Peter C. Caldwell

Peter C. Caldwell is the Samuel G. McCann Professor of History at Rice University and Director of the Program in Politics, Law, and Social Thought. He specializes in modern European history with a focus on Germany, constitutionalism, welfare state development, and political thought. His research spans Weimar Republic legal crises, postwar West Germany, and 19th/20th-century intellectual movements.

Education: PhD (1993), MA (1989), and BA (1987) from Cornell University, New York University. Awards include the George R. Brown Award for Teaching (2016) and Humboldt Fellowship. He has authored/co-authored major works like Democracy, Capitalism, and the Welfare State (2019) and Germany Since 1945 (2018, 2023 revision).

Teaching focuses on European political history, comparative welfare states, and 19th-century political thought. Current research examines democratic rhetoric in contemporary Mexican politics and authoritarian constitutionalism. Advised over a dozen undergraduate theses on topics ranging from Weimar Republic legal theory to Cold War historiography.

Publications span German constitutional history, Cold War dynamics, and East German politics. His work bridges legal, economic, and cultural dimensions of modern European history with interdisciplinary approaches to political theory.