I'm a Postdoctoral Research Associate at The Political Theory Project at Brown University. Beginning Fall 2018, I'll be an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Southern Methodist University (SMU). 

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 problem of poverty. My book manuscript 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 "more 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 gianna_englert at brown dot edu, find me on academia.edu, or follow me on Twitter.

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