Francis Coker - Academic Work

Academic Work

Coker published his first book, Organismic Theories of the State in 1910. In the work, Coker criticized contemporary theories of the state as a unitary actor, and argued that "such theories ultimately failed." The book drew a somewhat frosty response, and L.L. Bernard wrote in the American Journal of Sociology that Coker "missed the point". Nonetheless, the book gained a following and is still cited today.

Coker's other major theoretical work was Recent Political Thought published in 1934. The book examined the development of political ideas from the mid-nineteenth century until the early 1930s. The book primarily focused on liberal democracy and both leftist and rightist challenges to it. Without firmly taking a position on democracy in the book, Coker did conclude that liberal democracy "was a more reasonable political alternative than critics on either side of the political spectrum appreciate." Recent Political Thought was generally well received and one reviewer in the American Journal of International Law called the work "a service to all teachers of political theory". Similarly, Francis Wilson, writing in the American Political Science Review called the book "the best of the works on current political thinking."

Coker also edited several works on political theory, which became "standard anthologies in political theory courses," and wrote numerous articles in journals and other publications. The central themes in all of his work were theories of the state, and the nature of liberal democracy.