Research interests
I have written especially on the following: deliberative democracy in theory and practice; citizen engagement and democratic innovation; the politics of public policy; public health policy and social policy; policy advocacy and political rhetoric; the role of experts and scientific evidence in democratic debate and policymaking; and interpretive and qualitative research methods in the social sciences. I am happy to supervise postgraduate students in all these areas.
Current project
Mending Democracy: Democratic Repair in Disconnected Times
Written with Carolyn Hendriks (ANU) and Selen Ercan (University of Canberra), this book brings together a decade of rich qualitative insight into the creative ways in which citizens, civil society actors and civil servants are working to enhance citizen input into policymaking in everyday practice. Linking our fine-grained insights to cutting edge democratic theory, we argue that scholars and practitioners seeking to reform and renew democracy need to pay more attention to the everyday practices of democratic mending, rather than focus so much attention on recipes for institutional (re)design.
Recent project
The Art and Craft of Comparison
Written with PAIR colleagues Rod Rhodes and Jack Corbett, this book sets out the case for an unorthodox and creative approach to doing comparative research in politics and the broader social sciences. It is the culmination of several years of teaching, talking and thinking about interpretive methods at the Centre for Political Ethnography in Southampton.
Dr John BoswellReception Building 58 University of Southampton Southampton SO17 1BJ United Kingdom
Email: J.C.Boswell@soton.ac.uk
Room Number : 58/3071