Portia Roelofs

About

I am the Clayman-Fulford Junior Research Fellow in Politics and Political Theory at St Anne's College, Oxford.

My ongoing research agenda focuses on normative politics in Africa, looking at how concepts like transparency, accountability and good governance are contested and leveraged in contemporary political competition. My new research explores thematic questions around new frontiers of privatization, including public-private partnerships and the role of management consultants in governance. Find out more.

My PhD thesis challenged the mainstream interpretation of sub-national Nigerian politics as principled reformers vs. patronage politics. Taking the case study of Oyo State, the adoption of donor-endorsed good governance reforms from 2011 onwards is explained by party-based political economy considerations and deeply rooted, but highly contested, ideological commitments. These reforms were in practice re-purposed to meet electoral demands for popular conceptions of good governance. Read the abstract here and download here.

I have degrees from Oxford and SOAS, University of London and a PhD from the LSE. Full bio.

I can be contacted at: portia.roelofs@st-annes.ox.ac.uk