About
Gerry Stoker now works part-time at the University of Southampton where he is Chair of Governance. His current research interests are in democractic renewal, governance failings and responses to them, place-based politics, nudge and behaviour change and understanding the role of trust in political institutions. His work is widely cited and has been translated into multiple languages.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- 1. Much of Gerry Stoker's intitial work focused on local government and urban politics. Key publications include Remaking Planning, 1989 ( with Tim Brindley and Yvonne Rydin and the single-authored The Politics of Local Government (1988) and Transforming Local Governance (2004)
- 2. A broader focus on the concept and practice of governance is reflected in various article widely cited articles and co-authored books published including Towards Holistic Governance(2002), Governance Theory and Practice(2009) and Nuclear Power and Energy Policy. The Limits to Governance(2015)
- 3. Contributions to debates about how to conduct political science are reflected in four editions of the edited volume (with David Marsh) Theory and Methods in Political Science (1995, 2002, 2010, 2018) and a co-edited book The Relevance of Political Science. Articles on developing a design arm or solution-orientation to political science have also been written
- 4. A further interest developed with Peter John and others has been in the connection between civic action, behaviuor change and the potential of so-called "nudge" strategies. Work was conducted using field experiments. The key publication here is Nudge, Nudge, Think, Think. Experimenting with Ways to Change Civic Behaviour (2011/19).
- 5. My most current research interest is captured by a concern with the dismal state of politics in many democracies and what can be done about it. The key themes are set out in my book Why Politics Matters (2006/2017) and have driven much of my research for over a decade. Multiple articles have been published and so far two co-authored books The Good Politican (2018) and Saving Democracy (2022)
Current research
My current research is tied to the issue of trust in politics and further information on that can be obtained from trustgov.net
Research projects
Completed projects
Publications
Biography
Gerry Stoker started work at what was then Leicester Polytechnic in 1979 and then held lecturing positions in Birmingham and Essex before taking up a professorship at Stratchclyde in 1991, moving on to hold professorships at Manchester( in 2000) and Southampton in (2007). Between 2014-21 he also held a position at University of Canberra. He now works part-time.