ABOUT
I am a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London. My research focuses on American Political Development (APD), public policy, federalism, education, and religion and politics. In September 2016 I launched a new course in APD at Royal Holloway. My research monograph America's Voucher Politics will be published in 2020 by Cambridge University Press.
America's Voucher Politics: How Elites Learned to Hide the State
Forthcoming with Cambridge University Press
What explains the explosive growth of school vouchers in the last two decades? In America’s Voucher Politics, Ursula Hackett shows that the roots of the voucher movement lie in America’s foundational struggles over religion, race, and the role of government versus the private sector. Drawing upon original datasets, archival materials, and more than one hundred candid interviews with policymakers across the United States, Hackett shows that policymakers and political advocates use strategic policy design and rhetoric to hide the role of the state when their policy goals become legally controversial. Patiently, tactically, iteratively – over more than sixty years of voucher litigation – white supremacists, accommodationists, and individualists have honed this strategy of attenuated governance in court. By learning from previous mistakes and anticipating downstream effects, policymakers can avoid painful defeats, gain a secure legal footing, and entrench their policy commitments in spite of the surging power of rivals.
I am a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London. My research focuses on American Political Development (APD), public policy, federalism, education, and religion and politics. In September 2016 I launched a new course in APD at Royal Holloway. My research monograph America's Voucher Politics will be published in 2020 by Cambridge University Press.
America's Voucher Politics: How Elites Learned to Hide the State
Forthcoming with Cambridge University Press
What explains the explosive growth of school vouchers in the last two decades? In America’s Voucher Politics, Ursula Hackett shows that the roots of the voucher movement lie in America’s foundational struggles over religion, race, and the role of government versus the private sector. Drawing upon original datasets, archival materials, and more than one hundred candid interviews with policymakers across the United States, Hackett shows that policymakers and political advocates use strategic policy design and rhetoric to hide the role of the state when their policy goals become legally controversial. Patiently, tactically, iteratively – over more than sixty years of voucher litigation – white supremacists, accommodationists, and individualists have honed this strategy of attenuated governance in court. By learning from previous mistakes and anticipating downstream effects, policymakers can avoid painful defeats, gain a secure legal footing, and entrench their policy commitments in spite of the surging power of rivals.