SIMON ROBERT COTTON
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Welcome to my website. I’m a political theorist who works on the ethics of economic life and international politics. I am currently based at the Australian National University, where I am a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations. I was previously a Research Associate and Lecturer at Princeton, and received my doctorate from Cornell.

I am particularly interested in economic concerns that are not easily explicable either in terms of inefficiency or distributive inequity. These include consequentialist concerns about the reach of the market, both across goods and social relationships, as well as deontological concerns about the justification of exclusive property rights and whether market relations trigger extra-contractual obligations.

I am also interested in how limits to what is politically feasible bear on the justification of instantiated norms, including laws, and whether they ground obligations, especially in international politics. This interest engages so-called ‘non-ideal theory’ and ‘political realism’, as well as philosophy of law and social-scientific work on international organization.

Both my research and wider interests, which encompass social policy and international strategy alike, draw on an exceptionally broad training in the human sciences. In addition to my PhD in political science, which was awarded for a dissertation on the international trade order, I have a masters in international relations and bachelor's degree in economics and history.

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  • Home
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