I'm an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and an Associate of The John G. Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University. Before coming to SMU, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at The Political Theory Project at Brown University.

I have research interests in political theory, the history of political thought, liberalism (French and Anglo-American), political economy, and citizenship, with particular attention to themes of political inclusion and exclusion. I'm also interested in nineteenth-century responses to "the social question," or the material, political, and social status of the working poor. My book manuscript, Capacity for Democracy: French Liberalism and the Language of Citizenship, focuses on the concept of political capacity in the French liberal tradition, a concept liberals originally championed as an alternative to democratic rights. By examining liberal thought in 19th century France, including the work of Alexis de Tocqueville and François Guizot, I argue that the language of capacity evolved alongside shifting notions of economic and social participation. I conclude that the language of capacity -- a language that began from anxieties over democracy -- can actually inform ongoing questions about democratic citizenship and its requirements. My work has been published in Polity and The Review of Politics and is forthcoming in Modern Intellectual History. 

I hold a Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University (2016) and an M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College, Annapolis (2010). 

You can contact me at genglert at smu dot edu or follow me on Twitter.

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