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Newly-founded Politics and International Relations one of the highest ranked small departments in RAE2008
Royal Holloway’s newly-founded Department of Politics and International Relations has performed well in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, emerging as one of the highest ranked small Departments in the United Kingdom.
This is the first time that the Department has participated in the RAE.
The Department ranked joint 9th in the country among departments of Politics with fewer than 20 researchers, and joint 2nd among those with fewer than 15
Overall, 70% of the Department's research publications were judged to be in the top three categories: "internationally excellent" (31%), "recognised internationally" (35%) or "world-leading" (4%) in terms of their "originality, significance and rigour".
In the Times Higher Education Supplement Table of Excellence published on December 18, 2008, Politics and International Relations is placed 33rd overall in the United Kingdom, above several Russell and 1994 group departments. The College as a whole ranked 24th out of 159 higher education institutions in the United Kingdom in the Times Higher table.
Commenting on the results, Head of Department Professor Andrew Chadwick said:
"We came from nowhere to record a solid achievement in our first RAE and this result provides a sound platform for the future. More than a third of our entrants were young researchers who joined the profession in the last two to three years.
We are a friendly and vibrant Department that has continued to grow and strengthen since the RAE’s November 2007 deadline.
As in previous exercises, there is a clear relationship between Department size and ranking. But Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway punched above its weight. We submitted a very high proportion of our eligible staff and we emerged as one of the highest ranked small departments in the UK for the originality, significance and rigour of our research.”
The Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London was founded in August 2004, following strategic investment by the College. It quickly expanded and established its research base in cutting-edge areas of the discipline, focused upon three new research centres: the Centre for European Politics, the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics, and the New Political Communication Unit. Thirty-five PhD students are currently registered in the Department.
Click here for a list of recent publications by members of the Department.
Click here for a list of recent books published by members of the Department.
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The Centre for European Politics was officially launched by Lord Mandelson in September 2007, with the mission of producing research in two principal areas: the study of democracy in Europe, and Europe as an actor in world politics. Under the leadership of Co-Directors Dr Alister Miskimmon and Dr James Sloam, it has recently hosted a number of high-profile speakers, including Lord Mandelson, Professor Simon Hix (LSE), Roger Liddle (Policy Network), John Peet (The Economist), Sir Stephen Wall (former European policy advisor to Tony Blair), and David Willetts MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Innovations, Universities and Skills). The Centre has also organised numerous research events, ranging from a workshop on Perceptions and Responses to Threats to a British International Studies Association conference on International Criminal Justice and the UK Political Studies Association’s inaugural Teaching and Learning conference on Youth, Citizenship and Political Science Education.
Recent funded research projects include: a European Union Committee of the Regions consultancy on EU External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy; an EU-funded Workshop on the Review of the European Union Budget; and Teaching Democracy.
The Centre for Global and Transnational Politics is devoted to the multi-disciplinary exploration of global and transnational processes. Led by its Co-Directors Dr Chris Rumford and Professor Sandra Halperin, its central concern is to theorise and conceptualise the substance of, and connections between and among, political processes that operate at all levels or scales: the local, national, international, transnational, and global.
The Centre recently won £54,000 from NORFACE, a partnership of European Research Councils including the ESRC, for a pan-European research network on globalisation and the transformation of Europe's borders, and £20,000 from the joint AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society programme for a research network on the normative foundations of public policy in a multi-faith society. The Centre has institutional linkages to the British International Studies Association through its Working Group on Global and Transnational Politics, to the Oxford Research Group, and to the global ‘Space of Democracy/Democracy of Space’ network.
This past year, Centre members have organised a variety of seminars and workshops, including ‘Borderwork,’ supported by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation; ‘New Directions in Development Theory and Practice’, organized in collaboration with Royal Holloway’s Centre for Developing Areas Research.
Dr Yasmin Khan’s recent book The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan (Yale University Press) won the Royal Historical Society’s Gladstone Book Prize of 2007.
The New Political Communication Unit’s research agenda focuses on the impact of new media and communication technologies on politics, policy and governance. Dr Ben O'Loughlin and Akil N. Awan, together with colleague Andrew Hoskins at the University of Warwick, were awarded £300,000 from the ESRC for a study of terrorist networks on the internet. Unit Co-Director Professor Andrew Chadwick is one of the founding members of the US National Science Foundation's International Working Group on Online Consultation and Public Policymaking, a three year project focusing on how political interaction on the internet can contribute to better government policy. It is funded through part of an overall grant of $1m to the State University of New York at Albany, from the NSF Digital Government Programme.
Andrew Chadwick’s recent book Internet Politics (Oxford University Press) was awarded one of the American Sociological Association Best Book Prizes in 2007.
The Unit held a major international conference on 'Politics: Web 2.0', April 17-18, 2008, which featured 120 papers organised into 41 panels, and over 180 participants drawn from more than 30 countries.
The Contemporary Political Theory Research Group was founded in October 2009, as a result of the development of political theory at postgraduate level and growth in academic staff numbers having created the critical mass it required. The group organizes its activities collectively, and its work focuses on issues around contemporary pluralism, liberalism, democratic theory and radical politics. It brings together staff working in contemporary Continental philosophy, normative political theory, and American pragmatism, and its postgraduate members include two students on the College’s most prestigious studentship, the Reid Award. The group also has ties to the College’s Philosophy Team and the interdepartmental Humanities and Arts Research Centre.
Further detail about the Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London
Major College investment has resulted in the development of the Department of Politics and International Relations since its foundation in August 2004. Prior to that, Politics and International Relations was taught by a small group of staff within the multidisciplinary Department of Social and Political Science (Grade 4, RAE 2001) but it in fact dates back to the Department of Social Studies and Economics founded in 1919.
The Department has developed in recent years primarily through the appointment of early and mid-career scholars, who are now playing a major role in shaping its future. We are located in one of the top higher education institutions in the UK, with strong institutional commitment to high quality research and teaching in Politics and International Relations.
In its first entry into the RAE (2008), the Department was ranked in the top ten among small Politics departments in the UK, finishing 9th among those with fewer than 20 researchers, and 2nd among those with fewer than 15 researchers. Overall, 70% of the Department's research publications were judged to be in the categories of "internationally excellent," "recognised internationally," and "world-leading" (4%) in terms of their "originality, significance and rigour."
Royal Holloway is one of the major Colleges of the federal University of London and is among the elite group of UK university institutions. In RAE 2008, the College ranked 16th out of 159 UK institutions of higher education in terms of the proportion of its research belonging in the top category (4-star).
In the Times Higher Education Supplement Table of Excellence published on December 18, 2008, Politics and International Relations is placed 33rd overall in the United Kingdom.
Our aim is to continue our upward trajectory by further developing our research base, teaching curriculum and international profile. Future appointments will a) capitalise on existing areas of strength while creating new strengths that bring the Department into balance with respect to the field of Politics and IR and b) increase the Department’s ability to compete in areas of emerging importance. In 2008, the Departmetn reached a size of 18 permanent academic staff.
The Department currently has 300 undergraduates, 50 taught postgraduates and 30 postgraduate research students. The ability of students on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes is high. As a College of the University of London, each year we attract around 40 able students from around the world onto our JYA/Study Abroad schemes.
At undergraduate level, we teach a single honours programme in Politics, a joint honours degree in Politics and International Relations, and joint honours degrees with Economics, Geography, History, and, from September 2010, Philosophy. Politics and IR are also taken in various major/minor combinations with Economics, French, Italian, Hispanic Studies and Multilingual Studies. The multi-departmental undergraduate degree in European Studies is situated within the Department and we teach its core courses and contribute options.
At postgraduate level we offer an innovative range of MSc streams: Democracy, Politics and Governance, European Politics, Global Politics, International Relations, International Relations Theory, New Political Communication, Political Research, and Political Theory. All permanent members of staff are involved in research degree supervision.
In August 2008 the Department moved from its previous location on the first floor of the Arts Building to a suite of offices in the College's famous Founder’s Building. We are now based in a first floor section of Founder’s West, adjacent to Founder’s Library and one floor up from the Founder’s Main Lecture Theatre. Half of the rooms overlook the Founder’s North Quad while the others overlook the wooded area and the field to the west of the campus that stretches to the tennis courts. As well as greater numbers of academic offices to accommodate our ongoing expansion, the suite features a dedicated meeting room and a greater amount of space for PhD student desks.
The proximity of the College to the country's capital, with its major libraries, governmental, legal and financial institutions, offers invaluable opportunities for researchers working in any field. London can be reached by train in about 35 minutes. Researchers conducting fieldwork overseas will appreciate the proximity of the UK's two major airports: London Heathrow (15 minutes’ drive) and London Gatwick (45 minutes’ drive). West and south west from campus is the fine English countryside of Berkshire, Surrey and Hampshire, with its historic market towns and villages.
Research Development
The Department has experienced a rapid transformation since its formation. A recruitment strategy that resulted in a significant increase in the number of our permanent staff has enabled us to bring more clearly into focus core Departmental strengths, increase our ability to compete in areas of emerging importance, expand the range of our teaching and research expertise, thoroughly restructure our taught postgraduate programmes, attract a growing number of excellent PhD students, and establish three new research centres within the Department.
The Department has rapidly built up its research base and now has in place, and is continuing to develop, research strengths in cutting-edge areas of politics and international relations. These include: contemporary political theory; European politics; governance and political participation; new media and political communication; regional, transnational and global politics; and security, international law and conflict. These areas provide an organic foundation for three distinctive research centres: the Centre for European Politics (CEP), the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics (CGTP) and the New Political Communication Unit (NPCU). The CEP brings together Departmental research expertise in comparative European politics, the theory and workings of the European Union, Europe’s global role, and European political theory and philosophy. The CGTP builds on the work of a number of Departmental colleagues with expertise in comparative, transnational, and global politics. The NPCU highlights our expertise in comparative and international political communication, communication and comparative governance, and Internet and new media governance and regulation.
Our strategy has been to appoint staff who have multiple, overlapping specialisms, connected to the Department’s core research areas.
Research Centres
In 2007, the Department established three new research centres. A fourth research group was formed in 2009. Each centre brings together internationally regarded researchers, a growing community of PhD students and seeks to build networks with other research centres in the national and international spheres. Students enrolling for a research degree will be associated with one of the centres, though these are not mutually exclusive and students are welcome to become involved in the activities of more than one. Prospective research students are strongly encouraged to find out more by visiting the Centre websites.
The Centre for European Politics
Co-Directors: Dr Alister Miskimmon and Dr James Sloam
Website.
The Centre for European Politics promotes excellence in research and teaching in the field of European Politics. It brings together internationally regarded researchers and a growing PhD student community of ambitious students working in this area. Research is carried out on contemporary European politics, drawing on expertise within our Department, the college and in the wider academic and policy community. The CEP establishes collaborative links with academics, research institutes, and NGOs both in the UK and abroad. It also serves to stimulate intellectual debate on issues central to the understanding of contemporary European politics and society, and the intellectual frameworks within which these can be studied. The CEP has particular strengths in: comparative European politics; the theory and workings of the European Union; Europe’s global role; and European political theory and philosophy.
Staff whose research focuses on these themes:
German foreign policy, as well as wider European and global security issues and all aspects of European integration. |
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European political parties; European social democracy (the UK, Germany and France); British and German foreign policy. |
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Party and electoral politics in Europe; Comparative Legislative Politics; EU Politics; European Parliament. |
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The civil service; legal and constitutional aspect of public service reforms; the operation of the Court of Appeal; the comparative politics of capital punishment. |
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Turkey/EU relations; cosmopolitanism; borders; and theories of contemporary social and political transformation. |
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Contemporary European philosophy and the history of Western political thought and philosophy, with particular interest in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze. |
The MSc streams in European Politics and Democracy, Politics and Governance are ideal preparation for doctoral research in the Centre for European Politics.
The Centre for Global and Transnational Politics
Co-Directors: Professor Sandra Halperin, Dr Chris Rumford
Website.
The Centre for Global and Transnational Politics focuses on the theoretical cutting-edge of research and writing on multi-level/macro-social change and, specifically, work that theorizes and conceptualizes the interface between international relations and global politics. The Centre focuses on two broad research areas. The first area, regional, transnational, and comparative politics, includes the politics of the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle East, the EU, and other regions; transnational governance; global development; borders in global politics; power and identity; comparative and international public policy; national, regional and international security; cosmopolitanism; global media and politics; and environmental politics. The second area, international law, conflict, and security, includes: international law and institutions; the political theory of global social justice; immigration and citizenship; new security challenges; human rights; global legal and institutional networks; and military operations & international law.
Staff whose research focuses on these themes:
War and social change, conflict and conflict resolution in the Middle East; global development. |
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European regional identity in the context of globalization; emerging forms of transnational governance, especially in relation to EU integration. |
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International relations of the Asia Pacific, security, international institutions, multilateralism and Chinese foreign and security policy. |
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Political liberalism, pragmatism, theories of democracy, multiculturalism and the politics of recognition. |
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International law, international organizations, the Cold War, the 'war on terror'. |
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East Asian security, U.S.-China relations, U.S. foreign policy, and international relations theory. |
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Political choice and party system change in second wave democracies. |
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Ethnic violence, religion, politics and violence in the Indian Subcontinent. |
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Migration, ethnicity and identity. |
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Comparative foreign policy, EU foreign and security policy. |
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Immigration politics and 'open borders', global distributive justice; the ideas and implications of liberalism, communitarianism and multiculturalism; altruism. |
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New security challenges and risks, the changing character of war/conflict, power in world politics, transatlantic relations and US Foreign Policy. |
The MSc streams in Global Politics, International Relations, and International Relations Theory are ideal preparation for Doctoral research in the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics.
The New Political Communication Unit
Co-Directors: Professor Andrew Chadwick, Dr Ben O'Loughlin
Website.
The New Political Communication Unit is concerned with how new communication technologies shape change in political institutions and behaviour, and how they create new policy problems for liberal democratic and non liberal-democratic states, including their roles in the global system. It is also concerned with the need for new theoretical and conceptual tools to make sense of these fast-moving developments.
The Unit has three distinct but related research foci:
• Comparative and international political communication, encompassing: the Internet's impact on political mobilization, campaigning and identity; the relationship between media, war, new security challenges and conflict; audience reception studies in the context of the proliferation of media; the dynamic between citizens’ changing uses of media and a transforming news environment; citizen journalism; technology and mobilities.
• Communication and comparative governance, encompassing: e-government, e-democracy and the changing interface between representative institutions, public bureaucracies and citizens; changing organizational practices shaped by new patterns of communication.
• Comparative and international communication policy, including: Internet and new media governance and regulation; privacy, surveillance and security, the political economy of new media; cultural diversity policy; digital divide and development issues.
Staff whose research focuses on these themes:
The Internet’s impact on political communication, especially e-democracy, election campaigning, citizen engagement and e-government. |
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International political communication, media, war, new communication technologies and security challenges; the Internet’s impact on politics. |
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International political communication, media, war, new communication technologies and security challenges |
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The function, legitimacy, and radicalising efficacy of virtual Jihadist media and the use of the Internet by Jihadist groups. |
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Political parties, the Internet and youth participation in democracy. |
The MSc stream in New Political Communication is ideal preparation for Doctoral study in the New Political Communication Unit.
The Contemporary Political Theory Research Group
The Contemporary Political Theory Research Group was founded in October 2009, as a result of the development of political theory at postgraduate level and growth in academic staff numbers having created the critical mass it required. The group organizes its activities collectively, and its work focuses on issues around contemporary pluralism, liberalism, democratic theory and radical politics. It brings together staff working in contemporary Continental philosophy, normative political theory, and American pragmatism, and its postgraduate members include two students on the College’s most prestigious studentship, the Reid Award. The group also has ties to the College’s Philosophy Team and the interdepartmental Humanities and Arts Research Centre. Its first year saw the establishment of a successful reading group exploring the theme of pluralism and will conclude with visits by two internationally renowned political philosophers, Professor Jane Bennett in May, and Professor William E. Connolly in June. A one day conference on “The Margins of Citizenship” is planned for November, in collaboration with the Department of Politics, University of Leicester.
Staff whose research focuses on these themes:
Contemporary European philosophy and the history of Western political thought and philosophy, with particular interest in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze.. |
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Immigration politics and 'open borders', global distributive justice; the ideas and implications of liberalism, communitarianism and multiculturalism; altruism. |
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Political liberalism, pragmatism, theories of democracy, multiculturalism and the politics of recognition. |
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Migration, ethnicity and identity |
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Ancient philosophy and literature, particularly Neoplatonist literary theory, psychology, and philosophy of mind. |
The MSc stream in Political Theory are ideal preparation for doctoral research in the Contemporary Political Theory Research Group..
Research Governance and Culture
The Department has a Research Mentoring Scheme to support newly appointed Lecturers and post-doctoral researchers in developing research capacity. This is in addition to College level probation. Under the scheme, our strongest researchers mentor junior staff exclusively on research matters. Mentors work with the Director of Research and Graduate Study and the Head of Department, but also liaise with the Research and Enterprise Office and feed back suggestions and advice.
Permanent Lecturers are relieved of major administrative tasks and are given significantly reduced teaching loads during their three year period of probation. It is College policy for all staff to take a period of sabbatical leave every nine terms. It is the Department’s policy to manage workloads to maximise research time through a freely circulated workload model balancing teaching and administrative load equally across staff. This creates space for research and a culture of transparency and trust. Grant applications are discussed with colleagues in research centres and the College’s Research, Enterprise and External Relations Office provides further advice. The Department has a Director of Research and Graduate Study and a Research Committee. The Research Committee encourages and oversees the work of the research centre Directors; applications for external research funding, conference support and sabbatical leave. It manages research ethics, monitors research students, and, most importantly, works to develop the Department’s vibrant research culture through, for example sponsoring staff-student seminars, visiting speaker programmes, conferences, and Departmental publications (including a Working Papers Series). It developed and oversees our Research Mentoring Scheme.
The Director of Graduate Study is responsible for research student recruitment and progress monitoring. Doctoral students are supported from a variety of external and internal sources. An annual Departmental competition is held to decide on the thematic areas for internally-funded studentships. The Department has +3 and CASE recognition for its doctoral programme. Teaching on our thriving Masters programme is research-led and is closely aligned with the activities of our three research centres.
All research students in the Department have access to office space. A new postgraduate facility was introduced alongside our existing spaces in September 2007 as a response to our growing PhD student community. In October 2008 we had 35 PhD students registered.
Research students are encouraged to submit work in progress to our internally peer-reviewed Working Papers Series and to present their work at professional association conferences as well as our regular staff-student seminars. Our Working Paper Series is run by a postgraduate editor and a permanent member of academic staff, overseen by an associate editorial board. In recent times research students have presented their work to several high profile and international conferences, including the PSA, BISA, ISA, and the Association of Internet Researchers.
All academic staff receive a generous conference allowance and access to a competitively assigned international conference fund. Staff are active participants in the mainstream professional associations: PSA, BISA, APSA, ISA, ECPR, UACES. Doctoral students presenting papers at conferences receive an automatic funding allowance. In recent years, the Department raised over £30K of internal funding from the College's Research Strategy Fund. Our three research centres have devolved budgets from the Department (overseen by the Research Committee and HoD) to assist with research activity such as workshops, conferences, visiting speaker series and research tasks such as editorial assistance for the four journals partly edited by staff in the Department.
The Department has world-class ICT equipment. All new staff are provided with a new computer and customised software. A pool of ultra-portable laptops and mini data projectors for staff and research student use is maintained and regularly refreshed by the Department. In early 2007 we secured £22K from the special HEFCE equipment fund to renew our digital research infrastructure. This allowed the Department to purchase a significant number of new desktop and notebook computers, digital voice recorders, scanners, qualitative data analysis software licenses for staff and doctoral students, and a video editing suite.
In the short period since the Department’s formation we have developed an extremely active research culture. This involves many of the 'standard' mechanisms (seminars with internal and external speakers, fortnightly 'brown-bag' seminars where staff and research students talk about work in progress, and regularly published working papers). But the Department also runs a thematic day-long annual research workshop (Responses to the Iraq War, 2006; The Blair Premiership, 2007; Democracy in Crisis, 2008). The Department played a pivotal role in establishing the Magna Carta Lectures (with the Magna Carta Trust) in 2005. This celebrates the document's lasting influence and will be delivered annually until 2015, its 800th anniversary. Speakers to date include Lord Woolf, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, and Professor the Rt Hon Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby. Between September 2007 and June 2008, no fewer than 39 separate research events were hosted by the Department (see http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Politics-and-IR/Calendar/)
We believe that the research and teaching we offer at Royal Holloway is of the highest quality. We warmly invite you to join us.
Tel/Fax : +44 (0)1784 443149/434375