Costas Douzinas

Costas Douzinas is a Professor of Law and Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London. He holds an LLB from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and an LLM and PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). He has been affiliated with Birkbeck since 1992, serving as Head of the Law Department from 1996 to 2002.

His research bridges critical legal theory, political philosophy, and aesthetics. He pioneered interdisciplinary fields such as British critical legal thought and the integration of ethics and aesthetics into legal scholarship. Current projects include Legal Iconology (examining law's relationship with art) and Radical Philosophy of Right, a philosophical treatise inspired by Hegel. His works have been translated into 13 languages and inform global discourses on human rights and resistance movements.

Teaching focuses on the History and Philosophy of Human Rights. He has advised 9 doctoral researchers, including Dr. Leticia da Costa Paes (2024) and Dr. Moniza Rizzini Ansari (2020), on topics ranging from legal aesthetics to international law. His 2017 book Syriza in Power critically examines Greek political developments.

Awards include the Jean Monnet Fellowship (1997). He has held visiting posts at Princeton, Paris, Beijing, and other institutions. Co-managing editor of Law & Critique, the leading journal of critical legal thought. Active in media and public discourse on law, politics, and human rights through The Guardian and OpenDemocracy.