Research Foci

Doctoral programme - Further Information - Research Foci - Admissions

The 18 members of staff in the Department have a wide range of interests. At the same time our areas of specialisation for the purposes of supervision can be grouped into the following research foci:

In order to give some indication of the breadth of our work, the titles of some recent PhD theses are listed below. These should be seen in the context of the wider research foci listed above.

European integration - History and politics of the European powers - The Baltic region - Eastern and central Europe - Latin America and Europe - Transitions to democracy and democratic consolidation - The external relations of the European Union - Greece and the Balkans

European integration

Work is conducted on a wide range of topics relating to the history and current politics and political economy of the European Union. Such work includes policy studies, studies of institutional functioning and change and studies of national/EU interaction. Topics include:

European integration and the regulation of international banking: selected national comparisons

Europe’s enterprise policy: a case study of transnational policy implementation

Ecological issues and the European Union

External trade policy of the EU: the case of GATT

Speaking with one voice? National interests, European identity and the CFSP

National identity and European union: the case of the UK

Functioning of the internal labour market: implications of EU enlargement and of EMU

Flexible integration: European integration after the Schäuble/Lamers paper

The trade and aid policies of the EU

EU-US relations 1960-1995

Managing interdependence: EC-US relations

The attitude of the British Conservative government to institutional change in the EC

The implications of media pluralism for reading

Staff providing supervision in this area include: Alistair Cole, Kenneth Dyson, Kevin Featherstone, Jeffrey Harrop, Marjorie Ruth Lister, Colin Mellors, Mansoob Murshed and Claudio Radaelli.

History and politics of the European powers

The Department has a strong interest in the politics, economics and history of modern France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the UK. Topics include:

The impact of German unification on female wage labour in Eastern Germany

The CDU/CSU and German unification: new problems of party management

Helmut Nicolai: biography of a Nazi theorist and bureaucrat

Pluralism in the mass media: media policy controversies in the FRG

The impact of the New Right on the German political system

Modern conservatism, liberal ironism and the significance of housing

Prospects for an anti-Conservative pact in the UK

A case study of the UK House of Commons Employment Select Committee

The rise of the new Russian economic elite

The impact of the National Front in four French cities

Staff providing supervision in this area include: Alistair Cole, Kenneth Dyson, Anthony Heywood, John Hiden, V. Martyn Housden, Colin Mellors, Munro Price and Claudio Radaelli.

The Baltic region

There is substantial research on the history, politics and economies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the twentieth century, as well as their role in the security and international relations of the Baltic region. The inter-war period and the period after 1991 are of particular interest. Topics include:

Post-War trade between Britain, Germany and the USSR’s Baltic republics

Baltic security after independence

Origins of Estonian nationalism: ethnic characteristics or historical products

Development of new political society in the Baltic, with specific reference to Latvia

The Russian minority in Estonia

The development of tourism in the Baltic States

Minority issues between the two world wars

Staff providing supervision in this area include: Anthony Heywood, John Hiden, Martyn Housden, Thomas Lane and David Smith.

Eastern and central Europe

Research on Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria focuses on transitions to democracy and the evolution of market economies; on the development of civil society, the problems of national security and the emergence of nationalism; and relations with the EU. Topics include:

The problems associated with Eastern European state integration into the EU

The relationship between Poland and the EC since 1989

Economic and political consequences of European integration with particular reference to the Slovak Republic

Staff providing supervision in this area include: Gábor Bátonyi, Roberto Espíndola, Jeffrey Harrop, John Hiden, V. Martyn Housden, George Kazamias, Thomas Lane, Mansoob Murshed and David Smith.

Latin America and Europe

Emphasis is on political and economic links, including the impact of the enlargement of the European Union, as well as cultural relations. Attention is given to the process of democratic governance and the implications of poverty for stability. Topics include:

Relations between Latin America and the EC: a comparison of Spain and the UK

Mercosur: to what extent a ‘European union’ of Latin America?

A cross-regional study of the EU and Mercosur: the management of disparities

Effects of international changes on Cuba’s political economy

Staff active in this area include: Roberto Espíndola, Kevin Featherstone and Marjorie Ruth Lister.

Transitions to democracy and democratic consolidation

Drawing on single country and regional expertise, the Department offers supervision of comparative work with particular reference to political conditionality, the consolidation of democracy and the relationship between state and civil society. Several of the topics that might be included under this heading have already been listed under The Baltic region, Eastern and central Europe, and Latin America and Europe.

Staff active in this area include: Gábor Bátonyi, Roberto Espíndola, Kevin Featherstone, John Hiden, Thomas Lane, Marjorie Ruth Lister and David Smith.

The external relations of the European Union

The Department has research interests in the relations between the EU and the United States, as well as in the EU’s ties with the developing countries and Mediterranean nations such as Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Malta. In addition to topics listed under European integration, Eastern and central Europe, and Latin America and Europe, the following projects are currently being pursued:

Relations between Turkey and the EU

Accession of Cyprus to the EU

The EU and the Balkans: negotiation of the European agreements

Staff active in this area include: Roberto Espíndola, Kevin Featherstone, Jeffrey Harrop, George Kazamias, Marjorie Ruth Lister and Mansoob Murshed.

Greece and the Balkans

The Department has an interest in research of the history, politics and economies of Greece and the Balkans, focusing on particular on the inter-war and post-war periods and including Greece’s relations with Bulgaria and Cyprus. In addition to topics included under European integration and the external relations of the EU, the following projects are currently being pursued:

Allied policy towards occupied Greece: the 1941-44 famine

The Cyprus conflict 1925-1955: domestic politics and constitutional proposals

Staff active in this area include: Kevin Featherstone and George Kazamias.

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Last updated, modified and extended by Tony Hargreaves on 12/7/99
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