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2. Britain’s Reckoning with the Future
- Author:
- Roderick Parkes
- Publication Date:
- 09-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Brexit talks have entered extra time. If the UK is to leave the EU in an orderly manner, it needs a deal in the next four weeks. The trouble is that, as the prospect of leaving becomes more concrete, the government has finally recognized that it needs to honor the promises it has made to voters. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is struggling to reconcile his vague pledges with real world constraints – both internationally and domestically.
- Topic:
- Politics, European Union, Brexit, Negotiation, and Boris Johnson
- Political Geography:
- Britain and Europe
3. Avoiding “Cuba-sur-Calais” and Other Misadventures on Brexit Island
- Author:
- Roderick Parkes
- Publication Date:
- 11-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- British political institutions have shown resilience during the Brexit crisis. London apparently believes it has the scope to put EU talks behind it and recalibrate its position in the world. The British government is carrying out an integrated review of defense, aid, and foreign policy and preparing its presidency of the COP26 climate talks and G7. By contrast, its neighbors are gripped by the notion of Britain’s further constitutional deterioration. Their perceptions could well become self-fulfilling.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Climate Change, Politics, Brexit, and Negotiation
- Political Geography:
- Britain and Europe
4. The Importance of Ties between Palestinian Citizens of Israel and Diaspora Jewry: A View from Britain
- Author:
- Sana Knaneh
- Publication Date:
- 09-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Mitvim: The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
- Abstract:
- Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, who feel their political representatives cannot achieve significant change for them on domestic issues, find it hard to believe that their voice could be meaningful in Israel’s foreign relations. Indeed, their involvement in Israeli foreign relations, both in the governmental and non-governmental arena, is limited. However, one area in which their involvement and influence have significant untapped potential lies in forging ties with Diaspora Jewry. For instance, in London, there is a clear disconnect between the representative bodies of the Jewish community, such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, and those representing the Palestinian community, such as The Association of the Palestinian Community in the UK and the Palestinian Forum in Britain which reflect the main currents of Palestinian thinking. While the disconnect is evident on the formal-organizational level, it does not preclude unofficial ties between Palestinians and Jews in London. Nonetheless, links between the two communities are limited, as is the space for joint discussions and exchanges of views, thoughts and narratives.
- Topic:
- Politics, Sovereignty, Diaspora, Minorities, and Political Activism
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
5. High Hopes, Long Odds: On the False Promises of Brexiteer Deals with the EU and US
- Author:
- John Ryan, Gabriel Felbermayr, Clemens Fuest, Jasmin Katrin Gröschl, and Daniel Stöhlker
- Publication Date:
- 12-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- LSE IDEAS
- Abstract:
- This report explores a No-Deal Brexit which would leave the UK economically, politically and diplomatically weakened and isolated. It further examines the relationships with its two main allies - the European Union and the United States - which would become more difficult and complicated.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Politics, Treaties and Agreements, European Union, and Brexit
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Europe, and United States of America
6. Brexit: the manifestos uncovered
- Author:
- Anand Menon
- Publication Date:
- 12-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- UK in a Changing Europe, King's College London
- Abstract:
- This is, according to several of the parties and at least one national broadcaster, a Brexit election. Assuming this is wholly – or even partially (as even Labour accept in their manifesto) – true, what the parties are saying about Brexit is therefore of crucial importance. This report represents our attempt to identify what they say, to compare the different pledges the parties make and to explain in straightforward terms what each of them is offering on Brexit. Our aim, simply stated, is to promote understanding so people can make up their own minds. Once again, we have been fortunate enough to be able to draw on the expertise of some of the country’s leading social scientists. Catherine Barnard, Matt Bevington, Charlotte Burns, Katy Hayward, Nicola McEwen, Jonathan Portes, Jill Rutter and Dan Wincott all contributed to this report. Alan Wager and John-Paul Salter edited the text. We hope you find what follows enlightening and informative. Election campaigns produce endless amounts of heat. We have attempted in what follows to shed at least a little light.
- Topic:
- Politics, Elections, European Union, Brexit, and Society
- Political Geography:
- Britain, United Kingdom, and Europe
7. Brexit, British people of colour in the EU-27 and everyday racism in Britain and Europe
- Author:
- Michaela Benson
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- UK in a Changing Europe, King's College London
- Abstract:
- This paper foregrounds an understanding of Brexit as unexceptional, as business as usual in Britain and Europe. It reports on original empirical research with British People of Colour who have settled elsewhere in Europe, to bring into view an original perspective to understandings of what Brexit means to Britons living in Europe, and to consider what these testimonies offer to emerging social science research on Brexit. The authors argue, focussing on the testimonies of British People of Colour living in the EU-27 offers a unique lens into how Brexit is caught up in everyday racism, personal experiences of racialization and racial violence, and longer European histories of racialization and racism. Importantly, these experiences precede and succeed Brexit, taking place in both Britain and other European Union countries.
- Topic:
- Politics, Brexit, Society, and Racism
- Political Geography:
- Britain, United Kingdom, and Europe
8. Finding the good in EVEL: An evaluation of ‘English Votes for English Laws’ in the House of Commons
- Author:
- Daniel Gover and Michael Kenny
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
- Abstract:
- Recent political developments have focused attention on the ‘English Question’. In response to the 2014 Scottish referendum result, the UK government initiated a procedural reform in the House of Commons known as ‘English Votes for English Laws’ (EVEL), which was formally adopted in October 2015. This report results from an in-depth academic research project into EVEL. It evaluates how the procedures fared during their first year in operation, and weighs arguments for and against such a reform. Based on this analysis, it makes a series of constructive proposals to improve the current system.
- Topic:
- Politics, Law, Elections, Democracy, Identities, and Voting
- Political Geography:
- Britain and United Kingdom
9. Britain’s party members: who they are, what they think, and what they do
- Author:
- Tim Bale, Paul Webb, and Polettim Monica
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
- Abstract:
- Labour’s membership also comes nearer to gender parity than the other three parties’. Getting on for two-thirds of Lib Dems, and not far off three-quarters of Tory members are men. And, while it’s true to say that all four parties are disproportionately middle-class, it’s even more true of Tory and Lib Dem members, nearly nine out of ten of whom can be classified as ABC1.
- Topic:
- Politics, Elections, Domestic Politics, Identities, and Voting
- Political Geography:
- Britain and United Kingdom
10. British–Russian Convention and Ottoman Empire in the Context of Polarization Politics
- Author:
- M. Volkan Atuk
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Institution:
- International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
- Abstract:
- The British-Russian Convention of 1907 was seen as a joint effort by Britain and Russia to reconcile their areas of influence in Asia but apart from this purpose, it represented the last ring of the emerging tripartite blog that included France against Germany and its allies. The agreement, which mainly came into agenda for partitioning Iran, was handled by the Ottoman Foreign Affairs as a text about Asian affairs. The Ottoman statesmen, who considered only the part of this agreement concerning Afghanistan, Tibet and Iran, couldn’t realize that this was an important part of the polarization politics that pushed world to a general war.
- Topic:
- Politics, Treaties and Agreements, History, Ottoman Empire, and Polarization
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Afghanistan, Russia, Europe, Iran, Eurasia, and Tibet
11. Britain and the European Union: Lessons from History
- Publication Date:
- 03-2016
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
- Abstract:
- Over the last four decades, membership of the European Union has touched almost every area of national life. It affects how we trade, the laws by which we are governed, where we go on holiday and who is entitled to live here. Its influence has been felt across British politics, from the Northern Ireland peace process to the struggle for equal pay. The ‘European question’ divided the Labour Party in the 1970s, split the Conservative Party in the 1990s, and drove the two most successful insurgent parties of modern times: the Social Democratic Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party. This summer, the UK will hold only the third nationwide referendum in its history, on whether to remain in the EU or to seek a new position outside.
- Topic:
- Politics and Elections
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Europe, and Northern Ireland
12. Does Material Hardship Affect Political Preferences? It Depends on the Political Context
- Author:
- Charlotte Cavaille and Anja Neundorf
- Publication Date:
- 05-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
- Abstract:
- To what extent does material hardship affect political preferences? We argue that preference updating happens at the intersection of contextual pull factors, such as elite discourse, and individual push factors, such as an individual’s economic conditions. One key implication is that individuals are more likely to translate personal hardship into higher support for left-wing redistributive social policies when political elites actively compete over these issues. Using data from 22 European countries, we show that income is a better predictor of support for redistribution in countries where parties polarize over economic and redistributive issues. To unpack the causal relationship between preferences and elite behavior, we examine individual-level panel data from Great Britain, a country where elites have converged to the center on economic issues. We find that changes in the discursive context help understand both when material interest matters and how much it affects economic policy preferences.
- Topic:
- Politics, Poverty, Economy, and Elites
- Political Geography:
- Britain
13. English Identity and Radical Politics
- Publication Date:
- 10-2015
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
- Abstract:
- The question of when a sense of cultural Englishness became salient, and what kind of collective interest the English feel is at stake in the domestic union, has become the focus of considerable academic debate as well as political interest.
- Topic:
- Nationalism, Politics, Domestic Politics, Identities, and International Community
- Political Geography:
- Britain and United Kingdom
14. Why a British referendum on EU membership will not solve the Europe question
- Author:
- Andrew Glencross
- Publication Date:
- 04-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- This article scrutinizes the merits of holding a referendum over UK membership of the EU. It queries the assumption that direct democracy can somehow resolve the longstanding Europe question in British politics. To do this, the analysis traces the existence of an exceptionalist approach to the EU within Britain, now associated with re-negotiating UK membership in the shadow of a referendum. The article argues that the prospects for a radical reconfiguration of the UK's treaty obligations are slim, thereby increasing the risk of a vote to withdraw. Yet withdrawal would be the opposite of a simple solution to the Europe question. Political and economic interests dictate lengthy politicking over a highly complex post-Brexit settlement revisiting free movement of goods, services, capital and people. Such negotiations undermine any mooted cathartic benefits of a popular vote, while Eurosceptics will remain dissatisfied in the event of a yes, a result likely to further destabilize the Conservative Party. Consequently, the simplicity and decisiveness that a referendum—particularly one that spurns the EU—promises is merely a mirage as relations with the EU necessarily form part of an enduring British political conversation.
- Topic:
- Politics
- Political Geography:
- Britain and Europe
15. Continuity and Change in the Construction of Enemy Image in Pre-Revolutionary Iran
- Author:
- Seyed Ali Monavari and Farhad Atai
- Publication Date:
- 03-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic Research (CSR)
- Abstract:
- What paved the way for the establishment of the foreign policy of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran? This paper seeks to analyze the phenomenon of the construction of the enemy image in the diplomatic history of Iran from 1798 to 1921 and assess its historical roots as it can be useful for the understanding of the attitudes of Iranian policy makers towards the West. The authors' proposal is to explain the construction of enemy image in a historical context in the cognitive structure of Iranian political leaders towards the great powers in the 20th century until the advent of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979. In doing so, the authors have proposed the following hypothesis: With the continuation of Iran's diplomatic relations with Western powers (Great Britain and Russia) under the Qajar dynasty in 1798, a process took shape which gradually led to the construction of an enemy image in the cognitive structure of future Iranian statesmen in the Pahlavi era, underpinning their political relationships with contemporary powers. The authors' findings include the notion that the historical process in question under the Qajar Dynasty involved a combination of military domination, political influence and economic exploitation by the aforementioned powers.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Economics, Islam, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Russia, and Iran
16. A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Diplomatic Relations between Iran and the United Kingdom (1989-2011)
- Author:
- Abuzar Gohari Moqaddam and Hojatollah Noori Sari
- Publication Date:
- 12-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic Research (CSR)
- Abstract:
- Diplomatic relationship between Iran and the United Kingdom is one of the most heated debates in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic. The pros and cons of these relations have always been subject to argument and controversy among politicians and academics. This article seeks to analyze diplomatic ties between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United Kingdom, applying the cost-benefit analysis method. In this relationship, the costs and benefits are discussed in three situations including the maintenance, downgrading, and rupture of diplomatic relations. The main question answered by the authors is how diplomatic relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United Kingdom can be analyzed according to the cost-benefit analysis method, and what costs and benefits can be brought about for Iran in case of the rupture, downgrading or maintenance of diplomatic relations with Britain. The final conclusion of this research suggests that under the current circumstances, downgrading diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom can lead to fewer costs and further benefits for the Islamic Republic of Iran in comparison to the other two options.
- Topic:
- Islam and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Britain, United Kingdom, and Iran