Centre for Comparative Political Thought (CCPT)

SOAS University of London

The Centre for Comparative Political Thought promotes the study of political thought from philosophical texts to everyday political action. The Centre was established in June 2014 and is home to the core research group for political theory in the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS. Our work moves beyond the bounds of the canon of political theory, as well as the regional focus of comparative politics, to examine political concepts in thought and practice across different times and spaces. The Centre fosters innovative collaborations, methodologies, and pedagogies, designed to rethink the foundations for conceptualizing political lives in different locations globally and across these locations.

The Centre’s primary purposes are to promote research and teaching in political thought, broadly and innovatively construed: beyond the text and beyond the West. That is, we seek to look at the world, at cultural objects, at political actions and much more, as part of the materials from which theory can emerge and be done. CCPT is the home for the SOAS MSc Political Thought.