Dr Graham M Smith
- Position: Associate Professor in Political Theory
- Areas of expertise: Political theory; friendship; Continental political thought; Anglo-American political thought; the subject
- Email: ipigms@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 4396
- Location: 14.17 Social Sciences Building
Profile
I am a political theorist with a special interest in friendship and how this relates to our understanding of 'the political'. More generally, I have interests spanning from the Ancients to post-modernity. My approach to political thought is both open and broad and this allows me to connect its themes and problems to allied fields such as International Relations, Philosophy, and Religion.
Responsibilities
- Deputy Director of Student Education
Research interests
My research focuses on the notion of friendship and how this relates to our understanding of the political. I understand friendship to be a concern with the bonds between person and person. These bonds can be located and conceptualised in a variety of ways but they provide the basic fabric upon which the political is woven. I understand the political to indicate a domain of order and value constructed by persons who must negotiate their mutual dependency and freedom.
I am the co-editor of the online, peer-reviewed, open-access journal AMITY: The Journal of Friendship Studies
Qualifications
- BA Hons Political and Religious Thought (University of Lancaster)
- MA Philosophy (University of Sheffield)
- Ph.D. Political Theory (University of Lancaster)
Student education
I teach political theory in the School. This has involved teaching on:
PIED 1601 Freedom Power and Resistance
PIED 2601 Revolution and Reaction
PIED 3611 Radical Political Ideas
Research groups and institutes
- Centre for Contemporary Political Theory