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Dr Tony Costello

LECTURER IN POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
History and Politics
0151 291 3575 .
costelt@hope.ac.uk

Anthony was awarded a PhD in Political Science from University College Cork (UCC) in 2016. His dissertation 'Exploring Ireland's Approach to Negotiating the 2012 Fiscal Stability Treaty: A Qualitative Study' explored the various forces (domestic and international) that shaped Ireland's national position on the terms of the Fiscal Stability Treaty and the domestic and international opportunity structures that the Irish negotiating team used to achieve concessions closest to Ireland's national preferences. The dissertation was supervised by Dr Mary C Murphy (UCC) and externally examined by Dr Dermot Hodson (Birkbeck).


Following his PhD, Anthony was a lecturer in the Department of Government & Political Science (University College Cork). He remained in the post until joining the Department of History and Politics at Liverpool Hope University in September 2020.
At Liverpool Hope, Anthony lectures on both the politics and international relations programmes with special teaching interests in EU integration and governance, EU policy/treaty making processes and comparative European Politics. He is the International Relations coordinator for first year and the coordinator of the 'British Life' course which is offered to visiting students from overseas. Aside from his academic-administrative responsbilities, he also contributes to the wider university as coordinator of Liverpool Hope's Anglican Community.
Anthony's research interests lie in Economic and Foreign policies in the EU and he has published work on the Treaty on Stability Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (Fiscal Stability Treaty/Fiscal Compact)  the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in Europe's Southern neighborhood (comprising of North Africa) and Turkey's U-turn from Brussels and European integration. His work has been published in both English and German speaking academic spheres. He contributes annually to the prestigious Jahrbuch der Europaischen Integration published by Nomos. In line with his interest in the quality of European democracy, his most recent research evaluates the quality of Citizens' Dialogues on the Future of Europe and explores if Citizens' Dialogues truly empower European citizens to shape the Future of Europe. Anthony is a Co-Convener of the Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI), Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (PDD) Specialist Group.
Publications:
Costello, A (2023) 'Miscalculations and Constraints: Brexit and the Failed Statecraft of Theresa May' in Roe-Crines, A and Jeffery, D. Policies and Politics under Prime Minister Theresa May: A Question of Statecraft. Palgrave MacMillan.

Costello, A (2022) Analyzing and Understanding European Democracy. European Political Science. Palgrave MacMillan on behalf of the European Consortium of Political Research.


Costello, A. (2022) 'Expectations, Benchmarks & Tensions: Exploring Turkey's Political U-Turn from Brussels' in Cakmak & Onur Ozcelik (ed) EU Conditionality in Turkey: When it works, when it fails. Lexington Books.


Costello, A (2021) Meaningful, but Effective? A Critical Evaluation of Ireland's Citizens Dialogues on the Future of Europe. Politics. Vol, 42, No.4, pp. pp. 464–479. Sage on behalf of the Political Studies Association.


Costello, A (2021) 'The European Neighbourhood Policy in the South Mediterranean' in Haastrup, T, Mah, L & Duggan N (ed) Routledge Handbook on EU-Africa Relations. Taylor & Francis. 


Costello, A (2021) Ireland. Yearbook of European Integration. Institute of European Politics. Nomos. 


Costello, A (2020) Ireland. Yearbook of European Integration. Institute of European Politics. Nomos. 


Costello, A (2019) Ireland. Yearbook of European Integration. Institute of European Politics. Nomos. 


Costello, A (2018) Ireland. Yearbook of European Integration. Institute of European Politics. Nomos. 


Costello, A (2014) The Fiscal Stability Treaty Referendum 2012. Irish Political Studies. Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 457-470. Routledge.