J USTIN B. L ITKE, P H.D. Columbus School of Law 422B (202) 319-4690 office Litke@cua.edu 3600 John McCormack Road, N.E. http://sites.google.com/site/justinblitkephd/ 20064 CURRENT & PREVIOUS POSITIONS The Catholic University of America Assistant Professor, Department of Politics (2018 present) Fellow, Center for the Study of Statesmanship (2018 present) Belmont Abbey College Belmont, North Carolina Assistant Professor, Department of Government and Political Philosophy (2012 2018) Director, Thomas More Program on Statesmanship (2017 2018) Director, Minor in Pre-Law (2014 2017) Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky Visiting Assistant Professor of Honors Interdisciplinary Studies, The Honors College (2011 2012) PUBLICATIONS & CURRENT RESEARCH Dusk on the Potomac: The Demise of Republican Restraint in American Foreign Policy (Manuscript in Progress) Abstract: For much of its history, the sine qua non of American politics had been the dispersion and diffusion of power. Concentration was particularly to be feared, Americans thought, because it fostered a temptation to abuse that power at temptation from which the republics of history had been anything but immune. An American republicanism that emphasized restraint in its own institutions also seems to have counseled a restrained posture toward the rest of the world. Today, when that restraint no longer characterizes American foreign policy, a monograph exploring the nature and causes of this change is vitally important. Using materials from the colonial era, the founding era, the antebellum period, and the Progressive era, I argue that the sources of a more restrained American foreign policy are not only real, but for generations constituted the main stream of the American political tradition. A deviation from this tradition has exacted a high cost both domestically and abroad, with the result that American republicanism itself has been imperiled. The Great Un-Compromiser: The Surprising Logic of Henry Clay s Compromises (Manuscript in Progress) Abstract: In a time of great political polarization, a spirit of mutual concession and accommodation may be required to meet today s political challenges. Yet, surprisingly, this would not be the advice of the nineteenth century s Great Compromiser, Henry Clay of Kentucky. For four decades, the fledgling republic turned to him for solutions to some of its most vexing and seemingly intractable political problems. In the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1833 (resolving the Nullification Crisis), and the Compromise of 1850, Clay did very little to nudge disparate legislators into the same voting bloc. Empirical analysis of roll call votes from each episode demonstrates a complete lack of this sort of compromise. But the same analysis reveals something more: a common pattern among these episodes that tracks many features of the Revised 1-2019
Litke C.V. 2 arguments found in Federalist 10. Could it be that it was Clay s subtle mind, rather than his firm handshake and quick wit, that enabled America s greatest statesman to do his work? Or was Publius right about the way that the structure of the new Congress would enable it to overcome difficulties? After offering a fresh reading of Federalist 10, successive chapters use original SPSS data sets to analyze the three main compromises of Clay s career. A closing chapter reflects on the nature of political theory and practice in America for what can be learned by citizens and statesmen alike. Twilight of the Republic: Empire and Exceptionalism in the American Political Tradition (University Press of Kentucky, 2013) Reviews of Twilight: American Political Thought (Spring 2015): Twilight of the Republic certainly makes a rich and serious contribution to the relevant literature and should be read by anyone interested in the idea of exceptionalism and its development. Recommended. Choice (April 2014): A lively scholarly polemic; enthusiastically argued. Recommended. The Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept. 13, 2013): Offers a historical perspective on the idea of American exceptionalism and considers new ways forward for national identity. Varieties of American Exceptionalism: Why John Winthrop is No Imperialist. Journal of Church and State, (Spring 2012) 54(2): 197-213. A Little Place and a Big Idea: Republicanism and Imperialism in America. The Historical Mind: Confronting the Post-Democratic Age, edited by Ryan Holston and Justin Garrison. (forthcoming from State University of New York Press) Book Reviews: In Search of the City on a Hill: The Making and Unmaking of American Myth, by Richard M Gamble. Anamnesis, No. 4 (2015): 145-151. Russell Kirk: American Conservative, by Bradley J Birzer. Society Vol. 54: 299 302. EDUCATION Georgetown University Ph.D. in Government (with Distinction) 2010 Georgetown University M.A. in Government 2009 The Catholic University of America B.A. in Philosophy and Politics 2006 Minor in German Language and Literature Honors: Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude
Litke C.V. 3 COURSES TAUGHT Political Theory II (Graduate Seminar POL 652) The Greek Intellectual Tradition (Thomas More Program Freshman Seminar TM 101) Senior Seminar (Themes vary by year, but have included: Republicanism and Agrarianism; Democratic Theory; Interest and Self-Interest in the Western Canon (PO 450W) American Political Thought I & II (PO 361 & PO 362) Senior Theses, Director and Reader (multiple theses over multiple years) The American Congress (PO 331) Constitutional Law II: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (PO 310) Renaissance and Modern Political Thought (PO 212) Ancient and Medieval Political Thought (PO 211) The U.S. Constitution (PO 201) First Year Symposium (FS 101) This is an interdisciplinary core course that serves as an introduction to the liberal arts and involves intensive reading, writing, and peer collaboration. Introduction to Political Theory (PS 330; Western Kentucky University) Citizen and Self (HON 251; Western Kentucky University) This was an innovative, interdisciplinary, team taught core course I developed and executed with faculty in the Honors College. Introduction to Comparative Politics (PSC 1001; George Washington University) Philosophy of Natural Right and Natural Law (PHIL 333; The Catholic University of America) Major Issues of Western Political Thought I: Plato to Aquinas (PSC 2105; George Washington University) Introduction to Political Theory (POL 211; The Catholic University of America) SELECTED PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS A Little Place and a Big Idea: Republicanism and Imperialism in America (2017 APL Annual Conference) Publius was Right (and Henry Clay Does Not Matter: The Non-Compromise of 1833 (2016 MPSA Annual Conference) The Benedict Option and Violence (2016 APL Annual Conference) A Little Place and a Big Idea: Politics of Purpose and Scale in America (2014 FPR Conference Making a Home Fit for Humans: Localism beyond Food ) American Exceptionalism: What is it? Why does it matter? (2013 B.A.C. Faculty Lecture Series) Irrelevance: It s the New Relevance (Or At Least It Should Be) (2012 Inaugural Adron Doran Symposium on Higher Education, Morehead State University) Why John Winthrop is Not the Father of American Exceptionalism (2011 SPSA Annual Meeting)
Litke C.V. 4 American Exceptionalism as a Development in American History (2010 NHI Annual Academic Symposium) John Winthrop s City on a Hill as Exemplary Exceptionalism (2010 NEPSA Annual Meeting) Nature, Human Nature, and Political Theory: How Aristotle Helps to Clarify Rousseau (2009 NPSA Annual Meeting) The Paramount Importance of the Other : Catholic Political Theory and the Division of Labor (2007 NPSA Annual Meeting) FELLOWSHIPS, MEMBERSHIPS, GRANTS, AND AWARDS Fellow, Center for the Study of Statesmanship, 2018 present Research Support, Center for the Study of Statesmanship, Fall 2018 Faculty Book Subvention Grant, Belmont Abbey College, June 2013 Harold N. Glassman Dissertation Award Nominee, Department of Government, Georgetown University, 2012 (Awarded each year to the university s best dissertation) Faculty Professional Development Grant, Honors College at WKU, October 2011 Travel Grant, American Political Science Association, September 2011 Member, Academy of Philosophy and Letters, September 2010-present (Membership by nomination and election only) Distinction, Ph.D. Dissertation Defense, June 2010 Graduate Fellowship, Tocqueville Forum on the Roots of American Democracy, Georgetown University, Summer 2008; Spring 2009; Summer 2009; Fall 2009; Spring 2010 Midwestern Political Science Association, 2009-2017 Southern Political Science Association, 2009-2012 Richard M. Weaver Fellowship, 2006-2007 American Political Science Association, 2006-Present Graduate Teaching Assistantship, Department of Government, Georgetown University, 2006-2010 Phi Beta Kappa, 2006 Pi Gamma Mu, National Social Science Honors Society, 2006 Phi Sigma Tau, National Philosophy Honors Society, 2006 Pi Sigma Alpha, National Political Science Honors Society, 2005 Phi Eta Sigma, National Freshman Honors Society, 2003 COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE Director, Thomas More Program on Statesmanship, 2017-2018 Member At-Large, Academic Affairs Committee, 2017-2018
Chair, Division of Social Sciences, 2016-2017 Search Committee, Chair of the Department of Psychology, 2016-17 College Council, 2014-2017 Faculty Welfare Committee, 2014-2016 Search Committee, Assistant Professor of Economics, Spring 2016 Search Committee, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, 2014 Cuthbert Allen Lecture Committee, 2012-2016 B.A.C. First Year Symposium Steering Committee, 2012-2014, 2017-2018 Judicial Committee, 2012-2014 Litke C.V. 5 Co-Chair, Curricular Development Team for Humanities Interdisciplinary Core Course: Being Human, Western Kentucky University Honors College, 2011-2012 WKU Truman Scholarship Committee, 2011-2012 WKU Presidential Scholarship Award Committee, 2011-2012 WKU Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Senior Honors Thesis Committee, Reader (multiple students) Invited Lecture: Phronis, Phronesis, and Sophia: Learning, Developing, and Attaining the Best that a University Education Can Offer ; Phi Eta Sigma Induction Ceremony, Feb. 7, 2012, Western Kentucky University Table Leader, Distinct Dialogues What is Happiness? An Aristotelian Reflection This event is geared toward the greater Bowling Green Community, drawing together city leaders for a night of guided discussion. (Sponsored by the Honors College at WKU, Fall 2011) LANGUAGES German, Reading Knowledge Summer studies at the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Germany)