Professor Charles Lees
Professor of Politics
Head of Department
1 West North 2.5
Email: c.s.j.lees@bath.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1225 38 6490
PhD supervision
Professor Lees welcomes applications from research student with similar research interests.
Profile
Professor Charles Lees joined the Department in September 2011. Previously he was Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sheffield.
He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the University of Birmingham, and an Academic Fellow at the University of Sussex. He has also held visiting fellowships at;
- the University of California San Diego,
- the Australian National University,
- the University of Sydney,
- the Humboldt University Berlin.
He has written extensively on comparative politics, policy, and methodology as well as providing media commentary and research and advice for organisations such as the BBC, Sky News, Australian Labor Party, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, and the Scottish Executive.
Professor Lees has recently completed a major research project called ‘Multi-level governance in South East Europe: Institutional innovation and adaptation in Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, and Slovenia’ (Economics & Social Research Council response mode RES-062-23-0183 with Andrew Taylor, Andrew Geddes, and Ian Bache). The end of project report for this project was ranked as ‘outstanding’ by three anonymous assessors.
Research interests
Professor Lees’ research includes the fields of:
- European and comparative politics
- Environmental politics and policy
- Methodology (Professor Lees has contributed to debates in the US and elsewhere on the future of single-country studies)
Professor Lees’ current research has two strands:
The first strand compares the programmatic adaptation of British Labour Party, the German Social Democrats, and the Australian Labor Party to the two critical historical junctures of the last 25 years:
- The collapse of communism in 1989 to 1991 and the subsequent emergence of ‘global capitalism’.
- The global financial crisis of 2008 to the present and the subsequent crisis of the global capitalism model.
The second strand examines the activities of political parties in Germany and Australia in building institutional capacity and democratic resilience in newly democratizing states.
Teaching
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
- PL50435 Comparative European Politics
- PL50607 Multi-level Governance and Multi-Layered Citizenship
- PL50768 Britain and Europe
Publications
Book/s
Lees, C. and Larkin, P., 2014. Forthcoming. Australian Party Politics. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Webb, P., Taggart, P. and Lees, C., 2014. Forthcoming. Pan-European Party Politics. Oxford, U. K.: Oxford University Press.
Geddes, A., Lees, C. and Taylor, A., 2013. The European Union and South East Europe: the dynamics of Europeanization and multi-level governance. New York: Routledge. (Routledge/UACES contemporary European studies; 21)
Lees, C., 2005. Party Politics in Germany: A Comparative Politics Approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (New Perspectives in German Political Studies)
Martell, L., van den Anker, C., Browne, M., Hoopes, S., Larkin, P., Lees, C., McGowan, F. and Stammers, N., eds., 2001. Social Democracy: Global and National Perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lees, C., 2000. The Red-Green Coalition in Germany: Politics, Personalities and Power. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Book Sections
Lees, C., 2009. Germany. In: Szajkowski, B., ed. Political Parties of the World, 7th ed. Letchworth: John Harper.
Lees, C., 2008. The German Party System(s) in 2005 - a return ot Volkspartei dominance. In: Clemens, C. and Saalfeld, T., eds. The German Election of 2005: Voters, Parties and Grand Coalition Politics. Abingdon: Routledge.
Lees, C., 2008. The limits of party-based Euroscepticism in Germany. In: Taggart, P. and Szczerbiak, A., eds. Opposing Europe? The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 16-37.
Lees, C., 2008. The political opportunity structure of Euroscepticism: Institutional setting and political agency in European Polities. In: Taggart, P. and Szczerbiak, A., eds. Opposing Europe? The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism. Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 28-51.
Lees, C., 2005. Germany. In: Szajkowski, B., ed. Political Parties of the World, 6th ed. Letchworth: John Harper.
Lees, C., 2005. Political marketing in Germany. In: Lees-Marshment, J. and Lilleker, D., eds. Political Marketing: a Comparative Perspective. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Lees, C., 2005. The law of diminishing returns? Environmental policy in the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Green, S. and Paterson, W., eds. The Semi-Sovereign State Re-Visited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lees, C., 2003. Germany. In: Szajkowski, B., ed. Revolutionary and Dissident Movements of the World. Letchworth: John Harper.
Lees, C., 2001. Coalition. In: Michie, J., ed. Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences. London: London: Fitzroy Dearborn.
Lees, C., 2001. Coalitions: Beyond the Politics of Centrality? In: Padgett, S. and Poguntke, T., eds. Continuity and Change in German Politics: Beyond the Politics of Centrality. A Festschrift for Gordon Smith. London: Frank Cass.
Lees, C., 2001. Social democracy and structures of governance in Britain and Germany: How institutions and norms shape political innovation. In: Martell, L., van den Anker, C., Browne, M., Hoopes, S., Larkin, P., Lees, C., McGowan, F. and Stammers, N., eds. Social Democracy: Global and National Perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 160-178.
Lees, C., 2000. Paradise Postponed: an assessment of ten years of governmental participation by the Green Party in Germany. In: Young, S., ed. Ecological Modernisation. Abingdon: Routledge.
Lees, C., 1999. The Red-Green coalition. In: Padgett, S. and Saalfeld, T., eds. Bundestagswahl '98: the End of an Era. London: Frank Cass.
Lees, C. and Jeffery, C., 1998. Whither the Old Order? The role of West German parties in the last days of the German Democratic Republic. In: Davies, P. and White, J., eds. Political Parties and the Collapse of Old Orders. Albany: SUNY Press,.
Lees, C., Paterson, W. E. and Green, S., 1995. The 1994 Elections To The European Parliament: The Federal Republic of Germany. In: Lodge, J., ed. The 1994 European Elections. London: Pinter.
Articles
Lees, C., 2013. Christian Democracy is dead; long live the Union parties: explaining CDU/CSU dominance within the German Party System. German Politics, 22 (1-2), pp. 64-81.
Lees, C., 2012. The paradoxical effects of decline: assessing party system change and the role of the catch-all parties in Germany following the 2009 federal election. Party Politics, 18 (4), pp. 545-562.
Lees, C., 2011. Coalition formation and the German party system. German Politics, 20 (1), pp. 146-163.
Lees, C., 2011. How unusual is the United Kingdom Coalition (and what are the chances of it happening again)? The Political Quarterly, 82 (2), pp. 279-292.
Lees, C., Hough, D. and Keith, D., 2010. Towards an analytical framework for party mergers: operationalising the cases of the German Left Party and the Dutch Green Left. West European Politics, 33 (6), pp. 1299-1317.
Lees, C., 2010. The Grand Coalition and the party system. German Politics, 19 (3-4), pp. 312-331.
Lees, C., 2010. The SPD’s coalition moment? Policy Network, 26 May 2010.
Lees, C., 2010. Coalition dynamics and the changing German party system. German Politics & Society, 28 (3), pp. 119-132.
Lees, C., 2010. Rule makers and rule takers: On volkspartei adaptation and strategy. German Politics, 19 (1), pp. 89-104.
Lees, C., 2007. Environmental policy in the United Kingdom and Germany. German Politics, 16 (1), pp. 164-183.
Lees, C., 2006. We are all comparativists now: Why and how single-country scholarship must adapt and incorporate the comparative politics approach. Comparative Political Studies, 39 (9), pp. 1084-1108.
Lees, C. and Taylor, A., 2006. Explaining the 2005 Coalition Formation Process in Germany: A Comparison of Power Index and Median Legislator Approaches. Politics, 26 (3), pp. 151-160.
Odmalm, P. and Lees, C., 2006. Getting ethnic questions on the agenda: Party formation as a strategy for social movements. Social Movement Studies, 5 (1), pp. 1-18.
Taggart, P. and Lees, C., 2006. Politics - The State of the Art. Politics, 26 (1), pp. 1-2.
Lees, C., 2006. The German party system(s) in 2005: A return to Volkspartei dominance. German Politics, 15 (4), pp. 361-375.
Lees, C. and Saalfeld, T., 2004. Conclusion. German Politics, 13 (2), pp. 384-392.
Lees, C. and Saalfeld, T., 2004. Introduction. German Politics, 13 (2), pp. 155-169.
Lees, C., 2002. ‘Dark Matter’: Institutional Constraints and the Failure of Party-based Euroscepticism in Germany. Political Studies, 50 (2), pp. 244-267.
Lees, C., 2001. Coalitions: Beyond the politics of centrality? German Politics, 10 (2), pp. 117-134.
Lees, C., 2000. Editorial. Politics, 20 (2), pp. 51-53.
Lees, C., 2000. Reconstituting European social democracy: Germany's pivotal role. German Politics, 9 (2), pp. 71-88.
Lees, C., 1999. The red‐green coalition. German Politics, 8 (2), pp. 174-203.
Lees, C., 1996. A watershed election: The Berlin state and district elections of 22 October 1995. Regional and Federal Studies, 6 (1), pp. 63-72.
Lees, C., 1995. Bringing the PDS into the coalition equation. German Politics, 4 (1), pp. 150-154.
