About me

Paul Kelly is Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and a former Pro-Director of LSE. He is the author and editor of sixteen books and edited collections and published numerous scholarly articles. His interests range across political theory and philosophy and the history of thought. He has edited and co-edited the Journals Utilitas and Political Studies and cofounded Political Studies Review. His most recent books are Political Thinkers (with David Boucher) Oxford 2017, Conflict, War and Revolution, LSEPress 2021 and he is currently working on a book entitled Against Post Liberalism for Polity Press.

Political Theory
History of Political Thought
Contemporary Political Philosophy
British Political Ideas

GV100: Introduction to Political Theory
GV326: Conflict, War and Revolution

British Political Theory in the Twentieth Century
(Wiley/Blackwell 2010)

A selection of writings from great British political theorists of the twentieth century. These essays illustrate the variety and development of British Political Theory from Idealism to contemporary mulitculturalism and pluralism. They trace the development and transformation of political theory as it follows developments in British politics. The book begins with and interprepative essay that examiners the way in which political theory has been practised and explores the reasons for its transformation. The main body of the text comprises essays and selections from some of the greatest names of British political thought and political science including Bosanquet, Hobhouse, Laski, Cole, Oakeshott, Berlin, Hart and Barry to Carole Pateman, Anne Philips and David Miller among contemporaries. The selection and the interpretive essay show how the development of political theory follows the rise, transformation and challenge to the notion of the British state in the twentieth century.

Conflict, War and Revolution LSE Press 2021 (on-line and open access book).
‘Mill, liberalism and epistemic diversity’, in M. Hannon and J. De Ridder eds., The Routledge Handbook of Political Epistemology, London, Routledge, 2021, pp. 45-54.
‘Liberalism and Nationalism’, in S. Wall, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 329-351.