Sean Fox

Department of International Development (ID)

Biography

Sean Fox joined the PhD programme at ID in 2005 and became a Fellow in 2007. Since then he has managed the consulting project component of the MSc degree in Development Management. He was also a PhD Research Fellow with the DfID-funded Crisis States Research Centre from 2006-2010. Sean's thesis, 'Urbanization and African Development' explores the history and political economy of urban development in Sub-Saharan Africa utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods. He has worked as an adviser on urban poverty and development issues for CARE International, Oxfam GB and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and is co-author (with Prof. Jo Beall) of Cities and Development (Routledge, 2009). He holds a BA in Economics and a BA in Literature from the University of California Santa Cruz, and an MSc in Development Management from the LSE.

Research interests

Political economy of institutions, economic geography, demography, conflict & violence, urbanization & urban governance, African development, historiography.

Publications & Presentations

  • 'The Political Economy of Social Violence: theory and evidence from a cross-country study' (with Kristian Hoelscher), Crisis States Research Centre Working Paper No. 72, (April 2010).
  • Cities and Development (with Jo Beall) 2009. London: Routledge.
  • "Urban Poverty and Development in the 21st Century: Towards an Inclusive and Sustainable World" (with Jo Beall). Oxfam Research Report (January 2007). Available at: www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/livelihoods/research_urban_poverty.htm
  • "Identifying Fraud in Democratic Elections: a case study of the 2004 presidential elections in Mozambique" with Joe Hanlon. Crisis States Research Centre Working Paper No. 8 Series 2 (December 2006).

In preparation

  • 'History, Demography and Economic Growth since 1950' w/ Prof. Tim Dyson.
  • 'The political and economic origins of Africa's "urban crisis"'

  Conference Presentations

  • UN-Habitat, Nairobi. "Cities and Fragile States" (June 2010).
  • 60th Political Studies Association Annual Conference, Edinburgh. "The Political and Economic Origins of Africa's 'Urban Crisis'" (March 2010)
  • Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford,. "On the origins and consequences of slums" (March 2008)
  • World Bank Urban Symposium. "Blue Cities: Encompassing Governance, Urban Integration and Economic Performance" (May, 2007).
  • Royal Institute of British Architects. "Cities and International Development" (March 2007)

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