1,721,004 research outputs found
Has Devolution Worked? The Verdict From Policy Makers and the Public
No full textDevolution to Scotland and Wales represented the most fundamental reform of the British state for almost a century. Ten years on, how successful has the reform been? Drawing on the views of citizens, elected representatives and interest groups in Scotland and Wales, this book provides an answer.
The book is based on a wide ranging programme of research, involving dedicated surveys and interviews across Scotland, Wales and England. The results provide important new evidence on how devolution has been seen to have performed. What are its perceived achievements? What are its shortcomings? Is the new devolution ‘settlement’ stable, or is there a demand for further reform? By bringing together perspectives from the public, members of the devolved legislatures and representatives of civil society, the book establishes a unique picture of where devolution in Britain stands today.
The book is accessibly written, and contains a wide range of useful primary data. It is ideal for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying devolution in Britain, as well as for general readers with an interest in constitutional reform and territorial politics
Coalition Governance in Scotland and Wales
Full text linkThis Briefing analyses the initial experience of coalition government in Scotland and Wales. Scotland
has been ruled by a coalition administration since the first devolution elections in 1999; Wales
experienced a coalition for over half the first term of the National Assembly. It is thus a good time to
review the early experience of power-sharing government: to explore how the coalition arrangements
worked, what adaptations have been made to these arrangements, and what further reforms might be
necessary in future
Constitutional Reform: A Recipe for Restoring Faith in Our Democracy?
Full text linkThe first coalition since the Second World War is itself an innovation at Westminster. But it also came to power committed to an ambitious programme of constitutional reform – including fixed-term parliaments, directly elected mayors and local police commissioners, and the wider use of referendums. Could any of these changes reverse the long-term decline in public trust in government
Attitudes to voting rules and electoral system preferences : evidence from the 1999 and 2003 Scottish Parliament elections
Full text linkResearchers have paid little attention to the way citizens evaluate different electoral systems. This reflects the limited knowledge citizens are presumed to have about alternative electoral arrangements. However, the establishment of a legislature under new electoral rules creates conditions in which citizens can make more informed judgements. Such a situation occurred with the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, elected under the Additional Member system. Using data collected in 1999 and 2003, we consider Scottish voters’ reactions to the new electoral rules. We examine how voters evaluated various features and outcomes of the rules, the structure of voters’ attitudes, and which features and outcomes of the rules were decisive in shaping overall support for plurality and proportional voting systems
The citizens’ response : devolution and the union
Full text linkThis chapter discusses the citizens’ response to devolution and the union. It is part of a collection which is based on a wide ranging programme of research, involving dedicated surveys and interviews across Scotland, Wales and England. The results provide important new evidence on how devolution has been seen to have performed. What are its perceived achievements? What are its shortcomings? Is the new devolution ‘settlement’ stable, or is there a demand for further reform? By bringing together perspectives from the public, members of the devolved legislatures and representatives of civil society, the book establishes a unique picture of where devolution in Britain stands today
‘Trust the messenger’: public trust in sources of information on COVID-19
No full textA key lesson of the coronavirus pandemic was the importance for pro-social behaviour of popular trust in key information sources. Yet existing studies rarely consider the role of people’s trust in a range of different information sources, and the relationship between such trust and particular attitudes and behaviours among individuals. This study goes beyond the general mantra that ‘trust matters’ and explores more specific effects, relating to trust in particular actors and for particular outcomes. Based on a survey fielded on a representative sample of the British population conducted towards the end of the pandemic, we find evidence that people’s coronavirus attitudes and behaviours are particularly related to their trust in scientific experts and, in some cases, to their trust in local councils. However, trust in these actors is not uniformly associated with people’s coronavirus beliefs and actions. This suggests that the link between people's trust and their pro-social attitudes and behaviours is often specific rather than general. The results hold important implications for the design of effective public communication strategies in the event of any future health emergency
‘Follow the Science’: Popular Trust in Scientific Experts During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Full text linkThe coronavirus pandemic increased the role played by scientific advisers in counselling governments and citizens on issues around public health. This raises questions about how citizens evaluate scientists, and in particular the grounds on which they trust them. Previous studies have identified various factors associated with trust in scientists, although few have systematically explored a range of judgements and their relative effects. This study takes advantage of scientific advisers’ heightened public profile during the pandemic to explore how people’s trust in scientists is shaped by perceptions about their features and traits, along with evaluations of their behaviour and role within the decision-making process. The study also considers people’s trust in politicians, thereby identifying whether trust in scientists reflects similar or distinctive considerations to trust in partisan actors. Data are derived from specially-designed conjoint experiments and surveys of nationally representative samples in Britain and the US
Party Competition in Post-devolution Scotland
Full text linkThis thesis investigates the tactical choices political parties make in multi-level settings where a significant regional nationalist party operates. It presents an original account of the strategic options available to parties in that type of setting and then applies that framework to the case study of post-devolution Scotland. It argues that rhetorical strategy constitutes a distinct element in the tactical armoury available to political parties alongside the manipulation of policy position and issue salience. It also puts forward the idea that in circumstances where party competition takes place along a centre-periphery axis of competition alongside the ubiquitous left right one there exist two types of subsuming strategy where party spokespeople justify their party's position on one axis of competition by referencing its position on the other. It argues that there exists a positive subsuming strategy in which the position referenced on both axes is in line with the party's established policy identity and a negative subsuming strategy where one of the positions referenced is at variance with that established identity.It applies this framework via a mixed method analysis of the language used by representatives of the main Scottish parties in sessions of First Ministers Question Time in the Scottish Parliament. In doing so it shows that changes in incumbency position at state-wide and devolved level within the multi-level setting can significantly impact upon the tactical choices political parties make. Similarly whether the next scheduled electoral contest is for the devolved or state-wide tier of government is also shown to have a significant effect.The results of the analysis also demonstrate that the rhetorical justification political actors employ for their policy preferences represents a distinct element in party strategy. It presents evidence to show that this aspect of party strategy can be manipulated separately from policy position and issue salience, and that it can have a significant impact upon public perception regarding the ideological orientation of political parties. This finding extends existing scholarly understanding of how voters make judgements about political parties suggesting that they can respond to changes in rhetorical strategy by revising their judgment regarding to where political parties stand relative to their opponents
The Psychology of Euroscepticism and Brexit Preferences: The Role of Social Attitudes and Implications for National Identification
Full text linkDiscussions about supporting vs. rejecting European supranational governance (i.e., Euroscepticism) have been dominating national conversations for several years in Europe. Although political scientists have written extensively about Euroscepticism, surprisingly little is known about citizens' attitudes towards the general political principles of supranational governance (i.e., supranationalism) that underpin institutions such as the European Union (EU). Addressing this gap, this thesis focusses on the psychology of supranationalism and the psychological implications of events such as Brexit. Specifically, this thesis investigated the psychological factors that relate to opposition to supranational governance, and how it contributes to Euroscepticism and Brexit preferences. Furthermore, this thesis investigated how the unprecedented rejection of European supranational governance (i.e., Brexit) related to British voters' national identities. Chapter 2 reports two cross-sectional studies conducted in the UK that introduced a novel measure of supranationalism and established its psychometric properties and ideological correlates (right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation). Furthermore, supranationalism significantly predicted voters' EU attitudes and Brexit preferences, while controlling for established factors such as national identification and immigration concerns. A third study, reported in chapter 3, replicated these results with samples from the UK, Germany, and Belgium, and showed that supranationalism is relevant to Euroscepticism in- and outside of the UK. Chapter 4 turns attention to the implications of Euroscepticism in the UK and investigated the impact of two anti-EU elections on voters' national identities in three longitudinal studies. Specifically, Studies 4 and 5 showed that electoral losers dis-identified and became more estranged from their country after Brexit in 2016. Study 6 replicated these findings during the Brexit-election in 2019, and further showed that the looming threat of Brexit and voters' inability to influence the political course, were key factors explaining dis-identification and estrangement effects which were stronger among political liberals across all three studies. Overall, this thesis illustrates how Euroscepticism draws on right-wing social attitudes and represents a particular challenge to people on the political left
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