Sarah Burns
Associate Professor of Political Science
Rochester Institute of Technology
Education
Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, USA (2006-2013)
Ph.D. (2013)
M.A. (2009)
University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada (2001-2006)
B.A. (2006)
Specialist in Political Science; Minors in Philosophy and French
Academic Appointments
Summer 2019-present
Rochester Institute of Technology
Associate Professor of Political Science
Fall 2013-Spring 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Fall 2010
Claremont McKenna College
Visiting Instructor in Government
California State University San Bernardino
Visiting Instructor in Political Science
Research Interests
War Powers, Grand Strategy, American political thought, Montesquieu, Locke, Enlightenment thought, American constitutionalism, separation of powers, military, congress, the presidency, leadership, the Cold War, War on Terror, American political development, democratization
Publications
Book
Reviews
- Dave Bridge in American Political Thought
- Benjamin A. Kleinerman in American Political Thought
- Clement Fatovic in Political Science Quarterly
- Jeremy L. Strickler in Congress & the Presidency
- Keith E. Whittington in Law & Liberty
- Nathan P. Goodman in The Independent Review
- Graham G. Dodds in The Review of Politics
- Jasmine Farrier in Perspectives on Politics
- Louis Fisher in Presidential Studies Quarterly
Articles and Chapters
Burns, Sarah. “Supporting Liberation Movements: Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton on the French and Haitian Revolutions,” Society of Presidential Historians in Academia Volume 1, No. 1, May 2025. 21-41.
Burns, Sarah. “Narratives of Victory: Obama, killing bin Laden, and the 2012 election,” (with Rob Haswell) Journal of Strategic Studies. May 2025, 1-30.
Burns, Sarah. “Pax Americana: Is the United States a Benevolent Hegemon?” Liberty and Security in an Anarchical World Volume 1: Westphalian Sovereignty and the National State. Ed. Brandon Christenson. London, United Kingdom: Palgraves Macmillan, 2024. 47-84.
Burns, Sarah. “The Ratchet Effect: War Powers and Presidential Unilateralism.” The Legacy of Robert Higgs. Ed. Christopher J. Coyne. Washington, DC: Mercatus Center at George Mason University, 2024. 152-176.
Burns, Sarah. “Before the Responsibility to Protect: The Humanitarian Intervention in Cuba.” Cosmos and Taxis, 10 (9+10) (Fall 2022), 53-67.
Burns, Sarah. “The Capitalist Peace: A New Way Forward for American Foreign Policy.” Society 54 (6) (November 2017): 501-508.
Available Working Papers
“Becoming a Brutal Oppressor: Policy towards Natives in the Early US”
“Catastrophic Success: The Hunt for Bin Laden and the Consequences for US Military Policy” (with Robert Haswell)
“Competing Visions of Empire: Jefferson, Hamilton, and the Antifederalists”
“From the Barbary Pirates to ISIS: America’s Long History of Fighting State-Sponsored Terrorism” (with Jordan Miller)
Book Manuscript
Losing the Peace: Democratization and American Foreign Policy
Losing the Good War: Obama and Afghanistan (with Robert Haswell) (Under contract with University Press of Kansas)
Forthcoming
“The Declaration of Independence in the 1980s and 1990s,” in The Declaration of Independence Over the Decades edited by Robert MacDonald and Sean Sculley
Book Reviews
Levinson, Sanford and Jack M. Balkin. Democracy and Dysfunction. University of Chicago Press. Review for American Political Thought
Farrier, Jasmine. Constitutional Dysfunction on Trial: Congressional Lawsuits and the Separation of Powers. Cornell University Press. Review for Perspectives on Politics
Hendrickson, Ryan. Obama at War: Congress and the Imperial Presidency. University of Kentucky Press. Review for Perspectives on Politics
Selected Conference Papers
“Biden’s Quest for Leadership: Navigating Partisan Rifts in a Global Arena” at APSA, Philadelphia, PA, September 2024
“Catastrophic Success: The Hunt for bin Laden and the Over-Reliance on SOF,” (with Rob Haswell), at APSA, Philadelphia, PA, September 2024
“Losing the Good War: Obama and Afghanistan,” (with Michael Vanderlune) at the 13th Annual Presidential Conference, The Barack Obama Presidency: Hope and Change, Long Island, NY, April 2023
“Becoming a Brutal Oppressor: Policy towards Natives in the Early Republic,” at APSA, Montreal, CA, September 2022
“America’s Selective Expansion,” at APSA, Seattle, WA, September 2021
“From the Barbary Pirates to ISIS: America’s Long History of Fighting State-Sponsored Terrorism” (with Jordan Miller), at APSA, Washington, DC, September 2019
“The Politics of War Powers: The Cold War,” at Shawnee Trail Conference, Kinder Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, April 2019
“War Powers in the Washington, Jefferson, and Madison Administrations,” at APSA, Boston, MA, September 2018
“The Politics of War Powers,” at APSA, San Francisco, CA, September 2017
“The Red Line: Obama’s Foreign Policy Dilemma in Syria,” at APSA, San Francisco, CA, September 2017 (with Andy Stravers)
“Terrorism and the 21st Century: Is the Imperial Presidency Here to Stay?,” at NEPSA Annual Conference, Providence, RI, April 2017
“Montesquieu’s Constitutionalism,” at NEPSA Annual Conference, Providence, RI, April 2017
“A New World Order: The End of Communism and the Continuation of Unilateral Executive Action,” at SPSA Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, January 2017.
“The Oracle: Montesquieu and the American Constitution,” at NEPSA Annual Conference, Newport, RI, April 2016
“Democratic Peace Theory, Montesquieu, and Public Choice,” at SPSA Annual Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 2016 (with Chad Van Schoelandt)
“Monarchy, Republics, and Moderate Government: Debating Montesquieu’s Role in America’s Constitutional Development,” at SPSA Annual Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 2016
“Montesquieu and Democratic Peace Theory,” at Cosmos and Taxis Annual Conference, Rochester, USA, May 2015
“Virtuous Citizen or Vicious Misanthrope?: Rousseau and Smith on the Relationship between Commerce and Morality,” at APT National Conference, Madison, USA, October 2014 (with co-author Lauren Hall)
“Prerogative Power and Perpetual War: Taming the Prince in the Age of Terror,” at MPSA Annual Conference, Chicago, USA, April 2014
“The Limits of Consent: Montesquieu’s Response to Social Contract Theory,” at NPSA Annual Conference, Boston, USA, November 2012
“Democracy Wasn’t Built in a Day: What Modern Democracies Can Learn from Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws,” at the MPSA Annual Conference, Chicago, USA, April 2011
“What’s the Difference between a Hockey Mom and a Pit Bull?: Presentations of Palin and Gender Stereotypes in the 2008 Presidential Election,” at the APSA National Conference, Toronto, Canada, September 2009
“The Uses and Abuses of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Rousseau’s Influence on the French Revolution,” at the MPSA Annual Conference, Chicago, USA, April 2009
“The Birth of Liberty: Liberalism and Republicanism in the American Founding,” at the MPSA Annual Conference, Chicago, USA, April 2009
“Rousseau’s Utopia: A Careful Examination of Rousseau’s Social Contract,” at the SPSA Annual Conference, New Orleans, USA, January 2009
“From the Zoon Politicon to the Liberal Democratic: How the Idea of Liberty Has Changed Throughout Western History,” at CIRCEM’s lecture series, Ottawa, Canada, August 2008
“The Subversive Power of Affluence,” at the MPSA Annual Conference, Chicago, USA, April 2008
“Montesquieu and Rousseau on the Nature of Corruption,” at the SWPSA Annual Conference, Las Vegas, USA, March 2008
Other Conference Activity
Discussant for “Montesquieu and Rome,” at APSA Annual Conference, Washington, DC, September 2019
Discussant for “Property Rights Across Cultures and Theoretical Foundations,” at SPSA Annual Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, January, 2016
Critic for “Author Meets Critics: Jacob Levy’s Rational, Pluralism, and Freedom,” at APSA National Conference, San Francisco, September 2015
Discussant for “New Issues in Presidential Politics I,” at MPSA Annual Conference, Chicago, USA, April 2014
Discussant for “Arendt, and the Poetics of Cosmopolitanism and Bureaucracy,” at NPSA Annual Conference, Boston, USA, November 2012
Discussant for “Democracy and Elitism,” at APSA National Conference, New Orleans, USA, August 2012
Invited Talks
“The Rise of the Unilateral Executive: Why Trump’s Defeat Won’t Solve the Problem,” at Georgia Institute of Technology, virtual, February 2021
“The Terror Presidency: An Increasingly Secretive and Dangerous Branch,” at the University of Calgary, virtual, November 2020
“The Terror Presidency: An Increasingly Secretive and Dangerous Branch,” at Western University, virtual, November 2020
“The Constitution at War,” at Rochester Institute of Technology, September 2020
“The Terror Presidency: An Increasingly Secretive and Dangerous Branch,” at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, March 2020
“The Soleimani Strike and the Politics of War Powers,” at King’s College, New York City, February 2020
The Politics of War Powers: Was the Assassination of Qasim Soleimani Legal?,” at Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, January 2020
The Politics of War Powers: The Theory and History of Presidential Unilateralism,” at Cato, Washington, D.C., January 2020
“Liberals and Radicals: How European Thought Influenced the American Revolution,” at Faulkner University, Montgomery, Alabama, June 2019.
“The Politics of War Powers,” presented at SUNY, Geneseo, March, 2019.
“The Terror Presidency,” presented at Queen’s University for The Institute for Liberal Studies, November, 2018.
“Montesquieu and Capitalist Peace Theory,” presented at the Stan McKenzie Salon series, at Rochester Institute of Technology, December, 2015.
“Montesquieu and the Democratic Peace,” presented at the University of Arizona, March, 2015.
“Capitalist Peace Theory and American Foreign Policy: A New Way Forward,” presented at The Institute for Liberal Studies Conference, in Toronto, Canada, March, 2014.
Research Experience
Visiting Researcher at The Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Citizenship and Minorities (CIRCEM) at The University of Ottawa (April 2011-April 2012), Ottawa, Canada
Research Assistant at The Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College(June 2007-present), in Claremont, USA
Invited Scholar at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales (EHESS)(January 2010-June 2010), Paris, France
Invited Researcher at The Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Citizenship and Minorities (CIRCEM), at The University of Ottawa(May 2008-August 2008), Ottawa, Canada
Research Assistant at The Claremont Institute (September 2006-November 2007), in Claremont, USA
Grants and Fellowships
October 2018
Book Subvention, College of Liberal Arts, RIT
January 2018
Research Support, Institute for Humane Studies
May 2016
National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity Scholarship, RIT
March 2016
Salvatori Workshop on Montesquieu and Religion in The Spirit of the Laws, Claremont McKenna College
March 2016
Miller Fellowship, College of Liberal Arts, RIT
December 2015
Faculty Research Fund, College of Liberal Arts, RIT
November 2015
Hayek Travel Award, IHS
November 2015
Artinian Travel Award, Southern Political Science Association
March 2014
COLA Senior/Junior Research Grant, RIT
January 2014
Seed Funding from the Grant Writer’s Bootcamp, RIT
June 2010
Jack Miller Center Summer Institute
April 2008
Earhart Fellowship
August 2008
Salvatori Center Graduate Student Grant
April 2006
Canada Study Grant for Females Pursuing Doctoral Studies
August 2005
Ontario Student Opportunity Grant
Sarah Burns 