Dr Richard Johnson, BA (Cambridge), MPhil (Oxford), DPhil (Oxford)

Profile

Richard Johnson joined Queen Mary as Lecturer in US Politics & Policy in 2020. Previously, he was a lecturer at Lancaster University. He has held visiting research and teaching positions at Yale University, Cambridge University, and Beijing Foreign Studies University. He studied at Cambridge (Jesus College) and Oxford (Nuffield College), where he taught tutorials on US and comparative politics.

Richard Johnson’s main research centres on race and democracy in the United States. This was the subject of his book The End of the Second Reconstruction, which uncovers the role of political violence, federalism, and the federal judiciary in sabotaging civil rights from the Civil War to the Trump presidency. He has published academic research on elections and campaigning in the US, including on the Voting Rights Act, the communication strategies of African American candidates, Black nationalism and electoral politics, fundraising strategies of working-class candidates, and the role of presidents in midterm elections, as well as on racially polarised partisanship, ‘white flight’ from the Democratic Party, and the Trump administration’s policies on voting rights and incarceration.

Additionally, he has written about policy and the policymaking process in the US, including the reception of private school vouchers in urban communities, school district secession and its impact on school re-segregation (with Desmond King), an analysis of Donald Trump’s use of Twitter to bypass standard executive branch decision-making procedures (with Osman Sahin and Umut Korkut), the conservative policy bias of US Senate malapportionment (with Lisa Miller), and efforts in the US to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s (with Sam Mallinson). He is also the author of a textbook, US Foreign Policy: Domestic Roots and International Impact.

Another area of interest is UK politics, especially Labour Party history. He has published academic research on Labour’s changing policy on Europe under Neil Kinnock, the history of the European Parliamentary Labour Party, Theresa May’s record on LGBT rights, and Jeremy Corbyn’s foreign policy outlook (with Mark Garnett). He has written profiles of prominent Labour figures for Tribune, including Michael Foot, Barbara Castle, Peter Shore, and Anne Kerr, as well as a reflection on Englishness and the Left. He is (with Yuan Yi Zhu) the co-editor of the book Sceptical Perspectives on the Changing Constitution of the United Kingdom and contributed a chapter on the ‘Case for the Political Constitution’. He has also published academic research (with Ron Johnston and Iain McLean) on proportional representation.

Current focused projects include a comparative analysis of ‘busing’ in the US and UK, a study of the first Black candidates to stand for office in majority-white states, sectarianism and negative partisanship in the US, an analysis of voting trends among Hispanic/Latino voters, and a textbook on US Politics. He is also writing a book on the history of Labour Euroscepticism.

Office hour joining link 

Undergraduate Teaching

POL254 - US Politics

POL399 – Race and US Politics

POLM100 – US Public Policy

Research

Research Interests:

Richard Johnson’s research focuses on race and democracy in the United States. Research interests include the US Constitution and political institutions (Congress, the presidency, the courts, federalism), elections and campaigns, partisanship and polarisation, and representation. He also researches UK Labour Party history, Labour’s relationship with Europe, and the British constitution.

Examples of research funding:

• Churchill Archives By-Fellow (Churchill College, Cambridge University) (2022)
• Policy Entrepreneur Grant for research on the history of Euroscepticism in the Labour Party (2020)
• Quality-Related Research Strategic Priorities Fund Grant (Research England) for a project on UK constitutional reform (2020)
• Political Studies Association (PSA) APSA Panel Award (2020)
• British Association for American Studies (BAAS) Teaching American Studies Grant (2019)
• Research Travel Grant from the University of Kansas (Bob Dole Institute) for research about the renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 1982 (2016)

Publications

Books

US Politics: The Search for Power (Bloomsbury, under contract)

With YUAN YI ZHU (eds), Sceptical Perspectives on the Changing Constitution of the United Kingdom (Hart, 2023)

US Foreign Policy: Domestic Roots and International Impact (Bristol University Press, 2021)

The End of the Second Reconstruction: Obama, Trump, and the Crisis of Civil Rights (Polity, 2020)

Articles

with LISA MILLER, ‘The Conservative Policy Bias of Senate Malapportionment’, PS: Political Science and Politics (in press).

‘School Choice as Community Disempowerment: Racial Rhetoric about Voucher Policy in Urban America’, Urban Affairs Review 58:2 (2022), 563-596.

‘The 1982 Voting Rights Extension as a Critical Juncture: Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, and Republican Party-Building’, Studies in American Political Development 35:2 (2021), 223-238.

with UMUT KORKUT & OSMAN SAHIN, ‘Policy-making by Tweets: Discursive Governance, Populism, and the Trump Presidency’, Contemporary Politics 27 (2021), 591-610.

with DESMOND KING, ‘Race Was a Motivating Factor: Re-segregated schools in the American states’, Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy 35:1 (2019), 75-95.

‘Proudly for Brooke: Race-Conscious Campaigning in 1960s Massachusetts’, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics 3:2 (Sept 2018), 261-292.

‘Hamilton’s Deracialization: Barack Obama’s Racial Politics in Context’, Du Bois Review 14:2 (Fall 2017), 621-638

with RON JOHNSTON and IAIN McLEAN, ‘Overrepresenting UKIP, Underrepresenting the Greens and Lib Dems: The 2014 European Elections in Great Britain’, Representation (2014) 50:4, 429-437.

Chapters

The Case for the Political Constitution’ (with Yuan Yi Zhu) in R Johnson & YY Zhu (eds) Sceptical Perspectives on the Changing Constitution of the United Kingdom (Hart, forthcoming, 2023)

‘The European Parliamentary Labour Party: From Anti to Pro’ in D Hayter (ed) British MEPs: The Lost Tribe (Harper, forthcoming, 2022)

‘The Favourite Son’s Favourites: Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Home State Effect in Midterm Elections’ in R Mason & M McLay (eds) Midterms and Mandates (Edinburgh University Press, 2022)

‘Neil Kinnock and Labour’s European Policy’ in K Hickson (ed) Neil Kinnock: Saving the Labour Party? (Routledge, 2022)

with MARK GARNETT, ‘Corbyn’s Foreign Policy’ in A Roe-Crines (ed) Corbynism in Perspective: The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn (Agenda, 2021)

‘Low-Resource Candidates and Fundraising Appeals’ in B Grofman, E Suchay, & A Treschel (eds) Oxford Handbook of Electoral Persuasion (Oxford University Press, 2019)

‘Racial Policy Under Trump’ in M Oliva & M Shanahan (eds) The Trump Presidency: From Campaign Trail to World Stage (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

‘Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration’ in G Peele, C Bailey, J Herbert, B Cain, & B G Peters (eds) Developments in American Politics 8, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

'Racially Polarised Partisanship and the Obama Presidency’ in E Ashbee & J Dumbrell (eds) The Obama Presidency and the Politics of Change, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

Supervision

Current PhD Students:

Darren Bowes (Lancaster), Eisenhower, Education, and Civil Rights 

Matthew Schlachter (UCL), The Role of Moderates in the US Republican Party

Topics:

I would be interested in supervising PhD students on topics relating to US domestic politics, including elections, campaigns, political parties, public policy, and political institutions, especially with a dimension on race. Historically minded and APD (American Political Development) proposals are particularly welcomed.

Public Engagement

I regularly provide public commentary on matters relating to US and UK politics. Below is a sample of my work for print and online audiences, as well as samples of television, radio, and podcast appearances.

Commissioned Publications

Jacobin

• ‘Before Jeremy Corbyn, There Was Michael Foot’ (July 2021)

The Globe Post

• Wisconsin’s Post-Election Power-Grab Shows Why Lame-Duck Must Be Killed Off (December 2018)

The Guardian

• ‘Proportional Representation Would Spell Disaster for Labour’ (September 2021)

The Independent

• ‘US Parties Are Using Dirty Tricks to Skew the Midterm Election Result in Their Favour’ (October 2018)

Political Insight

• ‘Joe Biden’s Rooseveltian Ambitions’ (December 2021)
• ‘The Institutions Didn’t Stop Trump: They Empowered Him’ (September 2020)
• ‘Trump, the Democrats, and the Politics of Immigration’ (August 2018)

The Telegraph

• ‘Labour Has Just Blown Its Last Chance to Crack the Brexit Conundrum’ (July 2019)
• ‘Why the Brexit Party is a Much Bigger Electoral Threat than the Lib Dems’ (July 2019)
• ‘By Blocking Brexit, Labour is Betraying the Whole Point of Its Existence’ (June 2019)
• ‘Betrayed Brexiteers are a Bigger Threat than Revolting Remainers in Battleground Marginals’ (May 2019)
• ‘Corbyn’s Great Gamble on a Second Referendum Could Destroy His One Shot at Power’ (April 2019)

Tribune

• ‘Remembering Anne Kerr: Labour’s Forgotten Firebrand’ (November 2021)
• ‘The Resilient Radicalism of Barbara Castle’ (October 2021)
• ‘The Life and Legacy of Michael Foot’ (July 2021)
• ‘The Two Englands’ (June 2021)
• ‘Peter Shore: A Constitutional Socialist’ (June 2020)

Unherd

• ‘Starmer Can’t Afford to be Blair’ (August 2022)
• ‘The Socialist Case for Monarchy’ (June 2022)
• ‘Will Russia Drop a Nuclear Bomb?’ (February 2022)
• ‘The Paradox of Black Chicago’ (December 2021)
• ‘When Labour Believed in Brexit’ (September 2021)

Academic Blogs (selection)

Briefings for Brexit

• Labour’s New Customs Union Policy is a Missed Opportunity for a Humanitarian Trade Agenda (March 2018)

The Conversation

• ‘US Supreme Court decision on abortion creates ‘patchwork of rights’ based on where you live’ (July 2022)
• ‘Why So Many Presidents Like to Say “I’m Irish”’ (March 2021)
• ‘How Voting Works for Americans Overseas’ (October 2020)
• ‘Congress Could Use Reconstruction-Era Civil Rights Powers to Protect Black Lives Today’ (June 2020)
• ‘US Midterm Elections: The Dirty Tricks Used by Parties to Skew Results in their Favour’ (October 2018)
• ‘White Politicians Were Coercing African Americans to Vote Long Before Civil Rights’ (June 2018)

Democratic Audit

• ‘Should we just leave the selection of the party leader to MPs?’ (July 2016)

Discover Society

• ‘Understanding the Paradox of the First Black President’ (May 2016)

The Interpreter (Lowy Institute, Australia)

• ‘The Curious Case of the British Left’s Europhilia’ (June 2016)

The Loop (European Consortium for Political Research)

• ‘Despite the favourable polls, a Biden victory in the US presidential election is still too close to call’ (October 2020)

LSE US Politics & Policy Blog

• ‘What Biden’s narrow election win reveals about the challenges and obstacles facing his administration’ (November 2022)
• ‘They Are Going to Eat Our Lunch: Joe Biden’s China Challenge’ (July 2021)
• ‘How Senator Joe Biden Got it Wrong on Busing in the 1970s’ (May 2019)
• Downstate Blues: How a black female Democrat won in the white Midwest (November 2016)

Lux et Data, Institution for Social & Policy Studies (Yale)

• When the Ku Klux Klan Endorsed a Black, Liberal Democrat for Senate (November 2016)

Mile End Institute

• ‘Abortion and the Perils of Judicial Supremacy’ (June 2022)
• ‘Violent Anti-Democratic Coups are Not New to the United States’ (January 2021)
• ‘History Shows How Trump Could Overturn Biden’s Victory’ (November 2020)
• ‘Donald Trump’s Electoral College Advantage Could Be Even Bigger in 2020’ (October 2020)

Open Democracy

• ‘Twenty-Five Years Since First Election of a Black US Governor: L Douglas Wilder’(November 2014)

OxPol (Oxford University Politics Department Blog)

• ‘Brexit and the Radical Tory Tradition of British Socialism’ (July 2016)

Political Studies Association

• ‘For President Biden, Democrats Risk Being Their Own Worst Enemy’ (February 2021)

Polity

• The End of Multi-Racial Democracy (June 2020)

Public Seminar

• (with Desmond King) ‘Harnessing Federal Power for Police Reform in America: What we can learn from Reconstruction and the Voting Rights Act of 1965’ (July 2020)

Transforming Society

• ‘What Does Joe Biden Mean By “America is Back”?’ (July 2021)

The UK in a Changing Europe (ESRC funded blog on the EU Referendum)

• ‘The Electoral Implications of Labour’s EU Referendum Stance’ (January 2016)

Television

• CNN (e.g., Rishi Sunak vs Liz Truss, Replacing Boris Johnson, Boris Johnson’s Resignation, Boris Johnson’s Leadership, the Sue Gray Report, Trump Impeachment Trial, Trump trip to Japan, Mueller testimony, Mueller investigation, Democratic primaries, The Wall, Kavanagh nomination, Federal government shutdown, Government shutdowns in US history, Public opinion and shutdowns, Russia hacking, E-mail servers, Midterm election results, Trump anti-protestor comments, Kanye West, Midterm predictions, Supreme Court nominations)
• BBC World News (e.g., US-North Korea strategy)
• BBC News (e.g., Georgia Senate Run-Offs)
• Sky News (e.g., Trump’s State of the Union, gun control, attempted bombings in US)
• ABC (e.g., Joe Biden’s Presidential Prospects)
• France 24 (e.g., Trump’s First Year)
• Al-Jazeera (e.g., US foreign policy at a crossroads, US federal shutdown, Cohen and Manafort)
• GB News (e.g., House of Lords Reform, Proportional Representation, Trump/Farage interview commentary)

Radio

• BBC World Service (e.g., ‘Newshour’: US Government Shutdown)
• BBC Radio 4 (e.g., ‘Last Word: Edward Brooke’, World at One: Leavers, Remainers, and Labour)
• BBC local radio (e.g., The Labour Party and Anti-Semitism)
• LBC (e.g., Steve Bannon and Donald Trump, ‘The electoral college and the 2020 election’)
• Times Radio (e.g., ‘Challenging Pennsylvania’s Postal Votes’, Potential Legal Challenges to 2020 Election)

Podcasts

• Mile End Institute (Guest Host: The US Presidential Election, Consequences & Prospects, Jan 2021)
• Politics Unlocked (November 2020)
• Opposition Cast (November 2020)
• Factual America (James Baldwin and I Am Not Your Negro, May 2020)
• Briefings for Brexit (Labour History and Euroscepticism, Jun 2018)
• American History Too (‘The Pioneers: Black Candidates Before Obama’, Oct 2017)