The British Academy has awarded its to Dr Jonathan Havercroft, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Southampton, for a highly original essay presenting a theoretical framework for the permissibility of rioting against injustice.
The Brian Barry Prize, awarded in partnership with Cambridge University Press and the聽British Journal of Political Science (BJPolS), is among ten prizes and medals awarded by the British Academy to recognise the accomplishments of leading scholars in Classics, Theology and Religious Studies, Linguistics, Archaeology, History and throughout the humanities and social sciences.
In the prize-winning essay, , to be published in the British Journal of Political Science, Dr Havercroft outlines eleven provisional criteria to determine the extent to which a riot is justified and legitimate 鈥� such as whether it is 鈥渇reedom preserving鈥�, 鈥渆quality promoting鈥� or giving 鈥渧oice to the grievances of marginalised communities鈥�.
Awarding the Prize, the panel described Havercroft鈥檚 article as 鈥済round-clearing and path-breaking鈥�.
Dr Havercroft commented: 鈥淚 am deeply聽honoured聽and humbled to receive this year鈥檚 Brian Barry Prize in Political Science. Professor Barry taught at my institution, the University of Southampton, in the 1960s and wrote one of his major works聽Political Argument聽while there. As a scholar I take great inspiration from his lifelong commitment to fusing normative political theory with empirical political science. My current research on the normativity of riots attempts to do just that by combining the empirical analysis of political protest with traditional ethical analyses of political violence and obligation.鈥�
