Research

Normative political theory, public policy and the history of political thought. I am particularly interested in egalitarianism and its application in policy, and in traditions of political and institutional thinking that are simultaneously anti-capitalist and opposed to authoritarian forms of socialism.

My research interests include:

Normative Political Economy, Democratic Theory, Constitutional Theory and Studies (UK and Comparative), Political Theory and/of Institutions, Varieties of Republicanism, Political Theory and/of Subcultures, Anarchism.

Professor Hall earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2008 and has held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton and Harvard, as well as visiting scholar appointments at the Free University of Berlin, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and the University of Tokyo. Prior to joining the University of Oxford, Professor Hall held the position of Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Toronto (2010-2013).

I am a Professor of Comparative Politics and a Fellow of St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. In addition, I am affiliated with University College London as a Fellow of the Constitution Unit.

For the academic year 2024-2025, I am based in Berlin as a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin), where I have visiting affiliations with the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Hertie School.

Research

I am especially interested in the political philosophy of G.W.F Hegel, in the social and political thought of Karl Marx, and in theoretical connections between those two authors. I often supervise doctoral students sharing those interests in Marx and Hegel. My recent research publications in this area include critical engagement with Marx’s views on human flourishing (which have affinities with modern capabilities approaches), and work on contemporary Analytical Marxism. 

Emeritus Professor of Politics at Oxford University and Professorial Fellow at Mansfield College, where I engaged in teaching and research from 1978 until 2011. Former Director of the Centre for Political Ideologies at the DPIR and founding editor of the Journal of Political Ideologies. Professor of Politics, University of Nottingham, 2013-2015. Professorial Research Associate, SOAS, University of London, 2016-2019. ESRC Professorial Fellow from 2004 to 2007. Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow, 2016-2019. FAcSS, FRHist.S.