I am Henry L. and Grace Doherty Professor, Department of Politics, University of Virginia (Ph.D., Columbia, 1977). The menu above contains links to my curriculum vitae and to many of my syllabi. I also include links to about fifty of my articles (in different formats) and about thirty-five book reviews.
My research interests include contemporary political theory, especially issues in analytical and normative theory, and the history of political thought. I teach courses in both areas: in the history of political thought focusing on the liberal tradition and Greek political theory, especially Plato; in contemporary, in specific aspects of liberal theory, including problems of political obligation and the theory of John Rawls and Rawls's critics.
My books include: The Development of Plato's Political Theory (Methuen, 1986; Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2006); The Principle of Fairness and Political Obligation (Rowman and Littlefield, 1992; New edition, 2004); Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus (Oxford University Press, 2000; paperback edition, 2004); Jacobinism and Utopianism (Notre Dame University Press, 2003); and Political Obligations (Oxford University Press, 2005). I have also written a two-volume introduction to the history of political theory: History of Political Theory: An Introduction, Volume I: Ancient and Medieval Political Theory; Volume II: Modern Political Theory (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993, 1995; Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2012, 2013. Political Obligations was awarded the 2007 David and Elaine Spitz Prize by the International Conference for the Study of Political Thought, "for the best book in liberal and/or democratic theory" published in 2005.
The Transformation of American Liberalism was recently published by Oxford University Press, (2017), while my most recent book, Why we should obey the law? was published in 2019 by Polity Press.
I also edited The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2011), Aristotle for the International Library of Essays in the History of Social and Political Thought (Ashgate, 2007), and co-edited The Struggle for Women's Rights, with Margaret G. Klosko (Prentice Hall, 1999), and Perfectionism and Neutrality: Essays in Liberal Theory, with Steven Wall (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003). The Principle of Fairness and Political Obligation has been translated into Chinese, and History of Political Theory: An Introduction has been translated into Farsi and is currently being translated into Greek.
Recent articles include Oaths and Political Obligation in Ancient Greece," History of Political Thought, 41 (2020), 1-14; "Fair Play, Reciprocity, and Natural Duties of Justice," Ratio Juris, 33 (2020), 335-50; "What Socrates Says, and Does not Say," Classical Quarterly, 70 (2020), 577-91; "Content-Independence and Political Obligation: Scope-Limitations of Content-Independent Moral Reasons," Political Studies (forthcoming); and "Political Obligations of Refugees," with Andrew Gates, International Studies Quarterly (forthcoming).
I am currently editing The Oxford Handbook of Political Obligation (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).