Projects
Wittgenstein and Political Theory KU Leuven
The proposed research aims to investigate the relation between Wittgenstein’s philosophy and political theory. This theme remains marginal within the Wittgensteinian scholarship, facing the key challenge of the sparsity of explicit discussions of political issues in Wittgenstein’s writings. An extra challenge is raised by the fact that even in those cases that political theory is engaged with his philosophy, this is mostly done through a ...
Subsidiary social provision before the welfare state. Political theory and social policy in nineteenth-century Belgium KU Leuven
This study is about the origins of the Belgian welfare state; more specifically, about both the policy origins and the ideological origins of the Belgian welfare state. The historical origins of the Belgian modern welfare state are often traced back to the introduction of social insurances in national legislation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. However, this legislation only confirmed a system that had ...
The Political Theory of American Populism KU Leuven
‘Populism’ is the central concept of our political era. Winning majorities, ousting incumbents, attacking courts and even locking up opponents, parties speaking on behalf of “the people” have flourished in the past decade. Yet these ‘populist’ parties share little with the movement that invented the term – the American Populists of the late nineteenth-century. Few academic fields rival the recent output of work on populism, and yet political ...
The ties that bind. An empirical evaluation of the political theory of liberal nationalism. KU Leuven
Modern time-consciousness: philosophy and politics of history - Leo Strauss on history and truth in the relation of theory and praxis. KU Leuven
The first part of the project will clarify a set of problems centering on the ...
Addressing the People in Theory and Practice: Assembly Politics in the Greek Cities of the Hellenistic and Roman Periods Ghent University
This project examines political communication in the popular assemblies of the Greek cities of the Hellenistic and Roman periods to offer new insights into the debate concerning the extent of popular political participation. Although inscriptions mention the assembly as part of the decision-making process until the end of the third century AD, scholars have argued that, from the second century BC onwards, the people were no longer able to ...
No stars in their eyes? An analysis of the organisation of political parties vis-à-vis the EU Ghent University
This project comprises the operating resources of the Research Fund Assistants - Political and Social Sciences
Between Arts, Politics and Spirituality: Young adults and their everyday politics in post-apartheid Windhoek KU Leuven
This dissertation is an ethnographic account of the everyday politics of young adults in post-apartheid Windhoek, Namibia. Starting from three particular ethnographic encounters I show how young Namibians, through everyday politics, sets the future in motion by challenging the current state of the country. In doing so they create alternative channels for political and social engagement and expression. Throughout I challenge portrayals of ...