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Loren King

Loren King

Associate Professor

Research / Areas of Expertise

justice
rationality
cities

PhD (MIT, 2001), MA (Toronto, 1992), BA (Toronto, 1991). Before joining Laurier in 2004 I was a postdoctoral fellow in political theory at Brown University.

My academic interests are broadly in political thought. My research explores problems of rationality, the structure and properties of attractive normative theories, questions of justice and legitimacy in urban and global governance, especially involving water. Outside of academia I'm a marathon swimmer and water advocate: I've swum the English Channel, Lake Ontario, aound Manhattan, the Cook Strait in New Zealand, and I direct a small water-related charitable endowment here in Canada, the Great Lakes Trust.

I am available to supervise graduate students interested in political theories of justice, democratic theory, decision and game theory, and moral issues in urbanization and especially involving urban water, economic development, and global politics.

In the past I've occasionally had undergraduate research positions available, for which statistical and programming skills are sometimes desirable. More recently these are likely to involve community engagement and urban water issues.

King, Loren, "Subsidiarity in the Shadow of Sovereignty." Journal of Social Philosophy. (2025)
King, Loren, "How should we do political theory?" Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. (2025)
King, Loren, and Michael Blake. "Global cities, global justice?" Journal of Global Ethics. (2018)
King, Loren, Brandon Morgan-Olsen and James Wong. “What is at stake in democratizing knowledge?” Foundations of Science. (2014)
King, Loren. “Cities, subsidiarity, and federalism.” NOMOS LV: Federalism and Subsidiarity. (2014)
King, Loren. “Seeing like a theorist.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. (2013)
King, Loren. “Concepts, conceptions, and principles of justice.” Socialist Studies. (2012)
King, Loren. “Exploitation and rational choice.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. (2011)
King, Loren. “Liberal citizenship: medieval cities as model and metaphor.” Space and Polity. (2010)
King, Loren. “The federal structure of a republic of reasons.” Political Theory. (2005)
King, Loren. “Democratic hopes in the polycentric city.” Journal of Politics. (2004)