David Scott

My research examines how processes of marketization and managerialization affect how society is governed and organized and the political consequences of these processes.

In my research, I have studied how processes of marketization and managerialization come to expression in different ways. In my PhD thesis, I studied projectification as a particular expression of how market and management ideas increasingly have come to influence how contemporary society is organized. With a particular focus on Swedish development aid, I show how the project format shapes how aid activities are designed and implemented. In particular, I focus on how aid projects are put together and the political effects of this process. Drawing on assemblage thinking, I show that aid projects require various forms of "assembly work" to function, such as the creation of conditions for cooperation and coordination, the activation of expertise and bureaucratic practices, the creation of markets, and the organization of time. Through this work of assembling, the project format emerges as a depoliticized form of organization and governing through which bureaucratic and administrative logics displace political conflicts and struggles.

After defending my thesis, I have studied how organizational forms with origins in market and management ideas shape gender equality work and feminism. In a project funded by the Swedish Research Council, my colleagues and I have examined how women's organizations are affected by the limitations of the project format. Furthermore, we have studied how international organizations produce so-called "gender expertise" which is a form of knowledge that aims to support the creation of development interventions destined to strengthen women's rights in developing countries.

Alongside these thematic interests, I also have an interest in political science theory and methodology and how different "power-critical" perspectives originating in post-structuralist theorizing (such as discourse theory, governmentality and assemblage thinking) can be translated into research strategies in political science.

From 2023 to 2026 I work in the research program "A promised land? Drivers, challenges and opportunities related to the (green) industrialization of Northern Sweden", funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. In the programme, I am responsible for a study on how the work of local municipalities to promote green transition in Northern Sweden is shaped by the ongoing projectification of public administration.

I have taught in the following courses:

Political Science A, Political Participation

Political Science B, Thesis Course

Political Science C, Thesis Course

Spatial and Social Planning Programme, Methods and Thesis in Social Science 

Feminist Perspectives on Politics

International Security

Political Participation (distance course)

Power Critical Analysis

Policy Analysis

I have an M.A. in Political Science consisting of studies in Political Science and Spanish at Karlstad University. Before starting my PhD studies, I worked with evaluation of Swedish development aid and with risk and crisis management research.

Scott, D. (2023). Entering the world of project making: Mobilizing assemblage thinking to unpack projects as political constructions. In Fred, M. & Godenhjelm, S (eds.). Projectification of Organizations, Governance and Societies: Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Implications (pp. 57-73). Palgrave MacMillan.

Scott, D. & Olivius, E. (2023). Making gender known: Assembling gender expertise in international organizations. International Studies Quarterly 67(2).

Scott, D,. & Rönnblom, M. (2022). Projectifying feminism: Exploring the conditions for feminist politics in international development aid. European Journal of Politics and Gender 5(2), 250-266.

Scott, D. (2021). (Dis)assembling development: Organizing Swedish development aid through projectification. Karlstad: Karlstad University Studies.