Rights, Liberties, Constitutions, States
Nation-states are central to modern politics. Internally, they are typically considered as the guarantors of order, security, and rights, while also acting as dominating powers over the lives and liberties of citizens. Internationally, they are regarded as the rightful holders of national sovereignty and self-determination, though they are often the sources of conflicts, domination, and injustices. Both internally and externally, they have been the main sights of political and constitutional struggles in the modern era. Since the 1990s the forces of globalisation and other related developments have profoundly affected the relations between states and citizens, and between nation-states. The spread of transnational authoritarian practices across different regimes, and of illiberal and national-populist ideologies, have contributed to the reversal of the fin-de-siècle optimism about democratization and a peaceful multipolar international system, overcoming the legacies of colonialism and past dominations. Researchers in the Centre for Political Thought address questions of rights, liberties, and constitutional powers in the changed context of the 21st century. They consider the normative architecture of modern statism and its future trajectory within and beyond the nation state. They investigate whether alternative institutions and principles might be better suited to realising freedom, peace, and social justice in a globalised world.
|
|
Dr Dario CastiglioneCentre Co-DirectorDario Castiglione’s main areas of research comprise democratic theory and the history of early modern political philosophy. He has written on representation, citizenship and constitutionalism; theories of civil society and social capital; the constitutional nature of the European Union; the Scottish Enlightenment, Hume and Mandeville; and 18th-century theories of the social contract and of their crittiques, and early modern scepticism. His main current research interests are on representation and political legitimacy; and the way in which political and conceptual discourses translates across linguistic and cultural divides |
|
|
Professor Robert LambCentre Co-DirectorRobert Lamb is interested in the history of political ideas, contemporary political theory, and philosophical issues related to the interpretation and understanding of texts. The main focus of his research is the intellectual tradition of modern liberalism – understood very broadly, and from the eighteenth century to the present – and its central political commitments. His published work has concerned historical and philosophical understandings of moral and political concepts such as human rights, property, equality, and freedom, and writers such as Locke, Paine, Rawls, and Rorty. His current research looks at the idea of political hope. |
|
|
Professor Sandra KrögerMost of my research addresses questions related to democracy and social justice in the EU. After studying the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in the field of social inclusion, and other forms of soft law, I became interested in electoral and non-electoral forms of political representation, on the one hand, and the norms that should be underlying the institutional design of representative institutions in the EU, on the other. More recently, I have become interested in differentiated integration in the EU, and how it could be institutionalised in a democratic and fair way. My most recent research develops some of the earlier questions further by investigating the ethics of democratic representation as well as questions linked to digital democracy and dataethics. |
|
|
Dr Catherine OwenCatherine Owen’s main research interests concern participatory governance under authoritarianism, with a focus on Russia and China. Dr Owen’s work explores the ways in which citizens are encouraged to participate in local policy-making and delivery in Russia and China. This research has been published in a variety of articles, and is the subject of an ongoing book manuscript. In addition to this focus, she has also pursued research on decolonial and non-Western approaches to knowledge production in International Relations. |
|
|
Dr Alex PrichardAlex Prichard’s research lies at the intersection of International Relations, political theory and anarchist studies. His work focuses on anarchist thought and anarchist constitutional politics in particular, as well as points at intersections and disagreements in anarchist and Marxist philosophies. In addition to this, Dr Prichard is interested in the ethics and phenomenology of war and violence, republican political theory, and co-production methods in political philosophy. In 2012 he co-founded, and now co-edits, the monograph series Contemporary Anarchist Studies, published by Manchester University Press. |
|
|
Dr Andrew SchaapAndrew Schaap’s main area of research is contemporary political theory. His book Political Reconciliation drew on the thought of Hannah Arendt to conceptualize reconciliation as a political undertaking in societies divided by a history of state violence. His is broadly interested in theories of radical democracy, and particularly in the politics of migration, racism and anti-racist politics, political struggles of indigenous peoples, transitional justice, politics and literature, and political thought of the twentieth century. |
|
|
Dr Kate Goldie TownsendKate Goldie Townsend is a normative political theorist who takes an interdisciplinary approach to interpreting social and political phenomena. She is particularly interested in injustices affecting children and women. She tries to make sense of the world as it is, and to respond to injustices with feasible ideals; her work is methodologically feminist in this respect. Townsend is currently working on two research projects. The first project has two main aims: to defend all children’s right to genital integrity; and to expose moral inconsistencies in current legislation on child genital cutting. The second project examines the normative and political tensions that emerge if both children’s rights and women’s rights are taken seriously within the context of increasing reliance on science and experts to decide policy and inform public morality. She is particularly interested in how scientifically informed understanding about what is in children’s (including foetuses’ and infants’) interest, impacts on norms and policies concerning perinatal women’s bodies. She has recently joined the steering committee for the Children and Young People's Wellbeing @ Exeter Research Network. |
Dario Castiglione
- 'The Performativity of Political Representation: Constructing the Public, Constructing the Democratic Subject', in Paula Diehl, and Michael Saward (eds), Bodies, Spaces, Claims: The Theory and Practice of Performing Political Representation (Oxford, 2024)
- 'Reversing authoritarianism in the EU: Transformative politics and the role of opposition', in Transition 2.0: Re-establishing Constitutional Democracy in EU Member States, 2023
- 2022. 'Representing the public', Jurisprudence, 13(3), 436–442.
- ‘The system of democratic representation and its normative principles’, in eds. Maurizio Cotta and Federico Russo, Research Handbook on Political Representation, Edward Elgar Publishing (2020), pp. 16-35.
- From Maastricht to Brexit: Democracy in Europe’s Mixed-Polity, Rowan and Littlefield International (co-authored with Richard Bellamy), (2019)
- ‘Rethinking Representation: Eight Theoretical Issues and a Postscript’ (with Mark Warren), in eds. Lisa Disch, Nadia Urbinati, and Mathijs van de Sande, The Constructivist Turn in Representation, Edinburgh University Press (2019), pp. 21-47
- Creating Political Presence: The New Politics of Representation (co-edited with Johannes Pollack), Chicago University Press, 2018.
- Institutional Diversity in Self-governing Societies (co-edited with Filippo Sabetti), Rowan and Littelfield, Lexington Books, 2017
- Constitutional Politics in the EU: The Convention Moment and its Aftermath (et. al), Palgrave, 2007.
Sandra Kröger
- Bellamy, R., & Kröger, S. (2024). Truthfulness, pluralism and the ethics of democratic representation. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 27(3), 1023-1043.
- Kröger, Sandra, and Richard Bellamy. (2024), 'Data Ethics: Normative Principles and Their Regulatory Challenges', in Giovanni De Gregorio, Oreste Pollicino, and Peggy Valcke (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Digital Constitutionalism (Oxford, 2024)
- Bellamy, R. and Kröger, S. (2023) Differentiated integration as a fair scheme of cooperation. Review of Social Economy, 81(1), 61-83.
- Bellamy, R. and Kröger, S. (2021) Countering Democratic Backsliding by EU Member States: Constitutional Pluralism and ‘Value’ Differentiated Integration. Swiss Political Science Review 27(3), 619-636.
- Bellamy, R. and Kröger, S. (2017) A demoi-cratic justification of differentiated integration in a heterogeneous EU, Journal of European Integration, 39(5), 625-639.
Robert Lamb
- Property (Polity, 2020)
- ‘Pragmatism, Practices, and Human Rights’, Review of International Studies 45:4 (2019), 550-568
- ‘Historicising the Idea of Human Rights’, Political Studies 67:1 (2019), 100-115
- Thomas Paine and the Idea of Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
Catherine Owen
- Hierarchies and Contexts in International Relations Knowledge Production, in Handbook of Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics, Oxford University Press, 2025.
- Cianetti, L., Del Panta, G., & Owen, C. (2025). What is a “regime”? Three definitions and their implications for the future of regime studies. Democratization, 1–23.
- Loke, Beverley, and Catherine Owen. “A Contextual Approach to Decolonising IR: Interrogating Knowledge Production Hierarchies.” Review of International Studies, 2024, 1–21.
- Qin, X., Owen, C. The CCP, Campaign Governance and COVID-19: Evidence from Shanghai. Journal of Chinese Political Science 28, 619–644 (2023).
- Li, Zhu and Owen (2022) 'Participatory budgeting and the party: Generating ‘citizens orderly participation’ through party-building in Shanghai', Journal of Chinese Governance, 8(1):56-82..
- ‘Social Forces and Street-Level Governance in Shanghai: from Compliance to Participation in Recycling Regulations.’ The China Quarterly (2021) Pages 1-22. (with Qin X)
- ‘Active Citizens in a Weak State: “Self-Help” Groups and the Post-Soviet Neoliberal Subject in Contemporary Kyrgyzstan.’ Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies 14 (2020) Pages 464-464.
- ‘Governance and order-making in Central Asia: from illiberalism to post-liberalism?’ Central Asian Survey 39 (2020) Pages 420-437. (with Lottholz P, Heathershaw J, Ismailbekova A, Moldalieva J, McGlinchey E.)
- ‘Participatory Authoritarianism: from Bureaucratic Transformation to Civic Participation in Russia and China.’ Review of International Studies 43 (2020) Pages 1-20.
- ‘Book Review Daniel C. Mattingly The Art of Political Control in China.’ Perspectives on Politics, 18 (2020) Pages 1264-1266.
- ‘The Belt and Road Initiative’s Central Asian Contradictions.’ Current History 119 (2020) Pages 264-269.
- ‘The “Internationalisation Agenda” and the Rise of the Chinese University: Towards the Inevitable Erosion of Academic Freedom?’ The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 22 (2020) Pages 238-255.
- ‘Authoritarian conflict management in post-colonial Eurasia.’ Conflict, Security and Development 19 (2019) Pages 269-273. (with Heathershaw JD)
- ‘Centred Discourse, Decentred Practice: the Relational Production of Russian and Chinese 'Rising' Power in Central Asia.’ Third World Quarterly 40 (2019) Pages 1440-1458. (with Heathershaw JD, Cooley A.)
- ‘Civic Participation in a Hybrid Regime: Limited Pluralism in Policymaking and Delivery in Contemporary Russia.’ Government and Opposition 54 (2019) Pages 98-120. (with Bindman E.)
Alex Prichard
- "Anarchy". In Elgar Encyclopedia of International Relations. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025
- “Kenneth Waltz’s Kantian Moral Philosophy: ‘The Virtues of Anarchy’ Reconsidered.” International Theory 16, no. 3 (2024): 410–37.
- "Anarquismo [Anarchism]." In Teorías Críticas de Relaciones Internacionales, edited by Marta Íñiguez de Heredia Itziar Ruiz-Giménez, Ángela Iranzo. Valencia: Tirant Lo Blanch. 2024.
- 'Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865)', in Just War Thinkers Revisited, edited by Daniel R. Brunstetter, Cian O'Driscoll, Routledge 2024
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, War and Peace: On the Principle and Constitution of the Rights of Peoples, edited by Alex Prichard, AK Press 2022
- Anarchism: Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2022
- Anarchic Agreements: A Field Guide to Collective Organizing (with Ruth Kinna, Thomas Swann, and Seeds for Change), PM Press, 2022.
- ‘Proudhon's Mutualist Social Science’ in The Cambridge History of Socialism ed. Van der Linden M. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
- ‘Taking the state back out and bringing anarchism back in. A review of George Lawson's Anatomies of Revolutions.’ International Politics Reviews (In Press) (2021) Pages 1-7.
- ‘Anarchism and Global Ethics.’ in Routledge Handbook to Rethinking Ethics in International Relations ed. Schippers B. London: Routledge, 2020. Pages 25-39.
- ‘Introduction: Pluriversalisty, Convergence and Hybridity in the Global Left.’ Globalizations 17 (2020) Pages 759-765. (with Prichard A, Worth O)
- ‘Anarchism and Non-Domination. Journal of Political.’ Ideologies 24 (2019) Pages 221-240. (with Kinna R)
- ‘Liberal Pacification and the Phenomenology of Violence.’ International Studies Quarterly 63 (2019) Pages 199-212. (with Baron I, Havercroft J, Kamola I, Koomen J, Murphy J)
- ‘Occupy and the Constitution of Anarchy.’ Global Constitutionalism 8 (2019) Pages 357-390. (with Kinna R, Swann T.)
- ‘Anarchy, anarchism and multiplicity: Preface to a fuller dialogue with Rosenberg.’ International Relations 32 (2018) Pages 246-248.
Andrew Schaap
- Schaap, A., Kinna, R., Delanty, G., Hammond, M., & Thaler, M. (2025). Social dreaming and world building in the Anthropocene. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 1–26.
- ‘The after rights of the Citizen of the UK and its Colonies: who is the subject of the rights of the citizen in Britain’s hostile environment?,’ The International Journal of Human Rights (2024).
- Schaap, A., Weeks, K., Maiguascha, B. et al. The politics of precarity. Contemporary Political Theory 21, 142–173 (2022).
- ‘Inequality, Loneliness and Political Appearance: Picturing Radical Democracy with Hannah Arendt and Jacques Rancière’, Political Theory 49(1) 2021: 28-53.
- ‘“Do you not see the Reason for Yourself?” Political Withdrawal and the Experience of Epistemic Friction’, Political Studies, 68(3) 2020: 565-581
Kate Goldie Townsend
- "The child as right-bearer: protecting intersex children’s rights", In Expanding Intersex Studies, Edited Collection (under consideration by MUP).
- 2024. Genital Modifications in Prepubescent Minors: When May Clinicians Ethically Proceed? The American Journal of Bioethics 2024; 25 (7): 53–102.
- 2024. Townsend KG, Earp BD. Respecting bodily integrity and autonomy in pediatric populations. Clinical Ethics. 9(4):285-290.
- 2024. The child’s welfare interest-based right to bodily integrity. Clinical Ethics. 19(4):329-340.
- 2023. Culturally Diverse Societies and Genital Cutting Controversies. Res Publica 29(4):665-682. DOI
- 2023. Defending an inclusive right to genital and bodily integrity for children. International Journal of Impotence Research. 35(1):27-30.
- 2022. On becoming autonomous and "coercive cultural acts": a reply to Max Buckler. International Journal of Impotence Research. 35(1):35-37.
- 2019. The child’s right to genital integrity. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 46(7), 878-898. Abstract. DOI
Dario Castiglione
- 2023-2027: HORIZON-CL2-DEMOCRACY-01-Democracy: REDIRECT project; Principal Investigator for Exeter
-
1998-99: ESRC Research Grant on ‘Citizenship and sovereignty in a mixed polity’ (R000222446)
-
1994-97: ESRC Research Grant on ‘Principles and languages of the constitution of Europe’ (R000221170)
Catherine Owen
- In 2023, I was part of 'The Countering Kleptocracy Project', led by Prof John Heathershaw that was Runner Up in 'Outstanding Public Policy' category in the ESRC's national Celebrating Impact Awards.
On Wednesday 22 January 2025, the Centre for Political Thought and the Centre for Advanced International Studies organise a discussion of the recently published book World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order (CUP, 2024) with the participation of the authors: Jean-François Drolet, and Michael C. Williams; and of Bice Maiguashca and Alex Prichard as discussants.
.png){kind=link}
Dr Gregorio Bettiza interviewed Prof Jean-François Drolet, and Prof Michael C. Williams, two of the co-authors of World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order (CUP, 2024).
This workshop on 10 June 2024 proposed a thorough discussion of ‘regime’ and its relationship to other core concepts in the study of Politics. It brought together scholars working with the term from a variety of subfields to tease out the distinctions in the way we use this term and to explore whether and how ‘regimes’ might provide a lens to help us interpret the relationship between states and societies.
Conference on 22nd and 23rd of June 2023, funded by the James Maddison Charitable Trust and Centre for Political Thought.
Modern authoritarian systems have often been described as 'post-ideological'. This idea of authoritarian systems as lacking a strong ideological basis has long historical roots. In this workshop on 13 June 2023 we challenge this approach and aim to revive interest in the ideological and ideational drivers of contemporary authoritarianism, reflecting a wider turn to ideology in recent work on law, politics and international relations.
Find the programme and summary of the papers and interventions.