John M. Dunn

John M. Dunn is emeritus Professor of Political Theory at King's College, University of Cambridge. Dunn's work focuses on applying a historical perspective to modern political theory. His early work focused upon the careful reconstruction of the political thought of John Locke.  Much of his subsequent work,  has tackled substantive issues in political theory, although his historical sense continues to inform a certain skepticism about the degree to which politics is ultimately amenable to reason. He is the author of The Cunning of Unreason (2001), a work that discusses how the limits of human knowledge and rationality prevent democratic republicanism from achieving all that it promises. His reflections upon the vicissitudes of democracy as a political ideal have continued with Setting the People Free: the Story of Democracy (2005) and Breaking Democracy's Spell (2014).