Lea Ypi
Professor in Political Theory, London School of Economics and Political Science
Professor in Political Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science and an Honorary Professor in Philosophy at the Australian National University. I am a 2019 Philip Leverhulme Prize Winner. I am A member of the British Academy and the European Academy and my academic work has been recognized by the British Academy's Award for Excellence in Political Science. I am interested in the history of political thought, justice, democratic theory, critiques of capitalism and the intellectual history of the Balkans. My book, Free, a coming of age story is set in the transition from socialism to liberalism. My latest book, Indignity, A life reimagined, explores what it means to survive in an age of extremes. It reveals the fragility of truth, both personal and political, and the cost of decisions made against the tide of history.
EXPs by Lea Ypi
In thinking about how citizenship has historically been a vehicle of enfranchisement, it’s worth reflecting on the fact that the fate of citizenship has been bound up with the emergence and consolidation of the modern state.
When we think about the relationship between liberalism and socialism, we have to be careful not to associate different ideals to these different conceptions.
In thinking about the question of whether political parties should be reformed and why they have failed historically, it’s important to turn to the question of what makes a party morally desirable.
When Lea Ypi discovers a 1941 photo of her grandmother Leman honeymooning in the Alps—despite believing such records were destroyed—she is drawn into a search for the truth about her family. The story unfolds across a turbulent 20th century shaped by war, shifting regimes, and the rise of communism in the Balkans. As Ypi reconstructs Leman’s life—from Ottoman aristocracy to socialist-era Tirana—she confronts contradictions, hidden loyalties, and unanswered questions. Blending memoir, history, and archival fragments, Indignity explores memory, survival, and the moral complexity of judging past lives.