Political Theory

At Notre Dame, 9 faculty regularly teach political theory at the graduate level. Thus, the Department of Political Science is able to offer courses in the entire history of political thought—ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary. We also have unusually strong offerings in politics and literature. We encourage our students to do course work in related disciplines, including philosophy, theology, economics, history, and English.

Political Theory Faculty: A Wide Variety of Approaches and Areas of Expertise

  • Ruth Abbey has published books on Nietzsche and Charles Taylor and offers a graduate seminar on Nietzsche.    
  • Fred Dallmayr has published a large number of works on continental philosophy and is currently teaching courses on 19th and 20th century thinkers such as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Arendt and Habermas as well as cross-cultural political thought. He recently taughts a graduate seminar titled "The Political Thought of Martin Heidegger."
  • Vittorio Hösle, author of twelve books on such varied topics as Greek tragedy, Vico, Hegel, environmental ethics and political morality,  regularly teaches seminars on topics ranging from Aristotle (Fall 2005) to moderns like Hume and Kant. 
  • Eileen Hunt Botting's recent book Family Feuds examines Wollstonecraft, Burke, and Rousseau's theories of the relationship between the family and the state. Botting has offered graduate courses on Rousseau and Wollstonecraft, and plans to offer a graduate course in feminist political theory.  She is currently the director of the Gender Studies Program at Notre Dame, which offers a graduate certificate in Gender Studies and interdisciplinary graduate courses in gender and feminist theory.
  • Mary Keys specializes in medieval and Christian political thought. She frequently offers seminars on the "Political Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas" as well as on Philosophy of Law. 
  • Walter Nicgorski is an expert on Cicero's political thought and the character of liberal education. He offers graduate seminars on Cicero and the American founding.
  • John Roos's work spans the fields of political theory and American politics, ranging from Aquinas to the short stories of Flannery O'Connor and Congressional politics. He regularly teaches seminars on Religion and Politics. 
  • Catherine Zuckert, building on her book Postmodern Platos, is currently teaching and writing on Plato, as well as offering a seminar on Machiavelli.  She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Review of Politics, one of the leading journals in the field of political theory.
  • Michael Zuckert teaches the many varieties of liberal political theory, including American political thought. He and Catherine Zuckert have just completed a book on the political philosophy of Leo Strauss, to published in the summer of 2006. He is currently at work on a book on the Fourteenth Amendment and teaches courses on Rawls, the Founding, and the American Constitution.

An Integrated Program of Study

Notre Dame requires its Ph.D. candidates to take comprehensive examinations in two fields. Students interested in theory thus find it easy to develop an integrated program of study. For example, combine theory with:

  • Study of public law or constitutional interpretation, which is taught by Donald Kommers, Sotirios Barber, and Michael Zuckert
  • Comparative politics by studying with three specialists in European politics or the many fellows in the Kellogg Center, working on "democratic theory”
  • International relations by accessing faculty in the Political Science Department as well as the Kroc Institute for Peace
  • A graduate certificate in Gender Studies from Notre Dame's interdisciplinary Gender Studies Program.

Affiliated Research Centers and Institutes

The following research centers are affiliated with the program in Political Theory. Graduate students often draw from the faculty in these centers for readers of their dissertations.

Educational Background of Theory Students

In recent years we have attracted graduate students from a variety of institutions, including:

  • Yale
  • Carleton
  • Duke
  • Georgetown
  • Holy Cross
  • Kenyon
  • St. John's College in Annapolis
  • Loyola College in Baltimore
  • Marquette University
  • Middlebury
  • Princeton
  • University College Dublin
  • London School of Economics
  • University of Leyden
  • University of Calgary
  • Carleton University in Canada.

Diverse Dissertation Topics

Our students have written dissertations on a diverse range of topics such as:

  • The relation between practical and speculative reason in Aristotle
  • The political thought of Luce Irigaray
  • Martin Heidegger
  • The life of the mind in Hannah Arendt
  • The role of the passions and loves in Augustine's political theology
  • Reinhold Niebuhr's political anthropology
  • John Rawls' critique of comprehensive moral doctrines in liberal democracy
  • George Parkin Grant's Platonism
  • Restrictions on immigration
  • Plato's Cratylus
  • The family in political life

Select Job Placements

Our graduates have done well in the exceptionally challenging job market in political theory.  Moreover, none of our recent political theory graduates has failed to secure an academic position of some kind.
In recent years political theory Ph.D.s from Notre Dame have won tenure-track appointments at:

  • Adelphi University
  • Pepperdine
  • Catholic University
  • Villanova
  • Lethbridge University (Ontario)
  •  California State University at Sacramento
  • Western Michigan


Term appointments at:

  • American University
  • Northern Illinois University
  • University of Louisville
  • Valparaiso


Postdoctoral fellowships at:

  • Duke
  • University of Houston

Financial Support

Rich in resources for the study of political theory, Notre Dame has intentionally kept its graduate program in theory relatively small so that students receive close attention from individual faculty. All Ph.D. candidates receive funding for their first four years, which is usually extended to five and a half years of support. There are opportunities for internships and other involvement with The Review of Politics, as well as predoctoral teaching fellowships in Gender Studies.

Contact

Benjamin Radcliff, Director of Graduate Studies or
Michael Zuckert, Chair of Political Theory Field
Department of Political Science
203 O’Shaughnessy Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(574-) 631-9017

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