Research areas

My primary research interests are in the field of international political economy, particularly the politics of world trade. I also have strong interests in the conceptual analysis of power and legitimacy, international relations theory, and political sociology. I have a particular interest in applying the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu to world politics. There are three current research areas of note.

The Political Economy of World Trade
I have long standing interests in the political economy of international trade. My doctorate examined recent agricultural trade negotiations through the World Trade Organization. In particular, the work investigated two Southern-centric coalitions: (1) a West and Central African group that has campaigned for the reform of the international cotton regime, and (2) a larger coalition that has attempted to rethink food security in relation to trade policy.

In current research, I have turned to address the broader question of knowledge production in the study of trade politics. This project seeks to explore the political construction of expertise over the past three decades. In particular, I explore how and why trade politics has evolved from a largely closeted social space populated by technocratic government elites to a heterogeneous field featuring competing groups of recognised experts. In other research, I remain interested in how commodities are governed in the international system.

Power and Language in Capitalism
Most of my empirical work is focused on the relationship between power and language in capitalist relations. I am particularly interested in how forms of materialism are legitimised and contested. At present, I am conducting a project on neoliberal keywords that have become salient in international political discourse. The aim is to unpack the different economic, political and ideological biases associated with this common, seemingly innocuous, 'global' vocabulary.

One term that I have closely investigated is 'governance'. I argue that the popularity of this concept can be understood in light of recent cultural shifts in capitalist modernity. I seek to show how 'governance' has a difficult and ambiguous relationship with ideas linked to power and social freedom. Empirically, among other illustrations, the study traces these concerns to legitimacy problems faced by corporations during the 1970s crisis of governmentality.

International Political Sociology
Across my empirical work, I have explored how sociological analysis can help enhance understanding of problems in international politics. I have invested particular energy in examining Bourdieu's scholarship and the ways in which his conceptual tools can be applied to world politics. Inspired by Bourdieu, one major enquiry has examined the notion of reflexivity, conceived in personal, institutional, and collective terms. The purpose of such analysis is to help unravel the forms of power operating between the academy and the wider political world. Such thinking is particularly important for IR due to the historical tendency of the field to cut short critical perspectives on the power-knowledge nexus.

I am a member of the following academic associations:

I am the current Series Editor of the IPEG Papers in Global Political Economy, the working paper series for IPEG of BISA.


Publications

Monograph: Symbolic Power in the World Trade Organization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).

'The Competing Kings of Cotton: (Re)framing the WTO African Cotton Initiative', forthcoming in New Political Economy.

'Advancing a Reflexive International Relations', Millennium: Journal of International
Studies, 39 (2011), 3, 805-824.

Co-Editor with Emily Jones and Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Building Blocks for a Global Trade Ethics (Oxford: Centre for International Studies, 2009).

'Examining the Case for Reflexivity in International Relations: Insights from Bourdieu', Journal of Critical Globalization Studies, 1 (2009), 1: 111-123.

Co-Editor (with Alexander Betts) of three issues of the St Antony's International Review:
'The International Politics of Oil' (also with Anne Roemer-Mahler) (2, 1, May 2006);
'Human Security' (1, 2, November 2005);
'The Future of International Cooperation' (1, 1, March 2005).

'The Internet and the Seattle WTO Protests', Peace Review, 13 (2001), 3: 331-7.

 
Working papers

'On the Genesis of the Concept of "Governance": A Post-bureaucratic Perspective', IPEG Papers in Global Political Economy, 46.


Publications in process

Book proposal: Keywords of Modern Political Discourse (drafted).

Article: 'Power Analysis and the WTO', under review at Review of International Political Economy.


Conference papers

'All the Trader's Men: Knowledge Producers in the Trade Field', Paper presented at IPEG Annual Workshop, IPEG@40: Life Begins… or Midlife Crisis?, University of Warwick, September 14-15, 2011.

'Beyond Mere Symbolism: An Anatomy of Symbolic Power in the WTO', Paper presented at the British International Studies Association Conference, Manchester, April 27-29, 2011.

'Advancing a Reflexive International Relations', Paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Convention, Montreal, March 16-19, 2011.

'On the Genesis of the Concept of "Governance": A Post-Bureaucratic Perspective', Paper presented at Critical Governance Studies Conference, University of Warwick, Dec 13-14, 2010.

'On the Genesis of the Concept of "Governance": A Post-Bureaucratic Perspective', Paper presented at Student-Staff Research Seminar, Department of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, Nov 3, 2010.

'Advancing a Reflexive International Relations', Paper presented at Millennium Annual Conference, London School of Economics and Political Science, Oct 16-17, 2010.

'All the Trader's Men: An Examination of Cultural Elites in International Trade Politics', Paper presented at Studying Elites: Theory, Evidence, Practice Conference, Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change, University of Manchester, Sept 16-17, 2010.

'Why has the Concept of "Governance" Become So Salient? Observations from a Critical Reflectivist Perspective', Paper presented at ODID Research Seminar, Oxford Department for International Development, Oxford, March 5, 2010.

'Uncovering Symbolic Power in the World Trade Organisation', Paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, Feb 17-20, 2010.

'Uncovering Symbolic Power in the World Trade Organisation', Paper presented at British International Studies Association Conference, University of Leicester, Dec 14-16, 2009.

'Beyond Mere Symbolism: An Anatomy of Symbolic Power in the World Trade Organization', Paper presented at WTO Scholars' Forum, Faculty of Laws, University College London, Nov 25, 2009 (invited).

'The Competing Kings of Cotton', Paper presented at ODID Research Seminar, Oxford Department for International Development, Oxford, Oct 16, 2009.

'Symbolic Power and Legitimation Strategies in the World Trade Organisation', Paper presented at Ethical Dimensions of International Institutions Conference (hosted by Politics, Philosophy and Economics), New Orleans, Feb 27-28, 2009 (invited).

'Unraveling the Received Idea of "Governance"', Paper presented at Oxford-Science Po Joint Doctoral Workshop, Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford, May 1, 2008.

'The Competing Kings of Cotton', Paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, March 26-29, 2008.

'Too Much Orthodoxy, Not Enough Heterodoxy: The EU's Record in the Doha Round', Paper presented at Workshop on European and Japanese Perspectives on Global Governance, Waseda University, Tokyo, Aug 31, 2007 (invited).

'Symbolic Power and Institutional Change in the Trading Regime: Explaining the "Rise of the WTO" Via the "Fall of UNCTAD"', Paper presented at Graduate Workshop in Political Science, Nuffield College, Oxford, May 17, 2007.

'Politicising Re-form and the Reformers of the WTO System', Paper presented at WTO Reform and the Role of the EU Seminar, European Studies Centre, Oxford, Oct 30, 2006.

'The Kings of Cotton: Developing Countries and Strategic Framing in the WTO', Paper presented at WTO Doctoral Workshop, Nuffield College, Oxford, Feb 23, 2006.

'Challenging the Legitimation of Power in the WTO: Towards Enhanced Political Contestability and Reflexivity', Paper presented at Endgame at the WTO: Reflections on the Doha Development Round Conference, Birmingham University, Nov 11-12, 2005 (invited).

'Symbolic Power and Symbolic Violence in International Relations', Paper presented at World International Studies Committee Conference, Istanbul, Aug 24-27, 2005.

'Globally Integrated/Internally Disarticulated: A Critique of Conventional Development Wisdom', Paper presented at Contemporary Challenges of Integration and Fragmentation Conference, Manchester University, June 16-17, 2005.

'You've Got Protest! Internetworked Forms of Agency', Paper presented at British International Studies Association Conference, Birmingham University, Dec 15-17, 2003.