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Professor Alistair Cole

Overview

Alistair Cole Position: Director of Research (Politics) Email: ColeA@cardiff.ac.uk
 Telephone: +44(0)29 2087 5068
Fax: +44(0)29 2087 4946
Extension: 75068
Location: Room 1.06, 65-68 Park Place

My research interest lies in the sphere of contemporary and comparative European politics and policy, with special (but not exclusive) reference to France and Franco-British comparisons. My core intellectual interests have long since extended beyond those of France, however fascinating that particular EU state. My reputation has been forged over the past decade (or so) as a result of a string of funded research projects that have allowed me to develop a broad comparative research agenda in governance: territorial and multi-level governance (especially comparative devolution), public administration and the State, public policy (education, training, research, the knowledge economy), Europeanisation and European Integration (mainly through the specific lens of the Franco-German relationship and of Franco-British relations). These distinct fields converge around a set of research questions around the related themes of governance and capacity building.

My most recent books include Dictionnaire des politiques territoriales (co-edited with Romain Pasquier and Sebastien Guigner, Presses de Sciences Po, 2011), Redefining the Republic (co-edited with Gino Raymond, Manchester University Press, 2010) Governing and Governance in France (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008) Beyond Devolution and Decentralisation: Building Regional Capacity in Wales and Brittany (Manchester University Press, 2006), Developments in French Politics 4 (Palgrave, 2008, which I co-edited with Patrick Le Galès and Jonah Levy), and French Politics and Society (Longman, 2005). I have published across a large range and scope in many of the leading political science and area studies journals and I have also written around 45 chapters in edited books (see biography)

I am a founder member of the European Governance, Identity and Public Policy research unit and co-chair of the Wales Governance Centre.

Membership of professional societies and Esteem Indicators

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, 2011-
  • Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, 2011-
  • Member of the Franco-British Council, 2010-2014
  • 2010-2014 Vice-Chair of the (ESRC) Economic and Social Research Council’s Panel B
  • Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, 2009-
  • Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, 2009-
 

Research Unit

European Governance, Identities & Public Policy

Publications

 

Research

I have obtained research funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, the British Academy, the Leverhulme Foundation, the Nuffield Foundation and the Fondation de France. I have also carried out consultancy work for the French Interior and Education ministries. 

The most significant projects are presented in chronological order:

2008-2010. ‘Seminar Series on Devolution’  HEFCW Third Mission grant (£12,000)

2006-2008: ‘Seminar Series on Devolution’  HEFCW Third Mission grant (£10,450)

2006–2007: ‘Governing and Governance in France’. AHRC grant AH/E 000134  £33,295.

2004-2006: ‘Governing and Governance in France’. British Academy Larger Research Grant of £14,596. Grant no: LRG-37213

2001-2003: ‘Devolution and Decentralisation in Wales and Brittany’. £146,518 awarded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Grant no. L219252007.

2000-2002: 'La gouvernance locale du changement dans les systèmes éducatifs français et anglais’. €5,640 GRALE-GIS grant on the programme ‘Inter-Territorialité et Performance Institutionnelle’.  With Michèle Breuillard, University of  Lille 2.

1999-2000: ‘The Governance of Educational Change in England and France’. £5,000 awarded by the Nuffield Foundation. Grant number:  SGS/LB/0278.

1995-1996: £14,098 Research Grant awarded by the Leverhulme Foundation for the project ‘Local Policy Networks in Britain and France’.Grant no:Rf+G/10711

1994-1996: £81,140 awarded by the ESRC for my project with Dr Peter John (principal invesitigator) on ‘Local Policy Networks in Britain and France’.  Grant no: L311253047.

1990: £3,000 awarded by the Nuffield Foundation for ‘François Mitterrand: a Study in Political Leadership’.

Postgraduate Students

I am currently supervising or co-supervising  the following PhD students:

Mark Jordan - 'Policing Public Disorder in Britain and France'

Sarah Knigh - 'The Welsh Baccalaureat'

Nazan Yorgozlu - 'Turkish identity, the Turkish nation and the European Union'

Francesca Dickson - 'Paradiplomacy and sub-national governance: a transnational comparison'

Alexander Tuck - 'Spain's National Cycling Tour and the Politics of National Identity, 1975-2000'

Odile Bomba Nkolo - 'A tale of two donors: France and Britain in Cameroon'

Biography

Educational background

Educational Background From 1977 to 1980, I read Government and History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I graduated with a First Class honours degree, which was awarded the Bassett Prize for Political Science (bestowed annually to the top degree in the LSE Government department).

From October 1981 - September 1985 I undertook research for my Doctor of Philosophy degree at Balliol College, Oxford University. My thesis (under the supervision of David Goldey, Lincoln College, Oxford) was entitled Factionalism in the French Socialist Party, 1971-81. I passed the viva in November 1985. I was recipient of a British Academy post-graduate award from 1981-1984.

Career development


  • From October 1985-September 1986, I was Lecturer in Politics at Merton College, Oxford.
  • From October 1986 - September 1987, I was Maître de conférénces associé at the University of Caen, France.
  • From October 1987 - September 1989, I was Lecturer in French Politics at the University of Aston.
  • From October 1989 - September 1994, I was Lecturer in the Politics department at the University of Keele.
  • From October 1994-April 1995, I was Senior Lecturer in the Politics department at the University of Keele
  • From May 1995- July 1999, I was Lecturer, then Reader in European Politics, University of Bradford.
  • From August 1999- July 2004, I was Professorial Research Fellow at Cardiff University.

Current positions

Since August 2004, I have been Professor of European Politics at Cardiff University
I have been invited as Visiting Fellow to some of the leading institutions in Europe, including the European Centre at Sciences Po, Paris (2010), the Sorbonne (2007-9), the European University Institute (2004). In 2007, I held the prestigious Vincent Wright chair at Sciences Po, Paris

External examining, professional responsibilities and honours

External examining

  • 2011-2014 External Examiner, French and European Studies, Bristol University
  • 2009-2012. External Examiner, Msc (econ) in Public Administration, London School of Economics and Political Science.
  • 2007-2010. External Examiner, French and European Studies, University of Reading.
  • 2007-2010. External Examiner, Politics, University of Aberystwyth.
  • 2001-2005. External Examiner, Politics and European Studies, Aston University.
  • 1999-2003. External Examiner, European Studies, Keele University.
  • 1997- 2000. External Examiner, Politics Department, Leeds University.
  • I have been External Examiner for 16 Phds (Aberystwyth, Institute of Political Studies, Paris, Sheffield, LSE, Rennes, Ulster, Lille, Warwick [twice], Bristol, Southampton Institute, Newcastle, Australia, Reims [twice]), Swansea and internal examiner for two (at Bradford and at Cardiff). I have chaired 6 PhD juries at Cardiff. I have sat in four juries d’habilitation in France, three in Reims, one in Lyons.

Membership of Research Councils and advisory boards

  • 2010-2014 Vice-President of the (ESRC) Economic and Social Research Council’s Panel B
  • 2007-2008. Member of the French CNRS Political Science Committee (section 40)
  • 2007-2011. Member of the executive committee of the GRALE (Groupement de recherche sur les administrations locales en Europe).
  • 2001-2004. Member of the (ESRC) Economic and Social Research Council’s Politics, Economics and Geography College.

Miscellaneous external functions

  • June 2006. Member of the International Evaluation Committee, Rennes (1) University, France.bull;
  • June 2001. External Teaching Quality assessor, Aston University.
  • December 2004. External Teaching Quality assessor, Aston University.
  • April 2000. Appointment committee for the Readership in European Politics and Research Methods, LSE

Membership of professional societies

  • Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA)
  • Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHS)
  • Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS)
  • Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW)
  • Member of the Franco-British Council, 2010-
  • Member of Political Studies Association, Association française de Science Politique, American Political Science Association