Michael Brecher

Michael Brecher (born March 14, 1925) is a Quebec political scientist and teacher. He obtained his PhD in International Relations from Yale University in 1953, and has been a professor since 1954. He is currently R.B. Angus professor at McGill University and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

Not to be confused with Michael Brecker.

Research interests

Professor Brecher researches on; Theory of crisis, conflict and war; Protracted conflicts/enduring rivalries; Foreign policy theory; International systems; the Middle East; South Asia international relations. [1]

Selected publications

Books
  • The Struggle for Kashmir, Oxford University Press, 1953.
  • Nehru: A Political Biography Oxford University Press, 1959 & 2005.
  • Israel, the Korean War and China, 1974.
  • Crises in World Politics: Theory and Reality, Pergamon Press, 1993.
  • A Study of Crisis, with Jonathan Wilkenfield, University of Michigan Press, 1997.
  • International Political Earthquakes, University of Michigan Press, 2008.
  • The World of Protracted Conflicts, Rowman and Littlefield Lexington Books, 2016.
  • Political Leadership and Charisma: Nehru, Ben-Gurion, and Other 20th Century Political Leaders, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2016.
  • Dynamics of the Arab-Israel Conflict: Past and Present, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2017
  • A Century of Crisis and Conflict in the International System: Theory and Evidence, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2017.

Edited collections
  • Crisis in the Twentieth Century, co-edited with Jonathan Wakefield, (3 volumes), 1988, 1989.
  • Millennial Reflections on International Studies, editor, with Frank P. Harvey, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2002 (5 volumes)

Reception

A review of Brecher's biography of Nehru called this book 'substantial, scholarly... the best single work available at present on this subject.' [2]

M. A. C. observes in Pakistan Horizon that Brecher's book, The Struggle for Kashmir, is a "painstaking but not a balanced study". The reviewer points out that there are examples of facts being misrepresented to Pakistan's disadvantage.[3] Holden Furber calls it a careful study based on relevant published materials. But despite that Furber comments that Brecher's approach lacks ground research and he is more a scholar who has lived among United Nations reports in libraries.[4] Percival Spears sees that Brecher tends to too readily accept Indian arguments for Kashmir and Junagadh and relies on Alan Campbell Johnson who is seen as prejudiced in Pakistan. Spear also observes that Brecher has a tendency to readily accept Indian reasons for rejecting each proposal in the discussions on conditions for plebiscite and also a tendency to underrate the importance of the Pakistani acceptances of proposals made through January 1951 to the Graham negotiations.[5]

Honours and awards

References
  1. McGill University website, dept. of political science
  2. Henry L Roberts, Review of Nehru biography, Foreign Affairs, October 1959.
  3. M. A. C. (September 1953). "The Struggle for Kashmir - Book Review". Pakistan Horizon. 6 (3): 130–132.
  4. Furber, Holden (June 1954). "The Struggle for Kashmir - Book Review". The Western Political Quarterly. 7 (2): 286–287. doi:10.2307/442486.
  5. Spear, Percival (December 1954). "The Struggle for Kashmir - Book Review". Pacific Affairs. 27 (4): 384–385. doi:10.2307/2753083.
  6. From Brecher's French-language Wikipedia article
  7. McGill/Political science webpage


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