Colin Thain

Colin Thain (born 20 January 1959) is professor of political science and a former head of the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham. Born in Bedlington, Northumberland, Thain received a BA in economics and Ph.D. in government (1985) from the University of Manchester. He was previously based at the University of Ulster. Thain is currently also a visiting fellow at All Souls College and senior visiting research fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford.

His research interests lie in the area of economic policy making, with a particular focus on HM Treasury and the Bank of England. His publications include an influential work in the study of the Treasury, The Treasury and Whitehall: The Planning and Control of Public Spending (co-authored with Maurice Wright, Clarendon Press, 1995), and he is currently working on a project on the evolution of the Treasury under the New Labour government, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.