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David P. Calleo is an American intellectual and political economist, based at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where he holds the title of University Professor.
A noted American theorist on Europe and its future, Calleo was born in 1934 into an Italian immigrant family of humble origins. He earned undergraduate and doctoral degrees at Yale University, where he also served as President of the Yale Political Union and was a member of Manuscript Society as an undergraduate.
In his 1978 book The German Problem Reconsidered, Calleo offered a revisionist picture of Imperial Germany, in which Calleo argued that the Second Reich was a not aggressive power, but instead a victim of the sanctimoniousness and envy of other powers. Calleo wrote that "Imperial Germany was not uniquely aggressive, only uniquely inconvenient. Whatever faults and ambitions the Germans had were amply shared by the other major nations of the modern era". Calleo asserted that because of Germany's location in Central Europe, the Germans "lacked the space to work out their abundant vitality", and so because of Germany's geographical location, the drive and vitality of German society made them a threat to others". Calleo claimed that "Modern Germany was born encircled". Calleo claimed that there were many similarities between Imperial Germany and the United States, as both were late-comer powers characterized by huge economic growth and a certain arrogance caused by their success. Calleo argued that the key differences were that the Americans had a "continental backyard" to expand into, whereas the Germans did not. Moreover, the Germans "...lacked the Anglo-Saxon talent for cant". In this way, Calleo claimed that all of the disasters of 20th century Germany were caused by Germany's geographical circumstances".
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