CALL FOR PAPERS: Britain and Ireland Association for Political Thought Conference

7–9 January 2026 – University of Edinburgh

Academic Convenors: Alfred Moore (York), Tom O’Shea (Edinburgh) and Signy Gutnick Allen (Zurich)

Local Organisers: Mihaela Mihai, Jared Holley, Mathias Thaler (Edinburgh)

A key theme for our 2026 conference in Edinburgh will be the politics of climate and the environment, and we particularly encourage proposals in this area, as well as those from all sub-fields within political thought. This year’s plenary speakers are Alyssa Battistoni (Barnard), Ross Carroll (Dublin City), Sean Fleming (Nottingham), Rahul Rao (St. Andrews) and Johanna Thoma (Bayreuth).

You can submit a proposal that has any of the following formats:

(1) Panel proposals of three papers per panel (please include panel title, authors, plus paper abstracts);

(2) Individual paper proposals (please include paper title, author, and abstract; accepted proposals will be organised into panel sessions by the academic convenors);

(3) ‘Author meets critics’ roundtables (please include book title, publisher and year, and description, including provisional list of critics and their affiliations). Please note that it is expected that only up to 2 proposals will be accepted in this format.

(4) First book manuscript workshop, where monograph manuscripts of an author’s first book will be presented and discussed with selected respondents (please submit a description of your manuscript and a list of up to 4 provisional respondents, with at least one already confirmed). Please note that it is expected that only up to 2 proposals will be accepted in this format.

Please submit your proposals HERE.

We look forward to a conference that represents a diverse set of intellectual traditions, including analytic and normative political philosophy, the history of ideas, all traditions of critical theory, as well as comparative and global political theory. Panels that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries and submissions from graduate students are most welcome.

BIAPT has some limited funds available to defray conference fees for scholars from the Global South and for graduate students: to be considered for such support, please signal your relevant eligibility on the proposal submission form.

The final deadline for submission is Thursday 17th July, 2025 (6pm BST).  The academic convenors will communicate decisions by early September 2025. For any questions, you can write to us at conference@associationforpoliticalthought.ac.uk

Britain and Ireland Association for Political Thought Prizes 2025

Nominations are invited for our two annual prizes:

1. The BIAPT Early-Career Prize 2025
   Open to political theorists within eight years of award of their PhD or equivalent on 1^st January 2025.
2. The BIAPT Mid-Career Prize 2025
   Open to political theorists who are more than eight years from award of their PhD or equivalent on 1^st January 2025 but who are not full Professors.

• Each prize will be awarded to the nominated candidate who, in the judgment of the Executive Committee, has made the greatest overall contribution to research and teaching in political thought, as well as to the life of our intellectual community and service to the profession, understood broadly and in line with BIAPT’s mission at https://www.associationforpoliticalthought.ac.uk/about-us/
• Candidates must be academic political theorists or political philosophers employed at universities or HE institutions in Britain or Ireland; casual, fixed-term, and zero-hours employment included.
• Time limits for eligibility will be adjusted where necessary to make allowances for time out of academia (non-academic careers, caring leave, illness, etc.). Nominations should make clear if this adjustment is being sought and time away should be indicated on the CV.

Procedures for nominations

• Entry for each of the prizes will be via nomination. Entrants may nominate themselves.
• The nominator must supply 1) a supporting statement of no more than one page, setting out the entrant’s contribution to political thought research, teaching, and service; as well as 2) the entrant’s CV.
• The BIAPT Executive Committee will be responsible for choosing the prize winners.
• Current Executive Committee members, and persons who have served on the Executive Committee in the last three years, are not eligible to make nominations, to be nominated for, or to win either prize.
• Each prize, which will consist of a certificate and a £100 book token, will be awarded at the Political Thought Conference to be held in Edinburgh in January 2026. Prize winners will also be announced on the Association’s website, Facebook page, and other media. Acceptance of either prize will be taken as consent to publicity of this sort.
• Nominations should be sent to Maxime Lepoutre, Secretary of BIAPT, at m.c.lepoutre@reading.ac.uk with “BIAPT prizes” as the subject header.
• The deadline for nominations is 23^th May 2025.

2024 BIAPT Mid-Career Prize Winner: Dr Onur Ulas Ince

The BIAPT Executive Committee is pleased to award its 2024 Mid-Career Prize to Dr Onur Ulas Ince of SOAS, University of London, in recognition of his ground-breaking contributions to the field. Dr Ince’s research has taken political theory’s imperial turn in new and refreshing directions by incorporating insights from the history of capitalism, imperial intellectual history, and global political economy. His award-winning monograph Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism (Oxford UP, 2018) grapples with the conflicted origins of liberalism, emphasising how its commitments to the freedoms of property, labour, and trade were inextricably bound up with colonial processes of territorial conquest, resource extraction, racialised domination, and systematic enslavement. By bringing the political economy of colonialism to the fore, Ince has successfully challenged the emphasis on universalism and cultural difference that has hitherto framed treatments of liberalism’s imperial origins. The book also offers novel interpretations of key figures in the history of political thought, including John Locke, Edmund Burke, and Edward Gibbon.

More recently, Ince has embarked on two new ambitious projects that further reveal the rich potential of his approach to the history of imperial thought. The first, Beyond the Colour Line: Empire, Capitalism, and Race in Asia, 1800-1850, builds on his earlier research by looking at how racial categories and hierarchies were forged in the process of British imperialism in Asia, and in the encounter of British imperialists with their Chinese counterparts. Beyond the Colour Line not only obliges us to rethink how racialised capitalism emerged; it also exposes the ‘Atlanticist’ methodological biases of the scholarship on empire by foregrounding Asia as an undertheorized arena of British imperial expansion and contestation. The project has already produced two articles in the American Political Science Review, with a monograph with Oxford University Press to follow. In the second new project, Ince explores of what he calls the “limits of liberal anti-imperialism” in the work of Scottish Enlightenment figures such as Adam Smith and David Hume.

Dr Ince’s career trajectory has mirrored the global reach of his scholarship. Since graduating with a PhD from Cornell University in 2013, he has taught in Turkey (at Koç University), Singapore (at Singapore Management University), and now in the imperial metropole itself, London (at SOAS). In each of these locales Ince has made his mark beyond research through inspiring teaching (in Singapore he was nominated for the Most Promising Teacher Award) and through service to the profession. Examples of the latter include his co-chairing of the Association for Political Theory’s 2018 conference in America, and copious reviewing for a host of journals. Dr Ince is therefore a thoroughly deserving winner of this year’s Mid-career prize.

In response to his award, Dr Ince said “Academics have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways. And some of them have also been lucky enough to get a prize for it, a position I am now delighted to find myself in. The judges have my thanks for their consideration.”

2024 BIAPT Early-Career Prize Winner: Dr Josh Milburn

We are very happy to announce that Dr Josh Milburn has been awarded the 2024 BIAPT Early-Career Prize. Dr Milburn is currently a Lecturer in Political Philosophy at Loughborough University, having previously held posts at the University of Sheffield, University of York, and Queen’s University (Canada) following the completion of his PhD at Queen’s University Belfast.

The majority of Dr Milburn’s work has been within the field of animal rights and animal politics. Through a remarkable publication record for someone at such an early stage of their career, including two monographs, nearly twenty journal articles, and some dozen or so book chapters, Dr Milburn has already made a significant impact not only in these fields but played a leading role in connecting them to broader debates within political theory such as hate speech, the ethics of war and peace, the history of political thought, and more. His forthcoming (and third) book is telling in this regard, connecting as it does an intellectual biography of Nozick with a new and innovative theory of animal rights. And Dr Milburn’s work on hate speech (co-authored with Professor Alasdair Cochrane) – which argues that certain species ought to be safeguarded from harmful speech – has had the (dubious) honour, which few political theorists can boast of, of being cited in parliamentary debates and in The Sun newspaper.

Dr Milburn’s contribution to the teaching of every institution that he has been part of has been exemplary, and his dedication to and impact on students clear. He brings an energy and enthusiasm to the classroom which has regularly been cited by staff and students as enabling a unique and positive learning environment, whether he be covering (as he has) the history of political thought, introduction to philosophy, the ethics of public policy, contemporary issues in political theory, or more besides. The seriousness with which Dr Milburn approaches his teaching commitments is reflected in the fact that he has won accolades from students at each and every one of the institutions he has taught at. He is, in short, a superb teacher of political theory.

The BIAPT judges were also much impressed by Dr Milburn’s commitment both to contributing to the wider discipline of political theory and promoting that discipline more broadly through his public engagement efforts. He co-chairs the MANCEPT panel on animals and political theory, one of the longest standing and popular panels run at the conference and hosts the extremely popular ‘Knowing Animals’ podcast which engages with animal scholars from a number of disciplines, disseminating their work to a broad audience. His enthusiasm for taking part in public lectures, workshops, and media discussions on issues as diverse as cellular agriculture, war and animals, companion animals, legal personhood, the ethics of diet and more, was also judged to be remarkable.

In response to this award, Dr Milburn said: “I am very happy to accept this award, and very flattered that the judging panel selected me. I thank my many mentors and collaborators, including Alasdair Cochrane, for their support. This award is a testament to how political theorists increasingly recognize the importance of questions about animals. I believe that paying attention to these questions is one way that we, as a discipline, can do our part to make the world a better place.”

Britain and Ireland Association for Political Thought Prizes 2024

Nominations are invited for two prizes:

1. The BIAPT Early-Career Prize 2024
   Open to political theorists within eight years of award of their PhD or equivalent on 1^st January 2024.
2. The BIAPT Mid-Career Prize 2024
   Open to political theorists who are more than eight years from award of their PhD or equivalent on 1^st January 2024 but who are not full Professors.

• Each prize will be awarded to the nominated candidate who, in the judgment of the Executive Committee, has made the greatest overall contribution to research and teaching in political thought, as well as to the life of our intellectual community and service to the profession, understood broadly and in line with BIAPT’s mission at https://www.associationforpoliticalthought.ac.uk/about-us/
• Candidates must be academic political theorists or political philosophers employed at universities or HE institutions in Britain or Ireland; casual, fixed-term, and zero-hours employment included.
• Time limits for eligibility will be adjusted where necessary to make allowances for time out of academia (non-academic careers, caring leave, illness, etc.). Nominations should make clear if this adjustment is being sought and time away should be indicated on the CV.

Procedures for nominations

• Entry for each of the prizes will be via nomination. Entrants may not nominate themselves.
• The nominator must supply 1) a supporting statement of no more than one page, setting out the entrant’s contribution to political thought research, teaching, and service; as well as 2) the entrant’s CV.
• The BIAPT Executive Committee will be responsible for choosing the prize winners.
• Current Executive Committee members, and persons who have served on the Executive Committee in the last three years, are not eligible to make nominations, to be nominated for, or to win either prize.
• Each prize, which will consist of a certificate and a £50 book token, will be awarded at the Political Thought Conference to be held in York in January 2025. Prize winners will also be announced on the Association’s website, Facebook page, and other social and mainstream media. Acceptance of either prize will be taken as consent to publicity of this sort.
• Nominations should be sent to Maxime Lepoutre, Secretary of BIAPT, at m.c.lepoutre@reading.ac.uk with “BIAPT prizes” as the subject header.
• The deadline for nominations is 24^th May 2024.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Spring Conference of the Section for Political Theory and the History of Ideas (GPSA) University of Rostock, Germany; 13–15 March 2024

We are delighted to announce that BIAPT 2024 will be hosting a panel convened by our German sister organisation Sektion für Politische Theorie und Ideengeschichte at our January conference. This is a call for papers for the reciprocal panel at their next conference in Rostock next March.

Spring Conference of the Section for Political Theory and the History of Ideas (GPSA)

University of Rostock, Germany; 13–15 March 2024

Convenors: Dennis Bastian Rudolf (University of Rostock), Valerian Thielicke (University of Rostock), Rieke Trimcev (University of Greifswald), Alexander Weiß (University of Rostock)

Political Theory after Eurocentrism: Resources of Non-Western Thinking for Contemporary Political Challenges

Given the ongoing processes of globalization and the emergence of a multipolar world, our sub-discipline plays a crucial role in accompanying these transformations with critical, analytical, interpretive, normative, hermeneutic as well as deconstructive analyses. For this task, it is increasingly implausible to rely unquestioningly on European or Western theories, their problem agendas, arguments, and norms. It is essential for political theory to overcome Eurocentrism. Comparative Political Theory (CPT) has been addressing this concern for more than 30 years by examining non-Western ideas and expanding the canon of political theory and thought globally (Dallmayr 1997, 2004; Jenco et al 2020). The Spring Conference of the GPSA Section for Political Theory and the History of Ideas proposes to further advance this still relatively young program by revisiting the contents, methodologies, and concepts of CPT. The convenors welcome paper proposals that address one of the following four topics:

I. CPT as a research field

Since its inception, CPT has developed in three major strands:

1. Research on non-Western political thought has produced studies and readers on Islamic, African, Indian, Japanese, and Chinese political thought (e.g., Singh/Mohapatra 2010; Dallmayr/Zhao 2012; Martin 2012; Watanabe 2012; March 2015; Dübgen/Skupien 2015; Jenco 2016).

2. A methodological strand explores conceptual and methodological questions regarding units of comparison (e.g., ‘cultural spaces’, ‘cultural areas’, cultures, regions) and, within this strand, the problematic of universalism and relativism remains central, since all contributions are obliged to address this issue (e.g., Dallmayr 2004; March 2009; Godrej 2009; Euben 2010; Freeden/Vincent 2012; von Vacano 2015; Tully 2016; Ackerly/Bajpai 2017; Little 2018; Rollo 2018).

3. Systematic studies exploring global variations in the formation and theorization of concepts such as sovereignty, legitimacy, cosmopolitanism, or democracy (March 2012; Chan/Shin/Williams 2016; Shapcott 2016; Schubert/Weiß 2016; Weiß 2020).

II. CPT as an approach to the history of ideas

Regarding the study of non-Western ideas and their relation to familiar Western sources, studies in CPT advance our understanding of three crucial processes:

1. Mirroring: Throughout history, practices of mutual observation and commentary have helped to construct images of the ‘Other’. These mirrorings, from ancient Greece’s ‘barbarians’ to the reception of Confucianism in the European Enlightenment, provide insights into the content and function of theoretical treatments of the ‘Other’ across a

divided globe. This may include views of Europe and the West in Arab, Persian, African, Indian, Chinese, and Latin American thought, as well as European projections onto Asia (Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism) – and vice versa.

2. Transfers/Travelling ideas: Ideas, positions, and ideologies have migrated across contexts, creating hybrids, and influencing existing ideas. The history of the travelling of concepts such as freedom, legitimacy, harmony, shura, tian xia, swaraj still remains largely unexplored.

3. Translations: Both linguistic and conceptual translations have shaped intellectual history. Examples include At-Tahtāwī’s translation of the French Constitution of 1814 or the transmission of concepts by Japanese delegates during the Meiji Restoration.

III. CPT and its contents

Three thematic areas of CPT will receive special attention, as they allow for fruitful dialogue with other strands within political theory and political science in general:

1. Overcoming Eurocentrism: The goal of ‘historical justice’ challenges the claim of exclusive European authorship for concepts such as democracy, human rights, and other terms central to the contemporary political lexicon. Understanding theoretical positions outside the West allows for contributions to the analysis and interpretation of non-Western regions in conjunction with empirical and area studies. Addressing problems of Eurocentrism in theory raises questions about its historical and contemporary plausibility.

2. The colonial constellation: Postcolonial and decolonial critiques highlight the embeddedness of European conceptualization and ideology within the context of imperialism and colonialism. Examining entanglements of European liberalism with imperialism and its skewed level of justification for colonialism sheds light on the connection between European concepts and non-Western discourses.

3. ‘Democracy’ beyond the West: Non-Western theoretical debates critically engage with Western concepts of democracy by highlighting autochthonous variants and critical reflections on meritocracy, the relationship between constitution and religion, or democratic innovations. Comparative democratic theory and its response to the diversity of meanings and conceptions of democracy are of particular interest.

IV. 30 Years of CPT: Does Political Theory Need to be Transformed?

CPT’s aim is not to delineate its own new field from political theory, but to transform existing research and teaching practices. Accordingly, the conference will inquire into CPTs potential to redefine and to augment political theory. Where can we already identify such redefinitions as a result of CPT? What further steps are necessary and which effects on the sub-discipline can be expected? How can CPT productively transform teaching practices in terms of canon formation, text, and source selection as well as didactic methods?

The conference welcomes contributions from all addressed strands and topics. Researchers of non-Western thought and colleagues exploring general questions within these thematic areas are encouraged to submit proposals. To ensure an international perspective, one of the three conference days (presumably Thursday) will be held in English, allowing for the inclusion of participants with non-German and non-European backgrounds. We particularly encourage emerging researchers to apply. We also aim to provide childcare during the conference.

Please submit proposals (approximately 300 words) for the BIAPT panel to David Owen, dowen@soton.ac.uk, by 30th October 2023. Please note that only on 3 papers can be accepted.

We are very happy to award the 2023 Early-Career Prize to Dr Camila Vergara, who at the time of selection was Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the University of Cambridge and is currently Senior Lecturer at University of Essex Business School. Dr Vergara is originally from Chile, where she established a successful career in journalism before pursuing academic political theory further, undertaking postgraduate degrees at New York University (MA), New School for Social Research (MA), and Columbia University (PhD).

In 2020, shortly after completing her PhD, Dr Vergara’s first book, Systemic Corruption: Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Republic was published by Princeton University Press. In this book, Dr Vergara offers a genealogy of political corruption and theorizes the contemporary crisis in democracy in structural terms. She argues that representative governments suffer decay because of constitutional deficits, analyses the absence of properly popular institutions to ensure democratic accountability, and reveals the unfettered oligarchies of power that emerge as a result. Dr Vergara draws on insights from Niccolò Machiavelli, Nicolas de Condorcet, Rosa Luxemburg, and Hannah Arendt to advance her critique and put forward her own understanding of plebian republicanism. Systemic Corruption has been subject to much scholarly discussion – such that it can be said already to have made a genuine imprint on political theory – while her other research has appeared in international journals that reflect the breadth of its reach, including History of Political Thought and Journal of Political Philosophy.

Dr Vergara has demonstrated as impressive a global commitment to teaching, having delivered lectures on four different continents on a variety of topics that show the breadth of her expertise. Her international outreach is evident not only her teaching and research, but also in her prominent work in political advocacy and activism, which exemplifies a unity of theory and practice often discussed and aspired to but rarely achieved by academic political theorists.

In addition to her many professional achievements, the BIAPT judges were especially struck by the significant energy and time Dr Vergara has invested in contributing to, and organising, events that include and engage junior and emerging scholars. That she has been able to make such an impact on the community of political theorists in Britain, Ireland, and beyond, while engaging in path-breaking policy work prior to the securement of a permanent university appointment, is particularly remarkable and commendable.

Dr Vergara said: “In a world in which recognition is denied to so many, it is a privilege to be seen and valued by those you admire. I am grateful to the members of the Executive Committee for taking the time to read my work and for their appreciation of my efforts to develop political theory ‘from below’ in times of crisis. I am truly honoured by this award.”

We are delighted to award our 2023 Mid-Career Prize to Dr Alfred Moore of the University of York, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the discipline of political theory. Since defending his PhD at the University of Bath, Dr Moore has held academic positions at University College Cork, the University of British Columbia, as well as Cambridge University, before joining the University of York, where he is currently Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics.

Dr Moore’s research showcases political theory at its very best: philosophically rich, thoroughly interdisciplinary, and driven by the desire to address some of the most pressing problems of our times. In his monograph Critical Elitism: Deliberation, Democracy, and the Politics of Expertise (CUP, 2017) Dr Moore grapples with the fraught relationship between democratic inclusion and expertise, arguing that the democratic public play a crucial role in contesting expertise. This work brings together insights from democratic theory and science and technology studies.

Dr Moore’s work has also deeply enriched our understanding of online political discourse in a polarized age. Perhaps most notable here is his groundbreaking work on pseudonymity, which has appeared in the Journal of Political Philosophy and Political Studies. Using an impressive combination of philosophical and empirical analyses, Dr Moore persuasively shows how architects of online discursive spaces can use pseudonymity to avoid the pitfalls associated with both anonymous and real-name online environments.

Dr Moore’s work is remarkable not just in virtue of its philosophical rigour and interdisciplinarity, but also in virtue of its relevance to, and engagement with, non-academic actors and audiences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, Dr Moore (with Dr Michael MacKenzie) offered key lessons for policymakers, published in the prestigious British Medical Journal, outlining the importance of being open about disagreement between expert advisers.

Beyond his research, Dr Moore has consistently contributed to political theory in Britain and Ireland through extensive professional activities (for example, as co-convenor the 2022 PSA Conference, and co-convenor of the PSA specialist group on deliberative and participatory democracy); and as a dedicated teacher, whose specialised module “Knowledge and Democracy” remains a popular choice amongst students at York. For all of these reasons, the BIAPT judges considered Dr Moore a worthy winner of this year’s Mid-Career Prize.

Dr Moore said: “This award is a really wonderful surprise. I am hugely grateful to the BIAPT judges, to my excellent colleagues in the Department of Politics at the University of York, and to everyone who has supported my work over the years.”

4-6^th January 2024 – Jesus College, University of Cambridge

Academic Convenors: Rebecca Buxton (Bristol), Helen McCabe (Nottingham), and David Owen (Southampton)

Local Organisers: Clare Chambers (Cambridge) and Duncan Kelly (Cambridge)

The BIAPT conference is the flagship event of the scholarly community of political theorists across Britain and Ireland. Taking place annually since the 1970s, it brings together scholars working across the whole field of political thought.

This year’s plenary speakers are: Liam Kofi Bright (LSE), Chiara Cordelli (Chicago), Peter Niesen (Hamburg), Jennifer Saul (Waterloo), Bernardo Zacka (MIT), and the Women in International Political Thought team (Patricia Owens, Kimberley Hutchings and Katharina Rietzler)

We invite proposals from political theorists, philosophers, and historians of political thought in the following formats:

(1) Panel proposals of three papers per panel (please include panel title, authors and their contact details, plus paper abstracts, up to 1000 words for complete panel proposal);

(2) Individual paper proposals (please include paper title, author, and abstract up to 300 words; accepted proposals will be organised into panel sessions by the Academic Convenors);

(3) ‘Author meets critics’ roundtables (please include book title, publisher and year, and description, including provisional list of critics and their affiliations, up to 500 words). Please note that it is expected that only up to 3 proposals will be accepted in this format.

(4) First book manuscript workshop, where monograph manuscripts of an author’s first book will be presented and discussed with selected respondents (please submit a description of your manuscript and a list of up to 4 provisional respondents, up to 1000 words. At least one respondent should be confirmed; the Academic Convenors are happy to contact other prospective respondents if desired). Please note that it is expected that only up to 2 proposals will be accepted in this format.

We look forward to a conference that represents a diverse set of intellectual traditions, including analytic and normative political philosophy, the history of ideas, all traditions of critical theory, as well as comparative/global political theory. Panels that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries and submissions from graduate students are welcome.

Please submit proposals to conference@associationforpoliticalthought.ac.uk: the final deadline for submission is Friday June 30, 2023.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the conference!