My first monography, Living Democracy, examines the ideas, institutions and experiences of council rule that were developed during the German Revolution of 1918–1919. Analyzing the debates of workers and intellectuals in the councils in four major cities, my book provides unique insight into the work floor of the revolution. The fundamental democratic questions that these revolutionaries discussed, regarding the demos and institutions of proletarian democracy, are still relevant for workers, activists and radical democrats today.
Mathijs van de Sande and I edited a book on how communalism can be understood as a democratic repertoire. The book was published in the Advances in Democratic Theory series at Routledge in 2025. In a recent paper published with Mathijs van de Sande in Thesis Eleven, we explore how the Paris Commune of 1871 (and social movements in general) can be understood through an ecological perspective on revolutionary organisation.
My research on council theory and radical democracy (together with Benjamin Ask Popp-Madsen) has been published as a scholarly article in Polity. I also edited an academic book with James Muldoon on the German Revolution and Political Theory (Part of the series on Marx, Engels, and Marxisms at Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
Over the past decade, my research has permeated public debate in various ways. An overview of various radio interviews, public lectures and policy advises can be found in my cv and on LinkedIn. As an example of my recent public engagement, I served as a guest editor in chief (and author) for an issue of Jacobin Nederland on the Commune.
