Jeffrey Isaac

Jeffrey C. Isaac is the James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science at Indiana University Bloomington, where he has taught since 1987. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in 1983 under Robert A. Dahl, an M.A. from Yale in 1980, and a B.A. summa cum laude from Queens College, CUNY in 1979 as valedictorian. Isaac began his career as Instructor and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Fordham University from 1983 to 1987. At Indiana University, he advanced from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor in 1994, Professor in 1999, and Rudy Professor since 1999, while serving as Department Chair from 2003 to 2009 and holding adjunct appointments in Philosophy and Jewish Studies.

Isaac's research focuses on political theory, including the political thought of Hannah Arendt and Albert Camus, power, democracy, civil society, Marxism, liberalism, and the politics of dissent. He has authored five books—Power and Marxist Theory: A Realist View (Cornell University Press, 1987), Arendt, Camus and Modern Rebellion (Yale University Press, 1992), Democracy in Dark Times (Cornell University Press, 1998), The Poverty of Progressivism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), and #AgainstTrump: Notes from Year One (OR Books, 2018)—and edited America Through European Eyes (co-edited, Penn State University Press, 2009) and a new edition of The Communist Manifesto (Yale University Press, 2012). With over 75 articles in journals such as American Political Science Review, Political Theory, and Social Research, his scholarship has shaped debates on realism, rebellion, and democratic theory. As Editor-in-Chief of Perspectives on Politics from 2009 to 2017, he received the American Political Science Association's 2017 Frank J. Goodnow Award for Distinguished Service, along with honors including a Doctoris Honoris Causa from Romania's SNSPA (2018), NEH Summer Fellowship (1990), and Indiana University Outstanding Young Faculty Award (1990). Isaac contributes as a Contributing Editor to Public Seminar and Dissent, and serves on the IU Sweatshop Advisory Committee and Bloomington's Safe and Civil City Program Advisory Board.

Professional Email: isaac@iu.edu