James Walston

James Walston
Walston on the American University of Rome terrace
Born	1949
Died	12 May 2014 Rome
Nationality	British
Fields	Political science and modern history
Alma mater	Cambridge

James Walston (1949 – 12 May 2014) was a professor of international relations at The American University of Rome (AUR), specialising in Italian politics and modern history. He was chair of the AUR's Department of International Relations from 2002 to 2008. In 2008 he started the Center for Research on Racism in Italy together with Clough Marinaro. In 1997, he became the first EU citizen to stand for election to the Rome City Council

He was educated at Eton and Jesus College, Cambridge (BA 1975, and PhD 1986) and the University of Rome, La Sapienza (Diploma di Perfezionamento, 1981).

Walston had taught mainly in the US system abroad, starting with the University of Maryland programme for the US military in Italy and the UK, Summer courses at Middlebury and various US programmes in Rome including Temple, Trinity and Loyola. Since 1991 he has taught history, politics and international relations at The American University of Rome. Since 2004 he had taught and directed the University of Rome La Sapienza's Eurosapienza's international relations module in the masters in State management and Humanitarian Affairs.

In 2003, he introduced on site teaching of international relations which includes regular field trips to European institutional sites like Brussels, Geneva and Vienna, as well as to conflict resolution sites like the Basque Country, Northern Ireland, Montenegro and Kosovo, and annual Ghana trip.

Walston had regular articles in Wanted in Rome since 1989, he also wrote a regular column for Italy Daily (Italian supplement the IHT) from 1999 to 2002, for The Guardian and the Independent.

Walston was one of the first academics who wrote about forgotten fascist Italy's role in ethnic cleansing and internments of civil population in Italian concentration camps, such as under Mario Roatta's watch in the Province of Ljubljana, that are in Italian media subjected to the repression of historical memory, and to historical revisionism especially in relation to the post-war foibe massacres.