About

I am an Assistant Professor in Social and Political Philosophy. I have a longstanding interest in making philosophical tools useful for democratic politics and public discourse. This interest links to my interest in the foundations and social value of philosophical criticism. Current focal points of my research include: 1) methods of political theory and philosophy. I have co-developed the radical approach to realism in political theory/philosophy and continue to work on the prospects of realism as an empirically-grounded and critical approach; I co-host the “Realism beyond Liberalism” working group; 2) the relationship between money creation and democracy (e.g. in the EMU), which I explore in an NWO-Open Competition funded research project (2023-2024); 3) building a democratic theory which addresses the challenge the increasing concentration of power poses to democracy; recent work with Manon Westphal on reinventing the plebeian tribunate has been published in Political Theory. My research is located at the intersection between normative and empirical forms of inquiry. It aims to bridge methodological and disciplinary divides between normative-analytical, critical-reflective and interpretive political thought, in order to provide reliable orientation for political judgment. I’ve made methodological, conceptual, and applied contributions which have appeared in Political Theory, Constellations, Polity, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Social Theory and Practice, Inquiry, European Journal of Political Theory, and Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. I am active in academic self-governance and seek to enhance the position of young scholars in academic. I am a member of the Maastricht Young Academy and have been elected to the Council of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in 2023. Before joining Maastricht, I was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in philosophy at University of East Anglia (2017-2019) and a lecturer in political theory at Queen's University Belfast (2015-2017). I hold a PhD from the University of Sheffield and an M.A. from Bonn. Prinz, Janosch and Westphal, Manon (2023): The Tribunate as a Realist Democratic Innovation. In: Political Theory, https://doi.org/10.1177/00905917231191089. Prinz, Janosch and Scerri, Andrew (2023): From politics to democracy? Bernard Williams’ Basic Legitimation Demand in a radical realist lens. In: Constellations, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12710 Prinz, Janosch and Raekstad, Paul (2020): The Value of Genealogies for Political Philosophy. In: Inquiry, https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2020.1762729. Prinz, Janosch and Rossi, Enzo (2017): Political Realism as Ideology Critique. In: Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 20 (3): 348-365.

Research Interests

Democracy, Democratisation, Elites, Political Economy, Political Theory, Populism, Social Justice, Social Movements, Political Sociology, Critical Theory, Freedom, Methods, Post-Modernism, Ethics, Liberalism, Normative Theory, Political Ideology, Power, Demoicracy, Eurozone, Political Cultures

Current/Upcoming Events

Janosch has not yet registered for any ECPR events.

Standing Groups and Research Networks

• Methods of Normative Political Theory
• Political Theory
• Democratic Innovations
• Affective Polarization