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 OxPol, 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, together with colleagues from the Department of History, organises the Oxford Political Thought Research Seminar weekly (Fridays at 12) in MT and HT each year. It features presentations from a mix of external and Oxford speakers. All students, staff, and visitors are warmly invited; there is no pre-registration. The Nuffield Political Theory Workshop also meets weekly in MT, HT and TT (Mondays at 2).  All students, staff, and visitors to 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 to participants in advance; participants must commit to attending each week and reading the paper prior to the workshop.

All MPhil students must attend at least one of these seminars – and DPhil students are strongly encouraged to do so.

In addition, throughout the year Theory Network members organise numerous seminar series, workshops and conferences which are advertised in these pages.