Dr James Scott is a Reader in International Politics in the Department of Political Economy. He works primarily on trade governance, particularly with regard to developing countries in the World Trade Organisation. James did his bachelor’s degree in physics and philosophy at New College, Oxford, before moving to the University of Manchester to undertake a MA in Development Studies and subsequently a PhD in International Political Economy. Following completion of his PhD he worked as a research assistant and then a post-doctoral research fellow at the Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester. James has also taught at the University of Liverpool.

Office hours

Dr Scott is on sabbatical for the academic year 2024/25 and will not be holding office hours.

Research

Dr Scott’s research focuses on global governance, with a particular focus within that on the world trade system. He has worked on a number of aspects of the governance of trade, principally exploring the links between trade and development. This has included exploring the participation and role of developing countries in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the extent to which the WTO’s negotiations deliver the promises made concerning development. Most recently Dr Scott has been working on examining the range of institutions that provide expert knowledge in global trade and the extent to which they provide resistance to dominant trade narratives and open up the possibility of more development-oriented trade governance. This work has been funded by research grants from the British Academy and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Teaching

• International Institutions and Global Governance
• The Politics of Trade
• The Political Economy of Science Fiction

PhD Supervision

Dr Scott invites applications from PhD students seeking to work on global governance, particularly trade governance.