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The three candidates - Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan - had feisty exchanges, serving to highlight weaknesses in the SNP government's performance. However, Yousaf had been endorsed by most SNP parliamentarians, and the cooperation agreement between the SNP and Scottish Greens would remain in place, suggesting some stability in government. This might suggest that other pro-indy parties (the Greens, Alba) can benefit from the SNP's problems, but the SNP remains the best vehicle for achieving independence, and unionist opponents sense an opportunity. At the beginning of 2023, the Scottish National Party was on the verge of a crisis. [Extracted from the article]

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2008.00925.x Byline: ALISTAIR CLARK (1), LYNN BENNIE (2) Keywords: Scotland; Party Adaptation; Local Campaigning; Single Transferable Vote; Electoral Reform; Local Government Elections Abstract: The 2007 Scottish Local Government Elections saw the first large scale use of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) in a mainland election in Britain. This presented a range of challenges for Scotland's political parties, more familiar with campaigning under first-past-the-post or the Scottish parliament's semi-proportional Additional Member System (AMS). Most crucially, STV meant the parties had to come to terms with multi-member wards and the transferral of votes between parties. Following a short discussion of the results of the STV elections, this article assesses evidence on how the parties adapted to the new electoral system, focussing particularly on candidate and campaign strategies. The article argues that Scotland's parties showed some, but limited, signs of adapting to new electoral conditions. Rather than strategic adjustment, an element of 'hoping for the best' was evident in all parties. Author Affiliation: (1)Lecturer in Political Science in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, Queen's University Belfast. (2)Senior Lecturer in Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations, School of Social Science, University of Aberdeen.

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00681.x Byline: Lynn Bennie (1), Patrick Bernhagen (1), Neil J. Mitchell (1) Abstract: This article examines corporate participation in the UN Global Compact programme. Using data on the world's 2,000 largest companies, we address the question of why companies voluntarily assume the programme's responsibilities and promote the rights of 'global citizenship'. Our analytic approach is to view transnational corporate political behaviour as a result of firm-level decisions shaped by country-level variation in political audience effects. Drawing on earlier research on more conventional forms of corporate political activity, we expect factors influential in the standard model of firm political activity to determine participation in the Global Compact. In addition, we argue that this highly visible, less instrumental dimension of a firm's political behaviour is driven by efforts to build a good environmental and human rights reputation with its audience of external actors. The importance of environmental and human rights concerns depends on the substance of the firm's business activities, the availability of investment and 'exit' options, and the home audience's bias towards the UN and human and environmental rights. We find support for political factors as well as firm and industry-level characteristics influencing the decision to participate in the Global Compact. Author Affiliation: (1)University of Aberdeen Article History: (Accepted: 16 November 2006)

Some political parties have experienced a resurgence in membership. This article seeks to explain membership surges in the Scottish National Party and Scottish Greens following the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence and an unusually movement-like campaign. Using data from a 2016–17 survey of the parties' memberships, we examine why large numbers joined these pro-independence parties following defeat in the referendum. We demonstrate that the new members had experienced a sense of belonging to a Yes movement during the campaign but were not intensely active; and reasons for joining the parties look more conventional than movement-based. We argue that the referendum created a unique platform for the parties to advertise their objectives on the constitution and other policy areas and thus attract new recruits, few of whom were seeking to maintain the participatory activities that flourished during the referendum. The minority that are active movement-oriented joiners look the least likely to be satisfied by party membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN February 1995, the British Government approved a proposal by Shell UK for deep sea disposal of the 14,500 tonne, 463ft Brent Spar oil storage and loading buoy in the [...]

The three main statewide British parties – Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats – all produce different versions of their manifestos in British general elections. Many policies debated in a British general election no longer apply at the subnational level, where separate devolved institutions control large areas of policy. This article therefore assesses the roles of national party manifestos at the subnational level in British general elections. It develops an original theory linking Strom’s alternative party goals to Ray’s typology of mandate/contract manifestos, advertisement manifestos and identity manifestos. It then explores a comparative overview of British parties’ general election manifestos at the subnational level, before focusing in detail on Labour’s 2010 and 2015 general election manifestos, which reflect the party’s strategic difficulties caused by devolution. The expected variation is found between the national and subnational manifestos. In some instances, multiple goals are pursued simultaneously and this is reflected in manifestos which assume elements of more than one manifesto ideal type. This supports the additional conclusion that manifestos can perform multiple functions in complex multilevel systems of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]