Faculty Profile

Antong Liu is a normative political theorist studying and teaching modern Western political thought and East Asian political thought. His research focuses on the ethical implications of motivations for political action and covers the political thought of a variety of canonical thinkers, including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Mandeville, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, and Han Feizi. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in American Political Science Review, Political Research Quarterly, The Review of Politics, and History of European Ideas. 

He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University (2019) and B.A. in International Politics and Sociology from Peking University (2012). During his years as a graduate student, he held visiting positions at the University of Hong Kong (2016) and Humboldt University Berlin (2017). Before joining SMU, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Political Theory Project at Brown University (2019-2021) and a Lecturer of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park (2021-2024). 

Qualifications

• PhD (Political Science), Duke University, 2019
• MA (Political Science), Duke University, 2014

Research Interests

• Modern Western political thought (esp. early modern Europe)
• East Asian political thought (esp. China)
• Political Ethics
• Moral Psychology
• Political Psychology
• Democratic Citizenship

Course(s) Taught in SMU

• Political Theory (UG)