Research Groups: Governance and Public Policy

The Sheffield approach to governance and public policy reflects the broad nature of real-world governance and public policy. Members of the research group recognise the importance of practitioner engagement and this is reflected in cooperation with bodies such as the Institute for Public Policy Research, the Cabinet Office, the Department of Work and Pensions, the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, the Institut für Europäische Politik, and the European Commission. Members of this research group have no rigid assumptions concerning theory, method or research but stress the primacy of theoretically informed, policy-relevant research. Students and staff are encouraged to adopt a range of methods and approaches on the grounds that from an eclectic approach synergies are much more likely to develop. The Research group does, however, place considerable emphasis on critically exploring different research methodologies.

The Governance and Public Policy RTG draws on the long-established reputation of the Sheffield department for groundbreaking work in theories of governance (especially multilevel governance), comparative governance, policy analysis, Europeanization, and the changing nature of the modern state in the UK and abroad. The Governance and Public Policy Research Training Group (RTG) brings staff and research students together and its members play a full role in other related RTGs, thus allowing for the development of a research infrastructure able to support work in a wide range of topics related to governance and public policy. Members of the Governance and Public Policy RTG are also participants in, for example, the Comparative Politics and Political Economy RTGs, reflecting the inter-relationship between the RTGs and the collegiate approach that characterises the Department´s research culture.

Currently the RTG has eight core members of staff, three research fellows, and nineteen Ph.D. students.

Staff Research Projects and Interests

Ian Bache's current research focuses on issues of Europeanization and multi-level governance. He is currently involved in ESRC research projects on Europeanization and multi-level governance in South East Europe, multi-level governance and urban politics, and governance and climate change. His recent publications include: Europeanization and Multi-level Governance: Cohesion Policy in the European Union and Britain (Lanham (US) and Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008), `Embryonic Associationalism: New Labour and Urban Governance´, Public Administration, 86 (2008) 411-28 (with P. Catney), and `Democracy through Multi-level Governance? The Implementation of the Structural Funds in South Yorkshire´, Governance: An International Journal, 2 (2008), 397-418 (with Rachel Chapman). He is currently developing a research interest in the politics and policy of well-being.

Simon Bulmer has written widely on European Union governance and EU-member state relations, with particular reference to Germany and the United Kingdom. He is currently writing up research on various aspects of Germany´s European policy. He joins Ian Bache and Stephen George as author of the next edition of Politics in the European Union. He co-edited Member States of the European Union (Oxford University Press 2005), which covers theoretical, geographical and thematic aspects of EU-member state relations. Simon Bulmer has researched the impact of European Union membership on UK central government. The main published output is The Europeanisation of Whitehall: UK Central Government and the European Union (with Martin Burch) forthcoming in 2009 with Manchester University Press. He is currently working on the governance of the `Lisbon´ strategy for European economic competitiveness.

Matt Flinders is currently working on five projects, the Concept and Consequences of Depoliticisation, the use of Agencies, Boards and Commissions in contemporary governance, the Politics of Patronage and Public Appointments (as part of an international research project), the Expectations Gap and the Performance Paradox in the context of public services and public trust in politics, and Multi-Level Governance, Transport Policy and Global Warming to begin this summer. Recent and forthcoming publications include Delegated Governance and the British State (Oxford University Press, 2008), `The Future of the State´, Political Quarterly, 79 (2009), `Bridging the Gap: Revitalising Politics and the Politics of Public Expectations´, Representation (2009), and `Theory and Method in the Study of Delegation: Three Dominant Traditions´, Public Administration (2009).

Andrew Geddes´ current research focuses on national and supranational responses to international migration. He has conducted comparative analysis of European immigration policies and politics, of EU migration and asylum policy, of border control and security in Southeast Europe and of patterns of European regional integration compared to those in other parts of the world. His recent publications include The Politics of Migration and Immigration in Europe (Sage 2003), Immigration and European integration: Beyond Fortress Europe? 2nd edition (Manchester University Press 2008) and `Economic Regionalism´, in The Oxford Handbook of International Migration (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

Colin Hay is currently working on the sources of political disaffection and disengagement in the advanced liberal democracies, the popular associations and connotations of the concept of politics, and the process of political socialisation - drawing and further developing themes from his recent book Why We Hate Politics (Polity, 2007). He is also interested in the comparative politics and political economy of crisis and crisis construction and in processes of politicisation and depoliticisation.

Dave Richards´ main research interests are in British politics, Australian politics, public policy, governance, globalisation and state theory. His research activities include: the dichotomy between the governance literature that emphasises a disaggregated, hollowed-out state and the regulatory state literature with its emphasis on an increased role for state agencies and a reconstituted state; examining the relationship between political biography and political science; how policy is translated from policymakers to street level bureaucrats focusing on how different interpretations and unintended consequences emerge; and developing a critical account of the British state since 1997. Recent publications include: New Labour and the Civil Service: Reconstituting the Westminster Model (Palgrave 2008), 'Old and New Labour Narratives of Whitehall: Radicals, Reactionaries and Defenders of the Westminster Model,' Political Quarterly, 79 (2008) with David Blunkett and Helen Mathers; and, 'Decentring Policy Networks: Lessons and Prospects,' Public Administration 87 (2009) with Mark Bevir.

Martin Smith is the Faculty of Social Science´s Director of Research and Innovation; he is also editor of Political Studies, the journal of the UK Political Studies Association and one of the world´s premier political science journals. He has written widely on the politics of policymaking in British government on topics as diverse as agricultural policy, policy networks and the Westminster Model. His current research interests include the changing nature of the state, central government and public sector reform. He is currently engaged in a research project on the regulation of the private security industry and the role of Tsars as policy leaders in the NHS. His latest book, Power and the State is about to be published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Andrew Taylor's current research is focused on Europeanization and the development of multilevel governance in Southeast Europe. This ESRC funded project examines policies on cohesion, environmentalism and population movement in Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia and involves three other members of the Department; Professor Bache, Professor Geddes, and Dr Lees. In addition he is working of the nature and definition of state failure and, the nature of the majority in politics, and the nature and role of heresthetics in political leadership. Recent publications include The National Union of Mineworkers and British Politics, Vol.1 (1944-1969) and Vol.2 (1969-1995) (Ashgate 2003 and 2005), `Stanley Baldwin, Heresthetics and the Realignment of British Politics´, British Journal of Political Science 35 (2005), 429-463, `Electoral Systems and the Promotion of `Consociationalism´ in a Multi-Ethnic Society. The Kosovo Assembly Elections of November 2001´, Electoral Studies 24 (2005) 435-463, ``We are not asking you to hug each other, but we ask you to co-exist´. The Kosovo Assembly and the Politics of Co-existence´, Journal of Legislative Studies 11 (2005), 105-137, `The Strategic Impact of the Electoral System and the Definition of `Good´ Governance´, British Politics 2 (2007), 20-44.

Postgraduate Research Projects

Below, are examples of research projects being undertaken by research students who are members of the Governance and Public Policy RTG. They give an idea of the breadth of research being undertaken by research students and Research Fellows

Jewellord T. Nem Singh's work focuses on the governance of natural resource extraction in Brazil and Chile. Using theories of the state and an historical institutionalist approach, the project examines the patterns of state strategies and degree of state involvement in extractive economies, particularly in the context of changing politico-economic environment in Latin America. The project seeks to understand the effects of institutional structures and policies towards the interactions of different actors within specific policy domains (environmental and development policies), particularly social movements in the two countries.

Ben Kisby is an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, undertaking research on New Labour and Citizenship Education. His research interests include Public Policy, Social Capital, Political Participation, Citizenship Theory, and Qualitative Research Methods. Recent publications include `Social Capital and Citizenship Education in Schools´, British Politics, 1(2006): 151-60, `New Labour and Citizenship Education´, Parliamentary Affairs, 60 (2007): 84-101, and `Analysing Policy Networks: Towards an Ideational Approach´, Policy Studies, 28 (2007): 71-90.

Adam White completed his Ph.D. in the Department in 2008. Entitled The Relegitimation of Private Security in Britain, 1945-2001 it examined the changing relationship between the private security industry and the state in post-war Britain. He is currently working with Professor Martin Smith on a project entitled Privatisation and the Regulation of Domestic Security, which is co-funded by the ESRC and the Security Industry Authority. The objective of this project is to evaluate the new governance arrangements for regulating the private security industry in Britain following the passing of the Private Security Industry Act 2001.

Daniel Wunderlich is researching the implementation of EU migration policy in non-Member States (Morocco and Ukraine). He is exploring governance networks that are active beyond the borders of a specific polity. These are networks of highly interdependent but heterogeneous actors (governmental, non-governmental and international organisations) acting on a complex and volatile phenomenon: international migration. Daniel´s Ph.D. examines the formation and interorganisational dynamics of these networks, the importance of organisational belief systems, the inclusion and exclusion of actors and the effects on policy output.

PhD Members

Young Jae Shim
Pip Tyler
Mario Vassallo
Amy Barnes
Joao Carvalho
David Moon
John Quinn
Amy Claridge
Dion Curry
Daniel Fitzpatrick
Rory Shand
Louise Strong
Daniel Wunderlich
Alexander Yanakiev
Jenny Hugh
Vaseleios Leontitsis
Xiongwei Song