Post: Professor of Politics, University Lecturer in Politics, Rhodes Pelczynski Tutorial Fellow in Politics, Pembroke College

Appointed: 1993

College: Pembroke College

Office Details: Manor Road

Phone No: (01865) 276444 -  Contact electronically

Website: http://eurequal.politics.ox.ac.uk/

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Introduction:

After writing my doctorate in 1991 on Soviet political and economic institutions (published as Industrial Power and the Soviet State by Oxford University Press in 1993 - Ed A. Hewett Prizewinner), I have spent the last 15 years (in part with colleagues at Oxford University and with Geoffrey Evans in particular) studying post-Communist politics and society via surveys conducted repeatedly in 13 post-Communist countries.  On the way, I became interested in the character of post-Communist and now West European political parties, which I am also investigating (with Robert Rohrschneider at Indiana University, Bloomington) via expert surveys of their stances towards European integration and social inequality.  This research agenda looks set to continue for some time via the data we will be producing on the Eurequal project (eurequal.politics.ox.ac.uk/) which I am coordinating and which also involves a new research element, namely the analysis of focus group data from 10 post-Communist countries.

Research Activities and Interests:

Russian and more broadly post-Communist comparative politics and societies, especially social inequality and its political consequences, political culture, political parties, partisanship and electoral choice, democratic and market consolidation (and non-consolidation), European and Western integration (and non-integration), West, Central and East European parties. 

Current research grants:

‘Reconsidering Party Divisions in Western Europe: Lessons from the New Democracies of Central and Eastern Europe’
Principal Investigator (with Robert Rohrschneider), Nuffield Foundation, SGS/34859.
This funding enables an expert survey that was conducted first in 2003-4 in 13 East European countries, and part replicated in 2007 as part of a large EC-funded project (see below, EUREQUAL), to be extended to 13 Western European countries. The new data create will allow an investigation of the current character of policy divisions in West European countries as well as those in the East. One significant result will be the creation of unique database covering the whole of Europe. 
EUREQUAL: ‘Social Inequality and Why It Matters for the Economic and Democratic Development of Europe and Its Citizens. Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe in Comparative Perspective’

Project Coordinator, EU-FP6-2004-CITIZENS-5, Citizens and Governance in a Knowledge-based Society.  (http://eurequal.politics.ox.ac.uk/)

A project to study the character, causes and political consequences of social inequality in 13 post-Communist states, using data from focus groups, national probability samples, expert surveys of party and elite stances, and available country-level data in a multi-level analytical framework, with particular reference to the impact of (i) institutional arrangements on social inequality and of social inequality on (ii) individual level political attitudes and behaviour and (iii) on country-level market and democratic development.  The project will also consider how such relationships may have changed over time, using data from Oxford studies in the early 1990s. 

 

 

 

Research News

• May 2009, Election of new Head of Department, Read more


• Oct 2007, Professor Stephen Whitefield awarded Nuffield Foundation Small Grant, Read more


• Jul 2007, Professor Stephen Whitefield Awarded John Fell OUP Research Fund Grant, Read more

Teaching Responsibilities:

Undergraduate:

• Introduction to Politics
• Comparative Government
• Political Sociology
• Russian Politics and Government

Graduate:

• Director of Graduate Research Training, Politics
• Convenor, Research Design in Comparative Political Science

Previous Posts Held:

Lecturer, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, 1990-1993

Publications:

Monographs

• Industrial Power and the Soviet State, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993.

Book editor
 

• Public Opinion, Party Competition and the European Union in Eastern Europe, (with Robert Rohrschneider), Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2006.   
• Political Culture and Post-Communism, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2005.
• The New Institutional Architecture of Eastern Europe, Macmillan, London 1993.

Journal articles

• ‘Representation and New Democracies: Party Stances on European Integration in Post Communist Eastern Europe’ (with Robert Rohrschneider), The Journal of Politics, 69 (4), 2007, 1148-1161. 
• ‘Do Expert Surveys Produce Consistent Estimates of Party Stances on European Integration? Comparing Expert Surveys in the Difficult Case of Central and Eastern Europe’ (with Milada Anna Vachudova, Marco Steenbergen, Robert Rohrschneider, Gary Marks, Paul Loveless, Liesbet Hooghe), Electoral Studies, forthcoming 2006.
• ‘Mind the Representation Gap: Explaining Differences in Public Views of Representation in Post-Communist Democracies’, Comparative Political Studies, 40 (6), August 2006, forthcoming.
• ‘Political Parties, Public Opinion and European Integration in Post-Communist Countries: the State of the Art’ (with Robert Rohrschneider), European Union Politics, 7(1), 2006, 141-160.
• ‘Explaining the Emergence and Persistence of Class Voting in Post-Soviet Russia, 1993-2001’ (with G. Evans), Political Research Quarterly, 59 (1), 2006, 23-34.
• ‘Support for Foreign Ownership and Integration in Eastern Europe: Economic Interests, Ideological Commitments and Democratic Context’ (with Robert Rohrschneider), Comparative Political Studies, 37, 2004, 313-339.
• ‘Russian Mass Attitudes Toward the Environment, 1993-2001’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 19, 2003, 95-113.
• ‘Political Cleavages and Post-Communist Politics’, Annual Review of Political Science, 5, 2002, 181-200.
• ‘The Political Economy of Targeting and Poverty Alleviation in Ukraine’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 18, 2002, 71-97.  (Reprinted in Wsevolod W Isajiw ed., Social Change in Ukraine in Western Perspectives.  Toronto, Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2003, 401-426.)
• ‘Socialno-klassoviy faktor politicheskogo povedeniya v Rossii’ (The Social Class Factor in Political Behaviour in Russia) (with G. Evans), Sotsiologicheskie Issledovanie, 2, 2000.
• 'Class, Markets and Partisanship in Post-Soviet Russia: 1993-96' (with G. Evans), Electoral Studies, 18, 1999, 155-78.
• 'Political Culture versus Rational Choice: Explaining Responses to Transition in the Czech Republic and Slovakia' (with G. Evans), British Journal of Political Science, 29, 1999, 129-55.
• 'The Evolution of Left and Right in Post-Soviet Russia' (with G. Evans), Europe-Asia Studies, 45, 1998, 1023-42. 
• 'The Structuring of Political Cleavages in Post-communist Societies: The Case of the Czech and Slovak Republics' (with G. Evans), Political Studies, 46, 1998, 115-39.
• ‘Support for Democracy and Political Opposition in Russia, 1993 and 1995’ (with G. Evans), Post-Soviet Affairs, 12, 1996, 218-242.
• ‘Economic Ideology and Political Success: Communist-successor Parties in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary Compared’ (with G. Evans), Party Politics, 1, 1995, 565-578.
• ‘Social and Ideological Cleavage Formation in Hungary’ (with G. Evans), Europe-Asia Studies, 47, 1995, 1177-1204.
• ‘The Politics and Economics of Democratic Commitment: Support for Democracy in Transition Societies’ (with G. Evans), British Journal of Political Science 25, 1995, 485-514.  (Reproduced in Pippa Norris, ed. (1998).  Elections and Voting Behaviour, Aldershot: Ashgate.  And in Stephen White and Daniel Nelson, eds (2001). The Politics of the Post Communist World, Vol II., in The International Library of Politics and Comparative Government, Ashgate, Aldershot.)
• ‘The Russian Election of 1993: Public Opinion and the Transition Experience’ (with G. Evans), Post-Soviet Affairs, 10, 1994, 38-60.
• ‘Identifying the Bases of Party Competition in Eastern Europe’ (with G. Evans), British Journal of Political Science, 23 (4), 1993, 521-548.  (Reprinted in Stephen White and Daniel Nelson eds (2001). The Politics of the Post Communist World, Vol I., in The International Library of Politics and Comparative Government, Aldershot: Ashgate.)

 

Book chapters

• ‘Political Parties, Public Opinion and European Integration. The Theoretical Backdrop’ (with Robert Rohrschneider), in Robert Rohrschneider and Stephen Whitefield eds., Public Opinion, Party Competition and the European Union in Eastern Europe, Palgrave, 2006.
• ‘Conclusion.  The Political Consequences of Post-Communist Accession’ (with Robert Rohrschneider), in Robert Rohrschneider and Stephen Whitefield eds., Public Opinion, Party Competition and the European Union in Eastern Europe, Palgrave, 2006.
• ‘Between East and West: Attitudes towards Political and Economic Integration in Russia and Ukraine, 1993-2001’, in Robert Rohrschneider and Stephen Whitefield eds., Public Opinion, Party Competition and the European Union in Eastern Europe, Palgrave, 2006.
• ‘Support for European Integration in the Baltic States’ (with Robert Rohrschneider and Rasa Alisauskene), in Robert Rohrschneider and Stephen Whitefield eds., Public Opinion, Party Competition and the European Union in Eastern Europe, Palgrave, 2006.
• ‘Political Culture and Post-Communism’, in Stephen Whitefield ed., Political Culture and Post-Communism, St Antony’s Series, Palgrave-Macmillan, London, 2005, pp. 1-14
• ‘Culture, Experience, and State Identity: A Survey-Based Analysis of Russians, 1995-2003’, in Stephen Whitefield ed., Political Culture and Post-Communism, St Antony’s Series, Palgrave-Macmillan, London, 2005, pp 125-147.
• ‘Putin’s Popularity and Its Implications for Democracy in Russia’, in Alex Pravda ed., Leading Russia: Putin in Perspective, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, pp. 139-160.
• ‘Attitudes Towards the West, Democracy and the Market’ (with G. Evans), in Jan Zielonka and Alex Pravda eds., Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe Volume 2: International and Transnational Factors, Vol.2, Oxford, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001, pp.231-254.
• ‘Partisan and Party Divisions in Post-Communist Russia’ in Archie Brown (ed.), Contemporary Russian Politics: A Reader, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001, pp.235-246.
• 'Explaining the Formation of Electoral Cleavages in Post-Communist Democracies' (with G. Evans), in H-D. Klingemann, E. Mochmann and K. Newton eds., Elections in Central and Eastern Europe: The First Wave, Sigma, Berlin, 2000, pp.36-70.
• ‘The emergence of class politics and class voting in post-communist Russia’, (with G. Evans), in Evans, G. ed., The End of Class Politics? Class Voting in Comparative Context, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999, pp.254-280.
• 'The Emerging Structure of Partisan Divisions in Russian Politics' (with G. Evans), in M. Wyman, S. White and S. Oates eds., Elections and Voters in Post-Communist Russia, Edward Elgar, London, 1998, pp.68-99
• 'Electoral Politics in Eastern Europe: Social and Ideological Influences on Partisanship in Post-Communist Societies' (with G. Evans), in J. Higley, J. Pakulski and W. Wesolowski eds., Postcommunist Elites and Democracy in Eastern Europe, Macmillan, , London, 1998, pp.226-50.
• Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics, Iain McLean ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996 (second edition 2003).  (Entries on the Afghan War, apparat, autonomous republic, Bonapartism, Bukharin, collective leadership, collectivisation, Commonwealth of Independent States, communism, Communist Party, contradiction, democratic centralism, dialectical materialism, historical materialism, KGB, Khrushchev, kulak, NEP, nomenklatura, people’s democracy, perestroika, Politburo, Russian Revolution 1991, Solidarity, Soviet Union, Stakhanovism, Stalinism, Supreme Soviet, Titoism, totalitarianism.  Total words = 7,845.) 
• ‘Social Responses to Reform in Russia’ in D. Lane ed., Russia in Transition. Politics, Privatisation and Inequality, Longman, London, 1995, pp.91-118.
• ‘The Ministerial System’ in Archie Brown, Michael Kaser and Gerald S. Smith eds., The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995, pp.353-59.
• ‘Russia’ in S. Whitefield ed., The New Institutional Architecture of Eastern Europe, Macmillan, London 1993, pp.143-161.