An American Political Theorist between History and Utopia

Abstract

Danielle Allen is known for refashioning diverse traditions, texts, and histories in the service of improving American political life. From ancient Greek to American to Black to contemporary thought, from social science to educational policy, even to public health, Allen has developed an oeuvre greater than the sum of its parts. Allen’s touchstone is democracy—its justice, along with its practical advantages as a regime. This focus on democracy is timely, immediately, because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an irredentist, Eurasianist assault on the liberal democratic international order, but also, more broadly, because of democracy’s retreat across the globe. Is democracy the best regime for addressing crises such as COVID-19 or climate change, or should we turn to strongmen and authoritarians? Political scientists have recently been tempted to raise this question, just as they were once tempted, in the 1930s, to wonder whether American democracy could improve its efficiency and discipline via fascist Germany’s example. Danielle Allen leads our efforts to explain why this temptation is a delusion, why, at its best, democracy is both prudentially and morally superior to hierarchical, nondemocratic regimes. Allen’s work contributes to American democracy by newly articulating the regime’s highest ambitions, capacities, and promise.