My teaching interests and experience span several fields and disciplines, encompassing political theory (including contemporary political theory and the history of ideas), politics, philosophy and economics, and political science.

I have convened / instructed courses in both Australia and the United States, covering:

Inequality in Western Political Thought

This course will turn to the history of political thought to analyse different types of justification for and against equality. In doing so, we will acquire analytical tools to distinguish between different forms of inequality (economic, political, social, status, racial, gender, etc.). We will also investigate why some forms of inequality have been historically considered more acceptable than others, and we will ask which other concepts (freedom, social order, responsibility, solidarity, nature, reason, difference, etc.) are used in order to justify or criticise inequality. We therefore want to elaborate a typology of the kinds of arguments that have been mobilised by egalitarian thinkers and their critics in modern political thought. These arguments are associated with different strategies of contestation and resistance from reform to revolution. Through the interpretation of canonical texts, this course will provide historical and critical tools to students interested in understanding contemporary debates on social, political and economic inequality. Ultimately, the goal of this course is normative: what kind of equality should we want for our society? How can we justify our position? Is there any kind of inequality that is acceptable or necessary? If so, why? How can we fight against inequality? While the course does not focus on contemporary political theory, it aims to provide the conceptual basis for all students to be ready to discuss the pressing issues of inequality that have been at the centre of political debates in the US, from gender gap, racial segregation and disenfranchisement to the ever-growing wealth inequality.

Capitalism: For and Against

Explores historically prominent assessments of capitalism from moral, political, and economic perspectives. Readings from utilitarian, conservative, and liberal proponents of capitalism including Smith, Say, Bastiat, Mises, Hayek, Rand, Friedman, Nozick, Buchanan, and Simon. Readings from socialist, feminist, and environmentalist opponents of capitalism including Malthus, Fourier, Marx, Veblen, Keynes, Galbraith, Rawls, Nussbaum, Piketty, and Graeber.

Introduction to Contemporary Political Philosophy

The past hundred years have seen monumental and rapid socio-political changes around the world, which have transformed the way we live our lives. If we are to understand how we got to where we are and ensure that we build just societies into the future, we need to grapple with the ideas and ideologies that continue to drive social, political, and economic change. This course invites students to do so, by surveying the central ideas and thinkers in contemporary normative (i.e., ethical or evaluative) political theory.

The first half of the course looks at influential schools of political thought: liberal egalitarianism, libertarianism, and egalitarianism. This will give students a firm theoretical foundation upon which to analyse and critique applied topics in contemporary politics during the second half of the course. These topics include the design of fair voting systems, free speech, whether justice can be applied internationally, reparations, whether the cultures of minority groups should be protected, and the rights of nonhuman animals and the environment. Students are shown how to connect everyday political conversation with some of the leading ideas in political theory and, ideally, to tune their ear to conceptual incoherence and logical inconsistency in the former.

Introduction to Political Philosophy

Political philosophy is organised around a set of fundamental ideas and questions. What is the aim of politics? What form of government or regime is best? Why obey those with whom you disagree? What is freedom, or justice?

These are a few of the questions we will examine in this course. To do so, we will read and critically engage with some of the central texts in political theory and philosophy. These ideas and questions are not new: they have been written about and debated for hundreds and thousands of years. The lessons of these texts and the answers they have to core questions of politics continue to exert significant influence over the study and the practice of politics. These ideas and questions are not just a matter for academics, they have meaningful consequences for how our societies are ordered and governed. But these works are not infallible. It will be your job to come to terms with their strengths and weaknesses.

The course will provide students with a theoretical and historical introduction to the main line of Western political thought. Students will acquire the tools necessary to think through and argue about some of the most important works of political philosophy. The purpose of these texts is not about which of the authors we examine are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ but is instead to be able to critically engage with some of the ideas that remain central to contemporary politics.

Bureaucracy, Politics, and Power

The course provides an introduction to the study of public administration – in other words, the nature of government, how it is organised, how the political and administrative elements work together, and how it relates to citizens. It will help you understand why certain decisions are made by ministers, where power lies in government, why disasters and government failures occur, why governments sell off public assets and contract out functions, why some issues are considered to be problems and some aren’t, and the shadowy world of political advisers. We look at how fundamental ideas and shifts in the shape of the state are played out everyday in newsfeeds. The course uses case studies as ways of learning about theories and current controversies.