herbert_jon - Keele University
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Politics, International Relations & Philosophy

Dr Jon Herbert

Title: Lecturer
Phone: +44 (0)1782 7 33539
Email:
Location: CBB 2.027
Role: Director of Learning and Teaching
Contacting me:
Herbert_Jon

My first degree was a B.A. in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford, but I decided I really wanted to focus on politics and went to Essex University to take a Masters in American Government and Politics. My interest in the American Presidency really took off at that point and I went to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge to complete my doctoral dissertation on that topic (specifically, how presidents-elect and presidents in the early months of their presidency take policy decisions). During that period, I also spent a great year at the University of Pennsylvania. I was appointed to the American Studies Department at Keele in the 1990s, but have since moved to SPIRE, although I still contribute to the American Studies programme.

My primary focus is the American Presidency, although I have broader interests in both public policy and US government as a whole. I’m particularly interested in how presidents choose to govern and what constrains their ability to get things done. Particularly, I’m working on ideas concerning the relationship between presidential policy-making, presidential agendas and political strategy. I publish on other subjects (recently on the conservative movement in the US and US foreign policy) but the presidency is the thing I always come back to. Obviously, the Obama presidency is my main focus right now. I’m a member of Keele’s Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice.

  • PIR-10039: Debates in American Politics
  • PIR-20054: U.S. Government and Politics
  • PIR-20059: U.S. Presidency
  • PIR-30087: U.S. Presidency and Public Policy

I also contribute to core modules in politics and American Studies, plus a first year elective on the mass media in the U.S. (PIR-10048).

I am keen to supervise students in most areas of US politics, but particularly US public policy and the US Presidency. I’m interested in both foreign and domestic policy and have supervised on topics such as presidential-media relations and the legitimacy of US interventions in Latin America.