author
Westel Woodbury Willoughby
1867–1945
A pioneering political scientist and constitutional scholar, he helped shape political science as a university discipline in the United States. His work ranged from theories of the state to detailed studies of constitutional law and the Supreme Court.
1 Audiobook
Government and Administration of the United States
by Westel Woodbury Willoughby, William F. (William Franklin) Willoughby
About the author
Born in 1867, Westel Woodbury Willoughby studied at Johns Hopkins University, earning his A.B. in 1888 and his Ph.D. in 1891. He spent most of his career at Johns Hopkins, where he became a professor and helped establish its first department of political science.
Willoughby is remembered as an early builder of political science as a formal academic field in America. He was also associated with the founding generation of the American Political Science Association, and his scholarship focused especially on constitutional law, political theory, and the structure of the modern state.
His books include The Nature of the State, The American Constitutional System, and The Constitutional Law of the United States. Taken together, his writing shows a scholar deeply interested in how governments justify their power, organize authority, and interpret constitutions in practice.