Henry Tam
Position/Status
Affiliated Lecturer
Academic Groups
E-mail Address
- hbt21@cam.ac.uk
Qualifications
- BA & MA, Philosophy, Politics & Economics, University of Oxford
- PhD Philosophy, University of Hong Kong
Recognition
- Visiting Professor, Lifelong Learning, Birkbeck, University of London
- Fellow, Globus Institute for Globalization and Sustainable Development, University of Tilburg, the Netherlands
Profile
Henry Benedict Tam has over twenty years’ experience as policy advisor, programme director and political theorist in support of the development of inclusive communities. He has written extensively on the subject and led government initiatives on delivering wider democratic empowerment, promoting civil renewal, and improving community-based regeneration.
Currently Director of Cambridge University’s Forum for Youth Participation & Democracy. Up until 2011, he was the UK Government’s Head of Race Equality, and Deputy Director at the Department for Communities & Local Government. He has also been Head of Civil Renewal at the Home Office where he devised the cross-government Together We Can action plan. From 2000-2002 he was the Home Office’s Director for Community Safety & Regeneration in the East of England, responsible for developing and implementing Government policies on neighbourhood renewal and community safety in the region. He was formerly the Deputy Chief Executive at St Edmundsbury Borough Council where his work on democratic engagement with young people won a Best Practice Award from the Prime Minister in 1999.
His on-line journal ‘Question the Powerful’ can be found at http://henry-tam.blogspot.com/
Research
Interests
- Participatory democracy and citizenship development
- Reciprocity in human interactions: prospect and obstacles
- Power inequalities
- Communitarian theory and inclusive solidarity
Selected Publications
Tam, H. (2011) ‘Citizen Engagement and the Quest for Solidarity’, in After the Third Way: The Future of Social Democracy in Europe, ed. by Cramme, O. and Diamond, P. London: I.B. Tauris.
Tam, H. (2011) ‘Through Thick & Thin: what does it really take for us to live together’, in Ethnicities, ed. by Kiwan, D. London: Sage.
Tam, H. (2011) ‘The Big Con: reframing the state-society debate’, PPR Journal, March-May 2011, Volume 18, Issue 1. Available online: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/newe.2011.18.issue-1/issuetoc
Tam, H. (2010) Against Power Inequalities: Reflections on the Struggle for Inclusive Communities. London: Birkbeck. Available as a free download from the Equality Trust: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/against-power-inequalities
Tam, H. (2010) ‘The Importance of Being a Citizen’, in Active Learning for Active Citizenship, ed. by Annette, J. & Mayo, M. Leicester: NIACE.
Tam, H. (2007) ‘Civil Renewal: the agenda for empowering citizens’, in Re-energizing Citizenship: Strategies for Civil Renewal, ed. by Stoker, G., Brannan, T. and John, P. Basingstoke: Macmillan Palgrave.
Tam, H. (2001) (ed.) Progressive Politics in the Global Age,Cambridge: Polity Press.
Tam, H. (2001) ‘The Community Roots of Citizenship’, in Citizens: Towards a Citizenship Culture, ed. by Crick, B. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Tam, H, (1998) Communitarianism: A New Agenda for Politics & Citizenship, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Tam, H. (1990) Responsibility and Personal Interactions: a philosophical study of the criteria for responsibility ascription, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press.