Research lines

By drawing on methodological pluralism and a commitment to critical thinking, the Social and Political Theory Research Group develops distinct yet overlapping research lines:

RL 1. Crisis and critique (main coordinator: Miguel de Beistegui)

RL 2. Authoritarian neoliberalism and emancipatory social and labor movements from a global political economy perspective (main coordinator: Mónica Clua-Losada)

RL 3. Varieties of populism, religious studies, and democracy (main coordinator: Camil Ungureanu)

RL 4. Nationalism, federalism, and territorial politics, combining insights from political science and political theory (main coordinator: Marc Sanjaume-Calvet)

RL 5. Intellectual history and social and political philosophy, with a focus on Hegel, Marx, critical theory, feminist theory, and political ecology (main coordinator: Tatiana Llaguno)

RL 6. History of/Themes in modern and contemporary political philosophy, integrating critical theory, political philosophy, and the arts (especially cinema and literature) to both dissect the crises of the present moment and envision plausible futures (main coordinators: Miguel de Beistegui and Camil Ungureanu)

Current projects

2024-2026. Miguel de Beistegui and Camil Ungureanu: Project Co-Leaders: “Pathologies of Capitalist Societies and the Rise of Authoritarianism: A Philosophical-Literary Approach to Ustopias in Atwood, Houellebecq, and Ishiguro” (Project PID2022-142130NB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER, EU). By combining political philosophy and literature, and drawing on M. Atwood's concept of “ustopia,” this project explores the dialectical interplay between utopian and critical-dystopian elements in the novels of Ishiguro, Houellebecq, and Atwood as critiques of modernity. 

2022-2025. Marc Sanjaume and Jean-Baptiste Harguindéguy, Project Co-Leaders: "Independence and government decision-making. Why do states accept to hold self-determination referendums?" (REFSTATE) (PID2021-123861NB-I00).

2025-2027 Camil Ungureanu, Researcher. “Red de Estudios Sobre Diversidad Religiosa” (Principal Investigator: Maria Del Mar Griera Llonch, RED2024-153994-T, funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades). This research network explores the complexities of religious diversity in contemporary societies, examining its social, political, and cultural implications.

2025-2027: Researcher, Democratic Citizenship in Post-Truth Societies, EUTOPIA (Leader: Ciprian Mihali). 

2024-2026 Researcher, PNRR grant "Doing Environmental (In)justice: A Theory in Praxis - Eco Just" (project ID: 760077/23.05.2023), led by Irina Velicu.

2024-2025 Camil Ungureanu Principal Investigator “AI for Democratic Education”, PlaClick, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Teaching & Research Project)

Past projects (selective)

2022-2024. Camil Ungureanu, Project Leader. "Far-right and the Transformation of Nature in Eastern and Southern Europe", Centre for Studies on Planetary Wellbeing, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Planetary Wellbeing Segment PLAWB00722. Based on qualitative social science methods, this project examines the populist pathologies of Europe’s (semi-)periphery, focusing on the rise of new authoritarian ecologies in countries such as Spain, Greece, and Romania. 

2023-2024. Camil Ungureanu, Researcher. "Screening Social Transformations: 1990-2021" (Project Leader: Constantin Parvulescu). Grant from the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS – UEFISCDI, Romania, project number PN-III-P4-PCE-2021-0141 (June 2022 – December 2024). SCREEN-SOCIAL highlights and explores the critical role of Romanian cinema and narrative television in debates relevant to the transformation of Romanian postsocialist society, 1990-2021. My role has been to combine critical theory with Cristi Puiu’s film as a form of social analysis and critique in postcommunist Romania.

2022-2024. Marc Sanjaume, Researcher. “Projectes de recerca en l’àmbit de l’organització territorial del poder de l’lnstitut d’Estudis de l’Autogovern” (IEA). (PRE150/22/000009) The Politization of Federal Arbiters. Modelling Regional Constitutional Politics in Spain, IP: Joan-Josep Vallbé (UB). 

2022-2024. Marc Sanjaume, Researcher. Subvencions a projectes de recerca en l’àmbit de la qualitat democràtica (DEMOC). (EXI/100/22/000009) Democracy in the Anthropocene. Can Deliberative Minipublics Influence Political Opinion Formation of the Larger Public?, IP: Lala Muradova (UPF), 2022-2024.