Dr Stephen Bates
Stephen’s current research is on the renewal of the Conservative Party, female representation within the UK Parliament, and issues of trust in the regulation of Stem Cell Research. His broader interests lie in the theorisation of power and change and how that can be utilised in the critique of contemporary political and social relations. He lectures on the second year course, Political Analysis, the final year course, Power in Britain, and the MA course, Advanced Political Analysis.
Karin Bottom (INLOGOV)
Karin's research is multi-level and revolves around small parties and non-mainstream politics; party theory; party systems; democracy and political participation. Her work concentrates on British politics but is comparative. Recently she has been researching and writing for publication on issues relating to non-mainstream parties, single issue politics and the British National Party's electability and search for legitimacy. Karin convenes and teaches on various MA modules concerned with democracy, parties, participation (INLOGOV). She also teaches quantitative methods for INLOGOV and The School of Government and Society. Karin is Reviews Editor for the journal Local Government Studies.
Tony Bovaird (INLOGOV)
Tony worked in the UK Civil Service (DoE) and several universities before moving to back to the University of Birmingham in 2006. He was a member of the OECD e-Governance Task Force. He chaired the Evaluation Partnership, set up by the UK government to co-ordinate evaluation of the Local Government Modernisation Agenda from 2002 – 2007 and is a member of the CLG Expert Panel on Local Governance and Partnerships. He undertook evaluation case studies of the Civil Service Reform Programme, commissioned by the Cabinet Office and recently led the UK contribution to an EU project on user and community co-production of public services in five European countries. He also acted as an advisor to CLG’s Councillor Commission. He helps to organise the European Public Sector Award and is on the Strategy Board of the Local Authorities Research Council Initiative. Author of Public Management and Governance (2nd ed., London: Routledge, 2009). He is currently working with Cabinet and Scrutiny in Sunderland on new ways of using scrutiny in the council and the Sunderland partnership.
Dr Steve Buckler
Steve has research interests in modern political theory and ideologies & modern British politics. He has published a range of articles on the political philosophy and ideology of New Labour and his current research focuses an exploration of the relationship between moral and political ideas and the practice of politics. He is an associate editor of British Politics and an assistant editor of the European Journal of Political Thought. He lectures on the second year course, Modern Political Ideologies, and on the final year course, Modern European Political Thought.
Professor Peter Burnham
Dr Emma Foster
Emma’s main research interests are in poststructuralism, gender identities, and behaviours and sexualities in relation to environmental politics and sustainable development. She has published on sustainable development policy in Britain and her current research applies Michel Foucault’s work on governmentality to environmental policy activity. She lectures on issues of gender and sexuality and gender and development.
Chris Game (INLOGOV)
Chris Game’s academic interests are in the politics of (primarily British) local/sub-central government: political leadership, local political management, electoral systems and behaviour, political parties and representation. More specifically, his recent work has derived from his research for the Councillors Commission on the electoral barriers to the representation of minorities, particularly women, and from the latest structural reorganisation of English local government. He lectures on these topics, and also co-convenes a graduate module on Comparative Local Government.
Dr Jonathan Grix
Jonathan has research interests in the broad areas of British Politics and governance and the politics of sport more specifically. He is currently undertaking research on the East German sports system and on the UK Government’s sport policy. He lectures on the third year courses, Politics & Sport and Politics & the Media, as well as the first and second year research methods courses.
Dr Laura Jenkins
Laura’s main research interests are in contemporary political analysis & theory, strategies for & forms of politicisation, power relations in contemporary Britain, and the politics of the body. Her current research is on female representation within the UK Parliament, and discourses surrounding female circumcision. She lectures on the second year course, British Politics.
Dr Peter Kerr
Peter’s broad research interests lie in applying theories of social and political change to explain trends in British politics. His current work focuses upon processes of party modernisation and changing patterns of democracy, citizenship and political participation in the UK. He is the co-editor of the journal, British Politics, and his publications include Postwar British Politics: From Conflict to Consensus (London: Routledge, 2001). He lectures on the first year course, Foundation of Politics, and on the final year course, Topics in British Politics.
Dr Will Leggett (Sociology)
Will’s research interests are in political sociology, social theory and political strategy. His publications include The Third Way and Beyond: Criticisms, Futures, Alternatives (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004, co-edited with Sarah Hale & Luke Martell), and After New Labour: Social Theory and Centre-Left Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). His current research explores the role of ideology and culture in constructing political identities and their part in both reproducing and challenging the social and political order. He lectures on the second year course, Contemporary Social Theory, and the third year course, Political Sociology.
Professor Colin Thain
Colin’s current research focuses on the power, role and impact of the UK Treasury since 1997 set in its global, historical and ideological contexts, in an ESRC funded project on the Treasury under New Labour. The study has involved a series of elite actor interviews with key officials, ministers, advisers and journalists. The research design involves a framework using historical institutionalist, network, core executive and policy transfer literatures. The project looks at the Treasury as a five-headed institution: central department, ministry of finance, economics ministry, policy actor, and foreign economic policy agency. In doing so it charts how the Treasury has changed structurally, the impact of operational independence for the Bank of England, public spending planning and control, and case studies on such topics as policy reviews, the decision on the EURO and debt relief. He has a long standing interest in the politics and implementation of economic policy, public expenditure politics, and the role of Central Banks. Colin is planning successor research projects looking at the role of the Bank of England, and the politics of UK tax policymaking.
Associate Members
Judi Atkins (Research Fellow, Swansea University)
PhD Doctoral research students:
Sadiya Akram
Re-conceptualizing the Concept of Agency in Social Theory: Examining the Exclusion of the Unconscious.
Christopher Byrne
The transformation of the British Labour Party in a context of neoliberal hegemony: 1979 to present
Jane Foody
The Politics of Ageing in England: Exploring Local Differences
Justin Gibbins
Britain and its Others: Evolving Identity Construction
Mark Goodwin
Education governance and policy failure under New Labour
Stephen Hetherington
Rationales of Cultural Policy in the UK
Martin Monahan
The post-major conservative party: a historical Institutionalist analysis.
Ken Searle
Constructions of Masculinity in Contemporary Gay Politics
Ben Taylor
Edmund Burke and the French Revolution