Interests
My main research interest is the role of campaign promises and manifestos in political representation, voter attitudes and party competition. Others include public opinion, Scottish politics since devolution and corporate lobbying. I have experience developing and administering survey instruments, conducting computerised text analysis of manifesto documents and coding party, media and citizen positions.
Peer-reviewed Publications
Greene and McMillan, 2020. “The independence echo: the rise of the constitutional question in Scottish election manifestos and voter behaviour”. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties.
McMillan. 2019. “Devolution, “new politics” and election pledge fulfilment in Scotland, 1999–2011”. British Politics.
Preprints
Under Review
McMillan, Brandenburg, and Hanegraaff. “Drowning Out the Issues? Prospective Campaign Pledge Evaluations at the Brexit Election”.
Matthieß and McMillan. “Punished for Promise-Keeping? Opposition Parties and Retrospective Pledge Voting”.
Doctoral Thesis
Off-Site Blog Posts
McMillan and Larner, 2021. “Long Read: Scotland’s Four Tribes”. Scottish Election Study.
Brandenburg, Hanegraaf, and McMillan, 2019. “How important are the parties’ Brexit pledges to voters?” LSE Brexit.
McMillan, 2019. “Do politicians break their promises once in government? What the evidence says”. The Conversation.
McMillan, 2019. “Do Scottish parties fulfil their campaign pledges once in power? Evidence from three governments”. LSE British Politics and Policy.
