Christian Reus-Smit (born 8 August 1961) is Professor of International Relations (IR) at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
During the early-1990s, Reus-Smit undertook his PhD at Cornell University, along with other emerging constructivist scholars such as Audie Klotz and Richard Price.
His doctoral dissertation was co-chaired by Peter J. Katzenstein and Henry Shue, and was later published as The Moral Purpose of the State in 1999 by Princeton University Press.
[citation needed] Reus-Smit’s most significant contribution to the field is reflected in his answer to the question of the 'enigma of fundamental institutions,' laid out in 'The Moral Purpose of the State.'
Here he analysed the different practices and norms of very different international societies, including ancient Greece, the Renaissance city-states and the modern states system.