Political Theory Workshop

Political Theory Workshop

The OSU Political Theory Workshop is a forum for scholars from Ohio State and other universities to present and discuss their research in progress. 

The Political Theory Workshop is pluralist in its approach and interdisciplinary in its orientation. We are open to a wide range of contributions, including historical, analytic, interpretive, and critical theory, as well as theoretically engaged empirical research. We welcome interested faculty and graduate students from all fields and all departments.

Questions? Please contact Associate Professor, and PT coordinator, Ben McKean (mckean.41@osu.edu).

Spring 2024 Schedule

Mondays 12-1:20 pm (Spencer Room, Derby 2130)

Apr 1: Naomi Scheinerman, “Deliberative Mini-Publics and Social Movements as a Democratic Ecosystem: The Case of GMOs and Climate Change”

Apr 15: Kathryn Joyce, Civil Discourse Program Director, OSU Center for Ethics and Human Values, “Characterizing Relationships Among Equals"

Apr 22: Dana Howard, OSU Center for Bioethics and Philosophy, “Abortion Care Research Ethics Post-Dobbs” 

Fall 2023 Schedule

Sept 11, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Pim Trommelen (Political Science, Ohio State), "The People Feel Powerless: Oligarchic Fatigue as an Explanation for the Lack of Class Conflict."
Discussant: Bear Brown (Political Science, Ohio State) 

Oct 16, 12-1:20 PM EST:
Lavender McKittrick-Sweitzer (Philosophy, Butler University), "Moderate Structural Exploitation and the Exploitation of Care."

Oct 30, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Andrew Fiala (Philosophy, Fresno State University), "War Abolition and the Whole War Critique."

Nov 13, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Martin Armstrong (Political Science, Ohio State), "Alienation in Military Labor."

Dec 4, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Bear Brown (Political Science, Ohio State), "Theories of Anti-Elitism in the US."

Spring 2023 Schedule

Jan 27, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Alison McQueen (Political Science, Stanford University), "Machiavelli on Popular Rule."
Discussant: Dominic Pfister (Political Science, Ohio State) 

Feb 27, 12-1:20 PM EST:
Sahar Heydari Fard (Philosophy, Ohio State)
Discussant: Euchan Jang (Political Science, Ohio State)

Apr 3, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Dominic Pfister (Political Science, Ohio State) and Adrian Calmettes (Political Science, Ohio State), "Rescuing Neoliberalism: the World Economic Forum in Global Governance."
Discussant: Jared Rabinowitz (Political Science, Ohio State)

Apr 17, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Dana Howard (Bioethics and Philosophy, Ohio State) 

Fall 2022 Schedule

Sept 26, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Charisse Burden-Stelly (African American Studies, Wayne State University), “We Charge Genocide as Mutual Comradeship Praxis” 
Event sponsored by the Racial Capitalism Initiative 
Discussant: Cameron Macaskill (Political Science, Ohio State)

Oct 10, 12-1:20 PM EST:
Benjamin McKean (Political Science, Ohio State), “How to Blow Up Climate Despair” 
Discussant: Joel Wainwright (Geography, Ohio State)

Oct 24, 12-1:20 PM EST: 
Eric MacGilvray (Political Science, Ohio State), "The Serpent and the Whale: Leviathan in Billy Budd"
Discussant: Angus Fletcher (English, Ohio State)

Nov 21, 12-1:20 pm EST: 
Désirée Weber (Political Science, College of Wooster), “The Shape of Political Judgment: Past, Present and Future in Black Liberationist Rhetoric” 
Discussant: Martin Armstrong (Political Science, Ohio State)

Spring 2022 Schedule

Feb 7, 2022, 12-1:20 PM EST:
Amy Shuster (Philosophy, Ohio State), "'The Finest Rule of Life We Have:' On Ambiguity in the US Declaration"
Discussant: Bear Brown (Political Science, Ohio State)

Mar 7, 2022, 12-1:20 PM EST (CANCELED, WILL BE RESCHEDULED)
Eric Wisniewski (Political Science, Ohio State), "The Digital Revolution and the New Boundary Problem in Democratic Deliberation"

Mar 28, 2022, 12-1:20 PM EST:
Martin Armstrong (Political Science, Ohio State), "You Paid Me To: The Labor and Affective Politics of Military Violence"
Discussant: Jared Rabinowitz (Political Science, Ohio State)

Apr 11, 2022, 12-1:20 PM EST:
Dominic Pfister (Political Science, Ohio State), "Rethinking Hobbesian Security: Violence, Disease, and the Foundations of International Relations"  
Discussant: Donghye Kim (Political Science, Ohio State)

Fall 2021 Schedule

Oct 11, 2021,  2-3:20 pm EST: 
Donghye Kim (Political Science, Ohio State), “Care in Mill’s Liberal Utilitarianism” 
Discussant: Piers Turner (Philosophy, Ohio State)
Online

Oct 25, 2021 2-3:20 pm EST: 
Grant Sharratt (Political Science, Ohio State), “Intergenerational Freedom and Republican (Re-) Foundings” 
Discussant: Euchan Jang (Political Science, Ohio State)
In-person (masks required): Derby Hall 2174 (Reading Room) 
(A Zoom link will be available for those who are unable to attend in person.)  

Nov 8, 2021, 9 am-4:45 pm EST: special event 
Book Manuscript Workshop: Inés Valdez’s, Democracy and Empire: Labor, Migration, and the Reproduction of Western Capitalism 
Co-sponsored by the Center for Practical Ethics and Philosophy (Ludwig Maximilian University) and the Department of Political Science (Ohio State University), with participation by Duncan Bell (University of Cambridge), Ajay Chaudhary (Brooklyn Institute for Social Research), Michael Dawson (University of Chicago), Jane Gordon (University of Connecticut), and Shatema Threadcraft (Vanderbilt University) 
Online: advance registration required 

Nov 22, 2021, 2-3:20 PM EST: 
Inés Valdez (Political Science, Ohio State), “Which Politics of Immigration? A Critical Theory Appraisal of the Political Behavior Literature” 
Discussant: Dominic Pfister (Political Science, Ohio State)
Online 

Spring 2021 Schedule

Jan 25, 2021:
Alison McCarthy (UCLA Health Ethics Center) and Dana Howard (Philosophy, Ohio State)
“Supported Decision-Making: Non-Domination Rather Than Mental Prosthesis”
Discussant: Dominic Pfister (Political Science, Ohio State)

Feb 8, 2021:
Winston Thompson (Educational Studies, Ohio State) and John Tillson (Education Studies, Liverpool Hope University)
“Punishment, Pupils, and School Rules”

Feb 22, 2021:
Tom Chen (Political Science, Ohio State)
“Indeterminacy and Intentions”

Mar 22, 2021: 
Amber Knight (Political Science and Public Administration, University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
“Care by and for Mothers of Children with Disabilities” 

Mar 29, 2021 (co-sponsored by the Ohio State Office of Diversity and Inclusion):
Michael Dawson (Political Science, University of Chicago)
"Conflicting Claims: Race, Capitalism & the Current Crisis. Conundrums for Those Who Envisage a Socialist Future."

Apr 5, 2021:
Donghye Kim (Political Science, Ohio State)
“Situating Care in Contemporary and Historical Liberalism”

Fall 2020 Schedule

Sept 21, 2020:
Emma Saunders-Hastings (Political Science, Ohio State)
"Send Back the Bloodstained Money: Frederick Douglass on Tainted Gifts"
Discussant: Inés Valdez (Political Science, Ohio State)

Oct 5, 2020: 
Michael Neblo (Political Science, Ohio State) and Jeremy Wallace (Government, Cornell)
"The Covid Crisis, Legitimation Crisis, and the Future of Technocracy"
Discussant: Dominic Pfister (Political Science, Ohio State)

Oct 19, 2020: 
Grant Sharratt (Political Science, Ohio State)
"Vulgar Republicanism"
Discussant: TBA
[scheduling note: this week, the workshop will take place from 11:30 am-1 pm instead of 12:30-2pm]

Oct 20, 2020: @ 4:00PM (Special event!):
Benjamin L. McKean (Political Science, Ohio State), author of Disorienting Neoliberalism: Global Justice and the Outer Limit of Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2020), in conversation with Elisabeth Ellis (Philosophy and Politics, University of Otago) 

Nov 2, 2020:
Eric MacGilvray (Political Science, Ohio State)
"Markets and the Birth of Freedom"
Discussant: Jon Kingzette (Political Science, Ohio State)

Nov 16, 2020:
Lavender McKittrick-Sweitzer (Philosophy, Ohio State)
"Identifying Responsibility for Structural Care Exploitation"
Discussant: Emily Ann Israelson (Political Science, Ohio State)

Spring 2020 Schedule

Feb 3, 2020:
Inés Valdez (Political Science, Ohio State), Mat Coleman (Geography, Ohio State), and Amna Akbar (Law, Ohio State)
“The ‘Empirical Ends’ of Police Violence: Law, Practice, and a Grounded, Embodied State of Exception”
Discussant: Heather Pool (Political Science, Denison University)

Feb 17, 2020: 
Joan Tronto (Professor Emerita, Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota)
“Neopopulism as a Discourse of Protectionist Care: A Democratic Caring Perspective” 
Discussant: Donghye Kim (Political Science, Ohio State)

Mar 2, 2020:
Hye Yun Kang (Post Doctoral Fellow, Mershon Center, Ohio State)
“Performance as a Method: Understanding ‘Unintended Consequences’ in Military Actions”
Discussant: Martin Armstrong (Political Science, Ohio State)

Mar 16, 2020: 
Amber Knight (Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
"Prenatal Genetic Screening, Epistemic Justice, and Reproductive Autonomy" (work co-authored with Dr. Joshua Miller, UNCC)
Discussant: Dana Howard (Bioethics and Philosophy, Ohio State)

Mar 30, 2020:
Jon Kingzette (Political Science, Ohio State)
“Which Norms? Distinguishing Democratic Norms in Theory and Practice”
Discussant: Emma Saunders-Hastings (Political Science, Ohio State)

Fall 2019 Schedule

Sept 9, 2019:
“The Conditions of Care Exploitation”
Lavender McKittrick-Sweitzer (Philosophy, Ohio State)
Discussant: Donghye Kim (Political Science, Ohio State)

Sept 23, 2019:
“Populism and Global Justice: A Sibling Rivalry?”
Benjamin McKean (Political Science, Ohio State)
Discussant: Shannon Winnubst (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Ohio State)

Oct 7, 2019:
“How Should Political Theory Get Real?”
Michael Goodhart (Political Science, University of Pittsburgh)
Discussant: Dave Whitsett (Political Science, Ohio State)
                
Oct 21, 2019:
“Ugly Freedoms: Practices of Liberty in American Politics”
Elisabeth Anker (American Studies & Political Science, The George Washington University)
Discussant: Tom Chen (Political Science, Ohio State)

Nov 4, 2019:   
“Liberalism with Care”
Donghye Kim (Political Science, Ohio State)
Discussant: Grant Sharratt (Political Science, Ohio State)

Nov 18, 2019: 
“Hermeneutical Injustice and Contract”
Lyn Tjon Soei Len (Law, Ohio State)
Discussant: Lavender McKittrick-Sweitzer (Philosophy, Ohio State)

Dec 2, 2019:       
“The People as Praxis: Toward a Theory of Republican Populism”
Grant Sharratt (Political Science, Ohio State)
Discussant: Benjamin McKean (Political Science, Ohio State)

Spring 2019 Schedule

Jan 14, 2019:
"Free Actions and Free Persons"
Eric MacGilvray (Political Science, Ohio State)
Discussant:  Matthew Landauer (Political Science, University of Chicago)
Location: 0150 Derby Hall

Jan 28, 2019:
“Fake News According to Trump”
Dave Whitsett (Political Science, Ohio State)
Discussant:  Jeff Trimble (Communications & Political Science, Ohio State)

Feb 4, 2019:
“Dictatorship, Coerced Accomplices, and the Helplessness of Morality”
Shmulik Nili (Political Science, Northwestern University)
Discussant: Linnea Turco (Political Science, Ohio State)
* sponsored by the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA)

Feb 18, 2019:
“Megacorporations as Model Neoliberal Persons”
Brandon Zaffini (Political Science, Ohio State)
Discussant:  Emma Saunders-Hastings (Political Science, Ohio State)

Mar 4, 2019:
“Civil Disobedience, Not Conscientious Objection, in Medicine”
Dana Howard (Bioethics & Philosophy, Ohio State)
Discussant:  Aly Massof (Philosophy, Ohio State)

Mar 25, 2019:
“The Egalitarian Case Against Welfare Paternalism”
Emma Saunders-Hastings (Political Science, Ohio State)
Discussant:  Avery White (Political Science, Ohio State)

Apr 8, 2019:
“On Varieties of Educational Justice”
Winston Thompson (Education & Human Ecology, Ohio State)
Discussant:  Grant Sharratt, (Political Science, Ohio State)

Apr 22, 2019:
"From Resistance to Dissent and Back:  De-Constitutionalizing Civil Disobedience"
Candice Delmas (Philosophy & Political Science, Northeastern University)
Discussant:  Don Hubin, (Philosophy, Ohio State)

Spring 2017 Schedule

" Ourselves in Time: Intergenerational Humility, Deliberation and Democracy"

Jan 27, 2017:
Michael MacKenzie (Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh)
Time: 12 to 1:30pm
Location: Derby Hall 2130 (Spencer Room)
Discussant: Dave Whitsett (Political Science, OSU)

Feb 20, 2017:
“Towards an Ecological Critique of the Political”  
Reed Kurtz (Political Science, OSU)
Time: 2pm
Discussant: Corey Katz (Center for Ethics & Human Values, OSU)

Mar 6, 2017:
Manuscript Workshop: "Disposed to Justice" by Benjamin McKean (Political Science, OSU) †
Discussants: Joshua Cohen (Distinguished Senior Fellow, UC Berkeley), Sharon Krause (Professor and Chair of Political Science, Brown), and Stephen K. White (James Hart Professor of Politics, University of Virginia)

Apr 24, 2017:
“Sovereignty, Legitimate Authority, and White Domination: South Carolina and the Confederate Battle Flag”
Heather Pool (Political Science, Denison University)
Time: 2pm

May 26, 2017:
Manuscript Workshop: "Kant, Du Bois, and Cosmopolitanism in a New Color" by Inés Valdez (Political Science, OSU)
Discussants: Lawrie Balfour (University of Virginia), Juliet Hooker (University of Texas at Austin), and Adom Getachew (University of Chicago)

Fall 2016 Schedule

Monday, February 1, 2016, noon †:
"Blood Oil: Tyranny, Resources, and the Rules That Run the World"
Leif Wenar (Chair of Philosophy & Law, King’s College London)
Location: Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Video of Leif Wenar's talk is available at go.osu.edu/wenarl  

Friday, February 12, 2016, 3:30pm:
"The Democratic Ethics of Communicating Climate Change: Insights from Aristotle" ‡
Melissa Lane (Class of 1943 Professor of Politics, Princeton University)
Location: Derby 2130 (Spencer Room)

Monday, March 7, 2016, 12#:
"Repairing the Carceral Polity"
Lawrie Balfour (Politics, University of Virginia)
Location: Derby 2130 (Spencer Room)

Thursday, September 10th, 2015, 12pm † *:
“Racial Equality”
Charles W. Mills (Philosophy, Northwestern University)
Location: Mershon Center for International Security Studies (Please register for the event at http://go.osu.edu/millsc)
 
Monday, October 19th, 2015, 2pm ‡:
"Democratic Justice and Environmental Policy"
Elisabeth Ellis (Political Science, University of Otago)
Discussant: Loren Goldman (Political Science, Ohio University)
Location: Thompson Library, Room 165 

Monday, November 2nd, 2pm :
"Overconsumption as an Adaptive Preference" 
Avery White (Political Science, OSU)
Discussant: Brian McLean (Philosophy, OSU)
Location: Derby 47

Monday, November 16th, 2pm † #:
"Regimenting Migrants: Post-colonial Nationalism and the South Asian Diaspora"
Ishan Ashutosh (Geography, Indiana University)
Discussant: Martin Joseph Ponce (English, OSU)
Location: Derby 2130 (Spencer Room)

† Part of the Migration and Global Justice Workshop Series, sponsored by the Mershon Center of International Security Studies
* Co-sponsored by the departments of African American and African Studies, Comparative Studies, and Philosophy
‡ Co-sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Human Values COMPAS Program
# Co-sponsored by the Geography Department

Spring 2015 Schedule

Monday, January 26, 3:30pm †:
"The Right to Exclude Immigrants and its Limits"
David Watkins (University of Dayton Political Science)
Discussant: Theresa Delgadillo (OSU Comparative Studies)
Location: Mershon Center for International Security Studies
 
Monday, March 9, 3:30pm:
“Thrasymachus's Blush: Emotion, Deliberation, and the Politics of Motivated Reasoning”
Michael Neblo (Associate Professor of Political Science, OSU)
Discussant: Heather Pool (Denison University Political Science)
Location: Derby 2130 (Spencer Room)
 
Monday, March 30, 3:30pm- CANCELLED, will be rescheduled for Fall 2016:
New Book Workshop: Burdens of Political Responsibility: Narrative and The Cultivation of Responsiveness by Jade Schiff (Politics, Oberlin)
Note: Copies of Prof. Schiff's book will be made available in advance of the workshop to registered participants.
Location: Derby 2130 (Spencer Room)

Monday, April 6, 3:30pm:
"Totality and Empirical Social Psychology: A Critique of Research into Democratic Legitimation."
Kailash Srinivasan (OSU Political Science)
Disscusant: Nicholas Kiersey (Ohio University Political Science)
Location: Derby 2130 (Spencer Room)
 
Monday, April 20, 3:30pm †:
Paper Title "" The Legitimacy of Border Coercion: Freedom of Association, Territorial Dominion, and Self-Defense"
Arash Abizadeh (McGill University Political Science)
Discussant: Amna Akar (OSU Law School)
Location: Mershon Center for International Security Studies
 
† Part of the Migration and Global Justice Workshop Series, sponsored by the Mershon Center of International Security Studies

Fall 2014 Schedule

Location: Mershon Center for International Security Studies

2010-2011 Schedule

David McIvor, The Kettering Foundation / Duke University
"'A Splintering and Shattering Activity': Race, Reconciliation, and the Work of Mourning"
Friday May 6th, 1:30pm-3:00pm in 2174 Derby Hall (The Reading Room)

Piers Norris Turner, Department of Philosophy, The Ohio State University
"Authority, Progress, and the 'Assumption of Infallibility' in On Liberty"
Friday March 4th, 10:30am-12:00pm in 2130 Derby Hall (The Spencer Room)

2009-2010 Schedule

Inés Valdez, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"Beyond the Borders of the Public Sphere: Unearthing the Politics of Immigration
Friday, April 30, 1:30-3:00 in Derby 2130

Eric Grynaviski, The Ohio State University
"The Morality of the Bloodstained Spear: Declaring the Just War"
Friday February 5th, 1:00-2:30 in Derby 2130

Mark Warren, University of British Columbia
"Two Trust-Based Uses of Minipublics in Democratic Systems"
Friday, February 19th, 2:00-3:30 PM (Reception to follow)
Spencer Room (Derby 2130)

Alexander Wendt, The Ohio State University
"Preface to a Quantum Social Science"
Friday November 20th at noon in the Spencer Room (Derby 2130)

William Scheuerman, Indiana University
"What Cosmopolitans Can Learn From Classical Realists"
November 13th, 2009, Noon to 1:30PM, The Mershon Center for International Security Studies (1501 Neil Ave.)

Eric MacGilvray, The Ohio State University
"The Invention of Market Freedom"
November 6, 2009, Noon to 1:30 PM, Spencer Room (Derby 2130)

2008-2009 Schedule

Joshua Cohen, Stanford University
"Philosophy, Social Science, Global Poverty"
5 May 2009, 3:30pm at Spencer Room (2130 Derby)

Archon Fung, Harvard University
“The Principle of Affected Interests and Inclusion in Democratic Governance”
6 February 2009, 12:00pm at Spencer Room (2130 Derby)

2007-2008 Schedule

S. M. Amadae, OSU Political Science
“Wittgenstein on Counting in Political Economy”
23 May 2008, 2:00pm at Spencer Room

Rafi Youatt, OSU Political Science
"Rethinking Anthropocentric Politics"
9 May 2008, 12:00pm at Spencer Room

Eric MacGilvray, OSU Political Science
"The Rise and Fall of Republican Freedom"
25 April 2008, 12:00pm at Spencer Room

Simone Chambers, University of Toronto
"Rhetoric and the Public Sphere: Has deliberative democracy abandoned mass democracy?"

James Johnson, University of Rochester
"The Arithmetic of Compassion: Rethinking the Politics of Photography"

Dennis Thompson, Harvard University
"Who Should Govern?"

Highlights from 2006-2007

Seyla Benhabib, Yale University, Political Science
"Twilight of Sovereignty or the Emergence of Cosmopolitan Norms: Rethinking Citizenship in Hard Times"

Mary Dietz, University of Minnesota, Political Science
"Between Polis and Empire: Aristotle's Politics"

Robert Gooding-Williams, University of Chicago, Political Science
"Between the Masses and the Folk: Du Bois as Political Philosopher"

Jeremy Waldron, New York University, Law
"Safety and Security"

Highlights from 2005-2006

Victoria Kahn, University of California, Berkelely, English and Comparative Literature
"Nationalism and Internationalism in Milton, Grotius, and Hobbes"

Bryan Garsten, Yale University, Political Science
"Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment"

David Luban, Georgetown University, Law and Philosophy
"The Commander-in-Chief Power and Civilian Control of the Military"

Mattias Iser, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Philosophy
"Paradoxes of (Un)just War Theory"

Highlights from 2004-2005

Iris Marion Young, University of Chicago, Political Science
"Responsibility and Global Labor Justice"

Donald Moon, Wesleyan University, Government
"Justice as Social Cooperation"

Jane Mansbridge, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government
"The Case for Less Accountability"