Ian MacMullen

Ian MacMullen is a Professor in the Department of Political Studies and the School of Political Studies, where he also serves as Director of Student Engagement.

Biography

Ian MacMullen is a political theorist whose main scholarly research and teaching interests lie in the politics of education, citizenship, and/or religious and cultural pluralism. He is the author of two books. Civics Beyond Critics: Character Education in a Liberal Democracy (Oxford Political Theory series, Oxford University Press, 2015) explores the ways in which civic education in a liberal democracy could and should shape children’s values, beliefs, preferences, habits, identities, and sentiments. Faith in Schools? Autonomy, Citizenship, and Religious Education in the Liberal State (Princeton University Press, 2007) articulates a vision of liberal government in a multireligious society through a consideration of the fundamental principles of public education policy. Ian’s articles have been published in leading journals including the Journal of Political Philosophy, Journal of Politics, Theory and Research in Education, and Journal of Social Philosophy.

Ian’s current research centers on the concept of civic humility: he is exploring the many ways in which epistemic challenges – some timeless but oft neglected, others a result of the contemporary information ecosystem – could and should prompt citizens to have less confidence in their political beliefs than many people seemingly do. And he aims to trace the practical implications – for the substantive goals, strategy, and tone of citizens’ political behavior – of the different types of epistemic humility that these challenges may warrant. Ian’s guiding hypothesis is that civic humility has the potential to be one important part of the solution to the polarized, hard-ball, and shrill nature of much contemporary democratic politics. 

Ian arrived at Queen’s University in 2026 after nearly two decades as a faculty member and academic administrator at several institutions in the United States. Most recently, he was a resident scholar in the SNF Paideia Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Before that, Ian served Duke University as Assistant Vice Provost in the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE), where he led OUE’s Division of Intellectual Community. Before Duke, Ian was a tenured Associate Professor of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University and his B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University in his native England.