Workshop with Alex Sager: Political Theory and Methodological Nationalism

***This is a hybrid workshop taking place at the University of Geneva and Online***

Methodological nationalism is a central debate in political theory of migration. It investigates how political theorists should grapple with the criticism that their theories are beholden to what social scientists call “methodological nationalism”, in which theories illegitimately adopt state-centered categories and assumptions. While discussions of methodological nationalism have been prevalent in the social sciences for over two decades, political theorists have just begun to explore its implications. First, political theorists have raised questions about its analytic rigor: social scientists have presented different and possibly conflicting definitions of methodological nationalism. Can these definitions be reconciled? Second, the normative contribution the critique of methodological nationalism makes remains unclear. A burgeoning literature around questions of migration and justice has begun to fill this lacuna, but discussions are very much in their infancy. Alex Sager (Portland State University) has authored some of the most important contributions to this debate and continues to advance the field in his recent work. This pre-read hybrid workshop includes contributions from six early career researchers working in the field of political theory, or in the field of social sciences with a particular interest in methodological nationalism to meet and receive feedback from Prof. Alex Sager (Portland State University) on their ongoing research work.