Claire Mcloughlin

Claire Mcloughlin

International Development Department
Associate Professor

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 3120
Email
c.mcloughlin@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
International Development Department
School of Government
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham,
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Claire’s research focuses on the political sociology of vital public service delivery in conflict-affected and divided societies. In particular, she is interested in the politics of distributive justice and procedural fairness in service delivery, and the historical processes that embed welfare provision in social contracts. She has published on how and when services become significant for processes of state (de-)legitimation. She has a particular interest in the role of higher education in state legitimation and nation-building. Claire currently conducts research on the politics of development for the Developmental Leadership Program (DLP), for which she acts as Deputy Director (Research). She also sits on the editorial board of the journal Governance and is an advisor to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.

Qualifications

  • PhD in political sociology, University of Birmingham, 2017
  • MA International Relations and World Order, University of Leicester
  • BA History and Politics, University of Leicester

Biography

Claire Mcloughlin is an Associate Professor of Politics and Development in the International Development Department, University of Birmingham. She is the lead editor of the pathbreaking book The Politics of Development (SAGE, 2024). She has more than 15 years of experience of researching, teaching, and working with aid agencies on development challenges, and established Birmingham’s first undergraduate programmes in development.

Claire is best known for her work on the politics of service delivery and its effects on state legitimacy. Her research has been published in a range of journals, including World Development, Governance, Public Administration and Development, and Development in Practice.

Claire was the Director of Research at the Developmental Leadership Program (DLP) – an international research collaboration investigating the politics of development across the Asia-Pacific region, 2018-2023. She is now the Deputy Director of Education in the School of Government, University of Birmingham. She is a member of the Council of the Development Studies Association.

Teaching

Claire contributes to teaching in the following areas:

  • Governance and state-building
  • Making policy
  • Development management
  • Critical approaches to development

Postgraduate supervision

Public services, state (de-)legitimation, the politics of public goods distribution

Research

  • The politics of public goods
  • State legitimation
  • Co-production and collective action beyond the state

Publications

Highlight publications

Mcloughlin, C 2024, 'Public services as carriers of ideas that (de-) legitimise the state: The illustrative case of free education in Sri Lanka', World Development, vol. 173, 106439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106439

Mcloughlin, C 2014, 'When Does Service Delivery Improve the Legitimacy of a Fragile or Conflict-Affected State?', Governance, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 341-356. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12091

Mcloughlin, C (ed.), Ali, SAM (ed.), Xie, K, Cheeseman, N (ed.) & Hudson, D (ed.) 2023, The Politics of Development: Institutions, Incentives, and Ideas. SAGE Publications, London.

Batley, R & Mcloughlin, C 2015, 'The politics of public services : a service characteristics approach', World Development, vol. 74, pp. 275-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.05.018

Hudson, D, Lemay-hébert, N, Mcloughlin, C & Roche, C 2020, 'Leadership and Change in Asia-Pacific: Where Does Political Will Come From?', Politics and Governance, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 131-135. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3831

Recent publications

Article

Nhim, T & Mcloughlin, C 2022, 'Local leadership development and WASH system strengthening: insights from Cambodia', H2Open Journal, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 469-489. https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.129

Hudson, D, Mcloughlin, C, Margret, A & Pandjaitan, Y 2020, 'Leadership, Identity and Performance: The Nature and Effect of ‘Prototypicality’ in Indonesia', Politics and Governance, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 201-213. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3553

Mcloughlin, C 2018, 'When the Virtuous Circle Unravels: Unfair Service Provision and State De-legitimation in Divided Societies', Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2018.1482126

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Ali, SAM, Mcloughlin, C & Hudson, D 2024, Development in whose interest? in The Politics of Development: Institutions, Incentives, and Ideas.

Mcloughlin, C & Ali, SAM 2024, How can I jump this queue? in The Politics of Development: Institutions, Incentives, and Ideas.

Mcloughlin, C, Ali, SAM, Xie, K, Cheeseman, N & Hudson, D 2024, Why is development political? in The Politics of Development: Institutions, Incentives, and Ideas.

Mcloughlin, C 2014, The Politics of What Works in Service Delivery. in S Hickey, K Sen & B Bukenya (eds), The Politics of Inclusive Development: Interrogating the Evidence. Oxford University Press.

Commissioned report

Wales, J, Aslam, M, Hine, S, Rawal, S, Wild, L, Day-Ashley, L, Batley, R, Mcloughlin, C, Nicolai , S & Rose, P 2015, The role and impact of philanthropic and religious schools in developing countries. Education Rigorous Literature Review, DFID. <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482337/role-impact-philanthropic-schools.pdf>

Day-Ashley, L, Mcloughlin, C, Aslam, M, Engel, J, Wales, J, Rawal, S, Batley, R, Kingdon, G, Nicolai , S & Rose, P 2015, The role and impact of private schools in developing countries: a rigorous review of the evidence: Final report. Education Rigorous Literature Review, DFID. <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/439702/private-schools-full-report.pdf>

Wales, J, Aslam, M, Hine, S, Rawal, S, Wild, L, Batley, R, Day-Ashley, L, Mcloughlin, C, Nicolai, S & Rose, P 2014, Evidence brief: The role and impact of philanthropic and religious schools in developing countries. DFID.

Day-Ashley, L, Mcloughlin, C, Aslam, M, Engel, J, Rawal, S, Wales, J, Batley, R, Kingdon, G, Nicolai, S & Rose, P 2014, Evidence Brief: The role and impact of private schools in developing countries: a rigorous review of the evidence. DFID.

Other report

Mcloughlin, C, Hiriasia, T, Nanau, G, Hudson, D, Krishna, U & Roche, C 2022, Inclusive development in Solomon Islands: unlocking the potential of developmental leadership. University of Birmingham. <https://res.cloudinary.com/dlprog/image/upload/inclusive-development-in-solomon-islands-unlocking-the-potential-of-developmental-leadership>

Working paper

Hudson, D & Mcloughlin, C 2019 'How is leadership understood in different contexts?' Developmental Leadership Program, University of Birmingham. https://doi.org/https://res.cloudinary.com/dlprog/image/upload/how-is-leadership-understood-in-different-contexts

Hudson, D, Mcloughlin, C, Marget, A, Ardiansa, D, Panjaitan, Y & Novitasari, M 2019 'Identity matters: Unpacking the effects of prototypicality on perceptions of leadership in Indonesia' Developmental Leadership Program, University of Birmingham. <https://res.cloudinary.com/dlprog/image/upload/identity-matters-prototypicality>

Hudson, D, Mcloughlin, C, Marquette, H & Roche, C 2018 'Inside the black box of political will: 10 years of findings from the Developmental Leadership Program' Developmental Leadership Program, University of Birmingham, Birmingham. <http://publications.dlprog.org/DLPsynthesis.pdf>

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Foreign, security and development policy

Politics of development, leadership for development, political sociology of vital public service delivery in conflict-affected and divided societies.service delivery, leadership for development.