Ursula Hackett, Ph.D.

ursula.hackett@rhul.ac.uk

Royal Holloway, University of London

Address: Royal Holloway, University of London

City: Egham, England - TW20 0EX

Country: United Kingdom

About Me:

I am a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London. I work on American Political Development (APD), public policy, federalism, education, and religion and politics. My work has been published in journals such as Policy Studies Journal, Studies in American Political Development, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Religion and Politics. My Oxford doctorate won the Political Studies Association's Sir Walter Bagehot Prize in Government and Public Administration. My research monograph America's Voucher Politics: How Elites Learned to Hide the State is out with Cambridge University Press, and my study skills book Brilliant Essays is published by Macmillan Study Skills. I speak regularly at Chatham House, train junior diplomats in American politics, and help to set the UK’s strategic priorities through my contributions to the Foreign Office Directors’ Expert Group. In 2020 I became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and I won both the Political Studies Association’s Sir Bernard Crick Prize for Outstanding Teaching, and a Royal Holloway College Excellence Teaching Prize. My Twitter account (@Dr_Essays) provides daily essay help and suggestions for students, and my website and YouTube channel offer bespoke video content to help students reach their potential.

Research Interests

Public Policy

State and Local Politics

Religion & Politics

Race, Ethnicity and Politics

Public Administration

Education Policy

American Political Development

Law And Politics

Political Representation

Countries of Interest

United States

My Research:

America's Voucher Politics: How Elites Learned to Hide the State
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.