Jonathan Havercroft interviews Çiğdem Çıdam on her research into the political upheavals in Turkey as a result of the Gezi protests in 2013. Çiğdem documents her experience in this collective mobilisation and how it relates to her concept of democratic theatricality. Jonathan and Çiğdem also discuss political friendship in the tradition of Aristotle and theorist Hannah Arendt's thoughts on rioting. 

Profile: Çiğdem Çıdam is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Union College. Her research interests lie at the intersection of democratic theory, theories of popular sovereignty, contemporary continental theory (Frankfurt School, Italian Marxism) and ancient political thought. She has published various articles in contemporary political theory and theory and event.

Book: On this episode we discuss her book “In the Street: Democratic Action, Theatricality, and Political Friendship”. It focuses on contemporary forms of democratic popular action (e.g. Gezi protests in Turkey) through an engagement with the works of some canonical thinkers (e.g. Aristotle and Rousseau) and contemporary theorists (e.g. Negri, Habermas, Rancière). It can be purchased here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/in-the-street-9780190071684?cc=gb&lang=en&

The Just Riot Theory Podcast is part of the British Academy mid-career fellowship project 'Just and Unjust Riots: a normative assessment of militant protest'. It is produced by the Public Engagement with Research Unit at the University of Southampton. Funding for the series was provided by the British Academy.

Jonathan Havercroft is joined by Matt Clements to discuss his research into the political theory of riots, class and the history of rioting. His 2016 book, 'A People's History of Riots, Protest and the Law', explores Marxian interpretations of political protest. 

Profile: Matt Clement is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Royal Holloway University. Matt worked as a careers adviser and teacher in the 1990s and a community worker and youth justice worker in the 2000s.  He has since worked at a number of universities publishing in journals such as Race & Class, Social Justice, Critical Criminology and the European Journal of Criminology.  Subjects covered include the history of riots and anti-racism, knife crime, Social movements from populism to black lives matter, state crimes and labelling processes.

Matt is a critical criminologist, a sociologist of deviance.  Some of his influences include Marxism and the sociology of Norbert Elias - and within Criminology the ideas of David Matza, Angela Davis, Stan Cohen and Stuart Hall.

Book: On this episode we discuss Matt Clement’s 2017 Book “A People’s History of Riots, Protest and the Law” which can be purchased here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/978-1-137-52751-6

The Just Riot Theory Podcast is part of the British Academy mid-career fellowship project 'Just and Unjust Riots: a normative assessment of militant protest'. It is produced by the Public Engagement with Research Unit at the University of Southampton. Funding for the series was provided by the British Academy.

This episode Jonathan Havercroft interviews Alex Livingston. He is currently writing a book on the theory and history of civil disobedience. Jonathan and Alex discuss Martin Luther King, his mythical figure in racial politics and the use of violence in civil disobedience. 

Profile: Alex Livingston is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Government. His research interests include democratic theory, social movements, religion and politics, and the history of twentieth-century political thought. He teaches courses on civil disobedience, theories of democracy, the politics of nonviolence, contemporary political theory, and American political thought.

He is the author of Damn Great Empires! William James and the Politics of Pragmatism (Oxford University Press, 2016) and editor of James Tully: To Think and Act Differently (Routledge, 2022). His current research projects include a book on the theory and history of civil disobedience, as well as a series of essays on the ethics and politics of self-defense in contemporary protest repertoires, and a collaborative project on archival methodologies in political theory.

Articles: He has written several influential articles on the theory and history of civil disobedience including:

“Tough Love: The Political Theology of Civil Disobedience," Perspectives on Politics 18, no. 3 (2020): 851-866

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/tough-love-the-political-theology-of-civil-disobedience/929871467661FA5DE28E720FC39861C5

"Power for the Powerless: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Late Theory of Civil Disboedience," Journal of Politics 82, no. 2 (2020): 700-713

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/706982?af=R&mobileUi=0

"Fidelity to Truth: Gandhi and the Genealogy of Civil Disobedience," Political Theory 46, no. 4 (2018): 511-536

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0090591717727275

The Just Riot Theory Podcast is part of the British Academy mid-career fellowship project 'Just and Unjust Riots: a normative assessment of militant protest'. It is produced by the Public Engagement with Research Unit at the University of Southampton. Funding for the series was provided by the British Academy.

Jonathan Havercroft is joined by Juliet Hooker to discuss black protest in the United States and the militaristic response that occured in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. 

Profile: Juliet Hooker is Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science. She is a political theorist specializing in racial justice, black political thought, Latin American political thought, democratic theory, and contemporary political theory. She has also written on racism and Afro-descendant and indigenous politics in Latin America. Before coming to Brown, she was a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Race and the Politics of Solidarity (Oxford, 2009) and Theorizing Race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos (Oxford, 2017), and editor of

Article: In this episode we discuss her 2016 article in Political Theory, "Black Lives Matter and the Paradoxes of U.S Black Politics: From Democratic Sacrifice to Democratic Repair". The Article can be accessed here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0090591716640314

The Just Riot Theory Podcast is part of the British Academy mid-career fellowship project 'Just and Unjust Riots: a normative assessment of militant protest'. It's produced by Public Engagement with Research Unit at the University of Southampton. Funding for the series was provided by the British Academy.

Jonathan Havercroft joins Stephen D'Arcy to talk about public autonomy, democracy and the use of violence within political systems.

Profile: Stephen D'Arcy's research addresses normative democratic theory and practical ethics. He is the author of the book, Languages of the Unheard: Why Militant Protest is Good for Democracy (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2013; London and New York: Zed Books, 2014). He is also co-editor (with T. Black, A. Weis, and J.K. Russell) of the book, A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2014; Oakland: PM Press, 2014). His most recent project is a book manuscript, entitled 'The Deepest Abyss': Gottlob Frege's Descent into Fascism.

Book: Professor D’Arcy’s book on militant protest is available here:

The Just Riot Theory Podcast is part of the British Academy mid-career fellowship project 'Just and Unjust Riots: a normative assessment of militant protest'. It is produced by the Public Engagement with Research Unit at the University of Southampton. Funding for the series was provided by the British Academy.

Professor Jonathan Havercroft interviews Avia Pasternak. This conversation explores Avia's research into the political ethics of rioting, the principle of 'defensive harm' and the 2011 Tottenham Riots.

Profile: Avia Pasternak is an Associate Professor in Political Theory in Political Science at University College London. Her research investigates how citizens should respond to state injustices. She is the author of Responsible Citizens Irresponsible States: Should Citizens Pay for Their State's Wrongdoings?  Published by Oxford University Press. She is interested in the question of whether oppressed citizens may resort to violent protest against their state, and how should unjust states respond to citizens who resort to such violence. Her work on this topic has been published in Philosophy and Public Affairs and she is currently writing a book on this topic, entitled "No Justice No Peace: In Defence of Violent Protests".

Article: Dr. Pasternak’s article, “Political Rioting: A Moral Assessment”, was published in Philosophy & Public Affairs. It can be read here:

The Just Riot Theory Podcast is part of the British Academy mid-career fellowship project 'Just and Unjust Riots: a normative assessment of militant protest'. It is produced by the Public Engagement with Research Unit at the University of Southampton. Funding for the series was provided by the British Academy.