Notre Dame Graduate Conference in Political Theory and Constitutional Studies

We are pleased to announce that the second annual Notre Dame Graduate Conference in Political Theory and Constitutional Studies will take place from March 27th to 29th, 2025. The purpose of the conference is to gather and build community among PhD students in these fields from programs across the globe. Additionally, unlike larger academic conferences, selected presenters will receive individualized feedback on their papers from ND graduate students, who will serve as discussants, as well as from faculty.

We are accepting abstracts of 500-750 words on topics including but not limited to the following themes:

• Theories of the ancient and modern constitutional states

• Defenses and critiques of liberalism

• Humans, technology, and the environment

• Biblical political theory

• Women, family, and feminism in political thought

• Jurisprudence and philosophy of law

• The American founding and its legacy

• Literature and political theory

• Christian political thought

  
  With a particular interest in Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Machiavelli, Pascal, Rousseau, Tocqueville,

  Nietzsche, Marcuse, and Arendt.

  Submissions are due by January 1, 2025, at midnight EST. Applicants must be current PhD students or candidates. Applicants will be notified of their results in late January 2025. Admitted students are expected to submit a full paper of approximately 10,000 words two weeks before the conference.

  The conference will take place in person at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The conference will open with a reception on the evening of March 27th. Sessions will begin on the morning of March 28th and feature a keynote address by Professor Kinch Hoekstra from the University of California, Berkeley. The conference will conclude with a closing dinner that evening, and participants will depart on March 29th. Thanks to funding from the Raymond Biagini Endowment for Political Theory at Notre Dame and the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, we will provide full funding for all meals, transportation, and lodging, as well as a $250 honorarium for each participant.

  Please upload your submissions using this link: https://forms.gle/8bM24ZB5gwF4rKHH9 and email us with any questions at ptcsconference@nd.edu