Nostalgia and Political Theory

In Nostalgia and Political Theory, Lawrence Quill advocates the central importance of nostalgia as a theoretical response to the ‘historic’ past and a vertiginous present. He does so by offering detailed analyses of diverse theoretical approaches, from the ancient world to the modern day, in order to reassess the relation between nostalgia and politics. Quill proposes nostalgia as an organizing concept, silently (and not so silently) influencing theorists as they construct critiques of the present or visions of the political future.
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Nostalgia and Political Theory surveys key contributions to nostalgic and anti-nostalgic thinking from across the political spectrum. Assessing the influence of photography, radio, television, and personal computing on changing conceptions of the past, Quill also considers the relation between populism, nationalism, and nostalgia. By challenging those who would dismiss nostalgia as irrational or a symptom of cultural malaise, Quill concludes by advancing the case for a liberal theory of nostalgia.

Routledge 2024​​

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Secrets and Democracy:
From Arcana Imperii to Wikileaks

As governments actively collect and analyze more information about their populations than ever before, citizens struggle to defend their privacy and to determine which state secrets are legitimate and which are not. Jurisdictional complexity, the inability of representatives to gain access to relevant information, citizens' relative lack of expertise, and the partisanship that exists between different government agencies make oversight difficult. Secrets and Democracy considers afresh the role that secrets play within liberal democracies and the impact this has on the public's 'right to know,' the individual's 'right to privacy,' and the government's penchant for secrecy and data collection. Now, perhaps more than ever, secrecy (and the disclosure of secrets) is in the public eye thanks to the phenomenon of WikiLeaks. However, this book places WikiLeaks in the context of centuries-old discussion concerning the necessity of secrecy, and contemporary debate concerning the relative merits of privacy, openness, transparency, and accountability.


Palgrave Macmillan, 2014 

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Civil Disobedience: 
(Un)Common sense in mass democracies

What role might civil disobedience play in the politics of representative democracies as power ‘leaks’ from the nation state? If traditional politics has surrendered to the interests of global corporations what are the consequences? Quill proposes a reappraisal of civil disobedience and civil obedience in order to address these and other questions.

Palgrave Macmillan, 2009

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Liberty After Liberalism:
Civic-Republicanism in a Global Age

Liberty after Liberalism frees the concept of the active citizen from both the territorial confines of the nation-state and the limits imposed by republican, city-state models.  Quill advances a theory of global republicanism, one that is able to respond directly to the changing realities of political life. By adopting a "publicly ironic" approach to politics, Quill revives the idea of public freedom within a global context thereby providing an important supplement to contemporary theories of cosmopolitan democracy.


Palgrave Macmillan, 2006

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Selected Articles

“Post-Humanism and the Road to Castle Frankisstein”in What We Think About When We Think About Love.
(Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2021)

"The Californian Ideology Revisited" (with Professor Hasmet Uluorta)
in Digital Platforms and the Algorithmic Self (Westminster University Press, 2021)

“All the World’s a Simulation” in Playing with What is There. (Routledge,, 2021)

​“The Software Will See You Now.”
Counseling and Psychotherapy Research, 21,3, 498-501, 2021.

"Should A.I. Be Your Therapist?"
Philosophy in the Contemporary World: An International Journal
(Spring/Fall 2020)

“The Case of Canvas: Longitudinal Datafication through Learning Management Systems” 
(with Professor Roxana Marachi) Teaching in Higher Education Special Issue (April 2020)

"Silicon Valley's Basic Income" (with Professor Hasmet Uluorta)
(September 2017)

"Technological Conspiracies"
 Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society, 28(1) (2016)  

"Tea with Zizek" (with Professor Hasmet Uluorta)
​Psychotherapy and Politics International, 13(3) (2015)