Comparative Politics

We are a leading centre for the study of comparative politics, with interests ranging from policy-making and institutions to political movements and ideologies.

We are pluralistic in our methods and modes of enquiry and sharpen these through open and critical debate. Core concerns across the cluster include questions of democracy, power, nationalism, the state, and the inequalities of gender and ethnicity.

Highlights

People

Academic staff

  • Dr. Jack Bailey Research specialisms: Economic voting, comparative study of elections, voting behaviour, quantitative methods.
  • Dr. Nathan Critch, Research Associate: The UK Productivity-Governance Puzzle: Are the UK’s Governing Institutions Fit for Purpose in the 21st Century? Research specialisms: British politics, Parliament, the British state, public inquiries, depoliticization, crisis management.
  • Professor Emerita Francesca Gains Research specialisms: public policy, policy agendas, gender and politics, British politics, devolution and local government.
  • Dr Felipe Gonzalez Santos Research Associate: Determinants of “Mobilisation” at Home and Abroad. Research specialisms: Social movements, protest, mixed methods research.
  • Professor Yoram Gorlizki Research specialisms: Russian, Soviet and Eurasian politics, theories of dictatorship.
  • Professor Peter Gries Research specialisms: Chinese politics and foreign policy, American foreign policy, US-China relations, the political psychology of international affairs, nationalism. 
  • Dr. Lotte Hargrave Research specialisms: Gender and politics, political behaviour, legislative politics, public opinion, British politics, quantitative methods, and survey research.
  • Dr Nicole Martin Research specialisms: Elections and comparative politics, immigration, race and ethnicity, public opinion, candidates and representation.
  • Professor Emeritus Kevin Morgan Research specialisms: Political ideas and ideologies, 20th-century British politics, European communism, labour movements and the radical left, political biography, interviewing and life-histories.
  • Dr. Silviya Nitsova British Academy International Fellow, Divide and Rule: Oligarchic Political Networks and Patronalism in Ukraine. Research specialisms: money in politics, political economy, oligarchs, corruption, policymaking, reform, Ukrainian and Eurasian politics, social network analysis.
  • Dr Timothy J Oliver Research specialisms: British politics, international relations, British foreign policy, British political history, qualitative research methods.
  • Professor Olga Onuch Research specialisms: Comparative politics of protest, elections, migration and identity, Eastern Europe and Latin America (Ukraine, Poland, Argentina, Brazil), surveys and language-based ethnographic fieldwork.
  • Professor Dimitris Papadimitriou Research specialisms: EU politics and public policy, EU enlargement, EU external relations, varieties of capitalism, Greek politics.
  • Professor Dave Richards Research specialisms: Public policy, governance, globalisation, state theory, political biography.
  • Professor Liz Richardson Research specialisms: Participatory research methods, public policy and co-production, urban governance, social justice and accountability, civic participation.
  • Dr. Fernando Rosenblatt Research specialisms: Latin American politics, democratic representation, parties and party systems, mixed methods.
  • Dr Rosalind Shorrocks Research specialisms: Gender and politics, voting behaviour, public opinion, quantitative methods.
  • Dr Dan Silver Research specialisms: Urban experimentation and social transformation, social change at a municipal level, transitions to post-capitalist futures, critical participatory action research, politics of knowledge production.
  • Dr David Stroup Research specialisms: Chinese Politics, China’s ethnic politics, Islam in China, nationalism and ethnic politics, everyday nationalism, the politics of authoritarian states, state-society relations. 
  • Dr Louise Thompson Research specialisms: UK parliament, legislation, representation, political parties, political engagement/participation.
  • Dr Paul Tobin Research specialisms: European politics, environmental politics, public policy, multi-level governance, comparative methods.
  • Dr Nick Turnbull Research specialisms: Public policy, governance, slavery and trafficking policy, political rhetoric, political questioning.
  • Dr Tao Wang Research specialisms: Chinese politics, public opinion, foreign policy, propaganda; Taiwan’s political representation; Cross-Strait relations.
  • Professor Georgina Waylen Research specialisms: Gender and politics, comparative politics, feminist institutionalism, international political economy. 
  • Professor Angelia Wilson Research specialisms: American politics, religion and politics, gender and sexuality studies.

Postgraduate Researchers

Alumni

PhD's in Comparative Politics completed since 2018 include:

  • Temidayo Eseonu, ‘A new-institutionalist exploration of the ‘voice-of-colour’ in public services delivery.’
  • Chris Butler, ‘How do parties in office respond to electoral incentives? A study into the positioning, issue prioritisation and perceptions of decision-makers in the UK.'
  • Anna Sanders, ‘The impact of gendered policies on women's voting behaviour: An analysis of the 2015 UK General Election.’
  • Jolanta Shields, 'Community Interest Companies in the NHS: A Trojan Horse for Marketisation?’
  • Daniel Silver, ‘Repurposing policy evaluation to learn about social transformation.’
  • Lucky Benson, ‘An Examination of E-government in the Delivery of Public Services in Nigeria: A Policy Transfer Approach.’
  • Ana Sanchez Santana, ‘Understanding contemporary networked governance and regulatory capacity in Mexico: A study of oversight bodies in the process of regulation.’
  • Matthew Crow, ‘Social Enterprise in the British Political Tradition.’
  • Anthony Chambers, ‘Do Immigrant Origin MPs represent Immigrant Origin Voters?’
  • Fadil Ersozer, ‘The EU’s Green Line Regulation in Cyprus.’
  • Mustafa Cirakli, ‘Identity and Citizenship amongst Northern Cypriot Settlers.’
  • Puren Aktas, 'The diverse responses of physicians to the use of diagnosis-related groups in two publicly funded health care systems: a comparative study of England and Turkey.'
  • Andrew Barclay, 'Seamless integration or parallel politics? The political participation of Jews in Britain.'
  • Sofia Doyle, 'Staff-Student Sexual Violence in the Academy: Everyday Insecurity, Everyday Resistance.'
  • Ana Martinez Fernandez, 'Anti-abortion Movements in Spain and Argentina: Actors, Frames and Actions.'
  • Elisa Mendes Vasconcelos, 'Male Dominance in the Brazilian Bureaucracy.'
  • Kenneth Rushworth, 'Electoral Registration in Britain: Inequality, Reform, and the Prospects of Automatic Registration.'

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