Academic Career and Research Areas

Emily Katzenstein works on critical social and political theory, with a particular interest in theories of power and oppression. Her first book, Race, Risk and the Politics of Prediction examines how practical economic rationalities in the insurance and banking industry became entangled with projects of race-making in the U.S. in the 19^th and 20^th century, and how and why this legacy persists today. Her next project will focus on oligarchic tendencies in contemporary liberal societies. It asks how democracies can protect themselves against the proliferation and entrenchment of oligarchic power, examines the erosion of countervailing social and political forces that can check the influence of the wealthy, and proposes institutional innovations for strengthening countervailing powers in existing democratic societies.

Her broader research interests include the history of black political thought, critical theories of race, feminist theory and political theories of finance, prediction, and risk.

Prior to joining the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy, Emily held a Junior Research Fellowship at St. John’s College, University of Oxford. She completed her PhD at the University of Chicago in 2020 and holds an MPhil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Politics and Eastern European Studies from UCL. Emily’s work has appeared in or is forthcoming in the Journal of Political Philosophy, Contemporary Political Theory, Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis, and Polity. 

Key Publications

Katzenstein E: “Beyond Racial Capitalism: Cooperatives in the African Diaspora”. Hossein C S, Wright Austin S D & Edmonds K (Eds.): Perspectives on Politics. Oxford University Press. 2025; 23 (3): 1204-1205. Abstract

Katzenstein E: “Mapping Theories of Racial Capitalism: From Necessity to Entanglement”. Polity. 2026; 58 (1). Abstract

Katzenstein E: “Self-and-Other Determination and the Invention of Whiteness: A Comment on Democracy and Empire”. Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis. 2024; 3 (3). Abstract

Katzenstein E: “The Credit They Deserve: Contesting Predictive Practices and the Afterlives of Red-Lining”. Contemporary political theory. 2024; 23 (3): 371–391. Abstract

Katzenstein E: “Articulated Darkness: White Supremacy, Patriarchy, and Capitalism in Shelby’s Dark Ghettos”. Journal of Political Philosophy. 2019; 27 (2): 252–268. Abstract