Michael Saward

Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Studies

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Originally from Tasmania, I gained my BA (Hons) from the Australian National University and my PhD from the University of Essex. I joined PaIS as Professor of Politics and International Studies in October 2012, and was Director of the Midlands Graduate School ESRC Doctoral Training Centre from 2013 to 2016. I was a professor at the Open University for twelve years, twice serving as Head of Department and closely involved in producing new distance learning OU Politics courses. Prior to the OU I taught at Royal Holloway, University of London. My key area of research is contemporary democratic theory, including theories of representation. My book The Representative Claim - awarded the George H. Hallett prize by the American Political Science Association in 2020 - was published by Oxford University Press in 2010. Making Representations (ECPR Press and Rowman and Littlefield) was published in 2020. My work on the EU-funded ENACT project, which engaged a range of political leaders, activists and researchers across Europe, supported the publication of the jointly edited (with Engin Isin) book Enacting European Citizenship by Cambridge University Press in 2013. A Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust has supported my work on Democratic Design (2016-19); my book Democratic Design was published by Oxford University Press in 2021 and awarded the W.J.M Mackenzie Book Prize by the UK Political Studies Association in 2023. In recent years I have been a visiting scholar at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), and Australian National University. International collaborations have in 2024 produced two new volumes: Claiming and Contesting Representation in Mexico: Meanings, Practices and Settings (edited by F. Castanos, S. Inclan and M. Saward) (Bristol: Bristol University Press 2024); and Bodies, Spaces, Claims: The Theory and Practice of Performing Political Representation (edited by P. Diehl and M. Saward) (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2024).

Along with Shirin Rai (SOAS) and Warwick Theatre and Performance colleagues Silvija Jestrovic and Milija Gluhovic, I am co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Politics and Performance (2021), an interdisciplinary volume with contributing authors from 15 different countries. I am currently working on a range of issues, including performance and democratic representation and the role of political ideas in practical political life.

I will take up my new position as Emeritus Professor at Warwick from 1 September 2026. From January to May 2027 I will be International Francqui Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

My Publications