Former Mershon Center affiliate Ted Hopf has received the Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award for Reconstructing the Cold War: The Early Years, 1945-1958. Presented by the American Political Science Association, the Jervis-Schroeder Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the study of international relations and history.

The pool of nominations for the 2013 award was unusually large (75 titles) and exceptionally strong. The award judges (Michael Barnett [chair], Karen Alter, and Andrew Yeo) were unanimous in their praise for Reconstructing the Cold War, noting that "The committee is especially impressed by Hopf’s deep knowledge of time and place, thoughtful employment of cultural analysis, and extensive use of archives and primary materials. A consequence of this deep cultural and historical reading is that Hopf is able to speak to the specifics of Soviet history at this moment, and use that moment to speak to broader debates in international relations theory."

Hopf's main fields of interest are international relations theory, qualitative research methods, and identity, with special reference to the Soviet Union and the former Soviet space.

Besides Reconstructing the Cold War, he is author of or editor of five books including Social Construction of International Politics: Identities and Foreign Policies, Moscow, 1955 and 1999 (Cornell University Press, 2002), which won the 2003 Marshall D. Shulman Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.

Hopf is now a professor of political science at National University of Singapore. The Mershon Center supported his research for this project when he was at The Ohio State University.