Professor Oliver James
Professor
Politics
Oliver James is a Professor of Political Science, focusing on topics in public policy including: citizen-state relations, policy evaluation, environmental policy and politics, digital technology, and public service provision and governance (including public participation).
His research is particularly informed by behavioural theories of citizenship, pro-social motivation, information processing, political participation and cooperation with policies. Methods include survey and field experiments, especially using online tools. Current interests particularly focus on environmental governance, local government and communities, the environment (especially citizen participation in nature and biodiversity policy and programmes), citizenship and taxation. He also conducts research on governance structures for addressing policy issues and the structure of government organisations, and has previously worked on topics in public health and education.
He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules at Exeter including topics in public policy, British and comparative politics, quantitative methods and on the Exeter MSc in Public Policy and MPA programmes.
PhD students supervised include on topics in public policy, public services and environmental policy and using field and survey experiments as methods. He conducts research with partners including public organisations in the UK (for example local and national government, Natural England) and internationally (for example the World Bank). He teaches and runs events about how public service organisations can better connect and communicate with citizens and service uers.
list of publications at google scholar:
Twitter @_Oliver_James_
Current projects include:
Fiscal Citizenship in Migrant Societies. I am a Co-Investigator on £1.3m project, funded jointly by the SSHRC, Canada, DFG Germany and the ESRC, UK, (from 1 March 2021) investigating the role of citizenship in attitudes and behaviour towards cooperating with tax systems.
Renewing biodiversity through a people-in-nature approach I am a Co-Investigtor in the 5 year (2022-27) NERC funded project on on biodiversity renewal through building expertise across different sectors and communities to address environmental crises. I focus in particular on community action and work with Natural England and local authority partners on research about tools to integrate health, wellbeing, nature and sustainability outcomes into communities' strategies including democratic participation in use of such tools.
Government communication with citizens to promote accountability and achieve public policy goals. This includes the way information about public services (eg for local environmental, educational, police or health services) affect citizens and service users' perceptions of services, behaviour towards services (including use of service and cooperation with service providers). Information is important for accountability and cooperation but its use is affected by factors including cognitive limitations and politically motivated reasoning. A recent book published by Cambridge University Press addresses these issues: Behavioral Public Performance.
Field and survey experiments as methods in public policy and public management, including the book Experiments in Public Management Research (eds: Oliver James, Sebastian Jilke, Gregg Van Ryzin, Cambridge University Press 2017). The bookis an overview of the relationship between experiments and public management theory, the benefits of using experimental designs, and sets out contemporary contributions to understanding key topics. Book: Experiments in Public Management Research.
Government organisation and capacity, including the effect of Brexit on the UK state. This interest builds on research about structural change within public organisations as part of the ESRC funded 'Structure and Organisation of Government' project and work on the causes and effects of public management leadership change on organisational performance, including the ESRC funded chief executive succession project.
Short Bio: Following his undergraduate BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Anne's College, University of Oxford he completed his MSc and PhD in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics, University of London. He has held academic posts at LSE (lecturer) and at Exeter (lecturer, senior lecturer and reader) and is a member of the ESRC Grant Assessment Panel. He has also worked in HM Treasury on an academic placement and with bodies including the World Bank, OECD, UK National Audit Office and Audit Commission.
Grant funded research: Current: ESRC Fiscal Citizenship (2021-24); NERC, RENEW Project (2022-27). Previous: ESRC ‘Structure and Organisation of Government’ in the UK (2014-17) £320K (approx.); ESRC Grant: Chief Executive Succession and the Performance of Central Government Agencies £215K 2010-2013); EU FP7 Project 'COCOPS: Co-ordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future' (2011-14). Projects as part of the ESRC Public Services Programme, including the project 'Standards of Evidence for Assessing Public Service Performance' (Grant RES153270014).
Publications include:
James, O., Leth Olsen, A., Moynihan, D. and Van Ryzin, G.G. (2020) Behavioral Public Performance, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Edited books: James, O., Jilke, S. R., & Van Ryzin, G. G. (Eds.). (2017). Experiments in public management research: Challenges and contributions. Cambridge University Press.
Articles:
James, O., & Jilke, S. (2020). Marketization reforms and coproduction: Does ownership of service delivery structures and customer language matter?. Public Administration, 98(4), 941-957.
Jakobsen, M., James, O., Moynihan, D., & Nabatchi, T. (2019). JPART virtual issue on citizen-state interactions in public administration research. e8-e15.
James, O., & Van Ryzin, G. G. (2019). Rates and the judgment of government performance. Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, 2(2).pp. 1-10 DOI: 10.30636/jbpa.22.41 journal-bpa.org/index.php/jbpa/article/view/41
James, O., & Petersen, C. (2018). International rankings of government performance and source credibility for citizens: Experiments about e-government rankings in the UK and the Netherlands. Public Management Review, 20(4), 469-484.
James, O., & Van Ryzin, G. G. (2017). Motivated reasoning about public performance: An experimental study of how citizens judge the affordable care act. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 27(1), 197-209.
James, O., Petrovsky, N., Moseley, A. and Boyne, G.A.. 2016. ’The Politics of Agency Death: Ministers and the Survival of Government Agencies in a Parliamentary System.’ British Journal of Political Science.46 (4) pp. 763-784
James, O., Jilke, S., Petersen, C. and Van de Walle, S., 2016. Citizens' Blame of Politicians for Public Service Failure: Experimental Evidence about Blame Reduction through Delegation and Contracting. Public Administration Review, 76(1), pp.83-93.
FernándezGutiérrez, M., James, O. and Jilke, S., 2016. ‘Competition and switching in public service markets: Can they reduce inequalities?’ Regulation & Governance. Doi: 10.1111/rego.12110
James, O. and Moseley, A. 2014. ‘Does performance information about public services affect citizens' perceptions, satisfaction, and voice behaviour? Field experiments with absolute and relative performance information’, Public Administration, vol. 92, no. 2, 493-511.
Boyne, G, James, O. John, P , Petrovsky, N. 2012. ‘Party Control, Party Competition and Service Performance’ British Journal of Political Science Vol. 46, pp. 641-660. Published online first 21 Feb 2012.
James, O. 2011. 'Performance Measures and Democracy: Information Effects on Citizens in Field and Laboratory Experiments', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21: 399-418.
Boyne, G.A., James, O., John, P. ; Petrovsky, N. 2010. ‘Does Public Service Performance Affect Top Management Turnover?’ Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 20: 261-279.
Boyne, G.A, James, O. John, P., Petrovsky, N. 2009. ‘Democracy and government performance: holding incumbents accountable in English local governments.’ Journal of Politics. Vol. 71 No. 4, pp.1273-1284 doi:10.1017/S0022381609990089
Biography:
Oliver James is professor of political science and works on issues in public policy, public administration and regulation. Following his undergraduate BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Anne's College, University of Oxford he completed his MSc and PhD at the London School of Economics, University of London. His recent publications (some of which are available to download) are listed here. Further details of his research are available. As well as his primary interest in academic research and teaching, he works with public sector organisations in the UK and elsewhere, and has acted as a consultant to bodies including the World Bank, OECD, UK Treasury, UK National Audit Office and UK Audit Commission. Formerly, he taught and was a Research Officer at the London School of Economics.
His publications are listed on several sites
exeter.academia.edu/oliverjames
PhD Supervision is offered in a broad range of topic areas relating to public policy, public administration or regulation. Suitable topic areas include: public sector organisation, public sector reform, politics and administration, rational choice models (eg bureau-shaping , budget maximising ), New Public Management ( eg internal markets, quasi-markets, contracting out, partnership working, public/private competition), regulation, regulation inside government (including audit, inspection, oversight, Best Value, value for money studies, efficiency studies ), performance measurement in the public sector, performance targets (including Public Service Agreements, executive agency targets ), public sector evaluation, quangos, organisation and reform of international organisations, multi-level governance. Country areas include UK central and local government, European systems (including the European Commission), US Federal and state systems and other OECD country systems.
Teaching: currently undergraduate and postgraduate courses including modules as part of the MPA and MRes Politics programmes.
Research supervision:
Research supervision is available across a range of topics relating to the politics of public service provision and delivery (especially but not exclusively in health, education and policing), public sector information and communication with citizens and service users, public administration/management, governance and public policy
