Katy Wells
Associate Professor
katy.wells@warwick.ac.uk
Room: E2.19
For Term 1 A&F hours please see my Advice and Feedback Booking Form.
Profile
I am Associate Professor in Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Studies.
My research interests lie within normative political theory. My main project, which is supported by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship, is entitled Renting: Justice and Limited Sovereignty, and explores the normative reasons states have to support and promote renting as a means of accessing goods. My other research interests include questions of housing justice, questions of how the state should support our associative freedom and, in particular, our freedom to disassociate from others, and questions to do with state support for personal relationships, particularly, friendship. Finally, I am interested in exploring the possibility of developing a plausible 鈥減ositive鈥� account of power.
Teaching
For 2025-26 I am module director for:
- PO2E2: Topics in Political Theory
Publications
Wells, Katy "Empowerment and obsolescence: rejecting the self-transcending power claim". Analysis (2025).
McTernan, Emily & Wells, Katy. "Against Parental Devotion: On Power, Friendships, and Flourishing". Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2025).
Wells, Katy. "Homelessness and Freedom". Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (2022).
Wells, Katy. "Crucial Options: Dagan on Self-Determination and Structural Pluralism". King's Law Journal (2022).
Jenkins, David, Katy Wells & Kimberley Brownlee. "Adequate Housing in a Pandemic". In Political Philosophy in a Pandemic, ed. Fay Niker and Aveek Bhattacharya (Bloomsbury, 2021).
Wells, Katy. 鈥淪tate-led Gentrification and Self-respect鈥�. Political Studies (2021).
Wells, Katy. 鈥淩enting Personal Goods鈥�. Social Theory and Practice (2019).
Wells, Katy. 鈥淭he Right to Housing鈥�. Political Studies (2018).
Wells, Katy. 鈥淭he Right to Personal Property鈥�. Politics, Philosophy & Economics (2016).
Wells, Katy. 鈥淗igh Liberalism and Weak Economic Freedoms鈥�. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (2016).
Selected Recent Presentations
2025 鈥淕hosting and Decency鈥�, Cambridge Contemporary Political Thought Seminar, University of Cambridge
2024 鈥�State Neutrality, Tenure, and Choice of Housing鈥�, PPE Journal Symposium on Justice and Housing, PPE Society Conference, New Orleans
2024 鈥�State Neutrality, Tenure, and Choice of Housing鈥�, MANCEPT seminar series, Department of Politics, University of Manchester
2024 鈥�State Neutrality and Housing鈥�, Housing and Social Justice Conference, University of Montreal
2023 鈥淗ome Ownership and the State鈥�, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies Seminar Series, University of Bristol
2023 鈥淩enting and Failure鈥�, Justice in Space Conference, Erasmus University Rotterdam