I am currently completing my D.Phil. in Political Theory at the University of Oxford and serving as Fellow in Government at the London School of Economics (LSE).

My thesis, entitled "Methods of Interpretation and their Significance for Political Theory", seeks to offer political theorists a toolkit that enables them to interrogate their methodological assumptions and to decode their ideological commitments. Prior to coming to Oxford, I studied Philosophy, Politics, and Sociology at RWTH Aachen University, Germany and at Queen Mary, University of London, and I was awarded an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics.

My research interests include methods in political theory, hermeneutics, history of political thought, and the study of ideologies.

Recent peer-reviewed publications:

• Olesen, Jens: Quentin Skinners Methode-Zwischen Intentionen und Konventionen, in: Andreas Busen, Alexander Weiß (eds.) Ansätze und Methoden zur Erforschung politischen Denkens (Schriftenreihe der Sektion Politische Theorien und Ideengeschichte der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft), Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2013, pp. 41-62.
• Olesen, Jens: Von Deutungsmacht und wie Deutung Macht macht, in: Matthias Klatt et al. (eds.) Sprache-Recht-Gesellschaft. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012, pp. 31-44.
• Olesen Jens; Schwiegk, Grischa: Destruktion ohne Konstruktion? Replik zu Oliver Flügel-Martinsen ‘Die Normativität von Kritik. Ein Minimalmodell”, in: Zeitschrift für Politische Theorie, Vol. 2, 2011, pp. 217-220.

I'm also editing a book with the tentative title "The Interpretation of Politics & The Politics of Interpretation. Hermeneutic Approaches in Political Theory and the History of Political Thought".

Abstracts and exerpts of published and unpublished papers as well as thesis chapters can be found here: http://oxford.academia.edu/JensOlesen (link provided below)

Most recent teaching experience:

• GV100 Introduction to Political Theory at the LSE (2012-)
• Tutor in Political Theory at University of Oxford (2010-12) Papers “Theory of Politics” (POL 203), “Political Thought: Plato to Rousseau” (POL 215), “Political Thought: Bentham to Weber” (POL216); self-designed courses on “Modern Political Thought” and “Postmodern Political Thought”