Publius, Tocqueville, and Burke on Federalism, Democracy and Revolution: Lessons for Our Time
Examine political thinkers of the revolutionary age—and their reflections on the nature of democracy.

About the Event
Presented by Basic Program instructors and open to all, these lectures also complement the texts and ideas from our curriculum and always include a Q&A session.
In recent years, the way the United States chooses its chief executive has come under new scrutiny, the country seems more divided than ever, and on both sides of that division the integrity of our institutions has been questioned. What light do classical texts cast on such issues? This lecture returns to the political thinkers of the revolutionary age in which our national institutions were formed to critically consider their reflections on the nature of democracy, the federal character of government, and the dynamics of revolutionary movements in every age.
Who's Speaking

Joseph Alulis
Basic Program Instructor
Joe Alulis has a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago. He has published articles on Tocqueville, Lincoln, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, and the filmmaker Whit Stillman, and is co-editor of two collections of scholarly essays, Tocqueville’s Defense of Human Freedom (1993) and Shakespeare’s Political Pageant (1996). His most recent publication is “'To Make High Majesty Look Like Itself': Shakespeare’s Richard II and the Nature of the Good Regime” (2018). He has held appointments at three area colleges, Loyola University of Chicago, Lake Forest College, and North Park University, where he is currently professor of politics and government and chair of the department. At North Park, his teaching responsibilities include American foreign policy, international politics, and the politics of the Middle East. Alulis first taught for the Basic Program in 1982. His scholarly interests include political philosophy, American political thought, and the thought of Shakespeare, Tocqueville, Lincoln, Dostoevsky, and Saul Bellow. He began teaching the Basic Program in 1968, and has taught many alumni courses on Plato, Aristotle, political philosophy, the sciences, literature, and much else. He is the 2009 recipient of the Graham School's Excellence in Teaching Award for the Basic Program.