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In Designing a Polity, James W. Ceaser, one of our leading scholars of American political development, argues for the continuing central role of the Founding within the study of American government. Drawing on essays published over the past 10 years, extensively updated and revised to reflect current politics, Ceaser engages the Founding Fathers, particularly James Madison, emphasizes Alexis de Tocqueville as a model of political inquiry, critiques current and recent theorists such as Richard Rorty and Jacques Derrida, and explores the varieties of contemporary conservative thought. Designing a Polity offers a rich exploration of the core values of political sciences that will be of special interest to scholars and students of American political development, Constitutional thought, and contemporary political thought.

Chapter 1 Section I: Political Foundations
<br>Chapter 2 Chapter 1: The Doctrine of Political Nonfoundationalism
<br>Chapter 3 Chapter 2: The Two-Founding Thesis: Political Foundations in Tocqueville's Democracy in America
<br>Chapter 4 Chapter 3: American Political Foundations in the Thought of Leo Strauss
<br>Chapter 5 Section II: The Founders, Constitutional Design, and the Role of Political Science
<br>Chapter 6 Chapter 4: Fame and The Federalist: The American Founders and the Recovery of Political Science
<br>Chapter 7 Chapter 5: Demagoguery, Statesmanship, and Presidential Politics
<br>Chapter 8 Chapter 6: Doctrines of Presidential-Congressional Relations
<br>Chapter 9 Section III. Modern Conservatism
<br>Chapter 10 Chapter 7: Four Heads and One Heart: The Modern Conservative Movement
<br>Chapter 11 Chapter 8: The Social Construction of the Reagan Legacy
<br>Chapter 12 Section IV. The American Way of Life
<br>Chapter 13 Chapter 9: The Theoretical Origins of Anti-Americanism

<span><span><span>James W. Ceaser</span><span> is professor of politics at the University of Virginia and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and member of the Boyd and Jill Task Force on Virtues of a Free Society.</span></span></span>

<span><span><span>A </span><span>Choice</span><span> Outstanding Academic Title for 2011</span></span><br><span></span></span>