Taming the Prince at 20 conference explores modern executive power
Sometimes, a scholar's point of view is so powerful and lasting that the impact and imprint of his ideas on a field of study are fully understood only through the test of time and the reflection of other scholars.
Such is the work of Harvard University's Harvey Mansfield, a man of consequential ideas and a thought leader in political philosophy.
His 20-year-old book Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power, which examines the historic definitions and scope of executive power, is the subject of an Oct. 16 and 17 conference that will bring some 15 scholars together at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies.
This conference of the John Marshall International Center for the Study of Statesmanship "will seek to answer the many questions that continue to surround contemporary executive power and its exercise," said Gary L. McDowell, the co-director of the Center and conference organizer and a constitutional expert. About the book
Many political scientists, philosophers and students of leadership see Taming the Prince as "arguably the most learned book on the nature and extent of executive power ever written," McDowell said. In his survey of Western political thought Mansfield develops a sage and complex picture of the most revered and most feared of entities, the executive leader.
Mansfield will give the opening keynote Friday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. in Jepson Hall. He will discuss "Reflections: Taming the Prince at Twenty" and is expected to touch upon themes such as the historic underpinnings of the concept of executive power as well as the expansion of executive power in the Bush-Cheney administration. A reception will follow his talk.
Saturday's conference will include three panel discussions that explore the philosophical foundations of executive power, the U.S. Constitution and executive power and executive power in contemporary politics. Panelists include such leading lights as William Galston of the Brookings Institution and Weekly Standard Publisher Terry Eastland.
Harvey Mansfield's biography
Conference registration. Limited seating is available for this free conference but registration is required.