James Ingram

Associate Professor, Political Science

James Ingram’ s research interests is based modern, especially continental European political theory from Rousseau and Kant via Marx to Critical Theory, and other contemporary approaches. He is especially interested in the dynamic between political thought and real-world politics as the latter has strains against the limits assumed by the former.

One area of interest is the idea of cosmopolitanism. It sought to salvage the idea from the taint it had acquired not only by its association with the interventionist policies of the 2000s and its long entanglement with different imperialisms. This work culminated in a 2013 book, Radical Cosmopolitics, and continues in ongoing work around universalism and the politics of human rights.

Another concerns ways in which political thinking can push the frontiers of political possibility. Examples of this kind of work include a 2013 conference and 2017 collection on the Political Uses of Utopia, which sought to defend the practice of projecting alternative futures.

A third area of interest is in how the idea of ‘the political’ is redefined and contested in political thought and practice. Starting from a historical examination of the changing definitions of this elusive notion in political theory, the project explores the reasons for and significance of the ongoing 'politics of politics.'

Alongside these projects, James maintains a lively interest in new debates in critical as well as democratic theory. He has also worked extensively as a translator from French (Étienne Balibar, Jacques Rancière, Jacques Derrida) as well as German (Axel Honneth, Reinhart Koselleck, Christoph Menke).