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Support for Brexit is no longer a minority viewpoint on the British left
In recent years, Euroscepticism has frequently been associated with the right of the political spectrum in the UK, but a number of figures on the left have also voiced their support for the country leaving the EU. Imke Henkel writes that while criticism of the EU’s handling of the Eurozone and migration crises is understandable, […]
The biggest lesson from the Scottish Parliament election: if you are determined to make and act on the argument about identity politics you should do it well
Scotland recently re-elected the SNP to run the Scottish government, albeit with a reduced majority. A new development was the rise of the Scottish Conservatives, who claimed second place after an increased vote share. Here, Paul Cairney discusses the implications the vote has for a potential future second independence referendum. Similar PostsBeyond anecdotes on lowering […]
The new BBC White Paper could be a recipe for long-term decline
The provisions set out new BBC White Paper could compromise both the BBC’s international reputation for freedom from government interference, and its place at the heart of British popular culture which commands huge public affection, writes Steven Barnett. Similar Posts
Higher campaign costs are not necessarily bad for voters
The increasing cost of political campaigns and its impact on the electoral process are issues of paramount importance in modern democracies but higher campaign spending does not always hamper accountability, write Carlo Prato and Stephane Wolton. Drawing on recent research, they argue that when constituencies are biased towards a party, a higher campaign cost intensifies […]
When using Voter Advice Applications, citizens should be aware that they reflect the political assumptions of their developers
Voter Advice Applications (VAA’s) have grown in popularity over recent election cycles, with users matched to a party on the basis of their agreement or disagreement with certain statements or policies. Here, Thomas Fossen and Bert Van Der Brink argue that though VAA’s present themselves as objective sources of political information, they in fact reflect […]
White academia: Will the Race Equality Charter make a difference?
There are some hard numbers behind diversity in academia. There are currently only 70 black professors in the UK; of these, only 17 of are female. As part of ongoing efforts to address these disappointing numbers, the Race Equality Charter mark was recently introduced by the Equality Challenge Unit. But will it make academia more diverse? Kalwant Bhopal explains […]
Allowing transnational voting during European elections could alleviate the EU’s democratic deficit
European Parliament elections are often criticised for lacking the required level of voter engagement to confer democratic legitimacy to the integration process. Jonathan Bright, Diego Garzia, Joseph Lacey and Alexander Trechsel assess whether ‘transnationalising’ European elections by allowing voters to back parties in other EU countries would help alleviate the problem. They argue that language barriers may represent a challenge, but […]
Book Review: Citizenship by Étienne Balibar
Citizenship presents a collection of seven lectures by Étienne Balibar, extending his longstanding engagement with citizenship as a concept that is both inextricably linked to, and in contradiction with, democracy. While the text may occasionally lose sight of its central topic of citizenship, Chris Moreh highlights its ‘affirmative’ agenda in the face of contemporary challenges […]
What a fair relationship between ‘euro ins’ and ‘euro outs’ could look like
The relationship between Eurozone members and non-euro states has been cited by David Cameron as one of the key issues in his attempted renegotiation of the UK’s EU membership. Nicolai von Ondarza writes that while some actors have proposed stronger blocking powers for non-euro states, a far better arrangement would be to simply give these […]
The problems with democracy – continuing the conversation into a new year
Matthew Flinders recently gave a public lecture looking at the ‘problems with democracy’ at the British library, which Kevin Gillen responded to. Here, Flinders responds again, arguing that there may be less to inspire citizens in ideas around individualism and technology than is commonly thought. Similar PostsCan the centre hold? Devolution in England is gathering […]
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