Professor Isaac's research interests center around political theory, broadly understood. His most recent book, The Poverty of Progressivism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), is an interpretive essay on the decline of liberal progressive politics in the United States. Democracy in Dark Times (Cornell, 1998) offers an interpretation-- influenced heavily by the writings of Hannah Arendt-- of the fate of democratic impulses in the wake of the Eastern European revolutions of 1989. Arendt, Camus and Modern Rebellion (Yale, 1992) is a comparison of the writings of Hannah Arendt and Albert Camus, which seeks both to read these authors in light of their historical contexts and to underscore their contemporary relevance. In these books, Professor Isaac explores the possibilities and limits of radical democratic political agency in the contemporary world.
Professor Isaac has written extensively on the political thought of Hannah Arendt, in the books noted above, and also in such periodicals as Political Theory, American Political Science Review, Social Research, Praxis International, and Tikkun. He has also written extensively on the political thought of anti-communist dissidence, in Social Research, East European Politics and Societies, Common Knowledge, and a number of anthologies; on the concept of power, and the philosophy of social science, central themes of his first book, Power and Marxist Theory: A Realist View (Cornell, 1987); and on the themes of democracy and pragmatism.
Professor Isaac is currently working on the topic of twentieth century liberal political thought, and the meanings of liberalism in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He is also editing a new edition of The Communist Manifesto for Yale University Press's "Rethinking the Western Tradition" series. Professor Isaac is a frequent contributor to Dissent magazine, where he writes about ethics and politics and the history and future of the left. He serves on the editorial boards of Polity and Dissent, and as an editorial associate of Constellations. And he directs the Center for the Study of Democracy. He is also the Book Review Editor of Perspectives on Politics, and thus edits the official book review of the American Political Science Association.
Professor Isaac is a founding and steering committee member of Bloomington United, a local citizen coalition against bigotry and for civic pluralism; a member of the Advisory Board of the Safe and Civil City Program of the Office of the Mayor of the city of Bloomington; a member of the Indiana University Sweatshop Advisory Committee; and has served as the Indiana University representative to the Workers Rights Consortium. ??
Professor Isaac is also a gigging jazz and blues musician active on the local music scene. For three years he was the keyboard player for Code Blue, a Bloomington-based blues band, whose 2004 CD "Code Blue Featuring Bobbie Lancaster" featured two of his original tunes (which can be accessed at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/codebluemusic). He currently leads and plays piano for The Postmodern Jazz Quartet, which plays regularly at Tutto Bene in Bloomington, and has been featured on WTIU (see www.pmjq.com).
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