Daniel Bessner

About

Daniel Bessner is an historian and journalist who currently serves as the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. His academic work focuses on the history and contemporary practice of U.S. foreign relations, the history and theory of liberalism, and the history and practice of the entertainment industry. Bessner has authored the book 'Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual' and has co-edited works on sovereignty, social science, democracy, and U.S. foreign relations. In addition to his scholarship, he has contributed to major publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The New Republic, and The Nation, and has written cover stories for Harper's Magazine on U.S. foreign relations and Hollywood. He has received recognition including the Charles Schmitt Prize for Best Essay in Intellectual History by a Young Historian and has been a finalist for other notable awards. Bessner is also the co-host of the foreign affairs podcast American Prestige, which has won awards, and has appeared on several national television programs and NPR. He previously held the Joff Hanauer Honors Professorship in Western Civilization and is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, an Associate of the Alameda Institute, and a Contributing Editor at Jacobin.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Law
• Sociology
• History
• Economic history
• Geography
• Political economy
• Archaeology
• Economic system
• Economics

Selected publications

• New School for Social Research

  Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online · 2021-07-30 · 36 citations

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• The decisionist imagination : sovereignty, social science, and democracy in the 20th century

  2019-01-01 · 15 citations

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  "In the decades following World War II, the science of decision-making moved from the periphery to the center of transatlantic political theory, as part of the broader mobilization of social science during the Cold War. The Decisionist Imagination explores how "decisionism" emerged from its origins in prewar political science to become an object of intense scientific inquiry in the new intellectual and institutional landscape of the postwar era. By bringing together scholars from a wide variety…

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• Reaction, Resilience, and the Trumpist Behemoth: Environmental Risk Management from “Hoax” to Technique of Domination

  Annals of the American Association of Geographers · 2019-02-08 · 13 citations

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  The election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency has led to significant changes in environmental governance, unleashing an authoritarian, nationalistic, and business-deregulating juggernaut aimed at destroying various forms of environmental protection. We seek to name and explain this juggernaut as the Trumpist Behemoth. Using this terminology, we show how Neumann’s classic 1942 study of the Nazi Behemoth can be used to build a critique of the Trump administration’s approach to governance. We…

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• Introduction

  Berghahn Books · 2018-10-19 · 13 citations

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• “What Are Intellectuals Good For?”

  Perspectives on Politics · 2019-11-13 · 9 citations

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  An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

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Frequent coauthors

• Nicolas Guilhot

  8 shared

• Matthew Sparke

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  4 shared

• Fredrik Logevall

  Harvard University Press

  2 shared

• Michael Brenes

  Yale University

  2 shared

• Eric Lorber

  2 shared

• Richard Hebdige

  1 shared

• Janet O’Shea

  1 shared

• Michael Franczak

  1 shared

Labs

• Sephardic StudiesPI

  Both graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Washington engage in a wide range of original research projects in Sephardic Studies.

Education

• Ph.D., History

  Duke University

  2013

Awards & honors

• Charles Schmitt Prize for Best Essay in Intellectual History…