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Dr Mark Roberts

Job: Lecturer and Research Fellow

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: School of Humanities and Performing Arts

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 257 7260

E: m.roberts@dmu.ac.uk

W: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/pol

 

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Personal profile

Dr Mark Roberts has been a Research Fellow and Lecturer at De Montfort University since 2008. During this time he has completed a great deal of field research on urban politics, partnership governance and the development of neighbourhood structures in Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester. In 2011 Mark successfully bid for a £120,000 award from the Arts and Humanities Council and the RSA to conduct a collaborative research project on ‘Understanding the impacts of citizen participation in Peterborough’. As sole researcher on this project, he is currently producing a range of outputs including a series of academic papers which will be put forward for the next REF. During 2013 Mark also published his first book in co-authorship with Professor Vivien Lowndes of Nottingham University: ‘Why Institutions Matter: The New Institutionalism in Political Science’ in the Palgrave Macmillan Political Analysis series.

Before joining De Montfort University Mark completed his PhD at INLOGOV at the University of Birmingham, and for 29 years before he began an academic career, Mark worked in local authority social work and was Head of Child Care in Sandwell MBC from 1997 to 2003. Dr Roberts has also completed consultancy work for the Football Association in Soho Square London on their equal opportunities policies and strategies for bringing more people from ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged groups into the administration of football.

Publications and outputs

  • Power and urban governance
    dc.title: Power and urban governance dc.contributor.author: Davies, Jonathan S.; Roberts, Mark; Vegliò, Simone dc.description.abstract: The significance of cities as concentrations of political and economic power can hardly be overstated. Cities project power on the global stage and are recognized as powerful actors by others: anchoring revolutions and giving their names to historical epochs and intellectual traditions (Chicago or Frankfurt) and even phases of economic development. The power of the city on the historical and global stages makes it even more important to study and grasp the way urban power is conceived, constructed, contested and exercised within and between cities. The premise of the chapter is that cities, urban arenas and urbanization dynamics remain crucial sources of power and governing resources today, though the perspectives we discuss diverge radically in their claims, and the significance they impart to urban governance. Urban Studies has become a truly global interdisciplinary field, through which perspectives on power and urban governance have multiplied and diversified. The chapter introduces key traditions, exploring three distinct and internally differentiated bodies of thought: Marxism, neo-institutionalism and post-colonialism. It begins by discussing prominent traditions within or related to urban Marxism: state theory, planetary urbanism and horizontalist approaches. It then discusses recent institutionalist perspectives, finally considering the growing influence of post-colonial perspectives questioning dominant ‘northern’accounts of the city and urbanity. The chapter concludes by suggesting pathways for future research.
  • How do community organizations develop successful strategies of resistance? Revisiting institutional embeddedness and agency
    dc.title: How do community organizations develop successful strategies of resistance? Revisiting institutional embeddedness and agency dc.contributor.author: Roberts, Mark dc.description.abstract: The capacity for resistance is an essential component of the principles and practice of liberal democracy. Critical policy scholars agree that unwelcome interventions in local communities by the state meet resistance, but disagree on whether such efforts can be successful in any meaningful sense. This paper identifies an optimistic turn in the literature, and derives from this a workable definition of successful resistance, which it then applies to an original piece of research into the ‘Save The Green Backyard’ campaign in Peterborough in the UK. Theory driven, it takes two basic concepts from the new institutionalism, embeddedness and agency, and demonstrates how a conceptual framework developed from these can expose the underlying mechanisms driving the successful resistance observed in the case study. The final section of the paper considers how forms of embeddedness worked together to provide a context for successful resistance; the nature of the agency in the case study; and how popular and invited spaces impacted differentially on the community organization in terms of embeddedness and agency. It also draws out some implications for institutionalist theory and methodologies, and for community organizations seeking to protect themselves against unwelcome state interference. dc.description: open access article This study is a spin-off from a two year evaluation funded by the AHRC and its partners of citizen participation in the city of Peterborough, as a part of the Research Councils’ Connected Communities Research Programme in partnership with the RSA. The research for this paper itself was funded by De Montfort University through an internal Research Investment Fund award. The author gratefully acknowledges the support of both parties and of all the partners in the Citizen Power in Peterborough project
  • Local Government in England: Centralisation, Autonomy and Control
    dc.title: Local Government in England: Centralisation, Autonomy and Control dc.contributor.author: Copus, Colin; Roberts, Mark; Wall, Rachel dc.description.abstract: The book explores the claim that English local government exists in one of the most centralised relationships with national government. Such a position fundamentally undermines any notion of local self-government and makes the term ‘government’ in local government a misnomer. The book will examine how the erosion of the autonomy, powers, roles, functions and responsibilities of English local government came about, the arguments of centralisers and localisers to support their view of the constitutional status of local government, and its overall role in the government of England. The book offers an antidote to the onward march of centralisation by offering a new vision of local government which emphasises both ‘local’ and ‘government’.
  • Communication breakdown: understanding the role of policy narratives in conflict and consensus
    dc.title: Communication breakdown: understanding the role of policy narratives in conflict and consensus dc.contributor.author: Roberts, Mark dc.description.abstract: At the heart of this paper is an analysis of a policy initiative in ‘Citizen Power’ promoted by a city council, which began with apparent consensus and widespread support, but quickly became embroiled in conflict and recrimination. The theory developed to explain these paradoxical outcomes focusses on the policy narratives which shaped those actors’ thoughts and actions before and during the crucial period. A conceptual framework is derived from the literature which highlights the constraining and performative characteristics of policy narratives. A detailed analysis uses a dramaturgical approach to present the case study and show how processes of narrative constraint and performance produce a particular ‘mix’ of conflict and consensus in each of three Acts. The conclusion to the paper suggests that political actors often find it so difficult to communicate with one another, because they do not share a common narrative base which goes so far back in time that it is practically inaccessible to the other party. Hence long, drawn out battles over meaning may be fought out, not consciously or necessarily with malicious intent, but because the two sides simply do not understand each other. dc.description: The research project was part of the Research Councils’ Connected Communities Research Programme, in partnership with the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and its Citizen Power in Peterborough Project. The author gratefully acknowledges the support of both parties and of all the other partners in the Citizen Power in Peterborough project. The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • Exploring the local political context of the recession
    dc.title: Exploring the local political context of the recession dc.contributor.author: Leach, Steve; Roberts, Mark
  • Why Institutions Matter: The New Institutionalism in Political Science
    dc.title: Why Institutions Matter: The New Institutionalism in Political Science dc.contributor.author: Lowndes, Vivien; Roberts, Mark
  • Partnership governance and democratic effectiveness: community leaders and public managers as dual intermediaries
    dc.title: Partnership governance and democratic effectiveness: community leaders and public managers as dual intermediaries dc.contributor.author: Munro, H; Roberts, Mark; Skelcher, Chris dc.description: Commended by the judges of the 2009 UKPAC prize for the paper which offers the greatest contribution to taking forward the concepts or practice of public administration
  • From Neighbourhood Governance to Neighbourhood Management: A 'Roll-Out' Neo-Liberal Design for Devolved Governance in the United Kingdom?
    dc.title: From Neighbourhood Governance to Neighbourhood Management: A 'Roll-Out' Neo-Liberal Design for Devolved Governance in the United Kingdom? dc.contributor.author: Griggs, Steven; Roberts, Mark

View a full listing of Dr Mark Roberts' publications and outputs.

Key research outputs

  • 20,000 word report on ‘The AHRC/RSA Citizen Power in Peterborough collaborative research project: Understanding the impacts of citizen participation in Peterborough’ submitted to the RSA, AHRC and Peterborough City Council.
  • A five minute animation produced in collaboration with the RSA for a wider audience. This is an animation specifically commissioned by the award holder and the RSA to explain to a non-academic audience what the research project was about and its key findings. It has been posted on Vimeo and the RSA website: http://www.thersa.org/action-research-centre/community-and-public-services/citizen-power

Research interests/expertise

  • Urban politics
  • Race, immigration and faith in politics
  • Neighbourhood governance and the devolution of power
  • Citizen and community power
  • The development and practical applications of institutional theory
  • Managing organisational change from a political perspective
  • Demonstrating the practical applications of political analysis to realpolitik.

Qualifications

2004-2008  PhD in Local Government Birmingham University
1995-97  MSc in Public Sector Management Aston Business School, Aston University
1976-78 MA (Social Sciences) and Certificate of Qualification in Social Work Nottingham University
1971-74 BA Psychology (2.1) Sheffield University

Courses taught

  • Introduction to Politics
  • Global Comparative Politics
  • The Politics of the Environment
  • Public Sector Strategic Management
  • Governance

Honours and awards

  • PhD thesis recommended by the external examiner for nomination for a best dissertation prize from the Political Studies Association
  • Munro H, M Roberts and C Skelcher (Jan 2008) Partnership governance and democratic effectiveness: community leaders and public managers as strategic actors Public Policy and Administration Volume 23 Number 1- commended by the judges of the 2009 UKPAC prize for the paper which offers the greatest contribution to taking forward the concepts or practice of public administration.
  • Aston University Business School’s Public Sector Management Prize for the best student from the MSc Public Sector Management Programme to graduate in the academic year 1996-97.

Current research students

Mark is currently second supervisor for two PhD students at De Montfort University.

Externally funded research grants information

  • PI and sole researcher on AHRC/RSA Citizen Power in Peterborough collaborative research project: Understanding the impacts of citizen participation in Peterborough (£120,000)
  • Derby Community Safety Partnership - Evaluation of Neighbourhood Working in Derby with Professor Steve Leach and Dr Catherine Durose (De Montfort University) – 2009/2010
  • ‘The Ensuring Council; A new model for governance, neighbourhoods and service delivery’ - the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) on Neighbourhood Structures in Birmingham, Edinburgh and Nottingham with Dr Steven Griggs (Birmingham University) – January to August 2009.

Professional esteem indicators

Reviewer for the following peer review academic journals:

  • Critical Policy Studies
  • Political Studies