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“I’m gonna tell you everything you need to know about…local government. ‘Life, Liberty, and Property.’ John Locke.” —Ron Swanson, Parks and Recreation Though not necessarily the most reliable narrator—at the very least, not the most ideologically neutral one—Ron Swanson does capture Locke’s uniquely central place in American culture and the American political imagination today. His […]

So much of political discourse in the United States focuses on two-, four-, and six-year election cycles. Yet, so much of politics happens outside of them. As a way to both broaden and refine the conception of political time, University of Cambridge Paul Mellon Professor of American History Gary Gerstle, the Kinder Institute’s 2023 James […]

There are any number of contradictions that can trace their roots back to the Espionage Act. It’s the final legal backstop propping up America’s secrecy regime, yet it’s repeatedly been at the center of the crises of legitimacy this regime has faced over time (for recent examples, see: Trump/Mar-a-Lago, Biden/Garage, Clinton/Server). In the 21st century […]

As an undergraduate, Paul Odu did more or less everything that the Kinder Institute offers Mizzou students. He was in the Society of Fellows and wrote for the Journal on Constitutional Democracy; he studied in D.C. as a member of the Kinder Scholars Program and at Corpus Christi College as our 2021-22 Oxford Fellow; he […]

Views on the history of the American West have shifted drastically, and importantly, in recent decades. What was once a celebration of destiny manifested has become an indictment of ruthless expansion. The language of social progress, political democracy, and economic development has been replaced by ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism, and genocide. Brutal fact, in other […]

It’s with great pleasure that we get to announce that Sam Franks, an inaugural member of the Society of Fellows, Kinder Scholars D.C. Summer Program, and Kinder Institute Alumni Council, and a graduate of University of Michigan Law School, was one of 14 graduate students and early-career professional practitioners chosen to take part in the […]