A.B., Princeton; Ph.D., Harvard

(207) 872-3681

Office: Miller 259

Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-4 and by appointment

I have been teaching political theory and American constitutional law at Colby since the fall of 1996.  I have wide-ranging professional interests in political theory, moral philosophy, jurisprudence, and American constitutional law. I am currently at work on a book that aims to develop a Rousseauian political theory, building upon those elements of Rousseau's political philosophy that are most profound, while discarding those that have been refuted by subsequent argument and experience. My first book, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: A Friend of Virtue (Cornell University Press, 2003), examines Rousseau's arguments for the importance of virtue in politics and explains his efforts to impart that virtue to his readers and thereby lay the foundation for a healthier, more democratic society.  

Some of my recent papers include:

"Just War Theory: A Critique and Reformulation," co-authored with J. Samuel Barkin.  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.  September, 2005.

"A Rousseauian Perspective on Partisanship." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the New England Political Science Association.  May, 2005.

"The Obsolescence of Just War Theory," co-authored with J. Samuel Barkin. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.  September, 2004. 

"The New Natural Law Theory of John Finnis" in Christopher Wolfe and John Hittinger, eds.  Liberalism at the Crossroads:  An Introduction to Contemporary Liberal Theory and Its Critics, 2nd ed.  (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003).

"Xenophon on Moral Education and Moral Corruption." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.  August, 2003.

"Popular Sovereignty and Constitutionalism: The Exclusivity of Article V Reconsidered." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.  September, 2002.

"Authenticity, Justice, and Virtue in Taylor and Rousseau." Polity (Winter 2001)

My wife, Susan Maxwell Reisert, is an ordained minister in the Congregational church (the United Church of Christ); she is also a Colby graduate, Class of 1986.  We have two children, Margaret and John.
 

Course Information and Syllabi:

• Government 313 — Constitutional Law I: Federalism
• Government 475 — Law, Liberty, and Morality

• Government 171 — Introduction to Political Theory (Spring 2005)
  
• Government 271 — Classical Political Theory (Spring 2005)
  
• Government 272 — Modern Political Theory (Spring 2003)
  
• Government 314 — Constitutional Law II: Individual Rights (Spring 2004)
• Government 326L — Individual Rights in the US and the UK (CBB London, Fall 2004)
• Government 327L — Shakespeare's Politics (CBB London, Fall 2004)
  
• Government 474 — Plato and Rousseau (Fall 2003)