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| Association for Political Theory | |
|---|---|
| Name | Association for Political Theory |
| Type | Scholarly association |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Fields | Political theory, political philosophy |
Association for Political Theory is a scholarly association dedicated to the study and promotion of contemporary and historical political thought. It brings together scholars working on topics ranging from ancient Plato and Aristotle to modern figures such as John Rawls, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas. The association convenes conferences, publishes proceedings and journals, and awards prizes that recognize work in political theory, political philosophy, and related fields such as legal theory and intellectual history.
The organization was founded in 1989 amid debates in the late 20th century about the renewal of political theory that involved scholars associated with Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, University of Chicago, and Columbia University. Early participants included academics who had worked on figures like Leo Strauss, Isaiah Berlin, Alexis de Tocqueville, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke, and who were connected to conferences such as those at the American Political Science Association and the Social Science Research Council. Over subsequent decades the association expanded membership to include voices from University of California, Berkeley, New York University, The New School, Brown University, and international institutions such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, and Institut d'études politiques de Paris. Key moments included partnerships with journals like Polity, Political Theory, and The Journal of Political Philosophy and joint panels with organizations such as American Historical Association and Modern Language Association.
The association’s mission emphasizes rigorous study of texts and contexts spanning from Plato and Aristotle to thinkers like Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Søren Kierkegaard, Avicenna, Averroes, and scholars of non-Western traditions including work on Ashis Nandy and Amartya Sen. Activities include sponsoring panels at conferences tied to the American Political Science Association and the International Political Science Association, organizing biennial meetings drawing participants from Princeton University, University of Chicago, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and publishing calls for papers circulated through networks at European Consortium for Political Research and Society for Legal and Political Philosophy. The association also promotes collaborations with centers such as the Center for Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law and institutes like the Hannah Arendt Center and the Strauss Center.
The association hosts annual or biennial conferences that feature panels on topics related to ancient Greek philosophy, medieval scholasticism, early modern political thought, and contemporary debates involving figures like Rawls, Noam Chomsky, Judith Butler, Cornel West, and Martha Nussbaum. Conferences have been held at venues including Georgetown University, University of Michigan, Duke University, University of California, Los Angeles, and international sites such as The Hague and Berlin. Publication outlets associated with participants include edited volumes and special issues in journals such as Political Theory, The Journal of Political Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy & Public Affairs, History of Political Thought, and proceedings that appear in series by academic presses including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Princeton University Press, and Routledge.
Membership comprises faculty, graduate students, and independent scholars from institutions like University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Toronto, McGill University, and international universities such as University of Sydney and University of Tokyo. Governance is conducted through an elected board and officers including a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer drawn from member institutions such as Brown University, Columbia University, Yale University, and University of Chicago. Committees oversee programming, prize selection, graduate student mentoring, and diversity initiatives often in collaboration with entities like the American Philosophical Association and the Society for Women in Philosophy.
The association confers prizes recognizing monographs, essays, and graduate work; recipients have included authors affiliated with Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Princeton University, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley. Prizes and named awards have been announced alongside honors such as the John Rawls Prize, the Leo Strauss Book Award, and other recognitions in the field that intersect with awards given by American Political Science Association sections and by journals like Political Theory and Ethics. Award committees often include scholars who have published with Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Harvard University Press, and contributors to symposia hosted by The New Yorker and The Times Literary Supplement.
The association has shaped curricula and research agendas at departments of political science and philosophy across institutions including Yale University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, London School of Economics, and European University Institute. Critics have argued that its conferences and prize selections at times reflect institutional concentrations found at Ivy League universities and leading research universities, prompting debates about inclusion involving scholars connected to Postcolonial Studies, Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory, and practitioners from universities such as Humboldt University of Berlin, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. The association has responded by broadening programming to feature work on global intellectual histories, non-Western political thought, and interdisciplinary dialogues with centers such as the Institute for Advanced Study and the Santa Fe Institute.
Category:Academic organizations