Petr Špecián
Welcome to my page!
I am an assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. My research explores the borderlands between economics, philosophy, and political science. It focuses on epistemic democratization, the relationship between democracy & expertise, and the transformative potential of generative AI for political institutions.
I serve as the Coordinator for Student Affairs at the PPE program at the Institute for Political Studies. I also head the AI Institutional Transformation Research Group focused on institutional changes induced by artificial intelligence. I teach and write in Czech and English. This site offers information on my publications, courses, and talks.
Contact
Besides this webpage, you can follow my work on ResearchGate, or Google Scholar.
Do not hesitate to reach out via e-mail or social media.
Book
Published by Routledge, my first book Behavioral Political Economy and Democratic Theory: Fortifying Democracy for the Digital Age, examines the friction between modern technology and human rationality within liberal democracies. As we move further into a digitally-driven information age, challenges such as disinformation and extreme political polarization become more prominent.
Using a behavioral economics approach, the book explores solutions to these issues while maintaining democratic values and optimizing democratic decision-making. It advocates for a behaviorally grounded theory of democracy and discusses how our understanding of human rationality's limitations can help shape robust democratic institutions.
Key discussions include the role of rationality (or lack thereof) in democratic choices, the use of behaviorally informed paternalism to manage irrationality, and non-paternalistic methods for bolstering democratic institutions against political irrationality.
Update (March 1, 2024): Now available in paperback for a much friendlier price.