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Mitchell Dean

Professor

Subjects
Politics Security Sociology Philosophy Public sector Society

Primary research areas

Con­cepts of Power

The study of the vari­ous con­cepts of, and prac­tices en­tailed in, power, state, sov­er­eignty, gov­ernance, and gov­ern­ment, and their historical re­la­tion­ships in na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al con­texts. Development of the 'signature of power' framework that links the juridical-political pole of sovereignty with the economic-managerial one of government. Application to fields such as international relations and study of organization.

Polit­ic­al and His­tor­ic­al So­ci­ology

The study of polit­ic­al form­a­tions such as lib­er­al­ism, demo­cracy, au­thor­it­ari­an­ism and pop­u­lism in dif­fer­ent na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al so­cial and his­tor­ic­al con­texts. Particular interests include authoritarian governmentality both inside and outside of liberal democracy, how we understand the current populist moment, and the development of the general field of international political sociology.

Eco­nom­ic and Polit­ic­al Theo­logy

The study of the re­li­gious and theo­lo­gic­al lin­eages of the rituals, litur­gies, sym­bols and dis­courses of mod­ern and con­tem­por­ary so­cial, polit­ic­al and eco­nom­ic prac­tices. Engagement with political and economic theology as ways of understanding current forms of political assembly, political and non-political acclamation, oath-taking, and public confession and the history of economic forms such as the corporation, debt and economic management.

Unlocking the mys­ter­ies of power and the polit­ic­al in uncertain times

I was the Head of Department at CBS for seven years (2019-2025) and founded the Department of Business Humanities and Law from January 1, 2023. I returned to my professorship in 2026 to continue to pursue a research program in political sociology and social theory.

My research helps us understand the forms of thought and practice that constitute modern political and economic life. I have published widely in leading international journals. I am currently developing my signature of power framework (see The Signature of Power, Sage 2013) for the study of international relations and the study of organization. I have authored or co-authored nine books and edited two others, including Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society (Sage 1999/2010), cited in the first edition of Michel Foucault’s lectures on the topic and the Oxford English Dictionary. I have also co-edited the first national collection of studies of governmentality with Barry Hindess (Governing Australia, Cambridge University Press, 1998). Published in seven languages, my books have been widely reviewed and highly cited. My latest authored book, The Last Man Takes LSD: Foucault and the End of Revolution (Verso 2021/2023, with Daniel Zamora) has been profiled or reviewed in The Los Angeles Times, The New Statesman, The Spectator, Libération, Il Manifesto (IT), Information (DK), Der Freitag (Germany), and elsewhere. Its societal impact has been to stimulate reflection on dominant critical perspectives. I have edited, with Stefan Schwarzkopf and Lotte List, Political Theology Today: 100 Years after Carl Schmitt (Bloomsbury, 2023). I am on the editorial boards of many key theory journals in my fields.

Recent research projects

The concept of power is absolutely central to the social sciences now more than ever.

Vol­un­tar­i­ness: His­tory, The­ory, So­ci­ety

This is a multi-university project funded by the German Research Council centred at the University of Erfurt, working with and across sociologists and historians to study 'voluntariness'. I was a Mercator Fellow 2020-23.
Voluntariness

The search for a positive governmentality

While my research, like that of many others, has in many ways been profoundly influenced by the work of Michel Foucault, I have departed from uncritical renderings of his work in contemporary philosophy and the social sciences. With my colleague, Daniel Zamora, I have tried to contextualise his work in 1970s-early1980s French politics and society and to grasp the continued impacts of his work today half a century later. Rather than promote the idea of Foucault as a postmodern substitute for socialist political thought, I have focused on episodes such as his relation to neoliberalism, his ill-fated intervention into the Iranian Revolution, and his search for a 'left governmentality' outside the framework of the class relations, parties and the state, instead located in individualised morality. This is linked to the broader question: Is it possible today to speak of a governmentality beyond liberal and neoliberal rationalities? What would it look like?
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2729-the-last-man-takes-lsd?srsltid=AfmBOooIkW9i7xJdRT51M8IS5VeWeYt0XFWowoNSlrcsV-toQ2rG99CD