Dr Catherine Needham, BA (Leeds) MSc (Oxon) DPhil (Oxon)
Senior Lecturer

Office Hours:

Monday 2-3pm and Tuesday 10-11am

Research interests:

Working in the field of Public Policy, my research focuses on reform of public services, with particular emphasis on the introduction of consumerist models of service delivery. I am interested in the relative role of quasi-markets and consumer-centred models of decision-making compared to those based on notions of citizenship and publicness. I have examined the different ‘narratives of consumerism' contained within recent welfare reforms in the UK , drawing on content analysis of government documents and interviews with policy makers. My book, The Reform of Public Services under New Labour: Narratives of Consumerism,was published by Palgrave in 2007.

I am currently working on a research project to explore the implications of personalisation and co-production for public service delivery. I am writing a book for the Policy Press, entitled Personalising Public Services: understanding the personalisation narrative. I am also working with the Local Authorities Research Council Initiative on a project on co-productive approaches to local service delivery.

I also undertake research on political marketing and communications, focusing on political parties and government. I have incorporated concepts such as relationship marketing, branding and policy transfer into the study of political communications, and applied them to comparative studies of the UK and USA .

I would welcome PhD students interested in aspects of the following:

• Public sector reform, focused on the UK, or putting the UK in comparative perspective.
• Theories of public management
• Political marketing and branding

Postgraduate supervision:

I am currently supervising two PhD students, both working on comparative studies of political marketing.

Publications:

Monographs

The Reform of Public Services under New Labour: Narratives of Consumerism. Basingstoke : Palgrave, 2007.

Citizen-Consumers: New Labour’s Marketplace Democracy. London: Catalyst, 2003.

Journal articles

‘Fighting the Last War: Applying the Policy Transfer Approach to Election Campaigns’, Party Politics, forthcoming 2010.

‘Interpreting Personalization in England’s National Health Service: a Textual Analysis’, Critical Policy Studies, forthcoming 2010.

‘ Policing with a Smile: Narratives of Consumerism in New Labour's Criminal Justice Policy', Public Administration , Special issue: ‘Decentering Policy Networks', Bevir, M. and Richards, D. (eds), Vol. 87, No. 1, 2009.

‘ Realising the Potential of Co-production: Negotiating Improvements in Public Services ', Journal of Social Policy and Society,themed section: ‘Choice or voice or something else? User participation in public services', Greener, I. and Talbot, C. (eds), Vol. 7, 2008.

‘Brands and Political Loyalty', Journal of Brand Management , Vol. 13, No. 3, 2006, pp. 178-187.

‘Customer Care and the Public Service Ethos', Public Administration , Vol. 84, No. 4, 2006, pp. 845-860.

‘Brand Leaders: Clinton , Blair and the Limitations of the Permanent Campaign', Political Studies , vol. 53 (2), 2005, 343-361.

‘Introduction: Do Parties Have a Future', Parliamentary Affairs, vol. 58 (3), 2005, 499-502.

‘Customer-Focused Government', Soundings , vol. 26, 2004, 73-85.

‘Consultation: A Cure for Local Government?', Parliamentary Affairs, vol. 55 (4), 2002, 699-714.

Book chapters

‘Narratives of Public Service Delivery in the UK: Comparing central and local government,’ in Simmons, R., Powell, M. and Greener, I. (eds) The Consumer in Public Services, Bristol: Policy Press, 2009.

‘Choice', in Powell, M. (ed). Modernising the Welfare State: the Blair Legacy,Bristol : Policy Press, 2009.

‘Citizenship, Participation and Public Services', in Leighton, D. and White, S. (eds) Building a Citizen Society: The Emerging Politics of Republican Democracy, London : Lawrence and Wishart, forthcoming 2008.

‘A declining public service ethos', in Dibben, P., Wood, G., Roper, I. and James, P. (eds), Modernising Work in Public Services: Redefining Roles and Relationships in Britain's Changing Workplace , Basingstoke : Palgrave, 2007.

‘Citizens or Consumers? Electronic Government in the USA and UK ', in Gibson, R., Roemelle, A. and Ward, S. (eds) Electronic Democracy. London : Routledge, 2004, 43-69.

Undergraduate teaching:

• POL243 British Politics (Level 5)
• POL352 Select Topics in British Government (Level 6)

Postgraduate teaching:

• International Public Management