Political Thought

The Political Thought Specialist Group of the PSA aims to promote the study of political theory, political philosophy and the history of political thought in the wider political studies community by way of an emphasis on interdisciplinary engagement, innovative conceptual and theoretical development, and on research design and methods. The group has existed since 1998, and under its previous convenors, Professor Cécile Laborde, Dr Georgios Varouxakis, Dr Evangelia Sembou, Dr Elizabeth Frazer, and Dr Christopher Brooke has sponsored and organised conferences, panels at the PSA annual conference, and workshops.

Group members,with the support of PSA resources, may organise day and half day long workshops on specific themes, with an emphasis on 'state of the art' reviews, sessions that aim to open up new agendas for research, and sessions on developments and innovations in research design and methods.

Recent workshops include: Language, Health and Political Theory, Cardiff; Emotions and Politics, Leeds; Ontology to the Political: Varieties of Critique, Edinburgh;  2020 will see Beyond Marriage: Philosophy, Politics, Law, organised by Clare Chambers, May 24-25 2020, University of Cambridge.

If any members have ideas or suggestions for workshops, please contact the Convenors. We are also keen to support panel sessions and other events at the annual PSA Conference.  Please contact the Convenors at an early stage if you have a proposal or even an idea.  

Membership of the group is free: you will be added to our email list when you join the PSA.