The themes of the political theory research grouping focus on challenges to liberal political thought. Members of the group work on the expansion of political theory beyond its traditional concerns with the social contract, self-ownership and human rights to cover issues of race, gender, environmentalism and animal rights and the contested meanings of self-ownership, the question of gender and sovereignty as well as the liberal tradition to argue that an institution that uses force to resolve conflicts of interest can never be legitimate.

The members of the research cluster have organised a number of research activities. Laura Brace, together with Alan Aldridge (Nottingham), secured funding for an ESRC seminar series, 'The Market and its Discontents'. The seminars brought together an interdisciplinary group of academics alongside representatives from user communities, to discuss key issues arising from 'the market' as a concept, a vision, an ideology, and as a set of practices. Six seminars were held in Leicester and Nottingham between December 2004 and June 2006. Brace will bring selected papers together in a 2008 special issue of Feminist Review.

Members

• Dr Laura Brace
• Dr Philip Cook
• Professor John Hoffman
• Professor Robert Garner