September 19, 2011

The University of Chicago Press, the University of Notre Dame’s Program in Constitutional Studies, and the Jack Miller Center are pleased to announce the launch of the only peer-reviewed academic journal exclusively devoted to the study of American political thought.

American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions, and Culture is now accepting submissions and will publish its inaugural issue in spring 2012. For subscription information and complete submission guidelines, go the journal’s homepage, www.journals.uchicago.edu/APT.

The new journal will feature research by political scientists, historians, literary scholars, economists, and philosophers who study the texts, authors, and ideas at the foundation of the American political tradition. Research will explore key political concepts such as democracy, constitutionalism, equality, liberty, citizenship, political identity, and the role of the state.

Professor Michael Zuckert, director of Notre Dame’s Program in Constitutional Studies, will serve as the journal’s first editor.

“Our goal is to create the essential and defining journal for the field,” Dr. Zuckert said. “It will be a forum for analysis as well as critique of American political thinking from multiple disciplines and perspectives.”

“The new journal will be a natural complement to the new related group within the American Political Science Association dedicated to American political thought,” said Dr. Rafael Major, director of faculty development at the Jack Miller Center, a national nonprofit, nonpartisan education foundation. “Both new endeavors have already generated a strong response from both junior and senior scholars seeking an outlet for their research.”

“We’re very pleased to add American Political Thought to our roster,” said Everett Conner, manager of the University of Chicago Press Journals Division. “It will not only be a fine complement to our history and law titles, but also open new ground for the Press in serving scholars of American politics.”

APT will publish twice a year in print and online, and will include book reviews along with major articles accepted through a double blind peer-review process.

The journal is now accepting submissions on all areas of relevance including:

• Description, justification, and criticism of the institutions of constitutional democracy in the United States.
• The plurality of first principles called upon to ground these institutions and to orient political action.
• The mentality of the American people, either taken as a whole or as members of various subcultures within the polity.
• Political literature, which has sought to bring political principles to full, imaginative life.
• The ideas around which have been built the platforms of the various political parties in American political history and around which coalesce partisan coalitions today.
• The character of the United States as it presents itself on the world stage and thus in the eyes of those who live abroad.

To submit a manuscript for consideration, please send an electronic file (formatted in Microsoft Word) via the American Political Thought online submission system at: http://apt.edmgr.com/. For more information on the submission process, please visit www.journals.uchicago.edu/apt.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS JOURNALS: Founded in 1891, the University of Chicago Press was conceived by President William Rainey Harper as an organic part of the University, extending the influence of Chicago scholars around the globe. Within ten years, the Press had introduced fourteen scholarly journals (including American Journal of Sociology, The Elementary School Journal, The Journal of Geology, International Journal of Plant Sciences, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, and Journal of Political Economy - all remain in wide circulation). Today, the Journals Division of the Press distributes more than 50 journals and hardcover serials, presenting original research from international scholars in the social sciences, humanities, education, biological and medical sciences, and physical sciences.

ABOUT NOTRE DAME’S PROGRAM IN CONSTITUTIONAL STUDIES: The Program in Constitutional Studies is a multi-layered program devoted to the teaching and study of constitutionalism from American and comparative perspectives. It serves as an umbrella for several initiatives in the Department of Political Science at Notre Dame, including the Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion in American Public Life, the Potenziani Program in Constitutional Studies, and the Jack Miller initiative for the study of America’s founding principles and history. The Constitutional Studies program supports graduate students and an undergraduate minor.

ABOUT THE JACK MILLER CENTER: The Jack Miller Center (JMC) is a national nonprofit, public educational foundation with headquarters in Philadelphia. Its mission is to help develop and support young scholars in American history and political science who are committed to a career teaching college students about America’s Founding Principles and history. The JMC has 462 faculty partners on 179 campuses across the United States, and supports academic centers of excellence on 44 campuses, including many Ivy League Institutions, flagship state universities and leading liberal arts colleges. For more information, visit http://www.jackmillercenter.org/.