In 1937 Burton became a member of the Commonwealth Public Service from where he was granted a Commonwealth scholarship to pursue a doctorate at the London School of Economics.[4] He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1941 and served as private secretary to Herbert Vere Evatt. In 1947, aged 32,[5] he became Secretary of the Department of External Affairs and held that position until June 1950.[6] At the beginning of 1951 he took up the position of Australian High Commissioner to Ceylon,[7] but resigned to return home and contest the Federal election of that year in the electorate of Lowe. As the Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate he was beaten by William McMahon, a future Prime Minister of Australia.[8]
Academic career
While writing his first book, The Alternative, Burton farmed outside Canberra and in 1960 was awarded a fellowship at the Australian National University. Two years later the Rockefeller Foundation awarded him a grant to study neutralism in Africa and Asia. In 1963, while a Reader in International Relations at University CollegeUniversity of London, he established the Centre for the Analysis of Conflict. He then went on to hold fellowships at numerous universities while living in Canberra.[9]
Burton introduced the terminology of "rooted causes of conflict," which focuses on unmet human needs as the source of conflicts.[10]: 14 Burton's view was that conflicts often emerge where there are social inequalities and barriers to people's needs for identity and participation.[10]: 14–15 In such situations, communities may resort to violence to protect what they deem as their values or culture.[10]: 15
Death
Burton died in a Canberra hospital on 23 June 2010 after suffering a stroke. He was survived by his third wife, Betty, and three children from the prior marriages. Another daughter predeceased him.[1]
Legacy
In introducing Burton as a guest on Radio National, Phillip Adams said; "John Burton was probably the most controversial and visionary public servant of the 20th Century. Branded a pink eminence of the Labor Party by conservative critics, he was clearly one of the most important intellectuals and policy-makers associated with the Curtin Labor Government of the 1940s. As a close associate of 'Doc' Evatt and head of the department of External Affairs (now Foreign Affairs) he did more to shape Australian foreign policy towards Asia and the Pacific than any other person before or since."[11]
Burton's theoretical work on conflict resolution has been highly influential in setting up conflict resolution as an academic discipline in its own right, which is very much needed in the modern globalised world because of the greater potential for disputes between different ethnic and religious communities. In Australia, Burton's work greatly influenced the pioneering course in conflict resolution at Macquarie University, Sydney.[12]
Scholarships, fellowships and grants
Scholarship – London School of Economics (1941)
Fellowship – Australian National University (1960)
^"Dr. Burton's New Post"(digitised). The West Australian. 13 February 1951. p. 2. Retrieved 24 March 2020 – via Trove.
^McDonald, Hamish, "Burton, John Wear (1915–2010)", Obituaries Australia, Sydney Morning Herald – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
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