This book celebrates the continuing importance of a world-class leader in the theory and scientific analysis of international relations and comparative politics. Topics on which Karl Deutsch wrote prolifically included nationalism, social communication, European integration, cybernetics, war & peace, arms control, social cybernetics, general systems analysis, and global modeling. He had a deep understanding of European political and intellectual history, experienced the violence induced by nationalism in pre-WWII Europe, and in 1938 fled Czechoslovakia for the United States following Hitler's takeover of the Sudetenland. Subsequently he pioneered the development and analysis of large-scale political and social data across nations and over time. He became a powerful global proponent of widespread access to this data and its public scientific evaluation. He was a world citizen, and very likely the most distinguished social scientist on international relations of his generation.

Bruce Russett is Dean Acheson Research Professor of International Politics and Professor of International and Area Studies in the MacMilllan Center, Yale University