Independent Researcher
I am an independent researcher specialising in political philosophy.
My research focuses primarily on the philosophy of electoral participation. Some of the key questions in my research are: Why might it be morally permissible to not vote in democratic elections? Does electoral abstention generate moral consequences for the individual abstainer? Do high levels of non-voting in a election affect the moral responsibilities of the electees? What are appropriate institutional responses when some citizens of a democracy do not participate in elections?
Previously, I have worked on the definition of electoral constituencies, external voting, multiculturalism, and the moral rights of nomadic minority groups.
In addition to my research work, I maintain the website Postdoc Funding in Political Theory, which compiles grant and fellowship opportunities for early-career researchers in political theory.
Starting in 2026, I will serve as the PI in a DFG-funded research project called ‘Democracy and Abstention’. I have previously been a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Centre for Political Research at Sciences Po. I have also been a postdoctoral researcher in the Leibniz Research Group ‘Transnational Justice’ and at the Justitia Amplificata Centre for Advanced Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt.
I am a graduate of Oxford University (DPhil 2017) and Uppsala University.
Current Courses
The Philosophy of (Non)Voting
Ordinary citizens’ participation in elections is a cornerstone of contemporary democratic practice. Presidents are elected or ejected from office, governments stand and fall, the authority of legislative program is sustained or undermined, as a result of citizens’ votes. Yet, in many democracies electoral participation rates decline, which raises important philosophical questions.
The Philosophy of Representative Democracy
This course surveys contemporary scholarship in anglophone democratic theory, focusing on questions and debates relating to the idea and practice of representative democracy. The course introduces participants to the most prominent justifications and conceptions of democracy (minimalist, aggregative, deliberative, republican, and agonistic); it explores the concept of representation as well as radical critiques of representation; and it studies the normative purposes of political elections.
Freiheit, Gleichheit, Macht: Grundlegende Begriffe der Politik
Im politischen Gespräch und in der politischen Theorie nutzen wir oft Begriffe wie Freiheit, Gerechtigkeit, Rechte, oder Macht. Die Meinung dieser grundlegenden Begriffe oder Konzepte ist jedoch komplex und umstritten. Um hiermit zurecht zu kommen, schauen wir in dieser Veranstaltung genauer auf eine Reihe grundlegender Begriffe der Politik, und versuchen zu verstehen, auf welche verschiedene Weisen die jeweiligen Konzepte konstruiert werden können.
