Justin Fisher

Profile:

Justin Fisher is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Magna Carta Institute. He is joint editor (with Christopher Wlezien) of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (www.jepop.org). In recent years, he has acted as an advisor and consultant to the Electoral Commission, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the Council of Europe, the Hayden Phillips review of Party Finance, and the Public Administration Select Committee. In February 2010, he will begin an ESRC funded project analysing constituency campaigning at the 2010 General Election (with Ed Fieldhouse and David Cutts). Recently, Professor Fisher has been awarded a Visiting Professorship at Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense.

Research Areas:

Elections, Political Parties, Campaigning, Party Finance, Constitutional Reform, Political Methodology, and British and Comparative politics more generally. The research covers both empirical and theoretical aspects of these fields and employs both quantitative and qualitative methodology. It is used by academic and non-academic sources alike, including the Electoral Commission, and various think-tanks.

justin fisher book1

Selected Recent Publications:

• ‘Does one Trust Judgement Fit All? Linking Theory and Empirics’ British Journal of Politics & International Relations (Forthcoming 2010) (with Jennifer van Heerde and Andrew Tucker)

• ‘Hayden Phillips and Jack Straw: The Continuation of British Exceptionalism in Party Finance?’ Parliamentary Affairs (2009) Vol. 62 No.2.

• ‘Evaluating the Electoral Effects of Traditional and Modern Modes of Constituency Campaigning in Britain 1992-2005’ Parliamentary Affairs (2009) Vol. 62 No.2 (with David Denver)

• ‘From Foot-Slogging to Call Centres and Direct Mail: A Framework for Analysing the Development of District-Level Campaigning’ European Journal of Political Research (2008) Vol. 47 No. 6 (with David Denver)

• ‘Party Funding: Back to square one (and a half) or every cloud has a silver lining?’ Political Quarterly, (2008) Vol. 79, No.1

• ‘The Relative Electoral Impact of Central Party Co-ordination and Party Size at Constituency Level’. Electoral Studies, (2006). Vol. 25 No.4 (with David Denver & Gordon Hands)

• ‘Unsung Heroes? Constituency Election Agents in British General Elections’. British Journal of Politics & International Relations (2006) Vol. 8 No. 4 (with David Denver & Gordon Hands)

• ‘Party Membership and Campaign Activity in Britain: The Impact of Electoral Performance’. Party Politics (2006). Vol. 12 No.4 (with David Denver & Gordon Hands).

• ‘Party Finance Reform as Constitutional Engineering? The effectiveness and unintended consequences of Party Finance Reform in France and Britain’. French Politics (2005). No. 3. (with Ben Clift).

• Special Issue of Party Politics, Comparing Campaign Finance across Democracies: Broadening the Debate (2004) (Lead Editor).

• ‘Party Work as Political Participation: The Vocational Motivations of Labour Party Employees’. The British Journal of Politics & International Relations (2003) (with Paul Webb)

• Central Debates in British Politics (Lead Editor) (Harlow: Longman, 2002)