Timothy J. Sinclair
Associate Professor of International Political Economy
Advice and feedback hours online via MS Teams: Term 3: by appointment. Email to arrange an appointment.
No advice and feedback hours in reading weeks or university vacations. Email me at any time.
Nau mai heare mai - Welcome
What I do
Inspired by classical political economy, I think politically about what are mistakenly assumed to be purely economic or technical matters. See the interview with me in Theory Talks.Link opens in a new window I investigate the things, people, history, and institutions that comprise what we call capitalism. I postulate the existence of mechanisms that must exist for the phenomena I am interested in to assume the forms they do. The phenomena may be structural (say, the growth of capital markets) or collective (witch hunts; bank runs; financial panics). I call my way of thinking a social foundations approach to the politics of global finance. Here is a statement by me from a book that includes an analysis of my approachLink opens in a new window. My findings support the view that politics - broadly conceived - infuses the institutions and processes normally thought to comprise 'the economy.'
Recently, I have become interested in fraud and corruption in business and other organizations. In the past, I saw this as marginal, deviant behavior, and therefore not interesting. Since then, I have come to see fraud and corruption as endemic, and now I think of these things as constitutive of modern capitalism.
Influences on me
Scholars (and related professionals) who have influenced me include, Peter J. Katzenstein, Roger Haydon, Raymond (Bud) Duvall, Benjamin J. Cohen, Jeffry Frieden, James W. Lamare, R.P.G. 'Rob' Steven (1944-2001), Cary J. Nederman, James N. Rosenau (1924-2011), Eric Helleiner, Stephen R. Gill, Susan Strange (1923-1998) and Robert W. Cox (1926-2018). On Robert W. Cox, see this memorial panelLink opens in a new window recorded at the 2019 International Studies Association meeting in Toronto.
At Warwick, my approach to scholarship and what we do in universities has been influenced by senior colleagues who were in the department when I came to England in 1995, especially Jim Bulpitt (1937-1999), Zig Layton-Henry (1942-2020), Roger Duclaud-Williams (1943-2012), Susan Strange (1923-1998), Peter Burnell, Shirin Rai, Andrew Reeve and - most importantly - Peter Burnham. Through watching them work, I have become an advocate of the English approach to understanding politics, combining political philosophy, history, and the close study of institutions.
My government service
Before my Ph.D I worked as an official in the New Zealand Treasury on annual public expenditure of US$600 million, and the privatization of a New Zealand Government agency. I wrote Treasury reports on policy proposals to Cabinet from spending departments, drafted correspondence for the Prime Minister David Lange, the Minister of Finance Roger Douglas (and David Caygill after Douglas was sacked by Lange in December 1988) and for the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Richard Prebble (and others, including Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, after Prebble was sacked), prepared the Parliamentary Estimates of public expenditure for two 'Votes', managed a small privatization process, liaised with the Minister of Finance's office and attended Cabinet committees with my boss and other officials. This service was an intense experience because the Treasury was and remains at the centre of policy-making (there, and everywhere else).
The Ph.D supervision I offer
I am interested in supervising excellent Ph.D candidates. Please email me to discuss your ideas.