Aristotle
Engage in close study of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Politics.
July 12 – August 14, 2021
Washington, DC
If you could study with some of the world’s top thinkers on some of the world’s most important topics – war and grand strategy, economic policy, or political thought and philosophy – which would you choose?
This year, the Hertog Foundation is offering a suite of online and in-person programs. Our residential Political Studies Program brings together top college students to the nation’s capital to explore the theory and practice of politics in an intensive seminar setting with outstanding faculty. Our virtual Summer Courses offer the same high-quality instruction and seminar experience, but with the flexibility and convenience of online education. Register for an open house and learn more.
COVID-19. We are monitoring communication from the CDC, NIH, and in coordination with our residential and classroom partners. Above all, the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff are our highest priority. We currently anticipate that the Political Studies Program will take place as scheduled and are planning with public health protocols in mind. Learn more about our plans for an in-person program and required public health measures. Depending on your personal circumstances, an in-person program might not be appropriate; consider our virtual Summer Courses instead.
Original card image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
Watch this video to learn more
Summer Residential Program / $2,500 Stipend + Housing
This highly competitive residential fellowship spans five weeks. A mandatory quarantine period with virtual activities is required for all fellows. Fellows will take morning and afternoon seminars on a wide variety of subjects, from political philosophy to economics, and foreign policy. Up to 18 fellows will be selected.
Online Seminars / Course Materials + Stipend
Our virtual Summer Courses comprise a series of seminar sessions over one week or a series of weeks. The one-week sessions offer an intensive course of study on a political text or theme. The weekly sessions allow for deeper reflection between seminars and tackle larger works and topics. Choose the seminar that best fits your interests and schedule. Up to 150 fellows will be selected.
Students may apply simultaneously to both the Hertog Political Studies Program and to specific Hertog Summer Courses. Only one application is necessary to apply to any of our programs.
Applicants will be accepted on a rolling basis. Applicants may apply by our early deadline on Friday, February 19 to receive notification by March 15. The final deadline is Monday, March 15, 2021.
Any college or university undergraduate, or very recent graduate (2020 or 2021) not already pursuing an advanced degree, may apply.
Admission is extremely competitive, and every year we decline admission to many highly qualified applicants simply due to lack of space. A typical competitive applicant will have:
Describe the political questions you find most interesting, your future ambitions, and how these relate to your preferred program(s). (1,000 words or less)
Unofficial
20 pages maximum; double-spaced
Nonresident Fellow, Atlantic Council
Office of Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Presidential Management Fellow, U.S. Department of State
Yale University
Meredith Potter participated in the Political Studies Program the same year she graduated from Yale University. After the Political Studies Program, she began a career as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State with postings abroad and at the United Nations. She served as Director of Research & Policy for Dr. Henry Kissinger, working with him on issues of national security and diplomacy.
From one of my professors, John Gaddis, who teaches courses on Cold War history and Grand Strategy. He nominated me for the program. I think he was impressed by the extent to which the Political Studies syllabus mirrored our Grand Strategy one—both seek to connect seminal texts to modern strategy-making.
I’ve always believed history explains much of the modern political landscape. I knew studying Aristotle, Machiavelli, and, in particular, the American Founders could impart important lessons about the timeless characteristics of politics. Plus, Hertog helps connect the dots, with the last few weeks of Political Studies focusing on modernity. Taking the course on Iranian nuclear proliferation [taught by Hudson Institute expert Michael Doran] was immediately relevant. That Hertog allows you grapple with both of those concepts—Aristotelian thought and Iran—is both interesting and useful.
On one hand, Political Studies is very much like college—sometimes you learn the most in late-night conversations with your peers. The collective social experience of getting to know 35 other people who want to talk about political philosophy—even at 2 in the morning—was fun.
On the other hand, Hertog brings together people with diverse backgrounds and experiences. The folks who challenged my assumptions aided my own intellectual development. And as someone who stayed in DC for a while—where so many Political Studies alumni end up—I’m thankful for my Hertog friends.
Yes. The people I’ve worked with have also studied the classics. The books encourage 30,000-foot strategic thinking about the big picture. What’s the root cause? What’s the end goal?
That’s a powerful framework for a modern bureaucrat. It’s easy to focus on responding to crises. It’s harder to think from 30,000 feet but it’s critical.
I think I’ll likely work for the government again. Beyond that, I don’t know. Some of the best public servants this country’s ever had were flexible. They seized opportunities as they arose. I can’t say exactly what job I’ll have, but I do hope it’s in public service.
Meredith Potter participated in the Political Studies Program the same year she graduated from Yale University. After the Political Studies Program, she began a career as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State with postings abroad and at the United Nations. She served as Director of Research & Policy for Dr. Henry Kissinger, working with him on issues of national security and diplomacy.
“I’ve always believed history explains much of the modern political landscape. I knew studying Aristotle, Machiavelli, and, in particular, the American Founders could impart important lessons about the timeless characteristics of politics.”
Robert C. Bartlett
Robert C. Bartlett is the Behrakis Professor of Hellenic Political Studies at Boston College. His principal area of research is classical political philosophy, with particular attention to the thinkers of ancient Hellas, including Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle. He is the co-translator of a new edition of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.
Antón Barba-Kay
Antón Barba-Kay is Associate Professor of Philosophy in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is finishing a book on the political philosophy of the internet, which he began while a Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University.
Darren Staloff
Darren Staloff is Professor of History at the City College of New York and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Professor Staloff has published numerous papers and reviews on the subject of early American history.
Diana Schaub
Diana J. Schaub is Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Maryland and a member of the Hoover Institution’s task force on The Virtues of a Free Society. From 2004 to 2009 she was a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics.
Adam J. White
Adam J. White is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and an Assistant Professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where he also directs the Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.
Yuval Levin
Yuval Levin is a Resident Scholar and Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and the Editor of National Affairs magazine. Mr. Levin served on the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush.
Vance Serchuk
Vance Serchuk is Executive Director of the KKR Global Institute and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Serchuk served for six years as the senior national security advisor to Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut).
Greg Weiner
Greg Weiner is associate professor of Political Science, founding director of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Center for Scholarship and Statesmanship, and provost at Assumption College. He is the author of American Burke: The Uncommon Liberalism of Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Bryan Garsten
Bryan Garsten is Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He writes on questions about political rhetoric and deliberation, the meaning of representative government, the relationship of politics and religion, and the place of emotions in political life.
Jenna Silber Storey
Jenna Silber Storey is Assistant Professor in Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. Her research and writing is focused on the relation of politics and theology in the work of Carl Schmitt and Pierre Manent.
Daniel DiSalvo
Daniel DiSalvo is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute’s Center for State and Local Leadership and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at The City College of New York-CUNY. His scholarship focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy.
Martha Bayles
Martha Bayles is an Associate Professor of Humanities at Boston College, where she teaches a year-long course titled, “From Homer to Dante” and various senior seminars. Her research centers around popular culture and cultural history. She has previously served as a lecturer at Harvard University and Claremont McKenna College.
Daniel Blumenthal
Daniel Blumenthal is the Director of Asian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on East Asian security issues and Sino-American relations. Mr. Blumenthal has both served in and advised the U.S. government on China issues for over a decade.
Christian Brose
Christian Brose is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Head of Strategy at Anduril Industries, prior to which he served as staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was also responsible for leading the production, negotiation, and passage of four National Defense Authorization Acts, which set policy and authorized spending for all U.S. national defense activities.
Matthew Kroenig
Matthew Kroenig is a Professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. A 2019 study in Perspectives on Politics ranked him as one of the top 25 most-cited political scientists of his generation. He has served in several positions in the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community in the Bush and Obama administrations.
H.R. McMaster
H. R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Previously, he served as the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for 34 years before retiring as a Lieutenant General. He is author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World.
Matthew Continetti
Matthew Continetti is resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Prior to joining AEI, he was Editor in Chief of the Washington Free Beacon. His articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
Flagg Taylor
Flagg Taylor is an Associate Professor of Government at Skidmore College. He is editor most recently of The Long Night of the Watchman: Essays by Václav Benda, 1977–1989. He is currently writing a book on Czech dissent in the 1970s and 1980s.
Vickie Sullivan
Vickie Sullivan is the Cornelia M. Jackson Professor of Political Science and teaches and studies political thought and philosophy. She also maintains teaching and research interests in politics and literature. She has published extensively on Montesquieu and Machiavelli and is the co-editor of Shakespeare’s Political Pageant.
Jakub J. Grygiel
Jakub Grygiel is an Associate Professor at the Catholic University of America. From 2017–18, he was a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State. His most recent book is Return of the Barbarians: Confronting Non-State Actors from Ancient Rome to the Present.