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Vafa Ghazavi

@vafaghazavi

Political theorist and philosopher, public policy strategist, former diplomat. Teaching at the University of Sydney.

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23.12.2023
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Latest posts by Vafa Ghazavi @vafaghazavi

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Judith Shklar with Bernard Yack

@juliettemarchant.bsky.social chats with Bernard Yack about the sharp, skeptical, and endlessly relevant Judith Shklar. From the “liberalism of fear” to her reflections on injustice, Shklar shows how political theory can be both profound and deeply humane. open.spotify.com/episode/20hn...

10.03.2026 01:14 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
Social Equality: Then And Now, Professor Jonathan Wolff
Social Equality: Then And Now, Professor Jonathan Wolff YouTube video by The Royal Institute of Philosophy

My lecture Social Equality: Then and Now for @triphilosophy.bsky.social is now available online.

youtu.be/9xL1gyM4f3Q

09.03.2026 21:43 👍 54 🔁 15 💬 0 📌 1
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Utopia Abstract. Ideal societies, better worlds, more just and peaceful ways of living: these have long been the stuff of human beings’ social dreaming. In this c

NEW BOOK!

I'm very happy to say that my new book, Utopia, co-written with Douglas Mao, has been published on-line

academic.oup.com/book/62279

03.02.2026 16:30 👍 223 🔁 72 💬 11 📌 1
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Just watched the world premiere of Once Upon a Time in Harlem. In 1972 William Greaves filmed Harlem Renaissance luminaries bearing witness, sparring, reciting poetry, jubilating. The film was finally complete 50 years later. It's a masterpiece and a gift. www.onceuponatimeinharlemfilm.com #sundance

26.01.2026 04:10 👍 335 🔁 89 💬 9 📌 4
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Martha Nussbaum with Duncan Ivison

New episode of Her Place in Theory just dropped!! I had the pleasure of chatting with @duncanivison.bsky.social about the formidable philosopher and public intellectual, Martha Nussbaum.

Listen, subscribe and give the series a rating on Spotify/Apple!
open.spotify.com/episode/7zjS...

16.12.2025 08:44 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Our hearts are heavy with the awful attacks on Sydney’s Jewish community in Bondi. Literature bears witness to many centuries of Jewish persecution — a reminder never to forget. With that in mind, we want to share Emma Lazarus’ beautiful 1871 poem In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport.

16.12.2025 02:30 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!

David talks to novelist Ian McEwan, who was our first ever guest on PPF, about how the future will view our present once the disasters we are brewing come to pass. A wide-ranging conversation about how past, present and future co-exist in time.

Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

03.12.2025 08:47 👍 20 🔁 7 💬 4 📌 7
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The Real Border Crisis - Boston Review The problem isn't immigration. It's the failure of liberal democracy itself.

In the latest forum of @bostonreview.bsky.social I wrote about migration, social class and the causes of displacement around the world. You can read the essay, the responses and the response to the responses online here & also subscribe to Boston Review!

03.12.2025 20:30 👍 45 🔁 14 💬 1 📌 1

When I was reflecting on my career for my retirement conference I realised it was built on three things I was advised no respectable philosophy academic should do

1 Write texts for students

2 Write collaborative public policy reports

3 Co-author philosophical research

My advice. Do your thing.

17.11.2025 20:42 👍 108 🔁 14 💬 9 📌 4
A large tree has grown round a headstone. They are a similar colour and the headstone could almost be taken for the bark of the tree. Autumn colours with ivy growing on headstone and tree.

A large tree has grown round a headstone. They are a similar colour and the headstone could almost be taken for the bark of the tree. Autumn colours with ivy growing on headstone and tree.

A tree absorbing a headstone into itself at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Frankfurt. Very evocative image of transcendence (in Hegel’s sense of preservation but superseedence) of memory by new life.

18.11.2025 17:21 👍 76 🔁 11 💬 2 📌 0
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What We Talk About When We Talk About Dignity The political philosopher Lea Ypi discusses four books about the inviolable quality of dignity.

I talked to @newyorker.com about four books that inspired my writing about dignity.

www.newyorker.com/books/book-c...

19.11.2025 22:31 👍 40 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0

Have they finally worked out how to shame the shameless?

13.11.2025 08:10 👍 16 🔁 1 💬 2 📌 1
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Some US events open to the public next week!

12.11.2025 19:16 👍 17 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 1
Radical Hope Amid Catastrophe - Public Seminar Christian Dior exhibit at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, 2017. Photo credit: Joe deSousa. At a Christian Dior...Read More

Sad to hear of Jonathan Lear's passing. A wonderful philosopher, his work inspired me greatly. Early on in the COVID pandemic, I wrote a piece for @publicseminar.bsky.social drawing on Radical Hope to contemplate how we ought to live when a way of life collapses: publicseminar.org/2020/05/radi...

23.09.2025 05:08 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Gerontocracy in America A leading social critic identifies our least-discussed major crisis, and sets out to solve it.As Americans debate President Biden’s infirmities and Preside...

Wow us.macmillan.com/books/978037...

10.09.2025 00:30 👍 18 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!

Today’s episode is the first in a 3-part conversation with philosopher & writer @leaypi.bsky.social about the idea of dignity and its role in the history of ideas and in the story of our lives. What is the difference between dignity and dignitas?

Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

07.09.2025 07:47 👍 20 🔁 10 💬 6 📌 2
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It was such a pleasure to discuss with the brilliant @shafakelif literature and politics, minorities in the Ottoman Empire, how the past conditions us, the role of writers in society, and much more... The joint interview is out in today's @theguardian.com link👇

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

30.08.2025 12:58 👍 67 🔁 19 💬 2 📌 3
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Five Baha’i Lessons for a Happier Life This 19th-century Persian offshoot from Islam has deep, humanistic teachings we can all benefit from.

The Baha’i faith has deep, humanistic teachings we can all benefit from, Arthur C. Brooks writes. He shares five lessons from the religion for a happier life:

21.08.2025 22:15 👍 41 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
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The content of my thoughts is now an object in the world!!! Thank you, thank you to everyone who supported the research or supported the writing or supported me & the research & the writing - I am so grateful and happy and can’t wait to celebrate with you all when it’s released on 4th September 😍😍🐥!

24.07.2025 13:46 👍 140 🔁 11 💬 4 📌 0
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Yesterday we celebrated @jowolff.bsky.social remarkable career. Hard to put into words, so here’s a glimpse of the standing ovation that closed the day. Love, admiration, philosophy at its best. Days like this remind me why we do what we do.

17.07.2025 10:02 👍 83 🔁 10 💬 2 📌 6
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It was a very special day, on which we celebrated the career of @jowolff.bsky.social. Lots of interesting presentations and discussions, moving memories, and speeches filled with affection and admiration.

16.07.2025 22:01 👍 33 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0

First session on engaged philosophy!
@ingridrobeyns.bsky.social @vafaghazavi.bsky.social

16.07.2025 09:21 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
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Spotted in Oxford today! Disappointed I won’t be able to go to this event but am very excited about Lea Ypi’s new book 💫 @leaypi.bsky.social perhaps we can organise a Sydney launch down the track?!

14.07.2025 16:14 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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My friend was assassinated. In a world of shrinking political ideals, she was a beacon Melissa Hortman, a great American reformer, accepted my invitation to come to Australia. Now, that will never happen.

I wrote something about my friend Melissa Hortman, civility without illusions, and the meaning of public service for The Sydney Morning Herald.

www.smh.com.au/world/north-...

18.06.2025 07:11 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World New, practical approaches to confronting today’s most daunting global issues

@drodrik.bsky.social’s new book can’t come out soon enough.

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

19.06.2025 11:13 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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My friend was assassinated. In a world of shrinking political ideals, she was a beacon Melissa Hortman, a great American reformer, accepted my invitation to come to Australia. Now, that will never happen.

I wrote something about my friend Melissa Hortman, civility without illusions, and the meaning of public service for The Sydney Morning Herald.

www.smh.com.au/world/north-...

18.06.2025 07:11 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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What Is Freedom For? Books & the Arts / June 9, 2025 Free From What? Quentin Skinner and the contested 
history of liberty What Is Freedom For? Quentin Skinner and the contested 
history of liberty. Samuel Moyn Share Co...

I reviewed Quentin Skinner’s new one www.thenation.com/article/arch...

09.06.2025 11:09 👍 44 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 1
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Thank you to @theobserveruk.bsky.social for featuring #TheWorkWeNeed this weekend

26.05.2025 17:39 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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The Wealth of Freedom: Radical Republican Political Economy Abstract. What is an economy for? The republican tradition in political thought offers a compelling way of exploring this question. The economy is for the

What would an anti-oligarchic, republican economy look like? UBI? Wealth tax? Workplace democracy? Strong trade unions? Investment democracy? I explore a radical republican economics in my new book, 'The Wealth of Freedom', which is now out online. academic.oup.com/book/60075

29.05.2025 12:41 👍 48 🔁 23 💬 6 📌 8
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“Progressive patriotism” — is it an idea who time has come? - ABC listen Fresh from a commanding victory at the federal election, Anthony Albanese began to bundle his campaign policy offerings together in a new package — not just to give these political commitments a kind ...

Enjoyed discussing the idea and potential of ‘progressive patriotism’ with Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens on this episode of The Minefield.

www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

29.05.2025 08:55 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0