Mathias Risse

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Philosophy
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Office Address
Rubenstein-209
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 14
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-495-9811
Email: Mathias_Risse@ksg.harvard.edu
Assistant
M. Derya Honca (617-495-1923)
Mathias Risse

Profile

Mathias Risse is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Philosophy. He works mostly in social and political philosophy and in ethics. His primary research areas are contemporary political philosophy (in particular questions of international justice, distributive justice, and property) and decision theory (in particular, rationality and fairness in group decision making, an area sometimes called analytical social philosophy.) His articles have appeared in journals such as Ethics; Philosophy and Public Affairs; Nous; the Journal of Political Philosophy; and Social Choice and Welfare. Risse studied philosophy, mathematics, and mathematical economics at the University of Bielefeld, the University of Pittsburgh, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Princeton University. He received his BA, BS and MS in mathematics from Bielefeld, and his MA and PhD in philosophy from Princeton. Before coming to Harvard he taught in the Department of Philosophy and the Program in Ethics, Politics and Economics at Yale.

Courses

Fall

  • DPI-201-A The Responsibilities of Public Action

Spring

  • IGA-304 Human Rights and International Politics

Research

For a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Academic Journals
    • Kurjanska, Malgorzata, and Mathias Risse. "Fairness in Trade II: Export Subsidies and the Fair Trade Movement." Politics, Philosophy, and Economics 7.1 (February 2008): 29-56.
    • Blake, Michael, and Mathias Risse. "Two Models of Equality and Responsibility." Canadian Journal of Philosophy 38.2 (June 2008): 165-199.
    • Risse, Mathias. "On the Morality of Immigration: A Response to Two Critics." Ethics and International Affairs 22.3 (Fall 2008): 241-259.
    • Risse, Mathias. "A Right to Work? A Right to Leisure? Labor Rights as Human Rights." Journal of Law and Ethics of Human Rights 3.1 (2009): 1-41.
    • Blake, Michael, and Mathias Risse. "Immigration and Original Ownership of the Earth." Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy 23.1 (Spring 2009): 133-167.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Common Ownership of the Earth as a Non-Parochial Standpoint: A Contingent Derivation of Human Rights." European Journal of Philosophy 17.2 (June 2009): 277-304.
  • Book Chapters
    • Hild, Matthias, Richard Jeffrey, and Mathias Risse. "Preference Aggregation after Harsanyi." Justice, Political Liberalism and Utilitarianism: Themes from Harsanyi and Rawls. Ed. Marc Fleurbaey, Maurice Salles and John A. Weymark. Cambridge University Press, 2008, 198-221.
    • Risse, Mathias. "The Eternal Recurrence: A Freudian Look at What Nietzsche Took to be His Greatest Insight." Nietzsche on Freedom and Autonomy. Ed. Ken Gemes, and Simon May. Oxford University Press, 2009, 223-247.
  • HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series
    • Risse, Mathias. "The Moral Case for a Human Right to Relocation: Disappearing Island Nations and Common Ownership of the Earth." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper RWP08-054, October 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "On the Philosophy of Group Decision Methods I: The Non-Obviousness of Majority Rule." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP08-064, November 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "On the Philosophy of Group Decision Methods II: Alternatives to Majority Rule." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP08-065, November 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Original Ownership of the Earth: A Contemporary Approach." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper series RWP08-073, December 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Is There a Human Right to Essential Pharmaceuticals? The Global Common, the Intellectual Common, and the Possibility of Private Intellectual Property." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper series RWP08-074, December 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Who Should Shoulder the Burden? Global Climate Change and Common Ownership of the Earth." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper series RWP08-075, December 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Securing Human Rights Intellectually: Philosophical Inquiries about the Universal Declaration." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP09-024, August 2009.
  • Research Papers/Reports
    • Risse, Mathias. "Human Rights as Membership Rights in the Global Order." Paper for conference on "Human Rights and the New Global Order," Harvard University, Cambridge, May 8, 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Majority Rule and Legitimacy." Paper for conference on "Varieties of Majority Rule," Columbia University, New York City, November 7-8, 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Immigration and Common Ownership of the Earth." Conference paper for United Nations Development Program, New York City, December 2008.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Immigration, Ethics, and the Capabilities Approach." United Nations Development Program Human Development Research Paper Series, August 2009.