Welcome
I am a writer, scholar and political commentator interested in social justice and political judgment, the rise of new ideologies, and democracy's troubles with capitalism. I draw on history, philosophy, and sociology as I seek to produce politically salient and critical analyses of modern societies.
Capitalism is not on its deathbed, utopia is not in our future, and revolution is not in the cards. And yet, the time is ripe for radical progressive change.
My latest book
My latest book
"This is the big-think book of our time", James Galbraith, interview. Read his review "The Pandemic and Capitalism".
Read more Awards
Upcoming
Researching Emancipatory Social Change Event
Organized by University of Westminster
On the double binds of academic engagement with radical politics
Latest
Victimhood Olympics Event
Precarity Capitalism and the Competition for Patronage as Engines of the Autocratic Turn in Liberal Democracies
Organized by Czech Academy of Sciences
Public demand for autocracy is growing within so-called "liberal democracies." What relations of justice are driving this mutation of our imperfect democracies into autocracies? I focus on how emancipatory struggles against structural inequality have been turned into strategies of oppression, as seen in the conflicts over EDI policies in the U.S. and Europe, where left-wing "cancel culture" protecting vulnerable groups clashes with a militant Right opposing affirmative action in the name of non-discrimination. The answer, I suggest, lies in the combination of identity politics and the political economy of "precarity capitalism."
A plenary lecture at the Philosophy and Social Science annual critical theory conference.
Event Program
Emancipation without a Blueprint Event
A keynote address at the conference Radical Imaginaries, Radical Transformations: Climate Change, Power, Democracy and t
Organized by University of Warwick
Rather than seeking ready-made blueprints, we should focus on the conditions that make radically transformative thinking possible. Diagnosing our societies as being in a stage of "precarity capitalism," I show how its economic and political dynamics trap public thinking in constant short-term crisis management. I caution against the fashionable "poly-crisis" diagnosis, which carries conservative and even reactionary implications. Finally, I propose an anti-precarity policy set to help actors move beyond crisis management and dare to "think big".
Capitalism, democracy and the state. Public Lecture
On the radical legacy of Claus Offe
Organized by The Ralph Miliband Programme, LSE
In this celebratory symposium, Albena Azmanova, Lea Ypi, and Peter Wagner examine the extraordinary intellectual imprint left by Claus Offe on us, his students, and on generations of scholars.
The EU on Trial Public Lecture
A debate
Organized by LSE Student Union, Eastern European section
Has the EU made Europeans richer? Does the EU have a lobbying problem? Is secrecy baked into how the EU governs? How is the EU likely to look in the near future?
Populism and the crisis of democracies Event
A lecture course at CERIS-Diplomatic School of Brussels
Organized by CERIS-Diplomatic School of Brussels
This set of lectures discusses the place of populist politics in democracies, canvases resurgence of populism in liberal democracies over the past twenty years, and investigates the socio-economic causes for the persistent rise of popular support to far-right populist parties; finally, it addresses strategies for countering this trend.
Academic Freedom in Times of Authoritarianism and Genocide Event
keynote address
Organized by KU Leuven
Universities face mounting constraints on critical inquiry, dissent, and solidarity, as economic imperatives and political agendas narrow the space for independent thought.
1989's ambitious pragmatism: Lessons for fighting autocratic capitalism today Book Chapter
in Velvet Capitalism and the Crisis of Liberal Democracy edited by Petr Drulák and Petr Agha
