Karl W. Deutsch: Teacher, Scholar, Mentor, Mensch

Abstract

In thinking about Deutsch as a teacher one fact stands out. His mind soared. What was so extraordinary for his students, was to him a way of life. It happened spontaneously in any setting: while answering questions in a lecture hall filled with 250 undergraduates; while debating research strategies in an advanced graduate seminar; and in discussions, one-on-one. Deutsch often appeared to be unprepared for class, ready to jump on any possible diversion. The unfocused questions of his students were opportunities for him to teach us how to soar. Rather than 'winging it', he was simply taking another exhilarating leap. Deutsch's scholarship was visionary and transcended an emphasis on the power to threaten and hurt. Imbued by a sociological perspective on politics his innovative analysis of pluralistic security communities, islands of peaceful international relations, became a relevant utopia to which Deutsch held with iron conviction at times when others could only see the stark reality of superpower confrontation.