I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Ohio State University, where I specialize in political theory and the history of political thought. I am also the Research Coordinator at FIDE – North America and affiliated with the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA).
My dissertation recovers a neglected tradition of Dutch democratic republicanism through the work of Johan and Pieter de la Court, Franciscus van den Enden, and Baruch Spinoza. It demonstrates that these thinkers developed an egalitarian conception of popular sovereignty that sought to enhance both the political and economic freedom of ordinary people, while also showing how their democratic thought emerged through and alongside material and colonial dependence.
My research on contemporary challenges to oligarchic domination and democratic freedom has appeared in Perspectives on Politics.
Prior to joining Ohio State, I received an MA in Social Sciences (2021) from the University of Chicago and a dual BA in Sociology and Philosophy (2020) from West Virginia University.
I can be reached at trommelen.1[at]osu.edu