The Association for the History of Political Thought will host its second biennial conference at Duke University on February 27-28, 2026.  The theme and description of the conference are below.  If selected, participants would be expected to write and present a 5000-6000-word paper on the topic of the conference.  We also expect to publish the proceedings of the conference as part of our series with SUNY Press, New Perspectives on the History of Political Thought.  (The first volume will be published early in 2026 based on papers from the 2024 conference, "Democracy and Its Pathologies").

Please submit your abstract through this link by March 15, 2025.  Acceptances and rejections will be sent out in April, 2025.

AHPT Conference at Duke University

Feb. 27-28, 2026

Theme: "Political Failure: Faction, Hyperpartisanship, and Civil War"

Our time has witnessed increasing, considerable polarization in politics.  Some pundits fear a new Civil War in the U.S., while others worry about the consequences of factional politics on the stability of the regime and the consistent execution of the rule of law.  Conference papers may examine the origins and causes of faction in politics, or the causes of the expansion of factionalization into civil war, through an examination of the works of the history of political thought.  Papers may examine the main remedies for factions discussed by the political theorists living during contentious periods.  More generally, papers may examine conflict, group formation and struggle, leadership in times of crisis, or any topic related to the dissolution of community.