IN MEMORIAM

Ernst Bernard Haas

Robson Professor of Government, Emeritus

UC Berkeley

1924 – 2003

Ernst Bernard Haas, Robson Professor of Government, Emeritus, in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leading authority on international relations theory, died March 6, 2003 after a short illness. He was 78.

A prominent scholar in the fields of international relations and international organizations, Haas joined the Berkeley faculty in 1951. Following his retirement in June 1999, he continued in an active role as a researcher and teacher on campus.

Haas was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 31, 1924, and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1938. He attended the University of Chicago, then worked in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service from 1943 to 1946. He received the Ph.D. in public law and government in 1952 from Columbia University, where he had also received his B.S. and M.A. degrees. He began his academic career in 1951 at Berkeley, where he remained until his death. From 1969 to 1973 he was director of the UC Berkeley Institute for International Studies.

Haas’s theoretical work concerned the concepts and process of international integration. A prolific writer, he published 20 books and monographs, as well as 56 articles and book chapters. His early groundbreaking works included The Uniting of Europe (1958, reissued 2003) and Beyond the Nation-State (1964). Both are still widely cited and read. The Journal of Foreign Affairs named The Uniting of Europe as one of the 50 most significant books in international relations in the last century. His recent work included a two-volume comparative historical study of nationalism, Nationalism, Liberalism, and Progress (1997 and 2000).

Ernst Haas, who was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, served as a consultant to many bodies in academia, publishing, government and international organizations, including the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations and the Commission on Global Governance.

Haas was married to the late Hildegarde Vogel Haas for 57 years. He is survived by his son, Peter M. Haas, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst; his daughter-in-law, Julie Zuckman; his sister, Edith Cornfield of New York City; and a grandson.

 

 The Office of Public Affairs contributed to this memorial.