Biography

David C. Hendrickson is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Colorado College, where he taught from 1983 to 2020.

Hendrickson was chair of the Political Science Department in 2000–2003 and 2017–2018. He received a Ph.D. in Political Science in 1982 from Johns Hopkins University.

He attended Colorado College from 1971 to 1976. Although a history major, he took many courses in the Political Science Department, to which he returned as a teacher in 1983. He received tenure in 1990, became a full professor in 1996, and was Robert J. Fox Distinguished Service Professor from 2004 to 2009. He directed the journalism minor from 2003 to 2017. In 2018, he received the Gresham Riley Award from the Colorado College Alumni Association for outstanding service, commitment, and accomplishment.

Hendrickson is the author of eleven books, including Restraining Power (2026), The Great League of Peace and Power (2026), Freedom, Independence, Peace (2022), Republic in Peril (2018), Union, Nation, or Empire (2009), Peace Pact (2003), Reforming Defense (1988), and The Future of American Strategy (1987). He wrote three books with his former Johns Hopkins professor, Robert W. Tucker: The Imperial Temptation (1992), Empire of Liberty (1990), and The Fall of the First British Empire (1982).

He was the Whitney H. Shepardson Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in 1991–92 and a member of the Council from 1995 to 2020. He served on the editorial board of Ethics & International Affairs and reviewed books for Foreign Affairs. His essays have appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, The National Interest, Foreign Affairs, World Policy Journal, Orbis, and Survival.

He may be reached at dhendrickson@coloradocollege.edu.