Mike Hawley

Michael Hawley is a political theorist specializing in the history of political thought. Prior to his post at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, he taught at the University of Huston, University of Notre Dame, Bowdoin College, and Duke University.

His first book, Natural Law Republicanism: Cicero’s Liberal Legacy, examines the way in which the ideas of Cicero shaped the development of early modern liberalism and the American founding. In particular, the book explores the process by which universalist liberal theories of justice were reconciled with voluntaristic commitments to popular sovereignty.

His next book project explores the theory and ethics of political rhetoric that aims to mobilize rather than persuade an audience. In addition, he has research interests in political theology, Islamic political philosophy, and contemporary just war theory. 

His articles have appeared or are forthcoming in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Polis, History of European Ideas, the Journal of Military Ethics, and the European Journal of Political Theory, among others.