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Toby James

Senior Lecturer in British & Comparative Politics, University of East Anglia
Toby is Senior Lecturer at the University of East Anglia, UK and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Electoral Integrity Project, University of Sydney. He has previously been a Lecturer at Swansea University. He holds a PhD from the University of York and has been a visiting scholar at Trinity College, Dublin and the John W. Kluge Center in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

He has had articles published in international journals such as Electoral Studies, Contemporary Politics, Election Law Journal, Parliamentary Affairs and the British Journal of Politics and International Relations and is the author of Elite Statecraft and Election Administration (Palgrave, 2012), co-editor of British Labour Leaders and British Conservative Leaders (both Biteback, 2015) and is currently working on a book on Comparative Electoral Management (Routledge, forthcoming).

Toby’s research has been externally funded by the British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, AHRC, ESRC, Nuffield Foundation and the McDougall Trust. He has written commissioned policy reports for national and international organisations and given invited evidence to Parliamentary committees. He is currently a Fellow to the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Democratic Participation and Advisor to the Law Commission's Review of Electoral Law. He is also on the Scientific Board for Electoral Expert Review.

Half the world will vote in 2024, but how many elections will be fair?

Mar 18, 2024 09:04 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

This year has been widely proclaimed to be the year of elections, with national elections expected in at least 64 countries. This means that half of the worlds population will have the opportunity to change their...

Is the UK ready for an election? Inside a system straining at the seams

Aug 15, 2019 17:44 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Speculation has it that an early general election is around the corner for the UK. If it does come, it wont be the countrys first unexpected election this year. The European parliamentary elections were not supposed to...

Game of Thrones: what Machiavelli might have made of the politics in Westeros

May 25, 2019 06:48 am UTC| Insights & Views Entertainment

Warning: this contains spoilers for Game of Thrones, series eight. Alongside many other aspects of the final series of Game of Thrones, the hand-break turn performed by Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons,...

Economy

Nigerians throw naira notes around to show love: but it could land you in jail

The legal implication of physically damaging the naira, Nigerias currency, came into focus recently with the prosecution of at least two celebrities by the countrys Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Nigeria has a...

The US is one of the least trade-oriented countries in the world – despite laying the groundwork for today’s globalized system

Given the spate of news about international trade lately, Americans might be surprised to learn that the U.S. isnt very dependent on it. Indeed, looking at trade as a percentage of gross domestic product a metric...

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Politics

Taiwan is experiencing millions of cyberattacks every day

Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety of grey zone tactics to pressure...

Sudan’s civil war is rooted in its historical favouritism of Arab and Islamic identity

The current civil war in Sudan goes beyond a simple power struggle between two generals. It reflects a deep-rooted crisis within the countrys governing structure thats been present since it gained independence from the...

South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently painted a rosy picture in which the countrys youth democracys children had enormous opportunities for advancement, all thanks to successive post-apartheid governments led...

Sadiq Khan on track for third term as London mayor – but nearly half of Londoners dissatisfied with performance

Polls have consistently shown that the incumbent mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appears to be on track to win a third term in office at the upcoming mayoral elections on May 2. One poll we commissioned as part of our...

The politics stopping the UK from opening a youth mobility scheme with Europe

Earlier this week, it seemed possible that young people in the UK might soon be able to travel freely to work and live in Europe again. The European Commission laid out proposals to open mobility to millions of 18- to...

Science

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Technology

SHIB Exec Connects Shiba Inu to Bitcoin; Open Interest Falls 7%

SHIBs marketing officer, Lucie, emphasized similarities between Shiba Inu and Bitcoin, highlighting both projects foundational anonymity and community-driven development. Meanwhile, a 7% drop in open interest raises...

Nigerian Stakeholders Urge Binance to Identify Bribery Suspect

In a bold move to safeguard integrity, Nigerian cryptocurrency stakeholders are pressing Binance to unveil the identity of an alleged bribe proposer. This demand aims to substantiate claims and ensure transparent...

Whale Trades Propel RNDR Price Rally 40%: What's Next for Render Token?

Last week, Render Token (RNDR) soared by 40% as whale activity intensified, pushing its market cap close to $4 billion. On-chain data highlighted significant transactions, sparking speculation about future gains in the...

NFL, NBA, NASCAR Stars Resolve $2.4M Voyager Promo Lawsuit

NFL icon Rob Gronkowski, NBA player Victor Oladipo, and NASCAR driver Landon Cassill have collectively agreed to a $2.4 million settlement in a lawsuit concerning their roles in promoting the now-defunct cryptocurrency...

Grayscale's Ethereum ETF Twist: Withdraws Application Days Before SEC Verdict

In a dramatic turn of events, Grayscale shocked the cryptocurrency community by retracting its application for an Ethereum futures exchange-traded fund just days before the SECs looming decision deadline. This cast doubt...