Lasse Thomassen's research falls within contemporary political thought with particular emphasis on continentally inspired political theory. His current research is focused on three areas. First, he is doing research on the relationship between, on one hand, Jacques Derrida and deconstruction and, on the other hand, Jürgen Habermas, critical theory and deliberative democracy. The outcome of this research is so far The Derrida-Habermas Reader (Edinburgh University Press, 2006) and Deconstructing Habermas (Routledge, 2007). Second, he examines debates within radical democratic theory, for instance debates surrounding Laclau and Mouffe's work and debates between so-called theorists of abundance and theorists of lack in Radical Democracy: Politics Between Abundance and Lack (Manchester University Press, 2005). Finally, Dr Thomassen is embarking on a larger research project – ‘Deconstructing Tolerance' – where he examines contemporary theories and cases of tolerance, including the so-called Mohammed cartoons controversy.

Caroline Williams has strong research interests in contemporary theory, with a particular interest in continental political theory. Her work here has centred on philosophical issues around subjectivity and selfhood. Her monograph on poststructuralist thought and the question of the subject, Contemporary French Philosophy: Modernity and the Persistence of the Subject was published by Continuum in 2001. This work situates poststructuralism in relation to modern philosophical developments and focuses in particular on the work of Althusser, Lacan, Derrida and Foucault. It contests those postmodern critics who announce the disappearance or death of the subject, arguing instead that the subject persists even in those perspectives that seek to abandon it altogether. Dr Williams has written on the question of ideology in contemporary Marxist thought (from Althusser to Castoriadis), and here her interest has been in exploring ideas of the imaginary and imagination, and their contribution to a theory of agency. She also has a particular research interest in Althusserian and post-Althusserian political theory.