IPSA RC31 Holds International Workshop on Methodology in Political Philosophy at Waseda University, Tokyo

Main photo: Participants at the IPSA RC31 Workshop on Methodology in Political Philosophy.

The IPSA Research Committee on Political Philosophy (RC31) held its Political Philosophy Methodology Workshop at Waseda University, Tokyo, from 29 to 30 October 2026. Over the two-day event, scholars from Japan and other parts of the world met to discuss a question that is as basic as it is unsettled: what does it mean to have a “method” in political philosophy?

IPSA President Yuko Kasuya (Waseda University) delivered opening remarks, addressing some of the major opportunities and challenges facing political scientists and political philosophers today. The first keynote was given by Humeira Iqtidar (King’s College London), whose lecture, Discipline, Method, Argument: Rethinking the Place of Methodologies, explored how disciplinary conventions shape what counts as a legitimate argument in political theory/philosophy. On the second day, Jonathan Floyd (University of Bristol) delivered the closing keynote, posing a deliberately provocative question: “Do Political Philosophers Really Have Methods?”

In addition to the keynote lectures, six panels brought together established scholars and early-career researchers, including several doctoral students. 

The workshop was hosted by Kei Hiruta (Waseda University), co-organized by IPSA RC31, the Comparative Political Theory Project and the Political Philosophy Research Group of the Waseda Institute of Political Economy (WINPEC), and funded by the Sakuradakai Foundation and WINPEC.

Photo: IPSA President Yuko Kasuya delivers the opening remarks at the RC31 workshop.