Galston, William A. 1946- (William Arthur Galston)

PERSONAL:

Born January 17, 1946. Education: University of Chicago, Ph.D., 1973.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Maryland School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, 2101 Van Munching Hall, College Park, MD 20742. E-mail—bgalston@umd.edu.

CAREER:

University of Texas, Austin, professor of government; University of Maryland, College Park, Saul I. Stern Professor of Civic Engagement and director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, 1995—, director, Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Deputy assistant for domestic policy, Clinton Administration, 1993-95; executive director, National Commission on Civic Renewal. Senior advisor, Democratic Leadership Council; senior fellow, Brookings Institution. Former director of Economic and Social Programs, Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies, Washington, DC; former chief speech writer, John Anderson's National Unity campaign, issues director for Walter Mondale's presidential campaign, and senior advisor to Albert Gore, Jr., 1988. Founding board member, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 1995—, and chair of Task Force on Religion and Public Values. Military service: U.S. Marine Corps, became sergeant.

WRITINGS:

Kant and the Problem of History, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1975.

Justice and the Human Good, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1980.

(With John C. Obert) Down—Down—Down—on the Farm: The Farm Financial Crisis, a Background Paper, Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies (Washington, DC), 1985.

A Tough Row to Hoe: The 1985 Farm Bill and Beyond, Hamilton Press (Lanham, MD), 1985.

(With Mark J. Rovner) Southern Voices/Southern Views: A Report on Focus Groups Conducted by the Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies, The Center (Washington, DC), 1987.

(With Mark J. Rovner) One Year to Go: Citizen Attitudes in Iowa and New Hampshire; A Report on Focus Groups Conducted by the Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies, The Center (Washington, DC), 1987.

Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues, and Diversity in the Liberal State, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor, with John W. Chapman) Virtue, New York University Press (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Karen J. Baehler) Rural Development in the United States: Connecting Theory, Practice, and Possibilities, Island Press (Washington, DC), 1995.

Liberal Pluralism: The Implications of Value Pluralism for Political Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Public Matters: Essays on Politics, Policy, and Religion, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Lanham, MD), 2005.

The Practice of Liberal Pluralism, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Coauthor, Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation and What We Can Do About It, Brookings Press. Contributor of articles to periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Political scientist William A. Galston "is a political theorist who both studies and participates in American politics and domestic policy," stated a writer for the University of Maryland School of Public Policy Web site. "He cut his teeth," wrote Leslie Woodcock Tentler in Commonweal, "as issues director for the Mondale campaign in 1984—could there be a more chastening introduction to the national political stage—and was subsequently active in the Democratic Leadership Council, which launched the Clinton presidency." During the first term of President Bill Clinton, he served the administration as a special advisor on domestic policy and worked as executive director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal. He was also director of economic and social programs at the Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies in Washington, and worked for many other presidential campaigns, from John Anderson's third-party run in 1980 to Al Gore's bid for the presidency in 1992. Most recently, he joined the Brookings Institution as a senior fellow, where he works on questions of public philosophy. "Unlike other political scientists," he told a contributor to the Brookings Institution Web site, "my recent work has led me to conclude that political polarization has increased sharply over the past forty years. This phenomenon represents, not so much a shifting pattern of convictions in the population as a whole, but rather a changing distribution of those convictions between the political parties." His works, from Liberal Pluralism: The Implications of Value Pluralism for Political Theory and Practice to The Practice of Liberal Pluralism, consider the ways in which the increasing diversity of the electorate has complicated the political process in modern America.

For Galston, "liberal pluralism" is a philosophy that combines a limited vision of governmental interference in citizens' lives with the need for a strong state that can intervene in those lives when real need or disaster calls for it. "Save for the gravest of reasons, having literally to do with individual or collective survival, the state may not intrude on the sacred space of family, religion, and conscience," Tentler stated. "But the right to be left alone comes, as rights invariably do, with corresponding obligations." Among these are the obligation to tolerate the beliefs of others, even if those beliefs and convictions offend one's own deeply felt convictions. Such toleration, Galston believes, is becoming less and less common in today's politically charged atmosphere. "While the goods sought by individuals, families, and associations (including churches) overlap in some places," declared Richard Heyduck in a review of Liberal Pluralism published in the Journal of State and Church, "more often we see incommensurable goods. Given this plurality of accounts of the good, the role of the state is to ‘pursue a policy of maximum feasible accommodation, limited only by the core requirements of individual security and civic unity.’" "Liberal Pluralism should significantly advance the discussion of these topics," David McCabe declared in Commonweal, "and help create, if not consensus, at least greater clarity about how we can all get along in an increasingly diverse society."

The Practice of Liberal Pluralism is a sequel to Liberal Pluralism, and it is "a welcome and necessary addition," wrote a Harvard Law Review contributor, "to contemporary discussions regarding the reach of pluralism and its implications for the good life." "In sum," Avery Plaw concluded in the International Journal of Ethics, "Galston's book offers a remarkably clear and effective exposition and defense of Liberal Pluralism, particularly in contrast with mainstream neutralist forms of liberalism."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Journal of Agricultural Economics, November, 1995, Mark S. Henry, review of Rural Development in the United States: Connecting Theory, Practice, and Possibilities, p. 1072.

American Political Science Review, December, 1992, Jeremy Waldron, review of Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues, and Diversity in the Liberal State, p. 1043.

American Spectator, December, 1993, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 31.

Canadian Journal of Law and Society, spring, 1993, J.S. Andrews, review of Liberal Purposes.

Canadian Journal of Political Science, June, 1992, Melissa S. Williams, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 416.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, March, 1992, J.D. Schwartz, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 1156; January, 2003, D. Schultz, review of Liberal Pluralism: The Implications of Value Pluralism for Political Theory and Practice, p. 902; September, 2005, P. Coby, review of The Practice of Liberal Pluralism, p. 189.

Commonweal, July 17, 1992, R. Bruce Douglass, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 23; February 28, 2003, "Putting Up with Each Other," p. 26; February 24, 2006, "Enlarging the Middle," p. 34.

Contemporary Sociology, September, 1993, Alan Woolfolk, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 679.

Economic Geography, October, 1996, review of Rural Development in the United States, p. 453.

Ethics, January, 1993, Richard Kraut, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 393; April, 2004, Carmen Pavel, review of Liberal Pluralism, p. 615.

George Washington Law Review, August, 1993, Mary Ann Glendon, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 1955.

Harvard Law Review, December, 2002, review of Liberal Pluralism, p. 745; June, 2005, review of The Practice of Liberal Pluralism, p. 2031.

International Journal of Ethics, summer, 2003, Avery Plaw, review of Liberal Pluralism.

Journal of Economic Literature, December, 1995, review of Rural Development in the United States, p. 2150.

Journal of Philosophy, January, 1993, George Sher, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 49.

Journal of Politics, November, 1992, Lawrence C. Becker, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 1173.

Journal of Religion, July, 1993, Christopher Beem, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 434.

Philosophical Review, January, 2004, Harry Brighouse, review of Liberal Pluralism, p. 127.

Planning, August, 1995, Harold Henderson, review of Rural Development in the United States, p. 29.

Political Theory, February, 1993, Alan Ryan, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 138; December, 2003, Robert B. Pippin, review of Liberal Pluralism, p. 891.

Professional Geographer, May, 1996, Everett G. Smith, review of Rural Development in the United States, p. 224.

Public Interest, summer, 2002, "Liberalism and Diversity."

Reason, November, 2003, review of Liberal Pluralism, p. 53.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 2005, review of Public Matters: Essays on Politics, Policy, and Religion; August, 2006, review of Liberal Pluralism.

Res Publica, summer, 2005, Emanuela Ceva, review of Liberal Pluralism.

Review of Metaphysics, September, 1992, Paul Gottfried, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 153.

Review of Politics, spring, 1994, Margaret Moore, review of Liberal Purposes.

Rural Sociology, winter, 1995, Mildred Warner, review of Rural Development in the United States.

Second Opinion, October, 1993, Agnes Coveney, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 133.

Social Science Quarterly, March, 1993, Eldon J. Eisenach, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 224.

Stanford Law Review, May, 1992, Linda R. Hirshman, review of Liberal Purposes, p. 1133.

Theoria, June, 2003, "Liberalism and Value Pluralism," p. 128.

ONLINE

Brookings Institution Web site,http://www.brookings.edu/ (February 26, 2008), "William A. Galston Appointed Brookings Senior Fellow."

Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement Web site,http://www.civicyouth.org/ (February 26, 2008), "William A. Galston."

University of Maryland, School of Public Policy Web site,http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/ (February 26, 2008), "William Galston."