Dr. Luke Foster is Assistant Professor of Government at Hillsdale College in Washington, D.C. From 2022-24 he was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government at the University of Notre Dame, and from 2020-22 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at Sciences Po Paris. His research and teaching concerns American and French political thought on aristocracy, democracy, and the role of the university in elite formation. He recently led a twelve-day seminar at Academia Tocqueville teaching on his research.
He is completing a book manuscript entitled Beyond Meritocracy: The Pursuit of Excellence in America. His work has appeared in The Tocqueville Review, American Political Thought, the Political Science Reviewer, and Laws. He holds a BA in English and History from Columbia University and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago with the Committee on Social Thought.
Recent Publications
“Montesquieu’s Case for Honor in Publius and Adams: Transposing the Society of Orders to the Commercial Republic,” Modern Intellectual History, Volume 22:3, 2025.
“Federalism in Mexico: Lucas Alamán and Alexis de Tocqueville on Constitutional Particularity,” Political Science Reviewer, Volume 48:2, 2024.
“For the Glory of France,” Review of A Counter-History of French Colonization (Vauban Books) by Driss Ghali, Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2025, Volume XXV, No. 2.
“The French Tradition for Burkeans,” The European Conservative, Spring 2024, No. 30:86-88.
“What Makes American Education Exceptional,” Law & Liberty, February 2025.
Recent Interviews
Course Spotlight: Montesquieu
Dr. Luke Foster Leads Academia Tocqueville in Paris, France
Courses Taught
Van Andel Graduate School of Government
- Art of Rhetoric
- Montesquieu
- Political Thought and Literature I
- Political Thought and Literature II
Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program