ALEXANDRE LEFEBVRE

I’m Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Sydney, where I explore how political ideas shape our lives.

Originally from Vancouver, Canada, I earned my PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 2007 and now call Sydney home.

For more than a decade, my work has explored one central idea: politics does not just govern us. Political ideas and institutions reach deep into our lives, forming who we are, what we value, and how we understand what makes a life worth living. Read about my research or browse my books.

Latest book

Liberalism as a Way of Life (Princeton University Press, 2024) argues that liberalism influences not just our politics but our values, humour, morality, and everyday sense of what makes life worthwhile. Named a Best Book of 2024 by The New Yorker, Australian Book Review, and Persuasion, it was praised as “stirring and clarifying” by David Brooks in The New York Times and “daring and engrossing” by Becca Rothfeld in The Washington Post. Explore the book, reviews, and buying options.

Current project

The Good Life State: Politics After Liberalism (under contract with Allen Lane in the UK and Liveright in North America) examines a global return to one of politics’ oldest ambitions: using state power to shape citizens’ conceptions of the good life. I want to understand this phenomenon from the inside, so I’ll be spending extended time in Hungary, China, India, Israel, and the United States, speaking with political elites and other insiders about what they think human flourishing looks like, how they propose to use state power to promote it, and why these visions make these regimes far more attractive—and dangerous—than their critics realize. Read a short introduction in Noema.