Political philosophy

essayBiography and memoir
The story of Malcolm X
Alex Haley co-wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X but Haley left out some profound elements of Malcolm’s political thought
Alex White

videoThinkers and theories
The prison abolitionist who dares to envision a world without ‘unfreedoms’
16 minutes

essayPolitical philosophy
The allure of autarky
Liberal thinkers are shocked that nations are once again isolating from the world. The real surprise would be if they didn’t
Ben Chu

essayHuman rights and justice
Levelling the world
Gerrard Winstanley led a small band of radicals whose vision of justice encompassed the globe and continues to inspire
Rowan Wilson

essayHuman rights and justice
Struggling to wake
After a murderous kidnapping in Nigeria, I launched a campaign to put a stop to the abductions. Why did no one listen?
Ayisha Osori

videoMeaning and the good life
Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned
11 minutes

essayPolitical philosophy
A right to exist?
Since states are founded on violence and expulsion, their existence is always bound up in thorny questions about justice
Andrew F March

essayPolitics and government
The end of neoliberalism?
The case of Mexico shows that, despite a proliferating discourse that it is over, neoliberalism is as relentless as ever
Inés Escobar González

essayPolitical philosophy
The underground university
During the Cold War, Oxford philosophers worked together to aid dissidents behind the Iron Curtain. I was one of them
Cheryl Misak

essayThinkers and theories
Who can claim Aristotle?
The endless battle over his legacy testifies to his great authority – and the power of his thought to make the world better
Edith Hall

videoPolitical philosophy
The radical activist couple who fought for social change in the courtroom
21 minutes

essayPolitics and government
The spectre of insecurity
Liberals have forgotten that in order for our lives not to be nasty, brutish and short, we need stability. Enter Hobbes
Jennifer M Morton

essayPolitical philosophy
Citizens and spinning wheels
For Indians to be truly free, Gandhi argued they must take up traditional crafts. Was it a quixotic hope or inspired solution?
Benjamin Studebaker

essayPolitical philosophy
C L R James and America
The brilliant Trinidadian thinker is remembered as an admirer of the US but he also warned of its dark political future
Harvey Neptune

essayThinkers and theories
Rawls the redeemer
For John Rawls, liberalism was more than a political project: it is the best way to fashion a life that is worthy of happiness
Alexandre Lefebvre

essayPolitics and government
Governing for the planet
Nation-states are no longer fit for purpose to create a habitable future for humans and nature. Which political system is?
Jonathan S Blake & Nils Gilman

essayGlobal history
The route to progress
Anticolonial modernity was founded upon the fight for liberation from communists, capitalists and imperialists alike
Frank Gerits

essayThe future
The disruption nexus
Moments of crisis, such as our own, are great opportunities for historic change, but only under highly specific conditions
Roman Krznaric

videoPolitical philosophy
Beyond the veil – what rules would govern John Rawls’s ‘realistic Utopia’?
6 minutes

essayNations and empires
A United States of Europe
A free and unified Europe was first imagined by Italian radicals in the 19th century. Could we yet see their dream made real?
Fernanda Gallo

essayThe environment
Emergency action
Could civil disobedience be morally obligatory in a society on a collision course with climate catastrophe?
Rupert Read

essayKnowledge
What is ‘lived experience’?
The term is ubiquitous and double-edged. It is both a key source of authentic knowledge and a danger to true solidarity
Patrick J Casey

essayPolitical philosophy
The battles over beginnings
Niccolò Machiavelli’s profound insights about the violent origins of political societies help us understand the world today
David Polansky

essayPolitical philosophy
Liberal socialism now
As the crisis of democracy deepens, we must return to liberalism’s revolutionary and egalitarian roots
Matthew McManus