Showing papers in "The British Journal of Politics and International Relations in 2002"
TL;DR: For instance, this paper found that young people are interested in political matters, and do support the democratic process, however, they feel a sense of anticlimax having voted for the first time, and are critical of those who have been elected to positions of political power.
Abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that young people in Britain are alienated from politics, with some claiming that this reflects a wider crisis of legitimacy that should be met by initiatives to increase citizenship. This article addresses these areas, presenting both panel survey and focus group data from first-time voters. It concludes that, contrary to the findings from many predominantly quantitative studies of political participation, young people are interested in political matters, and do support the democratic process. However, they feel a sense of anticlimax having voted for the first time, and are critical of those who have been elected to positions of political power. If they are a generation apart, this is less to do with apathy, and more to do with their engaged scepticism about ‘formal’ politics in Britain.
305 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the relationship between constructivism and the English School and find that scholars in each school have worked largely with stereotypes of the other, and this has greatly impeded productive dialogue and cross-fertilization.
Abstract: This article critically examines the current relationship between constructivism and the English School. Scholars in each school have worked largely with stereotypes of the other, and this has greatly impeded productive dialogue and cross-fertilization. A more fruitful strategy is to treat both schools as bounded fields of debate, as rich and diverse realms of internally contested thought. Constructivism is characterized by three key axes of debate: between sociological institutionalists, Habermasian communicative action theorists, and Foucauldian genealogists; between unit-level, systemic, and holistic theorists; and between interpretivists and positivists. The English School is also divided between pluralists and solidarists, between those who identify the school with international society theory and those who see it as inherently multifaceted, and between those who emphasize interpretive or eclectic methodologies. Opening up each approach in this way enables us to identify new, more fruitful axes of di...
118 citations
TL;DR: This article examined how the rather similar approaches to the management of medical care emerged within the public-policy agendas of both the United Kingdom and United States during the 1990s and addressed the theoretical puzzle of how explanations of policy emergence in single countries can be reconciled with policy convergence between two countries.
Abstract: This article examines how the rather similar approaches to the management of medical care (which here we term ‘scientific-bureaucratic medicine’) emerged within the public-policy agendas of both the United Kingdom and United States during the 1990s. In particular, we address the theoretical puzzle of how explanations of policy emergence in single countries can be reconciled with policy convergence between two countries.
87 citations
TL;DR: Evolutionary theory has a long history in social scientists' attempts to interrogate processes of change as discussed by the authors, however, for many years evolutionary theory has been damaged by its association with teleological and reductionist reasoning.
Abstract: Evolutionary theorising has a long history in social scientists' attempts to interrogate processes of change. However, for many years evolutionary theory has been damaged by its association with teleological and reductionist reasoning. Nevertheless in the past two decades, a new breed of neo-evolutionary perspective has emerged within a variety of social science sub-disciplines. This recent literature has attempted to revise the theory in order to emphasise that change is a contingent process which can take multiple paths and is underpinned by a constant interplay between agents and their environment. Although much of this literature has failed largely to impact upon the work of political scientists, recent years have also seen various attempts to apply an evolutionary conception of change to both the state and political change in general. This review article examines some of the key themes to have emerged from the renewed interest in evolutionary theorising, whilst particular attention is paid to attempt...
72 citations
TL;DR: The authors trace the major stands of British Euroscepticism and concentrate on the importance of a powerful "hyperglobalist" Eurosceptical strand within British Conservatism and explore how Conservative divisions of opinion are related in part to particular understandings of globalisation and regionalisation and attempt to show how globalist ideology has unexpectedly reemphasised and bolstered the traditional nationalism of the Tory party and caused an increasingly hostile attitude amongst many British Conservatives towards the European project as it is presently constituted.
Abstract: In this article we seek to trace through the major stands of British Euroscepticism and concentrate, in particular, on the importance of a powerful ‘hyperglobalist’ Eurosceptical strand within British Conservatism. We investigate the British Conservatives’ recent divisions over European integration, against the background of the party’s increasingly marginal status in British party politics. The piece also draws on findings from two recent surveys of the attitudes of British parliamentarians to European integration, carried out by the Members of Parliament Project for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). We explore how Conservative divisions of opinion are related in part to particular understandings of globalisation and regionalisation and attempt to show how globalist ideology has unexpectedly re-emphasised and bolstered the traditional nationalism of the Tory party and caused an increasingly hostile attitude amongst many British Conservatives towards the European project as it is presently constituted. We also examine recent attempts to map British Conservative Euroscepticism on to continental varieties using a mixture of ideological positioning and party system (Taggart 1998), arguing that this ignores the extent to which British Eurosceptics advance unique (in EU member state terms) hyperglobalist (rather than isolationist or protectionist) arguments in objecting to further European integration. The European issue shows that the change in the character of the Conservative Party has been more important and more striking than
61 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw upon discourse analysis and the study of governmentality to develop a more reflexive interrogation of the assumptions underpinning this policy-shift in post-Cold War international relations and examine the ways in which these competing discourses constrain and enable alternative policy responses to TOC.
Abstract: Over the past decade the perceived 'threat' of transnational organised crime (TOC) to the security of western political economies has become a principal issue on the agendas of key international forums such as the United Nations, G7/8 elite industrial countries and the Council of Europe. The intense policy activity around this threat is indicative of a key trend in post-Cold War international relations, that is, the reorientation of western security, intelligence and defence agencies toward crime control. Risk assessments and research evidence provided by international relations departments in higher education institutions, especially in the USA, have been particularly influential in providing the rationale for this reorientation. It is argued here, however, that there is a danger of intellectuals being drawn into the legitimisation of policies the terms of which are defined for them rather than by them. This jeopardises the critical contribution which academic research can make to policy change and learning, in particular it precludes a more reflexive approach to 'evidence-based' government. The paper draws upon discourse analysis and the study of 'governmentality' to develop a more reflexive interrogation of the assumptions underpinning this policy-shift in post-Cold War international relations. This is exemplified through an analysis of the two principal competing discourses on the threat of TOC and these are distinguished in terms of their focus on 'criminologies of the other' and 'criminologies of the self'. The former narrates threats to security in terms of external, nationally and ethnically defined, pressures. The later perceive threats more in terms of the internal challenges now facing 'sovereign' governments struggling to command highly diverse, dynamic and complex social-political problems like organised crime. The ways in which these competing discourses constrain and enable alternative policy responses to TOC are examined.
56 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a new three-dimensional, eight-fold typology of Conservatism, that involves behavioural and attitudinal mapping, and demonstrated that between 1992 and 1997 the PCP did display evidence of factionalism.
Abstract: With the emphasis on loyalty and unity and an aversion to ideological disputation the Parliamentary Conservative Party (PCP) has traditionally been described as a party of tendencies, rather than factions. The Cowley and Norton study of the ideological and factional basis of rebellion argues that the 1992–97 PCP adhered to the party of tendencies definition. However, through the development of a new three-dimensional, eight-fold typology of Conservatism, that involves behavioural and attitudinal mapping, it can be demonstrated that between 1992 and 1997 the PCP did display evidence of factionalism.
43 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the rise of the purchasing function of health authorities undermined this ‘gain’ to the medical profession and the significance of the case study—AIDS policy in Scotland—is that profound change has occurred in a policy area in which one would least expect this to happen.
Abstract: Initial evaluations of Thatcherism suggest that it represented a policy formulation success but implementation failure (Marsh and Rhodes 1992), with healthcare reforms particularly unsuccessful because they did not challenge the autonomy of the medical profession (Wistow 1992a and 1992b). More extensive analyses of the implementation of new public management (NPM) within health care take this challenge more seriously. According to Ferlie et al. (1996), doctors were gainers and losers, since the rise of the management function coincided with a rise in medical involvement in management decisions. However, this article argues that the rise of the purchasing function of health authorities undermined this ‘gain’ to the medical profession. Further, the significance of the case study—AIDS policy in Scotland—is that profound change has occurred in a policy area in which one would least expect this to happen.
31 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a broader reflection sheds some light on Berlin's more general political thought, including his account of value pluralism, and its relation to the concept of value plurality.
Abstract: Typically evaluated for the merits or otherwise of his famous account of ‘value pluralism’, Isaiah Berlin's more general political thought is less often discussed. However, broader reflection sheds...
29 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that social democratic governments throughout the 20th century faced internal and international constraints arising from the operation of capitalist economies and that the evide... and argued that these constraints led to the emergence of social democratic regimes.
Abstract: This article argues that social democratic governments throughout the 20th century faced internal and international constraints arising from the operation of capitalist economies and that the evide...
26 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss a body of recent literature that seeks to reunite political theory and international relations theory, and briefly explore some of the factors and expositions.
Abstract: This state of the discipline article discusses a body of recent literature that seeks to reunite political theory and international relations theory. It briefly explores some of the factors and exp...
TL;DR: In this paper, a typology suited to longitudinal analysis of labour movement union-party linkages is proposed to help characterise and explain historical development of these two national movements through earlier types of linkage, into 'New Labour' and 'New Democratic' forms.
Abstract: This article analyses the linkage between trade unions and the US Democratic Party and the UK Labour Party in the twentieth century. A typology suited to longitudinal analysis of labour movement union-party linkages is proposed to help characterise and explain historical development of these two national movements through earlier types of linkage, into ‘New Labour’ and ‘New Democratic’ forms. The paper suggests that, from similar starting points, differences through time in the range of types of linkage in the two movements can be explained by a combination of factors of political economy and electoral strategy, a combination that today points towards weaker relationships.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This article examines how the rather similar approaches to the management of medical care emerged within the public-policy agendas of both the United Kingdom and United States during the 1990s.
TL;DR: In a recent article as discussed by the authors, O'Neill uses Habermas' discourse theory of rights to argue that the conflicts over marches in Drumcree can be resolved rationally in the nationalist residents' favour.
Abstract: In a recent BJPIR article Shane O’Neill uses Habermas’ discourse theory of rights to argue that the conflicts over marches in Drumcree can be resolved rationally in the nationalist residents’ favour. I question this conclusion via a critique of Habermas’ theory. Habermas’ apparently unexceptionable requirement that political outcomes win universal acceptability is bought at the cost of vagueness: it fails to specify how acceptability is secured, or how the requirement itself is derived. So it cannot justify the exceptions to equal civil rights which O’Neill wants, such as exceptions to rights of freedom of expression or movement. Unionists can claim that their position respects Habermas’ universal acceptability requirement. This exposes the limitations of attempts to impose abstract principles such as Habermas’ on real political conflicts. A possible alternative to this is a form of Schmittian decisionism, in which rules either prove indeterminate, or are confronted with exceptional cases that call for executive intervention outside the framework of rules. Sensitivity to political context requires not derogations from rights, but respect for the autonomy of political processes.
TL;DR: Blair's explicit appeal to the past in his references to New Labour's desire to establish a new Bretton Woods is sufficient in itself to arouse some degree of analytical curiosity as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Tony Blair’s political instinct typically is to associate himself only with the future. As such, his explicit appeal to ‘the past’ in his references to New Labour’s desire to establish a “new Bretton Woods” is sufficient in itself to arouse some degree of analytical curiosity (see Blair 1998a). The fact that this appeal was made specifically in relation to Bretton Woods is even more interesting. The resonant image of the international economic context established by the original Bretton Woods agreements invokes a style and content of policy-making which Tony Blair typically dismisses as neither economically nor politically consistent with his preferred vision of the future (see Blair 2000c, 2001b).
TL;DR: This article used data from the British Election Study series since 1974 and qualitative data from interviews with key party personnel to investigate the social and political basis of Liberal support in Britain and found that Liberals tend to be drawn from a similar social background to Conservative supporters, particularly in terms of class, but there has been an increasingly close relationship between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.
Abstract: This article uses data from the British Election Study series since 1974 and qualitative data from interviews with key party personnel to investigate the social and political basis of Liberal support in Britain There are three main sections to the article: the first deals with the social and demographic profile of the Liberal vote, while the second examines the political characteristics of its supporters In the final section these findings are used to assess the Liberal Democrats' electoral strategy at the 2001 General Election and beyond We find that Liberals tend to be drawn from a similar social background to Conservative supporters (particularly in term of class), but politically there has been an increasingly close relationship between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party
TL;DR: The authors argued that the force of Newey's critique is neutralised once one attends to the important differences between Habermas' moral theory and his discourse theory of law and democracy.
Abstract: My critical assessment of competing views on the marching controversy at Drumcree is found wanting by Glen Newey for at least three reasons. The Habermasian approach I adopt is alleged to be motivationally deficient, politically ineffectual and blind to its own decisionistic partiality. Here I indicate that the force of Newey's critique is neutralised once one attends to the important differences between Habermas' moral theory and his discourse theory of law and democracy. I argue, furthermore, that Newey's critique is insufficiently attuned to the institutional context of my argument, and that his line of reasoning has troubling political implications.
TL;DR: A review of the books reviewed in this article can be found in this article, where the authors discuss the British politics and the question of European integration and discuss the history of British-German relations and European integration.
Abstract: Books reviewed in this article:
Baker, David and Seawright, David (eds.) Britain For and Against Europe. British Politics and the Question of European Integration
Buller, Jim National Statecraft and European Integration. The Conservative Government and the European Union, 1979-1997.
Eltis, Walter Britain, Europe and EMU
Ellison, James Threatening Europe. Britain and the Creation of the European Community, 1955-58
Gowland, David and Turner, Arthur Reluctant Europeans. Britain and European Integration 1945-1998
Gowland, David and Turner, Arthur Britain and European Integration 1945-1998. A Documentary History
Larres, Klaus, with Elizabeth Meehan Uneasy Allies.British-German Relations and European Integration since 1945
May, Alex Britain and Europe since 1945
Milfull, John (ed.) Britain in Europe: Prospects for Change
Young, Hugo This Blessed Plot. Britain and Europe from Churchill to Blair
Young, John W. Britain and European Unity 1945-1999
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the decline in Conservative Party representation in local government over the period 1979-97 and explore a number of factors to account for the nature and depth of that decline, including: differential abstention; the desertion of heartland voters; tactical voting at local level; and electoral bias.
Abstract: This article first describes the decline in Conservative Party representation in local government over the period 1979–97. It then explores a number of factors to account for the nature and depth of that decline, including: differential abstention; the desertion of heartland voters; tactical voting at local level; and electoral bias. Clearly, the Conservatives' performance at local elections was worse than might have been expected given the party's overall electoral popularity. It appears that Conservative council candidates largely fell victim to the changing pattern of party competition and the apparent ability of rival parties to target seats more effectively. Furthermore, the impact of these factors was compounded by the operation of biases within the electoral system.
TL;DR: In this paper, the Franco-German Axis in European Integration is discussed. And the authors review the books reviewed in this article:==================\/\/\/\/\/\/£££€££ £ ££ £££/$££$££
Abstract: Books Reviewed in this article:
Alistair Cole, Franco–German Relations
Julius Friend, Unequal Partners: French–German Relations 1989–2000
Gisela Hendriks and Annette Morgan, The Franco–German Axis in European Integration
Douglas Webber (ed.), The Franco–German Relationship in the European Union
TL;DR: In this article, Bartle, J. and Griffiths, D., Political Communications Transformed: From Morrison to Mandelson, political communications transformed: from Morrison toMandelson.
Abstract: Books Reviewed:
Bartle, J. and Griffiths, D., Political Communications Transformed: From Morrison to Mandelson
Gunther, R. and Mughan, A., Democracy and the Media: A Comparative Perspective
Levy, D., Europe’s Digital Revolution: Broadcasting Regulation, the EU and the Nation State
Seaton, J., Politics and the Media: Harlots and Prerogatives at the Turn of the Millennium
Stokes, J. and Reading, A., The Media in Britain: Current Debates and Developments
Street, J., Mass Media, Politics and Democracy
Tumber, H. Media Power, Professionals and Policies
Watts, D. Political Communication Today