How do European democracies compare when it comes to the length of ministerial careers?
Ministerial careers can be notoriously nasty, brutish, and short, with the doctrine of ministerial accountability leading to numerous prematurely ended political careers. But how do European democracies compare? Looking at evidence from seven countries, Jonathan Bright, Holger Doring, and Conor Little show that younger ministers survive longer, right-wing parties are more likely to dump ministers than […]
Whatever the outcome, the petitioning electors from Orkney and Shetland should be applauded for their case against Alistair Carmichael
A recent internal government inquiry found that the then-Secretary of State for Scotland, Alistair Carmichael, was responsible for a leak which saw the details of an alleged conversation between Nicola Sturgeon and the French Ambassador to the UK end up in the hands of the press. Here, Heather Green gives details of a case launched […]
The Government’s case against the European Court of Human Rights is a smokescreen
The government has proposed the abolition of the Human Rights Act, and as part of this has – according to Merris Amos – launched a campaign against the European Court of Human Rights. She argues that this is a smokescreen designed to divert attention from the real agenda: escaping the supervision of a supranational court which cannot […]
Localism and decentralisation must be part of a much wider political reform agenda
Decentralisation and localism have become the “motherhood and apple pie” of British politics, with all main parties (to varying degrees) committed to furthering the scope and power of local, municipal and regional government. But how does this link up with change at the national level? John Tizard argues that democracy can be re-invented and renewed if […]
How seriously should we take the opinions of academics and experts when it comes to complicated issues like electoral integrity?
The result of the 2015 General Election came as a surprise for most people, but particularly those in the academic and polling community. But what is the appropriate role for academics in an electoral setting, particularly when it comes to complicated issues like the integrity of electoral contests. Ferran Martinez i Coma and Carolien Van Ham seek to […]
The legalisation of same-sex marriage in Ireland was a triumph for deliberative democracy, as well as equality
Ireland recently became a world leader in being not only the first country to legalise same-sex marriage via the route of a referendum, but also by incorporating the change into its constitution. The scene for the changes were set by the Irish constitutional referendum, which Clodagh Harris argues means that these developments are a triumph […]
The new Labour leadership contest rules are responsible for the lacklustre pre-campaign
The Labour Party is currently in the (long) process of electing its new leader, with the eventual victor likely to fight a 2020 General Election. This is the first election to be fought under the party’s new system, following the recent controversy over trade union involvement with the process. Eunice Goes argues that these new […]
Book Review: Digital Humanitarians: How Big Data is changing the face of humanitarian response
The overflow of information generated during disasters can be as paralysing to humanitarian response as the lack of information. This flash flood of information is often referred to as Big Data, or Big Crisis Data. Making sense of Big Crisis Data is proving to be an impossible challenge for traditional humanitarian organisations, which is why […]
Federalism could be the only means of resolving some of the UK constitution’s fundamental difficultiies
The Queen’s Speech saw the incoming majority Conservative government propose a number of laws with constitutional implications, including the Scotland Bill, the repeal of the Human Rights Act, and the introduction of some variant of “English Votes for English Laws”. Andrew Blick argues that given this range of issues, federalism may be the only holistic […]
Select committees in the 2015 parliament: some change, some continuity
In the aftermath of the election the shape of the select committee system in the new parliament is now beginning to emerge, with the party label of the chairs of the various House of Commons committees being allocated. Hannah White offers some thoughts about what has changed and where we might see more continuity. Limited structural […]
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