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Dr Robin Pettitt
Lecturer in Comparative Politics
Areas of expertise
Find out more about Dr Robin Pettitt
- Overview
- Qualifications
- Career Highlights
- Research
- Media Highlights
- Professional Body Membership
Overview
Dr Pettitt's main area of expertise is political parties, especially membership influence on policy making. A particular area of interest has been left wing parties with a formal commitment to intra-party democracy and how this has worked out in practice.
His research has focussed on the obstacles to membership influence on party policy and how these can be overcome. One main area of attention has been the role of the party conference as a platform for membership dissent. In this context he had carried out extensive work on the Labour Party conference and how it has been managed by the party leadership so as to present a united front to the media and thereby the wider electorate. He has investigated the way in which the agenda is controlled, speakers groomed and how both individuals and other groups within the party membership have tried to break leadership control of the conference. He also has an interest in how the Labour Party conference has changed its nature during the party's history.
Dr. Pettitt is currently working on a project to investigate how parties try to engage with the communities they are there to serve. It is aimed at investigating how parties work to engage with the represented, i.e. citizens, at the local level. How do parties attempt to communicate and interact with those they are there to represent? How successful are political parties at engaging with the represented in dialogues about the latter's needs, demands and ideas? What challenges and obstacles are there to such dialogues? What can be learnt about how to improve the dialogue between representatives and represented from those local parties who have successfully overcome these obstacles and challenges?
Dr Pettit's blog can be found at:
http://pettittspolitics.blogspot.com/
http://news.tv2.dk/
Qualifications
| Year gained |
Subject |
| 2009 |
PhD - The University of Manchester. |
| 2000 |
MA INternational Relations and Strategic Studies - Lancaster University. |
| 1999 |
BA (Hons) Politics and International Relations - Lancaster University. |
Career Highlights
| Year |
Position held |
| 2007 |
Lecturer in Comparative Politicis - Kingston University |
Research
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PUBLICATIONS
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Journal articles
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2008
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'Electoral Reform, "New Politics", and intra-party democracy in post-devolution Scotland' Representation, 44, 4, pp. 317-326
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2007
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'Challenging the leadership: the party conference as a platform for dissenting membership voice in the Labour Party and the Danish Centre-Left', Scandinavian Political Studies 30/2 pp. 229-248
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2006
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'Rebellion by the seaside: How single member plurality has affected membership dissent at the Labour Party conference', Representation 42/4 pp. 289-301
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2005
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'Expert Opinion on Electoral Systems: So Which Electoral System is "Best"?', Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 15/1, pp. 3-20, (with Shaun Bowler and David M. Farrell)
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Books
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Forthcoming
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Contemporary Party Politics: Crisis or Transformation? Contracted to be published by Palgrave in 2010
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Book Chapters
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Forthcoming
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'Political Marketing in the UK' (with Jennifer Lees-Marshment) in Lees-Marshment, Jennifer, Chris Rudd and Jesper Stromback (eds), Global Political Marketing, book due to be published in 2009 by Routledge
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Forthcoming
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'Democratic Ideals vs. Oligarchic Reality: Membership influence on policy in the British Labour Party' in Emilie van Haute (ed.) Party Membership in Europe: exploration into the anthills of party politics, book due to be published in 2009 by Les Editions de L'Universite de Bruxelles
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Working Papers
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Forthcoming
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Parties in a Democratic Future, discussion paper to be published by the Electoral Reform Society as part of their Democracy series
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2004
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'The Members and the Message: membership influence on party policy in Western Europe' Manchester Papers in Politics: EPRU Series (1/2004)
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Other
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Forthcoming
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The following entries for Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Scandinavian Culture edited by Mary Hinson to be published by Faculty Research Imprint (Arts & Humanities) at University College London in 2010:
- 'Coalitions'
- 'Conservative Parties'
- 'Liberal Parties'
- 'New Left'
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Media Highlights
Robin regularly talks to the press. Most recently he has been interviewed live on TV2-News, Denmark's only 24 hour news channel, as well as by press in Holland on the unofficial start of campaign work for the 2010 election.
Professional Body Membership
Political Studies Association
Elections, Public Opinion and Parties Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association
British Politics Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association
Political Marketing Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association
Labour Movement Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association
Scandinavian Politics Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association