Geoffrey Kurtz
Associate Professor
Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice
EMAIL: gkurtz@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: N-669
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1-4pm
Phone: +1 (212) 220-1245
I have taught at BMCC since 2007. Whether teaching political science or urban studies, I try to make each of my courses an occasion for students (and for me) to become more thoughtful observers of our common life, so that we can better understand ourselves and the larger wholes to which we belong.
Expertise
Political theory, especially American political thought
Degrees
- Ph.D. (Political Science), Rutgers University, 2007
- B.A. (Political Science), New College of Florida, 1996
Courses Taught
- The history, development, and intellectual origin of American government are studied and analyzed. Special consideration is given to the structure and operation of the executive, legislative and judiciary branches, and the role of government and politics in a modern industrial society.
- This class involves students in observation and critical analysis of political affairs. Topics and themes will include both American and global perspectives and both contemporary and historical cases. The class introduces a range of approaches to the study of politics, such as empirical research, quantitative analysis, theoretical questioning, and the examination of literary or artistic works. Central concepts will include politics, power, government, conflict, and justice.
- This course examines political ideas and explores ways of thinking about politics. The course will address classic works of political thought from ancient to modem, contemporary political debates, or perennial questions about human nature, freedom, community, and justice.
Prerequisite: Any Social Science course - This course provides an in-depth exploration of a topic in political science, which will vary from semester to semester. Topics may include subjects of enduring political importance or special current interest. The course description for a particular term will be available from the instructor during registration.
Prerequisite: Any POL course - Urban Studies is an interdisciplinary field that introduces students to a variety of topics and issues in urban community development. Through a variety of lenses which draw on sociology, economics, political science, and anthropology students will learn how to analyze our global economy and culture. In this class students learn where cities come from, how they grow, thrive, and decline, how they are organized, how urban problems arise, how they have been previously addressed, and how to plan cities of the future. Students will study and learn about topics that are frequently the subject of debates on urban life such as diversity, poverty, sustainability, segregation, environmental change, underemployment, gentrification, homelessness, community planning, health services, and urban politics.
Research and Projects
I am currently studying the writers who founded or were early contributors to the socialist magazine Dissent. I am interested in their understandings of the political and intellectual problems they faced, their place within the history of American thinking about democracy and community, and their legacy for American democratic radicalism in our time.
Publications
Book
- Jean Jaurès: The Inner Life of Social Democracy, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2014 (Preview here)
Recent writing for academic journals
- “The Idea of Fraternity in America at Fifty,” Perspectives on Political Science 53:4, September 2024
- “American Socialism and American Political Culture: Irving Howe’s Conciliation with (and Dissent from) Individualism.” American Political Thought 10.1 (Winter 2021)
Recent writing for wider audiences
- “Waiting for a Realignment,” Current, December 16, 2024
- “What we already know about the elections,” Current, November 4, 2024
- “Real Communities and Democratic Theory,” a review of Tradition and the Deliberative Turn: A Critique of Contemporary Democratic Theory by Ryan R. Holston, Front Porch Republic, September 27, 2024 (and an exchange with the author)
- Review of Keeping the Republic: A Defense of American Constitutionalism by Dennis Hale and Marc Landy, Current, July 19, 2024
- “Toward a Postliberal Future? Patrick Deneen’s Regime Change and the Meletus Option,” Public Seminar, May 16, 2023
- “After the Second Cheer,” a review of Two Cheers for Politics by Jedediah Purdy, Front Porch Republic, February 10, 2023
- “How to Be a Liberal-Socialist-Conservative.” Front Porch Republic, November 7, 2022.
- Review essay on J. Toby Reiner, Michael Walzer, and Michael Walzer and Astrid von Busekist, Justice is Steady Work: A Conversation on Political Theory, Logos: A Journal of Modern Society and Culture (20.1), Summer 2021
Interviews
- On Jean Jaurès, social democracy, and the problem of hope: New Books Network (with Zalman Newfield), June 2022
- On Barack Obama and the American community organizing tradition: KBOO, “Old Mole Radio Hour” (with Bill Resnick), July 2009
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
- Phi Theta Kappa Award for Excellence in Education (2008)
- Political Theory Section Chair, New York State Political Science Association (2025)
