Stephen Whitefield

MA DPhil

AFFILIATION

Government and Politics Network

College

Pembroke College

Students

Mikheil Kechaqmadze

stephen.whitefield@politics.ox.ac.uk

phone

+44 (0)1865 276475

After writing my doctorate in 1991 on Soviet political and economic institutions (published as Industrial Power and the Soviet State by Oxford University Press in 1993 - Ed A. Hewett Prizewinner), I have spent the last 20 years studying post-Communist politics and society via mass surveys conducted repeatedly in 13 post-Communist countries. On the way, I became interested in the character of post-Communist and now West European political parties, which I am also investigating (with Robert Rohrschneider at Indiana University, Bloomington) via expert surveys of their stances towards European integration and social inequality. I am currently the Oxford PI on a Horizon/UKRI project on Neo-Athoritarianism in Europe.

Research

Russian and more broadly post-Communist comparative politics and societies, democratisation and consolidation, social inequality and its political consequences, political culture, political parties, partisanship and electoral choice.

Current and recent research grants:

Neo-authoritarianisms in Europe and the liberal democratic response. Principal Investigator for the Oxford team’s contribution to the Horizon/UKRI project. Neo-authoritarianisms in Europe and the liberal democratic response (AUTHLIB) | DPIR (ox.ac.uk) October 2022-September 2025.

‘Party Representation in Turbulent Times’. Principal Investigator with Robert Rohrschneider. BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants, 2017-19.

‘Nationalism and State-Building at a Crucial Turning Point: Democracy, Authoritarianism and Political Mobilisation in Ukraine and Russia’ (with Paul Chaisty). John Fell Fund, 2014-16.

Support for Democracy in Egypt: A Crucial Point for the Country, A Crucial Test Case for Comparative Politics. Principal Investigator. ESRC Urgent Grant Support, 2013-15.

Party Representation in Times of Economic Crisis. Principal Investigator with Robert Rohrschneider. John Fell Fund Award, 2013.

The Dynamics of Political Development and its Cultural Expression in Post-Revolutionary Egypt. Principal Investigator, with Masen Hassan. British Academy International Mobility Scheme, 2012.

The 2012 Russian Presidential Election: A National Survey of Russians. Co-Principal Investigator with Paul Chaisty. Internal Oxford University funding.

Party Stances, Citizen Stances and Party Choice in the Founding Democratic Egyptian Election of 2011. Principal Investigator with Mazen Hassan and Elisabeth Kendall, Co-Investigators. Funding from Chris Rokkos and Pembroke College.

We were just using different words to mean the same thing: Exploring the Affective Norms of Political Party Manifestos. Principal Investigator, with Sara Hobolt and Eamonn Molloy. Fell Fund. 2011-12.

My research interests include:

Constitutions, Institutions and Governments, Democracy and Democratic Theory, Comparative Politics and Government , Institutions and organisations, Constitutions and Government, Democracy and Democratisation, Emotions, Equality, Political Parties

Teaching

Undergraduate:

Introduction to Politics
Comparative Government
Political Sociology
Russian Politics and Government

Graduate:

Political Sociology of Post-Communism

Publications

Journal Articles

2021

Chaisty, P., Gerry, C. and Whitefield, S. (2021) “The buck stops elsewhere: authoritarian resilience and the politics of responsibility for COVID-19 in Russia”, Post-Soviet Affairs, 38(5), pp. 366–385.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2021.2010397

2020

Chaisty, P. and Whitefield, S. (2020) “How challenger parties can win big with frozen cleavages: explaining the landslide victory of the Servant of the People party in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary elections”, Party Politics, 28(1), pp. 115–126.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068820965413

2019

Chaisty, P. and Whitefield, S. (2019) “The political implications of popular support for presidential term limits in Russia”, Post-Soviet Affairs, 35(4), pp. 323–337.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2019.1619300

Whitefield, S. and Rohrschneider, R. (2019) “Embedding integration: how European integration splits mainstream parties”, Party Politics, 25(1), pp. 25–35.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068818816976

Whitefield, S. and Rovny, J. (2019) “Issue dimensionality and party politics in turbulent times”, Party Politics, 25(1), pp. 4–11.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068818816970

2018

Kosmidis, S. et al. (2018) “Party competition and emotive rhetoric”, Comparative Political Studies, 52(6), pp. 811–837.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414018797942

Chaisty, P. and Whitefield, S. (2018) “Critical election or frozen cleavages? How voters chose parties in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election”, Electoral Studies, 56, pp. 158–169.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2018.08.009

2017

Hassan, M., Kendall, E. and Whitefield, S. (2017) “Between Scylla and Charybdis: religion, the military and support for democracy among Egyptians, 2011-2014”, Democratization, 25(2), pp. 273–292.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2017.1352576

Chaisty, P. and Whitefield, S. (2017) “Understandings of the nation in Russian public opinion: Survey evidence from Putin’s Russia (2001-2014)”, Russian Politics, 2(2), pp. 123–154.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1163/2451-8921-00202001

Chaisty, P. and Whitefield, S. (2017) “Citizens’ attitudes towards institutional change in contexts of political turbulence: support for regional decentralisation in Ukraine”, Political Studies, 65(4), pp. 824–843.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321716684845

Whitefield, S. and Rohrschneider, R. (2017) “Critical parties: how parties evaluate the performance of democracies”, British Journal of Political Science, 49(1), pp. 355–379.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123416000545

2016

Rohrschneider, R. and Whitefield, S. (2016) “Party positions about European integration in Germany: an electoral quandary?”, German Politics, 26(1), pp. 83–103.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2016.1189532

2015

Chaisty, P. and Whitefield, S. (2015) “Attitudes towards the environment: are post-Communist societies (still) different?”, Environmental Politics, 24(4), pp. 598–616.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2015.1023575

Binelli, C., Loveless, M. and Whitefield, S. (2015) “What Is Social Inequality and Why Does it Matter? Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe”, World Development, 70, pp. 239–248.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.02.007

Hassan, M., Kendall, E. and Whitefield, S. (2015) “Media, cultural consumption and support for democracy in post-revolutionary egypt”, Political Studies, 64(03), pp. 534–551.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.12203

Whitefield, S. and Rohrschneider, R. (2015) “The Salience of European Integration to Party Competition”, East European Politics and Societies and Cultures, 29(1), pp. 12–39.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325414567128

Whitefield, S. (no date) “Responding to Growing EU-skepticism? The Stances of Political Parties Towards European Integration in Western and Eastern Europe Following the Financial Crisis”, European Union Politics [Preprint].

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116515610641