Dr. Alexander Livingston

Biography

Alexander Livingston is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University and serves as the Associate Director of the Society for the Humanities. He specializes in Political Theory, focusing primarily on American and African-American political thought, democratic theory, civil disobedience, social movements, religion, and politics. He has published two books: 'James Tully: Think Act Differently' (Routledge, 2022) and 'Damn Great Empires! William James Politics Pragmatism' (Oxford University Press, 2016), which critically examines the work of pragmatist philosopher William James. His research has appeared in various esteemed journals, including the American Political Science Review and Political Theory, as well as edited volumes such as 'The Research Handbook on Liberalism' and the 'Cambridge Companion to Civil Disobedience'. Prior to his appointment at Cornell, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and is actively engaged in exploring themes of nonviolence and strategy in political thought, with ongoing projects that contribute to the understanding of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas K. Gandhi.

Research Interests