Duncan Bell

JOB

Assistant Professor of Political Theory
University of Cambridge
@thecambridgeschool.bsky.social

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/univers...

Yup!

Particular focus on "post-colonial political thought, or whose work might connect political theory and historical political economy"👇

"...we are especially interested to hear from those working in international political theory, or who undertake historically informed research on anti-colonial and post-colonial political thought, or whose work might connect political theory and historical political economy"

JOB

Assistant Professor of Political Theory
University of Cambridge
@thecambridgeschool.bsky.social

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/univers...

Very pleased to find these in the post this morning. Now available as a physical object!

Every speech on the subject given by any involved party begins by deploring even the idea of war. A war here would not be legal or useful. It is not necessary or appropriate. It must be avoided. Immediately following this proud declamation comes a series of circumlocutions, circumventions and rhetorico-circumambulations which make it clear that we will go to war, but not really, because we don’t want to and aren’t allowed to, so what we’re doing is in fact some kind of hyper-violent peace in which people will die. We are going to un-war.

The difficulty is what happens next, which is that various nations and groups of nations who are notionally friendly to one another and here for identical, similar or compatible purposes get into disagreements. The good kind of disagreement comes to an end with harsh words and apologies, but disagreements between men and women trained to kill and armed with the best weapons available, who know that they are disagreeing with people who are similarly trained and equipped, are generally the other sort. Giving someone a jolly good talking-to becomes an exchange of warning shots and suddenly there’s a minor battle going on. Minor battles become international incidents; international incidents foster distrust; distrust fosters conflict.

It’s almost as if, now that this place exists as a war zone, everyone feels it would be rude not to use it.

Cover of the UK paperback of The Gone-Away World: black with red spatters or cracks stretching horizontally across the middle. What text with the title abd my name.

It is SUPPOSED TO BE A JOKE, you bastards

Don't forget to sign up to our upcoming 'Rethinking Internationalism' conference on 19-20th March in London: csi.bbk.ac.uk/blog/rethink...

Thanks! (Yes, absolutely!)

RIP William Connolly

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks, Ulas!

Very pleased to find these in the post this morning. Now available as a physical object!

Duncan Bell, "John Stuart Mill on Federation, Civilization and Empire," History of Political Thought (2024)

go.shr.lc/4mTZyBp

👇👇👇 3 post-docs in democratic theory

Utopia Abstract. Ideal societies, better worlds, more just and peaceful ways of living: these have long been the stuff of human beings’ social dreaming. In this c

NEW BOOK!

I'm very happy to say that my new book, Utopia, co-written with Douglas Mao, has been published on-line

academic.oup.com/book/62279

Thanks!

Will do!

Thanks!

Thanks!
(I think that's right...)

Many thanks!

On Joe (Heath) on Jack (Rawls) and the profession. For non-regular readers let me offer a preliminary statement so you understand the spirit of what follows.

On Joe (Heath) on Jack (Rawls) and the profession.
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
Responding to @josephheat.bsky.social [HT @dailynous.com ]

Epstein and the moral rot of US public intellectuals The disgraced sex offender was able to gather a group of scientists and thinkers around him who shared his anti-woke, anti-women and Silicon Valley techno-fascist views. But it doesn’t end with Epstei...

There hasn't been much media coverage outside the science media of the Epstein scientists. So I wrote about them here for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social. As many in science know, John Brockman was central in linking Epstein to scientific "public intellectuals".
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!

In the third part of our series David and Paul Sagar explore what the German writer and sociologist Max Weber can teach us about the pitfalls of political life and political philosophy. Why is doing politics so hard?

Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

An enjoyable day at the Emirates

An enjoyable day at the Emirates

The curious rise of Morgan McSweeney How a behind-the-scenes fixer captured the Labour party, only to become a symbol of Keir Starmer’s failing government

The perfect moment to re-up Stuart McGurk's piece for @prospectmagazine.co.uk about the rise of the man who dominated the Labour party only to become a symbol of Starmer's failing government

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/lab...

Biggest W in the history of historians tbh

Thanks, Giovanni!