Research

Dr. Gillies' current research looks at American presidential advisers and their role in the development of fiscal policy. This major research project, Bankrupting America: Advisory Entrepreneurship, Fiscal Policy and the Presidency from Carter to Trump, is currently being completed with the generous assistance of a 2018-19 Wallace and Margaret McCain Course Release Award.

He is presently writing on the personalization of executive leadership in Anglo-American democracies as well as political marketing and communications in the upcoming 2019 Canadian federal election. Other research interests include New Brunswick and Atlantic Canadian public policy, the increasing role of political communications and citizen engagement in policy decisions, the rise of big data and election messaging, and a project examining the decline of the record industry in light of music industry disruption caused by peer-to-peer networks and the accessibility and popularity of digital downloading and streaming as definitions of copyright continue to evolve.