Theories of international relations, as accounts of planetary political order, make claims not only about a present global international order but about the boundaries of any potential world order. My research identifies the qualities, histories, and political significance of these boundaries in relation to global patterns of inequality and the changing relationship between human beings, the earth, and political authority on a world scale.

I’m interested in the way these boundaries are established by scientific and philosophical accounts of order that inform the normative aspirations and political forms through which world politics is oriented and practiced along global lines. My focus at present is on ‘systematic’ conceptions of order found in Kant, nineteenth and twentieth century geopolitics, and twentieth century systems theories, including international relations. Currently I am pursuing these questions through a book-length research project:

The project investigates how geometry and geometrical figures like the sphere mediate the relationship between the earth, the figure of Man, and political authority on a world scale in Kant’s critical philosophy and political thought. This research will identify the role of geometry in exploring the link between space, orientation in thinking, and political order identified by Kant and found in later geopolitical thinkers like Halford Mackinder and Carl Schmitt. The project connects debates on world order in international relations to emerging questions about the relationship between international order, planetary boundaries, and world politics in geopolitics and international relations.