Dr Pete Dorey
Overview
Position:
Reader in British Politics
Email:
Dorey@cardiff.ac.ukTelephone: +44(0)29 2087 4925
Fax: +44(0)29 2087 4946
Extension: 74925
Location: Room 1.21, 65-68 Park Place
My research interests are in two specific areas. Firstly, trends in British politics since 1945 to the present day, particularly with regard to the changing nature and dynamics of party politics in terms both of electoral performance, and both intra-party and inter-party ideological debates, discourses, orientations and (re)positioning. Here, I am especially interested in the contemporary history, philosophy and politics of the Conservative Party, but I am similarly interested in the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. Related to these research interests is an interest in electoral politics and voting behaviour in Britain since 1970.
My second main area of research is in aspects of contemporary public policy in Britain, both with regard to the processes of policy-making, and the manner in which various policies have developed up until the present day. I am particularly interested in the intellectual or ideological justifications offered when policies are enacted or reformed, and also in the factors which have influenced the degree of success (or failure) which specific public policies have experienced during implementation.
Selected Publications
British Conservatism: The Politics and Philosophy of Inequality, London: I.B.Tauris, 2011, pp.275. (Winner of the Political Studies Association’s ‘Conservatives and Conservatism’ Group’s prize for the best book on Conservatism in 2011).
House of Lords Reform since 1911: Must the Lords Go? (co-authored with Alexandra Kelso), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp.242.
From Crisis to Coalition: The Conservative Party, 1997-2010 (co-authored with Mark Garnett and Andrew Denham), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp.240.
The Labour Party and Constitutional Reform: A History of Constitutional Conservatism, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, pp.410.
The 1964-1970 Labour Governments (Editor) London, Routledge, 2006, pp.401 .
Policy-Making in Britain: An Introduction London, Sage, 2005, pp.314
Research Unit
Publications
Authored books
British Conservatism: The Politics and Philosophy of Inequality, London: I.B.Tauris, 2011, pp.275.(Winner of the Political Studies Asssociation’s ‘Conservatives and Conservatism’ Group’s prize for the best book on Conservatism in 2011).
House of Lords Reform since 1911: Must the Lords Go? (co-authored with Alexandra Kelso), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp.242.
From Crisis to Coalition: The Conservative Party, 1997-2010 (co-authored with Mark Garnett and Andrew Denham), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp.240.
British Conservatism and Trade Unionism 1945-1964, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2009, pp.207
The Labour Party and Constitutional Reform: A History of Constitutional Conservatism, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, pp.410.
Policy-Making in Britain, London: Sage, 2005, pp.314.
British Politics in Focus (AS Level Core Text) (With Roy Bentley, Alan Dobson and Alan Roberts), London: Longman Pearson Education, 2004, pp.407.
Wage Politics in Britain: The Rise and Fall of Incomes Policies since 1945, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2001, pp.265.
The Conservative Party and the Trade Unions, London: Routledge, 1995, pp.223
British Politics since 1945, Oxford: Blackwell, 1995 (reprinted 2001), pp.378.
Refereed journal articles
"A Rather Novel Constitutional Experiment": The Formation of the 1977–8 Lib-Lab Pact’, Parliamentary History, Vol.30, No.3, 2011, pp.374–394.
"O, brother, where art thou?" The Labour Party leadership election of 2010'(co-authored with Andrew Denham), British Politics, Vol. 6, No.3, 2011, pp.286–316.
“Faltering before the finishing line: The Conservative Party’s performance in the 2010 general election”, British Politics, Vol.5, No.4, 2010, pp.402-435.
“A Poverty of Imagination: Blaming the Poor for Inequality”, The Political Quarterly, Vol.81, No.3, 2010, pp.333-343.
“Ahead of his time: Richard Crossman and House of Commons reform in the 1960s” (co-authored with Victoria Honeyman), British Politics, Vol.5, No.2, 2010, pp.149-178
“Conciliation or Confrontation with the Trade Unions? The Conservative Party’s ‘Authority of Government Group’, 1975-1978”, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations No.27/28, Spring/Autumn 2009, pp.135-151.
“Change in Order to Conserve: Explaining the Conservatives’ decision to introduce the 1958 Life Peerages Act”, Parliamentary History, Vol.28, Part 2, 2009, pp.246-265.
“Individual Liberty versus Industrial Order: Conservatives and the Trade Union Closed Shop, 1946-1990’, Contemporary British History, Vol.23, No.2, 2009, pp.219-242.
“Sharing the proceeds of growth”: Conservative economic policy under David Cameron’, The Political Quarterly, Vol.80, No.2, 2009.
‘”Asking too much and offering too little”? The Conservative-Liberal coalition talks of 1-4 March 1974’, Journal of Liberal History, Issue 61, Winter 2008-09.
‘”It really was rather disgraceful. Still, that is politics”: The 1967-68 decision to defer the raising of the school leaving age’, Public Policy and Administration, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2008, pp.391-407.
‘Stumbling through “stage two”: New Labour and House of Lords reform’, British Politics, Vol.3, No.1, 2008, pp.22-44
‘Just the Ticket: Labour’s Deputy Leadership Contest’ (co-author with Andrew Denham, Nottingham University), The Political Quarterly, Vol.78, No.4; 2007, pp.527-35.
‘The Welsh Assembly Election 2007’, Representation, Vol.43, No.4, 2007, pp.315-22.
‘A New Direction or Another False Dawn? David Cameron and the Crisis of British Conservatism’, British Politics, Vol.2, No.2, 2007, pp.137-66.
‘The “Caretaker” Cleans Up: The Liberal Democrat Leadership Election of 2006’, (co-author with Andrew Denham, Nottingham University), Parliamentary Affairs, Vol.60, No.1, 2007, pp.26-45.
‘Meeting the Challenge’? The Liberal Democrats' Policy Review of 2005–2006’(co-author with Andrew Denham, Nottingham University), The Political Quarterly, Vol.78, No.1, 2007, pp.68-77.
‘1949, 1969, 1999: Labour and House of Lords reform’, Parliamentary Affairs, Vol.59, No.4, 2006, pp.599-620.
‘The Conservative Party’s performance in the 2005 general election’, Representation, Vol.42, No.2, 2006, pp.149-55.
A tale of two speeches: The 2005 Conservative leadership contest’, The Political Quarterly, Vol.77, No.1, 2006. pp.35–42.
Edited books
The Labour Governments 1964-1970 (Editor), London: Routledge, 2006, pp.401.
Developments in British Public Policy (Editor), London: Sage, 2005, pp.252.
The Major Premiership: Politics and Policies under John Major, 1990-1997 (Editor), Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999, pp.276.
Chapters in books
Harold Wilson, 1963-4 and 1970-4’ in Tim Heppell (ed) Leaders of the Opposition, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, pp.48-67.
‘The Importance of Inequality in Conservative Thought’ in Doğancan Özsel (ed) Reflections on Conservatism, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, pp.54-80.
‘A Conservative “Third Way”? British Conservatives and the Development of a Post-Thatcherite Conservatism’ in Doğancan Özsel (ed) Reflections on Conservatism, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, pp.146-177..
‘The House of Lords since 1949’ in Clyve Jones (ed) A Short History of Parliament, London: Boydell Press, 2009, 978-1-84383-503-5, pp.226-248.
Research
Research in progress
My research interests are in two specific areas. Firstly, trends in British politics since 1945 to the present day, particularly with regard to the changing nature and dynamics of party politics in terms both of electoral performance, and both intra-party and inter-party ideological debates, discourses, orientations and (re)positioning. Here, I am especially interested in the contemporary history, philosophy and politics of the Conservative Party, but I am similarly interested I in the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. Related to these research interests is an interest in electoral politics and voting behaviour in Britain since 1970.
My second main area of research is in aspects of contemporary public policy in Britain, both with regard to the processes of policy-making, and the manner in which various policies have developed up until the present day. I am particularly interested in the intellectual or ideological justifications offered when policies are enacted or reformed , and also in the factors which have influenced the degree of success (or failure) which specific public policies have experienced during implementation.
In 2011, I published three books, one sole-authored, and two co-authored. The first was a monograph entitled British Conservatism: The Politics and Philosophy of Inequality,published by I.B.Tauris. This won the Political Studies Association’s ‘Conservatives and Conservatism’ Group’s prize for the best book on Conservatism in 2011. The second book, so-authord with Alexandra Kelso (Southampton University) was House of Lords Reform since 1911: Must the Lords Go?, published by Palgrave Macmillan. The third book, also published by Palgrave Macmillan, was From Crisis to Coalition: The Conservative Party, 1997-2010, co-authored with Mark Garnett (Lancaster University) and Andrew Denham (Nottingham University).
I am currently completing a revised, expanded and updated edition of my 2005 text Policy Making in Britain: An Introduction which will be published by Sage in spring 2013.
I will then start work on two more Conservative-related books. The first, to be co-authored with Mark Garnett, will be a study of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Governement, which wil be published by Palgrave Macmillan. The second will be a monograph entitled The Origins of Thatcherism: The Conservative Party 1974-79.
Postgraduate Students
Recent/current PhD topics supervised include: 'New Labour and welfare reform' and 'The 1977-78 "pact" between the Labour Government and the Liberal Party'.
Biography
Career profile
Having studied Politics at the Universities of Sussex, Leeds and Hull, I then taught the subject at the Universities of Bath, Hull, Manchester and Salford before becoming a Lecturer in Politics at Cardiff University in 1990. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2002, and then to Reader in Politics in 2006.
Administrative responsibilities
I have undertaken several of the key administrative roles within the Politics Department, including:
- Admissions Tutor, 1990-2000
- Co-ordinator of the MSc (Econ) European Governance and Public Policy, 2000- 2005
- Chair of the Politics Exam Board, 2004- 2011
- Director of Graduate Studies (Masters degrees) 2006-07
- Chair of the Postgraduate Exam Board, 2006-07
- Chair of the Politics Board of Studies, 2007-2010
- • Director of Graduate Studies (Masters degrees) 2012 - current
Teaching profile
I was appointed Lecturer in Politics at Cardiff University in 1990, having previously taught at the Universities of Bath, Hull, Manchester and Salford University. I teach two undergraduate Modules which reflect my research interests and expertise, namely British Politics since 1945, and Public Policy in Britain, and contribute towards the 2nd Year Modules Comparative Politics, on which I teach ‘Models of Power’, and Politics and Policies of the European Union, on which I teach a section on ‘Britain and the EU’. I also co-teach the post-graduate Module British Governance and Public Policy on the MSc (Econ) Politics and Public Policy. Each year, I supervise several undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations on various aspects of British politics. In addition, I am currently supervising 3 PhD students.