Rate My Professor Steve Johnston

Steven Johnston is a Professor and the holder of the Neal A. Maxwell Endowed Presidential Chair in Political Theory, Public Policy, and Public Service in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah. He earned his PhD in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1993. Johnston's research specializations lie in democratic theory, contemporary political theory, modern political theory, the politics of film, patriotism, tragedy, monuments and memorials, violence, and political violence and terrorism. He is also affiliated with the International Studies program, focusing on violence, tragedy, and politics.

Johnston has authored five monographs published by leading academic presses: Encountering Tragedy: Rousseau and the Project of Democratic Order (Cornell University Press, 1999), The Truth about Patriotism (Duke University Press, 2007), American Dionysia: Violence, Tragedy, and Democratic Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Lincoln: The Ambiguous Icon (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), and Wonder and Cruelty: Ontological War in "It's a Wonderful Life" (Lexington Books, 2019). His numerous peer-reviewed articles appear in journals such as Political Theory, Theory & Event, Contemporary Political Theory, and Political Research Quarterly. Notable publications include "Lincoln's Decisionism and the Politics of Elimination" (Political Theory, 2017), "Animals in War: Commemoration, Patriotism, Death" (Political Research Quarterly, 2012), "Must We Always Mourn? A War on Terror Veterans Memorial" (2019), and "John Ford's Legendary Western Ambiguity and White Settler Colonialism" (2023). Johnston serves on the editorial board of Theory & Event and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in modern and contemporary political theory, globalization and international politics, democratic theory, and politics and literature.