Articles by Ruairidh Brown

July 27, 2022

Conservative leadership hopefuls should listen to Hobbes regarding Scotland

Ruairidh Brown

Despite often being regarded as a blueprint for authoritarianism, Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan gives prudent advice on the limitations of sovereign power. Ruairidh Brown argues this serves as a timely warning for the next Conservative leader on their approach to Scottish politics

June 22, 2022

Westminster has a moral obligation to allow a second Scottish independence referendum

Ruairidh Brown

The first obstacle in holding an Independence Referendum is assuring its legitimacy. To do so, says Ruairidh Brown, the SNP-Green alliance have implied the UK Government has no moral authority to deny Scots a choice on their future

May 12, 2022

St Augustine in the Anthropocene

Ruairidh Brown

In our contemporary world, dangers frequently come not from external enemies but from our own behaviour. To provide moral guidance on these dangers and help overcome the externalisation of threat, Ruairidh Brown looks back through time to St Augustine

January 11, 2022

The pandemic reveals a lot about sovereign power and how it is contested

Ruairidh Brown

Sovereignty is typically perceived to lie with those who can provide protection. Ruairidh Brown considers how the pandemic has tested and challenged the supra-national, national and sub-national levels in terms of the exercise of sovereign power. What might be the implications of these developments in the future?

June 2, 2021

What is at stake in the Scottish National Party’s request for a second referendum

Ruairidh Brown

The Kenmure Street protest in Glasgow raises crucial issues concerning political obligation in Scotland, writes Ruairidh Brown. This should serve as a warning to Westminster about the potential dangers of denying a second independence referendum

April 15, 2021

Did the BBC get its coverage of the Duke of Edinburgh's death right?

Ruairidh Brown

As coverage of Prince Phillip's death becomes the most complained about event in British television history, Ruairidh Brown argues that, despite its role as the UK’s national public broadcaster, the BBC must avoid normative attempts to dictate public sentiment

April 12, 2021

Disputes over the BBC’s relationship with the Union Flag risk upsetting a delicate equilibrium between ‘truth’ and ‘power’

Ruairidh Brown

Too close an association between the BBC and the Union flag will damage the former’s claims to objectivity, writes Ruairidh Brown. It comes at a time when the impartiality of the service is increasingly challenged – at home and abroad

February 24, 2021

Trump’s acquittal reminds us that we are still very much living in the post-truth age

Ruairidh Brown

In Trump’s second impeachment trial, ‘truth’ never really mattered, writes Ruairidh Brown. Regardless of the facts or evidence presented, the endurance of a post-truth climate guaranteed he would be acquitted regardless

February 12, 2021

Is a new cold war between the USA and China now more likely with Joe Biden in the White House?

Ruairidh Brown

An absence of ideological universalism means that China-US relations have so far managed to escape a Cold War situation, writes Ruairidh Brown. With Biden’s promise of a value-centred American Foreign Policy, this could be about to change

December 2, 2020

Is friendship the most important solution to the Covid-19 pandemic?

Ruairidh Brown

The pandemic has revealed the importance of civic solidarity and public trust, writes Ruairidh Brown. But they function best in a context of ‘friendship', a concept which needs to be recognised as central to political thinking in a post-Covid world

Ruairidh Brown

Head of Politics and International Relations, Forward College, Lisbon

Ruairidh currently teaches International Political Theory and International Relations at Forward’s Lisbon Campus.

Before teaching at Forward, Ruairidh taught International Studies in mainland China, where he received the University of Nottingham’s Lord Dearing Award for outstanding contributions to teaching and learning in 2019.

He received his PhD from the University of St Andrews in 2017.

Ruairidh has researched and published on such topics as hermeneutics, political obligation, and the philosophy of friendship.

Political Encounters: A Hermeneutic Inquiry Into the Situation of Political Obligation
Springer, 2019

Covid-19 and International Political Theory by Ruairidh Brown

COVID-19 and International Political Theory: Assessing the Potential for Normative Shift
Springer, 2022

Articles by Ruairidh Brown

Conservative leadership hopefuls should listen to Hobbes regarding Scotland

Westminster has a moral obligation to allow a second Scottish independence referendum

St Augustine in the Anthropocene

The pandemic reveals a lot about sovereign power and how it is contested

What is at stake in the Scottish National Party’s request for a second referendum

Did the BBC get its coverage of the Duke of Edinburgh's death right?

Disputes over the BBC’s relationship with the Union Flag risk upsetting a delicate equilibrium between ‘truth’ and ‘power’

Trump’s acquittal reminds us that we are still very much living in the post-truth age

Is a new cold war between the USA and China now more likely with Joe Biden in the White House?

Is friendship the most important solution to the Covid-19 pandemic?

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