Samuel Huntington (1927-2008) and the intellectual history of the 20th century

塞缪尔·亨廷顿是美国政治学领域的权威人物，也是一位非正统的公共知识分子。从他从20世纪50年代开始的职业生涯到2008年去世，他一直站在知识分子讨论的前沿，讨论后殖民国家建设的挑战、美国社会的冲突、全球秩序的概念，以及美国在世界上的角色。事实证明，他的作品引发了严重的两极分化，直到今天仍是如此--尽管许多人称赞他是一个有洞察力的观察者，但也有人贬低他的书，称其缺乏经验深度的意识形态小册子。尽管受到了有争议的接待，但亨廷顿对美国政治学的形成起到了至关重要的作用，他的职业生涯一直接近政治权力的中心。这位哈佛大学教授活跃在许多私人资助的智库和政府机构中，为美国多个政府提供建议，并在巴西和南非等国的政治改革辩论中提供专业知识。该项目旨在对亨廷顿的思想传记进行首次全面的历史研究，考察他的政治思想以及他作为专家的工作和他的著作的接受度。这项研究将深入分析这位政治学家是如何发展他的世界观，并对重大的社会和全球变革做出解释的。此外，该项目还将密切关注他的学术环境和作为政治顾问的多种经历对他思想的形成影响。最后，为了评估亨廷顿作为公共知识分子的重要性，他的作品需要放在他那个时代具有决定性意义的社会和政治辩论中。解读亨廷顿的思想和职业生涯可能有助于从几个方面扩大我们对美国政治和学术发展的理解。由于他在几十年的时间里曾担任民主党和共和党政府的顾问，他的传记揭示了在政治阵营日益分裂的情况下，政策界仍保持着共识。此外，在冷战后关于全球秩序性质的辩论中，亨廷顿成为了一位富有远见的思想家，而这些辩论在历史学家中得到的关注很少。拟议的传记研究提供了一个机会，使这些争论成为历史，并将其作为重新思考20世纪思想史的一个新的切入点。最后，亨廷顿是国际专家团体的一员，也是一位举世闻名的知识分子。因此，追溯他的学术生涯为我们打开了一扇了解美国知识界跨国纠葛的窗口。

Samuel Huntington was an authoritative figure in American political science – and an unorthodox public intellectual. From the beginning of his career in the 1950s until his death in 2008, he was at the forefront of intellectual discussions about the challenges of postcolonial state-building, conflicts in American society, conceptions of global order, and the role of the United States in the world. His work proved deeply polarizing and has remained so to this day – while many hailed him as a clairvoyant observer, others disparaged his books as ideological pamphlets lacking empirical depth. This controversial reception notwithstanding, Huntington crucially shaped American political science and pursued his career in constant proximity to the centers of political power. The Harvard professor became active in a number of privately funded think tanks and government bodies, advised various American governments, and provided expertise in debates on political reform in countries such as Brazil and South Africa.This project aims to provide the first comprehensive historical study of Huntington’s intellectual biography, examining his political thought as well as his work as an expert and the reception of his writings. The study will analyze in depth how the political scientist developed his worldview and crafted his interpretations of momentous social and global transformations. Moreover, the project will pay close attention to the formative influence that his academic environment and his manifold experiences as a political advisor had on his thought. Finally, to assess Huntington’s significance as a public intellectual his work needs to be placed in the defining social and political debates of his time.Explaining Huntington’s thought and career may help to expand our understanding of political and academic developments in the United States in several ways. Since he served as an advisor for both Democratic and Republican administrations over the course of several decades, his biography sheds light on the persistence of consensus in policy circles even while the political camps grew increasingly divided. Furthermore, Huntington emerged as a visionary thinker in the debates about the nature of global order after the Cold War, which have received scant attention among historians. The proposed biographical study offers a chance to historicize these debates and to use them as a fresh vantage point to rethink the intellectual history of the twentieth century. Finally, Huntington was part of an international community of experts as well as an intellectual of worldwide renown. Tracing his academic career thus opens a window into the transnational entanglements of the American intellectual scene.