Public lecture by Dr. James W. Ingram: “Is There a Logic to Politics?”

On June 20, 2018 at Ilia State University’s Ligamus book house, SDSU Political Science lecturer Dr. James Ingram delivered the lecture, “Is There a Logic to Politics?" The lecture brought together Max Weber's famous "Science as a Vocation" and "Politics as a Vocation" lectures into one synthesis. “The lecture will contend that politics are logical, and that they can thus be subjected to the scientific method, enabling us to ensure that politics works toward the goals that humanity needs to accomplish", noted Dr. Ingram. The lecture was widely attended by students, staff, MCC/MCA representatives and members of the public.

Ingram began his career at SDSU in spring 1993, and has taught there continuously ever since. Ingram has taught over 200 different sections of Political Science and began his 16th new course at SDSU in spring 2018, POLS 346 (Law and the Political System). Ingram has won many teaching awards over the years in recognition of his efforts on behalf of his students.

Ingram’s doctoral dissertation won the American Political Science Association’s Urban Politics Dissertation of the Year Award for 2008. His thesis focused on local constitutional reform. As part of his fieldwork he worked for charter commissions in Los Angeles and San Diego and participated in giving both cities strong-mayor charters patterned on the U.S. constitution. He was a pro bono volunteer, a paid staffer, and a professional consultant on charter change for the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as for the San Diego Citizen Commission. He has also consulted for the California cities of Fallbrook, Pasadena and Sacramento on issues of charter reform.

Ingram has published monographs and articles on charter change, and is the only scholar to both be asked to write and to have written a chapter for both volumes of The Development of Los Angeles City Government: an Institutional History, 1850-2000. Ingram regularly comments on local, state and national politics for NPR and local TV news stations in San Diego. He also regularly writes opinion pieces on politics and government for the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper.