Obtuvo su Ph.D. por la Universidad de Princeton. Ha sido Profesor Visitante en Dartmouth College y la Universidad de Heidelberg, dando cursos sobre política comparada y europea, y Visiting Scholar en el Wissenschaftszentrum, Berlin. Es autor de Miners on Strike. Class Solidarity and Division in Britain (1996), y ha contribuido en los libros Can Class Still Unite? The Differentiated Work Force, Class Solidarity and Trade Unions (2001); Unemployment in the New Europe (2001); The Construction of Democracy. Lessons from Practice and Research (2007); The Politics of Unemployment. Policy Responses and Collective Action (2009); Spain's Second Transition? The Socialist Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2011); y The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements (2012).