Dennis F. Thompson

Who is Dennis F. Thompson?

Dennis Frank Thompson is a political scientist and professor at Harvard University, where he founded the university-wide Center for Ethics and the Professions. Thompson is known for his pioneering work in the fields of both political ethics and democratic theory. According to a recent appraisal, he has become “influential within the world of political theory" by offering “greater concrete political thought than Rawls” and by showing “an atypical grasp, for a political theorist, of the real political world.”

Thompson is a leading proponent of the institutional approach to political ethics, which gives less attention to individual vices and more to institutional ones. His approach has stimulated new work on institutional corruption. Thompson's proposal to establish an independent body to regulate congressional ethics has been widely endorsed, though not by many members of the United States Congress. However, in March 2008, the U.S. House created a pared down version of such a body--the Office of Congressional Ethics.