Department of Politics

Academic Staff - D Richards

Dr. David Richards, B.A. [Essex], MSc. [L.S.E], Ph.D.[Strathclyde]

Reader

Telephone: +44 (0)114 222 1666
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 1717
Room: 2.05 Elmfield
Feedback & Consultation hours: Tues 1000-1100, Thur 1300-1400

email : D.Richards@sheffield.ac.uk

Profile

Dr. Richards was awarded his PhD. from the Department of Government, University of Strathclyde (1996). The thesis examined the politicisation of the Civil Service under the 1979-97 Conservative Government. He then became a post-doctoral research fellow at the Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham (1995-1998). In 1998 he joined the School of Politics and Communication Studies, University of Liverpool as a Lecturer, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2001 and a Reader in 2004. In the year 2000, he was a Visiting Honorary Fellow at the Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Australia. In 2004, he was appointed a Reader in the Department of Politics, University of Sheffield.

In 2008, he will be a Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

His main research interests are in British politics, Australian politics, public policy, governance, globalisation and state theory. He is currently researching the changing role of the British state, in particular, through a critique of the literatures on governance and the regulatory state;policy delivery in the Home Office; and political biography and core executive studies: a case study of David Blunkett.

Teaching

POL108 British Politics 2007-08

POL315 Issues and Decision Making in British Politics

POL3018 Advanced Political Anaysis

Current Research

In recent years, he has been engaged on four ESRC research funded projects:
• The Changing Role of Central Government Departments [L124251023]
• Labour and the Reform of Whitehall: Inheritance, Transition and Accommodation [R000222657]
• Public Services: Analysing Delivery Chains in the Home Office (RES-153-25-00 37)
• Building Bridges between Political Biography and Political Science – A Methodologically Innovative Study of the Core Executive under New Labour [RES-000-22-2040]

At present he is completing Public Services: Analysing Delivery Chains in the Home Office this project is an ESRC funded-bid [along with Martin J. Smith and Andrew Geddes] examining how policy is translated through the delivery chain from policymakers at the top to street level bureaucrats at the bottom. Its concern is to analyse how different interpretations develop as the policy develops through the policy chain that leads to the delivery of policy in ways not originally intended by the policy makers. [Awarded December 2004]

Visit The Delivery Chain Research

He has also currently conducting an ESRC project Building Bridges between Political Biography and Political Science – A Methodologically Innovative Study of the Core Executive under New Labour [with Helen Mathers] -. This project is a unique attempt to build bridges between political science and political biography by drawing from both approaches to provide an empirically-rich, yet theoretically informed, account of the contemporary nature of the British core executive. It brings together a political science research team, with a strong track-record in researching the British core executive, alongside a senior politician, David Blunkett, to study the work of two Whitehall departments over which he presided as Secretary of State - the Department of Education and Employment [DfEE] (1997-2001) and the Home Office (2001-04). The aim is to understand and interpret the nature of the policy-making process, the relationships between ministers and civil servants and analyse the 'New Labour effect' on the core executive from the perspective of an experienced Cabinet minister. The research evidence will be interpreted according to the perspectives of the major theoretical models of the British core executive developed in the last two decades. The project offers an opportunity to explore the extent to which these models resonate with the interpretations of the world which political practitioners inhabit. [Awarded September 2006]

Visit the Building Bridges Research

Key Publications

Books

• New Labour and the Civil Service: Reconstituting The Westminster Model (Basingstoke: Palgrave December 2007)
• British Politics: Institutions, Issues and Policies Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006) (with Dennis Kavanagh, Martin Smith and Andrew Geddes)
• Governance and Public Policy in the UK Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). (with Martin Smith)
• Changing Patterns of Governance in the United Kingdom (Palgrave, 2001) (with Martin Smith and David Marsh)
• The Civil Service under the Conservative 1979-1997 (Sussex Academic Press, 1997)

Journal Articles

• 'Central Government Departments And The Policy Process' Public Administration 1993 Vol.71, No. 4. [with Smith M.J. & Marsh, D]. pp.567-594
• 'Why Did They Do It? Voting On Homosexuality And Capital Punishment In The House Of Commons' Parliamentary Affairs 1994 Vol.47, No. 3. [with Marsh, D. & Read, M.]. pp.374-386
• 'Elite Interviewing: Approaches and Pitfalls' (1996) Politics 16(3). pp.199-204
• 'Appointments to the Highest Grades in the Civil Service - Drawing the Curtain Open' (1996) Public Administration Vol. 74/4. pp.657-678
• 'Thatcherism and the 3'rs': Radicalism, Realism and Rhetoric. The Third Term of the Thatcher Government'. Parliamentary Affairs 1996 Vol.49/3. [with Dolowitz, D. Marsh, D. and O'Neil F]. pp.455-470
• Evidence to House of Lords Select Committee on Public Service Session 1996-97. Select Committee on the Public Service Report: House of Lords London: HMSO. pp.96-102
• 'How Departments Change: Windows of Opportunity and Critical Junctures in Three Departments' Public Policy and Administration 1997 Vol.12 No.2 [with Smith M.J].pp.62-79
• 'The Accountability of Public Bodies' Memorandum of Evidence to the Public Administration Committee Sixth Report Quangos (1998-99) HC 209-11 pp.196-205
• 'The Tangled Webs of Westminster and Whitehall: The Discourse, Strategy and Practice of Networking within the British Core Executive' Public Administration Spring 2000, 78/1 [with Hay, C]. pp.1-28
• 'Re-Assessing the Role of Ministers' Public Administration 2000, Vol.78/2 [with Martin J. Smith & D. Marsh]. pp.305-326
• 'Bureaucrats, Politicians and Reform in Whitehall: Analysing the Bureau-Shaping Model' British Journal of Political Science 2000 Vol.30/3. [with Martin J. Smith & D. Marsh]. pp.461-482
• 'Power, Knowledge and the Core Executive: the Living Chimera of the Public Service Ethos and the Role of the British Civil Service' West European Politics 2000 23/3 [with Martin J. Smith]. pp.45-66
• Departmentalism and Joined-Up Government: Back to the Future?' Parliamentary Affairs January 2001 Vol.54/1 [with Dennis Kavanagh] pp.1-18
• 'Governance and Policy' Parliamentary Affairs, Vol.56/2 April 2003, pp.358-365
• 'Prime Ministers, Ministers and Civil Servants in Britain' Comparative Sociology 2003 Vol. 2/1 [with Dennis Kavanagh] pp175-195
• 'Unequal Power: Towards An Asymmetric Power Model of the British Polity', Government and Opposition. [with David Marsh and Martin Smith] Vol.38/3, Summer 2003, pp.306-322
• 'Governance and Policy' Parliamentary Affairs Vol. 57/2 April 2004 pp.487-492
• 'Understanding and Explaining Civil Service Reform: A Reply to Dowding and James' British Journal of Political Science [Spring 2004] Vol. 34/1 [with Martin J. Smith and D. Marsh]. pp.189-192
• 'Interpreting The World Of Political Elites: Some Methodological Issues' Public Administration [Autumn 2004] Vol.82/4 [with Martin J. Smith]
• ‘Central Control and Policy Implementation in the UK: a Case Study of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit’ Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis Vol. 8 No.4 Winter 2006 [with Martin J. Smith]
• ‘New Labour and Whitehall – A Rocky, but Dependent Relationship’ Politics Review Volume 16, No.3, February 2007.
• ‘Political Control Vs Administration Autonomy: It’s The Mix That Matters’ The House Magazine August 2007
• ‘British Politics And The Challenges To The Westminster Model’ Politics Review Volume 17, No.3, February 2008 with Rt. Hon. David Blunkett MP
• 'Old and New Labour Narratives of Whitehall: Radicals, Reactionaries and Defenders of the Westminster Model' Political Quarterly Vol, 79/4, October-December 2008 [with David Blunkett and Helen Mathers].
  
• 'Sustaining the Westminster Model: A Case Study of the Transition in Power between Political Parties in British Government' Parliamentary Affairs, Vol 62/1, January 2009.
  
• 'Decentring Policy Networks: A Theoretical Agenda', Public Administration Vol. 87/1 March 2009 [with Mark Bevir]
• 'Decentring Policy Networks: Lessons And Prospects' Public Administraton Vol.87/1 March 2009 {with Mark Belvir]
• 'New Labour and the Civil Service: Analysing the Issue of Politicisation', Political Education Forum Journal, Vol.2 No.1 January 2009.

Book Chapters

• 'Central Government Departments and the Policy Process' in Rhodes, R. & Dunleavy, P. [eds] Prime Minister, Cabinet and Core Executive (1995) Basingstoke, Macmillan. [with Martin J. Smith and David Marsh] pp.38-60
• 'The Gatekeepers of the Common Good - Power and the Public Service Ethos' in. A. Hondeghem [ed] Ethics and Accountability in a Context of Governance and New Public Management (1998) Amsterdam: IOS Press. [with Martin J. Smith] pp.151-166
• 'The Conservatives, New Labour and Whitehall: A Biographical Examination of the Political Flexibility of the Mandarin Cadre' in. K. Theakston [ed.] (1999) Bureaucrats and Leadership London: Macmillan. pp.91-117
• 'Central Administration' in Catterall, P. (ed.) (1999) Britain in 1988: A Review of the Year London: Institute of Contemporary British History pp.18-30
• 'New Labour, the Constitution and Reforming the State' in Ludlam, S. and Smith, M.J. (eds.) (2000) New Labour in Government (Basingstoke: Macmillan). pp145-166
• 'The Changing Role of Central Government Departments' in Rhodes R.A.W. [ed.] (2000) Transforming British Government Volume Two: Changing Roles and Relationships London: Macmillan. [with Marsh, D & Smith, M.J.] pp.146-164
• 'Breaking the Policy Bias: Windows of Opportunity and the Realignment of Structural Constraints in Three Governments Departments' in A. Cortell & S. Peterson (eds.) (2002) Altered States: International Relations, Domestic Politics and Institutional Change Lexington: Lexington Books [with Martin J. Smith]
• 'Continuities in Political Elites: Prime Ministers, Ministers and Civil Servants in Britain' in Dogan, M. (ed.) (2003) Elite Configurations at the Apex of Power Leidu: Brill. [with Dennis Kavanagh] pp.175-195
• 'The Civil Service in Britain: a Case-Study in Path Dependency' in Halligan, J. (ed) (2004) Civil Service Systems In Anglo-American Countries London: Edward Elgar pp.30-71
• 'New Labour and the Reform of the State' in Ludlam, S. and Smith, M.J. (eds.) (2004) Governing as New Labour: Policy and Politics under Blair Basingstoke: Palgrave pp.106-125
• 'The Changing Role of Central Government Departments' in Rhodes R.A.W. [ed.] (2000) Transforming British Government Volume Two: Changing Roles and Relationships London: Macmillan. [with Marsh, D & Smith, M.J.] pp.146-164
• 'Breaking the Policy Bias: Windows of Opportunity and the Realignment of Structural Constraints in Three Governments Departments' in A. Cortell & S. Peterson (eds.) (2002) Altered States: International Relations, Domestic Politics and Institutional Change Lexington: Lexington Books [with Martin J. Smith]
• 'Continuities in Political Elites: Prime Ministers, Ministers and Civil Servants in Britain' in Dogan, M. (ed.) (2003) Elite Configurations at the Apex of Power Leidu: Brill. [with Dennis Kavanagh] pp.175-195
• 'The Civil Service in Britain: a Case-Study in Path Dependency' in Halligan, J. (ed) (2004) Civil Service Systems In Anglo-American Countries London: Edward Elgar pp.30-71
• ‘The Hybrid State: Labour’s response to the Challenge of Governance’’ in Ludlam, S. and Smith, M.J. (eds.) (2004) Governing as New Labour: Policy and Politics under Blair Basingstoke: Palgrave pp.106-125.
• ‘Delivery of Public Services’ in Geddes, A. and Tonge, J. (2005) Britain Decides: The UK General Election 2005 Basingstoke: Palgrave
• ‘The Tensions of Political Control and Administrative Autonomy: from NPM to a Reconstituted Westminster Model in P. Lægreid and T. Christensen (eds) (2006) Autonomy and Regulation: Coping with Agencies in the Modern State London: Edward Elgar pp. 181-200.

PhD Supervision

He is keen to supervise promising research students in a range of areas including: New Labour and the Conservative Party, New Labour's reform of the state and programme for delivery and joined-up-government, post-war British political development, governance, public policy, the regulatory state, and Australian politics.

He has in the recent past successfully [co-]supervised PhD theses on topics including:

• 'Manifestly Different?' An Analysis of the British Labour Party's Policy Development, Examined Through the Party Manifestos of 1983-1997.' Completed September 2001.
• 'Welfarism Anew? Territorial Politics and Inter-War State Housing in Three Lancashire Towns' Completed August 2002.
• 'What is New Labour's Idea of the State?' Completed September 2005.
• 'A Study of Mayoral Elections: Independent success in the First English Mayoral Elections' June 2007
• 'Xenortransplantation and the Home Office' [Dan Lyons]'The Winner of the 2007 Political Science Association Walter Bagehot Prize for Government and Public Administration'

Areas of present supervision:

• 'The Viability of Local Political Governance in the UK' Due for completion September 2007. [Paul Cotterill]
• ‘Does the Current Regulatory System Allow the Core Executive to Exert More or Less Power over the Privatised Utilities than Before the 1980's - 90's "Managerial Revolution" [Daniel Fitzpatrick]
• 'The public service ethos and street level bureaucracy in Saudi Arabia' [Moneef Mlafikh]
• ‘Implementation Issues in Britain in an Era of Governance’ [Xiongwei Song]
  
• ‘ICT & Governance/Globalisation’ [Matthew English]