BSc (Econ), MSc, PhD (LSE)

Lecturer in Political Theory

Contact Details

• Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2708
• Fax: +44 (0)116 252 5082
• Email: pac20@leicester.ac.uk

Research Interests

I joined the Department of Politics and International Relations in 2009. Prior to my appointment at Leicester, I held an LSE Fellowship in Political Theory (2006-9), and was a Programme Visitor at the Research School for Social Sciences at Australian National University (2008).

I received a BSc (Econ) in Government and International History, MSc in Political Theory, and PhD all from the Department of Government at LSE.

My research is primarily in contemporary political philosophy. Areas of interest include distributive justice; democracy; citizenship; contractualism; self-censorship; children, schools, and education.

I also have research interests in moral philosophy and jurisprudence. In 2007 I jointly established the LSE Forum in Legal and Political Theory.

I am currently the PhD Tutor in the Departmental of Politics and International Relations.

Current Research

My current research includes work on justice in schooling and education; children's citizenship; duties of shared parenting; free-speech, censorship, and self-censorship.

Justice in Schooling and Education

This work examines the relationship between schooling and education. I aim to clarify the conceptual relationship between schooling and education, and to develop principles of justice in schooling distinct from principles of justice in education.

This research formed the basis of a public debate in central London on schools and social justice, as part of the Leicester Exchanges.

This work has been supported by an ESRC Small Grant ‘Schools, Children, and Social Justice’.

Children's Citizenship
My research in this area considers children's political standing as citizens. I focus in particular on children's entitlements to important citizenship rights such as the right to vote. A paper on child-citizenship will appear in a special edition of the journal Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy in 2012/13.

Duties of Shared Parenting

I consider the nature of duties between those who agree to share in parenting a child. I focus on the problem of whether individuals can voluntarily revoke agreements to share parenting, and draw on the work of Bratman and Scanlon to present a shared intention account of duties of shared parenting.

Self-Censorship
My research on self-censorship is conducted jointly with Dr Conrad Heilmann (Erasmus University, Rotterdam). We develop a general model of censorship regimes, and argue that our model enables us to distinguish two kinds of self-censorship: public and private. Our paper 'Two Types of Self-Censorship: Public and Private' will appear in Political Studies in 2012.

Recent Research Activities

• 'On the Duties of Shared Parenting', Ideals and Reality in Social Ethics, Newport, April 2012
• 'Justice in Education and Schooling', University of Cambridge, November 2011
• 'Parenthood and Procreation' Presentor and Panel Convenor, Manchester Workshops in Political Theory, September 2011
• Co-convenor (with Dr. Jonathan Seglow, Royal Holloway) of one day conference: ‘Citizenship at the Margins of Society’ November 19th 2010, Royal Holloway. Speakers include: Prof. David Owen (Southampton) ‘Immigration and Citizenship’; Dr. Kimberly Brownlee (Manchester) ‘Citizenship and Social Exclusion’; Dr. Peter Ramsay (LSE) ‘Citizenship and Criminalization’; Dr. Philip Cook ‘Child Citizenship.’ Please email for further information.
• Morrell Conference on Children, Education, and Toleration, University of York, 23-25 September, 2010.
• ‘Child-Citizenship: Jobs and Votes for Children’, LSE Forum in Legal and Political Theory, 18th May 2010.
• ‘The Just School’ Presenter and Panel Convenor ‘Children, Families, and Democracy’, American Political Science Association Annual Conference, Toronto, September 2009.
• ‘Children, Families, and Justice’ Presenter and Panel Convenor, Manchester Workshops in Political Theory, September 2009.
• ‘Votes for Children’ Association of Legal and Social Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, July 2009.
• ‘Children, Schools, and Social Justice’ Society for Applied Philosophy, University of Leeds, June 2009.
• Conference Organiser ‘The Rule of Law in Political Emergencies’, LSE Forum in Legal and Political Theory, May 2009. Speakers included Prof. Jeremy Waldron (NYU), Prof. Adrian Vermeule (Harvard), Prof. Martin Krygier (UNSW), Prof. Conor Gearty (LSE).

PhD Supervision

I am happy to supervise students working in contemporary political theory, particularly on topics of distributive justice, childhood, schooling/education, free speech/censorship, rights, democracy, and contractualism.

Current Supervision:

Co-Supervisor: Ashley Dodsworth, 'Environmental Human Rights'

Co-Supervisor: Irene Palacios, 'The Relationship between Democracy and Citizenship'

Co-Supervisor: Alexis Rossi, 'History Education and Identity Formation'

Teaching

Undergraduate modules:

• PL2000 Political Research Methods
• PL2011 Political Ideas
• PL3117 Justice at the Margins

Postgraduate modules:

• PL7031 Knowledge and Method 1

Most Recent Publications

Recent Journal Articles

• 'On the Duties of Shared Parenting' Ethics and Social Welfare, 6, 2012 (forthcoming)
• 'Two Types of Self-Censorship: Public and Private' (co-authored with Conrad Heilmann), Political Studies, 60, 2012 (forthcoming)
• ‘Fairness, Consensus, and the Justification of the Ideal Liberal Constitution’ Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, 22 (1), January 2009, pp. 165-186.
  (Reply: Alan Brudner, “A Reply to Critics of Constitutional Goods”, Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, 22 (2), July 2009, pp. 237-266).
• ‘An Augmented Buck-Passing Account of Reasons and Value: Scanlon and Crisp on What Stops the Buck’ Utilitas, 20 (4), December 2008, pp. 490-507.