Politics and international relations

Audience members with their hands up at an American political rally

We analyse political decisions made in the UK and around the world to understand how they affect people’s sense of place, their movement and their human rights.

Research highlights

Getting policymakers to focus on England's left-behind towns

Future societies and communities

University experts have made the fortunes of coastal and former industrial towns easier to see. Thanks to research by professors Will Jennings and Gerry Stoker, data on towns is now routinely collected

View of a typical UK town highstreet with shop fronts and bunting

Unearthing pandemic insights to help towns level up

Future societies and communities

Health and wellbeing

A think tank jointly founded by a Southampton professor identifies the UK towns most at risk from the effects of COVID-19.

Centre for Political Ethnography (CPE)

The research group aims to rescue ethnography from its current void in political science and build the UK's first centre for ethnographic research in politics and administration.

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A silhouette of a hand depositing the holder's vote into a ballot box.

Centre for Democratic Futures

We carry out interdisciplinary research on the conditions of achieving democratic futures, ranging from conceptual debates to challenges of institutional innovation and public policy.

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