Dr Richard Whitaker

Lecturer

BA (Salford), MA Econ, PhD (Manchester)

Contact Details

• Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2756
• Fax: +44 (0)116 252 5082
• Email: rcw11@leicester.ac.uk 
• Webpage: on academic.edu

Research Interests

My main research interests concern two areas: the study of legislatures, and British centre-right parties and European integration. On the first of these, my work so far has focused principally on the European Parliament and its internal organisation, specifically committees, party groups and national parties. I have also worked on the relationship between parliament and government at Westminster. On the second area, with Philip Lynch and Gemma Loomes, I have worked on a Leverhulme-funded project on party competition on the centre-right and have previously researched the Conservatives in the European Parliament (with Philip Lynch). With Philip Lynch and Ben Clements, I have recently established a sub-group of the UACES Collaborative Research Network on Euroscepticism, looking at the limited impact of Euroscepticism. I am currently chairing the Department's research cluster on Parties, Participation and Public Opinion (3PO).

 Current Research

1. Competing on the centre-right: an examination of party strategy in Britain

With Philip Lynch I was awarded a Leverhulme Research Project Grant of £49,212 to look at party competition on the centre-right in Britain. Building on our previous British Academy-funded study of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, this project examines in detail Conservative and UKIP attitudes, policy and electoral strategy on European integration at the next European Parliament and general elections. The project employs a range of research methods including candidate surveys, elite interviews, analysis of party manifestos and existing elite opinion and European Parliament roll-call voting data. For further details see our project web site.

2. The European Parliament’s Committees: National Party Influence and Legislative Empowerment

This research monograph has been published by Routledge as part of their Contemporary European Studies series. The book analyses the development of the European Parliament’s (EP) committees and their relationship with national political parties in the light of the EP’s increased legislative role in the last two decades. This growth in powers means that the European Parliament’s actions are now more likely than ever to affect the policy goals of national political parties and, indirectly, their electoral prospects back home. Given that most of the EP’s detailed legislative work takes place in its committees, the relationship between them and political parties is crucial for explaining how the EP works. 

Recent Research Activities

I presented a paper on careers in the European Parliament at the ECPR General Conference in Reykjavik (Aug 2011). Philip Lynch and I presented a paper at the ECPR Joint Sessions in Muenster (March 2010) 'Managing the European issue: The British Conservatives and UK Independence Party' and a paper at the PSA in Edinburgh (Mar-Apr 2010) entitled 'Exploring the nature of support for UKIP: the 2009 European elections and beyond', both drawing on research for our Leverhulme-funded project. A revised version of the latter paper has been published in the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. Further papers from the project have been published in Parliamentary Affairs and the British Journal of Politics and International Relations. A further paper is forthcoming in British Politics.

PhD Supervision

As noted above, my main research interests concern two areas: the study of legislatures, and British centre-right parties and European integration. Plans for future research include work on Eurosceptics in the European Parliament and the success or otherwise of Euroscepticism more broadly. I would be keen to supervise projects on the European Parliament, the Westminster Parliament, comparative legislatures (particularly committees and parties in legislatures), and Eurosceptic political parties.

I currently supervise four PhD students: Peter Thomas who is working on the politicization of immigration in the UK and France, Laura MacKenzie who works on radical right parties and the European Parliament, Valasia Savvidou, working on immigration and voting behaviour, and Berta Barbet Porta working on heresthetics: issues, party strategies and electoral behaviour. I was second supervisor to Tim Sansom who completed his thesis on 'Political Marketing: The Conservatives in Opposition' in 2009, to Carol Weaver who completed a thesis on US-Russian tensions and EU policy in the Black Sea region in 2011 and to Mukhtar Hajizada who was awarded his PhD in December 2012 on 'Complex regionalisation in the wider Black Sea area'. 

Teaching

My teaching, past and present, covers the following areas:

• European Union institutions and policy-making
• Comparative legislatures
• Comparative politics in general
• Research methods in political science  

Most Recent Publications

Books 

(2011) The European Parliament's committees: National party influence and legislative empowerment, London: Routledge. Replication data

Recent Journal Articles and Chapters

• (forthcoming 2013) 'United Kingdom', European Journal of Political Research: Political Data Yearbook 2012.
• (2012) 'Rivalry on the Right: The Conservatives, The UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the EU Issue', British Politics, advanced online publication, doi: 10.1057/bp.2012.29, with Philip Lynch.
• (2012) 'The UK Independence Party: understanding a niche party's strategy, candidates and supporters', Parliamentary Affairs, 65:4, pp.733-57, with Philip Lynch and Gemma Loomes.
• (2012) 'United Kingdom', European Journal of Political Research: Political Data Yearbook 2011, 51: 1, pp.322-32.

• (2012) 'Where there is discord, can they bring harmony? Managing intra-party dissent on European integration in the Conservative Party', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, with Philip Lynch, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-856X.2012.00526.x

• (2011) 'United Kingdom', European Journal of Political Research: Political Data Yearbook, 50: 7-8, pp.1164-74.
• (2011) 'Explaining support for the UK Independence Party at the 2009 European Parliament elections', Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 21:3, pp.359-79, with Philip Lynch.
• (2010) 'United Kingdom', European Journal of Political Research: Political Data Yearbook, 49: 7-8, pp.1193-1202.
• (2008) 'A Loveless Marriage: The Conservatives and the European People’s Party', Parliamentary Affairs, 61:1, pp.31-51, with Philip Lynch.
• (2006) 'Parliament and Government, 2005-06: Reforms and Reflections' , Parliamentary Affairs, 59:4, pp.694-702.
• (2006) 'Ping-pong and policy influence: Relations between the Lords and Commons 2005-6' , Parliamentary Affairs, 59:3, pp.536-45.
• (2006) 'Backbench influence on government legislation? A flexing of parliamentary muscles at Westminster' , Parliamentary Affairs, 59:2, pp.350-9.
• (2006) 'Ascendant Assemblies in Britain? Rebellions, Reforms and Inter-Cameral Conflict' , Parliamentary Affairs, 59:1, pp. 173-80.
• (2005) 'Small Group Teaching: Perceptions and Problems', Politics, 25:2, pp. 116-25, with Amy Bogaard, Sabine C. Carey, Gwilym Dodd and Ian D. Repath.
• (2005) 'The United Kingdom' in Juliet Lodge (ed.), The 2004 Elections to the European Parliament (Basingstoke, Palgrave).
• (2005) 'Parliament and the Public: A view from the Outside' in Nicholas D. J. Baldwin (ed.), Parliament in the 21st Century (London, Politico's).
• (2005) 'Parliament and the European Union: Refrigerators, Readings and Reforms' in Nicholas D. J. Baldwin (ed.), Parliament in the 21st Century (London, Politico's).
• (2005) 'National parties in the European Parliament: an influence in the committee system?', European Union Politics, 6:1, pp. 5-28.
• (2001) 'Party Control in a Committee-Based Legislature? The Case of the European Parliament', Journal of Legislative Studies, 7:4, pp. 63-88.
• (2000) 'The development of the European Parliament's committee system 1979-99: leadership, membership and legislative responsibility', European Policy Research Unit Working Papers, Department of Government, University of Manchester.

Working papers

• (2011) 'The UK Independence Party: analysing its candidates and supporters', with Philip Lynch and Gemma Loomes.