Philosophy for readers who follow politics but seldom read political philosophy.
Alongside my scholarship, I write essays and reviews for general readers, talk on radio and podcasts, and give public lectures.
FEATURED ESSAY
The Return of the Moral State
Noema, March 2026. Six weeks in Orbán’s Hungary, and 25 interviews with the people who built its constitution, its family policy and its idea of the nation. Hungary is best understood not just as an illiberal state but as one with a moral mission.
I gave a version as the 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture on ABC Radio National. Listen to the lecture.
ESSAYS
Across the world, authoritarians want to tell us what a “good life” looks like. Here’s how liberals must respond
The Guardian, 2026
From Statecraft to Soulcraft
Noema, 2025. How the world’s illiberal powers rule through their visions of the good life. Translated into German and Dutch.
Liberalism as Mob Boss
Persuasion, 2025
Rawls the Redeemer
Aeon, 2024
REVIEWS
When Philosophy Stopped the Traffic in New York City
Los Angeles Review of Books, 2025. On Emily Herring’s Herald of a Restless World. Reprinted in 2026 among LARB’s best reviews of its first fifteen years.
A Mole in MAGA’s Midst
Los Angeles Review of Books, 2025. On Laura Field’s Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right.
On Timothy Snyder’s On Freedom
The Times Literary Supplement, 2024
LECTURES, TALKS AND RECOGNITION
Alan Saunders Lecture, 2026. Australia’s annual public philosophy lecture, ABC Radio National. Listen
Zentrum Liberale Moderne, Berlin, 2026. In conversation with Ralf Fücks.
Australasian Association of Philosophy Media Prize, 2025.
Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2025. Keynote on the legacy of the Fraser government.
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2024. Keynote in conversation with Glyn Davis.
PODCASTS AND RADIO
More than 75 conversations since 2024, including The Good Fight, The Wisdom of Crowds, American Prestige, The Gist, The Unpopulist, and on ABC Radio National, Big Ideas, The Minefield and The Philosopher’s Zone.