Colleen Murphy, Ph.D.

colleenm@illinois.edu


Full Professor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year of PhD: 2004

Country: United States (Illinois)

About Me:

Colleen Murphy is the Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy & Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she also serves as Director of the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program. She holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on transitional justice, political reconciliation, and the ethical dimensions of risk analysis.  Professor Murphy is the author of The Conceptual Foundations of Transitional Justice (Cambridge University Press 2017), which received the North American Society for Social Philosophy Book Award, and A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation (Cambridge University Press 2010). She is co-editor of Engineering Ethics for a Globalized World (Springer), Risk Analysis of Natural Hazards (Springer), and Climate Change and Its Impacts: Risks and Inequalities (Springer). 

Research Interests

Political Theory

Peacekeeping

Conflict Processes & War

Development

Transitional Justice

Natural Disasters

Risk Regulation

Publications:

Books Written:

(2017) The Conceptual Foundations of Transitional Justice, Cambridge University Press

Many countries have attempted to transition to democracy following conflict or repression, but the basic meaning of transitional justice remains hotly contested. In this book, Colleen Murphy analyses transitional justice - showing how it is distinguished from retributive, corrective, and distributive justice - and outlines the ethical standards which societies attempting to democratize should follow. She argues that transitional justice involves the just pursuit of societal transformation. Such transformation requires political reconciliation, which in turn has a complex set of institutional and interpersonal requirements including the rule of law. She shows how societal transformation is also influenced by the moral claims of victims and the demands of perpetrators, and how justice processes can fail to be just by failing to foster this transformation or by not treating victims and perpetrators fairly.

(2010) A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation, Cambridge University Press

Following extended periods of conflict or repression, political reconciliation is indispensable to the establishment or restoration of democratic relationships and critical to the pursuit of peacemaking globally. In this important new book, Colleen Murphy offers an innovative analysis of the moral problems plaguing political relationships under the strain of civil conflict and repression. Focusing on the unique moral damage that attends the deterioration of political relationships, Murphy identifies the precise kinds of repair and transformation that processes of political reconciliation ought to promote. Building on this analysis, she proposes a normative model of political relationships. A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation delivers an original account of the failure and restoration of political relationships, which will be of interest to philosophers, social scientists, legal scholars, policy analysts, and all those who are interested in transitional justice, global politics, and democracy.

Other:

(2020) Curriculum Vitae, Colleen Murphy

My latest curriculum vitae with links to complete list of books, edited volumes, articles, book chapters, and blog posts I have authored or co-authored. Also includes links to interviews and podcasts.

Media Appearances:

Other:

(2020) Comprehensive list of media appearances

Follow link to comprehensive list of podcasts, interviews, blog posts, and op-eds in venues including the Chicago Tribune, Just Security, Opinio Juris, Five Books, and New Books Network.