Posted August 30, 2002

For over a century academics have tried to understand politics as a science, as in political science. For over twenty years the Claremont Institute has tried to explain to these so-called political scientists that this most serious matter of politics requires far different means of study than the methods establishment political "science" uses.

The Claremont Institute has insisted on studying politics in the tradition of the heights of political philosophy and statesmanship. This means rigorous examination of the deepest thinkers on politics, from Plato and Aristotle through Leo Strauss, as well as sober examination of the strategies of America's enemies abroad, from the American Revolution through the so-called "war against terrorism."

We study the latest election results, analyze court cases, and examine the most influential recent books on politics.
Moreover, the discussions we sponsor always remind our audiences of the significance of American founding principles and the need to apply them to make sense of what is happening in the world today. The statesmanship of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln is worthy of not just patriotic emulation but of philosophic contemplation as well. Our presentations challenge the implicit (and often enough explicit) progressive or leftist assumptions that too much of the academy has absorbed. Above all, we are not afraid to make our panels a scene of controversy, where sharp differences of principle emerge and minds are clarified.

Having been persuasive, our panels are among the most heavily attended of the four-day annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, which was founded 99 years ago. The Claremont Institute is sponsoring 15 panels at this year's meeting in Boston, August 28-September 1. Among these participants are prominent academics and authors such as Eloise Anderson, Joseph Bottum, Angelo Codevilla, Francis Fukuyama, Philip Hamburger, William Kristol, Mackubin Owens, Thomas G. West, and James Q. Wilson. They are joined by a diverse array of other scholars, established and junior. Topics include the Founders' view of religion and politics, the war, bioethics, property rights, military academies and American foreign policy, heroism and the American political tradition, and the American family. Institute panels are frequently covered by C-SPAN, as was author Shelby Steele, at last year's convention, and columnist George Will, two years ago.

The Claremont Institute's successful panels, with their popularity, have led to the addition to more panels from the APSA and other panel sponsors on the serious study of political philosophy and politics. Our influence is thus felt not merely on our own panels but throughout the annual meeting. Thus our scholarship enriches the professional lives of those who study and teach politics in our universities, conduct research in our think tanks, and turn theory into practice in our government.