Research output per year
Research output per year
Personal profile
Overview
My work sits at the intersection of cultural political economy, development studies and socio-legal studies and examines the role of ideas, interests and coalition-building in processes of political and institutional change.
My current research examines how international legal institutions shape the governance of critical mineral extraction in countries in the global South. I aim to better understand the relationship between domestic political struggles over mining and international investment disputes involving transnational mining corporations. This concerns both how transnational legal politics shape mining policy and how law mediates state-business-society relations.
More broadly, I am interested in the role of law as a means of asserting and contesting interests in natural resource governance and how innovations in environmental legal activism contribute to challenging socio-environmental injustices in the UK and beyond.
I co-convene the Climate and Justice study group at the University of Manchester.
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Social Science, Understanding power, culture and institutional change: an alternative approach to political settlements analysis, Global Development Institute
1 Sept 2019 → 28 Mar 2023
Award Date: 28 Mar 2023
Master in Science, Tax reform in Lagos State: Identifying the role of ideas, institutions, and interests in political change, The University of Manchester
Sept 2018 → Sept 2019
Award Date: 8 Oct 2019
Master in Science, Contesting the governance of slum resettlement, University of Amsterdam
Jan 2011 → Jan 2012
Award Date: 1 Jan 2012
External positions
Associate, The Policy Practice
Nov 2021 → …
Research Associate, ODI
2018 → …
Areas of expertise
- JA Political science (General)
- JF Political institutions (General)
- PC Romance languages
Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms
- Global Development Institute
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities -
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions -
SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics where Clare Cummings is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
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State capacity
Cummings, C., 12 Mar 2026, Elgar Encyclopedia of African Politics. Kjaer, A. M., Khisa, M. & Ndlovu, X. A. (eds.). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, p. 446–452 7 p. (Elgar Encyclopedia of African Politics Elgar Encyclopedias in the Social Sciences series).Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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Understanding the Role of Ethno-Territorial Movements in Challenging Political Exclusion: The Case of the Madhesi Uprising in Nepal
Cummings, C., 31 Mar 2026, In: Ethnopolitics.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Explaining institutional change in Nepal and El Salvador: a cultural political economy approach to political settlements analysis
Cummings, C., 20 Aug 2024, In: Journal of International Development.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Understanding power, culture and institutional change: a revised approach to political settlements analysis
Cummings, C., 13 Aug 2024, In: New Political Economy.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Power and Informality in Urban Africa, Ethnographic Perspectives
Cummings, C., 2022, In: The Journal of Development Studies.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Thesis
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Understanding power, culture and institutional change: an alternative approach to political settlements analysis
Cummings, C. (Author), Lavers, T. (Co Supervisor) & Hickey, S. (Main Supervisor), 28 Mar 2023Student thesis: Phd
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