I am a political philosopher based at the University of Navarra’s Institute for Culture and Society in Pamplona, Spain. I have a formal training in political theory and broad intellectual interests spanning ethics, normatively oriented political and social theory, and legal philosophy. Much of my academic career has been devoted to the question, how can free and flourishing human societies be created and preserved over time, in particular under conditions of social complexity, fragmentation, and social division? More specifically: what types of political and social system might fare best at promoting public order and managing conflict while simultaneously allowing for sufficient associational freedom and experimentation to support a rich and adaptive social ecology? I explore these matters in some detail in my latest book, The Polycentric Republic: A Theory of Civil Order for Free and Diverse Societies (Routledge, 2025). What makes my line of work truly worthwhile are the moments when I get to pursue ethical and social questions in constructive dialogue with others, be they students or colleagues. My diverse life experiences (having lived in Ireland, U.S., Mexico, continental Europe, and Africa) and collaborations with historians, jurists, philosophers and Ostromian economists, have enriched and broadened my perspective on the cultural and institutional basis for a free and flourishing way of life. In particular, I have become keenly sensitive to the limitations of top-down, Statist models of order and conversely, to the benefits of bottom-up, community-based approaches to the governance of social life.