Dr. Janet Coleman

Biography

Janet Coleman is an Emeritus Professor specializing in Ancient and Medieval Political Thought at the London School of Economics. She has been a faculty member since 1987 and is a co-founder and co-executive editor of the journal History of Political Thought. Her research interests span Ancient Greek and Roman political philosophy, the genesis of the modern European state, and the history of political thought through the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Coleman served as a Leverhulme Major Research Fellow from 2000 to 2003, focusing on pre-modern understandings of property and self-understanding. She has delivered lectures at prestigious institutions including Boston University and the European University Institute in Florence. In 2009, she became a Global Distinguished Professor at New York University, expanding her engagement with contemporary scholarship in political philosophy. Coleman is fluent in French and has intermediate proficiency in German, with basic knowledge of Italian. Her scholarly contributions are significant in advancing the understanding of democratic toleration and historical political theories.

Research Interests