Profile

Nick Martin is a lecturer and PHD candidate in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and studies the comparative electoral strategies of political parties with a focus on parties of the radical and mainstream left. Before starting his doctoral research Nick was Chief Executive of the Green Party of England Wales and responsible for amongst other things the party strategy and its General Election campaign in 2017.  He has more than twenty years’ experience of party organization in a number of roles including as a candidate and election agent.  Nick has a B.A Hons degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and an M.Phil In Sociology (specializing in Industrial Sociology) from Oxford University, and an MBA from the London Business School.

Research topic

In the last two decades electoral volatility in Western Europe has increased dramatically and mainstream parties have faced new challengers. Some parties of the radical left have achieved electoral breakthroughs while others have remained marginal in electoral terms.  My research seeks to establish the role played by party connections to society in the political strategies of parties of the left.  While traditional ties to trade unions and mass memberships have declined in importance other ties to civil society may continue to play an important role in the stable attachment of electorates.  My research is using an original data set of elections since 1986, qualitative analysis and case studies to develop a novel account of party strategies towards organized civil society.

Topics of interest

• Comparative political strategy
• Elections and electoral volatility
• The links between political parties and civil society
• Political mobilization and the radical left
• Quantitative and qualitative research

Ancillary activities

Publications

2021

Staying connected: Explaining parties' enduring connections to civil society, with Sarah de Lange and Wouter van der Brug, in West European Politics - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01402382.2021.1986784

2020

Holding onto voters in volatile times: Bonding voters through party links with civil society, with Sarah de Lange and Wouter van der Brug, in Party Politics - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1354068820980304

Podcasts

Podcast with Professor Sarah de Lange, 'About Loyal Voters', No.2 in the series 'Searching for Social Democracy', published by the Wiardi Beckman Stitchting (February, 2020).

https://soundcloud.com/wiardibeckman/2-nick-martin-on-how-party

Teaching

Tutor (since September 2019) on the Research Methods course on the Bachelor programme in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam.

Course coordinator and lecturer (from February 2021) on the Skills and Research Methods in Political Science course on the International BA programe - Politics, Pyschology, Law and Economics (PPLE).

Joint course coordinator and tutor (from March 2021) on the Politics in Practice course for third-year Bachelors students, University of Amsterdam.

Presentations

'Staying connected: explaining parties' enduring connections to civil society', presentation of my paper written with Sarah de Lange and Wouter van der Brug, ECPR Standing Group on political parties, summer school, August 2021.  The paper was nominated for the Peter Mair award for the best paper presented at the conference.

'Holding on to voters in volatile times: Bonding voters through party links with civil society', presentation of my paper written with Sarah de Lange and Wouter van der Brug, ECPR Virtual General Conference, 26th August 2020 as part of the panel titled 'Left Foot Forward? European Social Democracy in Hard Times (Again)'

'The Long March of the British Right: From Gloom to Ascendancy in Six Elections' , contribution to workshop on 'Brexit and the Transformation of party fortunes in the UK', 11th February 2020.  With Marcel Hanegraaff (University of Amsterdam) and Tim Bale (Queen Mary's College, University of London).