Animals and the Right to Politics with Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka

In this thought-provoking interview, Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka return to Our Hen House to discuss their groundbreaking new book Animals and the Right to Politics from Oxford University Press. The authors challenge us to move beyond simply acknowledging animals’ moral status and instead recognize them as capable of making collective decisions within their communities, explaining that the “inner citadel of human supremacism” lies not in denying animals’ moral status but in refusing to see them as political beings. Through examples of animal communities demonstrating sophisticated forms of collective decision-making, they explore how expanding our understanding of politics to include non-human animals could create more just relationships between species while critiquing current approaches.

This episode explores:

• How the concept of a “right to politics” differs from traditional animal rights frameworks that focus primarily on moral status
• Why recognizing animals as political agents requires us to move beyond the “minimal animal” view that only acknowledges their capacity to suffer
• The limitations of three current approaches to animal advocacy: wardship, critical resistance, and cosmopolitan inclusivity
• How animal communities demonstrate sophisticated forms of collective decision-making that challenge human supremacist views of politics
• Why territorial boundaries and “holding environments” are essential for protecting animals’ ability to engage in their own forms of politics

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Sue Donaldson is a research associate in the Department of Philosophy, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. She is the author of several books, including Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (OUP 2011) and Animals and the Right to Politics (OUP 2025). She is co-convenor of the Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law, and Ethics research group.

Will Kymlicka is a professor in the Philosophy Department at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, where he has taught since 1998. He has published widely on issues of justice and democracy in multicultural and multispecies societies. With Sue Donaldson, he co-convenes the Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics research group at Queen’s University, including its postdoctoral fellowship program, and teaches courses in animals and political theory and in animals and the law.

We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode’s interview.

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