Dominic Burbidge

Lecturer in Politics

Regent's Park College

Other affiliations

Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) Regent's Park College Institute for Ethics in AI Oxford

Biography

Dr Dominic Burbidge is a permanent Lecturer in Politics in Regent's Park College, Oxford, Senior Research Associate of Oxford's Department of Politics & International Relations, and Director of the Canterbury Institute. He read his DPhil in Oriel College, University of Oxford, and his MPhil in St Antony's College, before working as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Princeton University and then a Departmental Lecturer in Oxford's School of Global and Area Studies. He was previously a Postdoctoral Researcher in Oxford's Faculty of Law. Dr Burbidge is the founder of the Canterbury Institute, which hosts the Barry Scholarship for leading Oxford graduate students.

Dr Burbidge's research focuses on social trust and civic virtue. He specialises on the place of trust within the social contract, and on how trust can be fostered through decentralised government and the principle of subsidiarity. Recent work looks at civic trust in the midst of technological changes such as machine learning. He is also developing a theory of civic virtue in line with the virtue ethics tradition and, relatedly, a natural law political theory.

Publications

Journal Article (15)

Burbidge D, ‘Transition to subnational democracy: Kenya’s 2017 presidential and gubernatorial elections’ (2020) 30(3) Regional & Federal Studies 387

Burbidge D and Raji T, ‘Central’ 672

Burbidge D, ‘The inherently political nature of subsidiarity’ [2017] American Journal of Jurisprudence

Burbidge D, ‘Security and Devolution in Kenya: Struggles in Applying Constitutional Provisions to Local Politics’ [2017] Strathmore Law Journal

Burbidge D, ‘The Uncomfortable Question of Urgency for Liberal Thought: A Dialogue between John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government and Contemporary Liberal Theory’ [2017] Politics & Poetics

Burbidge D and Cheeseman N, ‘Trust, ethnicity and integrity in East Africa: Experimental evidence from Kenya and Tanzania’ (2017) 2(01) Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics 88

Burbidge D, ‘Space for virtue in the economics of Kenneth J. Arrow, Amartya Sen and Elinor Ostrom’ (2016) 23(4) Journal of Economic Methodology 396

Burbidge D, ‘Conflict in the Horn of Africa: The Kenya–Somalia border problem 1941–2014’ (2016) 115(458) African Affairs 176

Burbidge D, ‘The spirit of the laws in Mozambique’ (2015) 114(456) African Affairs 478

Burbidge D, ‘Urban trust in Kenya and Tanzania: Cooperation in the provision of public goods’ (2014) 47(3) Canadian Journal of African Studies Revue Canadienne Des études Africaines 465

Burbidge D, ‘‘Can someone get me outta this middle class zone?!’ Pressures on middle class Kikuyu in Kenya’s 2013 election’ (2014) 52(02) Journal of Modern African Studies 205

Burbidge D, ‘Can someone get me outta this middle class zone?! Pressures on middle class Kikuyu in Kenya’s 2013 election’ (2014) 52(2) Journal of Modern African Studies 205

Burbidge D, ‘Trust Creation in the Informal Economy: The Case of Plastic Bag Sellers of Mwanza, Tanzania’ [2013] African Sociological Review

BURBIDGE D, ‘Review: How to Become a Big Man in Africa, by Wale Adebanwi’ African Affairs

Burbidge D, ‘Social network analysis from the perspective of African political philosophy’ Review of Social Economy 1

Burbidge D, An Experiment in Devolution National Unity and the Deconstruction of the Kenyan State (Strathmore University Press 2019)

Burbidge D, Shadow of Kenyan Democracy: Widespread Expectations of Widespread Corruption (2015) 1

Burbidge D, ‘Trust as the Basis to Social Inquiry’, Homo Curator: Towards the Ethics of Consumption (Springer Nature 2024)

BURBIDGE D and Raji T, ‘Central: Self-sufficiency through local government’ in N Cheeseman, K Kanyinga and G Lynch (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics (Oxford University Press 2020)

Burbidge D and Raji T, ‘Regional Politics in the Time of Devolution – Central: Self-sufficiency through local government’ in N Cheeseman, K Kanyinga and G Lynch (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics (Oxford University Press 2020)

Burbidge D, ‘Genuine Development: Reflections on Agency and Passivity’ in P G. Carozza and C Sedmak (eds.), The Practice of Human Development and Dignity (University of Notre Dame Press 2020)

BURBIDGE D and Philp M, ‘Corruption’ in G Lynch and P VonDoepp (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Democratization in Africa (Routledge 2020)

BURBIDGE D, ‘Trust and Social Relations in African Politics’ in N Cheeseman (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Politics (Oxford University Press 2019)

Burbidge D and Cheeseman N, ‘Expanding Municipal Revenues’ in M Kamiya and L Zhang (eds.), Finance for City Leaders Handbook (UN-HABITAT 2016)

Burbidge D and Cheeseman N, ‘Principles of Municipal Finance’ in M Kamiya and L Zhang (eds.), Finance for City Leaders Handbook (UN-HABITAT 2016)

Burbidge D, ‘Connecting African Jurisprudence to Universal Jurisprudence Through a Shared Understanding of Contract’, African Legal Theory and Contemporary Problems (Springer Nature 2014)

Burbidge D, ‘Book Review: Vatican II on Church-State Relations: What Did the Council Teach, and What’s Wrong With It? by Mehmet Y. Ciftci’ (2025) 38(3) Studies in Christian Ethics 414 (review)

Burbidge D, ‘Africa: Why economists get it wrong’ (2016) 115(460) African Affairs 574 (review)

Burbidge D, ‘Taxation, responsiveness and accountability in sub-Saharan Africa: The dynamics of tax bargaining’ (2016) 115(460) African Affairs 575 (review)