PhD Students - Katharine Dommett
Details
email : k.dommett@sheffield.ac.uk
Thesis Title: ‘Conceptualising Party Political Ideology: An Exploration of Party Modernisation in Britain’
Start Year: 2009
Supervisors
Research Topic Summary
This thesis sets out to ask three simple questions: 1. What is party ideology? 2. How can party ideology be studied? and 3. How can these insights inform our understanding of the interaction between ideology and political parties? This research agenda is inspired by the ambiguity which has arisen from politicians’ characterisation of ideology as negative and dogmatic, and academia’s plurality of competing ideological definitions; trends which have obscured the relationship between these two phenomena.
Against this backdrop this thesis works to conceptualise, operationalise and apply an alternative approach to the study of ideology in political parties. Drawing on pre-existing academic approaches advanced by theorists of ideology and political party scholars I introduce the concept of party political ideology as a medium capable of offering fresh insight on this topic. Inspired by Michael Freeden’s morphological approach to ideological investingation I develop a methodology capable of studying party political ideology through the communicative discourse of politicians. Unlike other studies I examine ideology not as conceived by the actor concerned but rather as it appears to the public; a form of analysis which reflects the performative and persuasive dimension of party activity. I also take considerable pains to detail to process underpinning this method in order to allow its extrapolation into other areas of study and to overcome the mysticism which has sometimes surrounded ideological investigation.
In the latter half of the thesis I turn to apply this approach to the study of party modernisation, probing assumptions which have long coloured investigation in this area. By examining the cases of the British Labour Party between 1994 and 1997 and the British Conservative Party between 2005 and 2010 I use the party political ideology approach to test existing narratives, cast new light on the status of ideology and offer my own account of modernisation and the parties’ respective modernisation processes.
Research Questions
In pursuing these aims this thesis seeks to answer the following questions:
- What defines ideology in political parties?
- What distinguishes party political ideology from other ideological forms?
- How can party political ideology be studied?
- How does party political ideology relate to modernisation?
- What does party political ideology reveal when applied to study modernisation?
- Did the Labour Party and the Conservative Party modernise in 1994-1997 and 2005-2010 respectively?
Research interests: British Politics; Political Parties; Ideology; Political Ideology; Party Political Ideology; Modernisation; The Labour Party; The Conservative Party; Ideas; Participation; Democratic Engagement; Political Communication; Rhetoric
Teaching
- POL 113 Module Coordinator (2011-2012)
- POL112: British Politics Module Tutor (2008–2012)
- Introduction to Classroom-Based Teaching in Higher Education (Autumn 2010)
- Associate Tutors Training Module (2008-2009)
Conference Papers
- ‘Gap Analysis: Participatory Democracy, Public Expectations and Community Assemblies in Sheffield’ co-written with Matthew Flinders. Presented at 6th ECPR General Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, 25th - 27th August 2011
- ‘Reconceptualising Party Political Ideology’ Paper presented to PSA Conference, 19th-21st April 2011, London
- ‘Gap Analysis and Going to Extremes: Participatory Democracy, Public Expectations and Community Assemblies in Sheffield’, co-written with Matthew Flinders. Presented at PSA Deliberative and Participatory Democracy in the UK, Glasgow Caledonian University, June 2010
Book Reviews
- ‘Judi Atkins, Justifying New Labour Policy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan in Political Studies Review (f/c).
- 'Simon Griffiths and Kevin Hickson (eds.), British Party Politics and Ideology after New Labour, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan', in Political Studies Review 9(2), 2011.
- 'Patrick Diamond & Roger Liddle (eds.), Beyond New Labour: The Future of Social Democracy in Britain, London: Politico's', in Political Studies Review 8(2), 2010.
Research Training Group / Research Cluster Membership
- Political Participation, Citizenship & Democratic Engagement (2010)
- Political Theory (2009)
Professional Affiliations
- Political Studies Association (PSA)
- Rhetoric and Politics Society of the UK (RPS)
Other Work
- Co-coordinator of ESRC Event entitled ‘The Trouble with Being Human’ occurring on the 2nd November 2011 as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science.
- Writer and Editor of the PSA Awards Brochure 2011.
- April – June 2010: Research Assistant on a Knowledge Transfer Project studying Community Assemblies in Sheffield; a new democratic initiative designed to devolve power to local communities. As part of this project I conducted a series of interviews and prepared and presented a report to University and Council staff. This fed into the Council´s review process, helping them to monitor their successes in identifying and meeting the project’s aims.
- December 2010: I secured a commission to plan and conduct a series of focus groups for the University of Sheffield Student’s Union which informed their democratic outreach strategy.
- 2009-2010: Staff Student Committee Representative
- 2009-2010: Graduate Student Committee Representative
- 2009-2010: Faculty Staff Student Committee Representative
- October 2010- : Founder and facilitator of a PhD Mentoring scheme in the Department of Politics, University of Sheffield.
Other Education
- MA Research Methods in Politics and International Relations (University of Sheffield)
- BA Politics (University of Sheffield)