Jason Edwards

Lecturer in Politics, Programme Director BA Politics and Society

Contact details

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7631 6783
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7631 6787
Email: j.edwards@bbk.ac.uk

The history of political and social theory. Thinkers whom I'm particularly interested in include Martin Luther, Thomas Hobbes, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, Max Weber and Carl Schmitt.
Contemporary political and social theory. Areas I'm interested in include: democratic theory, in particular debates around deliberative, agonistic and associative democracy; conceptualisations of the political; the character of political and social modernity, particularly with respect to the formation of political knowledge and political subjects; the work of contemporary political and social theorists who have made major contributions in these areas, in particular Michel Foucault.
Issues in the philosophy of the social sciences - mainly evolutionary explanations in the social sciences and the relationship between biological, psychological and social explanations of human behaviour, and theories of human nature.
Supervision. Enquiries from those seeking PhD supervision in these areas are welcome. If you are interested in pursuing research in any of these areas, you should first read our advice on how to apply for MPhil/PhD research before submitting an application.

Jason is currently working on a book with the provisional title, War Pursued by Other Means. The book provides a critical account of the way in which the idea of politics as the continuation of war has been employed by influential political theorists since the early twentieth century. The book focuses on the work of Max Weber, Carl Schmitt, Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, and Giorgio Agamben.

Links to some of my published and unpublished work can be found on my website, here.
(with Alejandro Colas) 'Democracy, the State and Capitalism Today' in J. Pugh (ed.), What is Radical Politics? (London: Routledge, 2009).
'Postmaterialism' in M. Bevir (ed.), Sage Encyclopaedia of Political Theory (Sage, 2009).
'Foucault and the Continuation of War' in A. Auge and A. Plaw (eds), War, Virtual War and Human Security (Interdisciplinary Press, Oxford, 2009).
(with Kelvin Knight) 'Paul Hirst's Pluralism: A Response to Mark Wenman', Political Studies, 56, October 2008: 737-741.
'The Materialism of Historical Materialism' in D. Coole and S. Frost (eds), Materialism and Subjectivity (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008).
'The Ideological Interpellation of Individuals as Combatants: An encounter between Reinhart Koselleck and Michel Foucault', Journal of Political Ideologies, 12, 1, February 2007: 49-66.
The Radical Attitude and Modern Political Theory (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
'Analytical Marxism and the Academy' in D. Bates (ed.) Marxism, Intellectuals and Politics (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
'Critique and Crisis Today: Koselleck, Enlightenment and the Concept of Politics', Contemporary Political Theory, 5, 2006: 428-446.
'Evolutionary Psychology and Politics', Economy and Society, 32, 2, May 2003: 280-298.
'The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism', Imprints, 3, 2, Winter 1998-9: 175-188.