In this exclusive extract from Brian Klaas’ new book, The Despot’s Accomplice, he argues that – however distasteful it may be to the principle of justice – offering despots a way out can prevent further bloodshed. This is because they frequently know they have nothing to lose by fighting to the death. Furthermore, research shows […]
Political actors need to be nimble and respond to the opportunity to reform old policies and initiate new ones. Manuele Citi and Mogens K Justesen look at how the European Commission takes advantage of politically opportune moments (the ‘gridlock interval’) in the European Parliament to put forward new legislation. As a ‘policy entrepreneur’, it is therefore […]
Hilary Benn and Angus MacNeil are now in charge of the two most important of the many parliamentary committees scrutinising Brexit. Sophie Wilson urges them to act quickly. The Departments for Exiting the EU and Trade are already hard at work, and only 17 sitting weeks remain before the March deadline for Article 50 to be […]
When the ‘Turing Bill’ – which would have granted pardons to people with historical convictions for consensual gay sex – was talked out by the government last week, there was confusion and misunderstanding about the ramifications. The practical problem is that the old law did not distinguish between non-consensual and consensual gay sex. James Chalmers explains […]
In Hunger Pains: Life Inside Foodbank Britain, Kayleigh Garthwaite draws upon eighteen months spent volunteering as a foodbank worker in Stockton-on-Tees to take readers through the workings of a foodbank and to reflect on the experiences of those who use them, including discussion of shame and stigma. This is a revealing, impassioned and self-reflective book on […]
Some authoritarian regimes like Belarus and Zimbabwe enjoy a semblance of democracy, holding regular elections, but skew political life in favour of the incumbent. Occasionally these countries become more democratic. In other cases, writes Jennifer Raymond Dresden, they succumb to authoritarian backsliding – when the incumbent consolidates power. Between 1993 and 2004, this happened around six times a year. […]
The Troubled Families Programme targeted around 120,000 ‘problem’ families at a cost of £440m in its first phase – but a review published this week found it had no significant or systematic benefit on problems like offending, truanting, joblessness or benefit receipt. Jonathan Portes says the government not only redefined disadvantaged families as antisocial and dysfunctional, […]
Political parties and party systems are generally regarded as essential in a democracy. But is it the health of the parties themselves that is vital, or a strong party system? Fernando Casal Bértoa looks at the relationship between the institutionalisation of parties and party systems in 64 European regimes since 1848. He concludes that the health […]
London Assembly Members are elected using the Additional Member System. It’s a big improvement on first past the post, argues Charley Jarrett, but it’s now leading to inertia, with AMs lacking an incentive to tell constituents about their work. Ten of the 14 London seats have never changed party control and there is no way […]
Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected leader of the Labour party. Yet the ‘Blue Labour’ strain – a tendency grouped around the social thought of Maurice Glasman that emerged within the party after the financial crash – is far from over . J.A. Smith reviews Ian Geary and Adrian Pabst‘s edited volume, Blue Labour: Forging a New Politics, […]
Democratic Audit's core funding is provided by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Additional funding is provided by the London School of Economics.
This work by Democratic Audit is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales.