Job market Candidates 2025 - Subfield: Political Theory

My research examines conservative and religious political thought (especially in the Christian and Islamic traditions) and its intersection with the problems of pluralism and tolerance. My thesis explores the new ‘postliberal’ movement and its critique of liberal neutrality as a mask for the imposition of a controversial doctrine of autonomy and self-expression on more traditionally-minded citizens. Through analysis of the normative implications of religious and philosophical pluralism and of the real-world consequences of liberalism ‘as a way of life’, I argue that an attractive and sustainable middle-ground position of pluralistic and constrained perfectionism can repair the damage done by liberalism’s specious appeal to neutrality without resorting to authoritarian alternatives that give up on the ideals of mutual tolerance and respect.

College: Green Templeton College

Supervisors: Paul Billingham