Department of Politics and International Relations

Research Summary

My main research interests concern two areas: the study of legislatures, and British centre-right parties and European integration. On the first of these, my work so far has focused principally on the European Parliament and its internal organisation, specifically committees, party groups and national parties. I have also worked on the relationship between parliament and government at Westminster. On the second area, with Philip Lynch and Gemma Loomes, I am working on a Leverhulme-funded project on party competition on the centre-right and have previously researched the Conservatives in the European Parliament (with Philip Lynch).

 

Current Research


Competing on the centre-right: an examination of party strategy in Britain

With Philip Lynch I have been awarded a Leverhulme Research Project Grant of £49,212 to look at party competition on the centre-right in Britain. Building on our previous British Academy-funded study of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, this project examines in detail Conservative and UKIP attitudes, policy and electoral strategy on European integration at the next European Parliament and general elections. The project employs a range of research methods including candidate surveys, elite interviews, analysis of party manifestos and existing elite opinion and European Parliament roll-call voting data. Overall we hope to make a timely and significant contribution to an under-researched area of politics. For further details see our project web site.

The European Parliament’s Committees: National Party Control and Legislative Empowerment

This research monograph, to be published by Routledge as part of their Contemporary European Studies series, analyses the development of the European Parliament’s (EP) committees and their relationship with political parties in the light of the EP’s increased legislative role in the last two decades.  This growth in powers means that the European Parliament’s actions are now more likely than ever to affect the policy goals of national political parties and, indirectly, their electoral prospects back home.  Given that most of the EP’s detailed legislative work takes place in its committees, the relationship between them and political parties is crucial for explaining how the EP works.

Recent research activities

Philip Lynch and I presented our initial analysis of Conservative-UKIP competition at the 2009 European elections at the EPOP Annual Conference in Strathclyde in August 2009. We will present three conference papers in Spring 2010 (at the PSA and ECPR Joint Sessions) based on our Leverhulme-funded project.

Recent Publications

Articles and chapters

• (2008), 'A Loveless Marriage: The Conservatives and the European People’s Party' , Parliamentary Affairs, 61:1, pp.31-51, with Philip Lynch.
   
• (2006) 'Parliament and Government, 2005-06: Reforms and Reflections' , Parliamentary Affairs, 59:4, pp.694-702.
   
• (2006) 'Ping-pong and policy influence: Relations between the Lords and Commons 2005-6' , Parliamentary Affairs, 59:3, pp.536-45.
   
• (2006) 'Backbench influence on government legislation? A flexing of parliamentary muscles at Westminster' , Parliamentary Affairs, 59:2, pp.350-9.
   
• (2006) 'Ascendant Assemblies in Britain? Rebellions, Reforms and Inter-Cameral Conflict' , Parliamentary Affairs, 59:1, pp. 173-80.
   
• (2005) 'Small Group Teaching: Perceptions and Problems', Politics, 25:2, pp. 116-25, with Amy Bogaard, Sabine C. Carey, Gwilym Dodd and Ian D. Repath.
   
• (2005) 'The United Kingdom' in Juliet Lodge (ed.), The 2004 Elections to the European Parliament (Basingstoke, Palgrave).
   
• (2005) 'Parliament and the Public: A view from the Outside' in Nicholas D. J. Baldwin (ed.), Parliament in the 21st Century (London, Politico's).
   
• (2005) 'Parliament and the European Union: Refrigerators, Readings and Reforms' in Nicholas D. J. Baldwin (ed.), Parliament in the 21st Century (London, Politico's).
   
• (2005) 'National parties in the European Parliament: an influence in the committee system?', European Union Politics, 6:1, pp. 5-28.
   
• (2001) 'Party Control in a Committee-Based Legislature? The Case of the European Parliament', Journal of Legislative Studies, 7:4, pp. 63-88.
   
• (2000) 'The development of the European Parliament's committee system 1979-99: leadership, membership and legislative responsibility', European Policy Research Unit Working Papers, Department of Government, University of Manchester.

Teaching and Supervision

Teaching

My teaching, past and present, covers the following areas:

• European Union institutions and policy-making
• Comparative legislatures
• Comparative politics in general
• Qualitative research methods in political science

Supervision

I am keen to supervise students studying parliaments, especially the European Parliament, as well as EU institutions and legislative procedures, and political parties in Europe.