Paula Schwevers

Paula Schwevers has been at the University of Birmingham since her undergraduate years. This is where she has secured School funding to graduate in a MA in Social and Political Thought with distinction. She then secured ESCR funding to continue onto a MRes in Social Research and a PhD in Political Economy.

Her research interest lies in critical theories of international relations with an emphasis on critical political economy. Paula’s current research analyses decision-making processes on state level to investigate the contradictory notions of maintaining international competitiveness while confronting domestic pressures in governance. She conducts archival research to inform a historical analysis of changes in economic policymaking that have led to the restructuring of the British state towards financialisation. Her research is informed by theories of crisis management and the value form to analyse the interplay of managing foreign exchange markets and its implications for domestic productive growth.

• MRes Social Research (University of Birmingham)
• MA Social and Political Theory (University of Birmingham)
• BA International Relations with Spanish (University of Birmingham/Universidad Autonoma de Madrid)

• Global Political Economy
• Political Thought
• Introduction to International Political Economy
• Introduction to International Relations
• Introduction to International Politics

• Global Political Economy
• The British State
• Critical Theory
• Value Form Theory

European Studies Research Group

Political Economy Research Group

British State Research Group

Contemporary Technology and Philosophy 

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion PG Representative, College of Social Sciences Board (2022-2023)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion PG Representative, School of Governance (2021-2022) 

Co-Convenor of POLSIS Talks (2023- ongoing)

POLSIS Iyengar Yoga Group (2022-ongoing)

CPERN Midterm workshop  

Thursday 8 – Saturday 10 June 2023, University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Italy 
‘Police Brutality and Financial Uncertainty under Thatcher’ 

Panel 3: The (absent) politics of financialisation? 

CPERN Midterm workshop 
22^nd - 23^rd July 2022, University of Limerick, Ireland 
‘Management of labour and money under Thatcher- British political economy during the 1980s’ 
Panel:(Mis)Managing (Neoliberal) Capitalism 

Birmingham Political Economy Workshop  
15^th - 16^th June 2022, University of Birmingham, UK 
Reviewing Bailey, D. and Lewis, P. paper ‘Beyond the Growth Models approach in CPE: towards unstable conflict-prone models of capitalism’ 

Government Doctoral Colloquium  
28th January 2022, 4-5 PM, hybrid format, UoB campus and zoom 
Using EndNote For Referencing and Organising Your Reading’.  
How to organise your readings and how to write your literature review.  

Doctoral Colloquium Government and International Labour Process 38^th ILP Conference  
15th -17^th April 2020 Newcastle, UK (Postponed due to Covid-19) 
‘Reiterating the importance of money in labour relations’ 
Panel: Critical Differences at Work: Value and Labour Process Theory – revisited 

Political Science Association 70^th PSA Conference  
6^th- 8^thApril 2020, Edinburgh International Conference Centre (Postponed due to Covid-19) 
‘The persistence of 'old' feminist issues in a new socio-demographic environment’ 
Panel: Gender, Measurement, and Representation in Women and Politics Specialist Group 

Researching Brexit Network - 2^nd Brexit Conference  
28^th-29^th October 2019, Durham University 
‘Understanding Brexit through the National Archives: Britain and Europe, a historical analysis’  
Panel: Parliament and the State  

British Politics Research Group 
15^th May 2019, University of Birmingham 
‘Theorising the Rise of the City from a Marxian analysis’ 
Series: The British state in the 1970s  

Government & Society PGR Annual Conference Programme 
29^th April 2019, University of Birmingham 
‘Credit, Debt and Class Struggle: financial liberalisation and the Industrial Relations Act’ 
Panel: Accumulation and the British State; Depoliticisation, Wage Suppression, Debt 

Critical Political Economy Research Network CPERN Midterm Workshop 
1^st and 2^nd June 2018, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal  

Journal Article Capital & Class "Management of labour and money under Thatcher- British political economy during the 1980s." Paula Schwevers (R&R) 

Book Review Capital & Class “The Strong State and the Free Economy by Werner Bonefeld” 
Paula Schwevers, Darcy Luke First Published February 8, 2018  
https://doi.org/10.1177/0309816817751550j