Corey Robin
Professor
Political Science
Location: 3413 James Hall
Phone: 718.951.5306
Fax: 718.951.4833
Email:
Corey Robin is Distinguished Professor of Political Science. He is the author, most recently, of The Enigma of Clarence Thomas, which the New York Times called "razor-sharp...gratifying and unsettling...an incisive and superbly argued book," and which received the Best Book in American Political Thought award from the American Political Science Association. Robin is also the author of The Reactionary Mind--hailed by The New Yorker as "the book that predicted Trump"--and Fear: The History of a Political Idea, which won the Best First Book in Political Theory Award from the American Political Science Association. His essays have appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, and other venues. Robin has received multiple grants and awards, including fellowships from the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library and the American Council of Learned Societies. His writings have been translated into 13 languages.
Education:
Ph.D., Yale University - 1999 (Political Science)
A.B., Princeton University - 1989 (History)
Areas of Expertise:
Robin's primary research is in political theory, with an emphasis on modern political thought. He has written on the politics of fear, conservatism and counterrevolution, liberalism and the Left. He is currently at work on a book called "King Capital."
Books and Publications
"Empathy and the Economy." New York Review of Books (December 8, 2022), pp. 43-46 (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2022
"Republican Are Moving Rapidly to Cement Minority Rule. Blame the Constitution." Politico (January 5, 2022). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2022
"The Self-Fulfilling Prophecies of Clarence Thomas." The New Yorker (July 9, 2022). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2022
"The Trouble With Money." New York Review of Books (December 22, 2022), pp. 73-76. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2022
"Arendt and Roth: An Uncanny Convergence." New York Review of Books (May 12, 2021). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2021
"In the Malcolm Archives: On the Couch." The New Republic (June 18, 2021). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2021
"Trump and the Trapped Country." The New Yorker (March 13, 2021). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2021
"Why Does Biden Seem So Stuck?" New York Times (December 12, 2021), Sunday Review, 6. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2021
"Comrades: The Inner Life of American Communism." The Nation (May 18/25, 2020), 13-18. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2020
"Freedom Now." Co-authored with Alex Gourevitch. Polity 52 (July 2020), 384-398. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2020
"The Gonzo Constitutionalism of the American Right." New York Review of Books (October 21, 2020). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2020
"The Pandemic is the Time to Resurrect the Public University." The New Yorker (May 7, 2020). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2020
"The Professor and the Politician." The New Yorker (November 12, 2020). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2020
"The Professor and the Politician." The New Yorker (November 12, 2020). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2020
"The Tyranny of the Minority, from the Iowa Caucus to the Electoral College." NYR Daily (February 21, 2020). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2020
"What People Power Looks Like in a Pandemic Democracy." NYR Daily (April 13, 2020). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2020
"Clarence Thomas's Radical Vision of Race." The New Yorker (September 10, 2019). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
"Economics Is the Materiality of Moral Choice." In Economics After Neoliberalism, ed. Joshua Cohen (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2019), 30-35. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2019
"Eric Hobsbawm, the Communist Who Explained History." The New Yorker (May 9, 2019). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
"The Obamanauts." Dissent (Fall 2019), 157-167. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
"The Plight of the Political Convert." The New Yorker (January 23, 2019). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
The Enigma of Clarence Thomas. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2019. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2019
"The Erotic Professor." The Chronicle Review (June 2018), B11-13. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2018
"The Politics Trump Makes." n+1 (January 11, 2017). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2017
"Triumph of the Shill: The political theory of Trumpism." n+1 (Fall 2017), 31-43. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2017
The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. 2nd edition. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2017
"Edmund Burke and the Problem of Value." Raritan (Summer 2016), 82-106. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
"How Intellectuals Create a Public." The Chronicle Review (January 24, 2016), B10-B14. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Sheldon Wolin's the Reason I Began Drinking Coffee." The Good Society 24 (2015), 164-173. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2015
"The Trials of Hannah Arendt." The Nation (June 1, 2015), 12-25. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
L'Exercice de La Peur: Usages Politiques D'Une Émotion. Co-authored with Patrick Boucheron. Lyon: Presses universitaires de Lyon, 2015. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2015
"Nietzsche's Marginal Children." The Nation, May 27: 27-36. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2013
"Yours, Mine, but Not Ours." Jacobin, Winter: 23-28. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2013
"Achieving Disunity." London Review of Books, Oct. 25: 23-25. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
"The Language of Fear: National Security in Modern Politics." Fear: Across the Disciplines. Eds. Jan Plamper and Benjamin Lazier. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 118-31. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2012
"Easy to Be Hard: Violence and Conservatism." Performances of Violence. Eds. Carleen Basler, Thomas Dumm and Austin Sarat. Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press. 18-42. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
"Reclaiming the Politics of Freedom." The Nation, April 25: 18-22. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2011
The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin. New York: Oxford University Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2011
"Conservatism and Counterrevolution." Raritan Summer: 1-17. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2010
"Garbage and Gravitas." On Ayn Rand and her affinity for fascism and kitsch. The Nation, June 7: 21-27. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2010
"Get Over It!" On Justice Antonin Scalia and originalism. London Review of Books, June 10: 29-31. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2010
"The Party of Loss." Harper's, December: 17-22. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2010
"Why Conservatives Love War." Chronicle Review, Oct. 24: 8-10. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2010
"You Say You Want a Counterrevolution: Well, You Know, We All Want to Change the World." A Century of Revolution: Insurgent and Counterinsurgent Violence During Latin America's Long Cold War. Eds. Greg Grandin and Gilbert M. Joseph. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2010
"The First Counterrevolutionary." On Hobbes, Quentin Skinner and the politics of counterrevolution. The Nation, Oct. 19: 25-32. Translated into Latvian: "Pirmais kontrrevolucionārs." Satori: Literatūras un filozofijas portāls, Oct. 15. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2009
"Out of Place." Review essay The Conscience of a Conservative, by Barry Goldwater; Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s, eds. Bruce J. Shulman and Julian E. Zelizer; and They Knew They Were Right, by Jacob Heilbrunn. The Nation, June 23: 25-33. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2008
"Dragon-Slayers." Review essay on Hannah Arendt. London Review of Books, Jan. 4: 18-20. Adapted and reprinted as "Did Kissing Up Bring Us Down?" Los Angeles Times, Jan. 14: M3. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2007
"Language and Violence: From Pathology to Politics." Raritan Fall: 41-51. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2006
"Was He? Had He?" Review essay on civil liberties and the war on terrorism. London Review of Books, Oct. 19: 10-12. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2006
"Liberalism at Bay, Conservatism at Play: Fear in the Contemporary Imagination." Social Research 71, Winter: 927-62. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2004
"Remembrance of Empires Past: 9/11 and the End of the Cold War." Cold War Triumphalism: The Misuse of History After the Fall of Communism. Ed. Ellen Schrecker. The New Press. 274-97. Adapted and reprinted in The Washington Post and The Boston Review. Translated into Italian and Spanish. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2004
Fear: The History of a Political Idea. New York: Oxford University Press. Translated into Italian (2005) and French (2006). Translations into Chinese, Greek, Romanian and Spanish forthcoming. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2004
"Reflections on Fear: Montesquieu in Retrieval." American Political Science Review 94, June: 347-60. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2000
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Best Book in American Political Thought Award, American Political Science Association, 2020 (Awards and Honors) 2020
Fellowship, Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, New York Public Library, 2018-19 (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
Keynote Address. "The Withering of the State?" Conference. University of Illinois at Chicago (2018) (Awards and Honors) 2018
Keynote Address. Political Science Graduate Conference. Princeton (2017) (Awards and Honors) 2017
Keynote Address. Political Science Graduate Conference. University of Pennsylvania (2016) (Awards and Honors) 2016
Keynote Address. Society for the Study of U.S. Intellectual History (2015) (Awards and Honors) 2015
Mentor of the Year Award, Department of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center. (Awards and Honors) 2012
Charm Quark Award for Best Blog Writing in Politics and Social Science, 3 Quarks Daily. (Awards and Honors) 2011
Cliopatra Award for Best Blog Writer, History News Network. (Awards and Honors) 2011
Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies, 2007-08. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
Fellowship, Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, 2007-08 (declined). (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2007-08 (declined). (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship for Recently Tenured Scholars, American Council of Learned Societies, 2007-08 (declined). (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellowship, Princeton University Center for Human Values, 2007-08. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
Best First Book in Political Theory Award, American Political Science Association. (Awards and Honors) 2005
Honorable Mention, Outstanding Book Award, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. (Awards and Honors) 2005
Outstanding Academic Title, Choice. (Awards and Honors) 2005
Presidential Authority Award, Russell Sage Foundation, 2005-06. (Grants and Fellowships) 2005
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Invisible Woman: Anita Hill and the Gender of Clarence Thomas's Constitution." Brown (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
"The Enigma of Clarence Thomas." Yale Law School. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
"Invisible Man on the Supreme Court." Princeton (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
Oscar Jaszi Memorial Lecture. Oberlin (2018) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
E. Victor Wolfenstein Memorial Lecture. UCLA (2017) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
"Nietzsche, Marginalism, and the Austrian School of Economics." New School. New York, April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"Smiling Faces Tell Lies: Pessimism, Originalism, and Capitalism in the Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas." University of Washington. May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"How to Think and Not Think About Counterrevolution" Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies. May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Medievalism and Markets: Labor and Value in Burke, Babeuf, and Smith." Cornell University. Ithaca, N.Y., November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"The Free Market as a Counterrevolutionary Device." Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies. May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Nietzsche and Neoclassical Economics." Columbia University. New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Polarized Politics." Einstein Forum/European Academy. Berlin, May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Right-Wing Populism." Princeton University. Princeton, N.J., February. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"The Reactionary Mind." University of California at San Diego. February. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"The Reactionary Mind." Yale University. New Haven, Conn., March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"Easy to Be Hard: Violence and Conservatism." Amherst College. Amherst, Mass., February. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"Easy to Be Hard: Violence and Conservatism." Stanford University. Stanford, Calif., May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"Easy to Be Hard: Violence and Conservatism." The New School. New York, September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"In Search of Conservatism: From Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin." Rutgers University. April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
Respondent to Martin Jay, "The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics." The Lionel Trilling Seminar, Columbia University. New York, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"The Language of Fear: National Security in Modern Politics." John L. Stanley Memorial Lecture. Department of Political Science, University of California at Riverside. February. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"The Moral Vocabulary of Fear." Columbia Law School. New York, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"The Moral Vocabulary of Fear." European University Institute. Florence, Italy, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"The Moral Vocabulary of Fear." Killen Chair Lecture. St. Norbert College. De Pere, Wis., October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"You Say You Want a Counterrevolution: Well, You Know, We All Want to Change the World." Princeton University. Princeton, N.J., November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"You Say You Want a Counterrevolution: Well, You Know, We All Want to Change the World." Rutgers University. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"Fear, the Day After." Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"Louis Hartz at 50: On the Varieties of Counterrevolutionary Experience in America." CUNY Graduate Center. New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"Louis Hartz at 50: On the Varieties of Counterrevolutionary Experience in America." Syracuse University. Syracuse, N.Y., April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"Louis Hartz at 50: On the Varieties of Counterrevolutionary Experience in America." University of Maryland School of Law. Baltimore, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"Quel rôle joue la peur dans une démocratie?" Institut d'études politiques de Paris. March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"The Globalization of Fear." European Forum for Urban Safety. Zaragoza, Spain, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"The Liberalism--and Conservatism--of Fear." Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine. January. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"Fear: History of an Idea." CUNY Graduate Center. February. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
"Louis Hartz at 50: On the Varieties of Counterrevolutionary Experience in America." Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
"Neoconservatives and Their Empire." Varchi Contemporary History Festival. Rome, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
"The Liberalism--and Conservatism--of Fear." Department of Political Science, McGill University. Montreal, December. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
"Fear: History of an Idea." Cambridge University. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004
"Fear: History of an Idea." Christ Church, University of Oxford. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004
"Liberalism at Bay, Conservatism at Play: Fear in the Contemporary Imagination." Duke University. Durham, N.C., October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004
"Liberalism at Bay, Conservatism at Play: Fear in the Contemporary Imagination." King's College, University of London. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004
"Liberalism at Bay, Conservatism at Play: Fear in the Contemporary Imagination." Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge, Mass., October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004