Margaret Kohn

Biography

Margaret's research interests are in the areas of the history of political thought, critical theory, social justice, and urbanism. Her most recent book The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth was published by Oxford University Press (2016). She is the author of Radical Space: Building the House of the People (Cornell University Press 2003), and Brave New Neighborhoods: The Privatization of Public Space (Routledge 2004) and Political Theories of Decolonization (with Keally McBride, Oxford University Press, 2011). Her articles have appeared in such journals as Political Theory, Journal of Politics, Polity, Dissent, Constellations, Theory & Event, and Philosophy and Social Criticism.

Research Interests

• Urban Theory
• Social Justice
• Contemporary Political Thought

Awards, Grants and Fellowships

• 2008 Connaught New Faculty Matching Grant.
• 2014 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Grant
• 2016 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Connections Grant
• 2018-2019 Braudel Senior Fellowship, European University Institute

Publications

Book:

• Avigail Ferdman and Margaret Kohn, eds. Solidarity and Public Goods (Routledge 2021).
   
• Margaret Kohn, The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth  (Oxford University Press 2016).
  • Winner of the Judd Award, Best Book in Local and Urban Politics, 2017
  • Winner of the Easton Award, Best Book, Foundations of Political theory section, American Political Science Association, 2017

Articles  

Margaret Kohn, “Radical Republicanism and Solidarity.” European Journal of Political Theory  21:(2022): 25-46.

Margaret Kohn, “Public Goods and Social Justice,” Perspectives on Politics 18:4 (2020): 1104-1117. 

Margaret Kohn, “Parks and Refs:  Community, Solidarity and Public Space,” Contemporary Political Theory 15.4 (2016): 446-452

Margaret Kohn, “The Critique of Possessive Individualism: Solidarism and the City,” Political Theory 44.5 (2016): 603-628.

Margaret Kohn, “What is Wrong With Gentrification?” Urban Research and Practice 6:3 (2013).

Margaret Kohn, “Postcolonialism and Global Justice,” Journal of Global Ethics 9:2 (2013): 187-200.

Margaret Kohn, “Privatization and Protest: Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Toronto, and the Occupation of Public Space in a Democracy,” Perspectives on Politics,” 11:1 (2013): 99-110.

Teaching Interests

• POLB30H3 Law, Justice and Rights
• POLC37H3 Global Justice
• POLD43H3 Writing About Politics
• POLD70H3 Topics in Political Theory