Professor Peter Hallward
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Humanities
- School of Creative and Cultural Industries
- Penrhyn Road
Professor of Modern European Philosophy
About
I work mainly on political philosophy, most recently on topics like popular sovereignty, political will, and revolutionary change; I also work on recent French philosophy, contemporary critical theory, and postcolonial theory.
After working in the French Department at King's College London from 1999 to 2004, I joined the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy in 2005. I am the course leader for our Philosophy MA programmes (the MAs in Modern European Philosophy, Philosophy and Contemporary Critical Theory, Aesthetics, and Art Theory).
Qualifications
- BA, University of Oxford
- PhD, Yale University
Domains
My research interests include political philosophy (Rousseau, Hegel, Marx and others), recent and contemporary French Philosophy (especially Sartre, Foucault, Deleuze, Badiou, Rancière), contemporary critical theory, politics and postcolonial theory.
My books include Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment (2007; 2010), Out of this World: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Creation (2006), Badiou: A Subject to Truth (2003), and Absolutely Postcolonial (2001). In 2016, I completed an AHRC-funded project on Auguste Blanqui, https://blanqui.kingston.ac.uk/. I am currently working on a book entitled 'The Will of the People', alongside a brief study of Rousseau and a longer-term project on political will.
Publications
From self-defence to conquest
Hallward, Peter, 2025, Communis, Published
From a right of self-defence to the fact of conquest
Hallward, Peter, 2025, Humanity Journal Blog, Published
Lenin and political will
Hallward, Peter, 2025, Communis, Published
Lenin and the demands of 1917
Hallward, Peter, 2024, Crisis and critique (11), 2, Published
By all means: on Heide Gerstenberger's Market and Violence. Book Review of 'Market and Violence' by Heide Gerstenberger
Hallward, Peter, 2024, Radical Philosophy (2.17) pp 34-50, Published
Enter the actor
Hallward, Peter, 2024, Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy (28), 2 pp 8-39, Published
The will of the people and the struggle for mass sovereignty: a preliminary outline
Hallward, Peter, 2022, Crisis and critique (9), 2 pp 143-219, Published
Reclaiming the will of the people: interview with Peter Hallward
Hallward, Peter and Gordon-Farleigh, Jonny, 2021, Stir to Action Blog, Published
The world we want
Hallward, Peter, 2020, Verso Blog, E-pub ahead of print
Political will and collective capacity: an interview with Peter Hallward
Hallward, Peter and Sezgin, Boynik, 2019, Rab-Rab : Journal of Political and Formal Inquiries in Art (5) pp 207-221, Published
Given the alternatives... how about best of three?
Hallward, Peter, 2019, Verso Blog, E-pub ahead of print
Fallen angel: Guy Lardreau's later voluntarism
Hallward, Peter, 2018, Radical Philosophy (2), 3 pp 43-60, Published
Who's guilty of antisemitism? Questioning Labour's definition bind
Hallward, Peter, 2018, Verso Blog, E-pub ahead of print
French philosophy today [Book review of: 'French Philosophy Today: New Figures of the Human in Badiou, Meillassoux, Malabou, Serres and Latour' by Christopher Watkin]
Hallward, Peter, 2018, Radical Philosophy (2), 01 pp 122-124, Published
Concentration or representation: the struggle for popular sovereignty
Hallward, Peter, 2017, Cogent Arts & Humanities (4), 1390916, Published
Blanqui and Marx: A reply to William Roberts
Hallward, Peter, 2017, Jacobin, E-pub ahead of print
The will to leave? Brexit campaigners won by dividing, not uniting, the British working class
Hallward, Peter, 2016, Jacobin, Published
Reason and revolt: Guy Lardreau's early voluntarism and its limits
Hallward, Peter, 2015, Radical Philosophy (190) pp 13-24, Published
From prescription to volition
Hallward, Peter, 2014, Politics and Culture, Published
Blanqui's bifurcations
Hallward, Peter, 2014, Radical Philosophy, 185 pp 36-44, Published
Education should be a right for all
Dixon, Paul, Favretto, Ilaria, Finn, Peter, Smart, Jackie, Spencer, Philip, Stockhammer, Engelbert, Stuart, John, Suess, Eleanor, Giaxoglou, Korina, Goldsmith, Carlie, Hallward, Peter, Hawkins, Sue, Swift, Allan, Upstone, Sara, Vallee-Tourangeau, Frederic, Wells, Julian, Wilson, Scott, Haywood, Peter, Higginbottom, Andrew, Ichijo, Atsuko, Isaac, Marina, Jensen, Meg, Kayyali, Reem, Kettyle, Ann, Lambrou, Marina, Latimer, Amanda, Linton, Marisa, Lipsedge, Karen, Malabou, Catherine, O Maoilearca, John, McQuillan, Martin, Micklethwaite, Paul, Morgan Wortham, Simon, O'Brien, Catherine, Blackburn, Robert, Botting, Fred, Brady, Mary, Osborne, Peter, Pinnock, Winsome, Piper, Jason, Choat, Simon, Chu, Jonathan, Cinpoes, Radu, Coultas, Valerie, Dines, Martin, Caygill, Howard, Chadwick, Howard, Chanter, Tina, Roberts, Mike, Rogers, David, Sandford, Stella, Searby, Michael, Siddiki, Jalal Uddin, Ponto, Maria, Raphael, Sam, Reid, Trish, Agnew, Eadaoin, Alliez, Eric and Auerbach, Paul, 2014, The Guardian, Published
Defiance or emancipation? On Howard Caygill 'On resistance: A philosophy of defiance'
Hallward, Peter, 2014, Radical Philosophy, 183 pp 21-32, Published
What is political will?
Hallward, Peter and Grove, Samuel, 2013, MRzine, Published
Quebec's student protesters give UK activists a lesson
Hallward, Peter, 2012, The Guardian, Published
A response to Amy Wilentz's 'Duvalier and Haiti's Triple Threat'
Hallward, Peter, 2012, HaitiAnalysis, Published
Freedom and power: an interview with Noam Chomsky
Chomsky, Noam and Hallward, Peter, 2012, Radical Philosophy, 172 pp 30-47, Published
Occupy has the power to effect change
Hallward, Peter, 2011, The Guardian, Published
Arab uprisings mark a turning point for the taking
Hallward, Peter, 2011, The Guardian, Published
Egypt's popular revolution will change the world
Hallward, Peter, 2011, The Guardian, Published
In Egypt and Tunisia the will of the people is not a hollow cliche
Hallward, Peter, 2011, The Guardian, Published
An open letter to the BBC (responding to Radio 4's 'Haiti and the Truth about NGOs, 11 January 2011)
Hallward, Peter, 2011, Biomedical Chromatography, Published
Fanon and political will
Hallward, Peter, 2011, Journal of Lie Theory (7), 1 pp 104-127, Published
A new strategy is needed for a brutal new era
Hallward, Peter, 2010, Times Higher Education, Published
Haiti: one more shameful UN betrayal
Hallward, Peter, 2010, The Guardian, Published
The land that wouldn't lie: foreign intervention in Haiti
Hallward, Peter, 2010, HaitiAnalysis, Published
The land that wouldn't lie
Hallward, Peter, 2010, New Statesman, Published
Our role in Haiti's plight
Hallward, Peter, 2010, The Guardian, Published
Haiti 2010: exploiting disaster
Hallward, Peter, 2010, Atomic Spectroscopy, Published
Lyonel Trouillot, or the fictions of formal democracy
Hallward, Peter, 2009, Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism (13), 3 pp 174-185, Published
Radical politics and political will
Hallward, Peter, 2009, Radical Politics Today, Published
The will of the people: notes towards a dialectical voluntarism
Hallward, Peter, 2009, Radical Philosophy, 155 pp 17-29, Published
Book review of: Migrant revolutions: Haitian literature, globalization, and US imperialism by Valerie Kaussen
Hallward, Peter, 2009, Journal of Haitian Studies (15), 1 & 2, Published
Anything is possible: Book Review of After finitude by Quentin Meillassoux
Hallward, Peter, 2008, Radical Philosophy, 152 pp 51-57, Published
Order and event: on Badiou's Logics of worlds
Hallward, Peter, 2008, New Left Review, 53 pp 97-122, Published
Book Review of De quoi Sarkozy est-il le nom? Circonstances by Alain Badiou
Hallward, Peter, 2008, Radical Philosophy, 149 pp 50-52, Published
L'hypothese communiste d'Alain Badiou. Book review of: De quoi Sarkozy est-il le nom? by Alain Badiou
Hallward, Peter, 2008, La Revue Internationale des Livres et des Idees (5), Published
Did he jump or was he pushed? Aristide and the 2004 coup in Haiti
Hallward, Peter, 2007, Haiti Liberte, Published
A Haitian boat disaster
Hallward, Peter, 2007, Radical Philosophy, 145 pp 53-55, Published
Aristide and the violence of democracy. Book review of: The prophet and power: Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the international community and Haiti
Hallward, Peter, 2007, Haiti Liberte (1-3), Published
Jean-Luc Nancy and the implosion of thought
Hallward, Peter, 2007, Oxford Literary Review, 27 pp 159-180, Published
Insurgency and betrayal: an interview with Guy Philippe
Hallward, Peter, 2007, HaitiAnalysis, Published
An interview with Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Hallward, Peter, 2007, London Review of Books (29), 4 pp 9-13, Published
Book Review of: Voicing memory: history and subjectivity in French Caribbean literature by Nick Nesbitt
Hallward, Peter, 2006, French Forum (31), 3 pp 170-170, Published
Book Review of: The fragmentary demand: an introduction to the philosophy of Jean-Luc Nancy by Ian James
Hallward, Peter, 2006, Radical Philosophy, 139 pp 53-55, Published
Voting for hope: elections in Haiti
Hallward, Peter, 2006, Radical Philosophy, 138 pp 2-8, Published
Staging equality: on Ranciere's theatrocracy
Hallward, Peter, 2006, New Left Review, 37 pp 109-129, Published
Book review of Modernity disavowed: Haiti and the cultures of slavery in the age of revolution by Sibylle Fischer
Hallward, Peter, 2005, Radical Philosophy, 134 pp 51-53, Published
The politics of prescription
Hallward, Peter, 2005, South Atlantic Quarterly (104), 4 pp 769-789, Published
Beyond salvage
Hallward, Peter, 2005, South Atlantic Quarterly (104), 2 pp 237-244, Published
Depending on inconsistency: Badiou's answer to the "Guiding question of all contemporary philosophy"
Hallward, Peter, 2005, Polygraph, 17 pp 7-21, Published
Enough imperial crusades
Hallward, Peter, 2004, The Guardian pp 17-17, Published
Option zero in Haiti
Hallward, Peter, 2004, New Left Review, 27 pp 23-47, Published
Why they had to crush Aristide: Haiti's elected leader was regarded as a threat by France and the US
Hallward, Peter, 2004, The Guardian pp 24-24, Published
Haitian inspiration: notes on the bicentenary of independence
Hallward, Peter, 2004, Radical Philosophy, 123 pp 2-7, Published
The one or the other? French philosophy today
Hallward, Peter, 2003, Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities (8), 2 pp 1-32, Published
'Everything is real': Gilles Deleuze and creative univocity
Hallward, Peter, 2003, New Formations (49) pp 61-74, Published
Preamble
Hallward, Peter, 2003, Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities (8), 2 pp 1-32, Published
Book Review of: French philosophy in the twentieth century by G. Gutting
Hallward, Peter, 2002, Modern and Contemporary France (10), 3 pp 406-407, Published
To have done with justification
Hallward, Peter, 2002, Radical Philosophy, 114 pp 29-31, Published
Book Review of: Dictionnaire Marx contemporain by Jacques Bidet & Eustache Kouvelakis (eds.)
Hallward, Peter, 2002, Radical Philosophy, 112 pp 47-49, Published
Badiou's politics: equality and justice
Hallward, Peter, 2002, Culture Machine, 4, Published
Whose war?
Hallward, Peter, 2001, Radical Philosophy, 110 pp 55-56, Published
Mystifications of Paris. Book Review of: The mediocracy: French philosophy since the mid-1970s
Hallward, Peter, 2001, New Left Review (11) pp 138-146, Published
Book Review of: Deleuze and literature by I. Buchanan and J. Marks (eds.)
Hallward, Peter, 2001, Modern and Contemporary France (9), 3 pp 386-387, Published
Keep thinking: Book Review of 'Between Cultures: Tensions in the Struggle for Recognition' by Alexander García Düttmann
Hallward, Peter, 2000, Radical Philosophy, 104 pp 44-46, Published
The limits of individuation, or how to distinguish Deleuze from Foucault
Hallward, Peter, 2000, Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities (5), 2 pp 93-111, Published
Ethics without others: a reply to Critchley on Badiou's Ethics
Hallward, Peter, 2000, Radical Philosophy, 102 pp 27-30, Published
The singular and the specific: recent French philosophy
Hallward, Peter, 2000, Radical Philosophy, 99 pp 6-18, Published
Bernard-Marie Koltes and relations of interest
Hallward, Peter, 1999, Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities (4), 3 pp 41-59, Published
Generic sovereignty: the philosophy of Alain Badiou
Hallward, Peter, 1998, Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities (3), 3 pp 87-111, Published
Edouard Glissant between the singular and the specific
Hallward, Peter, 1998, Cooperation and Conflict (11), 2 pp 441-464, Published
Deleuze and the "world without others"
Hallward, Peter, 1997, Philosophy Today (41), 4 pp 530-544, Published
Gilles Deleuze and the redemption from interest
Hallward, Peter, 1997, Radical Philosophy, 81 pp 6-21, Published
The Blanqui reader
Blanqui, Louis-Auguste (2018). London: [Published]
Concept and form, volume 1: selections from the Cahiers pour l'Analyse
(2012). London, U.K.: [Published]
Concept and form, volume 2: interviews and essays on the Cahiers pour l'Analyse
(2012). London, U.K.: [Published]
Damming the flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the politics of containment
Hallward, Peter (2007). London, U.K.: [Published]
Out of this world: Deleuze and the philosophy of creation
Hallward, Peter (2006). London, U.K.: [Published]
Think again: Alain Badiou and the future of philosophy
(2004). London, U.K.: [Published]
Badiou: a subject to truth
Hallward, Peter (2003). London, U.K.: [Published]
Absolutely postcolonial: writing between the singular and the specific
Hallward, Peter (2002). Manchester, U.K.: [Published]
Ethics: an essay on the understanding of evil
Badiou, Alain and Hallward, Peter (2001). London, U.K.: [Published]
A law unto ourselves: reclaiming autonomy as mass sovereignty
Hallward, Peter (2023). In: Watkin, Christopher, Davis, Oliver, (eds.), Abingdon: pp 30-47 [Published]
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Hallward, Peter (2023). In: Ramgotra, Manjeet, Choat, Simon, (eds.), Oxford: pp 147-162 [Published]
'The most absolute authority‘: Rousseau and the tensions of popular sovereignty
Hallward, Peter (2023). In: Harris, Neal, Bosseau, Denis, Ployjai, Pintobtang, Brown, Owen, (eds.), Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 43-82 [Published]
Revolutionary strategy
Hallward, Peter (2018). In: Pendakis, Andrew, Szeman, Imre, Diamanti, Jeff, (eds.), London: pp 411-418 [Published]
Towards a pre-history of national liberation struggle
Hallward, Peter (2018). In: Deckard, Sharae, Varma, Rashmi, (eds.), New York: pp 117-140 [Published]
General wish or general will? Political possibility and collective capacity from Rousseau through Marx
Hallward, Peter (2016). In: Chrostowska, S. D., Ingram, James D., (eds.), New York, U.S.: Columbia University Press pp 126-160 [Published]
On political will
Hallward, Peter (2014). In: Pendakis, Andrew, Diamanti, Jeff, Brown, Nicholas, Robinson, Josh, Szeman, Imre, (eds.), London, U.K.: pp 515-532 [Published]
Towards an anti-colonial future
Hallward, Peter (2013). In: Huggan, Graham, (eds.), Oxford, U.K.: pp 289-297 [Published]
Badiou and the logic of interruption
Hallward, Peter (2012). In: Hallward, Peter, Peden, Knox, (eds.), London, U.K.: pp 123-145 [Published]
Introduction: Theoretical training
Hallward, Peter (2012). In: Hallward, Peter, Peden, Knox, (eds.), London, U.K.: pp 1-55 [Published]
People and power: four notes on democracy and dictatorship
Hallward, Peter (2012). In: Campagna, Federico, (eds.), London, U.K.: pp 61-72 [Published]
Anything is possible: a reading of Quentin Meillassoux's 'After Finitude'
Hallward, Peter (2011). In: Bryant, Levi, Srnicek, Nick, Harman, Graham, (eds.), Melbourne, Australia: pp 130-141 [Published]
Sujet, decision et volonte dans la philosophie dÔÇÖAlain Badiou
Hallward, Peter (2011). In: Tarby, Fabien, (eds.), Paris, France: [Published]
The will of the people: dialectical voluntarism and the subject of politics
Hallward, Peter (2011). In: Elliott, Jane, Attridge, Derek, (eds.), Abingdon, U.K.: pp 90-104 [Published]
Badiou and Kant
Hallward, Peter (2010). In: Clemens, Justin, Bartlett, A.J., (eds.), Durham, U.K.: pp 128-136 [Published]
'From Flood to Earthquake'. Afterword
Hallward, Peter (2010). In: Hallward, Peter, (eds.), London, U.K.: [Published]
You can't have it both ways: Deleuze or Lacan
Hallward, Peter (2010). In: De Bolle, Leen, (eds.), Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press pp 33-50 [Published]
Pierre Bourdieu
Hallward, Peter (2007). In: Wintle, Justin, (eds.), London, U.K.: [Published]
Jacques Ranciere et la theatrocratie
Hallward, Peter (2006). In: Cornu, Laurence, Vermeren, Patrice, (eds.), Bourg-en-Bresse, France: pp 481-496 [Published]
What's the point: first notes towards a philosophy of determination
Hallward, Peter (2005). pp 148-158 [Published]
Ranciere and the subversion of mastery
Hallward, Peter (2005). In: Robson, Mark, (eds.), Edinburgh, U.K.: pp 26-45 [Published]
Alain Badiou
Hallward, Peter (2004). In: Murray, Christopher John, (eds.), New York, U.S.: pp 36-39 [Published]
Gilles Deleuze
Hallward, Peter (2004). In: Murray, Christopher John, (eds.), London, U.K.: pp 158-163 [Published]
Introduction: consequences of abstraction
Hallward, Peter (2004). In: Hallward, Peter, (eds.), London, U.K.: pp 1-20 [Published]
Badiou et la deliaison absolue
Hallward, Peter (2002). In: Ramond, Charles, (eds.), Paris: pp 295-311 [Published]
Notes on the translation
Hallward, Peter (2001). London, U.K.: pp xxxvi-li [Published]
Politics and philosophy: an interview with Alain Badiou
Hallward, Peter and Badiou, Alain (2001). London, U.K.: pp 95-144 [Published]
Translator's introduction
Hallward, Peter (2001). London, U.K.: pp vii-xxxv [Published]
Disaster politics in Haiti: pacifying the people
Hallward, Peter(2010). [Published]
Self-emancipation and the politics of violence in Haiti
Hallward, Peter(2010). [Published]
Marx, Hegel and the point of education
Hallward, Peter(2009). [Published]
Dialectical voluntarism: a defence
Hallward, Peter(2009). [Published]
Human, subhuman, superhuman
Hallward, Peter(2009). [Published]
Dialectical voluntarism: an agenda for research
Hallward, Peter(2009). [Published]
What is political will?
Hallward, Peter(2009). [Published]
Communism of the intellect, Communism of the will
Hallward, Peter(2009). [Published]
Haiti: the threat of a good example?
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
Political will: a neo-Jacobin manifesto
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
What is political will?
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
Damming the flood: Haiti, Aristide and the politics of containment
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
Liberation and political will: from Rousseau to Aristide
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
Determination and will: towards a dialectical voluntarism
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
On determination
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
Foucault and the critique of psychology in the Cathiers pour l'analyse
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
NGOs, activism and commitment: the case of Haiti's Zanmi Lasante
Hallward, Peter(2008). [Published]
The consequences of philosophy
Hallward, Peter(2007). [Published]
Matters of will
Hallward, Peter(2007). [Published]
Haiti 2004: the perfection of neo-imperialism?
Hallward, Peter(2006). [Published]
From Being and Event to Logics of worlds
Hallward, Peter(2006). [Published]
Embodying disembodiment: Gilles Deleuze on art and literature
Hallward, Peter(2006). [Published]
What is it I have been doing all my life? Deleuze and the question of philosophy
Hallward, Peter(2005). [Published]
What's the point: first notes towards a philosophy of determination
Hallward, Peter(2005). [Published]
Jacques Ranciere et la refus de la maitrise
Hallward, Peter(2005). [Published]
The politics of prescription
Hallward, Peter(2005). [Published]
Subtractive philosophy: Henry, Deleuze, Badiou
Hallward, Peter(2005). [Published]
Indecisions, indecisions...
Hallward, Peter(2003). [Published]
Badiou et la deliaison absolue
Hallward, Peter(2002). [Published]
Concept and form: the cahiers pour l'analyse and contemporary French thought
Hallward, Peter, Peden, Knox and Kerslake, Christian (2010) [Published]