Public law research
Public law concerns the regulation of and by the state. At one level, matters of constitution have led to crises in liberal democracies and to the question of sovereignty. Our researchers provide perspectives on national constitutions, the precarious nature of the rule of law, the accountability/expansion of executive action, welfare provisions and public proceedings, and the legacies of medieval thought on constitutional matters. Research is approached via history, theories of political sovereignty and political theology, political theory, and political economy.
On another level, the state’s role in the regulation and prosecution of criminal behaviour raises questions about the political and ethical dimensions of the criminal justice system. Our research is influenced by and develops critical social theory and critiques of moral philosophy in order to understand criminal law and punishment practices in their wider context. We have been at the forefront of work exploring the complicated relationship of psychoanalytic thought and legal justice in order to illuminate central legal topics such as authority, obligation, guilt and reconciliation.
More recently, scholars have turned their attention to law and space in order to examine the spatial regulation of private and public spheres, as well as the geographies of movement and migration.
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Our academic staff: Heather Allansdottir, Frederick Cowell, Marinos Diamantides, Michelle Everson, Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Patrick Hanafin, Susy Menis, Daniel Monk, Craig Reeves, Maria Tzanakopolou.
