Achieving accountable government
Book Review: The End Game: How Inequality Shapes Our Final Years
Corey Abramson’s book, The End Game: How Inequality Shapes Our Final Years, takes readers on a journey through geriatric inequality to show how on the west coast of the US the supposed golden years of post-employment for many individuals is an illusion, and in reality retirement is a corrosive quotidian struggle on body and soul, writes Michael Warren. […]
Opposition Leaders need to share power with credible ‘alternative Chancellors’ if they want to win elections
The Shadow Chancellor occupies a central coordinating role in Britain’s combative Westminster system, says Stephen Barber, who argues that Opposition Leaders need to share their power with credible and competent ‘alternative Chancellors’ if they want to win general elections in the UK, as recent events in UK politics show. Similar Posts
A howl for the past rather than a serious fight for the future: Corbyn and the political economy of nostalgia
Voting for Jeremy Corbyn as leader is a gut reaction to Labour’s electoral defeat. Corbyn does point to some real economic problems facing Britain but his policies are based largely on the kind of wishful thinking that is endemic in UK politics and both blights Labour’s past. His popularity lies in Labour’s failure to defend […]
Book Review: The Lure of Technocracy
In his latest offering, The Lure of Technocracy, Jüregen Habermas argues for Europe to continue working towards a closer political union based upon a discourse-theoretical model of politics. Elizabeth Folan O’Connor writes that this model can help the continent reach a ‘place where the all the nations of Europe stand alongside each other as equals in a democratically legitimate political union as […]
Saving the Euro at all costs could lead to an eventual hollowing out of European democracy
Since the global financial and Eurozone crises hit Western economies, a process of change has been underway which has seen a new model of technocratic financial and economic governance take hold across Europe. Alexander Ruser argues that these reforms – born of a desire to save the Euro “at all costs” could see democracy eventually […]
The North-East Combined Authority represents another step in the uncertain progress of English devolution
The North East Combined Authority has had a quiet start to its life, in stark contrast to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority which was launched last year to great fanfare. The North East differs from Greater Manchester is the comparitive lack of unity between the constituent councils and council regions, and as John Fenwick argues, […]
Push or jump? Why the UK could be facing a ‘Brexpulsion’ rather than a ‘Brexit’
The UK’s EU referendum is likely to be heavily influenced by the extent to which David Cameron is successful in his attempt to renegotiate the country’s terms of membership. Iain Begg writes that while Cameron’s intention appears to be to gain enough from a renegotiation to win the referendum, he faces a difficult balancing act in […]
Parliamentary codes of conduct do not end political corruption, but they can help build a democratic political culture
Since Lord Nolan drafted his principles of public life, codes of conduct have become a key tool for parliaments around Europe seeking to build or repair their reputations. New research by Elizabeth Dávid-Barrett suggests that, although codes do not necessarily prevent corruption, the process of writing them helps to build a democratic culture and attract high-calibre […]
It remains unclear how much leeway member states have to restrict EU migrants’ access to benefits
The issue of ‘benefit tourism’ has become a hot topic in several EU states, with a number of countries calling for tighter restrictions on the access of EU citizens to certain social benefits. Michael Blauberger and Susanne K. Schmidt write on reforms pursued in Austria, Germany and the UK. They note that while the legal […]
Democracy requires the critical engagement of practitioners and experts alike if it is to thrive in these challenging times
In a recent special edition of the journal Global Policy entitled “Changing the European Debate: A Rollback of Democracy”, contributors tackled key questions about the immediate challenges that democracy, both at the national and international level, face. Helmut K. Anheier looks at some potential problems to the broad issues that democracy faces in an age characterised by […]
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