ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

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Monographs

The Polycentric Republic: A Theory of Civil Order for Free and Diverse Societies

Routledge, 2025

Winner of the 2025 Open Reason Award conferred by the Joseph Ratzinger Foundation & Univ. Francisco de Vitoria

"The Polycentric Republic reanimates a fine tradition of theorizing about the possibility of a non-sovereign, pluralist political order. In reviving the critique of sovereignty and articulating a promising alternative to the sovereign State, Thunder artfully synthesises insights from contemporary social science with a neo-Aristotelian account of human flourishing that draws sustenance from the ground-breaking work of Alasdair MacIntyre. This book is a “must read” for anyone looking for a hopeful alternative to the political status quo in our time of growing political troubles.”

Kelvin Knight, Reader in Ethics and Politics at London Metropolitan University, author of Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre (Polity, 2007)

"This book is a methodical effort to articulate an alternative governance doctrine, based both on contemporary developments in political philosophy, and on insights from the new institutionalist revolution which has taken place in the second half of the 20th century. It is not only a work of intellectual synthesis but also a work of theoretical and institutional imagination. Moreover, it is a real contribution to the applied-level efforts to respond to the acute crisis of governance afflicting 21st century societies."

Paul Dragos Aligica, Senior Research Fellow in the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at George Mason University, author of Institutional Diversity and Political Economy: The Ostroms and Beyond (Oxford University Press 2014).

"This very original work pushes back against the centralized state, relocating the political in many diverse communities which together give order to a composite, bottom-up republic. Thunder seeks to rethink civil order in ways that better accommodate the goods of community life, and develops stunningly new ways of thinking about the virtues of a polycentric political system. This work is not easily captured by convenient ideological notions such as “left” and “right”. Both sides will be challenged and have much to consider."

Douglas den Uyl, Vice President Emeritus and Benjamin A. Rogge Resident Scholar, Liberty Fund Inc. & co-author of Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non-Perfectionist Politics (Pennslyavania State University Press, 2005)


Citizenship and the Pursuit of the Worthy Life

Cambridge University Press, 2014

“Thunder makes the most detailed and powerful case anyone has yet made…that we should give our deepest ethical commitments full play in what we do as citizens. Not only does personal ethical integrity require it; liberal democracy is in danger if citizens wall off the role of citizen from the norms and values that make for a worthy human life. Citizenship and the Pursuit of the Worthy Life is the ‘against the grain’ book that those of us who do not buy the separationist thesis have long been looking for.”

Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University

"Thunder's account of the role of citizenship in a worthy life is a broadly attractive one, and he defends it quite ably in his penultimate chapter against six important objections to his integrationist thesis. He writes, moreover, with clarity and grace."

Richard Dagger, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Politics, Economics and Law, University of Richmond.

"David Thunder makes an excellent case for the wholeness of citizenship, in which the best citizen and the best person come together. His analysis is useful whether one agrees or not and is stated so agreeably that all can admire its clarity and persuasiveness."

Harvey C. Mansfield, Harvard University, and Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Edited Volumes

Polycentric Governance and the Good Society: A Normative and Philosophical Investigation

Lexington Books, 2024

Co-edited with Pablo paniagua

“This is a unique contribution that brings together both the practical and the ethical case for polycentric governance. It offers an inspiring ethical vision of polycentricity as a philosophy for life in diverse and complex societies.”

Mark Pennington, Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy, King’s College London

"Elinor and Vincent Ostrom launched the study of polycentric systems, which has gained momentum in the last decade as an alternative framework to think about social orders. Pablo Paniagua and David Thunder pursue Ostrom’s agenda and put together a collection of essays from diverse disciplines that might become a fundamental contribution to reimagining the state through the lenses of polycentric governance."

Mario I. Juarez-Garcia, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Political Economy, Tulane University

"Polycentric governance goes beyond federalism and separation of powers to fully embrace both the full diversity of human aspirations and the highly complex array of overlapping authorities and informal institutions required to encompass and nurture that diversity. Contributors broaden their horizon to consider normative efforts to reconcile plural visions of human flourishing with general principles of justice and social order, and to ensure the ‘intelligibility’ of overlapping conceptions of law. Personally, I was most enamored with the concept of ‘non-territorial polycentricity’, but I’m sure all readers will encounter ideas sure to receive careful attention in future works on complex governance."

Michael McGinnis, Senior Research Fellow and former director, Ostrom Workshop, and Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Indiana University, Bloomington

The Ethics of Citizenship in the 21st Century

Springer, 2017

This collection of essays offers thoughtful discussions of major challenges confronting the theory and practice of citizenship in a globalized, socially fragmented, and multicultural world. The traditional concept of citizenship as a shared ethnic, religious, and/or cultural identity has limited relevance in a multicultural world, and even the connection between citizenship and national belonging has been put in jeopardy by increasing levels of international migration and mobility, not to mention the pervasive influence of a global economy and mass media, whose symbols and values cut across national boundaries.


Issues addressed include the ethical and practical value of patriotism in a globalized world, the standing of conscience claims in a morally diverse society, the problem of citizen complicity in national and global injustice, and the prospects for a principled acceptance by practising Muslims of a liberal constitutional order.


In spite of the impressive diversity of philosophical traditions represented in this collection, including liberalism, pragmatism, Confucianism, Platonism, Thomism, and Islam, all of the volume’s contributors would agree that the crisis of modern citizenship is a crisis of the ethical values that give shape, form, and meaning to modern social life. This is one of the few edited volumes of its kind to combine penetrating ethical discussion with an impressive breadth of philosophical traditions and approaches.

Journal Articles

“How the Attempt to Cleanse Public Discourse of 'Misinformation' Undermines Science and Rational Inquiry”

Kritische Gesellschaftsforschung

Issue 2 (2023)

“Moral Parochialism and the Limits of Impartiality”

The Heythrop Journal

Vol. 61 (2020)

“Can a Good Person Be a Good Trader? An Ethical Defense of Financial Trading”

Journal of Business Ethics

Vol. 159/1 (2019)

“The Public Role of Humanities Scholarship, in the Humboldtian Tradition”

Univ of Toronto Quarterly

Vol. 85/4 (2016)

“Rethinking the Ethics of Giving: The Normative and Motivational Inadequacy of Resource Management Approaches to Beneficence”

Journal of Social Philosophy

Vol. 46/3 (2015)

“Why Respect for Freedom Cannot Explain the Content and Grounds of Human Rights: A Response to Valentini"

Political Theory

Vol. 42/4 (2014)

“The Limits of Finnis’s Nontheistic Account of Human Dignity and Rights"

Jurisprudence

Vol. 3/1 (2012)

“Am I My Brother’s Keeper? Grounding and Motivating an Ethos of Social Responsibility in a Free Society"

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy

Vol. 12/4 (2009)

“Why Value Pluralism Does Not Support the State’s Enforcement of Liberal Autonomy: A Response to Crowder"

Political Theory

Vol. 37/1 (2009)

“A Rawlsian Argument Against the Duty of Civility"

American Journal of Political Science

Vol. 50/3 (2006)

“Can a Good Person Be a Lawyer?”

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

Vol. 20/1 (2006)

Book Chapters

“An Ethical Case for Bottom-Up, Polycentric Governance in a Complex Society"

2024

In Polycentric Governance and the Good Society: A Normative and Philosophical Investigation. Co-edited by David Thunder and Pablo Paniagua (Lexington Books), pp. 19-39

“Associational Life and Liberty: A Critical Interpretation of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America"

2024

In Culture, Secularisation and Democracy: Lessons from Alexis de Tocqueville. Edited by Hans-Martien ten Napel and Sophie van Bijsterveld (Routledge), pp. 52-69

“Imagining a Post-Sovereign Polity as a Realistic Utopia"

2024

In Rethinking Democracy for Post-Utopian Worlds. Alternative Political Projects After the Sovereign State. Edited by Julia Urabayen and Jorge León Casero (Springer), pp. 209-222

“The ‘Neighbourhood as a Pivotal Element of the Infrastructure of a Flourishing Society"

2022

 In Happiness and Domestic Life: The Influence of the Home on Subjective and Social Wellbeing (New York: Routledge). Co-authored with Ana Cecilia Serrano-Núñez.

“Overcoming the Myth of the Sovereign, Self-Governing People"

2022

In Engaging Authority: Citizenship and Political Community, ed. Trevor Stack & Rose Luminiello. (London: Rowman & Littlefield International, 2022). pp. 125-146.

“From Polis to Metropolis: On the Limits of Classical Approaches to Governance in a Fragmented Social Landscape"

2019

In Disciplines of the City: New Forms of Governance in Today’s Postmetropolises, ed. Julia Urabayen & Jorge León Casero (New York: Nova Science Publishers), pp. 3-31.

“The Place of Conscience-Based Exemptions in the Struggle Against Injustice"

2019

In Contemporary Challenges to Conscience: Legal & Ethical Frameworks for Professional Conduct, ed. A. Stepkowski (Peter Lang), pp. 41-56.

“What is the Use of an Ethical Theory of Citizenship?” & “An Ethical Defense of Citizenship"

2017

In The Ethics of Citizenship in the 21st Century, ed. D. Thunder (Springer)

“Managing the Social and Moral Costs of a Culture of Choice"

2015

In Margaret S. Archer sobre Cultura y Socialización en la Modernidad Tardía [Margaret S. Archer on Culture and Socialization in Late Modernity], ed. Ana Marta González (Eunsa), pp. 127-150

“Public Reason and Abortion Revisited"

2011

In Persons, Moral Worth, and Embryos: A Critical Analysis of Pro-Choice Arguments, ed. Stephen Napier (Springer), pp. 239-254

“Can the Political Priority of Liberty be Squared with the Ethical Priority of Flourishing?”

2008

In Reading Rasmussen and Den Uyl: Critical Essays on Norms of Liberty, ed. Aeon J. Skoble (Lexington Books), pp. 27-39

Book Translation

Fulvio de Blasi, God and the Natural Law: A Rereading of Thomas Aquinas. Translated (from Italian) by David Thunder. St. Augustine Press.

2006

Book Reviews & Essays

Review of Yash Mounk, The Age of Responsibility: Luck, Choice, and the Welfare State (Harvard University Press, 2017)

American Political Thought

Vol. 8/1 (2019): 166-169

Review of Ralph Ketcham, Public-Spirited Citizenship: Leadership and Good Government in the United States (2015)

American Political Thought

Vol. 8/1 (2019): 166-169

Review of George Rupp's Beyond Individualism: The Challenge of Inclusive Communities (2015)

The Review of Politics

Vol. 78/3 (2016): 491-493

Review of Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing by Archer M. Melzer (Chicago University Press, 2014)

Perspectives in Politics

Vol. 13/3 (2015): 847-848

Review Essay: Love and Friendship: Rethinking Politics and Affection in Modern Times (Lexington Books, 2003) by Eduardo Velásquez

Interpretation

Vol. 35/1 (2007): 95-101

"The Flattening of Time": Review of Modern Social Imaginaries (Duke University Press, 2004) by Charles Taylor

The Review of Politics

Vol. 66/3 (2004): 145-147

Relative Justifications: Review of Graham Long’s Relativism and the Foundations of Liberalism (2004) and Gerald Gaus’s Contemporary Theories of Liberalism (2003)

The Review of Politics

Vol. 67/4 (2005): 775-778

Back to Basics: Twelve Rules for Writing a Publishable Article

PS: Political Science and Politics

Vol. 37/3 (2004): 493-495