Showing papers in "Politics in 2013"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that changing practices of resilience have emerged both as a function of time, and in relation to a range of changing socio-political and economic pressures, which have re-articulated the meaning, scale, operational role of, and responsibility for, resilience.
Abstract: Drawing on, and integrating, emerging theories and practices of urban resilience, this article charts the emergence and progression of different ‘waves’ of resilience policy in the UK. Specifically, it argues that changing practices of resilience have emerged both as a function of time, and in relation to a range of changing socio-political and economic pressures, which have re-articulated the meaning, scale, operational role of, and responsibility for, resilience. The article seeks to critique resilience policy, raising questions about the usefulness of emerging resilience as the central organising concept for depicting how urban systems respond to contemporary and future crises.
105 citations
TL;DR: Menino, 2013 as mentioned in this paper highlighted the resilience shown by the people of Boston and highlighted the fact that Boston was a "resilient city" that would bounce back from the Boston bombings.
Abstract: During the fallout from the Boston bombings in April 2013, the city’s mayor highlighted the resilience shown by the people of Boston. He celebrated the fact that Boston was a ‘resilient city’ that would bounce back (Menino, 2013). Numerous media commentaries, blog posts and online memorials picked up this theme of resilience to articulate a range of positive attributes that individuals/Boston/America had exhibited. They had been brave, quick thinking, a strong community and yet, at the same time, calm and able to follow instructions from the security forces that amassed and co-operated. Resilience, it seems, carried both popular appeal and policy relevance in a manner that allowed security objectives to shift, adapt, and – according to media narrative – move quickly in relation to the event, the perpetrators and the political challenges that were arising.
102 citations
TL;DR: The authors traces the ideological nature of discourses of resilience and traces their rise in international statebuilding approaches, and suggests that this shift to resilience follows disillusionment with liberal internationalist understandings that Western or international actors could resolve problems of development, democracy and peace through the export of liberal institutions.
Abstract: This article seeks to draw out the ideological nature of discourses of resilience, and traces their rise in international statebuilding approaches. It suggests that this shift to resilience follows disillusionment with liberal internationalist understandings that Western or international actors could resolve problems of development, democracy and peace through the export of liberal institutions. Interventionist discourses have increasingly stressed the importance of local capacities, vulnerabilities and agencies and, in doing so, have facilitated the evasion of Western responsibility for the outcomes of statebuilding interventions through problematising local practices and understandings as productive of risks and threats and as barriers to liberal progress.
80 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the UK government's Community Resilience Programme is less about responding to disasters and more a matter of producing community and governing its behaviour, arguing that the passing over of responsibility to local volunteers and organisations is not only about empowerment, but also about forming identities and relationships that can be more efficiently managed and directed.
Abstract: This article argues that the UK government's Community Resilience Programme is less about responding to disasters and more a matter of producing community and governing its behaviour. The passing over of responsibility to local volunteers and organisations is not only about empowerment, but also about forming identities and relationships that can be more efficiently managed and directed. However, this attempt is hamstrung by its basis in a nostalgic, romantic view of community and the effacement of poverty and inequality as central to the vulnerability/resilience binary. The effect may be a more intense government of communities rather than their empowerment through resilience.
69 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at the emergence of resilience in UK security discourse and compare this with the situation in France, and suggest that use of the idea of resilience has more to do with particular forms of governance than with security.
Abstract: The idea of resilience is increasingly prominent across a wide range of policy areas. This contribution looks at the emergence of resilience in UK security discourse and compares this with the situation in France. It argues that although the term is being debated in France, it is considered to be an Anglo-Saxon import. This article suggests that use of the idea of resilience has more to do with particular forms of governance than with security. It develops this argument through the idea of neoliberal governmentality.
48 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the tension between positive and negative forms of resilience as governmentality through the lens of the UK riots in 2011 is explored. But the focus is on community resilience.
Abstract: This article addresses ‘resilience’ as ‘governmentality’. Three key ‘forms’ of resilience are identified: organisational, technological and community. A focus on community resilience shows that both positive and negative forms of governmentality are possible. The positive aligns well with progressive approaches to participatory governance. The negative, emerging from the prioritisation of organisational and technological concerns, aligns well with state-centric and neoliberal tactics of crime control and citizen responsibility. This article interrogates the tension between positive and negative forms of resilience as governmentality through the lens of the UK riots in 2011.
46 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on the findings of feedback practices from a survey of 308 undergraduate students studying combined degree programs of Politics, History and International Relations at two British universities, and from the analysis of the research findings they offer a range of strategies for improving feedback practices.
Abstract: The feedback that students receive on their assignments has been subject to a great deal of debate in universities across the globe. Whereas academics regularly complain that students do not engage with feedback by citing uncollected coursework, students repeatedly protest about the timeliness and quality of feedback, citing illegible, overly critical and a lack of verbal feedback. In this article we report on the findings of feedback practices from a survey of 308 undergraduate students studying combined degree programmes of Politics, History and International Relations at two British universities. This article seeks to offer a clearer understanding of the feedback practices that students want and from the analysis of the research findings we offer a range of strategies for improving feedback practices.
45 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that these mandates should be recalibrated to help build resilient local communities and empower civilian populations to have a greater say in their national governance structures.
Abstract: Civilian protection mandates in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations have become increasingly common since 1999. This article suggests that these mandates should be recalibrated to help build resilient local communities and empower civilian populations to have a greater say in their national governance structures. However, while peacekeepers could reasonably give greater emphasis to building local resilience, the empowerment agenda is largely beyond their means. This leaves some UN peacekeeping operations in the perilous position of working to protect civilians at the operational level without addressing some of the key structural conditions that give rise to violence against civilians.
38 citations
TL;DR: According to the law of dispersion, the level of inequality in political participation is higher when voter turnout is low as mentioned in this paper, and empirically test this hypothesis by evaluating levels of voter turnout in the 2010 Swedish election to the Vastra Gotaland county council and in the 2011 re-election for the same county council.
Abstract: According to the ‘law of dispersion’, the level of inequality in political participation is higher when voter turnout is low. We empirically test this hypothesis by evaluating levels of voter turnout in the 2010 Swedish election to the Vastra Gotaland county council and in the 2011 re-election for the same county council. The re-election voter turnout was reduced by almost half, from 80.6 per cent to 44.1 per cent. Our results support the law of dispersion: the level of inequality in participation substantially increased between young and old, rich and poor, low and high educated and politically interested and uninterested.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the use of Twitter as a way of promoting student engagement, arguing that it offers the opportunity to democratise student learning and support learning and teaching.
Abstract: Twitter has become an established feature of the contemporary landscape. It has been used by, among others, politicians, political parties, governments, international organisations, charities, think-tanks and individuals from academics to celebrities. Twitter has also been subject to a great deal of debate and analysis. This includes its impact on the relationship between government and citizens, a point that came to the fore in the 2011 Arab Spring when Twitter provided an important communication vehicle for popular uprising. However, less has been written on the use and impact of Twitter as a method to support learning and teaching. This article examines the use of Twitter as a way of promoting student engagement, arguing that it offers the opportunity to democratise student learning.
30 citations
TL;DR: This article seeks to discuss two key challenges in the area of cyber-resilience, and considers what constitutes genuinely robust cyber-defence after the Stuxnet event of 2010.
Abstract: This article seeks to discuss two key challenges in the area of cyber-resilience. First, it asks: who owns UK cyber-resilience? Some 80 per cent of the UK's critical national infrastructure is in private hands and the last decade has seen efforts to legislate away some of the problem of resilience by creating legal duties for service providers. This has contributed to a new ecology for intelligence, security and resilience consisting of complex state–private citizen partnerships. However, it is unlikely that populations will accept this approach to risk-shifting when systems fail. Second, it considers what constitutes genuinely robust cyber-defence after the Stuxnet event of 2010. Arguably, any system that depends on information technology, however well protected, is now vulnerable. There is a dawning realisation that the best technical solutions offer only partial assurance. Paradoxically, in an era when the Internet seems ubiquitous, a mixture of analogue and manual systems – often called systems divers...
TL;DR: This article argued that despite its libertarian roots, nudging is compatible with the promotion of personal autonomy and thus can be used to promote self-empowerment in a non-paternalistic fashion.
Abstract: This article argues that, contrary to Goodwin's recent arguments, nudges are compatible with the coalition government's stated aspiration to further self-empowerment This is because, despite its libertarian roots, nudging is compatible with the promotion of personal autonomy and thus can be used to promote self-empowerment in a non-paternalistic fashion Further, I argue that nudging may play a valid role in tackling large-scale social problems in tandem with other traditional policy measures Consequently, Goodwin is wrong to reject choice architecture for these reasons
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the role of the public in the development of the Project Argus initiative, arguing that it is principally through knowledge sharing between state and citizen that Argus seeks to foster increased resilience.
Abstract: This article sheds light on the involvement of members of the public in the United Kingdom's resilience agenda through an examination of the Project Argus initiative. The article argues that it is principally through knowledge sharing between state and citizen that Argus seeks to foster increased resilience. It then moves on to elaborate the idea of the resilient citizen, emphasising the way in which it represents a potentially more permeating form of institutionalisation of the resilience agenda. The development of the resilient citizen, the article concludes, captures a bargain struck between state and citizen: extra knowledge for extra responsibility.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the discursive analytical focus of these approaches would be complemented and extended by the application of the post-structuralist conceptual tool bag offered by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe.
Abstract: The ‘new institutionalist’ approaches have recently been beneficially expanded by the introduction of a body of work which falls under the collective label of discursive-constructivist institutionalism. This article argues that the discursive analytical focus of these approaches would be complemented and extended by the application of the post-structuralist conceptual tool bag offered by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. In so doing it advocates developing a post-structuralist institutionalism (PSI), detailing the approach's key theoretical underpinnings and differences from constructivist-discursive approaches. These are subsequently illustrated via an analysis of the arguments within Rhodri Morgan's Welsh Labour party over the use of private finance in health provision.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore an approach to teaching research methods which focuses on the discipline, student and research process, and show that adopting a discipline-embedded research-oriented approach ensures student engagement with methods teaching.
Abstract: In a context of intense debate around the need to promote stronger research skills in politics graduates, this article explores an approach to teaching research methods which focuses on the discipline, student and research process. Through a case study, we show that adopting a discipline-embedded research-oriented approach ensures student engagement with methods teaching. Following the principle that students should experience primary research from the moment of choosing a research topic up to the stage of implementation and analysis of results, students engage with this module through their interest in the discipline and sense of ownership of their learning process.
TL;DR: The authors analyzed George Galloway's use of emotive rhetoric and performance-based oratory, arguing that these are likely to appeal to a particular segment of the electorate, specifically those disaffected with the mainstream parties.
Abstract: This article analyses George Galloway's methods of communicating with the electorate through the anti-political establishment party ‘Respect’. The article evaluates Galloway's use of emotive rhetoric and performance-based oratory, arguing that these are likely to appeal to a particular segment of the electorate, specifically those disaffected with the mainstream parties. To do this, the article evaluates a selection of indicative speeches that highlight his style of communicating. The article concludes that Galloway's impact can be attributed to his emotive style of rhetoric, and performance style of oratory.
TL;DR: The failed state thesis has been a matter for discussion in the international relations academy for more than two decades as discussed by the authors, however, the soundness of this analytic framework has been questioned.
Abstract: The failed state thesis has been a matter for discussion in the international relations academy for more than two decades. However, the soundness of this analytic framework has been questioned. This article critically engages this debate by examining the ability of the thesis to provide insight into the practice of statecraft in the case of Yemen. It argues that as a result of its rigid and Eurocentric approach, the failed state thesis is unable to recognise the strategies employed by states like Yemen to ensure their survival, which include the purposeful production of chaos.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the reasons why party primaries were abandoned after one use in Romanian Social Democrats and concluded that this short lifespan was determined by the absence of relevant short-term benefits.
Abstract: While party primaries for candidate selection gain gradual popularity in established European democracies, they remain rare in Eastern Europe. This article focuses on the Romanian Social Democrats and investigates the reasons why primaries were abandoned after one use. The central argument is that this short lifespan was determined by the absence of relevant short-term benefits. A few pathologies of the primaries led to their failure: contest administration, primary regulations and high costs. The key findings are that party primaries did not produce the intended consequences when implementation was accompanied by centralised decision-making.
TL;DR: This paper used empirical data to assess the political ambitions of local councillors and places them in context, asking which factors have the most influence on whether a councillor has considered running for parliamentary office.
Abstract: The link between local councils and the House of Commons is well established, with many MPs learning their trade at the local level. Local councils are also fruitful environments for female politicians, with just over 32 per cent of all councillors being women. However, existing evidence suggests that women councillors are less likely than men to make the jump from local to national politics. This article uses original empirical data to assess the political ambitions of local councillors and places them in context, asking which factors have the most influence on whether a councillor has considered running for parliamentary office.
TL;DR: The authors argue that a utopian approach has limits and cannot provide all the answers or offer blueprints for a perfect world, but it can create spaces in which to imagine a different and better political relationship.
Abstract: This article offers a controversial argument, namely that a utopian approach adds something valuable to the study of politics. I develop this position by showing how utopian fiction and experimentation can contribute to a recent debate in environmental politics; the call for a democracy that ‘includes nature’. I argue that a utopian approach has limits – for example, it cannot provide all the answers or offer blueprints for a perfect world – but that it can create spaces in which to imagine a different and better political relationship. Simply put, a utopian approach can shift the parameters of what is conceivable.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the state of exception arising from states' responses to terrorism in fact demands the retention of trial-by-jury in the context of terrorism, and they consider whether those benefits should give rise to a presumption in favour of jury trial in the terrorism context.
Abstract: Trial by jury is under threat. This is particularly true in the context of terrorism. This article will explore the benefits of trial by jury to civil society. It will then consider whether those benefits should give rise to a presumption in favour of jury trial in the terrorism context. Historically, the right to trial by jury has been interfered with on the basis that the threat of terrorism justified an exceptional response. This article will argue that the state of exception arising from states' responses to terrorism in fact demands the retention of trial by jury.
TL;DR: Helen Braithwaite was appointed to the Resilience and Emergencies Division of the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in February 2011.
Abstract: Helen Braithwaite was appointed to the Resilience and Emergencies Division of the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in February 2011. She is responsible for the Central area which covers 15 Local Resilience Forums. Prior to this Helen was the Head of the West Midlands Regional Resilience team. Helen has also worked for West Mercia Police in specialist operations and in the emergency planning departments of Hereford and Worcester County Council and Worcestershire County Council. In 2000 Helen was seconded to the Home Office and then Cabinet Office to lead the consultation process on new civil contingencies legislation, which resulted in the Civil Contingencies Act. Helen was awarded an OBE in June 2011.
TL;DR: In this article, the extent of political party commitments to the inclusion of ethnic minorities is investigated in two Belgian cities and four parties, and the authors find that there is a marked discrepancy between the efforts to include ethnic minority candidates and their level of inclusion in the local party structures as individual members, as party officials or as a party subdivision.
Abstract: The central concern of this article is the extent of political party commitments to the inclusion of ethnic minorities. The study of two Belgian cities and four parties shows a marked discrepancy between the efforts to include ethnic minority candidates and their level of inclusion in the local party structures as individual members, as party officials or as a party subdivision. A possible explanation is that political parties only promote the representation of ethnic minorities out of concern for their own electoral competitiveness, and not based on an unconditional commitment to the full political integration of ethnic minorities.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors call attention to how polarity structures the perceptions and calculations of states and how this impacts a sender's ability to project a clear, consistent demand and potent ultimatum as well as the target's calculations for compliance.
Abstract: The literature has long been searching for the keys to understanding great power coercion. Currently, that literature has focused too narrowly on the coercive demand, failing to recognise that it is actually the end result of a systemically influenced process. This article calls attention to how polarity structures the perceptions and calculations of states. Ultimately, this impacts a sender's ability to project a clear, consistent demand and potent ultimatum as well as the target's calculations for compliance. Thus, if the literature wants to understand fully great power coercion, it is necessary to infuse the systemic context into the discussion.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors outline the contribution of the Rawlsian project to the ongoing discourse of intergenerational justice, and assess the ability of ideal liberal theory to guarantee the rights of future citizens while simultaneously addressing pressing environmental crises, such as climate change.
Abstract: This article outlines the contribution Rawls's ‘well-ordered society’ makes to the ongoing discourse of intergenerational justice. Can Rawls's ‘realistically utopian’ vision of a well-ordered society, a society comprising just institutions that embody the goods of liberty and individual self-authorship of the good life, secure justice between the generations? By considering the totality of the Rawlsian project rather than specific sections of his work such as his ‘just savings principle’, it is possible to assess the ability of ideal liberal theory to guarantee the rights of future citizens while simultaneously addressing pressing environmental crises, the most notable of which being climate change.
TL;DR: In this paper, the median voter and filibuster pivot were examined in the 106th Senate and it was shown that having a positive probability of being a median voter in the chamber affects the attention garnered from the national press.
Abstract: Scholars have established that the national news media focus their attention on important actors in Congress such as party leaders, committee chairs and influential senators. However, researchers have yet to consider whether the median voter and filibuster pivot – salient actors in the legislative process – receive differential coverage by the news media. Examining the 106th Senate, I demonstrate that having a positive probability of being the median voter in the chamber affects the attention garnered from the national press. However, there is no significant difference observed for filibuster pivots.
TL;DR: The authors explored two desiderata for political science debates about the proportionality of the electoral system and bicameral systems of legislative decision-making, and applied them to the debates about political equality.
Abstract: Political scientists regularly justify particular democratic institutions. This article explores two desiderata for such justifications. The first is a formal equality baseline which puts the burden of justification on those who favour more unequal institutions. This baseline is seen as an implication of the rule of law. The second desideratum, the comparison requirement, builds on the first: adequate justifications of particular institutions must compare them to the best alternative, and this comparison must consider the costs for political equality. The two desiderata are applied to political science debates about the proportionality of the electoral system and bicameral systems of legislative decision-making.
TL;DR: The authors argue that trans-lingual democratic deliberation in multilingual polities is necessary to legitimise those measures aimed at the protection of linguistic diversity, and conclude that an EU-wide deliberative forum is not as unfeasible as Kymlicka suggests.
Abstract: Will Kymlicka's liberal culturalism presents a tension between the idea that linguistic diversity in multilingual polities should be protected and the claim that democratic debate across linguistic boundaries is unfeasible. In this article, I resolve that tension by arguing that trans-lingual democratic deliberation in multilingual polities is necessary to legitimise those measures aimed at the protection of linguistic diversity. I conclude that my account provides a coherent normative response to the challenges faced by the European Union (EU) in the field of language policy and that an EU-wide deliberative forum is not as unfeasible as Kymlicka suggests.
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that a consistent application of the all-affected interests principle would require enfranchising not only all UK citizens but also many non-UK citizens who are also affected.
Abstract: It is frequently argued that non-Scottish UK citizens should be enfranchised in any referendum on the future of Scotland because they are affected by the decision. This article argues that this position cannot in fact be supported by the all-affected interests principle for two reasons. First, a consistent application of the all-affected interests principle would require enfranchising not only all UK citizens but also many non-UK citizens who are also affected. Second, doubt is cast upon the all-affected interests principle itself by consideration of other cases of separation, such as divorce.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the editors of the Politics journal reflect on the challenges faced by the journal during its first year editing it and its strategy with regard to both inside and outside the academy.
Abstract: Over the course of our first year editing Politics academic publishing has faced increased scrutiny from both inside and outside the academy. The so-called ‘Academic Spring’ singled out access to, and management of, academic journals for particular attention. We believe responding to both challenges is important for Politics and wanted to take the opportunity of this annual editorial statement to reflect on the journal’s strategy with regard to both.