Donald Lutz
Professor
PGH 403
dslutz@uh.edu
Research Interests
American and European political theory
Theories of textual analysis
Political texts
Ethical theories
Study of politics
Biographical Summary
Dr. Lutz received his B.A. from Georgetown University in 1965, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1969. He has taught at the University of Houston since 1968, and is currently a full professor.
His research interests are generally in the area where political theory and American politics intersect, which makes American political theory his central area of publication. In recent years his work has focused on American state and national constitutionalism, as well as cross-national constitutionalism and constitutional theory in general.
He has published over forty articles and book chapters, including articles in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Publius: The Journal of Federalism , Social Science Quarterly, the Annals of Political Science and History, Western Political Quarterly and a number of major law reviews. His latest books are A Preface to American Political Theory (1992), The Origins of American Constitutionalism (1988), Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History (1997), and most recently, Principles of Consitutional Design (2006). Currently, he is working on a political theory of confederation, using formal public choice theory to explain why confederations form or do not, with data from thirty-six ancient, medieval, and modern confederations. He is also working on a book, a sequel to Principles, that will study political patterns in small democracies having populations under ten million people.
Education
Ph.D., Indiana UniversityB.A., Georgetown University
Selected Publications
"Who Were the Antifederalists, What Did They Want, And Why Does It Matter?" in departmental reader in American politics, Kent Tedin, ed., forthcoming 2007.
Principles of Constitutional Design (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History (Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1998). [Second printing, January 2000; in print as of 9/1/2007]