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Jonathan Benson

@j-benson

Political theorist at the University of Manchester | Author of 'Intelligent Democracy' (OUP) | Thinking about polarization, democracy & PPE drjonathanbenson.co.uk

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24.11.2024
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Latest posts by Jonathan Benson @j-benson

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The first set of postdocs for our ERC project on popular government have just been advertised. These 3 postdocs will be based at UC Louvain with my co-PI Pierre-Etienne Vandamme and focus on contemporary democratic theory. Apply! jobs.uclouvain.be/Personnelsci...

25.02.2026 17:27 πŸ‘ 38 πŸ” 39 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

Delighted to announce that Fredrik Dybfest Hjorthen and I have secured an ARHC grant to work on "The Ethics of Responding to Rising Global Authoritarianism", for two years from Feb 2026.

03.12.2025 10:30 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Must we Compromise? Democracy and Polarization | Blog of the APA In debates over mounting political polarization, few concerns are voiced more often than the loss of compromise. The decline of bipartisanship is often treated as both a symptom and a cause of democra...

A new blog post for @apaphilosophy.bsky.social explores compromise and polarization. I argue that compromise may not be as democratically valuable as often assumed, and that a reduction in compromise may not necessarily be a cost of polarization.

blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/26/m...

01.12.2025 09:49 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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πŸŽ™οΈ Episode 8 is out now!
Jess @jtsuth.bsky.social
sits down with Jonathan Benson (@j-benson.bsky.social) to talk democratic theory, scepticism, and the intersections of politics, philosophy & economics.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts!
#DemocracyDifferently #PoliticalTheory #Democracy #PPE

08.10.2025 07:20 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Latest PSR: SetΓ€lΓ€ and O'Flynn on "Can Deliberative Democracy Provide Remedies for Affective Polarisation?" journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

05.08.2025 13:52 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Thanks for sharing!

19.05.2025 14:01 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Joint Author-Meets-Critics: Unjust Authority and Intelligent Democracy Join us for a lively discussion on two recent books in political and democratic theory by Robert Jubb and Jonathan Benson.

Really interesting double-book event for those in London on Friday 20th June, featuring Rob Jubb & @j-benson.bsky.social, as well as @pamukz.bsky.social @shaiagmon.bsky.social Mark Pennington & Edmund Tweedy Flanigan www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/joint-auth...

19.05.2025 10:29 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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After some distribution issues, my book 'Intelligent Democracy' is now available in the UK & Europe! πŸŽ‰πŸ“š
global.oup.com/academic/pro...

07.05.2025 08:13 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The ethics of responding to democratic backsliding abroad by James Pattison is now available in Early View. @jamespattison.bsky.social ajps.org/2025/04/14/t...

15.04.2025 20:46 πŸ‘ 18 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Job Opportunity at the University of Southampton: Research Fellow in Political Process Preferences in Europe (PoPPiE) We are delighted to welcome applications for the position of Research Fellow within a new ERC-funded research group on Political Process Preferences in Europe (PoPPiE): Rethinking Conceptual, Ontologi...

The ERC have given me 5 years to figure out what Europeans really think about democracy. If you would like to come and join me in the endeavour, then I am currently hiring a postdoc @sotonpolitics.bsky.social.

Deadline: 30 April | Details here: jobs.soton.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... #polisky

03.04.2025 15:25 πŸ‘ 151 πŸ” 111 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 7

Come join us (again!) @uompol.bsky.social. We have a new permanent lectureship (asst prof) in Environmental Politics to join the already excellent group here, including @sherilynmacgregor.bsky.social, Carl Death, and Paul Tobin. @manchestersci.bsky.social www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

25.03.2025 15:11 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Congratulations! I look forward to reading more.

05.03.2025 13:59 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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🚨My small book with
@cambridgeuppolisci.bsky.social
on timely #empathy #politics is online and I can't be happier! 🚨

shorturl.at/jZyPz

*The manuscript can be accessed freely for the next 2 weeks!* The book builds on my PhD thesis, defended
@kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social

04.03.2025 08:40 πŸ‘ 192 πŸ” 56 πŸ’¬ 19 πŸ“Œ 10
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Justice and Security-based Attachment, which I co authored with Stephanie Collins (Monash) is out in the Journal of Moral Philosophy now.

brill.com/view/journal...

04.03.2025 09:09 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
A pic of a book whose blue cover reads:

The Social Cost of Carbon: Ethics and the Limits of Climate Change Economics

With the author: J. Paul Kelleher

A pic of a book whose blue cover reads: The Social Cost of Carbon: Ethics and the Limits of Climate Change Economics With the author: J. Paul Kelleher

Y’all

22.02.2025 18:31 πŸ‘ 595 πŸ” 66 πŸ’¬ 30 πŸ“Œ 3
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Out in @naturehumbehav.bsky.social

Can people tell true from false news?

Yes! Our meta-analysis shows that people rate true news as more accurate than false news (d = 1.12) and were better at spotting false news than at recognizing true news (d = 0.32).

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

21.02.2025 10:33 πŸ‘ 138 πŸ” 46 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 8

I've been sporadically adding people to this Democratic Innovations Starter Pack over the last few weeks. Now up to 140 members. go.bsky.app/LX11yEA

Sorry if I missed you, I find Bluesky not the best at notifying about replies.

12.02.2025 19:03 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 0

I'll be talking about polarization and anger next week as part of the great Practical, Political & Ethical Series. If you're in London, come along.

Thanks to @elisewoodard.bsky.social and @michaelhannon.bsky.social for organizing.

13.02.2025 09:26 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Join us in London next week for Jonathan Benson's @j-benson.bsky.social talk:

"Affective Polarization and the Aptness of Partisan Anger".

12.02.2025 17:05 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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This Friday at Sussex for anyone in the area interested in political epistemology! @elisewoodard.bsky.social @michaelhannon.bsky.social

03.02.2025 12:24 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
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Michael Fuerstein, Podcast Episode Β· New Books in Philosophy Β· 01/01/2025 Β· 1h 10m

Had a delightful conversation with @roberttalisse.bsky.social on the New Books in Philosophy podcast. We talked about my *Experiments in Living Together: How Democracy Drives Social Progress (OUP 2024)*. Thank you, Robert!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...

04.01.2025 02:10 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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🀩 The CfP for the 7th Deliberative Democracy Summer School is out now 🀩

A toast to our colleagues from the University of Zurich for hosting the European version of the summer school.

Grants available for students with limited institutional support.

www.ipz.uzh.ch/en/study/doc...

10.12.2024 08:04 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

This was a fantastic discussion (and β€˜the chat’ engagement was great too) and I am very much looking forward to reading @elisewoodard.bsky.social @michaelhannon.bsky.social forthcoming book! In the meantime I’ve ordered Jonathan Benson’s #IntelligentDemocracy
Thank you www.thephilosopher1923.org

09.12.2024 20:14 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Looking forward to this conversation tonight with @michaelhannon.bsky.social and @j-benson.bsky.social!

www.thephilosopher1923.org/events/truth...

09.12.2024 14:35 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Most contemporary discussions of markets vs planning are too stark and simplistic. To think seriously for the future, we need a richer and more nuanced approach. Angus Hebenton & I make a start here: engaging with the unduly neglected work of Meade, Holland, and Wootton.

ejpe.org/journal

09.12.2024 12:31 πŸ‘ 75 πŸ” 24 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1

Very much looking forward to what should be a great discussion!

07.12.2024 10:22 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Democracy and the Epistemic Problems of Political Polarization | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core Democracy and the Epistemic Problems of Political Polarization - Volume 118 Issue 4

'Democracy and the Epistemic Problems of Political Polarization' is now out in the latest volume of @apsrjournal.bsky.social.

07.12.2024 10:19 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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From our new issue: "Democracy and the Epistemic Problems of Political Polarization" by Jonathan Benson. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #ASPRNewIssue

03.12.2024 15:15 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2