About the Department

Dennis F. Thompson is Professor of Government and the Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is also a professor of public policy in the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the founding Director of the University Center for Ethics and the Professions, (now the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics). He has served as Associate Provost and Senior Adviser to the President of the University. Thompson's most recent books are: Restoring Responsibility: Ethics in Government, Business, and Healthcare, Just Elections: Creating a Fair Electoral Process in the United States , and Why Deliberative Democracy? (with Amy Gutmann). His other books include: Democracy and Disagreement (with Amy Gutmann), The Democratic Citizen: Social Science and Democratic Theory in the 20th Century, John Stuart Mill and Representative Government, Ethics in Congress: From Individual to Institutional Corruption, and Political Ethics and Public Office, which won the American Political Science Association's Gladys M. Kammerer award for the best political science publication in the field of U.S. National policy in 1987. His articles have appeared in such journals as the American Political Science Review, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Political Theory, and Ethics. Professor Thompson's current teaching and research concentrate on democratic theory and political ethics.