Antonin Lacelle-Webster is a Ph.D. candidate in political theory in the Department of Political Science at UBC. He is broadly interested in issues related to democratic theory, democratic innovations, the politics of hope and despair, and the political thought of Hannah Arendt.

Antonin is currently working on his dissertation on the role of hope in democratic systems. The project focuses on the tension between the experience of hope and the conditions in which we hope. Building on recent work on hope in political philosophy, he expands the theoretical effort by proposing a spatial and political theory of hope and framing the political problem of hope in relation to democratic organization and responsiveness.

“Democratic Politics and Hope: An Arendtian Perspective,” European Journal of Political Theory (2023).

“A Problem-Based Approach to Citizens’ Assemblies.” With Mark Warren. Handbook of Citizens’ Assemblies, edited by Min Reuchamps Julien Vrydagh, and Yanina Welp. Berlin: De Gruyter (2023).

Book review of “Democracy without Shortcuts: A Participatory Conception of Deliberative Democracy by Cristina Lafont.” Democratic Theory 9 (1) (2022).

“Citizens’ Assemblies.” With Mark Warren. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, edited by Russell Dalton. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2021).

“Citizen Voice in the Pandemic Response: Democratic Innovations Around the World.” With Julien Landry and Ann Marie D. Smith. Democracy in a Pandemic: Participation and Covid-19, edited by Tim Hugues and Graham Smith. London: University of Westminster Press (2021).

“Les acteurs politiques et le processus démocratique : perceptions du rôle du citoyen.” Démocratie et politiques publiques, edited by Jérôme Couture and Steve Jacob. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval (2019).

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (2018-2021)

FRQSC Doctoral Graduate Scholarship (2017-2020)

Four Year Doctoral Fellowship, University of British Columbia (2017-2021)

Jenson-Pétry Best Master’s Thesis Award, Société québécoise de science politique (2018)

Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, University of British Columbia (2017)

FRQSC Master’s Graduate Scholarship (2016)

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (2015)