Our faculty
Dr. Christof Royer
Assistant Professor in International Relations
Christof’s initial background is in law, he holds a Magister Juris degree from the University of Vienna (Austria) and an LL.M from the University of Reading. After having practised law for several years, he decided to pursue an academic career.
After giving up his job as a lawyer, he went to the University of St Andrews, where he obtained a Master’s degree in International Political Theory and a PhD in International Relations. Christof taught at the Universities of St Andrews, Dundee, Hong Kong, and Central European University. From 2018 to 2021, he was the convenor of the BISA working group on International Political Theory and has in this role organised various conference panels, conferences, and other events.
Currently, he is also the programme leader of the ‘Open Society Research Platform’, which is affiliated with Central European University.
Christof joined Forward College in 2022, he will be teaching courses on international political theory and democracy and democratisation in Paris. He is currently working on a book that examines the question of limits to diversity and plurality in radical democratic theory and practice.
Christof is a passionate tennis player and currently looking for tennis partners in Paris.
Research Interests
- Disciplines: International Relations; Political Theory; Political Science; Philosophy;
- Specific Interests: democratic challenges in theory and practice; the political values of plurality, inclusion, and justice; freedom of speech; social justice; technology, surveillance, and Artificial Intelligence; human rights; political violence;
Current teaching
- International Political Theory (IR 2083)
- Democracy and Democratisation (PS 3086)
Select Publications
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Books
Royer, C. (2020), Evil as a Crime against Humanity: Confronting Mass Atrocities in a Plural World (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, International Political Theory series), https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030538163.
Royer, C. and Liviu M. (eds.), Forget Open Society? The Contemporary Relevance of a Contested Idea. Under contract with Central European University Press.
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Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Royer, C. (2022), Boon or Bane? Open Society and Polarisation. New Perspectives. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2336825X221113230
Royer, C. (2022), Strange Multiplicity as a Moral-Political Value: Potential and Costs of Normativity in World Politics. Journal of International Political Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F17550882221080563
Royer, C. (2021). Ideological Struggle as Agonistic Conflict: (Anti-)Hypocrisy, Free Speech and Critical Social Justice. Jus Cogens: A Critical Journal of Philosophy of Law and Politics, 3, pp. 257-278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42439-021-00046-1
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Editor of Special Issues
Special Issue ‘New Perspectives on Open Society’ in New Perspectives
Special Issue ‘The International Thought of Judith Shklar’ in Global Intellectual History
