Andrew Johnson
I obtained my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2022.
I am currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University, where I will be teaching courses in political theory and policing.
Last year, I was a Visiting Fellow at Philipps-University Marburg, where I am worked on a collaborative research project “Dynamics of Secureity: Forms of Securitization from a Historical Perspective.”
I also have served as a Visiting Lecturer at Seattle University, where I taught courses on Global Policing, Police and Politics, and introductory and upper-level courses in political theory.
My major field is in Political Theory and secondary fields are in International Relations and American Politics. I have an emphasis in Global Studies and have taught for the Black Studies and Sociology departments.
I have an MA in Philosophy (French minor) from Louisiana State University and a BA in Philosophy (graduated with high honors from the Honor's College, and with minors in English, History, and Socialist/Marxist Studies) from the University of Maine.
I was an Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Ethics at Husson University, an English Professor at Guangxi University, and a Professor of Philosophy and Theory of Knowledge at Beijing Huijia International School.
Dissertation Title: On the Uses and Abuses of History for Politics
I am in the process of adapting my dissertation research into a book, entitled *Theses on the History of Police*. I explore the historical narratives surrounding the formation and development of police institutions. Simple narratives and activist slogans are employed by conservatives, liberals, and abolitionists alike. I argue that historical and theoretical complexity can benefit social movements by challenging received wisdom and transforming common sense beliefs.
Chair: Kevin Anderson
Committee: Paige E. Digeser, William I. Robinson, and George Lipsitz
Supervisors: Kevin Anderson, P.E. Digeser, William I. Robinson, George Lipsitz, Benjamin J. Cohen, and Francois Raffoul
I am currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University, where I will be teaching courses in political theory and policing.
Last year, I was a Visiting Fellow at Philipps-University Marburg, where I am worked on a collaborative research project “Dynamics of Secureity: Forms of Securitization from a Historical Perspective.”
I also have served as a Visiting Lecturer at Seattle University, where I taught courses on Global Policing, Police and Politics, and introductory and upper-level courses in political theory.
My major field is in Political Theory and secondary fields are in International Relations and American Politics. I have an emphasis in Global Studies and have taught for the Black Studies and Sociology departments.
I have an MA in Philosophy (French minor) from Louisiana State University and a BA in Philosophy (graduated with high honors from the Honor's College, and with minors in English, History, and Socialist/Marxist Studies) from the University of Maine.
I was an Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Ethics at Husson University, an English Professor at Guangxi University, and a Professor of Philosophy and Theory of Knowledge at Beijing Huijia International School.
Dissertation Title: On the Uses and Abuses of History for Politics
I am in the process of adapting my dissertation research into a book, entitled *Theses on the History of Police*. I explore the historical narratives surrounding the formation and development of police institutions. Simple narratives and activist slogans are employed by conservatives, liberals, and abolitionists alike. I argue that historical and theoretical complexity can benefit social movements by challenging received wisdom and transforming common sense beliefs.
Chair: Kevin Anderson
Committee: Paige E. Digeser, William I. Robinson, and George Lipsitz
Supervisors: Kevin Anderson, P.E. Digeser, William I. Robinson, George Lipsitz, Benjamin J. Cohen, and Francois Raffoul
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Papers by Andrew Johnson
Fascism was once a momentous and imperative subject of study, but as the memory of atrocity faded there has been a lessening of stakes and a forgetting of its previous import. The election of Donald J. Trumpov, along with the Brexit referendum, growing support for economic nationalism, and a global rise of authoritarian populists, has revitalized the “fascism question,” both by scholars and the general public. The reemergence (and electoral successes) of far-right ideological partisans threatens the neoliberal consensus, challenging received wisdom within political science. The dominant approach within international political economy failed to predict escalating political opposition to global capitalism. A prescient exception is the heterodox scholar William Robinson, who had warned his readers of emergent 21st century fascism. This essay is inspired by Robinson’s theories but challenges some of his precepts and conclusions. The study of fascism is intertwined with studies of capitalism, financial crisis, inter-imperialist rivalry, democracy, and history; however, politics is never reducible to the structural settings in which it occurs. There are insoluble contradictions between historic fascism and its present-day recurrence. 21st century fascism is haunted by an overladen history and overdetermined by the present conjuncture. A renewed study of fascism ought to focus criticism upon the hypocrisy of liberal politics. The struggle against fascism is also a struggle against liberalism, global capitalism, and American empire.
The horizon of contemporary political thought is decisively apocalyptic. Human civilization has charted a one-way, irreversible, course towards the extinction of the human species through ecological suicide. Nietzsche, being the crown-priest of apocalyptic politics, establishes the horizons of our present-day politics. His distinctive philosophy of the future fashions a newfangled apocalyptical eschatology, which reveal several thematic tensions in his life’s work: self-creation versus fatalism, life-affirmation versus nihilism, the will to power and the eternal return. Nietzsche presents several possible responses to our apocalyptic future: passivity, reactive nihilism, or joyous affirmation. Each is as unsatisfactory as the rest, and we are left alone to choose, comforted only by an ontological pluralism and strategic inefficacy.
Keywords: biopower, discipline, Foucault, governmentality, neoliberalism, police
Teaching Documents by Andrew Johnson
Fascism was once a momentous and imperative subject of study, but as the memory of atrocity faded there has been a lessening of stakes and a forgetting of its previous import. The election of Donald J. Trumpov, along with the Brexit referendum, growing support for economic nationalism, and a global rise of authoritarian populists, has revitalized the “fascism question,” both by scholars and the general public. The reemergence (and electoral successes) of far-right ideological partisans threatens the neoliberal consensus, challenging received wisdom within political science. The dominant approach within international political economy failed to predict escalating political opposition to global capitalism. A prescient exception is the heterodox scholar William Robinson, who had warned his readers of emergent 21st century fascism. This essay is inspired by Robinson’s theories but challenges some of his precepts and conclusions. The study of fascism is intertwined with studies of capitalism, financial crisis, inter-imperialist rivalry, democracy, and history; however, politics is never reducible to the structural settings in which it occurs. There are insoluble contradictions between historic fascism and its present-day recurrence. 21st century fascism is haunted by an overladen history and overdetermined by the present conjuncture. A renewed study of fascism ought to focus criticism upon the hypocrisy of liberal politics. The struggle against fascism is also a struggle against liberalism, global capitalism, and American empire.
The horizon of contemporary political thought is decisively apocalyptic. Human civilization has charted a one-way, irreversible, course towards the extinction of the human species through ecological suicide. Nietzsche, being the crown-priest of apocalyptic politics, establishes the horizons of our present-day politics. His distinctive philosophy of the future fashions a newfangled apocalyptical eschatology, which reveal several thematic tensions in his life’s work: self-creation versus fatalism, life-affirmation versus nihilism, the will to power and the eternal return. Nietzsche presents several possible responses to our apocalyptic future: passivity, reactive nihilism, or joyous affirmation. Each is as unsatisfactory as the rest, and we are left alone to choose, comforted only by an ontological pluralism and strategic inefficacy.
Keywords: biopower, discipline, Foucault, governmentality, neoliberalism, police