糖心原创

Key Findings 

This project aims to further the reintroduction of Tyranny as a concept in modern political discourse. Tyranny, and ancient theories of Tyranny, have generally been neglected since at least the nineteenth century by those interested in political practice. However, the study of Tyranny offers advantages, in providing an explicitly historical perspective on a contemporary problem and in emphasising ‘the moral component’, and the moral consequences, of authoritarianism, the loss of which has been (in ) ‘a catastrophe’ for foreign policy in the West – as exemplified in particular by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.   

We aim to further study, and improve the understanding of the public and policy makers, in three areas:

1. The Concept of Tyranny: what Tyranny has meant in theory throughout history and what it means now.
2. The Application of the term Tyranny to historical and contemporary regimes: we seek in the long-term to provide a framework by which regimes may be classified as tyrannies empirically and objectively.  
3. The Behaviour of Tyrants and their subjects:  Tyrannies have different interests, provide different incentives and so promote different patterns of behaviour from those common to democracies. For democratic policy makers to successfully negotiate with Tyrannies and predict their behaviour, they need to understand the nature of tyrannical society and the type of ‘soul’ it produces.  

Events

Forthcoming Events

No upcoming events. Please view our past events and links to recordings below. 

Links to Recordings

Please note the following recordings are from external links not managed by the university, so videos may not have accurate captions. 

Part 1: The Classical World

Edmund Stewart ‘What is a tyranny? How can you tell the difference between a tyrant, an oligarch and a democrat?’, 4th November 2021.

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Edward Harris, ‘The Origin of Tyranny as a Political Slogan and the Rise of Freedom and the Rule of Law?’, 17th November 2021.

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James Kierstead, ‘How Fine a Thing’: Isēgoria, State Performance, and Democratic Dignity’, 7th December 2021.

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Xavier Marquez, ‘Ancient Tyranny and Modern Dictatorship: The Changing Face of Non-democracy’, 11th January 2022.

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Mirko Canevaro, ‘What is it like to live under a tyrant? Esteem, honour, and respect in tyrannical regimes’, 2nd March 2022.

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Ellodie Paillard, ‘Why Did Tyrants Sponsor Theatre?’, 6th of April 2022.

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Andrew Hanssen and Robert Fleck, ‘What Can We Learn by Comparing the Modern World to Ancient Greece?’, 4th of May 2022.

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Josiah Ober, ‘What can Political Science tell us about ancient tyranny and ancient democracy?’, 1st of June 2022.

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Part 2 Tyranny and Freedom in Early Christian Thought and the Middle Ages

Andrzej Nowak (UJ): 'Tyranny and republicanism in the 16th-century Poland and Lithuania', 5th February 2024.

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Juan Antonio Senent de Frutos (Loyola University in Seville), Political community, common good and tyranny in the School of Salamanca (sixteenth century).

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Richard Dougherty, ‘Augustine on Human Freedom: Politics and Theology in the Roman World’, 10th October 2022.

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Constantine Bozinis, ‘Dogma and Politics in Gregory of Nyssa’, 14th November 2022.

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Andrew Fear, ‘Tyranny and Democracy: Gregory, Isidore, and Hamlet's dilemma’, 24th January 2023.

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Pawel Figurski, ‘Tyranny and Freedom in the Making of Sacramental Rulership from Charlemagne to Gregory VII’, 30th January 2023.

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24th October, 5.00 p.m., Cary J. Nedermann (Texas A&M University), The Theory and Practice of Tyranny in Machiavelli’s Writings.

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28 November, 4.00 p.m., GMT Ronald G. Asch (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), The figure of the tyrant in political thought and practice in the later sixteenth century.

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Other events

Tyranny: a twenty-first century threat to freedom? , Thursday 16 January 2025, Westminster.

 

'On Tyranny: How Today’s Democracies Can Recognise and Confront Tyranny', Tyrannica Westminster Launch, The Henry Jackson Society, 11 June 2024, The Henry Jackson Society, Millbank Tower.

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Thucydides on Traps and Wars,  A conversation between Marek Węcowski (University of Warsaw) and Edmund Stewart (糖心原创).

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Publications

Policy Briefs / Discussion Documents

Policy Discussion Document produced for the workshop ‘The Spartan Constitution’, held at The House of Lords, 9th of March 2022.

Academic Publications

Stewart, E., 2023. Tyranny in Tragedy, Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought. 40: 234-58.

Stewart, E., 2021. The Tyrant’s Progress: the meaning of the ΤΥΡΑΝΝΟΣ in Plato and Aristotle, Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought 38: 208-36.

Stewart, E., 2021. Tragedy and Tyranny: Euripides, Archelaus and popular patronage, in S. Lewis (ed.) 

Tyranny: New Contexts (Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne, Supplément; Besançon: Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté), 81-101.

Media, Blog Posts and Press Coverage

, Engelsberg Ideas, 10^th December 2024.
, Engelsberg Ideas, 9^th September 2024.

, Lakonikos.gr, 11th January 2023.

, The Conversation, 27th October 2022.

, The Critic, August-September 2022: 77-8.

, Antigone Journal.

, Antigone Journal.

, Antigone Journal.

, Antigone Journal.

Linked Projects

: Erasmus+ project, co-funded by the European Union focusing on improving general education on authoritarianism and to prepare recommendations for EU foreign policy stakeholders regarding democracy support.