Dr. David Harris,Associate Professor
Information about Dr. David Harris at the University of Bradford.
- School of Social Sciences
(Faculty of Mgmt, Law & Social Sciences) - Email:
- d.harris7@bradford.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- +44 1274 235161
18
publications.Biography
Dr David Harris specialises in West African politics, in particular in Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia and Ghana. His first book was published by IB Tauris in 2011; and a second book, Sierra Leone: A Political History, came out through Hurst first in 2013 and then in an updated second edition in 2020. Professor Will Reno wrote, ‘David Harris provides an insightful and nuanced focus on the deep history of governance in Sierra Leone — but his imaginative analyses are applicable well beyond that country alone’. Articles on several elections over the last two and a half decades in both Liberia and Sierra Leone have been published. Most recently, an article co-authored with Robtel Pailey on the 2017 Liberian elections came out in 2020 and another article is in production with the same co-writer concerning the 2023 elections. Another strand of collaborative research with Simona Vittorini has led to book chapters on India-Africa relations and an article in 2018 on India-Ghana relations. The authors secured a £50,000 grant in 2020 to undertake more research in The Gambia and Ghana and an article is nearing completion, co-written with Pius Siakwah and Sait Matty Jaw. In addition, an article on fluctuating government-donor relations in Sierra Leone co-authored with Felix Marco Conteh came out in 2020, and an article concerning small state politics in The Gambia written with Sait Matty Jaw is to be published in 2024. A collaborative pedagogical piece with Maria Ambrozy on the University of Bradford's Africa Study Visit emerged in 2016. In the pipeline is a book for Lynne Rienner on the longevity of relative peace in Sierra Leone and Liberia, co-authored with former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Alan Doss. An article on this line is also currently under consideration.Formerly at the School of Oriental and African Studies, he became Lecturer in African Studies at the University of Bradford in 2013, Director of JEFCAS in 2018, and Senior Lecturer in 2019. He teaches African and comparative politics and has also taught courses at King’s College, London, University of Nottingham, London Metropolitan University and the Instituto Rio Branco in Brasilia. He has worked on numerous election monitoring missions in Liberia and Sierra Leone for the Carter Center and NDI. He has also undertaken work for various European government departments and NGOs, and written media pieces for Channel 4, Fair Observer and African Arguments. He was a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies and for four years was External Examiner at King's College London.
Research
Past research has focused on the intersection between conflict and elections, taking in the politics of rebel parties and post-conflict justice, in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Interest in elections in these two countries continues. More recent work has had three collaborative strands. One strand contains research into post-conflict state re-building, in particular the perceptions of donor staff and Sierra Leoneans of the successes and failures and the relationships involved. The second strand looks at the burgeoning presence of India in West Africa, particularly in Ghana and The Gambia, and the rhetoric and politics that surround this presence in New Delhi and in African capitals. A third and very recent strand looks at the politics of the 'small state' in The Gambia. Collaborators are Simona Vittorini and Maria Ambrozy (both SOAS), Felix Marco Conteh, Luisa Enria (LSHTM), Robtel Neajai Pailey (LSE), Richard Lappin (Leuven/OECD), Sait Matty Jaw (University of The Gambia) and Alan Doss (Kofi Annan Foundation).
Research supervision
Dr. David Harris is responsible for the supervision of 6 postgraduate researchers at the University of Bradford.
Teaching
Details on teaching interests, highlights and modules are available for Dr. David Harris as follows:
Teaching modules
| Title | Subject | Module code | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security and Development in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Areas | |||
| Politics & Security in Africa | |||
| Issues in World Politics | |||
| African Politics and Security Dynamics | |||
| Power Shifts: Regional and Global Challenges | |||
| Africa Study Visit | |||
| Africa Study Visit |
Professional activities
Information about education, employment and areas of particular interest for Dr. David Harris is as follows:
Education
- SOAS - PhD
- Higher Education Authority, Fellow
Employment
- University of Nottingham - Course Convener in the year 2006 (specified as 01/01/2006)
- London Metropolitan University - Course Convener in the year 2010 (specified as 01/01/2010)
- SOAS - Teaching Assistant in the year 2003 (specified as 01/01/2003)
- SOAS - Senior Teaching Fellow in the year 2008 (specified as 01/01/2008)
- King’s College London - Visiting Lecturer in the year 2011 (specified as 01/01/2011)
- Instituto Rio Branco,Brasilia - Lecturer in the year 2011 (specified as 01/01/2011)
Publications
There are 18 publications involving or that are attributed to Dr. David Harris. They are listed as:
- book (3)
- book chapter (4)
- peer reviewed journal (11)
Book
| Title | Year | Publication name | Journal | Volume | Pages | Authors | Editors | ISSN | Publisher | DOI | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra Leone: A Political History (2nd edition) | 2020 | 2 | David Harris | 9781787384125 | Hurst | ||||||
| Sierra Leone: A Political History | 2014 | Harris, David | |||||||||
| Civil War and Democracy in West Africa: conflict resolution, elections and justice in Sierra Leone and Liberia | 2012 | Harris, David |
Book Chapter
| Title | Year | Publication name | Journal | Volume | Pages | Authors | Editors | ISSN | Publisher | DOI | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What Does 'Development Cooperation' Mean? Perceptions from India and Africa | 2015 | Competing Visions of India in World Politics: India's Rise Beyond the West | Competing Visions of India in World Politics: India's Rise Beyond the West | 94 - 110 | Harris D.;Vittorini S. | 9781137398666 | 10.1057/9781137398666_7 | ||||
| Taylor is guilty, is that all there is? The collision of justice and politics in the domestic arena | 2015 | Harris, David; Lappin, R. | |||||||||
| India Goes Over to the Other Side: Indo-West African Relations in the 21st Century | 2011 | India in Africa: Changing Geographies in Power | India in Africa: Changing Geographies in Power | David Harris and Simona Vittorini | Emma Mawdsley & Gerard McCann | Fahamu | |||||
| New Topographies of Power? Africa Negotiating an Emerging Multipolar World’ | 2011 | African Engagements: Africa Negotiating an Emerging Multipolar World | African Engagements: Africa Negotiating an Emerging Multipolar World | David Harris and Simona Vittorini | Ton Dietz et al. | Brill |
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Title | Year | Publication name | Journal | Volume | Pages | Authors | Editors | ISSN | Publisher | DOI | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A ‘New Gambia’? Managing political crisis and change in an African small state | 2024 | Commonwealth and Comparative Politics | David Harris & Sait Matty Jaw | ||||||||
| “We don’t know who be who”: post-party politics, forum shopping and Liberia’s 2017 elections | 2020 | Democratization | Pailey R.N.;Harris D. | 1351-0347 | 10.1080/13510347.2020.1736568 | ||||||
| Government-donor relations in Sierra Leone: who is in the driving seat? | 2020 | JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES (PRINT) | 58 | Harris, David; Conteh, F.M. | |||||||
| Taking ‘development cooperation’ and South–South discourse seriously: Indian claims and Ghanaian responses | 2018 | Commonwealth and Comparative Politics | 56 | 360 - 378 | Harris D.;Vittorini S. | 1466-2043 | 10.1080/14662043.2017.1368152 | ||||
| Liberia’s run-up to 2017: continuity and change in a long history of electoral politics | 2017 | Review of African Political Economy | 44 | 322 - 335 | Pailey R.;Harris D. | 0305-6244 | 10.1080/03056244.2017.1318361 | ||||
| Learning in the Palaver Hut: The ‘Africa Study Visit’ as teaching tool. | 2016 | Ambrozy, M.; Harris, David | |||||||||
| Swings and roundabouts: the vagaries of democratic consolidation and ‘electoral rituals’ in Sierra Leone | 2014 | Conteh, F.M.; Harris, David | |||||||||
| Liberia in 2011: Still Ploughing its own Democratic Furrow? | 2013 | Harris, David; Lewis, T. | |||||||||
| The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Reconciling or Re-dividing Liberia? | 2010 | ALTERNATIVES: GLOBAL, LOCAL, POLITICAL | David Harris and Richard Lappin | ||||||||
| Liberia 2005: an Unusual African Post-conflict Election | 2006 | Journal of Modern African Studies | David Harris | ||||||||
| From ‘Warlord’ to ‘Democratic’ President: how Charles Taylor Won the 1997 Liberian Elections | 1999 | Journal of Modern African Studies | David Harris |