David Ragazzoni

A democratic theorist and historian of political thought, David comes to U of T from New York University School of Law, where he was a postdoctoral research fellow (2024-2025). Prior to that he received his PhD in Political Science from Columbia University (2022) where he was an Early Career Lecturer (2022-23) and a Core Lecturer and Faculty Advisor for the Master’s Degree in Political Theory (2023-24). His research draws on historical and contemporary perspectives to theorize the challenges to liberal democracies in our populist present, with a focus on the transformations of political parties and the perils and promises of political leadership. His articles in English have appeared or are forthcoming in History of European Ideas, The European Legacy, Ethics and International Affairs, Journal of Political Ideologies, Constellations. An International Journal of Democratic and Critical Theory, as well as in numerous volumes on the history and theory of democracy (Cambridge UP, Routledge, Bloomsbury Academic, Oxford UP). Most recently he co-authored and co-edited (with Sandrine Baume) Hans Kelsen on Constitutional Democracy: Genesis, Theory, Legacies (Cambridge Studies in Constitutional Law series, CUP, 2026) and co-edited (with Lars Vinx) Hans Kelsen's Selected Writings on Constitutional Democracy and Political Philosophy (Oxford Constitutional Theory series, OUP, in press). He is an affiliated scholar at the Association for Global Political Thought (based at Harvard and partner institutions).