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Award-winning and ESRC-funded research by Professor Matthew Flinders and Professor Colin Hay into political participation and public engagement has led not only to direct and on-going changes within the political system (notably in relation to the operation and governance of parliamentary select committees) but has also delivered wider impact through the promotion of a major public debate — embracing several million people within and beyond the UK — concerning the need to understand and defend the essence of democratic politics. Additional impact has been delivered on parliamentary outreach both in the UK and internationally through the development with the Houses of Parliament of partnership-based teaching of politics. The breadth and depth of this public scholarship has been recognised through a range of awards and prizes (including the Political Studies Association's Political Communicator of the Year prize and an ESRC Impact Prize).
The role of mass media in politics and society has in recent years been a subject of intense public debate, as well as lengthy legal investigation and repeated political intervention. Dr Jason Peacey's research on the earliest modern printed mass media and their relation to government and state at the time of the English Civil War illuminates the origins of the current situation, and has made a notable impact on public understanding, of the historical roots of the media's role in mediating between states and citizens in both the US and UK. This occurred through a major museum exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, as well as a range of public engagement and media activities in Britain.
Professor Stears' research addresses a widespread concern that modern political parties are increasingly disconnected from traditions of democratic participation, with adverse consequences for political engagement and the wider quality of democracy. His research develops strategies to recover and reanimate twentieth-century traditions of participatory democracy in present day politics. The work has (1) contributed to outlining a new democratic agenda for the British Left, (2) shaped a reorientation of the policy agenda of the Institute for Public Policy Research, one of Britain's leading think tanks (3) influenced discussions in the Labour Party, especially Ed Miliband's `One Nation project', and (4) informed the on-going Collins Review of the Labour Party's organisational structure. The significance of Stears' research impacts is evidenced by his appointment as Ed Miliband's Chief Speechwriter in May 2013.
Dr Lee Jones' research on sovereignty, intervention and security in Southeast Asia has helped non-academic users understand this region and formulate policies towards it. This research is typical of work conducted in the School of Politics and International Relations' (SPIR) interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Global Security and Development: it explores interactions between international and domestic social, economic and political processes, is based on regional expertise, and generates policy-relevant findings. Dr Jones' audiences have included the UK parliament, UK and other European government departments, the Myanmar government, civil society organisations, and the general public via the media.
Chantal Mouffe's insights on agonistic democracy have had significant impact on political discourse, policy and political strategy, most obviously as an intellectual resource for the approach to governing instigated by the Argentinian President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, often referred to as the National and Popular Model of Democracy. The actions of key actors in the governing regime have been influenced by reading her work and interacting directly with Mouffe. This is the subject of heated discussions in news media of all political persuasions. Mouffe's analysis of right-wing populism has also affected the political position and strategy of politicians in Belgium, informing debates on how to resist the growth of extreme right-wing parties. Beyond mainstream politics, she has shaped the work of artists: for example, through her invited residency at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels.
The impact of Natalia Sobrevilla Perea's research on Peruvian political history has been to transform the public understanding of the importance of constitutions and elections in the search for political legitimacy in Peru. This impact has been achieved through engagements in the media (public online discussions, public presentations, and newspaper articles), as well as through a two-phase British Library-funded project to catalogue and digitize newspapers held in provincial Peruvian archives. The reach and significance of the impact achieved by Sobrevilla Perea's research is evidenced by her being identified in the 3 March 2012 issue of Revista Somos (the Saturday supplement to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio) as one of the eight most influential new voices commenting on, and contributing to, national debate in Peru.
The impact being described in this case study relates to the influence of Professor Martin Gainsborough's research on the international donor community's thinking behind and design of governance programmes in Vietnam and on understandings of these issues in news media coverage. Donors, in particular the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Australian government aid agency AusAid, and the Irish government aid agency Irish Aid acknowledge that Gainsborough's research has been a major influence on their understanding of Vietnamese politics which in turn has informed how they have designed their policy interventions during 2008-13. The research has resulted in greater reliance by donors on Vietnamese government systems, new risk mitigation measures and moves to `mainstream' governance across a range of aid programmes. The impact of Gainsborough's research has also reached beyond Vietnam by informing the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators.
Dr Nic Cheeseman's research has informed and influenced electoral practices in Kenya and Zambia. In Kenya, his work shaped the findings of the official Kreigler Commission, whose report on the controversial elections of 2007 led to the restructuring of the electoral commission. In Zambia, his advice led the UK Department for International Development (DfID) to include parliamentary scorecards and the training constituency based officers of the National Assembly as part of its democracy promotion activities for the first time, and resulted in the World Bank adopting a more flexible Country Partnership Strategy. Dr Cheeseman also influenced the way in which policy makers prepared for and responded to electoral crises, establishing an innovative academic `Early Warning and Long-term Monitoring Team' to support the work of the UK government around the 2013 Kenyan elections. His advice enabled representatives of the UK to identify potential new sites of violence and to increase the pressure on the electoral commission to better communicate electoral procedures to the public, which contributed, albeit in a small way, to a peaceful election.
Publications analysing political mobilisation during the English revolution, widely disseminated through sales of the book God's Fury, England's Fire, reviews, and in public engagement activities, have shaped public understandings of how popular support for radical politics can be mobilised. The book's central arguments have made a significant contribution to contemporary political and social debates and have shaped the work of programme makers and other creative artists. The widespread use of the book in teaching in higher education and at A Level in the UK and internationally means that it has played a central role in shaping student understandings of this key period of English history.
Fisher's research on the regulation of party finance and lobbying has produced considerable impact on British government agencies, Parliament, the Council of Europe, the Georgian government and key media providers. The research has influenced policy and practice through comparative analyses of the effects of regulations in party finance and lobbying and the desirability of pursuing statutory or self-regulation. Impact has been generated through influencing forms of regulation in party finance; shaping policy recommendations by the Electoral Commission, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the Council of Europe and the Georgian Ministry of Justice; stimulating debate and improving understanding through Parliamentary Committees and media outlets and; providing training through the Electoral Commission.