Michael Bennett

Michael is a postdoctoral researcher in political theory/philosophy, in the interdisciplinary tradition of politics, philosophy and economics. He works on a research project entitled "Private Property and Political Power in a Liberal-Democratic Society", led by Rutger Claassen. His sub-project focuses on business corporations. Michael is investigating the idea of market competition as a device to keep corporations accountable to the public good. He is also interested in other proposals to keep corporations accountable, for example by cultivating countervailing forces such as labour unions. In 2017, Michael completed his PhD at the University of York, entitled, "Democracy and its Relationship with the Market: Impartial Instrumentalism in Politics and Constitutional Design." His PhD developed an epistemic justification of democracy, and looked at how markets pose a challenge to democracy justified in these terms. His supervisors were Martin O'Neill and Matthew Festenstein, and his external examiner was Albert Weale. In 2015, he was a visiting student at the University of Arizona, sponsored by Thomas Christiano. Before that, Michael completed an MSc in Political Theory at Oxford University, and (some years before) a BA in History at Oxford.