Raymond Leslie Buell

Raymond Leslie Buell (July 13, 1896 – 1946) was an American social scientist.^[1][2] He was an assistant professor at Harvard University until 1927 when he became research director at the Foreign Policy Association.^[3][4] He later became president of the Foreign Policy Association.^[5][6]

Buell was a prominent critic of isolationism in the United States in the lead-up to World War II.^[7] A critic of economic nationalism, Buell argued for free trade treaties.^[7] A critic of imperialism and racial supremacy, Buell argued for retaining native tribal institutions in Africa.^[8][9] He influenced the work of Ralph Bunche.^[3][10]

Buell was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 13, 1896.^[11] His father was a minister at the Presbyterian Church.^[2] He graduated with an A.B. from Occidental College.^[11][2] He served in the American Expeditionary Force during World War I.^[1][7]

He wrote his 1920 book Contemporary French Politics while a student at the University of Grenoble.^[2][11] He earned a masters in 1920 and a PhD in 1922 from Princeton University.^[11][2] From 1920 to 1921, he was Assistant professor of history and economics at Occidental College.^[11]

After receiving his PhD in 1922, he began working as an instructor and researcher at Harvard University.^[11] He became assistant professor at Harvard University in 1926 but gave up his position in 1927 after becoming research director at the Foreign Policy Association.^[11]

He authored the influential 1925 textbook International Relations.^{[12][13][14][15]} In the book, he flags nationalism as a powerful driver of international conflict, as it prompts conflict within empires and stokes tensions between states about borders.^[16] He argues that imperialism, which he described as "evil", provokes conflict between imperial powers and between empires and the groups that the empires tries to conquer and subjugate.^[9] He challenged notions that pure races existed and that one race was superior to other races, as well as argued that modern nations were composed of multiple races.^[17] He criticized economic nationalism and argued for free trade treaties.^[18] He opposed the U.S. policy of excluding Asians from immigration and citizenship.^[19]

He authored The Native Question in Africa, which was a comparative study of colonial rule.^[20][21][22] Buell argues in the book for retaining native tribal institutions in Africa.^[8] He opposed U.S. isolationism in the years leading up to World War II.^[23][1] He authored the book Isolated America in 1940.^[1]

Buell ran for Congress in 1942, losing to Allen T. Treadway in an election for Massachusetts's first congressional district.^[1][24]

• Contemporary French Politics (1920)
• "Political and Social Reconstruction in France" American Political Science Review, Feb. 1921
• The Washington Conference (1922)
• Buell, Raymond Leslie (1923). "Some Legal Aspects of the Japanese Question". American Journal of International Law. 17 (1): 29–49.
• "Again the Yellow Peril" Foreign Affairs, Dec. 15, 1923
• International Relations (1925)
• Europe: A History of Ten Years (1928)
• The Native Problem in Africa (1928)^{[25][26][27][28][29][30]}
• New Governments in Europe. 1934.^[31]
• Democratic Governments in Europe. 1935.^[32]

He married Frances March Dwight in 1928.^[11] They had a son and daughter.^[7] He died in Montreal, Canada on February 20, 1946.^[11][7]

• Raymond Leslie Buell's paper collection at the Library of Congress