Oxford Political Theory Network

The Oxford Political Theory Network brings together political theorists from the Politics and International Relations Department and from the wider Oxford community. Its members include academic staff, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral candidates, departmental visitors and affiliate members with links to Oxford. Members work within diverse traditions including analytical political philosophy, the history of political thought, critical theory, the study of ideologies, rhetoric and the exercise of political power, and public policy research.

Members of the network are also active in public engagement and related work, including through the Public Policy Unit and Politics in Spires, the DPIR's blog, which also covers theory-related themes such as Democratic Wealth.

Research groupings affiliated with the network include the Centre for the Study of Social Justice, History of Political Thought Research Network, Human Rights for Future Generations, and the Politics-Violence Frontier project.

The DPIR Political Theory group organises the Political Theory Research Seminar each term. Held in the Manor Road building, over lunch, it features presentations from a mix of external speakers and our DPhil students and staff. All students are warmly invited and there is no pre-registration. Each term there is also the Nuffield Political Theory Workshop. All members of the Oxford Political Theory Network are warmly invited to register for the workshop (it is advertised by email at the start of each term); speakers' papers are circulated in advance and participants must commit to attending each week and reading the paper prior to the workshop. The History of Political Thought Research Seminar also meets weekly in Michaelmas and Hilary terms, featuring a mix of external speakers and Oxford students and staff. In addition, Theory Network members organise numerous seminar series, workshops and conferences which are advertised in these pages.