Extending human and civic rights
How far does the UK support the United Nations and respect the international rule of law?
The government’s recent proposal for intervention in Syria was rejected by Parliament. The debate raised questions about the influence of international law on UK foreign policy, reviving a discussion that accompanied British military involvement elsewhere in the region – in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. In the 2012 audit of UK democracy, Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Andrew Blick, and Stephen Crone found that the UK’s professed […]
Book Review: The Politics of Expertise: How NGOs Shaped Modern Britain
The Politics of Expertise offers a challenging new interpretation of politics in contemporary Britain, through an examination of non-governmental organisations. Using specific case studies of the homelessness, environment, and international aid and development sectors, it seeks to demonstrate how politics and political activism has changed over the last half century. There’s a compelling argument in this […]
In the representation of women in political life, the UK continues to be outperformed by other democracies
In the 2012 audit of UK democracy, Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Andrew Blick, and Stephen Crone considered how women were represented in public life. They found increased participation of women in government, although more recently progress has gone in reverse. Movement towards greater gender equality in the make-up of the House of Commons has also been slow. Among the […]
The lobbying bill risks gagging charities and campaign groups, while letting lobbyists of the hook
The Government’s Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning & Trade Union Administration Bill will receive its Second Reading on September 3rd. Critics of the Bill have been unequivocal about legislation which has been described by some commentators as a ‘dog’s breakfast’. Here, Peter Bradley of Speakers’ Corner Trust argues that the Bill not only misses a real opportunity to introduce […]
A response to Roger Scruton: no, democracy is not overrated
In a widely discussed article for the BBC’s ‘a Point of View’ series, the conservative Philosopher Roger Scruton argues that democracy is overrated, and that we should value equal freedom and the protection of human rights ahead of it. Philip Pettit of Princeton University argues that Scruton is wrong to distinguish between the three, and that democracy […]
Replacement of the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights without strong safeguards risks being wholly inadequate
The ongoing debate on the future of the Human Rights Act isn’t going away, with some figures in the Conservative Party particularly agitating for its replacement with a ‘home grown’ Bill of Rights. Amy Williams of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the London School of Economics argues that a Bill of […]
Book Review: Gypsies and Travellers: Empowerment and Inclusion in British Society
The eviction at Dale Farm in the UK in 2011 brought the conflicting issues relating to Gypsy and Traveller accommodation to the attention of the world’s media. However, as the furore surrounding the eviction has died down, the very pressing issues of accommodation need, inequality of access to education, healthcare and employment, and exclusion from British […]
Northern Ireland Assembly elections show internal party cultures, not the electoral system, prevent equal opportunities for women in politics
Only a fifth of MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly are women, which is lower than the House of Commons and other devolved legislatures in the UK. In the second post our Gender and Democracy series, Claire McGing investigates whether the single transferable vote system used for Assembly elections explains female under-representation. She finds, however, that […]
Woeful figures on women’s representation in public life show that gender equality is far from complete
Women continued to be under-represented in public life, across many different types of organisation. In the first post in Democratic Audit’s new Gender and Democracy series, Adele Baumgardt believes this under-representation undermines the idea that women’s equality has already been achieved. With a specific focus on Wales, which led the world in its achievement of a gender-balanced […]
The government has launched an assault on judicial review
The right to judicial review is a vital component of the UK constitution, helping to protect citizens from unlawful acts by the state. However, Jamie Beagent believes the right is under attack from a series of reforms being pursued by ministers, undermining the rule of law. In this post he sets out the range of […]
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