Dr Nick Turnbull

I completed my PhD in 2005 at the School of Social Science and Policy, University of New South Wales, Sydney. I moved to The University of Manchester in September 2006. I have previously taught at the University of New South Wales, The University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney. Previously I worked as a researcher at the Social Policy Research Centre, Sydney, and prior to my postgraduate studies I was a political advisor to a Member of the Parliament of New South Wales. I have also been a policy officer in the Australian Public Service and in a non-government community services agency.

Social policy, policy analysis, political rhetoric, problematology

My work is in two main areas, social policy and the theory of policy and politics. My social policy research centres on the politics of social policy. I research and teach about political conflict around social policy problems and am interested in what these political dynamics say about power in contemporary society. I study public attitudes on social policy issues and seek to understand how public opinion influences election campaigns and social policy development. I also have general research and teaching interests in British and Australian politics, particularly the dynamics of party politics and policy debates. The second area of my research is to develop new theories of public policy making. I draw on interpretative policy analysis, which uses contemporary social and political theory to understand the policy process. I argue that policymaking is best understood as a form of questioning characterised by rhetoric in which political actors employ persuasive and symbolic language to play the political game. My theoretical approach is derived from the contemporary philosophy of Michel Meyer, problematology. Problematology is a radical new approach to philosophy which proposes a new metaphysics of questioning and incorporates rhetoric as a fundamental element of thought.

 

Undergraduate

• Introduction to Comparative Politics POLI10200
• Social Movements for Political Change POLI20541
• Politics of Social Policy POLI30841

Postgraduate

• Rhetoric in Public Policy POLI60242
• Politics, Power and Policy Making BMAN60641

I welcome inquiries from graduate students about supervising their research in political rhetoric, social policy, public policy, or UK politics.

Publications Database

• with Antalffy, N. 'Bourdieu’s distinction between philosophical and sociological approaches to Science Studies', Sociological Review (forthcoming)
• ‘Harold Lasswell’s "Problem Orientation" for the Policy Sciences’, Critical Policy Analysis (forthcoming)
• 'Dewey's philosophy of questioning: science, practical reason, and democracy', History of the Human Sciences 21(1) 2008:
• with Fattore, T. (2008) ‘Engaging With Children: The Political Dimension’, in M. Calder (ed.), The Carrot or the Stick? Towards effective practice with involuntary clients in safeguarding children work. Lyme Regis: Russell House.
• ‘Problematology and contingency in the social sciences,’ Revue Internationale de Philosophie 61(4) 2007: 451-72
• Turnbull, N. (2006) ‘How should we theorise public policy? Problem solving and problematicity,’ Policy & Society 25(2): 3-22.

Postal address:

School of Social Sciences
The University of Manchester
Oxford Rd
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom