Hillsdale College Ph.D. Graduate Stephen Goniprow Receives Award for Dissertation on Global Justice Theory
Goniprow received the American Political Science Association’s award for the Best Dissertation in American Political Thought.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale College Ph.D. graduate Stephen Goniprow recently received the American Political Science Association’s award for the Best Dissertation in American Political Thought. Goniprow was presented with the award for his dissertation on global justice theory earlier this month at the 2025 APSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“Dr. Steve Goniprow wrote an excellent dissertation, one that I learned a great deal from,” said Kevin Slack, associate professor of politics, who served as Goniprow’s dissertation chair. “The sheer volume of scholars in the field of global justice theory is daunting, but Steve showed mastery of that field. It was rewarding to see his effort recognized with this prestigious award.”
The award is given biennially for the best dissertation in American political thought that was completed, successfully defended, and submitted in the previous two years. Goniprow received his Ph.D. from Hillsdale’s Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship in 2024. His dissertation was titled “An Introduction to Global Justice Theory.”
“Dr. Steve Goniprow wrote an excellent dissertation, one that I learned a great deal from. The sheer volume of scholars in the field of global justice theory is daunting, but Steve showed mastery of that field. It was rewarding to see his effort recognized with this prestigious award.”
Goniprow argues in his dissertation that the global justice project is “animated by deep resentment over an unhappy truth: we live in a world where one’s nationality largely determines an individual’s opportunities and life prospects.”
“For global justice theorists, it is morally intolerable that Western individuals enjoy the undeserved privilege of living in material abundance as others, through no fault of their own, are sentenced to a life of almost inescapable destitution,” Goniprow said. “Global justice thinkers are thus united in the aspiration to bring a different kind of world into being — an egalitarian world where one’s choices matter more to their success, and the accident of birthplace matters less. Indeed, for many theorists, global justice will be achieved in all its perfection only on that day when ‘a child born in rural Mozambique would be statistically as likely to become an investment banker as the child of a Swiss banker.’”
To bring such a world into being, Goniprow maintains, global justice thinkers call for — among other things — wealth transfers from the West to the Third World, and open borders.
Kevin Slack, associate professor of politics, served as Goniprow’s dissertation chair. Thomas West, professor of politics, and John Grant, associate professor and chairman of politics, served as readers. Ronald Pestritto, dean of the graduate school and professor of politics, and Joseph Postell, associate professor of politics, also served on Goniprow’s dissertation defense panel.
Since 2018, the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship has awarded twenty-five doctoral degrees in politics. As of 2025, 88% are working as professors, headmasters, teachers, or academic administrators. Within the last year, eight doctoral graduates and ABD students have secured new full-time positions in higher education.
- More information about the award
- Headshot of Goniprow
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About the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship
The Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship was founded in 2010 “to educate students in the language of American constitutionalism and to place its graduates in positions of public service in politics, in journalism, in the Academy, and elsewhere.” Its courses of study, which culminate in either a Master of Arts or a Doctor of Philosophy in Politics, are centered around the core texts from the Western and American traditions of political thought — what Thomas Jefferson called the “elementary books of public right.” All admitted students received a full-tuition scholarship and admitted Ph.D. students receive an additional living stipend. For more information, gradschool.hillsdale.edu.