Babak Amini is an SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies (UBC). His research examines the impact of the First World War on the foundations of social sciences. He is the author of The Making of Council Democracy: State Transformation and Radical Possibilities (Routledge, 2024), “Gramsci’s dissidence beneath and beyond the First World War” (Journal of Classical Sociology, 24(4)), and “The French Edition of Capital in Germany, France, Anglophone Countries, and Japan” (Routledge, 2022), and co-editor of the special issue, “Social Theorists and the First World War” (with T. Kemple, Journal of Classical Sociology, 24(4)), and of Routledge Handbook of Marx’s Capital: A Global History of Translation, Dissemination and Reception (with M. Musto, Routledge, 2025).

His research examines the impact of the First World War on the foundations of social sciences. He is the author of The Making of Council Democracy: State Transformation and Radical Possibilities (Routledge, 2024), “Gramsci’s dissidence beneath and beyond the First World War” (Journal of Classical Sociology, 24(4)), and “The French Edition of Capital in Germany, France, Anglophone Countries, and Japan” (Routledge, 2022), and co-editor of the special issue, “Social Theorists and the First World War” (with T. Kemple, Journal of Classical Sociology, 24(4)), and of Routledge Handbook of Marx’s Capital: A Global History of Translation, Dissemination and Reception (with M. Musto, Routledge, 2025).

Monograph

The Making of Council Democracy: State Transformation and Radical Possibilities. London-New York: Routledge, 2024 (85,000 words).

Edited Books

(With Marcello Musto; equal contribution). The Routledge Handbook of Marx’s ‘Capital’: A Global History of Translation, Dissemination and Reception. London-New York: Routledge, 2025 (54 chapters – 450,000 words) (in production).

[Under contract for translations into Turkish (Kırmızı Kedi, 2025) and Chinese (CRU Press, 2025)]

(With Shaibal Gupta and Marcello Musto; equal contribution). Karl Marx’s Life, Ideas, and Influences: A Critical Examination on the Bicentenary. London: Palgrave, 2019 (xxv + 378pp).

The Radical Left in Europe in the Age of Austerity. New York: Routledge, 2016 (xv + 185pp).

Edited Special Journal Issues and Symposia

(with Rebecca Gordon; equal contribution). “Who is Afraid of Gender? A Symposium.” Contemporary Sociology (manuscript submitted, 2024) (7 contributions; 15,000 words).

(with Thomas Kemple; equal contribution). “Social Theorists and the First World War.” Journal of Classical Sociology 24, no. 4 (2024) (12 contributions; 85,000 words).

“The Radical Left in Europe,” Socialism and Democracy (Routledge) 29, no. 3 (2015) (15 contributions; 178pp).

Articles in Journals

“Antonio Gramsci’s Dissidence Beneath and Beyond the First World War.” Journal of Classical Sociology 24, no. 4 (2024) (7,500 words).

(with Thomas Kemple; 2/3 authorship). “Social Theorists in the First World War Era.” Journal of Classical Sociology 24, no. 4 (2024) (4,500 words).

“L’odyssée du Capital de Marx en Grande-Bretagne et aux Etats-Unis.” A-M-A’ revue: Contributions à la critique de l’économie politique 4 (2024).

[German translation: Zeitschrift Marxistische Erneuerung 139 (2024).

“The Return of Alienation to the Frontiers of Sociological Theory and Practice.” Contemporary Sociology 52, no. 2 (2023): 115-120.

“Envisioning Alternatives to Capitalism: On Recent Debates from the Great Recession to the Global Pandemic.” The British Journal of Sociology 73, no. 2 (2022): 470-78.

(With Kaitlin Peters and Keyla Amorim; equal authorship). “Bringing Gender to the Forefront of Trade Union Solidarity: A Roundtable with Women Labour Union Leaders around the World.” Critique 46, no. 2 (2018): 307-25.

[Indonesian translation: IndoPROGRESS I, no. 9 (2018)].

“A Report on International Conference Series in China.” Marxism21 14, no. 2 (2017): 233-44.

[Chinese translation: Philosophical Trends (2018); Arabic translation: الثقافه الجديده (2017); Spanish translation: Sin Permiso (2017); Indonesian translation: IndoPROGRESS (2017); German translation: Zeitschrift Marxistische Erneuerung 109 (2017)].

“A Brief History of the Dissemination and Reception of Marx’s Capital in the US and Britain.” World Review of Political Economy 7, no. 3 (2017): 334-49.

[Indonesian translation: Jurnal Sosialis (2018)].

“Scholactivism: A Roundtable Interview with Ricardo Antunes, Pietro Basso, Patrick Bond, Michael Löwy, José Paulo Netto, and Leo Panitch.” Works and Days 33, 34 (2016): 61-92. [Reprinted in Cultural Logic 2017].

“The Strength of Our Collective Voice: Views of Labor Leaders from around the World.” Socialism and Democracy 28, no. 2 (2014): 143–65.

[German translation: Zeitschrift Marxistische Erneuerung 101 (2015); Indonesian translation: Indoprogress III, no. 1 (2015); partial Spanish translation: Revista Herramienta 55 (2014)].

Chapters in Books

(With Keith Laybourn; equal authorship). “Great Britain.” In The Routledge Handbook of Marx’s ‘Capital’: A Global History of Translation, Dissemination and Reception, edited by Marcello Musto and Babak Amini. London-New York: Routledge (forthcoming; 2025) (15,000 words).

(With Peter Hudis; equal authorship). “United States and Canada.” In The Routledge Handbook of Marx’s ‘Capital’: A Global History of Translation, Dissemination and Reception, edited by Marcello Musto and Babak Amini. London-New York: Routledge (forthcoming, 2025) (16,300 words).

“The French Edition of Capital in Germany, France, Anglophone Countries, and Japan.” In Marx and Le Capital: Evaluation, History, Reception, edited by Marcello Musto. London-New York: Routledge, 2022, pp. 204-24.

“On the Notion of “Workers’ Control” in Marx and Marxists (1871-1917): A Survey.” In Karl Marx’s Life, Ideas, and Influences: A Critical Examination on the Bicentenary, edited by Shaibal Gupta, Marcello Musto, and Babak Amini. London: Palgrave, 2019, pp. 121-58.

“Situating the Radical Left in Contemporary Europe.” In The Radical Left in Europe in the Age of Austerity, edited by Babak Amini, New York: Routledge, 2016, pp. 7-24.

“A Chronology of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis.” In The Radical Left in Europe in the Age of Austerity, edited by Babak Amini. New York: Routledge, 2016, 166-78.

Book Reviews

Marcello Musto (ed.), Rethinking Alternatives with Marx: Economy, Ecology and Migration. Critical Sociology 48, no. 4-5 (2022): 1-3.

James Muldoon (ed.) Council Democracy: Towards a Democratic Socialist Politics. LSE Review of Books (2019).

Dario Azzellini, Communes and Workers’ Control in Venezuela: Building 21st Century Socialism from Below. Socialism & Democracy 32, no. 2 (2018): 146-49.

Paolo Chiocchetti, The Radical Left Party Family in Western Europe, 1989-2015. New Political Science 39, no. 3 (2017): 424-26.

Imannuel Ness, Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class. Science and Society 81, no. 3 (2017): 457-60.

Marcello Musto (ed.), Workers Unite! The International 150 Years Later. Rethinking Marxism 28, no. 2 (2016): 322-24.

Agamenon R. E. Oliveira, A History of the Work Concept: From Physics to Economics. Advances in Historical Studies 4, no. 4 (2015): 336-37.

Luciana Castellina, Discovery of the World: A Political Awakening in the Shadow of Mussolini. Socialism and Democracy 29, no.2 (2015): 151-55.

2023-2024                      SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship

2016-2021                      LSE PhD Studentships

2016-2020                      SSHRC Doctoral Award

2016-2019                      Elia Scholars Program

2015-2016                      Ontario Graduate Scholarship

2015-2016                      York University Graduate Scholarship