Dr. Preston King

Born in Albany, Georgia, Preston King earned a Bachelor of Arts (Phi Beta Kappa) from Fisk University, a Master of Science (Mark of Distinction), and a Doctor of Philosophy from the London School of Economics (University of London). He lived abroad for nearly forty years and was also educated at the Universities of Vienna, Strasbourg, and Paris.

A distinguished professor of political science and philosophy, Dr. King concurrently holds visiting appointments at Morehouse and the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. He is professor emeritus at Lancaster University. In 2007, he served as a distinguished visiting professor of political science at Fisk University (2006) and at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia (2007). Dr. King held chairs at the University of Nairobi (1972-76), the University of New South Wales (1976-86) in Sydney, Australia, and at Lancaster University (1986-2001) in the Lake District, United Kingdom. In addition, he has held visiting professorships at McGill University in Montreal, Australian National University in Canberra, The London School of Economics, l'Institut des Relations Internationales in Yaoundé, Cameroon, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, and Emory University, Atlanta and the Auckland University, New Zealand.

A distinguished scholar and researcher, Dr. King is Chair of the Political Philosophy Research Committee of the International Political Science Association and founder and co-editor of the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

A prolific writer, he has authored many books, including "Fear of Power," "The Ideology of Order," "An African Winter," "Toleration," "Federalism and Federation," and "Thinking Past a Problem." He has also edited such books as "The History of Ideas," "The Challenge to Friendship in Modernity," "Trust in Reason," "Black Leaders and Ideologies in the South," and "Friendship in Politics."

Professor King's oeuvre revolves around the theorization of politics, institutionally, logically, and normatively. Out of this has emerged exploration of the increasingly ubiquitous notion of friendship, both in the ancient world and in modern politics and society. King theorizes that liberty is increasingly running into the sands of alienation, anomie, and escalating social tension. He believes ideals of freedom (especially as non-oppression) and entrepreneurialism (as sustained, local, and individual innovation) are indispensable. But he argues that there is no need to shift the post-modern paradigm more energetically in the direction of a friendship society grounded in open discussion, extensive social tolerance, avoidance of dogma, social and environmental care, and more bottom-up (or less top-down) modes of organization generally. Examples of these paradigms are buddy-pairing in schools, extensive one-on-one mentoring for teens, more cooperative enterprises in banking and finance, far more worker representation in service and industry, and a diminished unilateralism in international affairs.

Dr. King is currently working on several projects dealing with violence and nonviolence. King recently published a review of Nussbaum's On Anger; he has also co-authored, with Kipton Jensen, an essay on the "Beloved Community in Martin Luther King, Howard Thurman, and Josiah Royce." Presently, Dr. King is a scholar-in-residence with the Leadership Center at Morehouse College. King is a founding member of SOPHIA, which is a colloquium consortium in Atlanta.