David Scott

Research
I defended my PhD thesis in Political Science in February 2021. The thesis explores how the project as an organizational form shapes and makes Swedish development aid governable. In the thesis, I show how development projects are assembled through an array of standardized and technical processes which depoliticize development aid policy.
Through an empirical study of how civil society organizations, state funders and consultants contribute to the construction of projects, I argue that a project is dependent on the mobilization of a myriad of components and practices to sustain itself, such as brokerage, expertise, models, documents, markets and time.
The project appears as an assemblage which is not reducible to a single logic but works through multiple power relations sustaining themselves. A project works as a reproduction of the epistemic hegemony of Western knowledge such as logic, rationality and linearity.
Through my work with the thesis, I have developed a general interest in critical social and political theory, primarily from a poststructuralist perspective, such as assemblage thinking, poststructuralist discourse theory, governmentality, feminist theory and postcolonial theory.
During 2021 I work in the project "The politics of gender expertise in peacebuilding", headed by Associate Professor Elisabeth Olivius at Umeå University (The politics of gender expertise in peacebuilding (umu.se)).
Here, I have responsibility for two studies. The first study explores how the work of women's organizations is shaped by increasing "projectification" of development aid. The second study focuses on how knowledge production on gender inequality is conducted in international development organizations.
Teaching
I have taught in the following courses:
Political Science A, Political Participation
Political Science B, Thesis Course
Political Science C, Thesis Course
Introduction to the study of politics
Spatial and Social Planning Programme, Methods and Thesis in Social Science
Feminist Perspectives on Politics
International Security
Political Participation
Bio
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.
Publications
- David Scott, Malin Rönnblom, 2022
- David Scott, 2021
- David Scott, 2021
- David Scott, 2021
- David Scott, 2021
- David Scott, Andreas Öjehag-Pettersson, 2019
- David Scott, 2019
- David Scott, 2018
- David Scott, 2017
- David Scott, 2017
- David Scott, Ann Enander, 2017
- David Scott, 2017
- David Scott, 2016
- David Scott, 2016
- David Scott, Carina Brandow, Jennifer Hobbins, Sofia Nilsson, Ann Enander, 2015
