Louis Stockwell

Teaching Fellow in European and Comparative Politics

Room: E1.10 (social sciences block)

Advice & Feedback Hours (Terms 1 & 2):

Wednesdays 14:30 -15:30 (E1.10)

Thursdays 11:00 - 12:00 (online via Teams)

Please use this link to book a 10 minute slot

Profile

Dr Louis Stockwell is a Teaching Fellow in European and Comparative Politics. He completed his PhD in Politics & International Studies at PAIS, Warwick in 2025. He also hold a BA (hons) in International Politics from the University of Huddersfield and an MSc (cum laude) in Political Science from Leiden University. Prior to undertaking his PhD, Louis worked for several years across local and national government programmes in the UK.

Research interests

Louis's research centres on the uses and effects of direct democracy in a comparative perspective, with a specific focus on the relationship between referendums and issue (de)politicisation. His doctoral research examined the '(un)settling' effects of referendum processes across eleven countries and offered a new typology for conceptualising the indirect effects of direct democracy. Louis is currently interested in methodologically diverse research into alternative and radical models of democracy, and is currently working on the issue of failed indigenous rights referendums in settler-colonial states.

Louis is open to supervise student research projects in the broad areas of: comparative politics, European and EU politics, UK politics, democratic theory and design, (de)politicisation, autonomist and secessionist movements.

Teaching

In 2026/27 Louis is the module director for PO238: Themes in European Integration. He is also convening seminars for PO132: Contemporary Themes in Comparative Politics and PO107: Introduction to Politics.

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles:

Stockwell, L. and Atikcan, E.Ö. (2026). On the determinants of referendum boycotts in Europe: democracy, quorum rules, and party motivations. European Political Science Review. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773925100301

Houde, A.-M. and Stockwell, L. (2025). ‘'I Don’t Want Another Five Years of ‘The Only Thing We Talk About Is Brexit’”: The Dynamics of EU (De)politicisation in Post-Brexit Britain’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.70038

Stockwell, L. (2025). Contesting regional sovereignty from below: the unsettling effect of unilateral independence and autonomy referendums. Territory, Politics, Governance. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2025.2510653

Other publications:

Has Britain moved on from Brexit? European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) blog, The London School of Economics and Political Science, November 2025 (with Anne-Marie Houde)

Awards and scholarships

• Monash-Warwick Alliance PhD travel grant for visiting research at Monash University, Melbourne (2024)
• Jean Monnet Network travel grant for visiting research at Carleton University, Ottawa (2024)
• Winner of the ECPR Standing Group on Federalism and Regionalism Best Paper Prize 2023 for the paper: "The efficacy of unofficial referendums as regionalisation and independence protest events: issue salience, polarisation, and mobilisation"
• Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) PhD Scholarship (2021), University of Warwick

Other activities

Co-Chair of the 2022-2023 Critical International & Political Studies (CRIPS) graduate working group