Academic staff

Undergraduate

I supervise a number of undergraduate Honours dissertation students and Masters dissertations.

Supervision

I am currently supervising 2 research students in the Department and am keen to encourage applications from promising and suitably qualified potential students. I would particularly welcome projects on aspects of globalization, and on new media and politics/governance.

Recent successful completions include:

• Dr Catherine Mudime Akale: Gendered Politics and the Secondary Status of Female Bureaucrats in Cameroonian Governing Institutions.
• Dr Jane Booth: The Transformation of Professional Practices in Post-Communist Poland: Observing the Dynamics of Globalisation
• Dr Oli Ahmad, Bir Bikram: Revolution, Military Personnel and the War of Liberation in Bangladesh.
• Dr John Crabtree: The Peruvian Party System: 1980-2007
• Dr Duncan Green: Active Citizens and Effective States
• Vikki Gordon (M.phil): National Security Directives: Unilaterally Shaping U.S. National Security Policy
• Dr. Alex Finnen: The Role of the International Community in post-conflict reconstruction in the South East Balkans
• Dr. David Hughes: American exceptionalism
• Dr. Abilene Pitt: The World Bank and Global Governance

Current students include:

• Muejgan Oegan: Education and nation-building in Africa
• Kian Pourkemani: Self Determination and non-consensual secession

 

My research interests in globalization studies include: theories of the global; globalization, including issues of global civil society and glocallization; networks and globalization, and embracing communications networks and the idea of European communications spaces, along with new media and politics.

Books

• Axford B, Browne V, Huggins R, Isaacs R, Politics: An Introduction (3rd ed.), Routledge (2018)
  ISBN: 9780415571906 eISBN: 9781315629346
  Abstract

  The eagerly awaited third edition of this highly respected and user-friendly text for introductory courses has been thoroughly updated to reflect the world today. Politics: An Introduction provides stimulating coverage of topics essential to the understanding of contemporary politics. It offers students necessary guidance on ways of studying and understanding politics, and illustration of the many different sites at which politics is construed and conducted. Ideal for students taking combined degrees at introductory level in politics and the social sciences, it emphasises the individual and social dimension of politics and covers theories and concepts in an accessible way. Fundamentally, it helps students see the political, and its relevance, in their lives.

  Key features include:

  • a revised introduction considering ‘what is politics’ and how we understand and approach its study
  • clear and well-organised coverage of political theory, political behaviour, institutions and the policy process
  • carefully crafted in-text chapter features such as ‘consider this’ thought-provoking scenarios, ‘think points’, keyword definitions, chapter summaries, and exercises designed to enliven and extend the learning experience
  • stimulating, up-to-date examples and case studies from across the globe, such as ‘fake news’, online activism, the rise of populism, culture wars, ‘fertility tourism’ in India, hydropower in Cambodia, free speech in France, and personality politics in Turkmenistan
  • detailed consideration of democratisation, authoritarian regimes, direct democracy, gender critical perspectives, minority rights, global capitalism, social movements, radical political change, post-secularism, and challenges and changes brought by social media.

  Politics: An Introduction is a broad-ranging, accessible, and essential guide for all students studying, or beginning to study, politics.

  Website 
• Axford B, The World-Making Power of New Media: Mere Connection?, Routledge (2017)
  ISBN: 9780415743655 eISBN: 9781317801894
  Abstract https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317801894
  In this new work, Axford seeks to contribute to the development of global theory, particularly where it engages with the contested idea of globality; a concept which musters as consciousness, condition, framework, even system. By examining emergent globalities through the lens of world-making communicative practices and forms, the author demonstrates their transformative social power and underlines the cultural dynamics of globalization. Taking a critical view of much of the current scholarship on emergent globalities, Axford steps outside the rationalist-territorialist conceptions of association and order and takes issue with those who advise there is a widespread 'myth' of media globalization. The book examines global communicative connectivity, using digital, or "new" media - especially the Internet - as the prime exemplar of global process. As well as the academic importance of such themes for theory-building, the strategic, "real-world" impacts of communicative connectivity are palpable. Thus, the welter of debate around the influence of the Internet on democracy, democratization, revolt and collective action generally, have real purchase when discussed in relation to the events of the uprisings in MENA, anti-capitalist protests in London and New York and the tribulations of the EU in recent months/years. Using such exemplars the book assesses claims for the existence and robustness of global society, the significance of cosmopolitan communication and the extent of global consciousness. This work will be of interest to students and scholars of globalization, international relations, and media and cultural studies.Website 
• Axford B, Theories of Globalization, Polity Press (2013)
  ISBN: 9780745634753
  
• Axford B, The global system: economics, politics and culture, Polity press (1995)
  ISBN: 9780745604725
  Abstract This book provides a comprehensive discussion of the nature and impact of globalization, as well as an original analysis focusing on economic interdependence and the impact of modern communications systems.

Journal articles

• Axford B, 'Mastery Without Remainder: Connection, Digital Mediatization and the Constitution of Emergent Globalities'
  Protosociology 33 (2017) pp.186-210
  ISSN: 1611-1281
  Abstract This article approaches the question of what musters, or should muster as global theory for these times through the lens of mediatization. Emergent globalities – states of global (perhaps glocal) becoming - are seen as constituted by world-making practices that are obviously, perhaps paradigmatically, referenced in processes of digital communication within and across borders. This is no hymn to “mere connection”, but a sustained attempt to marry process and consciousness with a proper regard for the vagaries of human interaction with the structures of indifferent technology and indifferent globalities.Website 
• Axford B, 'Macro-lite: Ways to Understand Europe-Making in the Global Era'
  Journal of Contemporary European Studies 23 (2) (2015) pp.176-192
  ISSN: 1478-2804 eISSN: 1478-2790
  Abstract

  In this article, I interrogate elements of a global and European Studies scholarship to be found in the imbrication of sociological institutionalism, modern systems theory and network analysis, where the latter includes complexity models of social (dis)order. I note tensions between them and express concern with their bloodless treatment of agency and, more variably, consciousness while still holding out the possibility of synergy. I argue that there is a strong case for dispensing with any constraining levels of analysis approach to understanding Europe-making, favouring a version best described as ‘macro-lite’. In doing so, I endorse the premise of the special issue that much scholarship under the rubric of European Studies has been too narrowly focused and too constrained by normative or ideological positions, by disciplinary firewalls, by territorialist and ‘internalist’ constructions and even by the ‘integration’ motif, to comprehend the extent to which European/EU agency is socially constructed at the global level and enacted through the imbrication of actors, institutions and networks that cross scales at all levels, sometimes rendering them nugatory.
  

  Website 
• Axford B, 'Talk about a revolution: social media and the MENA uprising'
  Globalizations 8 (5) (2011) pp.681-686
  ISSN: 1474-7731 eISSN: 1474-774X
  Abstract This article examines the role played by social media in the popular uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). When discussing their role, it is important to note the wider research context on social media and political participation and to be aware of any ideological and normative interventions. A number of key questions are asked about the role played by social media in the uprisings. First is the importance of context when assessing the role and impact of social media with global reach. Second is the extent to which ‘old' media in the guise of print and broadcast journalism have been displaced or downgraded as forums for public talk. Third is the variable use and significance of different information and communication technologies and formats. The fourth issue concerns the demeanor of activists and audience, while the fifth focuses on the effects of social media on the conduct of the uprisings and, insofar as this can be ascertained, on their outcomes.Este artículo examina el papel que jugaron los medios en los famosos levantamientos a través del Medio Oriente y África del Norte (MENA, por sus siglas en inglés). Al analizar su papel, es importante notar una mayor amplitud en el contexto de la investigación sobre los medios sociales y la participación política, y de tener presente cualquier intervención normativa e ideológica. Se formularon varias preguntas claves sobre el rol que jugaron los medios sociales en los levantamientos. Primero, la importancia del contexto cuando se evalúa el papel e impacto de los medios sociales con el alcance mundial. Segundo, hasta qué punto los medios ‘antiguos' en la forma de periodismo impreso y radio y teledifusión fueron desplazados o se redujeron a fórums de charlas públicas. Tercero, la importancia y el uso variable de las diferentes tecnologías y formatos de la información y la comunicación. El cuarto asunto analiza la conducta de los activistas y la audiencia, mientras que el quinto se enfoca en los efectos de los medios sociales sobre la conducta de los levantamientos, y en la medida que se pueda constatar, sobre sus consecuencias.Website 
• Curtis S, Axford B, Blair A, Gibson C, Huggins R, Sherrington P, 'Making short politics placements work'
  29 (1) (2009) pp.62-70
  Abstract Short placements can provide an important and meaningful experience of politics in action for students who are unable to benefit from the generally lengthy placements currently on offer. This article is based on the findings of the three-year HEFCE-funded project The Scholarship of Engagement for Politics and explores the potential of short, local, research-based placements, which are embedded in modules, supported by online journaling and effectively assessed, to enrich students' understanding of politics and enhance their employability Website 
• Sherrington P, Axford B, Blair A, Curtis S, Huggins R, Gibson C, 'Research-led placements in politics: a new approach?'
  European Political Science 7 (2008) pp.175-185
  ISSN: 1680-4333
  Abstract The 'scholarship of engagement', derived from work undertaken by the Boyer Commission in the US, emphasises the possibilities of enhanced undergraduate learning through research, yet in the UK this idea is less developed. Moreover, although the study of politics and international relations lends itself well to the use of placements to develop this model of learning, there are few examples of this in the UK. This article presents findings from a major research project, the Scholarship of Engagement for Politics, examining the ways in which placement learning can affect the student experience. Website 
• Axford B, 'Editorial: Borders and networks in the global system'
  Globalizations 4 (3) (2007) pp.321 - 326
  ISSN: 1474-7731 eISSN: 1474-774X
  Website 
• Axford B, 'Global civil society or 'networked globality': Beyond the territorialist and societalist paradigm '
  Globalizations 1 (2) (2004) pp.249 - 264
  ISSN: 1474-7731 eISSN: 1474-774X
  Abstract The concept of global civil society (GCS) is central to treatments of globalization and to depictions of a contested globality. This article offers a novel critique of the concept and its value for a critical social science of globalization. It argues that received notions of GCS are rooted in territorialist and societalist paradigms of the social and should not be used to subvent an account of globalization located in the dynamics of trans and even post-societal and post-national connections and the kind of world they intimate. GCS and variants such as cosmopolitanism are examined to evaluate whether they can provide a way of bridging the gap between territorialist and societalist assumptions about the organization of the social and the increasingly post-societal and post-territorial nature of the world. The aim is to avoid the inviting, but ultimately misleading sleight of hand through which GCS is revealed as the boundary-less equivalent of civil society, but with all the normative and aesthetic baggage of the latter still attached. The article ends with a critical discussion of the claim that globalization processes of connection are producing a networked globality in which reflexive agency is not lost. To recognize this requires a radical take on networks and their ontologies and being skeptical about much of the received sociology of globalization.
• Axford B, 'Enacting globalization: Transnational networks and the deterritorialization of social relationships in the global system '
  15 (2001) pp.119-147
  ISSN: 1611-1281 eISSN: 1611-1281
  
• Axford B, Huggins R, 'Anti-politics Or the Triumph of Postmodern Populism in Promotional Cultures?'
  Javnost-the Public 4 (1997) pp.5-25
  ISSN: 1318-3222 eISSN: 1854-8377
  

Book chapters

• Axford B, '(Postmodern) Populism as a trope for Contested Glocality' in Rossi I (ed.), New Frontiers of Globalization Research: Theories, Processes and Perspectives from the Global North and South, Springer International Publishing (2019)
  Abstract

  The chapter addresses the latest political frisson to engage students of globalization and of contentious politics the world over; the spectre or promise of populism. Populism affords some purchase on an axial feature of this globalized world -- the imbrication or antithesis of local and global, of difference and sameness – and gives it an intriguing twist. My argument will be that what I call postmodern populism holds up a mirror to current politics and the present phase of globalization; and what that shows is both unedifying – since it depicts easy solutions to perceived troubles – and in some respects more palatable, because it conjures images of a less curated, popular and engaged politics, both within, and heedless of, borders.

• Axford B, 'Connectivity and Consciousness: How Globalities are Constituted through Communication Flows' in Robertson R, Buhari-Gulmez D (ed.), Global Culture: Consciousness and Connectivity, Ashgate (2016)
  ISBN: 978-1-4724-2349-8 eISBN: 978-14724-2350-4
  
• Axford B, 'The Multiple Modernities Debates as a Prospectus for Global Scholarship: More Opportunities Than Dead-Ends?' in Preyer G Sussman M (ed.), Varieties of Multiple Modernities: New Research Design, Brill (2016)
  ISBN: 978-90-04-30651-6 eISBN: 978-90-04-30761-4
  Website 
• Axford B, 'Non-State Actors and Globalisation: a Paradigm for a Decentred World?' in Noortmann M, Reinisch A, Ryngaert C (ed.), Non-State Actors in International Law, Hart (2015)
  ISBN: 9781849465113 eISBN: 9781509901869
  
• Axford B, 'The trends and tendencies of global integration' in Moellendorf D, Widdows H (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Global Ethics, Routledge (2015)
  ISBN: 9781844656370 eISBN: 9781315744520
  
• Axford B, 'Mere connection: do communication flows compensate for the absence of world society?' in Selbstbeobachtung der modernen Gesellschaft und die neuen Grenzen des Sozialen, Springer (2012)
  ISBN: 978-3-531-19690-9 eISBN: 978-3-531-19691-6
  Abstract In recent and usefully acerbic commentary on the prospects for political community beyond the nation-state, David Chandler takes both liberal cosmopolitans and post-structuralist critics of same to task for having quite developed political projects, but very little in the way of hard copy or convincing theory with which to back up their claims (2007, 2009). When discussing globalization, and especially when demarcating or prescribing a global civil society, his is not an unusual complaint.Website 
• Axford B, 'Connectivity' in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, John Wiley and Sons Ltd (2012)
  ISBN: 9781405188241
  
• Axford B, 'Networks' in The Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of globalization, John Wiley and Sons Ltd (2012)
  ISBN: 9781405188241
  
• Axford B, 'Network Europe and information society' in The Sage Handbook of European Studies, Sage Publications (2009)
  ISBN: 9781412933957
  Abstract Europe is one of the world's oldest civilizations. But what does it mean to be European today? What place does Europe have in global affairs? How should we analyze its key institutions, system of governance and broader cultural, social and political dynamics? This exhaustive and timely handbook will: • explore the transformations that characterize contemporary Europe • investigate how we can best study Europe • consolidate European studies and provide a platform for future study • increase the profile of European studies. The Handbook promotes the increasing diversity of perspectives employed in the study of contemporary Europe and EU integration and is situated within the context of Europe's transformations. It offers balanced coverage of political, social, economic, cultural and institutional dimensions of Europe. It includes chapters by many leading authorities: Beck; Calhoun; della Porta; Offe; Paasi; Rosamond; and Tilly. Multidisciplinary in organization, inclusive in coverage and cutting-edge in scope, the Handbook is a landmark resource for anyone interested in European studies.
• Axford B, 'Critical globalization studies and a network perspective on global civil society' in Critical globalization studies, Routledge (2005)
  ISBN: 9780415949620
  Abstract A chapter from Critical Globalization Studies, the first volume to map out a critical approach to the rapidly growing field of gloablization studies. Centrally concerned with global justice, the contributors both scrutinze and recast the subject. As well, the volume serves as a bridge connecting scholars of globalization, the policy world, and the global justice movement. The essays examine a wide range of topics too often left at the margin of globalization studies and in the process raise a host of crucial questions. Unique in its extensive and comprehensive approach, Critical Globalization Studies develops new and important theoretical perspectives on globalization while engaging global social activism. It is an indispenseable guide for both academics and practitioners.
• Axford B, 'Globalization and the prospects for cosmopolitan society' in Which global village? Societies, cultures, and political-economic systems in a euro-atlantic perspective, Praeger Publishers (2002)
  ISBN: 9780275973902 eISBN: 2.75973905E8
  Abstract Book description: The word village has the evocative power of ancient shared social values based on solidarity, equality, and common expectations for the betterment of life. The book's title is borrowed from McLuhan's apt metaphor, but questions its underlying assumptions. The contributors recast some of the basic elements of the complex phenomenon of the so-called globalization. Trade laws, industrial relations, economic and political systems are analyzed in a critical perspective. Moreover, environment and sustainable development, languages' rights, education, mobility and migrations are discussed in view of contemporary changes that societies are undergoing throughout the world. The vulnerability of societies caught up in new networks of interdependence due to reduced distances also are put to the fore, in the context of the new accelerated circulation of information, ideas, goods, and human beings. Provacative reading for scholars interested in a multinational, Euro-Atlanticist perspective on globalization. The international discourse is most recently focused on some negative outgrowths of world economy, especially after the Seattle Round (December 1999) and its unexpected uprising of protests. The researches of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies (University of Genoa), in cooperation with scholars from Europe, Canada and the United States, offer in this collection of essays a multinational contribution which is part of their work in progress on the multifaceted issue of the contemporary global village. The book features some optimistic outcomes, and some worries about what the new millennium will not achieve, despite the common and transnational efforts, that is to say a fair re-distribution of resources to reach what R. W. Fogel defines a post-modern equality, based on values as well as on material wealth. In sum, the essayists wonder if some of the hidden promises of globalization will develop in a better new century.
• Axford B, Huggins R, 'Towards a post-national polity: the emergence of the network society in Europe' in Whose Europe? The turn towards democracy, John Wiley and Sons Ltd (1999)
  ISBN: 9780631219187 eISBN: 6.31219188E8
  

Conference papers

• Axford B, 'Globalization and the Prospects for Cosmopolitan Society'
  Which Global Village? (2004) pp.229-246
  

Reviews

• AXFORD B, review of Dirty Politics - Deception, Distraction, and Democracy - Jamieson,kh, in Media Culture and Society 15 (1993) pp.507-510
• AXFORD B, review of Promoting Racial Harmony - Banton,m, in Political Studies 34 (1986) pp.490-490
• AXFORD B, review of The Politics of Race of Britain - Laytonhenry,z, in Political Studies 33 (1985) pp.322-322
• AXFORD B, review of Race in Britain - Continuity and Change - Husbands,c, in Political Studies 32 (1984) pp.128-128
• AXFORD B, review of The Empire Strikes Back - Race and Racism in 70s Britain - Univ-birmingham-ctr-contemporary-culture-studies, in Political Studies 32 (1984) pp.128-128

Other publications

• AXFORD B, MADGWICK P, TURNER J, 'Image Management, Stunts and Dirty Tricks - the Marketing of Political Brands in Television Campaigns'
  Media Culture and Society 14 (1992) pp.637-651

Membership of professional bodies

Member/sometime member of the Global Studies Association, the Political Studies Association of the UK, the International Political Science Association, the European Consortium for Communications Research, The Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies (Genoa)and the Centre for European research (Brookes). I am also a member of the State and Society research group within GPES at Brookes.

Conferences

• Trends in Global Integration: keynote address to the Biennial Conference of the Glsgow Economic Forum; Glasgow March 10-12 2018
• Multipolarity: a Critique: as aprt of the panel of Distinguihed Critics discussion of the idea of global multipolriaty, World Congress of Sociology, Toronto, JUly 10-17 2018.
• State Capture: Elites and Legality in the developing world. Conference organised by the Centre for Global Politics Economy and Society, October 7 2015.
• "Mere Connection?: Digital media and insurrectionary and usual politics' To the Workshop on Bridiging Divides: Rethinking Ideology in the Age of Protests. Oxford Brookes , April 14 2014
• "What is Global Studies, and why do we need it?" to the Faculty and students of the Department of International Relations, METU, Ankara, April 29, 2014
• "Questioning the idea of Global Citizenship". to the conference on 3rd Transatlantic Dialogue: , Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, June 5, 2014.
• On February 18 2014, my book Theories of Globalization (Polity 2013) was the subject of a roundtable meeting sponsored by the Global Studies Association
• Co-convenor (with Dr John Roberts and Dr Sanjay Sharma , Brunel) of the workshop on "Databases and Surveillance: Are we all Big Brother Now". Oxford Brookes, December 13 2013.
• Mere connection: the prospects for Digital Global Society, public lecture at the Institute of Humanities, Historical and Social Research, Manchester Metropolitan University, November 18, 2013

 

• 1970-73: Tutor/Lecturer in Political Science Stanford University (CA), Overseas Studies Programme
• 1973- 5: Lecturer in Politics, Southampton University (UK)
• 1975- Lecturer, Senior, Lecturer, Professor, Oxford Polytechnic/Brookes University

Other posts:

• 1992, 1995, 2003- Visiting Professor, DISPOS, University of Genoa
• 2005  Visiting Fellow at the ESRC Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick
• 2006  Visiting Professor, University of California Santa Barbara