Bio


Alison McQueen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University. Her research focuses on early modern political theory and the history of International Relations thought.

McQueen’s book, Political Realism in Apocalyptic Times (Cambridge University Press, 2018), traces the responses of three canonical political realists—Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, and Hans Morgenthau—to hopes and fears about the end of the world. A second book project, Absolving God: Hobbes’s Scriptural Politics, tracks and explains changes in Thomas Hobbes’s strategies of Scriptural argument over time.

Her other ongoing research projects explore methods of textual interpretation, the ethics and politics of catastrophe, and treason in the history of political thought.

Academic Appointments


Administrative Appointments


  • Assistant Professor (Subject to PhD), Department of Political Science, Stanford University (2011 - 2012)
  • Brown Faculty Fellowship, Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
  • Laurance S. Rockeffeler Visting Fellow, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University (2014 - 2015)
  • Faculty Fellow, Center for Ethics in Society, Stanford University (2013 - Present)
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Stanford University (2012 - Present)

Honors & Awards


  • Dean’s Award for Achievement in the First Years of Teaching, Stanford University (2013)
  • Janice N. and Milton J. Esman Graduate Dissertation Prize, Department of Government, Cornell University (2012)
  • Leo Strauss Award for the best doctoral dissertation in Political Philosophy, American Political Science Association (2012)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Member, Faculty committee, Program in Modern Thought and Literature, Stanford University (2012 - Present)
  • Political Theory Field Convenor, Department of Political Science, Stanford University (2011 - 2012)
  • Member, American Political Science Association (2010 - Present)

Program Affiliations


  • Modern Thought and Literature

Professional Education


  • Ph.D., Cornell University, Government (2012)
  • M.A., Cornell University, Government (2009)
  • M.A., University of Toronto, Political Science and International Relations (2005)
  • B.A., University of Guelph, International Development/Political Economy (2003)

2023-24 Courses


Stanford Advisees


All Publications


  • Murder in the Archive PS-POLITICAL SCIENCE & POLITICS McQueen, A. 2024; 57 (1): 96-97
  • Absolving God's Laws: Thomas Hobbes's Scriptural Strategies POLITICAL THEORY McQueen, A. 2022
  • What (If Anything) is Wrong with Positive Liberty? CRITICAL REVIEW McQueen, A. 2021
  • Hobbes's Strategy of Convergence HOBBES STUDIES McQueen, A. 2020; 33 (2): 135–52
  • Mirrors for Princes and Sultans: Advice on the Art of Governance in the Medieval Christian and Islamic Worlds JOURNAL OF POLITICS Blaydes, L., Grimmer, J., McQueen, A. 2018; 80 (4): 1150–67

    View details for DOI 10.1086/699246

    View details for Web of Science ID 000445660100009

  • The Case for Kingship: Classical Realism and Political Realism Politics Recovered McQueen, A. Columbia University Press. 2018
  • Entire on "Carr, E.H."; "Classical Realism"; "Morgenthau, Hans J." McQueen, A. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations, 4th edition. 2018
  • Mirrors for Princes and Sultans: Advice on the Art of Governance in the Medieval Christian and Islamic Worlds Journal of Politics Lisa, B., Justin, G., Alison, M. 2018
  • Mosaic Leviathan: Religion and Rhetoric in Hobbes's Political Thought Hobbes on Politics and Religion McQueen, A. Oxford University Press. 2018
  • Political realism and moral corruption European Journal of Political Theory McQueen, A. 2017

    View details for DOI 10.1177/1474885116664825

  • Political Realism in Apocalyptic Times McQueen, A. Cambridge University Press. 2017

    View details for DOI 10.1017/9781316588307

  • Salutary Fear? Hans Morgenthau and the Politics of Existential Crisis American Political Thought McQueen, A. 2017; 6 (1)

    View details for DOI 10.1086/689859

  • Tocqueville in Jacksonian Context: American Expansionism and Discourses of American Indian Nomadism in Democracy in America Perspectives on Politics McQueen, A., Hendrix, B. A. 2017; 15 (3)
  • Political Realism and the Realist Tradition Critical Review of Social and Political Philosophy McQueen, A. 2017; 20 (3): 296-313
  • Politics in Apocalyptic Times: Machiavelli's Savonarolan Moment JOURNAL OF POLITICS McQueen, A. 2016; 78 (3): 909-924

    View details for DOI 10.1086/685750

    View details for Web of Science ID 000378728000030

  • The Apocalypse in U.S. Political Thought McQueen, A. Foreign Affairs. 2016
  • Apocalyptic Thought in the Age of Trump McQueen, A. Foreign Affairs. 2016
  • On Hans J. Morgenthau's "The Twilight of International Morality" ETHICS McQueen, A. 2015; 125 (3): 840-842

    View details for DOI 10.1086/679546

    View details for Web of Science ID 000351586800019

  • Compassion and Tragedy in the Aspiring Society (Book Review) PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES Book Review Authored by: McQueen, A. 2014; 13 (4): 651-657
  • Imperial Sceptics: British Critics of Empire, 1850-1920 (Book Review) POLITICAL THEORY Book Review Authored by: Mcqueen, A. 2012; 40 (6): 839-846
  • Responsible Cosmopolitanism Political Theory McQueen, A. E. 2012; 40 (6): 839 - 846
  • Review of John Gray’s Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia, Millennium Journal of International Studies McQueen, A. E. 2008; 37 (2): 522 - 524
  • A Groupthink Perspective on the Invasion of Iraq International Affairs Review McQueen, A. E. 2005; 14 (2): 53 - 79