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Political Theory Institute 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016 United States

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Founding Director

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Director of Special Programs

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Thomas Merrill Associate Professor SPA | Government

Thomas Merrill is an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs. He is the author of Hume and the Politics of Enlightenment (Cambridge, 2015), which won the Delba Winthrop Prize for Best Rece…

Ìý merrill@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6246

Core Faculty


Gail Borden Flanagan Assistant Professor SPA | Government

On research leave at the University of Toronto for the academic year 2014-2015.

Borden Flanagan’s area of expertise is the history of Western political philosophy. His teaching and r…

Ìý flanagan@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6495

Craig French Professorial Lecturer SPA | Government

Craig French is a professorial lecturer in the Department of Government at СÀ¶ÊÓƵ, where he teaches classes in political theory. His teaching and research interests include political real…

Ìý cfrench@american.edu

Hansong Li Assistant Professor SIS | Global Inquiry

Hansong Li is a humanist and social scientist who writes on international law and politics, ethics and economics, and the history of political, economic, and legal thought. Li has written on the norma…

Ìý hansong@american.edu

Christopher Utter Professorial Lecturer SPA | Government

Christopher Utter is a professorial lecturer in the Department of Government in the School of Public Affairs at СÀ¶ÊÓƵ. He has taught courses in the history of political philosophy, class…

Ìý utter@american.edu

Faculty Associates


Karen Baehler Scholar in Residence SPA | Public Administration

Karen Baehler's teaching and research focuses on the craft of policy analysis and the intersection between public policy and public administration, with applications to the social and environmental po…

Ìý baehler@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6072

Daniel Dreisbach Professor SPA | Justice, Law & Criminology

Professor Dreisbach earned a doctor of philosophy degree from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia. His principal research…

Ìý ddreisb@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2380

David Fagelson Associate Professor SPA | Justice, Law & Criminology

Professor Fagelson's research interests include ethical issues in law, politics and international relations as well as jurisprudence and and political theory.

He has published one book on …

Ìý dfagel@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2397

Seth Gershenson Professor SPA | Public Administration

Seth Gershenson holds a PhD from Michigan State University in Economics with a primary focus on education policy. While at Michigan State, he taught several courses and received an Outstanding Teachin…

Ìý gershens@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2687

Marianne Noble Professor CAS | Literature

Professor Noble's teaching and research interests include American literature, intimacy and the emotions, and philosophical approaches to literature. She is the author of Rethinking Sympathy and H…

Ìý mnoble@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2988

Jin Y Park Professor and Department Chair, Philosophy & Religion CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Jin Y. Park is a Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy and Religion at СÀ¶ÊÓƵ. She also served as the Founding Director of the Asian Studies Program from 2013 to 2020. Park special…

Ìý jypark@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2919

Anita Sherman Professor CAS | Literature

Anita Gilman Sherman studies 16th and 17th century literature, specializing in works that have problems of knowledge and interpretation at their thematic center. Her book, Skepticism and Memory in Sha…

Ìý asherm@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2988

Paul Wapner Prof Emeritus

Professor Paul Wapner’s research focuses on global environmental politics, environmental thought, transnational environmental activism, and environmental ethics. He is particularly concerned with unde…

Ìý (202) 885-1647