Martin Wight - Legacy

Legacy

Wight died, at the age of 59, in 1972. Only after his death did some of the writings for which he is best known see the light of day. Since the early 1980s - especially after Roy Jones' article "The English school - a case for closure" and Michael Nicholson's "The enigma of Martin Wight" (both in the journal Review of International Studies, 1981) - Wight has come to be seen as a central figure in the so-called "English school of international relations theory". His teaching at the LSE in the 1950s is often seen to have been a strong influence on the direction of international studies in Britain; his posthumously published essays have clearly served as a major stimulus to the revival of the 'English school' in the 1990s.

A trust fund was set up and the many contributions generously given enabled the series of Martin Wight Memorial Lectures to be launched. The subject of the annual lecture was to relate so far as possible to humanist scholarship and to reflect the breadth of Martin Wight’s interest in history and international relations. Sir Herbert Butterfield gave the first lecture at Sussex University on 23 April 1975, and lectures have been given annually since then. They are available on the homepage of the Martin Wight Memorial Trust.