- Centre for the Study of Democracy
About me
After leaving school aged 16 and working in non-academic jobs for 11 years, I entered higher education as a mature student and graduated from the University of Westminster with a BA Hons in Social Sciences in 1993.
I have taught Political Theory at Westminster since 1994. Previous positions included teaching social sciences for the Open University (1999-2007), and leading political theory modules at the University of North London and the American International University in Richmond. I gained a PGCE in Higher Education and Training at the University of Greenwich (2001), specialising in Politics and Personal Tutoring, and was awarded a PhD at the University of Westminster for a doctoral thesis entitled "The Themes of Rootlessness, Uprootedness, and Mass Society in the work of Hannah Arendt" (2007).
In addition to teaching, during my time at Westminster I have performed the roles of: CSD Administrator (1991-1996); CSD Seminar Coordinator (1992-1995; Founding Editor of the CSD Bulletin (1993-1996); Series Editor for CSD Perspectives (working papers published by University of Westminster Press) (1993-1996); Coordinator of an East-West Tempus Exchange with the Universities of Budapest, Paris, Berlin, and Athens (1995-1998); and Senior Tutor for the Department of Politics and International Relations (2009-2012)
Teaching
I currently lead three undergraduate modules: Western Political Thought; Questioning Rights; Gender, Politics and the State; and contribute occasional lectures to the first year module, Introduction to Political Thought. I also act as supervisor to students on the third-year dissertation module. My specialisms for postgraduate and undergraduate dissertation supervision include: political theory; feminist theory; and gender equality.
In the past I have taught modules in Research Methods and Methodology; Twentieth-Century Political Theory; Feminist Theory; Politics and the Media; Introduction to Social Sciences; Russian and US Politics; and British Politics.
Research
Current Research Interests
- Canonical political thought
- Intellectual history and the history of ideas
- The political thought of Hannah Arendt
- Liberal theory and critiques of liberalism
- The treatment of women in the canon
- Political theories of property.
Recent Research Activity
I am currently working on a journal article entitled "Property as a Human Need". In the past year, I have peer-reviewed journal articles for Politics and Review of International Studies, and contributed an entry on "Mass Society" to the Blackwell Wiley Encyclopaedia for Political Theory (forthcoming).
Recent Conference Participation
- "Hannah Arendt and the Cold War" presented at the Western Political Science Association annual conference, Hollywood, 31 March 2013.
- "Contextualising Hannah Arendt on Mass Society and Mass Culture" presented at the Political Studies Association annual conference, Edinburgh, 29 March 2011 and the Western Political Science Association, San Francisco, 2 April 2011.
- "Property as a Human Need" presented at the Political Studies Association annual conference, Property Specialist Group, Edinburgh, 29 March 2011.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.