scholarly journals Love Thy Neighbourhood—Rethinking the Politics of Scale and Walsall's Struggle for Neighbourhood Democracy

2003 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
National Level ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Production Of Space ◽  
Politics Of Scale ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Moral Space ◽  
Political Narratives ◽  
Neighbourhood Scale

Despite its apparent irrelevance as a scale or space of sociocultural organisation, the neighbourhood is back on the political agenda. At an international level, the neighbourhood—or, more specifically, the ‘global neighbourhood'—is being promoted as a moral space through which to manage the complex economic, political, and ecological problems of the planet. Mirroring this process at a national level, in the United Kingdom the neighbourhood has been rediscovered and now provides the parameters through which a range of antipoverty, welfare, and local democracy programmes are being delivered. In light of its contemporary political popularity, this paper presents a critical reanalysis of the concept of the neighbourhood. In particular, the analysis explores the ideological and political uses of the ideal of neighbourhood, and how these processes relate to a particular ‘politics of scale'. In order to unpack the various politics of scales associated with the neighbourhood, the analysis combines theories of scale with Lefebvre's work on the production of space. Drawing on these theoretical insights and the case of neighbourhood politics in the town of Walsall in the United Kingdom, I explore the political narratives and practices through which the neighbourhood scale is produced and contested, and question the ability of neighbourhoods, as they are currently being constructed in the United Kingdom, to offer locally empowering scales of political and social organisation.

scholarly journals Putting Surveillance on the Political Agenda – A Short Defence of Surveillance, Citizens and the State

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-413
Author(s):  
Charles D. Raab ◽  
Benjamin J. Goold
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
House Of Lords

In February 2009 the House of Lords Constitutional Committee in the United Kingdom published the report Surveillance: Citizens and the State. Some have hailed this as a landmark document. Volume 6(3) of Surveillance & Society published 4 invited responses to this report written by prominent scholars. In the contribution below the two Specialist Advisers to this committee set the context for the report and provide a brief rejoinder to the four responses.

Towards the People's Network

2011 ◽  
pp. 125-147
Author(s):  
Helen Baigent ◽  
Chris Moore
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Network ◽  
The Road ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Global Information Society ◽  
Library Network

This chapter explores Web-based public library networking developments within the context of the United Kingdom. The political context in recent years has led to plans to deliver a national Public Library Network, promising innovative new services to combat social exclusion and facilitate lifelong learning. The road to realizing the vision of a People’s Network is still far from a reality and many of the issues currently facing the sector demand enormous amounts of coordination and cooperation in order to ensure that public libraries remain at the heart of the political agenda. It is suggested that the work of the EARL Consortium, its achievements and approach to library networking present an important model to shape the roll-out of the national network. Once delivered, the United Kingdom will arguably hold a place amongst the world leaders in the global information society.

Britain and Ireland

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Avis
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
Ecumenical Movement ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Republic

This chapter begins by noting the contribution of British ecumenists to the ecumenical movement and then proceeds to survey the ecumenical scene in Britain and Ireland against the political and constitutional background of the United Kingdom—comprising England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—and the separate jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland. It notes the favourable ecumenical climate in England and Wales and goes on to outline local ecumenical relationships, including Local Ecumenical Partnerships, the ecumenical instruments for each nation and for all four, and various forms of cooperation at the national level. The chapter then turns to examples of theological dialogue, proposals for closer unity, and the problems of their reception and implementation, with a particular focus on the Anglican-Methodist Covenant.

Early Childhood: Too Important to Get it Wrong

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Ian Barron ◽  
Carol Calcutt
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
New Construction ◽  
Appropriate Education ◽  
And Training

Early years issues are high on the political agenda. Recent months have seen a growing awareness that the United Kingdom faces considerable challenges in ensuring that it has sufficient early years workers with appropriate education and training if it is to meet the planned targets for expansion of early childhood provision. Yet many questions still remain in relation to how the country views its children, the values of the education and care that the country provides, and the type and level of qualifications and training that are considered appropriate for early years workers. This paper explores these issues in some detail and closes with a call for attention to a new construction of childhood and a reconsideration of the qualifications and training deemed necessary for early years workers.

scholarly journals Are public service media distinctive from the market? Interpreting the political information environments of BBC and commercial news in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312110121
Author(s):  
Stephen Cushion
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Television News ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Political Information ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
International Issues ◽  
Market Driven

Public service media face an existential crisis. Many governments are cutting their budgets, while questioning the role and value of public service broadcasting because many citizens now have access to a wide range of media. This raises the question – do public service media supply a distinctive and informative news service compared to market-led media? Drawing on the concept of political information environment, this study makes an intervention into debates by carrying out a comparative content analysis of news produced by UK public service broadcasters and market-driven media across television, radio and online outlets (N = 1065) and interviewing senior editors about the routine selection of news. It found that almost all BBC news and commercial public service media platforms reported more news about politics, public affairs and international issues than entirely market-driven outlets. Online BBC news reported more informative topics than market-based media, which featured more entertainment and celebrity stories. The value of public service media was demonstrated on the United Kingdom’s nightly television news bulletins, which shone a light on the world not often reported, especially BBC News at Ten. Most market-driven media reported through a UK prism, excluding many countries and international issues. Overall, it is argued that the influence of public service media in the United Kingdom helps shape an information environment with informative news. The focus of the study is on UK media, but the conceptual application of intepreting a political information environment is designed to be relevant for scholars internationally. While communication studies have sought to advance more cross-national studies in recent years, this can limit how relevant studies are for debates in national political information environments. This study concludes by recommending more scholarly attention should be paid to theorising national policy dynamics that shape the political information environments of media systems within nations.

scholarly journals What does it Mean to be a Man? Trans Masculinities, Bodily Practices, and Reflexive Embodiment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1097184X2110085
Author(s):  
Sofia Aboim ◽  
Pedro Vasconcelos
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Reflexive Practice ◽  
Bodily Experiences ◽  
To Come

Confronted with the centrality of the body for trans-masculine individuals interviewed in the United Kingdom and Portugal, we explore how bodily-reflexive practices are central for doing masculinity. Following Connell’s early insight that bodies needed to come back to the political and sociological agendas, we propose that bodily-reflexive practice is a concept suited to account for the production of trans-masculinities. Although multiple, the journeys of trans-masculine individuals demonstrate how bodily experiences shape and redefine masculinities in ways that illuminate the nexus between bodies, embodiments, and discursive enactments of masculinity. Rather than oppositions between bodily conformity to and transgression of the norms of hegemonic masculinity, often encountered in idealizations of the medicalized transsexual against the genderqueer rebel, lived bodily experiences shape masculinities beyond linear oppositions. Tensions between natural and technological, material and discursive, or feminine and masculine were keys for understanding trans-masculine narratives about the body, embodiment, and identity.

THE CONFRONTATION OF THE PARTIES TO THE SEPARATIST CONFLICT BY MEANS OF «SOFT POWER» (ON THE EXAMPLE OF CATALONIA AND SCOTLAND)

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 119-132
Author(s):  
E.A. TYURIN ◽  
◽  
E.N. SAVINOVA ◽  
О.V. PEREVERZEVA ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
National Level ◽  
Power Characteristic ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Legal Grounds

The article attempts to apply the concept of «soft power», characteristic of international relations, to analyze the struggle of participants in separatist conflicts at the national level. The purpose of the study is to consider the «soft power» resources and tools of each of the parties to the conflict between Catalonia and Spain and the conflict between Scotland and the United Kingdom. The main research methods are general logical, institutional and comparative. It is concluded that in the countries under consideration, in the conditions of the manifestation of separatism, the «soft power» has obvious socio-cultural, political, institutional and legal grounds. According to the authors, despite the specifics of the «soft power» confrontation, in each of the cases considered, culture in its various manifestations, image strategies of the parties to the conflict, as well as the institution of the monarchy are crucial.

scholarly journals The Application of the Constitutional Convention in Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Nazri Muslim ◽  
Osman Md Rasip ◽  
Khairul Hamimah Mohammad Jodi ◽  
Abdullah Ibrahim ◽  
Otong Rosadi
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Ethics ◽  
Constitutional Convention ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
The Social

In Malaysia, there is no one institution that can outdo the supremacy of the Federal Constitution. Even the three government bodies that refer to the power separation doctrine which is the legislative, judiciary and executive bodies even the Yang di-Pertuan Agong are under this Federal Constitution. The constitution can be divided into two, written and non-written constitution. The written constitution is the form of constitution that is gathered and arranged in one document. The non-written counterpart encompasses all of the constitutional principles not compiled in one document such as the law endorsed by the Parliament and the verdicts of the court such as in the United Kingdom. Other than the constitution, there are certain practices that are thought to be part of the principles of the constitution. This is known as the Constitutional Convention or the customary practice of the Constitution. Constitutional convention is a non-legislative practice and it is similar to the political ethics and not enforced in court. Although it seems trivial, it is important for this practice to be complied with, otherwise it is difficult for the constitution to work successfully as the constitutional convention cannot be brought to court and forced to be obeyed. Thus, the discussion of this article rests on the constitutional convention in terms of the social contract, the appointment of the Prime Minister, the appointment of the country’s main positions and collective responsibility.

Why is Secession Difficult in Well-Established Democracies? Lessons from Quebec

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Dion
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Magic Number ◽  
The Political ◽  
Central Authority ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Established Democracies

Secession, defined as ‘formal withdrawal from a central authority by a member unit’, has been particularly rare in democracies. In fact, there has never been a single case of secession in democracies if we consider only the well-established ones, that is, those with at least ten consecutive years of universal suffrage. The cases most often mentioned happened only a few years after the introduction or significant expansion of universal suffrage: Norway and Sweden in 1905, Iceland and Denmark in 1918, Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1922. What is more, one would hesitate before calling the first two cases real secessions, since the ties between the political entities involved were very loose at the outset. Secessionists never managed to split a well-established democracy through a referendum or an electoral victory. We must conclude that it is very hard for them to achieve and maintain the magic number of 50 per cent support. My aim is to explain why this is the case.

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