Keith Dowding

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 the 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 society's structure. 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. He also 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.^{[citation needed]}

Dowding also considered the theory of presidentialization 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 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 President of The United States.

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 project examining political careers in Australia.

Dowding left LSE and joined the political science program 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.

The Careers of Cabinet Ministers

• Dowding, Keith; Kang, Won-Taek (Autumn 1998). "Ministerial resignations 1945–97". Public Administration. 76 (3). Wiley: 411–429. doi:10.1111/1467-9299.00109.
• Dowding, Keith; Dewan, Torun (January 2005). "The corrective effect of ministerial resignations on government popularity". American Journal of Political Science. 49 (1). Wiley: 46–56. doi:10.1111/j.0092-5853.2005.00109.x.
• Dowding, Keith; Berlinski, Samuel; Dewan, Torun (April 2007). "The length of ministerial tenure in the United Kingdom, 1945–97". British Journal of Political Science. 37 (2). Cambridge Journals: 245–262. doi:10.1017/S0007123407000129. hdl:1885/22498. S2CID 153423164.
• Dowding, Keith; Dumont, Patrick (2009). The selection of ministers in Europe: hiring and firing. London New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-43081-4.
• Dowding, Keith; Berlinski, Samuel; Dewan, Torun (April 2010). "The impact of individual and collective performance on ministerial tenure". The Journal of Politics. 72 (2). Cambridge Journals: 559–571. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.516.9550. doi:10.1017/S0022381609990843. S2CID 53335942.
• Dowding, Keith; McLeay, Elizabeth (2011), "The firing line: when and why do prime ministers fire ministerial colleagues?", in 't Hart, Paul; Uhr, John (eds.), How power changes hands: transition and succession in government, Understanding Governance, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 157–173, ISBN 978-0-230-24296-8.
• Dowding, Keith; Berlinski, Samuel; Dewan, Torun (2012). Accounting for ministers: scandal and survival in British government, 1945–2007. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51972-4.
• Dowding, Keith; Dumont, Patrick (2015). The Selection of Ministers Around the World. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-63346-8; ISBN 978-1-138-23819-0.
• Dowding, Keith; Dumont, Patrick (2012). Ministerial Careers and Accountability in the Australian Commonwealth Government. Canberra: ANU Press. ISBN 978-1-922-14400-3.

Analytical Account of Freedom and Rights

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

• Dowding, Keith; van Hees, Martin (May 2003). "The construction of rights". American Political Science Review. 97 (2). Cambridge Journals: 281–293. doi:10.1017/s0003055403000674. S2CID 56017464.
• Dowding, Keith (March 2004). "Social choice and the grammar of rights and freedoms". Political Studies. 52 (1). Wiley: 144–161. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2004.00469.x. S2CID 144483072.
• Dowding, Keith; van Hees, Martin (June 2004). "Poverty and the local contingency of universal rights". International Social Science Journal. 56 (180). Wiley: 301–312. doi:10.1111/j.0020-8701.2004.00492.x.
• Dowding, Keith (March 2010). "Luck, equality and responsibility". Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. 13 (1). Taylor and Francis: 71–92. doi:10.1080/13698230903326265. S2CID 144970778.

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

• Dowding, Keith (August 2011). "Republican freedom, rights, and the coalition problem". Politics, Philosophy & Economics. 10 (3). Sage: 301–322. doi:10.1177/1470594X10388380. S2CID 155062363.

Work on Amartya Sen

Dowding has analytically and empirically studied the measurement of freedom and rights. He has worked for the team led by Paul Anand, Open University, UK. Using survey data, they examined Amartya Sen's capability approach ('Capabilities and Well-Being: Operationalizing the Capabilities Framework').^[9] This research was supported by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board.

• Dowding, Keith (2009), "What is welfare and how might it be measured?", in Kincaid, Harold; Ross, Don (eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophy of economics, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 511–539, ISBN 978-0-19-518925-4

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.

• Dowding, Keith; Martin, Aaron (2016). Policy Agendas in Australia. London: Palgrave. ISBN 978-3-319-40804-0
• Dowding, Keith; Hiindmoor, Andrew; Martin, Aaron (2016). "The Comparative Policy Agendas Project: Theory, Measurement, and Findings". Journal of Public Policy. 36 (1): 3–25. doi:10.1017/S0143814X15000124. S2CID 155580092.

Books

• Dowding, Keith M. (1991). Rational choice and political power. Aldershot, Hampshire, England Brookfield, Vermont, USA: Edward Elgar. ISBN 978-1-85278-335-8.
• Dowding, Keith (1995). The civil service. London New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-07568-8.
• Dowding, Keith; King, Desmond (1995). Preferences, institutions, and rational choice. Oxford New York: Clarendon Press Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-827895-5.
• Dowding, Keith (1996). Power. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press (series: Concepts in the Social Sciences). ISBN 978-0-8166-2940-4.
• Dowding, Keith; Margetts, Helen; Hughes, James (2001). Challenges to democracy: ideas, involvement, and institutions. The Political Studies Association Yearbook 2000. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York: Palgrave. ISBN 978-0-333-78982-7.
• Dowding, Keith; de Wispelaere, Jurgen; White, Stuart (2003). The ethics of stakeholding. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-0580-2.
• Dowding, Keith; Pateman, Carole; Goodin, Robert E. (2004). Justice and democracy: essays for Brian Barry. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83695-1.
• Dowding, Keith; Dumont, Patrick (2009). The selection of ministers in Europe: hiring and firing. London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-43081-4.
• Dowding, Keith; Dewan, Torun; Shepsle, Kenneth A. (2009). Rational choice politics (4 volume set). London: Sage Library of Political Science. ISBN 978-1-4129-4502-8.

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

• Dowding, Keith (2011). Encyclopedia of power. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4129-2748-2.
• Dowding, Keith; Berlinski, Samuel; Dewan, Torun (2012). Accounting for ministers: scandal and survival in British government, 1945–2007. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51972-4.
• Dowding, Keith (2016). The Philosophy and Methods of Political Science. London: Palgrave. ISBN 978-0-333-78694-9.
• Dowding, Keith (2017). Power, Luck and Freedom: Collected Essays. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-1-526-10728-2.
• Dowding, Keith; Martin, Aaron (2017). Policy Agendas in Australia. London: Palgrave. ISBN 978-3-319-40804-0.
• Dowding, Keith (2020). Its the Government, Stupid: How Governments blame citizens for their own policies. Bristol: Bristol University Press. ISBN 978-1-5292-0639-5.