George Klosko

Degrees

Ph.D. Columbia University, Department of Political Science

Biography

George Klosko’s research interests include contemporary political theory, especially issues in analytical and normative theory,, focusing on the liberal tradition and Greek political theory, especially Plato, and normative political theory, including problems of political obligation and the theory of John Rawls and Rawls’s critics. His books include: The Development of Plato’s Political Theory (Methuen, 1986; Second Edition, Oxford, 2006); The Principle of Fairness and Political Obligation (Rowman and Littlefield, 1992); Political Obligations (Oxford University Press, 2005), and The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy (Oxford, 2011), which he edited.  He has also written a two-volume introduction to the history of political theory: History of Political Theory: An Introduction, Volume I: Ancient and Medieval Political Theory; Volume II: Modern Political Theory (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993, 1995; Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2012, 2013). His most recent book is The Oxford Handbook of Political Obligation (Oxford University Press, 2026).  Political Obligations was awarded the 2007 David and Elaine Spitz Prize by the International Conference for the Study of Political Thought, “for the best book in liberal and/or democratic theory published two years earlier.” He has published more than fifty articles in Political Science, Philosophy, and Classics journals, including the American Political Science Review, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Ethics, Political Theory, and Classical Quarterly.  Recent articles include: "Fair Play and Discretionary Response," Legal Theory, 31: 3 (2025), 248–269.  "Content-Independence and Political Obligation: Scope-Limitations of Content-Independent Moral Reasons," Political Studies, 71 (2023), 30-46. "Political Obligations of Refugees," with Andrew Gates, International Studies Quarterly, 66 (2022), sqac025 Other recent articles include Oaths and Political Obligation in Ancient Greece," History of Political Thought, 41 (2020), 1-14; "Fair Play, Reciprocity, and Natural Duties of Justice," Ratio Juris, 33 (2020), 335-50; and "What Socrates Says, and Does not Say," Classical Quarterly, 70 (2020), 577-91.