Juman Kim is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of the Program in Law and American Civilization at Towson University. He is a political theorist whose research and teaching interests range widely over ancient and modern political thought, continental philosophy, contemporary and comparative political theory, and American constitutional law. His current themes and questions revolve around democratic citizenship, identity and membership, and political ethos and pathos.
His current book project, Living with Frustration: The Quest for a Democratic Citizenship of Perseverance, which builds on his dissertation, examines six related yet distinct aspects of democratic frustration arising from the respective democratic aspirations including mutual respect, popular sovereignty, and progress.
Recently, he has published "Tempering Senses of Superiority" (AJPS 2024), which draws on Aristotle to examine the problem of mutual disrespect and civic enmity in modern democracies, and translated two seminal scholarly works—one by Rogers Smith and the other by the late Tony Judt—into Korean.
Kim holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and both M.A. & B.A. degrees from Yonsei University. Previously, he taught political theory and public law at the Korea Air Force Academy, Penn, Rutgers University-Camden, and the University of Oregon.
Originally from Seoul, he has a strong scholarly and personal interest in Korea and the Korean Peninsula as well as in Philadelphia, a place he considers his intellectual home. On a side note, he and his family including Apollo—their three-year-old Corgi from Philadelphia—are passionate Philly sports fans.