Prof. Dr. Fabian Schuppert

Profile:

Fabian Schuppert researches and teaches political theory and philosophy. Since 2020, he has held the Chair of Political Theory at the University of Potsdam; prior to that, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Ethics at the University of Zurich, as well as a senior lecturer and director of the Center for the Study of Risk and Inequality at Queen’s University Belfast.

Fabian Schuppert earned his Ph.D. with a dissertation on a republican theory of global justice and has worked on ideas of social egalitarianism. He is currently conducting research on climate ethics, questions of democratic theory and citizen participation in an era of a societal shift to the right, models of alternative political economy, as well as (anti-)authoritarianism and decolonialism. Fabian Schuppert works on these topics within the “Just Climate Transitions” research network and coordinates the “International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies,” which brings together researchers from the so-called “Global South” whose research focuses on (anti-)authoritarianism.

His teaching currently focuses on introductory courses on the history of political ideas and contemporary political thought. In addition, specialized courses address climate policy issues, phenomena of neoliberalism and authoritarianism, and resistance to increasing fascist tendencies.

 

Academic Career

• Since January 1, 2020: Professor of Political Theory, University of Potsdam
• 2016–2019: Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Political Theory and Philosophy, Queen’s University Belfast
• 2013–2016: Research Fellow at the Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, Queen’s University Belfast
• 2010–2013: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Ethics, University of Zurich

Research Interests

• Republicanism
• Social egalitarianism and social inequality
• Just climate transition and citizens’ assemblies
• Democratic theory as well as new and traditional forms of participation
• Alternative models of political economy, post-capitalism
• Structural injustice; decolonialism
• Rising authoritarianism and fascism, and strategies of resistance
• Political and economic institutions
• History of ideas, esp. the 18th century

 

Selected publications: 

Monographs:

Fabian Schuppert: Freedom, Recognition & Non-Domination: A Republican Theory of (Global) Justice. Dordrecht:  Springer (2013).

- Reviewed by Yusuf Yuksekdag in Global Justice: Theory Practice Rhetoric 9 (2016): 108-113.

 

Anthologies & Edited Volumes:

Hänel, Hilkje, and Fabian Schuppert (eds.): Understanding Social Struggles: Relating Recognition Theories and Epistemic Injustice. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag (2025).

Hänel, Hilkje, Kerstin Reibold and Fabian Schuppert: Decolonising Epistemic Injustice. Special Issue of Inquiry (forthcoming).

Blomfield, Megan and Fabian Schuppert: Land Rights in a Changing Climate. Symposium in Journal of Applied Philosophy (2023).

Hänel, Hilkje and Fabian Schuppert: Buchsymposium: Serene Khaders Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic in Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie (2022).

Schuppert, Fabian: Justice, Climate Change, and the Distribution of Natural Resources. Special Issue of Res Publica (2016).

Carina Fourie, Fabian Schuppert and Ivo Wallimann-Helmer (eds.): Social Equality: Essays on What it Means to Be Equals. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2015).

• Reviewed by Ian Carter in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews at http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/62252-social-equality-on-what-it-means-to-be-equals/

 

Journal Articles (peer-reviewed):

Scholz, Rabea and Fabian Schuppert. "Energy Justice: Caught Between a Lack of Clarity and Overloading?." Ethics, Policy & Environment (2025): 1-18.

Walkenhorst, Janina, and Fabian Schuppert. "What is the normative added value of deliberative mini publics in the context of climate policy making?." Swiss Political Science Review (2024).

Creutzig, F., Becker, S., Berrill, P., Bongs, C., Bussler, A., Cave, B., ... Schuppert, F. & Zekar, A. (2024). Towards a public policy of cities and human settlements in the 21st century. npj Urban Sustainability, 4(1), 29.

Rockström, Johan, Louis Kotzé, Svetlana Milutinović, Frank Biermann, Victor Brovkin, Jonathan Donges, Jonas Ebbesson, … Fabian Schuppert, et al. "The planetary commons: A new paradigm for safeguarding Earth-regulating systems in the Anthropocene." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121, no. 5 (2024): e2301531121.

Hänel, Hilkje C., und Fabian Schuppert. "Was ist Geschlechtergerechtigkeit? Eine nicht-ideale Annäherung." Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie 9.1 (2022): 315-328.

LoCoco, Laura und Fabian Schuppert: 'Attachment, Sustainability, and Control over Natural Resources', Global Justice: Theory Practice Rhetoric 13 (2021): 50-66.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Zur Auferlegung systemischer Finanzrisiken', Zeitschrift für Politische Theorie 12 (2021): 67-83.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Secular republicanism? An analysis of the prospects and limits of Laborde’s republican account of religion', Ethnicities 17 (2017): 172-188.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Zur Ethik (intergenerationeller) Risikoauferlegung', Jahrbuch für Wissenschaft & Ethik 21 (2017): 171-196.

Harald Stelzer and Fabian Schuppert: 'How much risk ought we to take? Exploring the possibilities of risk-sensitive consequentialism in the context of climate engineering', Environmental Values 25 (2016): 69-90.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Non-Domination, Non-Alienation and Social Equality: Towards a Republican Understanding of Equality', Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 18 (2015): 440-455.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Beyond the National Resource Privilege: towards an International Court of the Environment', International Theory 6 (2014): 68-97.

Fabian Schuppert and Ivo Wallimann-Helmer: 'Environmental Inequalities and Democratic Citizenship: Linking Normative Theory with Empirical Research', Analyse & Kritik 36 (2014): 345-366.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Discursive Control, Non-Domination and Hegelian Recognition Theory: Marrying Pettit’s Account(s) of Freedom with a Pippinian/Brandomian Reading of Hegelian Agency', Philosophy & Social Criticism 39 (2013): 893-905.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Suffering from Social Inequality. Normative Implications of Recent Empirical Findings on the Negative Effects of Social Inequality', Philosophical Topics 40 (2013): 97 - 115.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Distinguishing Basic Needs and Fundamental Interests', Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 16 (2013), pp. 24-44.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Reconsidering Resource Rights: The Case for a Basic Right to the Benefits of Life-Sustaining Ecosystem Services', Journal of Global Ethics 8 (2012), pp. 215-225.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Climate Change Mitigation and Intergenerational Justice', Environmental Politics 20 (2011), pp. 303-331.

 

Book chapter:

Fabian Schuppert (2025): „Algorithmic Structural Epistemic Injustice: Artificial Intelligence, Unjust Regimes of Epistemic Recognition, and the Reinforcement of Ignorance”, in Hänel, Hilkje, and Fabian Schuppert (eds.): Understanding Social Struggles: Relating Recognition Theories and Epistemic Injustice. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, pp. 199-212. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839400050-010

Fabian Schuppert (2025): “Freiheit in Zeiten des Klimawandels”, in Sebastian Ihle und Ingo Juchler (Hg.): Ethische Grundlagen politischer Bildung. Wochenschau Verlag.

Schuppert, Fabian. "Non-Ideal Climate Justice." In Hilkje Hänel and Johanna Müller (eds.): The Routledge Handbook of Non-Ideal Theory. Routledge, 2024. 460-469.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Epistemische Ungleichheiten als Problem von sozialer Gleichheit', in Peter Weingart, Gunnar Folke Schuppert und Roland Römhildt (Hg.): Herrschaft und Wissen. Nomos (2022), pp. 443-466.

Fabian Schuppert: ‚Risiken und Chancen von Krisen für die Demokratie‘, in Alesch Mühlbauer (Hg.): Demokratie in der Krise. Mitteldeutscher Verlag (2022), pp. 19-39.

Fabian Schuppert: ‘Gemeinwohl und soziale Gleichheit‘, in Christian Hiebaum (Hg.): Handbuch Gemeinwohl. Springer (2022), pp. 323-334.

Fabian Schuppert: ' Making the Great Climate Transition: Between Justice and Feasibility', In Sarah Kenehan and Corey Katz: Climate Justice and Feasibility. Rowman & Littlefield (2021), pp. 155-172.

May Thorseth and Fabian Schuppert: 'Governance towards a Green Future', in Marcus Duewell, Gerhard Bos, and Naomi van Steenbergen (eds.): Towards the Ethics of a Green Future. Routledge (2018), pp. 167-191.

Lukas Meyer, Fabian Schuppert, Harald Stelzer, and Adriana Placani: ‘Risk and rights: how to deal with risks from a rights-based perspective’, in Marcus Duewell, Gerhard Bos, and Naomi van Steenbergen (eds.): Towards the Ethics of a Green Future. Routledge (2018), pp. 28-47.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Being equals: Analyzing the nature of social egalitarian relationships', Social Equality ed. by Carina Fourie, Fabian Schuppert and Ivo Wallimann-Helmer, Oxford University Press (2015), pp. 141-158.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Collective Agency and Global Non-Domination: A Defence of Strong Cosmopolitanism', Cosmopolitanism: For and Against, ed. by Gillian Brock, Oxford University Press (2013), pp. 255-271.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Taloudellista kasvua ja lisää työpaikkoja kestävän kehityksen avulla – pelkkää EU-retoriikkaa vai tie vihreämmille laitumille? (Sustainable Development and Economic Growth: Realistic Utopia or Empty EU Rhetoric?', Euroopasta Ei Mitään Uutta (No News from Europe), ed. by Hanna Kuusela and Otto Bruun, Helsinki University Press (2009), pp. 141-158.

 

Shorter Commentaries / Discussion Pieces / Introductions:

Reibold, Kerstin, Hilkje Hänel and Fabian Schuppert (2026): “Decolonising Epistemic Injustice: An Overview”, Inquiry.   https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2026.2698607

Hilkje C. Hänel und Fabian Schuppert: ‚Was ist Geschlechtergerechtigkeit? Eine nicht-ideale Annäherung‘, Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie (9), pp. 315-328.

Fabian Schuppert: 'In Search of a Just Political Economy: Why We Should Go beyond Rawls's POD and Schefczyk's RUWS’, Analyse & Kritik 35 (2013), pp. 213-217.

Fabian Schuppert: 'Risks, Uncertainty and Ecosystem Management', Ethics, Policy & Environment 16 (2013), pp. 22-25.

 

Other scientific publications (ohne peer-review):

Fabian Schuppert: “Freiheit in Zeiten des Klimawandels”, in Sebastian Ihle und Ingo Juchler (Hg.): Ethische Grundlagen politischer Bildung. Wochenschau Verlag. (2025)

Baker, Andrew, Fabian Schuppert und Jay Cullen: ‘Towards a Normative Theory of Systemic (Financial) Risk’, Rebuilding Macroeconomics Working Paper Series No. 21 (2020).

Emily McTernan, Martin O’Neill, Christian Schemmel and Fabian Schuppert: ‘Social Equality and the Big State: Home, Work and Care’, Juncture 23(2), 2016, pp. 138-144.