Claire Mcloughlin

Claire Mcloughlin

International Development Department
Associate Professor

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 3120
Email
c.mcloughlin@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
International Development Department
School of Government
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham,
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Claire’s research focuses on the political sociology of vital public service delivery in conflict-affected and divided societies. In particular, she is interested in the politics of distributive justice and procedural fairness in service delivery, and the historical processes that embed welfare provision in social contracts. She has published on how and when services become significant for processes of state (de-)legitimation. She has a particular interest in the role of higher education in state legitimation and nation-building. Claire currently conducts research on the politics of development for the Developmental Leadership Program (DLP), for which she acts as Deputy Director (Research). She also sits on the editorial board of the journal Governance and is an advisor to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.

Qualifications

  • PhD in political sociology, University of Birmingham, 2017
  • MA International Relations and World Order, University of Leicester
  • BA History and Politics, University of Leicester

Biography

Claire is Associate Professor in Politics and Develpment, with over a decade of experience conducting policy-relevant research. She has published widely on the politics of vital public service delivery in conflict-affected and divided societies. She is the lead editor on the forthcoming book, The Politics of Development (SAGE, 2024).

Claire's core interest lies in understanding the impact of service delivery on state-society relations and the dynamics of social contract formation, including the conditions under which services become significant for processes of state (de-)legitimation.

Claire was the Director of Research at the Developmental Leadership Program (DLP) – an international research collaboration investigating the politics of development across the Asia-Pacific region, 2018-2023. She is the Director of the undergraduate programme in the International Development Department.

Teaching

Claire contributes to teaching in the following areas:

  • Governance and state-building
  • Making policy
  • Development management
  • Critical approaches to development

Postgraduate supervision

Public services, state (de-)legitimation, the politics of public goods distribution

Research

  • The politics of public goods
  • State legitimation
  • Co-production and collective action beyond the state

Publications

Highlight publications

Mcloughlin, C 2024, 'Public services as carriers of ideas that (de-) legitimise the state: The illustrative case of free education in Sri Lanka', World Development, vol. 173, 106439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106439

Mcloughlin, C 2014, 'When Does Service Delivery Improve the Legitimacy of a Fragile or Conflict-Affected State?', Governance, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 341-356. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12091

Mcloughlin, C (ed.), Ali, SAM (ed.), Xie, K, Cheeseman, N (ed.) & Hudson, D (ed.) 2023, The Politics of Development: Institutions, Incentives, and Ideas. SAGE Publications, London.

Batley, R & Mcloughlin, C 2015, 'The politics of public services : a service characteristics approach', World Development, vol. 74, pp. 275-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.05.018

Hudson, D, Lemay-hébert, N, Mcloughlin, C & Roche, C 2020, 'Leadership and Change in Asia-Pacific: Where Does Political Will Come From?', Politics and Governance, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 131-135. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3831

Recent publications

Article

Nhim, T & Mcloughlin, C 2022, 'Local leadership development and WASH system strengthening: insights from Cambodia', H2Open Journal, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 469-489. https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.129

Hudson, D, Mcloughlin, C, Margret, A & Pandjaitan, Y 2020, 'Leadership, Identity and Performance: The Nature and Effect of ‘Prototypicality’ in Indonesia', Politics and Governance, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 201-213. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3553

Mcloughlin, C 2018, 'When the Virtuous Circle Unravels: Unfair Service Provision and State De-legitimation in Divided Societies', Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2018.1482126

Scott, Z, Mcloughlin, C & Marquette, H 2012, 'Marrying Fragile States and Aid Policy: Civil Partnership or Irreconcilable Differences?', Crime, Law and Social Change.

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Mcloughlin, C 2014, The Politics of What Works in Service Delivery. in S Hickey, K Sen & B Bukenya (eds), The Politics of Inclusive Development: Interrogating the Evidence. Oxford University Press.

Commissioned report

Wales, J, Aslam, M, Hine, S, Rawal, S, Wild, L, Day-Ashley, L, Batley, R, Mcloughlin, C, Nicolai , S & Rose, P 2015, The role and impact of philanthropic and religious schools in developing countries. Education Rigorous Literature Review, DFID. <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482337/role-impact-philanthropic-schools.pdf>

Day-Ashley, L, Mcloughlin, C, Aslam, M, Engel, J, Wales, J, Rawal, S, Batley, R, Kingdon, G, Nicolai , S & Rose, P 2015, The role and impact of private schools in developing countries: a rigorous review of the evidence: Final report. Education Rigorous Literature Review, DFID. <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/439702/private-schools-full-report.pdf>

Day-Ashley, L, Mcloughlin, C, Aslam, M, Engel, J, Rawal, S, Wales, J, Batley, R, Kingdon, G, Nicolai, S & Rose, P 2014, Evidence Brief: The role and impact of private schools in developing countries: a rigorous review of the evidence. DFID.

Wales, J, Aslam, M, Hine, S, Rawal, S, Wild, L, Batley, R, Day-Ashley, L, Mcloughlin, C, Nicolai, S & Rose, P 2014, Evidence brief: The role and impact of philanthropic and religious schools in developing countries. DFID.

Editorial

Batley, R, Mccourt, W & Mcloughlin, C 2012, 'The Politics and Governance of Public Services in Developing Countries', Public Management Review, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 131-144. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2012.657840

Other report

Mcloughlin, C, Hiriasia, T, Nanau, G, Hudson, D, Krishna, U & Roche, C 2022, Inclusive development in Solomon Islands: unlocking the potential of developmental leadership. University of Birmingham. <https://res.cloudinary.com/dlprog/image/upload/inclusive-development-in-solomon-islands-unlocking-the-potential-of-developmental-leadership>

Working paper

Hudson, D & Mcloughlin, C 2019 'How is leadership understood in different contexts?' Developmental Leadership Program, University of Birmingham. https://doi.org/https://res.cloudinary.com/dlprog/image/upload/how-is-leadership-understood-in-different-contexts

Hudson, D, Mcloughlin, C, Marget, A, Ardiansa, D, Panjaitan, Y & Novitasari, M 2019 'Identity matters: Unpacking the effects of prototypicality on perceptions of leadership in Indonesia' Developmental Leadership Program, University of Birmingham. <https://res.cloudinary.com/dlprog/image/upload/identity-matters-prototypicality>

Hudson, D, Mcloughlin, C, Marquette, H & Roche, C 2018 'Inside the black box of political will: 10 years of findings from the Developmental Leadership Program' Developmental Leadership Program, University of Birmingham, Birmingham. <http://publications.dlprog.org/DLPsynthesis.pdf>

Batley, R & Mcloughlin, C 2012 'The politics of what works in service delivery: an evidence-based review' ESID Working Papers, no. 6, Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre, Manchester. <http://www.effective-states.org/_assets/documents/esid_wp_06_mcloughlin-batley.pdf>

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Foreign, security and development policy

Politics of development, leadership for development, political sociology of vital public service delivery in conflict-affected and divided societies.service delivery, leadership for development.