Mearsheimer Profile; Chicago vs. Harvard

Cue7
Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:53:28 +0000

I’ve said it before, but this article in the Atlantic highlights it - being the school that attracts the “oddball” theorists can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Chicago gains a reputation for producing and cultivating fearless academics and wonks, but, on the other hand, there are tangible real-world costs to this approach.

Case in point - I think few would contest that in terms of actual policy and presence in DC, Harvard grads far outweigh Chicago grads in number and significance. Chicago may produce the theory-factories (e.g. the Chicago School of Economics, Sociology, etc.), buts its more often than not the Harvard grads considering and implementing these theories.

Here’s hoping that in the upcoming decades, Chicago does a better job of producing not only the thinkers, but the doers as well.