Melanie Erspamer

Melanie Erspamer

PhD Candidate

European Institute

Room No
CBG.6.09
Connect with me

Languages
English, French, Italian, Spanish
Key Expertise
Republican and democratic theory, European political theory, freedom

About me

Melanie is a PhD candidate at the European Institute. Her research focuses on the concept of freedom within republican political theory, and how it interacts with theories on power, democracy, and institutionalisation. She is interested in the role of institutions like political parties and local or national governments in enabling or disenabling political freedom and in containing power, as well as in the tension between such structures and the indeterminacy operating within them. Other interests include the philosophy of technology, Italian political philosophy, and aesthetics. 

Melanie holds an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from the LSE and a Scottish MA in Philosophy and English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. Previously she has worked as an editor at an architecture and design company in Turin, Italy, and as a researcher at a public-arts organisation in Boston, U.S. 

Melanie’s studies are funded by an LSE Studentship. 

Academic Supervisors

Professor Jonathan White and Dr Zeynep Pamuk (LSE Department of Government)