Martin Wight

Martin Wight
Wight in 1961
Born	Robert James Martin Wight (1913-11-26)26 November 1913 Brighton, England
Died	15 July 1972(1972-07-15) (aged 58) Speldhurst, England
Spouse	Gabriele Ingeborg Wight
Academic background
Alma mater	Hertford College, Oxford
Academic advisors	Herbert Butterfield, Arnold Toynbee
Influences	Karl Barth[1] Harold Laski[2] Dick Sheppard[3] Arnold J. Toynbee[4]
Academic work
Discipline	History political studies
Sub-discipline	International relations
School or tradition	Christian pacifism English school of international relations theory
Institutions	London School of Economics University of Sussex Royal Institute for International Affairs
Notable students	Coral Bell, Hedley Bull
Notable works	Power Politics (1946) "Why Is There No International Theory?" (1960) Diplomatic Investigations (1966) Systems of States (1977) International Theory (1991)
Notable ideas	Three traditions in international theory, international society
Influenced	Hedley Bull[5]

Robert James Martin Wight (26 November 1913 – 15 July 1972) was one of the foremost British scholars of international relations in the twentieth century. He was the author of Power Politics (1946; revised and expanded edition 1978), as well as the seminal essay "Why Is There No International Theory?" (first published in the journal International Relations in 1960 and republished in the edited collection Diplomatic Investigations in 1966). He was a teacher of some renown at both the London School of Economics and the University of Sussex, where he served as the founding Dean of European Studies.

Wight is often associated with the British committee on the theory of international politics – "British" to distinguish it from an American body that had been founded under similar auspices – and the so-called English school of international relations theory. His work, along with that of the Australian philosopher John Anderson, was a lasting influence upon the thought of Hedley Bull, author of one of the most widely read texts on the nature of international politics, The Anarchical Society (1977).^[6]