Dr Camila Vergara
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Email
camila.vergara@essex.ac.uk -
Location
EBS.3.14, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
Dr. Camila Vergara is a critical legal theorist, historian, and journalist from Chile writing on the relation between inequality and the law, and the possible institutional solutions to systemic corruption. She is Editor of Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, Associate Editor of Critical Sociology, and organiser of the the Venice Multidisciplinary World Conference on Republics and Republicanism. She is the author of Systemic Corruption: Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Republic (Princeton University Press 2020), and her work on constitutional theory, republicanism, corruption, and populism has been featured in leading international journals such as the Journal of Political Philosophy, History of Political Thought, and REVUS: Journal for Constitutional Theory and Philosophy of Law. She is also a global public intellectual —with her articles and interviews featured in outlets such as New Left Review, Jacobin, Politico, Revista Plebeya, and Il Manifesto Inret— and an activist advising and collaborating with grassroots organisations on rights, deliberative democracy, and community-based forms of governance.
Qualifications
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PhD in Political Theory Columbia University, (2019)
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MA in Politics New School, (2012)
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MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies New York University, (2008)
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BA in History Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, (2004)
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BA in Journalism & Media Studies Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, (2000)
Appointments
University of Essex
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Engagement and Impact Officer, Essex Business School (1/9/2023 - 1/9/2025)
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Associate Director of Research & Impact, Marketing and Management, Essex Business School (1/1/2025 - present)
Other academic
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Editor, Theory: Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory (1/9/2023 - present)
Research and professional activities
Conferences and presentations
Judicial Independence: A Plebeian Republican Critique
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, 20/11/2025
On Free Labour, Forced Labour, and Independent Contractors
Invited presentation, Interrogating the ‘Post-Neoliberal Moment’ in Labour Law, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 13/11/2025
Systemic Corruption, Oligarchy and Plebeian Democracy
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Public Lecture, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 12/11/2025
Anti-Oligarchic Constitutionalism and Plebeian Democracy
Invited presentation, Protesting Crises: Progressive Social Movements in the Face of Authoritarian Backlash, Florence, Italy, 23/10/2025
Democracy from Below
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Launch Forum for Real Economic Emancipation, Tulsa, Tulsa, United States, 26/8/2025
Participatory Democracy and Design
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Earthrise 25 Exhibition, Turin, Italy, 13/6/2025
Systemic Corruption and Discontent
Invited presentation, Democracy’s Discontent. Questions for the Political Philosophy of Our Times, Venice, Italy, 29/5/2025
Human Rights from Below
Invited presentation, Subverting Human Rights: Left, Right, and Centre, 25th anniversary conference of LSE Human Rights, London, United Kingdom, 15/5/2025
War, Oligarchy and the Corruption of Democracy
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Mexico City, Mexico, 15/4/2025
Theorising from Below
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Re-visioning Politics: Theorizing Liberation in Crisis, Chicago, United States, 12/4/2025
The People and Constituent Power
Keynote presentation, James H. Burns Memorial Lecture, St Andrews, United Kingdom, 12/3/2025
Public Lecture on ‘Anti-Oligarchic Constitutionalism’
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, University of Liverpool Public Law Unit, 5/12/2024
Keynote Speech, 5th Annual Conference SAFI Interdisciplinary Network for Women in Legal Academia
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, University of Glasgow, 10/9/2024
Keynote speaker on 'Eco-Legality'
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Lake Como Summer School in Critical Theory of Society, 7/9/2024
Keynote on Rhizomatic Socialism: Sortition, Rotation & Collective Action
Keynote presentation, Sortition and Socialism, International Network of Sortition Advocates (INSA), New York --online, United States, 31/8/2024
Keynote ‘Plebeian Populism: Extraordinary Politics in the Time of Oligarchy’
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, University of Sussex, 6/3/2024
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Social Economy Management: Theories and Perspectives (BE495)
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Cooperative Management and Marketing � Capstone Module (BE940)
Publications
Publications (1)
Vergara, C., (2020). Machiavelli’s Plebeian Constituent Power
Journal articles (14)
Vergara, C., (2024). The People in Plebeian Populism: Second-Class Citizens and the Logic of Refoundation. Studia politicae. 60, 154-177
Vergara, C., (2022). Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century. By Hélène Landemore. Princeton: Princeton University Press 2020. 272p. $35.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.. Perspectives on Politics. 20 (3), 1059-1061
Biale, E., Stein, M., Vergara, C., McKean, B. and Azmanova, A., (2022). Regaining control over precarity. Contemporary Political Theory. 21 (4), 640-666
Vergara, C., (2022). Republican Constitutional Thought: Elitist and Plebeian Interpretations of the Mixed Constitution. History of Political Thought. 43 (5), 28-54
Vergara, C., (2022). Enquete om populisme. Slagmark - Tidsskrift for idéhistorie. 85, 239-263
Vergara, C., (2022). Towards material anti-oligarchic constitutionalism. Revus. 46 (46)
Vergara, C., (2022). Republican Constitutionalism. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory. 69 (171), 25-48
Vergara, C., (2022). Response to Hélène Landemore’s Review of Systemic Corruption: Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Republic. Perspectives on Politics. 20 (3), 1064-1064
Vergara, C., (2021). Corruption as systemic political decay. Philosophy & Social Criticism. 47 (3), 322-346
Vergara, C., (2021). On the limits of elitist theories of constituent power. Etica e Politica/Ethics and Politics. 23 (3), 283-291
Vergara, C., (2020). Populism as Plebeian Politics: Inequality, Domination, and Popular Empowerment. Journal of Political Philosophy. 28 (2), 222-246
Vergara, C., (2020). John P. McCormick, Reading Machiavelli: Scandalous Books, Suspect Engagements, and the Virtue of Populist Politics. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018)Gabriele Pedullà, Machiavelli in Tumult: The Discourses on Livy and the Origins of Political Conflictualism. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018). Constellations. 27 (2), 316-320
Ducange, J-N., Vergara, C., Ahmed, T. and Høgsbjerg, C., (2020). Book Reviews. Theoria. 67 (163), 106-118
Vergara, C., (2020). The plebeian people of populism. Revue européenne des sciences sociales. 58 (2), 77-96
Books (3)
Vergara, C., Plebeian Republic. Verso Books
Vergara, C., (2020). República plebeya guía práctica para constituir el poder popular. 9568681574. 9789568681579
Vergara, C., (2020). Systemic Corruption Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Republic. Princeton University Press. 0691211566. 9780691207537
Book chapters (10)
Vergara, C., The People and Constituent Power. In: Oxford Handbook of Constituent Power,. Oxford University Press
Vergara, C. and Yumatle, C., (2024). Derechos humanos: Del individualismo universal al constructivismo democrático. In: El mundo visto desde América Latina. Una revisión de los conceptos básicos de las relaciones internacionales. Editors: Chenou, J-M., Covarrubias, A. and Yumatle, C., . Siglo XXI Editores. 53- 86. 9789878013565
Vergara, C., (2024). Lenin, the (un)making of a critical legal theorist. In: LENIN: The Heritage We (Don’t) Renounce. Editors: Joffre-Eichhorn, HJ. and Anderson, P., . Daraja Press. 61- 64. 9781998309047
Vergara, C., (2023). Lenin and the Materialist Critique of Labor Law. In: The Future of Lenin: Power, Politics, and Revolution in the Twenty-First Century. Editors: Ivanchikova, A. and Maclean, RR., . SUNY Press. 257- 280. 9781438488066
Vergara, C., (2023). From Chile to New York City: Systemic Corruption and Oligarchic Domination. In: Talking About Global Inequality: Personal Experiences and Historical Perspectives. Editors: Christiansen, CO., Machado-Guichon, ML., Mercader, S., Hunt, OB. and Jha, P., . Palgrave Macmillan Cham. 139- 145. 3031080424. 978-3-031-08041-8
Vergara, C., (2022). Democracy to Avert Ecocide. In: How Democracy Survives Global Challenges in the Anthropocene. Editors: Deese, S. and Holm, M., . Routledge. 212- 228. 9781000812893
Vergara, C., (2021). Machiavelli's Republican Constituent Power. In: Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: New Readings. Editors: Aurélio, DP. and Campos, AS., . Brill. 143- 161. 9789004442078
Vergara, C., (2021). Political Action, Revolutionary Parties and the Transition to a Republic of Councils. In: Rosa Luxemburg Band 2: Nachwirken. Editors: Jacob, F., Scharenberg, A. and Schütrumpf, J., . Büchner-Verlag. 317- 341. 3963172452. 9783963172458
Vergara, C., (2020). Populism: Plebeian Power against Oligarchy. In: Constituent Power Law, Popular Rule and Politics. Edinburgh University Press. 183- 198. 1474454992. 9781474454995
Vergara, C., (2020). Crisis Government: The Populist as Plebeian Dictator. In: Mapping Populism: Approaches and Methods. Routledge. 100004338X. 9781000043389
Other (2)
Vergara, C., (2025).Systemic Corruption, Oligarchic Democracy, and Plebeian Republicanism. FORUM LASA Magazine. 56(4)
Vergara, C., (2023).Introduction to the Anniversary Edition of Conversations with Allende: Socialism in Chile: Legalism and Its Dead Ends,Verso Books
Grants and funding
2025
Decolonising Partnerships for Energy Commons
University of Essex (Research England - ODA)
Empowering Women in Legal Research for Democratic Resilience and Constitutional Renewal in Turkey
British Council
2024
Decolonizing International aid through re-imagining structures of partnerships between NGOs in Global South and Global North
University of Essex (Research England - ODA)