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This article draws on the newly available private papers of Brendan Duddy, the key intermediary in contacts between the British government and the IRA between the early 1970s and the early 1990s when the IRA moved towards a permanent ceasefire and a negotiated settlement of the conflict. It draws too on extensive interviews with Duddy and other key participants in these contacts, and on newly available documents from the UK National Archives to identify some of the key dimensions to the role of intermediary in back-channel communication. It argues that these sources help us to better understand the complexity and ambiguity of the role of intermediary in sensitive covert negotiations, as well as shedding light on the extent to which an intermediary shapes communication between two parties rather than simply acting as a channel between them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents bibliographical indexes of the National Register of Archives which the British Historical Manuscripts Commission maintains as the central point for collecting and disseminating information about the location of manuscript sources relating to British politics.

A list of accessions given to the British National Archives in 2009 is presented, including minutes and policy papers of the Avon Liberal Party between 1977-1995, minutes and notes of the Exeter Labour Party between 1963-1968, and the correspondence of the British communist figure Bill Moore between 1916-1999.

Social and environmental justice across generations is a fundamental attribute of sustainable development. In this article, which is also a call for papers for a future theme in Public Money & Management (PMM), we develop our case for further research on how governments and public service organizations seek to address sustainable development in their decision-making processes. We believe that accounting for social and environmental aspects is an underdeveloped area of research and practice that is worthy of further critical enquiry. We therefore call on researchers and practitioners to submit their research to a themed issue of PMM on managing and accounting for sustainable development in public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the issues raised by the White Paper concerning English regions. Commitment to English regionalization; Expected strengthening and democratization of regional institutions; Direct election of regional assemblies; Modification of existing arrangements; Procedural difficulties.

This article presents a list of major accessions to repositories in 2004 relating to British politics. They include the Bristol Record Office, Bury Archives Service, Cambridgeshire County Record Office, City of Westminster Archives Center, and Cumbria Record Office and Local Studies Library.

Analyzes responses of Great Britain to the European Union (EU) White Paper. View of Great Britain on governance; Support of Great Britain for a code of conduct on consultation; Responses from EU governance actors.

This paper aims to clarify the dynamic interplay between immigration and nationality legislation and policymaking in post-imperial and pre-Brexit Britain. In 1981 and 2002, the years on which this paper focuses, three pieces of legislation were enacted marking watershed moments for British policy regarding immigration and nationality. The British Nationality Act of 1981 established 'British citizenship' in the statute book. The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act of 2002 claimed to introduce new meaning and value to the acquisition of British citizenship by introducing a citizenship test and pledge. Furthermore, the British Overseas Territories Act of 2002 expanded the geographic scope of British citizenship by, in theory, providing citizenship to all those eligible in the existing dependent territories. Debates on the meaning of Britishness and the political projects linking immigration and nationality legislation to it, continue today in government, academia, and the media, all of whom are competing to have a tangible impact on policy. This paper addresses two questions. First, how can we account for the protracted nature of the debate on Britishness, and government efforts to enact immigration and nationality legislation based upon it? Second, if the meaning of Britishness has evolved over time, how has it been shaped by the course of these ongoing political debates? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article re-examines the relationship between the Daily Mirror and popular politics in Britain during the Second World War. It outlines how traditional journalistic and academic analyses have located the period as a high-point of 20th-century radical journalism and political participation in Britain, usually in opposition to a depoliticised and disengaged contemporary news environment. It then re-assesses the Mirror's place in popular culture during this period to suggest an alternative and more complex interpretation of a paper's relationship with popular politics, political disengagement and participation. This differs from both traditional, largely positive accounts of the Mirror's relationship with political engagement and revisionist histories that emphasise its negative relationship with wartime "apathy". It explores firstly the predominantly negative role the paper played in the political mobilisation of a disengaged electorate, both in terms of its continued prioritisation of entertainment over "hard news" and its pioneering of new styles of negative and mediated political coverage. Yet it also examines how the paper's coverage advanced a new, more youth-based, consensual and cross-party alternative for an electorate that was politically disengaged but far from apathetic. This more complex interpretation of the paper's relationship with popular politics and political disengagement parallels current developments and debates around these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Levelling up' – a policy agenda focused on reducing regional inequalities – has become the new mantra in British politics. This paper critiques the policy programme from its emergence in 2019 to the publication of the 2022 levelling up White Paper. While it is a welcome recognition of gross regional inequality, local institutions lack capacity to deliver, there has been little genuine devolution and our analysis shows that little new funding has been committed. 'Levelling up' could simply become the latest in a list of politically useful but empty slogans which are used as a substitute for resources and devolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical far-right organisations have long proved pervasive, but are rarely interpreted as competitive political parties. While these minority parties and movements never secured significant representation, they influenced municipal and constituency political activity. Focusing on the 'textile belt' of Eastern Lancashire and West Yorkshire, this article seeks to understand how far-right organisations engaged in local electoral politics. It considers the influence of regional economic changes, caused by industrial realignment, and how opponents, primarily local Labour parties, interpreted post-war fascism and the concerns it engendered. The article then examines the growing influence of Labour's anti-fascist campaigns, the popular appeal of far-right politics, and the composition of such group's memberships. As far-right institutional archives are limited, the article uses material produced by predominant local Labour parties. Alongside providing new perspectives, it encourages scholars to interpret far-right organisations as electoral actors, rather than mere cultural and political pariahs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of newspapers in nineteenth-century British politics has long been recognized by historians. Lord Palmerston understood keenly the power of the press and cultivated good relations with a number of papers. This article will elucidate more thoroughly than heretofore his early forays into the world of press intrigue. Palmerston did not, however, earn the regard of The Times, at least not until much later in his career. The Times, edited by Thomas Barnes from 1817 until his death in 1841, was the most powerful newspaper of the era. This article will examine the origins of its long-running feud with Palmerston, demonstrating the personal and political differences at the heart of its inception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Government has recently published a consultation paper on potential law reform for failing investment banks. The paper was prompted by the failure of Lehman Brothers and its repercussions. This article reviews the paper and highlights some of the key issues emerging which may form the focus of future law reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the current state of press partisanship in the UK. Utilizing content analysis data from the 2005 General Election campaign, recent hypotheses about press dealignment are tested with quantitative methods. Partisan tendencies in reporting are measured in terms of coverage bias, statement bias, and agenda bias. As the governing party, Labour benefits from coverage bias in all papers, while the Liberal Democrats remain marginalized. It can be shown that increasingly ambiguous endorsements in broadsheet and tabloid press alike translate into a general absence of open support for political parties. At best, endorsed parties receive neutral treatment, with their opponents being harshly criticized. Partisan tendencies do, however, manifest themselves in other patterns of campaign coverage. Even weakly partisan papers engage in strategic behaviour, most notably by reinforcing the issue agendas of endorsed parties. With both the Independent and the Guardian lending strategic support to the Liberal Democrats, and the Murdoch press being largely non‐committal, the analysis hints at an erosion of support for New Labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how the British Labour Party's leadership opposed and then reluctantly welcomed the takeover in 1984 of the "Daily Mirror" newspaper and its sister papers by Robert Maxwell. It considers the significance of this decision by detailing the history of the Mirror's ownership and the particular importance of the paper not having a single proprietor for 50 years. It briefly outlines the position of Neil Kinnock and Labour on journalistic autonomy in the press prior to the Maxwell takeover. By outlining evidence from Neil Kinnock's private papers, it details the secret negotiations held between Kinnock and the Mirror staff in their bid to oppose Maxwell. It also considers how Maxwell intervened and why Kinnock had limited choice but to welcome this "monster," in order to maintain newspaper support for the Labour Party.

This paper seeks to extend work previously published that points to the importance of rhetorical analysis to policy studies. It argues against the notion that policy can be dismissed as 'spin' and explores further the work of rhetoric within the UK government's policy texts of lifelong learning. For the authors, rhetorical analysis helps to point to the politics of discourse that is at play in policy-making processes. This paper points to some of the conceptual resources upon which one can draw in undertaking rhetorical deconstructions of policy texts and discourses, in this case, of lifelong learning, and one's own role, as analysts and sultans of spin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents debate on the involvement of the government in the decision-making of philanthropic foundations in Great Britain. Topics discussed include the total impact of the government in decision making, effective philanthropy, government transparency, government investments, and proxy interventions.

This paper examines the continuity and changes in Clarke’s ideas about the State and community in education, especially in relation to a rapidly changing political situation in England in the 1930s and 1940s. His ideas evolved in the intellectual context of British idealism. Moreover, in response to the threat to democracy arising from Fascism or Totalitarianism, the distinction between the State and community was a key theme in Clarke’s ideals of liberal democracy. Additionally, this paper also proposes the implications of Clarke’s ideas for future educational development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the decades since the Conference on Devolution's proceedings concluded in stalemate in April 1920, the Conference has been consigned to the margins of political and constitutional history. However, within this limited literature, one interpretation of the Conference's proceedings has been universally held: that the subject of the powers the devolved legislatures should enjoy was a rare source of consensus. This article challenges this orthodoxy, using archival evidence from the Conference to demonstrate that while a consensus on powers may have existed on paper, such agreement certainly did not exist in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article critically analyses the development of the thought underpinning Conservative policy towards trade unions and, in particular towards the regulation of trade union internal affairs. It goes on to suggest that Conservative policies were influenced by a broad New Right ideology, ‘academic’ thinking on the internal structures of trade unions and debates within the Conservative Party, especially after Mrs Thatcher's election. More specifically, the paper explores the degree to which neo liberal ideology and ‘academic’ thinking on trade union accountability had an influence on ‘practical’ policies and the use politicians made of ideas in policy. The paper also highlights the key role played by Sir Keith Joseph in the development of Conservative Party policy on trade unions during the period 1975–1979. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper establishes and explains the important role of the Conservative Government of 1959–1964 in supporting the raising of the school leaving age in Britain from the age of 15 to 16. This was a significant and high-profile national issue that generated much educational, social and political debate around conflicting priorities during this period, and was emphasized in both the Crowther Report of 1959 and the Newsom Report of 1963. The Treasury was strongly opposed to the proposal due to its high financial cost. There was a large element of electoral opportunism involved in the Conservative Government’s approval of raising the school leaving age (ROSLA), announced in January 1964, but it also highlighted deeper complexities and reservations in Conservative attitudes to ROSLA as well as a long-term ambition to consolidate education as a Conservative issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, Solomos provides an account of the impact of Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech on policy agendas about race relations and immigration. He argues that Powell's intervention helped to shape policy frames around race and immigration in its immediate aftermath and beyond. By exploring the impact of the speech on the policy climate, his paper argues that perhaps the most important aspect of the speech is the way it helped to shape the policy agendas of both the Conservative and Labour parties, even as Powell himself was marginalized from mainstream politics. He concludes by suggesting that Powell's intervention links up with contemporary debates and preoccupations about race and immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green space, although an important aspect of urban life in England since the 19th century, experienced declining quality throughout the late 20th century. The election of the New Labour Government in 1997 saw the development of a new urban policy discourse, which recognized the important contribution of green space to quality of life. This paper examines New Labour's policy measures on urban green space and focuses on the Urban White Paper of 2000, new funding opportunities, planning guidance, changing urban green space governance and the introduction of national and local performance targets. Additionally, it identifies four broad policy discourses surrounding urban green space that reflect different but overlapping understandings of the value and function of urban green space relating to quantity, quality, nature/biodiversity and social/community. The paper concludes that there is a need for further research to examine the implications of changes in the national policy agenda and associated policy discourses for the planning, management and governance of urban green space at the local level. This will also enable a more in-depth analysis and understanding of the four policy discourses identified and provide a platform from which to assess future changes in green space policy and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a view of a changing landscape of both society and politics. First of all it will briefly situate current practices and methods of political engagement and representation within a recent historical framework. It will describe factors that are at work in relation to politics, the media and civil society and then situate these within a broader societal shift from citizen to consumer. Following this the paper will identify some key shifts in this modus operandi that hint at a return to more civic-focused responsibility, the emergence of issues-based politics and the role that digital media have played in this. Finally, the paper will describe how citizen-driven, issues-based politics might connect with the systems of power in a more effective and democratic way by harnessing digital media and by building on local skills, knowledge and ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the thesis of the agenda setting function, both the media and the political parties influence what people think about, if not what they think. Newspaper and television editors make judgements of news priorities, the judgements of one editor influence the views of another, and the result is a media consensus that affects the public's sense of the importance of various issues. Parties' formulation of preferences and priorities through their manifestos aims at promoting each party's proprietary issues and downgrading other issues; this clearly turns the electorate's attention to specific topics. This paper explores the extent to which voters, political parties, and media in Britain share the same issue concerns and reveals which of the two--parties or media--is better at influencing what the public is talking about. Content analyses of party manifestos and press coverage of the 2001 election campaign identify the issues most strongly emphasized by the parties and the press, respectively. Analysis of survey data from the British Election Study 2001/2002 identifies the issues voters are mostly concerned with and enables public opinion's issue concerns to be related to both party manifestos and the press coverage of the campaign. The paper also tests whether the political priorities of British parties are adopted by their own supporters, it explores the extent to which voters are concerned with issues that are not emphasized by the party they vote for, and finally, it explores which party's issues dominated the public agenda in 2001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of city leadership in the current multilevel governance settings and provides a conceptual framework for understanding the main elements of city leadership. Forms of political, managerial and civic leadership have been distinguished within city leadership and the main actors, structures, processes and followership patterns are examined using Italy and the UK as starting points of comparison. This comparative framework sheds a light on some common and different features in the city leadership patterns in Italy and the UK, such as the cross-cutting and multilayered administrative context for public service delivery; the common trend towards strengthening the executive side of political leadership rather than the representative one; the growing relevance of forms of civic leadership as a trigger for creating public and social value and for enhancing the resilience of the territories. Main differences deal instead with the role of central government in defining the role of city leaders, where Italy seems to experience a return towards greater centralization and controls, and the UK is experiencing an opposite trend towards the empowerment of local communities. Finally, the paper sets out some future directions for the research agenda on city leadership we are seeking to pursue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The political cartoon became a settled part of the British daily press early in the twentieth century. The cartoon is an editorial in pictures, working with a traditional armoury of images and often including caricature and humour. Cartoonists typically enjoy high status and long tenure. Using the resources of the University of Kent Cartoon Centre database, this article analyses the depiction of party leaders in the 1997 general election and categorises the dominant images employed. The future of this cartoon tradition is explored in the light of changes in the size and design of newspapers and the development of television. Increasingly cartoonists thrive in the broadsheet papers more than the tabloids. The impact of a changing political culture is illustrated by Steve Bell's underpants motif in cartoons of John Major, and by tracing the growth of uninhibited cartoon treatment of royalty. The cartoon's unique ability to convey the unsayable through graphic images ensures that it will continue to flourish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for a more sustained consideration of how fandom – as both a set of practices and topic of political conversation – underpins a broader "celebritization" of politics and public life. It analyses, via a Twitter-based qualitative content analysis, the ways in which fandom is expressed and spoken about in relation to three contrasting politicians from the UK, namely Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Jeremy Corbyn. While the precise dynamics of fandom vary depending on the politician in question, our analysis identifies a more general tendency whereby overtly fannish discourses and practices co-exist with expressions of unease or hostility toward the figure of "the fan." This in turn reflects longstanding cultural representations of the figure of the fan as improper and excessive, particularly in the context of democratic politics. These contradictory responses to fandom in politics are crucial to understanding the ambivalent character of the celebritization of politics more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2010 the UK government has undertaken extensive spending cuts which have manifested in significant reductions in welfare, local authority and justice system spending. The cuts have been linked with rising poverty, food bank use and serious health issues. Such extreme cuts are likely to affect how citizens view and interact with government. This paper argues that the theories of civic voluntarism, grievance and policy feedback in combination explain why austerity has provoked relatively little political participation in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to the symposium sets out the context for local government in the United Kingdom at the current time. It outlines the scale of the reductions in funding since 2010, showing how uneven these cuts have been across the country and the reasons for this. It also describes the increased exposure to risk of both local government and of the citizens and communities it serves. The central question for the papers which follow is how local government is responding to these twin challenges. The papers provide insights from a number of detailed studies of individual authorities, exploring the strategies adopted to manage in response. The analyses focus on the distributive consequences for individuals and communities, but they also reflect on the wider consequences for local government itself. A particular concern is whether local responses are changing as austerity moves from its initial to its later phase. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the historical formation of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in the United States and argues that programme emergence depended on the ability of policy entrepreneurs to link the economic concerns of agricultural production with the ideational concern of national security. Using a historical institutionalist framework this paper stresses the critical juncture of the Second World War and the positive feedback loop created between agricultural industries and schools to understand the emergence of the NSLP. In addition, it stresses the role of frames in policy-making and focuses on the use by policy entrepreneurs of a security frame whereby child malnutrition was cast as a national security issue. The policy window of war gave policy entrepreneurs the chance to use the politically and culturally resonant frame of security, in the contexts of agricultural subsidies, to push for the creation of this programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about Marxist political economy and Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) as a field of inquiry. It begins with a discussion of the traditional role of Marxist political economy in CDS, arguing that for the most part it has been limited and partial. It then considers an example of a serious attempt to carry out a Marxist political economy analysis of discourse in society - Claudia Ortu’s [2008. The denial of class struggle by British Governments in their anti-union discourse (1978-2007). Critical Discourse Studies, 5, 289-301] analysis of the denial of class struggle and anti-union discourse in Britain in the period 1978-2007. This leads to a discussion of the author's recent research on material and discursive class warfare in contemporary Spain, focussing specifically on conflicts arising between a right-wing government defending the interests of the banks and elites and a grass-roots organisation defending the interests of the popular classes, in particular those who either have lost, or are in danger of losing, their homes due to mortgage default. The paper ends with some thoughts on the future of CDS, with or without a clear Marxist political economy base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the devolution of power to subnational regional authorities has formed a key element of what has been termed the 'unravelling' or 'unbundling' of the state in many parts of the world. Even in the United Kingdom, with its distinctive global reputation as a power-hoarding majoritarian democracy, the devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1998 can be located within this broader devolutionary dynamic. In recent years, this process has focused on 'the English question' and a reform agenda that claimed to offer a 'devolution revolution'. This paper offers the first research-led analysis of the scope, scale and implications of these post-2015 reforms to English governance. It utilizes Jim Bulpitt's statecraft approach to explore the changing nature of centre-periphery relationships within England. The main conclusion has been that a 'rhetoric-reality gap' currently exists and a 'devolution revolution' has not occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with current moves toward sub-national devolution in England and the prospects for a federal government system within the United Kingdom as a whole. The initial focus of the paper is upon the contested nature and governance of regions in England. Current steps toward devolution to such regions are considered through a critical lens, before moving to a wider discussion of the theory and practice of federalism and of whether England could be part of a federal system of UK government. It is concluded that the devolution agenda may proceed in a more serious and consistent manner than at present but there are severe barriers to federalism, including major constitutional constraints, the lack of a written constitution, significant asymmetry between different nations of the UK, the lack of clarity about the definition of sub-national English regions and the lack of political will. These all render a true UK federal state impossible to envisage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by a desire to improve academic outcomes and transform ‘failing’ schools, governments around the world have often turned to the development of new forms of state-funded school. This paper looks at three such instances of the introduction of new forms of schooling, within three urban localities (academy schools in London; charter schools and small schools of choice in New York City; and Schools of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro). It considers the extent to which these types of school did improve academic outcomes for their students and draws comparisons across each case study in order to understand their similarities and differences. It concludes that although the quasi-marketisation of school systems through the introduction of new (often private) providers might improve outcomes, this is not the only means by which improvement can be attained; and that instead the introduction of new forms of school may be successful because this enables certain other changes to happen. It highlights the limited nature of impact evidence available in all instances, which restricts our ability to properly evaluate the effect of new school types on outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is the second of two linked papers that focus on the work of the Royal Fine Art Commission (RFAC), which for three quarters of a century held the mantel of the UK Government's advisor on design in the built environment. This paper tells the story of the organization's final 15 years when, under a new and charismatic leader, the Commission substantially changed its modus operandi, and came out of the shadows, although without ever fully embracing the modern era of government. Analysis of the archives are supplemented by what the limited available literature tells us about the RFAC and by a small number of interviews with key stakeholders with firsthand experience of the operation of the RFAC; those who either worked for it, were responsible for it within Government, or were reviewed by it. The experience offers valuable insights into the practices and problematics of design governance that today, internationally, forms one of the keystones of modern day planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city region devolution deals have ushered Directly Elected Mayors (DEMs) to the front and centre of the political and governance landscape within English metropolitan regions in the UK. DEMs are invested with high expectations to deliver a range of beneficial urban outcomes. Yet, there is little empirical evidence on the how such Mayoral leadership might act differently to other types of civic leadership to bring about these outcomes. This paper through the deployment of an innovative methodology, a diary analysis, examines how different this leadership model is when compared to its immediate predecessor; the council leader. It finds that the new Mayoral role is less about ‘city management’ and more about ‘city representation’ particularly on the national and international political stage. The paper concludes that this has implications for resourcing this particular leadership model and for the wider research agenda into political and executive leadership of our cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs about the media's neglect of the Windrush scandal, focusing on the reasons for the lack of follow-up by other media outlets, and explores the relationship between the political and media classes, the concept of "worthy victims" in the media.

The article focuses on the debate on the White Paper, "The New NHS--Modern--Dependable" which bears the hallmarks of pragmatism which have characterized many of the Labour Government's initiatives in Great Britain. The National Health Service (NHS) presented Prime Minister Tony Blair's government with a considerable challenge. Labour in opposition had opposed the Conservative Government's health reforms and continued to campaign against bureaucracy and yet some aspects of the reforms seemed to work. Labour had opposed GP fundholding because it seemed to increase inequity, and yet fundholding had been adopted by many doctors and more than half of the population were served by fundholding practices. Labour had promised improvements in the NHS and yet had accepted tough public spending limits. The White Paper seems to have steered the new Government through the first and second of the challenges, the third will only be addressed if the NHS is a clear winner in the Comprehensive Spending Review. The dilemma of the Conservative health reforms is tackled head on by declaring that what counts is what works. The White Paper retains many of the key features of the previous Government's reforms.

An upsurge of historical research in this century has assessed various campaigns that promoted European Community (EC) membership to the British people. This article, concentrating on the Labour government’s approach to the 1975 referendum on the EC, uses sources such as official records at The National Archives and political papers of some of the key agents; these sources have hitherto been underused for investigating public opinion-related activities on Europe in 1975. Although acknowledging that the interpretation of a government-controlled referendum applies up to a point, the article emphasises, as its key theme, the government’s difficulties in controlling events during the campaign itself. Despite having much support from newspapers, the government often had difficult relations with the mass media as a whole, and the article challenges the belief that it was effective here. This article also contests the idea that the campaign made much impression on the public. These findings further apply to other campaigns on the EC in the 1960s and 1970s and potentially in contemporary British politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deliberative systems have been proposed as a way of conceiving the complexity of real-world policymaking in deliberative terms. However, there is a concern that in doing so they blunt the critical edge of deliberative ideals. This paper advances an alternative concept – the ‘network’ of deliberative exchanges – that can encompass real-world complexity without sacrificing deliberation’s normative bite. It sets out the components of a network approach, making clear how these are grounded in deliberative principle. It then shows how the network model can apply to actual policy processes, with an extended case study – a critique of the key stages in the Thatcher government’s decision to adopt a poll tax in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Painter J. Regional biopolitics,Regional Studies. This paper seeks to bring ideas about biopolitics and its associated political technologies to bear on the variety of regional geographies that affect the practices of governing populations today. After outlining some of the ways in which populations and their characteristics feature as matters of governmental concern, the paper then briefly summarizes Michel Foucault's account of biopolitics and its association with the formation of national population and nation-states. While there are good reasons why discussions of biopolitics have tended to emphasize the national scale, a full account of biopolitical practices would also attend to the complex spatialities of populations and government. Drawing on Stephen Legg's scalar account of the relationship between population, biopolitics and government, the paper considers the tentative emergence of what might be termed regional biopolitics in contemporary Europe. Recent changes in workforce skills policy in the United Kingdom provide a case study to examine how a typical biopolitical concern (the skill levels of the population) relates to the rise and subsequent fall of regional governance in England. Painter J. 区域生态政治学. 区域研究. 本文寻求引入生态政治学思想及相关的政治技术，来影响对当今人口管治实践产生着影响的一系列区域地理研究。本文首先罗列人口及其特征成为政府关注的事情的一些途径，而后简要总结米歇尔·福柯对生态政治学的分析及其与国家人口和民族国家形成的关系。尽管生态政治学倾向于强调国家尺度有充分的理由，但对生态政治实践的详尽讨论也要考虑到人口和政府的复杂空间性。基于斯蒂芬·莱格对于人口、生态政治和国家之间关系的尺度分析，本文探讨在当今欧洲正在出现的、或许可以称之为区域生态政治学的东西。最后，使用最近英国劳动力技能政策变化这个案例，来揭示典型的生态政治学关注（人口的技能水平）如何与英国区域管治的起落相关。 生态政治学 劳动力市场 人口 区域管治 尺度 技能 Painter J. La biopolitique régionale,Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à faire peser des questions à l'égard de la biopolitique et des technologies politiques connexes sur la diversité des géographies régionales qui influent aujourd'hui sur la gouvernance. Une fois esquissé quelques-unes des façons dont les populations et leurs traits figurent en tant que questions qui préoccupent l'administration, l'article résume brièvement le compte-rendu de Michel Foucault au sujet de la biopolitique et de son lien avec l'établissement des populations nationales et des États-nations. Alors qu'il y a de bonnes raisons pourquoi des discussions sur la biopolitique ont eu tendance à focaliser l'échelle nationale, un compte-rendu détaillé des pratiques biopolitiques aborderait aussi les spatialités des populations et de l'administration. Puisant dans le compte-rendu scalaire de Stephen Legg à propos du rapport entre les populations, la biopolitique et l'administration, cet article aborde les premiers pas vers la biopolitique régionale dans l'Europe contemporaine. Au Royaume-Uni, des modifications apportées récemment à la politique en faveur des compétences professionnelles fournissent une étude de cas pour examiner comment une question biopolitique type (les niveaux de compétences de la population) se rapporte à l'essor et au déclin de la gouvernance en Angleterre. Biopolitique Marché du travail Population Gouvernance régionale Échelle Compétences Painter J. Regionale Biopolitik,Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag werden Ideen über Biopolitik und die zugehörigen politischen Technologien im Zusammenhang mit den verschiedenartigen regionalen Geografien, die sich heute auf die Praktiken beim Regieren von Bevölkerungen auswirken, vorgestellt. Nach Beschreibung einiger Beispiele dafür, auf welche Weise Bevölkerungen und ihre Merkmale für Regierungen von Interesse sind, wird Michel Foucaults Beschreibung der Biopolitik und ihrer Verknüpfung mit der Bildung von nationalen Bevölkerungen und Nationalstaaten kurz zusammengefasst. Obwohl es gute Gründe dafür gibt, dass bei einer Erörterung der Biopolitik in der Regel der nationale Maßstab betont wird, würde eine vollständige Aufstellung der biopolitischen Praktiken auch den komplexen Räumlichkeiten von Bevölkerungen und Regierungen Rechnung tragen. Ausgehend von Stephen Leggs skalarer Darstellung der Beziehung zwischen Bevölkerung, Biopolitik und Regierung wird in diesem Beitrag das zögerliche Entstehen einer Entwicklung untersucht, die sich als regionale Biopolitik im modernen Europa bezeichnen ließe. Die jüngsten Änderungen bei der britischen Politik zur Weiterbildung von Arbeitskräften bieten eine Fallstudie zur Untersuchung der Frage, wie ein typisch biopolitischer Aspekt (der Ausbildungsstand der Bevölkerung) mit dem Aufstieg und anschließenden Niedergang der regionalen Regierungsführung in England zusammenhängt. Biopolitik Arbeitsmarkt Bevölkerung Regionale Regierungsführung Maßstab Qualifikationen Painter J. Biopolítica regional,Regional Studies. El objetivo de este artículo es aportar ideas sobre la biopolítica y sus tecnologías políticas relacionadas que aborden las diferentes geografías regionales que afectan a las prácticas de gobierno de la población de hoy día. Tras explicar algunos de las maneras en las que las poblaciones y sus características representan un interés para el Gobierno, en este artículo resumimos brevemente el relato de Michel Foucault sobre la biopolítica y su relación con la formación de poblaciones y estados nacionales. Aunque existen buenas razones para explicar por qué en los debates se suele hacer hincapié en la biopolítica a escala nacional, un relato completo de las prácticas biopolíticas también serviría para tener en cuenta las espacialidades complejas de poblaciones y gobierno. Basándonos en la descripción escalar de Stephen Legg de la relación entre población, biopolítica y gobierno, en este artículo consideramos la paulatina aparición de lo que podríamos llamar biopolítica regional en la Europa actual. Los recientes cambios en la política británica sobre las cualificaciones de la mano de obra sirven de estudio de caso para examinar de qué modo un problema típico de biopolítica (los niveles de capacitación de la población) se relaciona con el aumento y la posterior caída del gobierno regional en Inglaterra. Biopolítica Mercado de trabajo Población Gobierno regional Escala Habilidades [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the emergence of schools ‘micro-computing’ in the UK between 1977 and 1984 – a period of significant educational, technological and political change. During this time, computing developed rapidly from a niche activity in a few select schools to the state subsidized purchasing of a ‘computer in every school’ and the nationwide promotion of computers as a feature of curriculum and pedagogy. Through a series of in-depth retrospective interviews with key policy actors (n=20) this paper develops a detailed ‘policy historiography’ of this period - shedding light on the complex power relations and interests that underpinned these developments. In particular, the paper highlights the origins of these policy interventions in earlier activities, and examines the negotiations and conflicts between and within the two government departments involved in the mass introduction of computing into the UK school system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Academics and policy-makers claim that community-based organisations may be able to encourage individuals to adopt pro-environmental behavioural changes; however, at present, there is limited research-based evidence to support this assertion. This paper sets out to provide a contribution to the evidence base by examining the role that community can play in tackling climate change. It does this through a case study analysis of a community-based pro-environmental behavioural-change campaign - Ipswich Town Football Club's 'Save Your Energy for the Blues' campaign. The paper examines existing theories on encouraging behavioural change based on a range of cognitive and contextual constraints. Based on the findings of this research, the paper goes on to suggest that by focusing on the individual as the appropriate unit of change, much current policy fails to incorporate the contextual constraints that may limit an individual's ability to adopt behavioural change regardless of their willingness to do so. The case study analysis indicates how framing of appropriate responses to climate change in a largely positive light, with a range of individual, collective and environmental benefits, is shown to have resonated strongly with many participants in the campaign, including a significant number whose participation was not based on pro-environmental values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a recent trend in the literature on committees in Westminster parliaments to evaluate their performance through their impact on different groups such as the government, media and the parliament. This paper uses this literature to develop a formal framework for evaluating committees. It argues that, due to their political role, the performance of committees should be evaluated in terms of political impact or influence, rather than the audit or programme-based concept of effectiveness. A committee can demonstrate that one of its activities or reports has performed positively if at least one of its relevant groups demonstrates approval of it. The relevant groups for parliamentary committees are the government, the bureaucracy, the legislature, external stakeholders, the public, and the judiciary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term “NIMBY” is used prolifically in both academic literature and general public discourse to describe a locally based action group protesting against a proposed development. It is frequently used to dismiss groups as selfish or ill-informed, as is illustrated both by those who accuse opponents of possessing such characteristics and also by the attempts of many community groups to reject the label. This lies in sharp contrast to the much encouraged notions of public participation in planning and community life as proposed by the UK government's proclaimed vision of a “sustainable community”. This paper argues that this dichotomy between “good” and “bad” participation can be misleading, by drawing on research from two case studies where locally based community groups opposed a specific, detailed development. The paper contributes to a burgeoning literature that reappraises conventional understandings of such groups by analysing often overlooked facets of protest groups, concluding that the conventional conceptualisations of them as NIMBY is inadequate and unhelpful in academic debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is more than a decade since scientists in the UK put forward evidence of a link between the emergence of a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) in humans, and a diminishing epidemic of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE, in cattle. In the wake of this anniversary, the paper revisits two scientific narratives of risk, forged at different points along the developmental pathway of BSE science, including a series of advisory reports provided to the UK government between 1989 and 1994, and a symposium held in 2001 to assess the impact of the Phillips Inquiry. While the primary pathology of BSE became apparent relatively early on, uncertainties remain about the origins of BSE and its human variant, vCJD. The paper examines the handling of this sensitivity, and its communication, within these key documents, noting changes in patterns of uncertainty construction over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the career of a British diplomat, William Garnett, whose unusual life has until know been neglected by historians. Garnett's papers, held at Lancashire Record Office, are a particularly rich source for historians of British diplomacy, the British Foreign Office, and overseas travel in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Garnett was often outspoken and indiscreet in his private correspondence and his archive, on which this article draws, provides valuable insights into British representation and British policy in the countries to which he was posted in the period 1902-1919. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]