Dr Maïa Pal
BA Hon, MA, PhD, PGCTHE, FHEA
Senior Lecturer in International Relations
School of Law and Social Sciences

Teaching and supervision
Courses
Modules taught
- INRL4001 From Empires to States: the origins of international relations
- INRL4002 Global Challenges
- INRL5007 Uncivil Society: Constituting Global Order
- INRL6003 Law, Empires, Revolutions
Supervision
Research
My research cuts across international relations theory, international political economy, and the history of international law. It develops a critical international history for understanding large-scale social change and global phenomena such as mercantilism, capitalism, and the construction of the modern international legal order. I focus on early modern overseas consuls as agents of imperialism, and on the development of early modern empires. Other historical topics include concepts of early modern cosmologies and debates on the transition to capitalism and multiplicity. In the contemporary political economy, I am focusing on debates on digital capitalism and techno-feudalism, and on the role of undersea communications cables.
Research impact
Podcasts and Webinars
- Voices EISA podcast, ‘What is… Political Marxism?’, August 2022
- Deutscher Prize podcast on Jurisdictional Accumulation with Alex Colas, June 2022
- Guest on 'The Full English’ podcast discussing the origins of capitalism for the relationship between English identity and food, April 2022
- HM podcast on symposium publication 'Debates in Political Marxism', Nov 2021
- Podcasts and webinars with AdvanceHE on 'Employability: a review of the literature 2016-2021'
- 'Marxism in IR', Podcast Interview for OccupyIRTheory, hosted by Dr Nicholas Kiersey
- Guest author for Verso Books blog on Marx's 200th anniversary, 5 May 2018
- Guest on TV show The Fix (Novara Media) ‘Can Labour ever be a vehicle for a progressive foreign policy?’ 24 February 2016
- Roundtable debate with MP John McDonnell, Luke Cooper, Simon Hardy, Lynne Segal and Mary G. Clarke ‘Beyond Capitalism (The Alternative Queen’s Speech)’, 'People’s Parliament', House of Commons, London, 4 June 2015.
Book Reviews
- Symposium on Jurisdictional Accumulation in the Brazilian branch of the International Law Association blog, International Law Agendas.
- Review by Christopher Tomlins
- Review by Joel Wainwright
Publications
Professional information
Memberships of professional bodies
Conferences
- Opening plenary for Historical Materialism Paris conference, 26-28 June 2025
- 'The law of infrastructure: Jurisdictional accumulation and neo-imperialism at British and French undersea cable landing sites' at the London Group of Historical Geographers' seminar, Institute of Historical Research, 3 Dec 2024
- HM Annual London conference, SOAS, University of London, discussant for Heide Gerstenberger’s Market and Violence and discussant on a panel with Justin Rosenberg on multiplicity, 7-10 Nov 2024
- conference 'Belligerent Accumulation: Natural Right, Valorization, and Aesthetics in Colonial Modernity Histories – Transformations – Resistances' 23-25 May 2024 at the European University Viadrina (Frankfurt/Oder) - online roundtable on TWAIL and Jurisdiction, organised by NLSIR on 23-24 April 2024
- panel on ‘Dancing the dialectic to the tune of the philosophy of internal relations' for ISA Annual Convention, San Francisco, 3-6 April 2024 with paper on ‘A dialectic of legal form and jurisdiction for theorising social change in international law: from Pashukanis to Political Marxism’ - Alternative Societies workshop, presentation on ‘Theory and Praxis Today: on the role of intellectuals’, Oxford Brookes University, 18 Dec 2023
- workshop on ‘Law: between Abolition and Critique’ at the University of Sussex, 17 July 2023
- Symposium on Embedding Employability (with Shirley Shipman), University of Portsmouth, 12 October 2022 (Online)
- ‘On Jurisdictional Accumulation’, Marx Now: Borders and Boundaries Conference, Copenhagen, October 2020 (Online)
- Birkbeck University, symposium on Alex Colas and Liam Campling’s Capitalism and the Sea, Nov 2021 (Online)
- University of Nottingham, Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ), School of Politics & International Relations, Jurisdictional Accumulation book talk, Nov 2021 (Online)
- Oxford Brookes University, ‘Employability and Social Justice - key tips for surviving work’ with Humza Naeem, Tristram Hooley, Christine Lewis and Neal Harris, 13 Oct 2021
- BISA Annual Online Conference, Roundtable book launch for Jurisdictional Accumulation with Edward Keene, Julia Costa Lopez, Kelly-Jo Bluen and Yassin Brunger, June 2021
Further details
I previously taught at the University of Sussex and at the University of Brighton in Hastings. I am bilingual in French and English.
Academia.edu site