Doctoral School in the History of Political Thought

The departments of the history of ideas at Uppsala University, Stockholm University, Södertörn University and Gothenburg University proudly announce the new doctoral school History of Political Thought, funded by the universities and the Swedish National Research Council (VR) for the doctoral cycle 2023–2027. The doctoral school will train a new generation of doctoral students in historical analysis of the political. We live in times of manifold and overlapping crises, which all have a political expression, for example crisis in the relationship between the different timescales of political systems and nature; crisis in democratic commitments, representation, and legitimation; crisis of material wealth, economic order and ideas of progress and affluence; crisis in the production and uses of historical knowledge. These crises manifest themselves contradictorily as both depoliticization and hyperpoliticization. They challenge prevailing ethos and norms for the liberal democracies of the post-1989 West, but also more fundamental categories such as political representation, the people, progress, and modernity.

Historians of political thought take an active role in trying to understand and historicize these movements. The doctoral school will equip graduate students with adequate perspectives and frames of interpretation of interlapping crises, and prepare them for careers in academia as well as in for instance public administration, journalism, or organizational leadership. The school provides the doctoral students with a solid training in theoretical and methodological tools from the field of historical study of political life, such as conceptual history, different types of contextualization, historicization and deconstruction of political diagnosis and prescription, analysis of temporal and spatial scales, historical analysis of utopian and apocalyptic genres, etc.  Taken together, these perspectives provide a the doctoral students with a scientific grounding and understanding of the changing nature of the political today, and prepares them for conducting independent historical analysis in academic research or elsewhere.

The school will run in an internationalized and global environment, with its seat in the four university departments in Sweden. The working language is English. Doctoral candidates are expected to follow the school’s course cycle, and adhere to the local requirements of each department. Courses are open for doctoral students outside of the doctoral school, in limited capacity. Interested students are adviced to contact the relevant teacher.

The doctoral school in the history of political thought will recruit 10 doctoral candidates in 2023–24. Candidates will be fully funded for a four year period. Information about the course cycle, requirements, and about doing a doctoral degree in Sweden will follow.

Coordinator of the doctoral school: Professor Jenny Andersson (Uppsala University). Coordinating team: Dr Victoria Fareld (Stockholm University), Dr Hjalmar Falk (Gothenburg University), Dr Julia Nordblad (Uppsala University), Professor Leif Runefelt (Södertörn University), and Professor Anders Burman (Södertörn University).

The departments of the history of ideas at Uppsala University, Stockholm University, Södertörn University and Gothenburg University will be recruiting ten doctoral students to the doctoral school History of Political Thought, funded by the universities and the Swedish National Research Council (VR) for the doctoral cycle 2023–2027. All positions are fully funded for a four year period. We welcome candidates from a wide area of research interests with relevance to the history of political thought, for instance: the histories of thinking the environment, intellectual histories of the market and political economy; the history of ideology such as populism, neoliberalism and fascism, but not limited to this; histories of memory, future, temporality and scale. We welcome a plurality of geographical scopes and chronologies.

For further details about the school's structure, and the nature of the training, please familiarize yourself with the course cycle.

Requirements: All candidates should hold a master in the history of ideas or related fields, such as political theory, philosophy, or history, or, otherwise demonstrate a keen interest in the history of political thought. Candidates should be proficient in English. Swedish is not a requirement. Candidates should reside in Sweden or be ready to move to Sweden for the duration of studies. Doctoral students are expected to follow the course cycle within the school as well as adhere to local requirements at each department.

Application: Candidates must follow local guidelines as indicated by each university. All candidates should submit a cover letter, a copy of their master thesis, two references, and a brief outline of their research idea (approx. 4 pages, or no more than 10 000 characters incl. spaces).

Two doctoral positions at Gothenburg University, deadline March 13
OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS – detailed information about the positions and instructions for how to apply are available in Swedish and in English.
For more information, contact Hjalmar Falk: hjalmar.falk@gu.se

Two doctoral positions at Södertörn University, deadline March 13
Instructions for how to apply will be posted later.
For more information, contact Leif Runefelt: leif.runefelt@sh.se

Two doctoral positions at Stockholm University. Deadline May 10
OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS – detailed information about the positions and instructions for how to apply are available in Swedish and in English.
For more information, contact Victoria Fareld: victoria.fareld@idehist.su.se

Up to four doctoral positions at Uppsala University. Deadline May 10
OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS – detailed information about the positions and instructions for how to apply are available in Swedish and in English.
For more information, contact Jenny Andersson: jenny.andersson@idehist.uu.se