Adam Sneyd

Dr. Adam Sneyd is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Guelph, where he specializes in the politics of the global economy and international development. His research focuses on the "hidden politics" of global governance, specifically analyzing how power dynamics and corporate interests influence international development goals, sustainability initiatives, and commodity supply chains.

Adam is the author of Hidden Politics in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Fernwood Publishing, 2024), Politics Rules: Power, Globalization and Development (Fernwood Publishing, 2019 - Critical Development Studies Series), Cotton (Polity Press, 2016 - Resources Series), and Governing Cotton: Globalization and Poverty in Africa (Palgrave MacMillan, 2011 - International Political Economy Series). He was also the Principal Investigator on the SSHRC Insight Grant project that produced the co-authored book Commodity Politics: Contesting Responsibility in Cameroon (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2022).

Dr. Sneyd serves as the Executive Editor of the Social Sciences and Policy Section for the journal Scientific African, and sits on the editorial board of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies. He has also moderated high-level plenaries for the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Next Einstein Forum. Adam is currently working to advance his proposal for an Independent Commission on Sustainable Development Progress (ICSDP), which aims to redevelop the SDG targets and indicators using more independent, rigorous metrics.

In 2026/27, Adam will instruct several courses, including: Money, Power and Global Politics (POLS*3790); Corruption, Scandal and Political Ethics (POLS*3440); Development and Global Justice (POLS*6730); and Communications (POLS*6900).

• Sneyd, Adam (2016) Cotton. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Sneyd, Adam (2011) Governing Cotton: Globalization and Poverty in Africa. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.