The Institute on American Politics and Political Thought provides a multinational group of 18 experienced and highly-motivated foreign university faculty and related professionals with a deeper understanding of U.S. political institutions and major currents in American political thought by focusing on the interplay between ideas and institutions in shaping the contemporary American polity. The Institute provides an overview of the origins, development, and current functioning of the American presidency, Congress and the federal judiciary. Examination of political institutions is further expanded to include the two-party system, the civil service system, interest groups, and the welfare/regulatory state. Participants also examine competing strains in modern American political thought/culture, such as liberalism, republicanism, libertarianism, communitarianism, conservatism, neo-conservatism, etc. The Institute reviews the provenance and trajectory of these different intellectual strands or movements, and highlights how they have intersected with American political institutions to shape public discourse and public policy formulation in the contemporary United States.

• The current Institute is hosted by: The University of Massachusetts, Amherst