Dr. Keith Breen 

Dr Keith Breen is a Reader (research professor) in Political Theory at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland. He gained his PhD in Political Theory from the University of Edinburgh in 2005 on politics, ethics, and the challenges of modernity within the thought of Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, and Alasdair MacIntyre.

His research areas are contemporary political and social theory, the current focus of his research being questions of political ethics and philosophies of work and economic organization.

Dr Breen has published widely in international journals (including Constellations, Contemporary Political Theory, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (CRISPP), New Political Economy, Philosophy & Social Criticism, Res Publica, The European Legacy, etc.) and is the author of Under Weber’s Shadow: Modernity, Subjectivity and Politics in Habermas, Arendt and MacIntyre (Routledge, 2015). He is also co-editor of After the Nation? Critical Reflections on Nationalism and Postnationalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), Philosophy and Political Engagement: Reflection in the Public Sphere (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Freedom and Domination: Exploring Republican Freedom (Routledge, 2018), and The Politics and Ethics of Contemporary Work: Whither Work? (Routledge, 2021). Along with other political theorists from Queen’s University Belfast, Dr Breen works closely with Professor Dr Fabian Schuppert on republicanism, recognition, and political theory. 

Contact: 

Email: k.breenuqub.acpuk

Selected publications:

• Keith Breen, "Radical labour republicanism: a defence," Philosophy & Social Criticism, April 2025 (open access:https://doi.org/10.1177/01914537251331135).
• Keith Breen and Jean-Philippe Deranty, "Work and the work ethic: a critique of postwork arguments," in Debating a post-work future: perspectives from philosophy and the social sciences. Celentano, Denise, Cholbi, Michael, Deranty, Jean-Philippe, and Schaff, Kory P. (eds.). New York: Routledge, 2024.
• Keith Breen, "The ethics of work," International Encyclopaedia of Ethics, May 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee941).
• Keith Breen and Onni Hirvonen, "Workplace democracy and republican freedom," in The Politics and Ethics of Contemporary Work : Whither Work?. Breen, Keith, and Deranty, Jean-Philippe (eds.). New York: Routledge, 2021.
• Keith Breen and Onni Hirvonen, "Recognitive arguments for workplace democracy," Constellations, April 2020 (open access:  https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12487).
• Keith Breen, "Arendt, republicanism, and political freedom," in Arendt on Freedom, Liberation, and Revolution. Hiruta, Kai (ed.). Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
• Keith Breen, "Meaningful work and freedom: self-realization, autonomy, and non-domination in work," in The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work. Yeoman, Ruth et al. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.