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Kai Spiekermann

@kspiekermann

Political theorist at London School of Economics-- democratic theory, social epistemology, environmental change. https://www.kaispiekermann.net/

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11.11.2024
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Latest posts by Kai Spiekermann @kspiekermann

A Friend of Dorothy - full Oscar nominated short film starring Miriam Margolyes and Stephen Fry
A Friend of Dorothy - full Oscar nominated short film starring Miriam Margolyes and Stephen Fry YouTube video by Attitude Magazine

Only available for a short time: "A Friend of Dorothy", short film with costumes by my husband, Francisco Rodriguez Weil. youtu.be/CMqUMXn7y5g?...

04.03.2026 20:09 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ“’ Next @lsepoltheory.bsky.social seminar:
Elena Ruiz (Michigan State) β€” "Epistemic Capitalism: Structure, Ideology, and the Economics of Inequality"
πŸ—“ Thu 5 March, 4:00 PM
πŸ“ CKK.2.06, LSE
All welcome! External visitors please register in advance (link πŸ‘‡) @lsegovernment.bsky.social

27.02.2026 09:03 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

LSE Political Theory Group research seminar TODAY:
Speaker: Daniel HΓ€user (LSE)
Title: In Defense of a Modest Political Liberalism
When: Thursday, 12 February, 4:00 PM
Where: CKK.2.06
All are welcome!

12.02.2026 10:31 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Microsoft Forms

πŸ“’ LSE Political Theory Group seminar this Thursday!
Christine Straehle: "Migration, Death and Human Rights"
πŸ“… Thu 22 January, 4:00 PM
πŸ“ CKK.2.06
All welcome! External visitors please register in advance for security: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/WBSQABK5yj
@lsegovernment.bsky.social #PoliticalTheory

20.01.2026 10:20 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

***
πŸ“’ CFP: LSE Graduate Conference in Political Theory
πŸ“… 28–29 May 2026 β€’ London (in person)
Grad students in political theory & related fields: submit an anonymized abstract (≀1000 words) by 22 Feb 2026.
✨ Keynotes: Sean Ingham & Shuk Ying Chan
πŸ”— Submit via form: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
***

13.01.2026 14:44 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Leigh Jenco, Kai Spiekermann and Bruno Leopold in conference venue.

Leigh Jenco, Kai Spiekermann and Bruno Leopold in conference venue.

Fantastic @biapt.bsky.social conference in beautiful Edinburgh with five great keynotes, some snow, and three LSE colleagues. @brunoleipold.com @kspiekermann.bsky.social and Leigh Jenco.

12.01.2026 11:39 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Microsoft Forms

Our last research seminar this term:
Pablo Gilabert (Concordia)
β€œWhy We Should Support Working Artists”
Thursday, 11 December, 4:00 PM
OLD.4.10
All welcome! If you are external to LSE, please register in advance so you can pass security:
forms.office.com/e/WBSQABK5yj

08.12.2025 09:52 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Many congratulations!!

10.11.2025 14:39 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Really excited to see this renewed interest in social norms. Looking forward to it.

08.11.2025 12:48 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I'll be there to answer questions. Please join us online!

07.11.2025 11:22 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Master's study in the Department of Government at LSE - Virtual Graduate Open Events Attend our LSE Virtual Graduate Open Events to find out more about graduate study at LSE.

We're holding a Graduate Open Day for all MSc degrees in the @lsegovernment.bsky.social , including political theory @lsepoltheory.bsky.social . Please join us to hear about the programme and ask any questions you might have. www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse...

07.11.2025 11:20 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Our very own Bruno @brunoleipold.com wins an ERC Synergy Grant! We are thrilled!! Huge boost for political theory @lsegovernment.bsky.social.

06.11.2025 14:09 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Political Theory Group The Political Theory Group in the LSE Department of Government - researching political theory and philosophy

This Thursday, 4pm, in our research seminar: Jeff Spinner-Halev (UNC) on "Liberal Democratic Theory and the Rebuilding of the Administrative State". @lsegovernment.bsky.social www.lse.ac.uk/government/r...

28.10.2025 17:27 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Our next research seminar is with Daniel James (TU Dresden). The title of his paper is β€œRacism and Racialised Oppression”. Thursday 16 Oct 4pm.
PLEASE NOTE ROOM CHANGE: For this week only, we meet in CKK.1.14.Β Registration for externals: forms.office.com/e/WBSQABK5yj
danieljamesphilosophy.com

10.10.2025 09:30 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
nahshonp.bsky.social

Cool -- I will look at @edmundhandby.bsky.social and @nahshonp.bsky.social 's work. Send papers and ideas, please!

08.10.2025 16:29 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks! Yes, it's like crtl-F, except it also tells you what words are frequent in the first place. Still. it's very crude. I don't think we learn much here -- but I wonder whether things get more interesting when one thinks about word connections.

08.10.2025 16:21 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

(3) This is really just using AI for vibe coding for a quick-and-dirty analysis. It does not draw on other LLM capabilities. Everything here could be achieved with conventional coding or using specialist software (4) This benefits from others providing data. Thanks, Project Gutenberg! (5) Leviathan!

08.10.2025 14:38 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

(1) This is not at all validated. It's really just playing around. Pinch of salt, etc. (2) It stems from me thinking about the uses of AI for political theory. To my mind, this is not a serious use -- but can LLMs be used for something serious in our discipline? Any thoughts welcome.

08.10.2025 14:38 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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So which famous work in political theory is represented by this figure? (Frequency of select key terms by chapter). This was made with the help of Claude and the repository of Project Gutenberg. Some thoughts below.

08.10.2025 14:38 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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From political philosophy to political proposals via the social sciences. A lively debate, launching Tom Parr's new book. With Becky Clark (LSE), David Axelsen (Essex) and @brunoleipold.com .

02.10.2025 16:31 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Two of my doctoral students submitted their thesis in the last two days. Many congratulations! So much hard work, thinking, debating, presenting. All culminating in one short email.

02.10.2025 10:45 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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On Thursday 2 October, we'll be kicking off our 2025-26 LSE poltiical theory seminar with a book launch of Tom Parr's "Empowering Workers in an Age of Automation". The event will be followed by a reception at the George IV pub. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/empowering...

15.09.2025 15:10 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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New seminar schedule for Autumn Term. All welcome!

03.09.2025 15:38 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Great essay by Meghan O'Rourke in the NYT about LLMs in academia and beyond. An extract on paper (!).

23.07.2025 10:06 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

LLMs are such a tricky challenge for Higher Ed. But sometimes they are genuinely useful for admin. I just managed to get Claude to write a timetable analysis tool to eliminate clashes in our MSc degree. It extracts data from a huge spreadsheet and turns it into a readable table. YES!

21.07.2025 15:52 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The good news is: if they do (despite their efforts), the cognitive gap between the groups shrinks. But what is going on? In-group solidarity, cognitive dissonance avoidance, self - deception? Sobering but fascinating work.

18.07.2025 07:21 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

In this remarkable study, Shayo and co-authors show that subjects from israel pay to avoid reading about Palestinian victims while subjects from Jordan pay to avoid reading about Israeli victims. This is bad news.

18.07.2025 07:21 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Inspiring PPE Conference at KCL, and first, poignant keynote with Moses Shayo on 'News avoidance in times of war.'

17.07.2025 16:50 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Amazing workshop at the @csh.ac.at, thinking about collective learning, democracy, social media regulation, and LLMs. Thanks to Mirta Galesic and Henrik Olsson -- and the great interdisciplinary set of colleagues gathered in Vienna. No doubt some great work will emerge from this.

03.07.2025 16:57 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Opinion | Trump’s Deportation Program Is About Control. Even if You Are a U.S. Citizen.

Important insights from Chandran Kukathas:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/o...

01.07.2025 13:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1