Torsten Menge

About

Torsten Menge is assistant professor in residence in the Liberal Arts Program. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Georgetown University and an MA in philosophy from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He previously taught at the University of Arkansas, Georgetown University, and Marymount University.

His work examines foundational concepts that we use to understand, navigate, and assess the social world we inhabit. This includes concepts such as power, political community, self-determination, territory, security, but also the use of racial classifications and other categories to manage and rule people. This research is situated at the intersection of social and political philosophy, social theory, and social ontology.

He is currently working on a book manuscript with the title How Power Matters. The book aims to clarify how power matters to how we live, elaborate its role in normative theorizing, and explain what is at stake in disagreements about the nature of power. In addition, he is interested in the nature and boundaries of political communities and, in particular, how we should think about political life in a world underpinned by global material infrastructures that transcend the boundaries of nation-states.

Publications

Menge, Torsten. (2026). “How Far Does Occupancy Extend? Global Supply Chains, Foreign Land Acquisitions, and Territorial Sovereignty.” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 29(1). Special Issue on Territorial Rights: New Directions and Challenges. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2025.2528386

Menge, Torsten. (2024). “Colonial Genealogies of Immigration Controls, Self-Determination, and the Nation-State” (Review Essay). Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 27(4): 859-875. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2021.2007342

Menge, Torsten. (2024). “Mastering the Future: Power and the Futural Logic of Security.” In Developing Critical Security Studies from Doha, edited by Sami Hermez. Doha: #IAS_NUQ Press/Beirut: Arab Council for the Social Sciences. https://ias-nuq-press.shorthandstories.com/mastering-the-future-power-and-the-futural-logic-of-security/index.html

Menge, Torsten. (2023). “Discriminating Borders: Nationality, Racial Ordering, and the Right to Exclude.” Genealogy+Critique 9(1): 1-24. https://doi.org/10.16995/gc.9250

Menge, Torsten. (2023). “Colonial Genealogies of National Self-Determination.” Journal of the American Philosophical Association 9(4): 705-723. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2022.23

Menge, Torsten. (2022). “Violence and the Materiality of Power.” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy: 761-879. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2019.1700344

Menge, Torsten. (2020). “Fictional Expectations and the Ontology of Power.” Philosophers’ Imprint 20(29): 1-22. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3521354.0020.029

Menge, Torsten. (2019). “How Far Does the European Union Reach? Foreign Land Acquisitions and the Boundaries of Political Communities.” Land 8(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/land8030044

Menge, Torsten. (2018). “The Role of Power in Social Explanation.” European Journal of Social Theory 21(1): 22–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431017714426

Menge, Torsten. (2017). “The Uncanny Effect of Telling Genealogies.” Southwest Philosophy Review 33(1): 63-73. http://doi.org/10.5840/swphilreview20173317

Teaching

• Phil 242 Topics in Philosophy: Introduction to Philosophy
• Phil 242 Topics in Philosophy: Morality and the Good Life (Introduction to Ethics)
• Phil 242 Topics in Philosophy: Ethics and Politics of Immigration
• Phil 242 Topics in Philosophy: Justice (Introduction to Political Philosophy)
• Phil 242 Topics in Philosophy: Language and Power
• Phil 387 Advanced Topics in Philosophy: Social Construction
• Phil 387 Advanced Topics in Philosophy: Postcolonial Political Theory
• Interdis 203 Ways of Knowing: Learning in the Postcolony
• Interdis 301 Doha Seminar: Borders