Scott James
Lecturer in European Public Policy
Office Hours:
Monday, 10:00-12:00h
Contact Details:
First Floor, 22 Kingsway, Strand Campus, London WC2B 6NR
Email: scott.james@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 1220
ESRC Future Research Leaders’ Scheme award holder (Grant Ref: ES/K001019/1): 1 October 2012
Principal Investigator: 'Voices in the City: Understanding the Role of the City of London as a Multi-Level Policy Actor and the Impact of the Financial Crisis’.
Biography
Dr Scott James studied for a BA (Hons) in Politics and MA in Politics of the European Union at the University of Liverpool between 1998 and 2002. He was awarded a Research Studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council in 2004 to undertake doctoral research on the ‘Europeanisation of national policy making processes’ at the University of Manchester. He joined King’s College London as Lecturer in European Studies in September 2008, and was appointed Lecturer in European Public Policy in the Department of Political Economy in September 2010. Dr James is a member of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in European Law and Governance (www.kcl.ac.uk/jmce) and is currently Book Review Editor for the Journal of Contemporary European Research (www.jcer.net).
Research
Dr James’ research is concerned with the interface between governance and public policy within the European Union. In particular, it tries to address three questions. How can governance help us to explain the design, development and effectiveness of EU policies? Why does adaptation to EU governance condition the range of national policy choices? To what extent do national policy makers try to shape EU governance in order to secure policy outcomes?
Dr James’ doctoral research explored the strategic adaptation of national policy making processes to different modes of Europeanisation within the UK and Irish core executives. His current research concerns three related themes. Firstly, it seeks to understand the design and development of the EU’s Lisbon Strategy and Europe 2020, and the critical role of discourse in constructing a hybrid political economy that serves to legitimate economic reform at the national level. Second, it explores the evolution of the financial crisis within Europe and the EU’s response to it as an agenda-setting process. In particular, the research examines the way in which the ‘crisis’ has been strategically constructed by different EU institutions in order to shape the nature of short-term crisis management and the longer-term reform of economic governance. Third, he is interested in the role of the City of London in the reform of financial services, the nature of the political power that the ‘City’ wields in shaping public policy, and the dynamics driving this multi-level game (national, European and international).
Main research interests:
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EU politics and public policy
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Comparative European politics
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Governance and new institutionalism
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Economic and Monetary Union and the Lisbon Strategy/Europe 2020
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The politics of financial services
Teaching
Over recent years Dr James has taught a number of courses on European Union politics and public policy, comparative European politics, economic governance and international relations. In the forthcoming year he will be teaching on the following courses:
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Comparing Political Systems (undergraduate)
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European Public Policy (postgraduate)
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Economic Governance in Europe (postgraduate)
Publications
Books and chapters:
‘The Origins and Evolution of the Lisbon Agenda’, in P. Copeland and D. Papadimitriou (eds.) 10 Years of the EU’s Lisbon Agenda: Evaluating Success, Understanding Failure (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 forthcoming)
Managing Europe from Home: The Changing Face of European Policy Making under Blair and Ahern (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2011 forthcoming)
(with Kai Oppermann) ‘Blair and the European Union’, in T. Casey (ed.) The Blair Legacy: Politics, Policy, Governance and Foreign Affairs (London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp. 285-98)
Articles in journals:
(with Paul Copeland) ‘From Lisbon Strategy to Europe 2020: The Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Governance and Discourse of Economic Reform’ (forthcoming)
‘Managing European Policy at Home: Analysing Network Adaptation within the Core Executive’, Political Studies Vol. 58, No.5, pp. 930-950 (2010)
‘The Rise and Fall of Euro Preparations: Strategic Networking and the Depoliticisation of Labour’s National Changeover Plan’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations Vol.12, No.3, pp. 368-386 (2010)
‘Adapting to Brussels: Europeanization of the Core Executive and the “Strategic Projection” Model’, Journal of European Public Policy, Vol.17, No.6, pp. 820-837 (2010)
‘Taming the Awkward State? The Changing Face of European Policy Making under Blair’, Public Administration, Vol.87, No.3, pp. 604-620 (2009)