Stephen Walt

Stephen Walt
Stephen Walt (left)
Born	Stephen Martin Walt (1955-07-02) July 2, 1955 (age 61) Los Alamos, New Mexico
Alma mater	Stanford University (B.A.) University of California, Berkeley (M.A., Ph.D.)
School	Neorealism
Institutions	Harvard University University of Chicago Princeton University
Main interests	International relations theory
Notable ideas	Defensive realism, Balance of threat theory
Influences Kenneth Waltz

Stephen Martin Walt (born July 2, 1955) is an American professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He belongs to the realist school of international relations. Books he has authored (or co-authored) include Origins of Alliances, Revolution and War, and The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

Walt was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where his father, a physicist, worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory. His mother was a teacher. The family moved to the Bay Area when Walt was about eight months old. Walt grew up in Los Altos Hills.

Walt pursued his undergraduate studies at Stanford University. He first majored in chemistry with an eye to becoming a Biochemist. He then shifted to history, and finally to International Relations.

After attaining his B.A., Walt began graduate work at UC Berkeley, graduating with a M.A in Political Science in 1978, and a Ph.D. in Political Science in 1983.

Walt taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, where he served as Master of the Social Science Collegiate Division and Deputy Dean of Social Sciences. As of 2015, he holds the Robert and Renee Belfer Professorship in International Affairs in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Walt was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in May 2005.