Inaugural Event

The American Political Science Association has recently recognized the formation of a related group called “American Political Thought.” The group was started by Steven Kautz and Benjamin Kleinerman of Michigan State University for the purpose of providing a much needed outlet for scholarship:

Statement of Need:

The purpose of this related group is to promote interest in, and provide an outlet for, the presentation of research on American Political Thought.  American Political Thought comprises, among other things, the study of fundamental and/or authoritative texts that are constitutive of American political life; the study of the first principles that ground constitutionalism and democracy in the United States; and the study of the public philosophies or sentiments that have animated political parties (and ultimately the “public mind,” to borrow Lincoln’s expression) throughout American political history.  It is related to, but distinct from, the study of American political development and institutions, on one hand, and the study of modern political philosophy and contemporary democratic theory, on the other.

Panel:

The inaugural panel, entitled “Philosophy and American Political Thought” will held Saturday, September 4^th at the American Political Science convention in Washington D.C. (meeting room TBD):

• James Ceaser, UVA: “Alexis de Tocqueville and the Two-Founding Thesis”
• Randal Hendrickson, Duke University: “Liberalism and Republicanism in the American Political Tradition”
• Thomas Pangle, UT Austin: “Montesquieu and the Basis of Liberal Modernity in America”

Reception:

A joint reception with the Jack Miller Center will be held September 3^rd at 7:30 in Columbia 1 at the Hilton Washington.

All are invited to attend.

There will be a second 2010 Summer Institute in Chicago July 26-August 7. For more information on becoming a participant for the summer of 2011, contact Emily Koons.

Jefferson's Rotunda, UVA

2010 Theme

Liberty and Enterprise: The American Founding and the Birth of the Modern Commercial Republic

The American Constitution stands as one of the great achievements of modern philosophical and political thought.  There had been prior forms of free government in the West, from the Roman Republic, to the short-lived democratic city states of ancient Greece, to the constitutional monarchy of Great Britain.  The Framers were keen students of the strengths and weaknesses and triumphs and failures of earlier attempts to establish and perpetuate a free system of government.  Yet even as Founders readily acknowledged their indebtedness to the great thinkers and statesmen of the Western tradition, they also believed that they were creating something unprecedented, a “new order for the ages” – a new regime that was both a reflection of and a departure from its historical antecedents.  Nowhere was this departure more evident than in the Founders embrace of commerce and the free market.

For much of European history, commerce was viewed as a servile activity, something that occupied the lower classeAs, or “middling sorts”, but which was beneath the dignity of an aristocratic ruling class.  In establishing a new constitutional and commercial order, the Founders had to contend not only with past critics who doubted the practicality and wisdom of extending political freedom to ordinary citizens, but also with a substantial body of thinking which held that commercial activity and the pursuit of material gain undermined a people’s commitment to the public good.   Indeed, one of the unique features of the American Founding was not only that its leading figures defended both free government and the free market, but that they also believed that liberty and commerce, far from being incompatible, were mutually reinforcing features of life in a flourishing free society.

To be sure, the Founders themselves often disagreed among themselves on any number of issues regarding the constitution and economic affairs.  At this year’s summer institute we will engage the debate the Founders themselves engaged in.  What are the necessary elements of both free political institutions and a free market, and are they in fact mutually reinforcing or at times in tension with one another?  Does the pursuit of material gain seamlessly promote the public good, or is it at times in tension with the public good?  And what institutions and institutional restraints did the Founders envision would be necessary to manage such tensions and promote political stability, and economic prosperity, while protecting individual liberty?  Does a system of self-government and free enterprise depend on certain moral preconditions such as honesty, trustworthiness, a respect for the rule of law and a sense of fair play, and what is the origin of such virtues?  And has the great expansion of the state in the 19^th and 20^th centuries preserved individual liberty and promoted prosperity, or does it represent an unnecessary or even dangerous departure from the original vision of the Founders?

Program Goals

The Jack Miller Center seeks to advance the teaching of America’s founding principles and the broader traditions of Western Civilization on College Campuses around the country.  The Summer Institutes are an integral part of our overall mission.  Each summer institute brings together twenty-five faculty members and advanced graduate students from around the country for seminars, workshops and lectures led by many of our country’s leading scholars, educators and public intellectuals. Our goal at the summer institutes is to assist in the cultivation, support and professional advancement of the next generation of college and university professors.

Morning Seminars

Our seminars offer the most promising young scholars in the humanities and social sciences the opportunity to reflect upon and discuss the enduring ideas, issues and questions from the American past and the traditions of Western Civilization, as a means of deepening and enriching their knowledge of our history and institutions.  Led by our summer institute teaching faculty, the morning seminars allow for a robust and thoughtful discussion of the central ideas, thinkers, and texts from our history.  Each member of our summer institute teaching faculty will offer a combination of primary and secondary source readings, or original research, that explore different aspects of this year’s theme.  Participants will have the opportunity to engage the presenter and each other in a discussion of the day’s topic in an atmosphere of civility and intellectual freedom.  Morning seminars are designed not only to give the participants an opportunity to deepen their thinking concerning the central ideas of the American past, but also to develop new ideas for original research and fresh approaches to the questions that have long animated discussions of American society.  In addition, the seminars offer participants the chance to observe the teaching methods of some of the most respected scholars in higher education.

Afternoon Workshops

Our afternoon workshops are designed to assist faculty members with their professional advancement, with a particular focus on teaching, publishing, and securing tenure.  Members of our institute teaching faculty lead workshops focusing on the development of intellectually engaging courses dealing with the key ideas, themes, and events from the American past, in addition to leading workshops on effective teaching methods.  Other workshops, led by the directors of academic presses, focus on building successful book proposals and successfully navigating the editorial approval process.

Lectures

In addition to the seminars and workshops, each summer institute will feature a number of luncheon and dinner lecturers, delivered by leading academics, educators, political commentators and prominent public officials.

Each summer institute also offers our participants ample opportunities for informal discussion with our institute faculty and with one another, and time for reading, reflection and study.

Ongoing Support

In addition to the honorarium for attending the summer institute, Miller Summer Institute Fellows may be eligible to receive funds to conduct campus programming to further education in American Founding Principles.  New Miller Center Fellows can become eligible for our subsequent appointments as Annual Miller Center Fellows.  Miller Center Staff and its Academic Council are committed to assisting all Miller Fellows, whenever possible, with publishing, securing grants from public and private sources, recruitment of participants for on-campus programming, securing employment, and facilitating contacts and developing relationships with other faculty members and past Miller Fellows.

www.northeasternpsa.com

2010 Annual Meeting

11-13 November 2010

Boston, Massachusetts

Conference Hotel:  Omni Parker House, 60 School St., Boston, MA 02108  (www.omnihotels.com)

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION

The 42nd Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association (NPSA) will be held at the Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston, on Nov. 11-13, 2010. Proposals for papers, panels, or roundtable discussions, and to serve as a chair and/or discussant must be submitted by June 15, 2010 via the NPSA submission website (e-mail submissions will not be accepted):

http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/npsa/npsa10/

(Once on the submission website, create a username and password and follow the instructions.)

Only one paper submission per person will be accepted. A paper presenter may also serve as a chair or discussant on a second panel or as a round-table participant. Questions should be directed to the Section Chair or the Program Chair (see below). Additional information about the conference is available on the NPSA website.

PROGRAM CHAIR

Eric N. Budd

Fitchburg State College

Phone: 978 665-3732

ebudd@fsc.edu

POLITICAL THEORY

ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

All aspects of Ancient (Greek, Roman) and Medieval (Jewish, Christian, Islamic) Political Thought

Dustin A. Gish

Department of Political Science

College of the Holy Cross

307 Fenwick Hall, Worcester, MA 01610

Phone:  508-793-3519

dgish@holycross.edu

ANNOUNCEMENT:

The 2010 annual meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association (NPSA) will be held in Boston, MA, this November 11-13. Please see the “Call for Proposals” for papers and full panels within the “Ancient and Medieval Political Philosophy” section. Proposals must be submitted on-line through the NPSA submission website. The deadline for submissions to be posted on-line is June 15.

Boston 1772

At the 2009 Annual Meeting, the “Ancient and Medieval Political Philosophy” section was (for a second year in a row) the largest at the conference, with 24 panels, 80 papers and presentations, and nearly 100 panel participants overall. Your participation, as well as your assistance in encouraging colleagues and graduate students to attend, is essential to our future success.

Best Regards,
Dustin Gish

Department of Political Science

College of the Holy Cross

307 Fenwick Hall,

Worcester, MA 01610

Phone:  508-793-3519

Fax: 508-793-3945

dgish@holycross.edu

The Jack Miller Center Chairman’s Award for Best Dissertation in American Political Thought is given to young scholars in Political Science whose dissertation represents a unique contribution to the study of American Political Thought, and whose scholarly work meets with the highest standards of the profession.

• The Award is given annually at the national meeting of the American Political Science Association, and carries with it a cash prize of $500.
• The deadline for nominations is July 1st.  Nominations for the prize should be submitted to Dr. Michael Andrews, Vice President for Academic Programs, The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History, and should include both a hard copy and an electronic file of the abstract and introduction of the dissertation.  The nominating faculty member must be a member of the candidate’s dissertation committee, or a scholar familiar with the candidate’s work.  One letter of recommendation from a member of the candidate’s dissertation committee is required.  Dr. Andrews can be reached at mandrews@gojmc.org.
• Nominations will be evaluated by Miller Center staff, members of the Miller Center Academic Council, and an outside committee of scholars who will assess the dissertation according to the excellence of its subject matter, scholarly merit, and the originality of its contribution to the study of American political thought.

Georgetown University Seal

Sarah Houser’s primary area of concentration is Political Theory with a secondary concentration in American politics. She is particularly interested in the question of nature of the political community and the obligations of citizenship in a contemporary context. She completed and defended her dissertation, entitled Loving Pimlico: Patriotism in the Age of the Cosmopolis, and directed by Michael Zuckert, in August 2009. In her dissertation Houser examines the cosmopolitan critique of patriotism in the work of Martha Nussbaum and the concept of “constitutional patriotism,” first proposed by Jürgen Habermas and popular among theorists of the European Union, as well as a positive theory of patriotism based upon a Thomistic and Aristotelian understanding of friendship.

|More|

Jack Miller Center Post-Doctoral Fellowships

Ashland University

The Department of History and Political Science at Ashland University seeks a broadly educated person to fill a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor beginning August 2010.  Teaching responsibilities include upper-level courses in American politics, especially the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court, and introductory courses in American history or American politics. The Department emphasizes the study of political thought and statesmanship through the use of primary sources and the great texts of political thought.  Consistent with this emphasis, the Department seeks a person who studies American politics from the perspective of political thought and statesmanship, although not to the exclusion of contemporary issues in American politics. The successful candidate must demonstrate excellence in and a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching in a traditional liberal arts setting.  Depending on qualifications, the candidate may also have an opportunity to teach in the Department’s Masters of American History and Government program.  PhD required; ABD considered. As with all tenure-track appointments at Ashland University, faculty members are expected to conduct appropriate scholarship and research and participate in university service and student advising.  Send letter of application, vita, letters of recommendation, writing sample, and graduate and undergraduate transcripts to Chair, American Politics Search Committee, Department of History and Political Science, Ashland University, Ashland, OH  44805.  Consideration of applications will begin on February 15, 2010 and continue until the position is filled.

Each Fellow is responsible for teaching three sections per semester of the Augustine and Culture Seminar. Duties and Responsibilities: Each Fellow helps develop and oversee various scholarly activities sponsored by the program, including conferences, faculty workshops, a book series, its journal, Expositions, and other projects. In addition, each Fellow is required to contribute to Villanova’s residential learning communities.

|More|

ORGANIZED BY

THE TOCQUEVILLE PROGRAM AT INDIANA UNIVESITY,

IN COLLABORATION WITH

THE WORKSHOP IN POLITICAL THEORY AND POLICY ANALYSIS, THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, AND LIBERTY FUND, INC.

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON HIS WORKS

March 5, 2010

IU Memorial Union
Indiana University, Bloomington

All meetings are scheduled to take place in the IU Memorial Union, Walnut Room.

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010:

Afternoon: Arrival of participants at the Indiana University Memorial Union Hotel

6:30                Dinner  (Lennie’s)

Friday, March 5, 2010:

9:15-9:30:       Mike McGinnis (IUB): Welcoming remarks: Tocqueville and the Workshop in Political Theory

Aurelian Craiutu (IUB): Opening remarks: The Tocqueville Program at Indiana University

9:30–10:45    Roundtable on the Liberty Fund critical bilingual edition of Democracy in America

Moderator: Aurelian Craiutu

PANELISTS: Eduardo Nolla (Universidad San Pablo-CEU, Madrid), James T. Schleifer (College of New Rochelle), Christine D.  Henderson (Liberty Fund, Inc): Editing, translating, and publishing Democracy in America

10:45–11       Break

11–12:15       Open discussion: The relevance of the Liberty Fund critical edition for the Tocqueville studies.

Moderator: Barbara Allen (Carleton College)

Panelists: Eduardo Nolla, James T. Schleifer

12:15-1.30     Lunch (for panelists): Tudor Room, IU Memorial Union

1:45–3:15      Roundtable Discussion on Tocqueville on America after 1840: Letters and Other Writings (Cambridge University Press, 2009)

Moderator: Russell Hanson (IUB)

Panelists: Aurelian Craiutu (IUB) and Jeremy Jennings (Queen Mary, University of London)

3:15-3:30       Break

3:30-5:00       Roundtable Discussion on Conversations with Tocqueville (Lexington Books, 2009)

Moderator: Filippo Sabetti (McGill University)

Panelists: Barbara Allen (Carleton College), Reiji Matsumoto (Waseda University, Tokyo), Filippo Sabetti (McGill University)

6:30                Dinner (Samira Restaurant)

Saturday, March 6, 2010:

Breakfast and departure at the participants’ convenience.

***

The new Tocqueville program at IU is sponsored by the Jack Miller Center in Philadelphia. For further related events, please see http://www.indiana.edu/~tcqville/

The Liberty Fund bilingual Democracy in America is the fullest historical-critical edition of the Democracy. It includes Eduardo Nolla’s historical-critical edition of the French text and notes on the left-hand pages and James Schleifer’s new English translation on the right. The notes offer an extensive selection of early outlines, drafts, manuscript variants, marginalia, unpublished fragments, and other materials. Features include a translator’s note, list of key terms, foreword, twenty-one illustrations, editor’s introduction, footnotes, appendixes, all works known to have been used by Tocqueville, a bibliography, and French and English indexes.