Dr David Hudson

Senior Lecturer in Political Economy

• Name: Dr David Hudson
• Position: Senior Lecturer in Political Economy & Departmental Graduate Tutor
• Room: 3-03
• Telephone: 020 7679 4991
• Fax: 020 7679 4969
• Email: d.hudson@ucl.ac.uk

Introduction

Dr David Hudson is a Senior Lecturer in Political Economy and is the Departmental Graduate Tutor. His principal research interests lie broadly within International Political Economy and International Relations, and more specifically in the political economy of development, finance, and network analysis.

David joined the Department of Political Science in June 2005. Prior to joining UCL he was an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham (2004-05). The University of Birmingham was also where he completed his doctorate in political science (2000-04).  He is responsible for teaching the Political Economy of Development and Theories of International Relations courses.

Research Interests

My current research focus is the political economy of development.  In particular my work explores the ongoing debates about financing for development: looking at the possibilities, problems, and contradictions of different (public and private) sources of funding which are being harnessed to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals.  This research forms the basis for a current book project: Global Finance and Development (Routledge).  In addition, elsewhere, I am critically examining alternative sources of finance to Official Development Assistance and Foreign Direct Investment; for example, migrant remittances, securitization, and microfinance.  I am also conducting research into public support and understandings of development assistance.

A second strand of my research explores financial markets as communities of practice and sits within the literature on the social studies of finance - this was the theoretical basis of my PhD.  In particular, the thesis was an exploration of the sociology behind the formation of price dynamics on financial markets, and consequently the relationship between prices and value - specifically, discourses and the social construction of value and the performativity of valuation.  In the context of the IPE literature, this was in relation to the debates about financial market regulation.  I am in the process of picking this up again in the context of the recent house price booms in the OECD economies and the subsequent slow down and fall out from securitization and the sub-prime crisis.

I am currently exploring these and other areas through the lens of formal network analysis.  I am interested in using this tool to empirically analyse the changing geographies of international and transnational relations and how forms of, more or less, global governance are forming and operating across different spaces and groupings of actors.  I am also interested in questions of disciplinarity/interdisciplinarity, with particular reference to IPE but also the social sciences more generally.  Finally, I have a longstanding and ongoing interest in critical theories of IR and IPE, especially historical materialist, poststructural, and feminist approaches.

I am always interested in supervising promising doctoral students in any of the above or related areas.

Main Publications

• 'The Old and New Significance of Political Economy in Diplomacy', Review of International Studies, 30 (3), 2004: 343-60; co-authored with Donna Lee + Read more (External link)
• Governing Financial Globalization: International Political Economy and Multi-Level Governance, London: Routledge/RIPE Series in Global Political Economy, 2005; co-edited and co-authored 'Introduction' and 'Conclusion' with Andrew Baker & Richard Woodward + Read more (External link)
• 'Locating and Understanding the Marketplace in Financial Governance', in Andrew Baker, David Hudson & Richard Woodward (eds), Governing Financial Globalization: International Political Economy and Multi-Level Governance, London: Routledge/RIPE Series in Global Political Economy, 2005 + Read more (External link)
• 'Foreign Exchange Market' & 'Irrational Exuberance', in Mark Bevir (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Governance, London: Sage, 2006 + Read more (External link)
• 'Feminist Scholarship in International Relations and the Politics of Disciplinary Emotion', Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 37 (1) 2008: 123-151; co-authored with Raluca Soreanu + Read more (External link)
• 'Developing Geographies of Financialisation: Banking the Poor and Remittance Securitisation', Contemporary Politics, 14 (3), 2008: 315-333 + Read more (External link)
• 'Narratives of Neoliberalism: The Role of Everyday Media Practices and the Reproduction of Dominant Ideas', in Andreas Gofas & Colin Hay (eds), The Role of Ideas in Political Analysis: A Portrait of Contemporary Debates, London: Routledge, 2010; co-authored with Mary Martin + Read more (External link)
• '"The Righteous Considereth the Cause of the Poor?": Public Attitudes Towards Poverty in Developing Countries', Political Studies, 58 (3), 2010: 389-409; co-authored with Jennifer van Heerde + Read more (External link)
• 'Financing for development and the Post Keynesian case for a new global reserve currency', Journal of International Development, 22 (6), 2010: 772-787 + Read more (External link)
• ''Mile Wide and an Inch Deep’: Surveys of Public Attitudes Towards Development Aid', International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 4 (1), 2012: 5-23 + Read more (External link)

Current Research Students

I am currently supervising six doctoral students (either as first or second supervisor).  Please follow the links for more information on the individual projects:

• Donna Arrondelle (commenced Oct 2010) - Donna is examining the role of the interest groups in the formation if UK development policy (funded by a UCL Impact Award).
• Niheer Dasandi (commenced Oct 2008) - Niheer is researching into the role of global relations of inequality in sustaining dependency and undermining development; the project will empirically map and formally analyse the role of different political, social and economic ties.
• Cathy Elliott (commenced Oct 2008) - Cathy's project is a genealogy of Pakistan’s development deploying poststructural and postcolonial approaches in order to interrogate how the values of democracy and development legitimate domestic and international forms of rule (ESRC funded).
• Ivica Petrikova (commenced Oct 2010) - Ivica is researching into the effectiveness of different aid modalities in reducing food insecurity (funded by a UCL Graduate School Research Scholarship)
• Barbara Sennholz-Weinhardt (commenced Oct 2008) - Barbara's project is an examination of how financial regulation is adopted, adapted and performed within hedge funds as actors constituted through socio-technical agencements.
• David Wearing (commenced Oct 2008) - David is researching into how concentrations of socio-economic power influence British foreign policy; drawing on historical and critical approaches to the state the project will empirically map the role of different social forces in a selection of policy areas.

Previous research students, who have been awarded their PhD are:

• David Karp (2006-2010) - 'Human rights responsibility and transnational corporations: an international political theory analysis' (funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada)
• Nicole Salisbury (2006-2010) - 'The HIV prevention puzzle: Inter-organizational cooperation and the structural drivers of infection'
• Maurice Wong (2006-2010) - 'The governance of financial derivatives in China: Policy convergence and explanations for change'
• Raluca Soreanu (2007-2011) - 'A theory of outlaw emotions: Post-heroic creativities and disciplinary change in International Relations' (funded by a UCL Graduate School Research Scholarship)

Work in Progress

I am working on a number of different projects at the moment - all, albeit in different ways, related to those research interests detailed above.  I am trying to provide drafts of any 'work in progress' for circulation and comments through this website: http://davidhudson.wordpress.com/.  Please browse, download, and post comments as you see fit!