Profile
Following his studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a year in online journalism, Karl began working in Westminster and Parliament. After the 2010 general election he became the political advisor to the Shadow Foreign Secretary and then the Shadow Home Secretary. He completed an MA at Birkbeck and then commenced a PhD at Queen Mary. Following completion of his PhD, he was awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship through the London Interdisciplinary Social Science (LISS) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). He became Lecturer in the school in January 2021.
Karl was awarded the PSA Walter Bagehot Prize for best dissertation in the field of government and public administration. His dissertation was titled "The party has a life of its own: Labour's ethos and part modernisation, 1983-1997". He is an editor of Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy.
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Undergraduate Teaching
POL350 Analysing Public Policy
Postgraduate Teaching
POLM025 Evaluation and Delivery in Public Policy
Research
Research Interests:
My research interests include the Labour Party and social democratic politics more generally, and the concepts of tradition and myth in political analysis.
Examples of research funding:
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for a postdoctoral fellowship at Queen Mary
Publications
Journal Articles
T. Bale and K. Pike (2023) ‘Hopes will be dashed: Brexit and the “Merkel myth”’, Journal of European Integration. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2023.2252575
Pike K (2022) ‘Reform to conserve: Europe and David Cameron’s Conservatism’, Journal of Political Ideologies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2022.2045459
Pike K and Diamond P (2021) ‘Myth and meaning: “Corbynism” and the interpretation of political leadership’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 23(4): 663-679. https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148121996252
Pike K (2020) ‘“A life of their own”? Traditions, power and “as if realism” in political analysis’, Political Studies, 69(3): 709-724. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321720921502
Pike K and Diamond P (2020) ‘“Better in kung fu movies than in political parties”: Labour’s factionalism and a reappraisal of Eric Hobsbawm’s political thought’, The Political Quarterly 91(4): 762-769. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12933
Pike K and Hindmoor A (2020) ‘Do As I Did Not As I Say: Blair, New Labour and Party Traditions’, The Political Quarterly 91(1): 148-155. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12791
Pike K (2019) ‘Mere theology? Neil Kinnock and the Labour Party’s aims and values, 1986-1988’, Contemporary British History 34(1): 95-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2019.1636650
Pike K (2019) ‘Deep religion: policy as faith in Kinnock’s Labour Party’, British Politics, Vol.14(1), pp.106-120. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-018-0074-z
Chapters in books
Hindmoor A and Pike K (2022) ‘Past, present and future: Tony Blair and the political legacy of New Labour’, in Yeowell N (eds.) Rethinking Labour's Past (London: I.B. Tauris), pp.249-265.
Book reviews and other articles
Diamond P and Pike K (2021) ‘Starmer’s task: to achieve greater clarity about his political purpose’, Renewal 29(4): 13-20.
Creasy S and Pike K (2021) ‘Nothing is inevitable: narrating the Covid crisis’, Renewal 21(1): 38-48. https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/renewal/vol-29-issue-1/article-9063/
Pike K (2020) ‘The (not) comeback kid: Labour’s New Left’, Political Quarterly.
Pike K (2020) ‘The Modernisation of the Labour Party, 1979-1997’, Twentieth Century British History.
Pike K (2017) ‘The Party has a Life of its Own: Labour’s Doctrine and Ethos’, Renewal, Vol.25(1), pp.74-87.
Pamphlets
Pike K, Hussain F, Cowley P and Diamond D (2021) Not for patching? Public opinion and the commitment to ‘build back better’. Mile End Institute. https://www.qmul.ac.uk/mei/media/mei/mei-web-images/Not-for-Patching-Mile-End-Institute-May.pdf
Public Engagement
Outside of politics, I have also worked in advocacy for refugees and asylum seekers.
