Research Topics 

Areas of interest include justice, citizenship, ethics, conflict, democracy, authority and law. Research in political theory involves issues such as the nature and practice of democracy, leadership, the rule of law, and questions of norms, values and ideals. Our program focuses on the history and traditions of political thought with a view to understand the political present. 

Faculty Exposure 

Our faculty offers strengths in ancient and modern political thought and draw on a variety of philosophical, historical and interdisciplinary methods to explore political life. They publish with academic presses and in leading journals, including American Political Science Review, Political Theory and History of Political Thought. Faculty members have also organized national and international conferences and have taught at summer institutes funded by the NEH. 

Graduate Students 

The Bridge to Humanities Fellowship Program supports graduate students interested in issues at the nexus of politics, ethics and advocacy. Fellows engage in advanced training in the pedagogy of interdisciplinary humanities, teach Social Advocacy and Ethical Life (SAEL) 200 or its equivalents, and participate in professional development.

We also have an interdisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students who, with support from the Classics in Contemporary Perspectives Initiative, explore ways in which the ancient reflects, refracts and interrogates the modern and the contemporary.