The last thirty years has seen the transformation of the state across the world. The 'third wave' of transitions to democracy that began in the 1970s was followed by the neo-liberal policy prescriptions of the 'Washington Consensus' in the 1980s and the promotion of 'Good Governance' in the 1990s. This combined with the end of the cold war heralded a rise in the deployment of coercive diplomacy and intervention by the international community in the name of international liberalism and global governance. Against this background four members of the department: , Dr Adam Fagan, Dr Madeleine Davis and Dr Francoise Boucek, study the transformation of state-society relations and the changing nature of sovereignty in the international arena. Research ranges over critical examination of transitions to democracy, the domestic and inter-governmental mediation of conflict, nation- and state-building in a range of developed and developing countries.

Regime transition

The focus of Adam Fagan's research has been the development of post-communist civil society, with particular reference to the Czech Republic. He has published articles on environmental protest and contributed to the theoretical discussions concerning civil society and the the post-socialist legacy. In conjunction with four other UK academics, he organised an ESRC seminar series entitled 'Transnational Issues, Local Concerns: Insights from Russia, Central Europe and the UK.'  He is a member of the American Association of Geographers Post-Socialist Group. In recent articles, Dr Fagan has challenged the capacity of western-funded NGOs to deliver democratic notions of civil society in post-communist states. The focus of his current research is the role of NGOs and civil society in post-Dayton Bosnia, with particular reference to the implications of international aid and the role of NGOs in regime change. He obtained a British Academy grant in January 2004 to study the development of local NGO capacity in Bosnia.

Dr Toby Dodge’s research focuses on the evolution of the post colonial state from creation, through independence to transformation under globalisation. Specifically he has traced the changing relationship between the international system, states and societies in the Middle East. This resulted in Globalisation and the Middle East, Islam, Economics, Culture and Politics, (edited with Richard Higgott) (London and Washington: Royal Institute for International Affairs and the Brookings Institution, 2002). As a case study Dr Dodge’s research has focused on the political sociology of Iraq. He traced its birth and troubled growth in, Inventing Iraq: the Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied, (New York and London: Columbia University Press and Hurst & Co., November, 2003, paperback with new preface 2005). With the end of the cold war Iraq came to occupy a ground breaking role in international relations, with the imposition of sanctions and then invasion and regime change. Research on the causes and consequences of this was published in Iraq at the Crossroads: State and Society in the Shadow of Regime Change, (edited with Steven Simon) (London and Oxford: International Institute for Strategic Studies and Oxford University Press, 2003), and Iraq’s Future; the Aftermath of Regime Change, (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies and Routledge, April, 2005), ‘The Sardinian, the Texan and the Tikriti: Gramsci, the Comparative Autonomy of the State in the Middle East and Regime Change in Iraq’, International Politics, No 43 (2006), ‘Iraq: the contradictions of exogenous state building in historical perspective’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2006, ‘Iraqi Transitions: from regime change to state collapse’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2005, ‘A Sovereign Iraq?’ Survival, Vol. 46, No. 3, Autumn 2004, and ‘US intervention and possible Iraqi futures’, Survival, Vol. 45, No. 3, Autumn 2003. A frequent visitor to Iraq, he was last in Baghdad in November 2002 and May and June 2003.

Dr Madeleine Davis has a secondary research interest in aspects of democratic transition in Latin America. One strand of her recent work has focused on the Pinochet case and its implications and effects, especially in terms of securing accountability for past human rights violations in countries that have undergone transitions from authoritarian rule. She has edited and contributed to a book on this subject: The Pinochet Case: Origins, Progress and Implications (London, ILAS, 2003). Other recent work in this area includes: 'The indictment of Pinochet: pursuing justice in Chile 1973-2003', Hispanic Research Journal, Volume 5, No. 3, October 2004, “Is Spain recovering its memory? Breaking the pacto del olvido” Human Rights Quarterly (27, 2005), and "Externalized justice and democratization: lessons from the Pinochet case", Political Studies (Vol.54 No.2 June 2006). Dr Davis is an Associate Fellow of the Institute for the Study of the Americas.

Françoise Boucek has a specialist research interest in the comparative study of single-party dominance including transitions to democracy from one-party dominance in authoritarian regimes. She is co-editor of a recent volume on Dominant Political Parties and Democracy that explores the relationship between dominant political parties and the democratic process in different parts of the world including sub-Sahara Africa and Latin America.