The LSE Department of Government is pleased to announce its 12th \;annual Graduate Conference in Political Theory\, taking place on \;May 28th and 29th\, 2026. The conference will be held entirely in-person.
\nThis year&rsquo\;s conference will follow a \;workshop model\, fostering deep engagement and constructive feedback on research from graduate scholars. Each presenter will be assigned a \;commentator \;followed by an open Q&\;A.
\nWe welcome submissions from graduate students in political theory and related disciplines. Papers can engage with normative\, historical\, analytical\, or critical approaches\, as well as interdisciplinary perspectives. \;
\nLunch will be provided for speakers on both days. Coffee\, refreshments\, and a drinks reception will also be included. Unfortunately\, we are unable to cover transportation and/or accommodation costs. \;
\nWe are also delighted to feature two keynote speakers\, who will participate in workshop discussions: Sean Ingham (UC San Diego) and Shuk Ying Chan (UCL).
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More details to follow.
The use and control of physical space has long been central to political philosophy (conceived\, for instance\, in terms of private property rights or collective territorial rights). However\, this rich body of work has focused primarily on the justification of exclusive control rights at either the small (individual-property-right) scale or the large (territorial-right) scale\, rather than on the normative dimensions of intermediate local-scale use of physical space and everyday spatial experience\, the demands of justice or morality that arise from the local-level inhabiting of a shared physical environment. This is beginning to emerge as a subject of study in political philosophy/theory\, and recent book-length treatments (e.g. Kohn's The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth (2016)\; Kukla's City Living (2021)) and emerging literatures on topics such as gentrification and housing justice begin to address these concerns. Much of this work\, though\, assumes "the city" (metropolitan area or municipality) as the relevant unit of analysis. Yet for theories concerned with justice in day-to-day life\, issues of justice in local land use need not be distinctively urban\, and the local space more generally&mdash\;neighbourhoods\, districts\, villages\, rural areas&mdash\;and the relations between them (home to work\, home to community) may be a more meaningful unit of analysis.
\nIn this workshop we wish to explore what is distinctive about justice at the local scale and in the local organisation of land use\, and how established justice frameworks might need modification when applied to everyday spatial experience.
\nInvited speakers:
\nKaty Wells (Warwick)
\nBart van Leeuwen (Radboud)
\nTyler Zimmer (Chicago)
\nHolly Longair (Kwantlen Polytechnic)
\nPilar Lopez-Cantero (Antwerp) &\; Dan Guillery (LSE)
\nBettina Lange (Radboud)
\nCorey Schuck (Radboud)
\nThis workshop is hosted and funded by the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science at the LSE.
\nPracticalities
\n9.30 - 18.00\, 16th June 2026\, in person
\nLondon School of Economics and Political Science (Sir Arthur Lewis Building\, Room G.03)
\nAll are welcome\, but please register your attendance at the link above\, so that we have an idea of numbers for catering\, and since\, if you are not a member of the LSE\, you will not be able to access the building unless you are on our list in advance.
ORGANIZER;CN=Daniel Guillery;CN=Corey Schuck;CN=Bettina Lange: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260430T082932Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260914T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260915T170000 SUMMARY:New Directions in Law-Based Explanations in the Sciences UID:20260430T083612Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6b96c54f56-bljdq TZID:Europe/London LOCATION:Lakatos Building\, London\, United Kingdom DESCRIPTION:When we look at current research across the natural and social sciences dealing with explanations of phenomena in their respective fields\, the word &lsquo\;explanation&rsquo\; is often modified with an adjective: causal\, non-causal\, mechanistic\, nomological/law-based\, topological\, mathematical\, and narrative are some of the non-mutually-exclusive modifiers that one may encounter. It is generally accepted that fields such as physics rely more on laws for their explanatory practices than disciplines such as cell biology\, which are\, for the most part\, concerned with mechanistic explanations\, for example. In the philosophy of science\, particularly since the advent of the New Mechanism literature in the 1990s\, barring some exceptions\, there has been relatively little sustained work on the pragmatic side of law-based explanations as opposed to other explanatory modalities\, and the interest that law-based explanations have garnered has mostly focused on the metaphysics of laws. This workshop aims to bring the philosophy of law-based explanations\, with particular attention to their pragmatic dimensions\, back into focus. Moreover\, while being historically informed\, the hope is to discuss new directions within this strand of the philosophy of explanation. Some questions for consideration could include (in no particular order):
\nConfirmed Speakers:
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