Politics, Rights and Globalization

Members of this grouping are conducting a programme of comparative and cross-national empirical research on geopolitical conflict, and international networks of political violence.  A focus on trans-national social movements, international law and human rights challenges nation-based conceptions of governance, democracy and the public sphere, and is contributing to the emergence of a distinctively sociological approach to human rights.  Other members of the grouping are developing the concept of scientific citizenship in terms of global flows of expert knowledge and participatory democratic procedures.  A further strand of work has contributed to the development of models of participatory democracy, neighbourhood renewal and social inclusion.  Members of the grouping have also played a key role in the criticism and analysis of post-Enlightenment moral and political philosophy, and the development of contemporary political theory and political philosophy.