Workshop: No Justice No Peace: The Ethics of Violent Protests

This event will bring together political, moral, and legal philosophers for a one-day workshop on the manuscript of Avia Pasternak’s forthcoming book, No Justice No Peace: The Ethics of Violent Protests. The book and workshop focus on a topic of pressing political concern: Under what conditions is it permissible for citizens to engage in forms of violent political dissent?

Date: Friday 30 May 2025
Time: 10.30am-5pm
Location: LAK 2.06, Lakatos Building, LSE Campus

Pasternak’s book sets out to offer a normative analysis of this issue organised around four key questions. First, can violent protests ever be permissible, given the harms they cause? Second, can violent protests ever be permissible if they occur in predominantly democratic communities? Third, if violence is sometimes permissible, how much violence, and against whom? Finally, if violence is sometimes permissible, what responses are appropriate from, for example, the criminal justice system?

The workshop will feature four commentaries on the book, from:

Chris Finlay (Durham)
Ten-Herng Lai (Stirling)
Chong-Ming Lim (Nanyang Technological University)
Eniola Soyemi (Oxford)

The manuscript of Pasternak’s book will be distributed to participants before the workshop to allow for careful discussion.

To stimulate interest and productive discussion, the organizers intend to host a two-session reading group on the manuscript in the run up to event, open to postgraduate students and faculty.

To sign up for the workshop and/or reading group, please email Jonathan Parry (j.parry1@lse.ac.uk)