Some argue that contemporary American politics is "post-constitutional"—that it no longer operates on the basis of the principles instituted during its founding. Regardless of what one thinks of the "post-constitutional" label, there can be no doubt that American politics in the 20th century and beyond is substantially different from what was envisioned at the inception of our country. The Progressive-era thinkers were central to this new direction in American politics, and the Institute will focus on the new direction and the role of the Progressives in bringing it about.

The method of the Institute will be to examine the key intellectual figures of the Progressive movement as well as those political leaders who were responsible for the wide impact of progressivism on 20th-century America. Among those studied will be Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Croly, and John Dewey.

The Institute will also address the important differences among the major Progressive thinkers. In fact, there is considerable argument over what the term "progressivism" actually means, and over who ought to be included in an account of the "progressive movement." The Institute will raise the question of how progressivism has impacted not only contemporary American politics and institutions, but also how influential it has been in both the origins and development of the modern study of politics and government.

Faculty: Ronald J. Pestritto is an Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Dallas. He is author of Founding the Criminal Law: Punishment and Political Thought in the Origins of America, and is currently completing a book titled The Constitutional Thought of Woodrow Wilson. Lance Robinson is an Assistant Professor and Chief of Core Courses in the Department of Political Science at the US Air Force Academy. He is the author of several essays on the political thought of Theodore Roosevelt and William Graham Sumner.

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