Special Issues
63-1 January 2010
Devolution: Ten Years On
Special Issue Editor: James Mitchell
In this special half-issue of Parliamentary Affairs, each author has considered how devolution has developed or, in England's case, has had an impact. What have emerged are three devolved polities which, for different reasons and in varying degrees, were established to depart from the Westminster model.
Table of Contents
Articles in this special issue include:
- The Westminster Model and the State of Unions James Mitchell
- Ten Years of Devolution Bruce Crawford
- The Narcissism of Small Differences: Scotland and Westminster James Mitchell
- Wales and the Westminster Model Alan Trench
- Northern Ireland: The Politics of Constraint Rick Wilford
- The West Lothian Question Vernon Bogdanor
View the table of contents and abstracts of the issue here.
Ordering Information
Click here to order issue 63/1 online.
62-4 October 2009
Charter 88 and the Constitutional Reform Movement: Twenty Years On
Special Issue Editor: David Erdos
This special issue of Parliamentary Affairs looks back at twenty years of effort by Charter 88 and other similar pressure groups to bring about a new democratic constitutionalism in the United Kingdom. The papers address a range of historical, philosophical, analytical, and legal issues from the perspective both of academics who were engaged in the reform activities and those writing from a more dispassionate angle. Specific questions considered include: the intellectual origins of the constitutional reform movement, its ambiguous attitude towards the continuing Europeanization of the UK and its impact on constitutional outcomes both generally and more specifically in relation to the critical issue of electoral reform. These questions are clearly of continuing and indeed heightened relevance given the rejuvenation of constitutional debate following the Brown Government’s Governance White Paper in 2007 and the Conservative Party’s flirtation with reforms such as a British Bill of Rights. This special issue therefore constitutes essential reading for researchers and students of both constitutionalism and British politics. Political activists, MPs, and pressure groups will also find this special issue to be of interest.
This special issue was launched at a free event at Portcullis House, Westminster on 9 December 2009. Special issue editor Dr. David Erdos (Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford), Unlock Democracy, and Oxford Journals hosted an evening of lively discussion and debate on the past, present, and future of UK constitutional reform. Panelists included Ferdinand Mount (who acted as chair), Peter Facey, Director of Unlock Democracy, and Dr. Tony Wright MP, Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee.
Click here for more information about the event, including the panelists' presentations, now available for download.
View the table of contents and abstracts of the special issue here.
Click here to order issue 62/4 online.