Kevin Vallier

I’m a political philosopher specializing in trust, polarization, and the foundations of liberal democracy in deeply diverse societies. My research integrates normative political philosophy with empirical social science to understand how open societies sustain cooperation across moral and religious differences.

I am Professor of Philosophy and Director of Research at the Institute for American Constitutional Thought and Leadership (University of Toledo). I completed my PhD at the University of Arizona in 2011 under Gerald Gaus.

Research

My work develops a systematic account of political reconciliation through two connected projects.

First, I build a unified theory of social trust that explains how norm-governed cooperation emerges in pluralistic societies. My monographs Must Politics Be War? (2019) and Trust in a Polarized Age (2020) established predictions about trust and norms that I tested as Co-PI with Cristina Bicchieri on a $2.5 million Templeton Foundation grant.

Second, I examine whether religious alternatives to liberalism can meet liberal ideals on their own terms. In Liberal Politics and Public Faith (2014), I defended robust religious exemptions within liberal democracy. All the Kingdoms of the World (2023) takes this inquiry further, analyzing Catholic integralism, Sunni Islamic political theology, and neo-Confucianism as potential alternatives to liberal reconciliation.

Recognition

I’ve published four monographs, five edited volumes, and over 67 peer-reviewed articles in venues including American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Political Philosophy, and Philosophical Studies. I won the 2023 Sanders Prize in Philosophy of Religion and authored Stanford Encyclopedia entries on public justification and neoliberalism.