About
I am Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University. I research and write about organised interests in politics (interest groups, think tanks, corporations and lobbyists) and political representation, and the connections between the two. My work covers Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and comparative politics.
My work has attracted competitive funding from bodies including the Australian Research Council, the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy. I am Founding Editor of the Palgrave book series Interest Groups, Advocacy and Democracy.
I am the author of The Organization of Political Interest Groups: Designing Advocacy (2014, Routledge) and Groups, Representation and Democracy: Between Promise and Practice (2010, Manchester University Press). With Anthony J. Nownes I wrote The New Entrepreneurial Advocacy: Silicon Valley Elites in American Politics (2021, Oxford University Press), and with Ariadne Vromen and Michael Vaughan, Crowdsourced Politics (2022, Palgrave).
I speak regularly to academic and practitioner audiences and provide media comment on my areas of expertise. I founded and direct the Policy Advocacy Lab, which connects academic research on policy advocacy with practitioners and the leaders of advocacy organisations.
Contact me at darren.halpin@anu.edu.au