Richard Woodward

Dr Richard Woodward is Senior Lecturer in Emerging Markets at Coventry Business School. He is a political economist specialising in international organisations (especially the OECD), offshore financial centres, tax havens and sports mega-events. His present research concerns the role of the OECD in global economic governance. This work is examining in particular how the OECD’s role is evolving as a result of its engagement with the emerging markets and powers of the Global South and the implications of this for efforts to clampdown on international tax avoidance and evasion. He has published widely on international organisations and global governance including two books The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Routledge 2009) and (with Michael Davies) International Organizations: A Companion (Edward Elgar 2014). He has held visiting positions at the University of Tasmania and the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) and is a Non-Resident Fellow at Trends Research and Advisory in the UAE.

Area of Expertise:

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, international organisations, global governance, offshore financial centres and tax havens, small states, sports mega-events.

My research aims to further our understanding of the relationship between states and markets. In particular it looks to challenge the view which has prevailed amongst many leading institutions of global governance that human relations are best mediated by market forces and that the role of the state should be confined to building institutions for the market or the mere correction of market failure. I believe that for humanity to successfully confront its manifold challenges we must fundamentally rethink the relationship between states and markets and the institutional underpinnings of global governance. My research seeks to make a vital contribution to these debates.