About the Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum (RJISSF)
The Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum (RJISSF) represents Robert Jervis’s vision of the endless potential of drawing scholars and practitioners of International Relations into a constructive interdisciplinary dialogue with those of diplomacy and foreign relations.
RJISSF is guided by Jervis’s legendary and endless curiosity and intellectual generosity; his unsurpassed mastery of a host of fields and approaches; his willingness to consider all arguments through a sharp analytical lens; and his desire to open the barriers to scholarly engagement to all who are interested.
Each year RJISSF publishes hundreds of open-access reviews, essays, policy forums, and commentaries, offering a connecting point for academics and policy experts across the globe to discuss the most important new publications as well as unfolding world events. Our pages have been read by over 600,000 scholars across the globe. We cover a range of topics under the broad themes of war, peace, international security, foreign policy, diplomatic relations, grand strategy, nuclear weapons, and international law.
RJISSF is unique in the field of political science given its focus on debates between scholars of differing approaches and points of view; its openness to new ideas and interpretations; its commitment to elevating the voices of junior and underrepresented scholars; and its inclusion of scholars from a variety of disciplines outside of political science, most prominently diplomatic history. It is editorially independent and aims to highlight the best scholarship and feature incisive commentaries on critical topics.
We invite scholars, students, and policymakers from across the globe to join us as we work to honor Jervis’s aims in his founding and guiding of this forum, and to further expand our trans-disciplinary dialogue to its full potential
The Origins of RJISSF
In 2009, Robert Jervis gathered select members of the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association (ISA), along with the editors of three leading journals in the field (International Security, Security Studies, and Journal of Strategic Studies) and the directors of relevant centers at a dozen major universities.[1] His goal was to increase the velocity of academic communications and to lower the barriers to entry by establishing the online International Security Studies Forum (ISSF).
Jervis was a strong supporter on H-Diplo, the flagship online publication for scholars of diplomacy and foreign policy that had been founded in 1993 as part of the non-profit and open access H-Net, Humanities and Social Sciences Online. In the interests of adopting H-Diplo’ highly successful model, he formed a partnership with Diane Labrosse, its managing editor. Select H-Diplo senior review and production editors, including Thomas Maddux, George Fujii, and Seth Offenbach, joined the H-Diplo/ISSF initiative, which succeeded beyond expectations.
Between the time of its founding in 2009 and Jervis’s death in December 2021, H-Diplo/ISSF’s publications had been read by well over 600,000 scholars and policy practitioners across the globe. In addition, two of its essay series on the presidency of Donald Trump and its effects on global stability and the liberal international order had been accepted for publication in book form by Columbia University Press. Over the years ISSF acquired a board of Associate Editors, representing the best of the new cohort of distinguished scholars in the field of IR, who assign select roundtables and forums on important new books. Its managing editor position has been filled by a number of scholars, most recently in 2022 by Professor Jennifer L. Erickson. The Chair of the AE Board is Matthew Fuhrmann.[2] Christopher Ball joined us as production editor in 2022; Andrew Szarejko joined ISSF in 2015.
In honor of Jervis and his vision, and with the support of Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo, Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies and Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, in 2023 ISSF was renamed the Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum.
[1] For a more detailed description of the origins of ISSF, please see Diane N. Labrosse, “Bob Jervis and H-Diplo/ISSF,” in Richard Immerman, Labrosse, and Marc Trachtenberg, eds., “H-Diplo | ISSF Tribute to the Life, Scholarship, and Legacy of Robert Jervis: Part I,” 4 February 2022 | https://issforum.org/to/JervisTribute-1.
[2] For the full staff listing see our “Meet the Team” page.