Rate My Professor Brian Roper

Associate Professor Brian Roper serves in the Politics Programme at the University of Otago, where he holds the academic qualifications of MA (Cant) from the University of Canterbury and PhD (Griff) from Griffith University. His research specializations include New Zealand politics, public policy, political economy, social inequality, gender and feminism, classical and contemporary Marxism, and the history and major theories of democracy. Roper has been actively engaged as a political activist for more than twenty years, participating in progressive struggles and campaigns. He contributes to the academic community through teaching a range of courses, such as POLS 102: Aotearoa New Zealand Politics – Introduction, POLS 208: Democracy, POLS 323: Marxism: Classical and Contemporary, POLS 520: New Zealand Government and Politics, and POLS 521: Politics and Society.

Roper's scholarly output encompasses significant publications in political economy and democratic theory. He co-edited State and Economy in New Zealand (1993) and The Political Economy of New Zealand (1997), authored Prosperity for All? Economic, Social and Political Change in New Zealand since 1935 (2005), and published The History of Democracy: A Marxist Interpretation (2013, Pluto Press), which has appeared in translated editions in China, Germany, and Turkey. Recent works include 'Neoliberalism’s war on New Zealand’s universities: A critical analysis and evaluation of tertiary educational policy-making from 2017 to 2024' (2024), 'Making sense of neoliberalism in Aotearoa/New Zealand: A response to Nicholls, Duncan, Neilson, and Foucauldian governmentality' in New Zealand Sociology (2024), and 'China’s rise and the United States’ response: Implications for the global order and New Zealand/Aotearoa. Part I: Using uneven and combined development theory to explain China’s rise' in Kōtuitui (2024). These contributions reflect his focus on neoliberal policies, international relations, and Marxist analysis, influencing discussions on New Zealand's political landscape and global dynamics.