Zsolt Kapelner
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I have two main research interests:

(1) Foundational questions about the nature and value of democracy. Why is it valuable that we the people rule ourselves together as equals? I wrote my Dissertation on this topic, where I offerred a novel account of democracy's value, which I think has certain theoretical advantages over currently widespread views, e.g., relational egalitarianism or instrumentalism. I have also published on this here and here.

(2) "Non-ideal" democratic theory. This is about the question of how the foundational insights from (1) apply in the real world. How can we realize the value of democracy in a fast-changing, volatile world, with mounting global challenges? Recently, I explored this question from many angles; I have published on immigration and the democratic boundary problem (e.g., here), workplace democracy, and the problem of voter incompetence, for example.

Lately, however, I have come to focus not on the individual responses democratic societies can give to these challenges, but how they should prioritize them, given that they need to respond to them all. My most recent research (still in progress), focuses on questions of agenda setting, and the democratic ethics of prioritization.

Publications
These are my academic publications in English. If you're interested in other things I've written, message me under 'Contact'. 
  • The Ethics of Agenda Setting
    Forthcoming. Synthese
  • Ignoring the Unreasonable
    Moral Philosophy and Politics. Online first. https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2025-0053
  • Workplace democracy: the argument from the worker-society relation
    Journal of Social Philosophy 56(2): 167–184. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12559
  • The Democratic Theory of Immigrant Enfranchisement
    Democratic Theory 12(1): 83-103. 2025. https://doi.org/10.3167/dt.2025.120105
  • Democracy and Exclusion by Patti T. Lenard: introduction to the symposium
    Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy
    . Online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2025.2512269
  • Anti-immigrant backlash: the democratic dilemma for immigration policy
    Comparative Migration Studies 12(12). 2024. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-024-00370-7
  • The State's Duty to Foster Voter Competence
    Co-authored with Michele Giavazzi. Episteme. 21(3): 719-732. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2022.31
  • Why refugees should be enfranchised
    Journal of Applied Philosophy. 41(1): 106-121. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12682
  • Civic Friendship, the Burdens of Politics, and the Ethics of Attention
    Analyse & Kritik 46(2): 279-287. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1515/auk-2024-2022
  • What Does It Mean to Have an Equal Say?
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. Online first. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-023-10404-1
  • Mutual Service as the Relational Value of Democracy
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. 25(4): 651­–665. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-022-10271-2
  • Structural Injustice and the Duties of the Privileged
    Social Theory and Practice 47(2): 247–264. 2021. https://doi.org/10.5840/soctheorpract202148120
  • Rethinking the Democratic Boundary Problem
    Co-authored with Zoltan Miklosi. In Lee Ward (ed) Cosmopolitanism and its Discontents. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2020
  • Vulnerable Minorities and Democratic Legitimacy in Refugee Admission
    Ethics and Global Politics 13(1): 53–63. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/16544951.2020.1735016
  • Democratic Inclusion: Rainer Bauböck in Dialogue
    Book Review. Res Publica 26(1): 149–154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-019-09429-0
  • Revolution against non-violent oppression
    (Winner of Res Publica 2019 Post-graduate Essay Pize)
    Res Publica 25(9): 445–461. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-019-09437-0
  • Why not Rule by Algorithms
    Hungarian Philosophical Review 63(4): 75–90. 2019. http://real.mtak.hu/152422/1/Zsolt-Kapelner-Why-not-Rule-by-Algorithms.pdf
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