Research Fellow
In cooperation with Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst
Stay from 01/01/2026 to 31/12/2026
Funded by Stiftungsfonds Commerzbank im Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft
David Rischel is a political theorist working on normative questions within contemporary political philosophy concerning territory, democracy, and distributive justice. He received his PhD from the University of Warwick in 2025. In 2024-2025, he was a teaching fellow at Queen Mary University of London and a visiting research fellow at the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
Research project: Democratic Autonomy, Polarization, and Accommodation
Political science research shows that citizens in democratic societies increasingly express their political commitments not through reason-giving or collective action aimed at shared political ends, but through anger and resentment directed at their political opponents, who are viewed as enemies to be defeated rather than as co-citizens. Political scientists refer to this phenomenon as affective polarization. This project investigates the extent to which affective polarization undermines democratic values and examines how political parties ought to respond to it. In particular, it asks whether, and under what conditions, parties are justified in accommodating voters’ unjust preferences in polarized democratic contexts.
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Publikationen
Rischel, D. (2024). Property, nature, and the freedom to roam. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2024.2387995