Adrian Kreutz

Introduction

I am a Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Amsterdam, Department of Political Science. I am also a Doctoral Candidate (DPhil) at the Department of Politics and International Relations​, University of Oxford, fully funded by a DPIR Scholarship. I read Law at the Birkbeck School of Law, University of London.

During my time at Oxford, I was Junior Dean at New College and a Stipendiary Lecturer at St. John's College, as well as a Graduate Tutor for Ethics, Marxism, Feminist Theory, and Theory of Politics at Exeter College, Pembroke College, and New College.

Besides my academic work, I am active in the protection of Palestinian rights. I have been involved with the United Nations, Division of Palestinian Rights and the Al-Haq (الحق) Center for Applied International Law in Ramallah, Palestine. For the year 23-24, I am an Associate Fellow at the Balfour Peace Advocacy Project in London, working on the international legal recognition of the Palestinian people.

My public writing has been published in The Point, Aeon, Psychology Today, Mondoweiss, Subsequence Magazine, and the Oxford Review of Books, among other outlets. My op-ed column at Psychology Today has so far attracted a readership of 20,000 readers. Those articles aim to "think simultaneously" through the socio-political fabric and the fabric of our psyches, offering insight into one through the other. 

I am available as a pro bono Criminal Defence Representative [Greater London].

Research

​My research addresses questions of legitimacy, legality, coercion, and authority in a realist framework. I am particularly fascinated by the politics of resistance and struggles for self-determination. I am also interested in issues of educational policy, (post)colonial politics, jurisprudential and psychoanalytic approaches. 

My doctoral thesis aims to accomplish two objectives: First, to understand the realist hypothesis that “ethics is usually dead politics; the hand of a victor in a past conflict reaching out to extend its grip to the present and the future”. The second objective is to explore how best to react to the symptoms of ethics being dead politics. Each chapter provides a unique story situated in concerns about the relationship between political realism and political moralism, approaching these two objectives. The goal is to uncover the various ways in which our moral principles might be said to perpetuate certain forms of political power, and how this relates to the idea of political normativity. Eventually, this thesis supports a particular version of political realism, which suggests that the primary concern of a political theory adequately responding to the realist hypothesis should be engaging in a specific type of social critique—an act of narrative redescription.

For my postdoctoral research, I am hoping to bring my methodological advances to fruition by applying those to first order issues. Particularly, I am hoping to use this framework in a nuanced and insightful discussion of controversial issues of non-state political power (such as boycott, sabotage, highjacking, hostage, etc.) and the politisation of juridical process. Two areas of inquiry hitherto discounted in analytic political theory discourse.

Teaching

At the University of Amsterdam, I teach the following courses:

• Theories of Abolition (BA Thesis)
• Psychoanalytic Political Theory
• Political Theory: East & West
• Introduction to Political Philosophy

At various Oxford Colleges, I have taught the following papers:

• Theory of Politics (Prelims)
• Marx & Marxism
• Ethics
• Feminist Political Theory

As a Teaching Fellow at the University of Tübingen, I teach the following seminars:

• Educational Justice in Theory and Practice
• Alternative Political Economy