Joshua Mitchell is a Washington Fellow at The Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life. His current research focuses on identity politics and the tradition of Western political thought.

Mitchell is currently professor of political theory at Georgetown University. From 2002-05, he was the Chairman of the Government Department. In 2005, he was on the start-team for Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in Doha Qatar, and has taught courses there periodically for the past 15 years. During the 2008-10 academic years, Mitchell took leave from Georgetown and became the Acting Chancellor of The American University of Iraq - Sulaimani. He has been a Visiting Fellow in American Political Thought at The Heritage Foundation.

He is author numerous books, including: Not by Reason Alone: Religion, History, and Identity in Early Modern Political Thought (University of Chicago Press, 1993), The Fragility of Freedom: Tocqueville on Religion, Democracy, and American Future (University of Chicago Press, 1995), Plato's Fable: On the Mortal Condition in Shadowy Times (Princeton University Press, 2006), Tocqueville in Arabia: Dilemmas in the Democratic Age (University of Chicago Press, 2013). His most recent book is American Awakening: Identity Politics and Other Afflictions of Our Time (Encounter Books, 2020). His next book project is entitled The Gentle Seduction of Tyranny.

In addition, Mitchell is an avid conservationist, working to restore his small forest on the Eastern Shore, and working to develop the next generation of solar-electric sailboats.

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