British Journal of Politics & International Relations最新文献

This article

• One of the first papers to bring deliberative theory and network theory together.
• Maps ‘who is talking to whom’ in the field of ethnic relations in Britain.
• Argues that, while Muslim actors do not necessarily couch their claims in general terms, they are well integrated nevertheless.

In this article, we examine the assumption that, insofar as actors deliberate well, political integration will follow. We do so specifically with respect to the political integration of Muslims in the field of ethnic relations in Britain, using data retrieved from two quality British broadsheets. Our approach has two components. First, we consider the quality of the deliberative interventions actors make, comparing Muslim actors with other actors. Second, we use measures drawn from network analysis to assess the level of political integration as indicated by the ties that those deliberative interventions forge. Our findings show that the link between how Muslim actors deliberate and their political integration in the field is more complex that one might assume. Although Muslims do not deliberate as well as normative deliberative theory says they should, empirically they are politically integrated, having forged diverse relationships that avoid the danger of polarisation.

This article:

• Provides an overview of the development of deliberative and participatory democracy in the UK.
• Critically analyses the success of consecutive UK national governments in fostering deliberative and participatory processes.
• Surveys the development of deliberative and participatory processes in the UK at sub-national and local level.
• Provides a starting point for comparative politics on deliberative and participatory democracy between the UK and other polities.

This article responds to Michael Saward's call for a more context-specific approach to the study of democracy by exploring developments in, obstacles to, and prospects for, a more deliberative and participatory model of democracy in the UK. A review is undertaken first of the New Labour and coalition governments' attempts at constitutional reform, in order to assess the implications these efforts have had, and continue to have, for the institutionalisation of such a model of democracy. Despite proclamations of lofty ambition successive UK governments have wrapped themselves in the straightjacketing logic of the Westminster model of parliamentary government. As a consequence their actual proposals lack ambition and are often incoherent. The story told in this respect is therefore one of largely unrealised rhetoric. The ‘largely’ qualifier is included, however, in recognition of the space created by Labour's constitutional reforms for participation at the peripheries of governance. The second section of the article focuses on these spaces by, first, commenting briefly on whether the participatory aspirations of the architects of Scottish devolution have been realised before, second, examining the use of specific deliberative mechanisms—such as citizens' juries, deliberative polls and participatory budgeting—at varying locations within the political system and in public agencies and services. Evidence of democratic innovation is presented; however, any optimism on this front must be tempered, as the power-sharing potential of such mechanisms, and their capacity to move us towards a more comprehensive and joined-up deliberative system in the UK, is hampered by the lack of a facilitating institutional landscape. Finally, an overview is provided of the three remaining articles that make up this special section on deliberative and participatory democracy in the UK.

This article:

• Presents a framework for comparing institutions and their ability to enact various norms of deliberative democracy across various stages of the policy process and different levels of governance.
• Specifically contextualises this framework for application in the UK.

A range of institutional mechanisms have been advocated to ensure the practical application of deliberative democracy, and these are now being employed in practice throughout the UK. However, different institutional mechanisms will be suited to the enactment of variant democratic principles and will be able to adapt to some features of complexity and not others. This means certain institutional devices will be able to operate effectively at different levels of governance, but not at others, and contribute to some, but not all, stages of a decision-making sequence, within different political systems. A comprehensive and systematic comparison of the relationship these institutions have to deliberative democracy is therefore required so that these institutions can be effectively sequenced to ensure all the key elements of deliberative democracy are enacted in the UK political system, at each level of governance and stage of decision-making. This article therefore develops the ‘Deliberative Pragmatic Equilibrium Review’ (DePER) framework to enable such a comparison of institutional mechanisms, with respect to how they enact key principles of deliberative democracy, by combining normative and empirical analysis through the employment of Fung's ‘pragmatic equilibrium’ approach. The framework is applicable to all political systems, but is here tailored specifically for institutional comparison in the UK, although it is not applied to concrete cases in this article.

This article shows:

• The importance of non-party members (supporters) in election campaigns.
• Party evolution rather than self-evident decline.
• How parties cope with falling membership to staff campaigns.
• The extent to which supporter activities complement and supplement those of members.

Existing research on volunteer activity in political parties has tended to focus on party membership, both in terms of numbers and activities undertaken. Recent developments in British political parties suggest however, an increasing role for party supporters—supporters of parties who are not formal members. Using data collected through surveys of election agents at the 2010 general election, this article examines the extent of supporter activity in constituency (district-level) campaigns, the extent to which active local parties stimulate supporter activity, the correlates of supporter and member activity, and whether supporter activity makes a positive and independent contribution to parties’ constituency campaigns. The article provides an important opportunity to question whether the evolution of party organisations suggests that formal members may be less important than has been previously assumed in the conduct of election campaigns and the extent to which supporter activity complements that of members.

• We show that voters are sensitive to the relative wealth of election candidates.
• As candidates' earnings increase, so their popularity declines.
• Wealth is an especial negative for women, for working class respondents and for Labour and Lib Dem respondents.
• Conservative respondents are less put off by wealthy candidates, although they draw a sharper distinction between the source of income than others.

This article reports the findings from an Internet survey experiment designed to investigate the British public's reactions to wealthy (or not so wealthy) candidates. We applied two experimental manipulations, one to wealth and the other to occupation. We varied occupation and the amount that the candidates earned each year. We found that voters preferred self-made businessmen to financiers, but that regardless of occupation they reacted negatively to financial success. We discovered heterogeneity in responses, with women, working class and Labour and Lib Dem respondents being especially hostile to increases in income. Conservative respondents were less put off by wealthy candidates, although they drew a sharper distinction between the source of income than did others. The experiments provide support for the identity politics claim that voters want a representative who is ‘like them’; and suggest that political scientists should pay more attention to the representation of wealth and social class.

This article:

• Assesses the role of Caribbean offshore financial centres (OFCs) in FDI flows to China.
• Argues the OFC provides financial intermediation services beyond simply tax minimisation.
• Demonstrates a similar use of the OFC in other developing economies.
• Suggests the position of the OFC in global finance continues to evolve.

This article examines the prominent location of offshore financial centres (OFCs) among the leading origin and destination points for foreign direct investment (FDI) to China. The OFC (characterised as a tax haven) frequently has been ignored or assumed out of analyses on Chinese FDI as simply servicing tax minimisation practices. This article challenges that assumption and emphasises the financial intermediation role performed by the Caribbean OFC beyond practices of tax arbitrage. Through the use of an international business company (IBC) registered in an OFC these jurisdictions perform several functions for investors, to include providing access to foreign capital markets, reducing tax obligations across multiple jurisdictions and concealing potential politically-sensitive beneficial ownership of the investment. This assessment for the role of the OFC in circuits of global capital involving FDI to China demonstrates that China's relationship with the OFC is different from that experienced by Europe and North America.

• The article investigates which of two competing accounts of contemporary British policy making better captures the nature of policy making during episodes of major reform of the English NHS.
• The analysis of the formulation of the English NHS Plan 2000 suggests that the Asymmetric Power Model better describes the reality of NHS policy making under New Labour than the Differentiated Polity Model.
• Although the process of developing the Plan showed signs of a more open policy process, it was tightly controlled and personally led by the Secretary of State for Health and his close advisers, reflecting an underlying British political tradition that emphasises the idea that the NHS has to be continuously improved with change led from above by central government.
• However, when compared to the processes underpinning Thatcher's Ministerial Review of the NHS and the 2010 Coalition government's White Paper, if ever NHS policy making in England were to have come close to the Differentiated Polity Model, it would have been during the formulation of the 2000 NHS Plan.

Through a case study of the formulation of the English NHS Plan 2000, this article investigates which of two competing models of the British policy process—the Differentiated Polity and Asymmetric Power Models—better describes the reality of major NHS reform policy making under New Labour. The process of developing the Plan showed signs of a more open policy process, seemingly closer to the DPM. There was contestability of policy advice and limited involvement of the medical profession through its representative bodies. However, the process was tightly controlled and personally led by the Secretary of State and his advisers, with the direct involvement of the Prime Minister throughout. Two key moments of interest group involvement—the Modernisation Action Teams and the signing of the Plan by health sector organisations—were marked by power asymmetries. Overall, the APM better describes the reality of major reform policy making under New Labour.

This article makes the following contribution:

• It identifies a gap in theoretical work on gradual institutional change by highlighting the importance of ‘reluctant agency’ that is, agents who do not oppose change outright, but are reluctant to agree to anything more than minimal reforms.
• It demonstrates the importance of the interplay of internal and external factors in explanations of gradual institutional change.
• It provides an empirical account of the evolution of the EU Commissioners' ethics regime since 1999.
• It identifies institutional change in the EU Commissioners' ethics regime as taking the form of a ‘layering’ process.
• It shows how institutional change in the EU Commissioners' ethics regime can be explained using a framework comprising political context, institutional characteristics and change agency (drawing on the work of Mahoney and Thelen).

This article comprises a theory-informed case study of the European Commissioners' ethics regime. Conceptualising the evolution of the regime since 1999 as a process of gradual institutional change, it asks how the Commissioners' ethics regime continued to evolve incrementally after its inception, and what form that evolution took. Drawing on a recent theory of gradual institutional change (Mahoney and Thelen's), the article argues that the evolution of the Commissioners' ethics regime has involved a ‘layering’ process which has resulted from the Commission's changing position within the EU system (political context) and the extent of the Commission's control over the reform process (institutional characteristics). External change agents (the European Parliament and NGOs) are crucial, but so too is the Commission itself, which engages only reluctantly, in a risk-averse manner, in the on-going reform of the regime.

This article

• Responds to recent calls for a more holistic approach to studying the substantive representation of women (SRW). Specifically, it explores the nexus between the SRW and issue-salience. A theoretically-informed review of the literature and analysis of party manifestos in UK elections 1945–2010 both confirm that this matters to contemporary understanding of the SRW.
• Extends existing understanding of the substantive representation of women by reviewing relevant theory and providing new, empirical research findings.
• Heeds earlier calls for the combination of content and critical discourse analysis in policy studies. Thus this mixed methodology responds to earlier calls for social research to ‘humanize’ quantitative data by focusing on language and meaning related to specific phenomena, notably from political actors' perspectives.
• Includes a future research agenda emerging from the present study. It is one that will extend contemporary understanding of the substantive representation of women and generate debate and further research.

The following discussion responds to recent calls for a more holistic approach to studying the substantive representation of women (SRW). It uses mixed methods to explore the nexus between the SRW and issue salience in the manifesto discourse of UK state-wide elections 1945–2010. The data show that issue salience does matter to the SRW because it is part of on-going patterns and processes of party politicization linked to electoral cycles. The present findings also affirm that whilst there has been a trend of increasing issue salience over the post-war period, the SRW has also been subject to periods of set-back and reversal. Thus its status amongst competing policy priorities remains ‘fragile’; in turn, this raises issues of institutional sexism in the formative, agenda-setting phase of parties' public policy-making.