, 7 December 1962, p. 955 & 3176, 11 January 1963, p. 25.
• "The Place of Classics in a New University", Didaskalos: The Journal of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers, 1:1 (1963), pp. 27-36.
• "Does Peace Take Care of Itself", Views 2 (1963), pp. 93-95.
• "European Studies" in D. Daiches (ed.), The Idea of a New University: An Experiment in Sussex (London: Andre Deutsch, 1964), pp. 100-119.
• "Why is there no International Theory?", "Western Values in International Relations" & "The Balance of Power" in Herbert Butterfield & Martin Wight (eds.), Diplomatic *Investigations: Essays in the Theory of International Politics (London: Allen & Unwin, 1966), pp. 17-34, pp. 89-131 & pp. 149-175.
• "The Balance of Power and International Order", in Alan James (ed.), The Bases of International Order: Essays in honour of C. A. W. Manning (London: OUP, 1973), pp. 85-115.
• "Arnold Toynbee: An Appreciation", International Affairs 52:1(January 1976), pp.11-13.
• Systems of States ed. Hedley Bull, (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1977).
• "Is the Commonwealth a Non-Hobbesian Institution?", Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 26:2 (July 1978), pp. 119-135.
• "An Anatomy of International Thought", Review of International Studies 13 (1987), pp. 221-227.
• International Theory: The Three Traditions ed. Gabriele Wight & Brian Porter (Leicester & London: Leicester University Press, 1991).
• Power Politics (2nd ed.) edited by Hedley Bull & Carstaan Holbraad (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1995).
• "On the Abolition of War: Observations on a Memorandum by Walter Millis", in Harry Bauer & Elisabetta Brighi (eds.), International Relations at LSE: A History of 75 Years (London: Millennium Publishing Group, 2003), pp. 51-60.

"L'equilibrio di potenza", traduzione di Michele Chiaruzzi, Quaderni di storia, 30:60 (2004), 89-108.

• Four Seminal Thinkers in International Theory: Machiavelli, Grotius, Kant and Mazzini ed. Gabriele Wight & Brian Porter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).

Opere su Martin Wight

• Michele Chiaruzzi, Politica di potenza nell'eta' del Leviatano: La teoria internazionale di Martin Wight, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008.

Collegamenti esterni

• Martin Wight Memorial Trust

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