- Richard Barnet
Richard Jackson Barnet (
May 7 ,1929 –December 23 ,2004 ) was an American scholar-activist who co-founded theInstitute for Policy Studies .Early years
Born in Boston, Richard Barnet was raised in Brookline. After attending
The Roxbury Latin School ,He graduated fromHarvard University in 1951 and fromHarvard Law School in 1954. After serving two years in the U.S. Army, he worked as a lawyer in Boston. In 1959, he became a fellow at Harvard's Russian Research Center (renamed in 1996 the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies).Government service
After publishing his first book, "Who Wants Disarmament?" (1960), a study of U.S.-Soviet disarmament negotiations, Richard Barnet joined the State Department in 1961 as an aide to
John J. McCloy in the U.S.Arms Control and Disarmament Agency .Activist-scholar
Disillusioned by his experience of the inner workings of government, Barnet left government service in 1963 to co-found, with
Marcus Raskin , theInstitute for Policy Studies (IPS). He served as its co-director until 1978, and remained active at the institute he had helped create until his retirement in 1998. IPS was the first influential politically activistthink tank according to Sidney Blumenthal, who said that the structure of IPS served as a model for the ideologically antagonistcHeritage Foundation .From 1969, he was a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations foreign policy organization. [cite web
url=http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/consensus_endangered.html
title=Continuing the Inquiry - Consensus Endangered]Author
Richard Barnet wrote "Roots of War" (1972), "" (1974), one of the first books critical of the effects of what would come to be known as
globalization , "The Giants" (1977), on Soviet-U.S. relations, "Lean Years" (1980), an account of the environmental movement; and "Global Dreams" (1994), an analysis of some powerful corporations. He also wrote, with his wife, Ann, "Youngest Minds: Parenting and Genes in the Development of Intellect and Emotion" (1998).Barnet often contributed to "
The New Yorker ", "Harper's ", "The Nation",and "Sojourners Magazine ", among other publications.Personal life
Barnet was strongly religious, which influenced his views about war, peace, and civil rights. He was a talented violinist, and taught music to children from poor neighborhoods toward the end his life. He and his wife, Ann, had two daughters and one son, as well as a foster son. He has passed at age 75 in December 2004.
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
