Avia Pasternak

I am an Associate Professor of  Political Philosophy  at the Department of Philosophy, The University of Maryland, College Park.

I joined UMD in 2024. Before that, I was a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto (2023-2024) and a Professor of Political Theory at University College London (2013-2024). I also held academic positions at Princeton University,  the University of Essex and  Stanford University. I earned my D.Phil. in Politics from Oxford University, where I studied at Nuffield College. 

 My research focuses on questions of political philosophy and public affairs. I write on collective responsibility in democracies, on the duties of citizens in unjust democracies and on the permissibility of violent protests.  

My first monograph, Responsible Citizens, Irresponsible States: Should Citizens Pay for Their State's Wrongdoings? was published with Oxford University Press (2021). You can listen to me talking about this book in the New Books in Philosophy podcast here 

My second monograph, No Justice No Peace: The Ethics of Violent Protests, with Oxford University Press, is in print in April 2025.