Keith Dowding Explained

Keith Dowding
Birth Name:Keith Martin Dowding
Birth Date:1960 5, df=yes
Nationality:British
Institution:Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Field:Political science
Alma Mater:Nuffield College, Oxford University

Keith Martin Dowding (born 6 May 1960)[1] is a Professor of Political Science and Political Philosophy at the Australian National University's School of Politics and International Relations. He was in the Government Department at the London School of Economics in 2006,[2] and has published in the fields of public administration and policy, political theory, and urban political economy. His work is informed by social and rational choice theories. He edited the SAGE Publishing Journal of Theoretical Politics from 1996 to 2012.

Early life

Dowding obtained his BA in Philosophy and Politics from Keele University in 1982 and completed a DPhil at Nuffield College, Oxford University, in 1987.[3]

Career

Dowding began editing for SAGE Publishing in 1996.[4] He was in the Government Department at the London School of Economics in 2006.[2]

In 2007, Dowding arrived at the Australian National University and began teaching as Professor of Political Science.[5]

Theory

Dowding works in political philosophy and mainstream empirical political science.[6] Dowding is best known for his work on "power", applying insights from formal analysis to central debates on the nature of power and structure of power in society. Expanding on Brian Barry's concept of "luck," he argues that some groups of people are "systematically lucky" in that they are advantaged because of the way society is structured. Such people are not powerful in the sense they have resources that they could use that other groups do not (though they might have this power as well), but rather systematically lucky in that they tend to get what they want without having to do anything. Alternatively, other groups are systematically unlucky. This argument has caused great controversy with critics including Brian Barry, Steven Lukes, Peter Morriss and more recently Andrew Hindmoor.[7]

Dowding has also worked on the Tiebout model of individuals moving location to get the local services they require, showing that such moving does occur in the UK though only to a small extent, and that people tend to move to areas for service reasons, but do not decide to leave from areas for those reasons. He has extended this work into examining Albert Hirschman's Exit, Voice and Loyalty Model and has a forthcoming Cambridge University Press book Exits, Voices and Social Investment co-authored with long-time collaborator Peter John extending and applying Hirschman's model to citizen satisfaction with government services.

Dowding also considered the theory of presidentialisation of British politics in his 2012 article, “The Prime Ministerialization of the British Prime Minister”.[8] The article challenges Michael Foley’s theory that British politics is becoming increasingly similar to that of a presidential system. Dowding instead suggests that the British prime minister is gaining power, but only enhancing the responsibilities that he already possesses rather than adopting new powers that are more closely attributed to the United States’ President.

More recently his work has examined why UK cabinet ministers resign based on a large dataset of all UK ministerial resignations and non-resignations, and compiled another on Australia. He is now working on a major project examining political careers in Australia.

Dowding left LSE and joined the political science programme in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University (ANU) as a Research Professor of Political Science in July 2007 moving to the School of Politics and International Relations when the Arts Faculty coalesced with the Research School.

Research

The Careers of Cabinet Ministers

Analytical Account of Freedom and Rights

This is a joint work in collaboration with Martin van Hees.

Reprinted in Book: Matravers . Matt . Meyer . Lukas . Democracy, equality, and justice . Routledge . London . 2011 . 978-0-415-59292-5 .

Work on Amartya Sen

Dowding has analytically and empirically studied the measurement of freedom and rights. He has worked as part of a team led by Paul Anand, Open University, UK. They have been empirically examining Amartya Sen's capability approach through survey data ('Capabilities and Well-Being: Operationalizing the Capabilities Framework').[9] This research was supported by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board.

Policy Agendas in Australia

With Aaron Martin of Melbourne University, Dowding worked on the Australian franchise of the Policy Agendas and Comparative Agenda Project. His interest in methodology and explanation led to a reflection on precisely what is being measured in these projects, as discussed in his Journal of Public Policy articles and opening chapters on the Policy Agendas in Australia book.

Publications

Books

Volume I: Social choice, equilibrium and electoral systems

Volume II: Voting, elections and pressure politics

Volume III: Legislatures

Volume IV: Bureaucracy, constitutional arrangements and the state

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dowding, Keith M. . Library of Congress . 23 September 2014 . data sheet (Dowding, Keith Martin; b. 05-06-1960) .
  2. Web site: 20 September 2006 . In Praise of Manipulation .
  3. Web site: Professor Keith Dowding. Australian National University. 13 April 2014.
  4. Web site: Editorial=. January 1996. SAGE.
  5. Web site: Professor Keith Dowding. Australian National University.
  6. Web site: Prof. Keith Dowding - Center for Advanced Studies LMU (CAS) - LMU Munich . 2023-03-17 . www.en.cas.uni-muenchen.de . en.
  7. Barry, Brian. 2002. “Capitalists Rule OK? Some Puzzles about Power.” Politics, Philosophy and Economics 1: 155–84.Barry, Brian. 2003. “Capitalists Rule. OK? A Commentary on Keith Dowding.” Politics, Philosophy and Economics 2: 323–41.Bosworth, William. 2021. “Power Obsessed.” Journal of Political Power 14 (2): 288–300.

    Hindmoor, Andrew, and Josh McGeechan. 2013. “Luck, Systematic Luck and Business Power: Lucky All the Way Down or Trying Hard to Get What It Wants without Trying.” Political Studies 61: 834–50.Lukes, Steven. 2021. “Power and Rational Choice.” Journal of Political Power 14 (2): 281–87.Dowding, Keith. 2021. “Individually Lucky, Collectively Powerful: A Response to Friends.” Journal of Political Power 14 (2): 340–62.

  8. Dowding. Keith. 2013-07-01. The Prime Ministerialisation of the British Prime Minister. Parliamentary Affairs. en. 66. 3. 617–635. 10.1093/pa/gss007. 0031-2290. free. 1885/18172. free.
  9. Anand, Paul, Graham Hunter, Keith Dowding, Ian Carter, Francesco Guala, and Martin van Hees. 2009. “The Development of Capability Indicators.” Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 10 (1): 125–52./

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