Professor David Coates

Education | Courses Offered | Research Interests | Selected Publications |Recent Teaching and Research Papers

Education:

David Coates received his undergraduate degree from the University of York and his doctorate from the University of Oxford. Before coming to Wake Forest he taught at the universities of York, Leeds and Manchester, and (for three years) was involved in course production for the Open University (all in the UK).
Courses Taught

Politics 114: Comparative Government and Politics: focusing on stability and workings of democratic systems in both developed and under-developed capitalisms
European and American Politics: Comparisons and Contrasts: focusing on questions of ‘US exceptionalism’ by exploring similarities and differences in US and Western European economic history, labor movements, class politics, gender relations, race and immigration, and dominant ideologies
UK politics in a Global Age: focusing on the political consequences of the UK’s internal and external post-war political settlements, the retreat from Empire and the opening of the European issue; the changing nature of UK economy and society; the persisting issue of Ireland; and the strengths and weaknesses of the dominant political projects of the post-war era--Labourism, Thatcherism and now New Labour’s ‘third way.
State, Economy and International Competitiveness: focusing on the interplay of public policy and factor endowment in the competitive performance of leading industrial economies

Professional/Research Focus
David Coates joined the department in August 1999 as the Worrell Professor of Anglo-American Studies. He was previously Professor of Government and Director of the International Center for Labor Studies at the University of Manchester in the UK.
His current research interests focus on ‘third way politics’ and on the response of oraganized labour in both the UK and the US to the increasingly global nature of production and trade.
Selected Publications
His publications include a series of monographs on labor politics (‘The Labour Party and the Struggle for Socialism’; ‘Labour in Power? A study of the Labour Government 1974-79’; ‘The Crisis of Labour’ and ‘Features of a Viable Socialism’), two studies of the economic and social parameters of UK politics (‘The Context of British Politics’ and ‘Running the Country’) and a set of works on contemporary political economy (‘The Question of UK Decline’; ‘Models of Capitalism: Growth and Stability in the Modern Era’; and ‘Varieties of Capitalism, Varieties of Approaches’). He has also co-edited a four volume Socialist Primer series, ‘three readers on UK economic decline and a set of essays on ‘New Labour into Power’. His most recent work on New Labour is to be found in ‘Blair’s War’(co-written) and ‘Prolonged Labour; The Slow Birth of New Labour Britain’. His first book on US politics - A Liberal Tool Kit: Progressive Answers to Conservative Arguments - was published in July 2007.