Justin B. Litke earned the Ph.D. with distinction at Georgetown University, where he studied with the great George W. Carey. As an undergraduate at Catholic University, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Philosophy. His doctoral work explored the idea of American exceptionalism, arguing that its origin and significance are due to a series of intellectual changes in the course of American history. It became the basis for his book, Twilight of the Republic: Empire and Exceptionalism in the American Political Tradition (2013). His writing has also appeared in Society, Anamnesis, The Journal of Church and State, and at The American Conservative online.
Dr. Litke’s work centers on the transmission of political traditions through time, especially focusing on the intersection of political theory and practical politics. He is currently at work on a manuscript that argues for the deep connection between the American republican tradition and a restrained foreign policy. Another manuscript on American statesman Henry Clay is also in the works.
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Publications
“A Little Place and a Big Idea: The Temptation to Imperialism and the Loss of Republicanism,” in Justin Garrison and Ryan Holston, eds., The Historical Mind (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2020.