Dr Chris Lyon

PhD Global Development and Political Theory, 2018, University of Manchester

I am a political theorist interested in questions of development. As such, my research examines the two-way relationship between political normativity - ideas such as justice, democracy, and political realism/idealism - and development.

I joined IDD in 2021. I have taught mainly on our modules related to the politics of development, and I am also currently the programme director for our Undergraduate and Distance Learning programmes. I currently organise the 'Governance and Politics of Development' research group, and collaborated on the department's recent book.

Previously, at the University of Manchester, I was a research associate at the ‘Effective States and Inclusive Development’ research centre. My PhD, also at Manchester, was “Towards a relational approach to social justice: liberals, radicals, and Brazil’s ‘new social contract’.

• Global Development Challenges (1^st year UG)
• International Development (MSc)
• Development Politics (MSc)
• Democracy, Dictatorship, and Development (MSc)
• Personal Academic Tutoring

I am interested in supervising PhD work relating to: politics of development; democratisation; social justice; development ethics; and related areas.

My research interests are at the meeting point between political theory and global development. I am interested in how (and to what extent) normative-political ideas such as justice and democracy apply in the context of development and foreign aid, in the question of political realism vs. idealism, and in the various normative questions inherent in development and their practical ramifications in, for instance, democratic mechanisms and policy design. I have related interests in the philosophy of social science, regarding the meaning of social relations and structure.

My current research projects include a) investigating the resilience or vulnerability of participatory-democratic innovations in Brazil during the wide political swings of the 2010s to present (with Dr Déborah Monte of Universidade Federal de Grande Dourados); b) compiling a dataset on the political impact of 'reseved seat' gender quotas in legislatures around the world; c) contributing to political philosophy literature on 'relational egalitarianism'.

My research interests strongly inform my teaching, which has tended to focus on the politics of development, democratisation, critical approaches to poverty, and research methods and theory.