scholarly journals Schmitt, Dicey, and the power and limits of referendums in the United Kingdom

Legal Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Matt Qvortrup ◽  
Leah Trueblood

Abstract Carl Schmitt and AV Dicey are two of history's most influential constitutional theorists, and they offer two of history's most influential accounts of referendums. In most respects, their approaches to referendums are in direct opposition to each other. On Schmitt's view, the purpose of referendums is to acclaim executive actors. On Dicey's view, the role of referendums is to constrain them. Despite disagreeing about whether referendums should acclaim or constrain the executive, Schmitt and Dicey agree that an agenda-setting role for representatives in referendums is inevitable. This paper argues that, in the UK context, if Schmitt and Dicey are right about the necessary agenda-setting power of representatives in referendums, then the accounts of referendums they each offer must be two sides of the same coin. Given the dominance of the executive over the legislature in the UK and the uncodified nature of the constitution, referendums are processes that necessarily both acclaim and limit the executive.

Author(s):  
Karla Perez Portilla

This article is a theoretical analysis aimed at articulating the harm caused by media (mis)representation, and at showing existing ways in which this harm can be contested. The approaches analysed are largely from the United Kingdom. However, the issues they raise are not unique and the models explored are potentially transferable. The examples cover a range of media, including British right-wing press, television and Facebook; and characteristics protected by equality legislation in the UK such as sex, sexual orientation, race, religion and mental health stigma. Crucially, all the initiatives presented demonstrate the group-based nature of media (mis)representations, which cannot be understood and, therefore, cannot be addressed through individualistic approaches. Therefore, the article concludes that the role of groups as the targets of media (mis)representation and as potential claimants should be fully acknowledged and enabled.


1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. O'Brien ◽  
W. C. Shaw

The role of dental and orthodontic auxiliaries in Europe and the United States is reviewed, and the advantages of their employment in the United Kingdom are discussed in terms of increasing the cost-effectiveness of orthodontic treatment provision. A three-stage programme for the evaluation of Orthodontic Auxiliaries in the UK is proposed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-130
Author(s):  
John Hatchard

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (the OECD Convention) entered into force on 15 February 1999. As at 31 May 2017, there were 41 State Parties (the Parties) comprising the thirty-five OECD member countries and six non-member countries.The United Kingdom (UK) ratified the Convention in 1998. The OECD Convention is supplemented by the Revised Recommendations of the Council of the OECD on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions (the 2009 Recommendations),Annex I of which contains “Good Practice Guidance on Implementing Specific Articles of the Convention.”In March 2017, the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions (the WGB) published its Phase 4 Report on the United Kingdom’s implementation of the OECD Convention (Phase 4 Report).Having provided a short background section on the scope of the OECD Convention and the role of the WGB, the following section will review some of the key recommendations contained in the Phase 4 Report. In the final section, an assessment is made as to how well the UK is doing with regard to the implementation of its OECD Convention obligations.   


2021 ◽  
pp. 611-639
Author(s):  
Nick Barlow ◽  
Tim Bale

This chapter examines the United Kingdom’s sole post-war coalition government and how it interacted with the Westminster Model’s assumption of single-party government. It looks at the issue from two perspectives: firstly, how much the usual processes of single-party government changed to accommodate two parties in government, and secondly, how David Cameron’s Conservatives and Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats worked together as parties in government in ways that fitted with the expectations of the Westminster Model. It examines this single example of coalition government in its political and historical contexts, exploring why a coalition occurred in 2010 and how it managed to continue in office for a full parliamentary term. The chapter begins with the comparatively swift process of negotiation through which the coalition was formed, then proceeds to look at how the expectations of that negotiation survived contact with the actual processes of government. It concludes by examining what the procedural and political impacts of the coalition on the UK have been, including the role of the coalition’s Fixed-Term Parliament Act on the stability of it and future governments.


Author(s):  
Rhona Smith

Abstract With headlines referencing ‘U.N.ACCEPTABLE Clueless UN official’, ‘“loopy” UN inspector’ and ‘UN meddler’, it is clear that UN special procedure mandate holders can be subjected to negative national press coverage when visiting the United Kingdom. Indeed, some media outlets border on vitriolic in their coverage of mandate holders’ visits and reports. This paper argues that a number of misconceptions and misunderstandings explain some of this media coverage. UN special procedure mandate holders are not employed by the UN, nor are they dispatched by the UN to investigate the UK. Rather they are independent and receive no payment for their time or work. Actual visits are funded from the UN general budget and the UK is not alone being examined and critiqued. In explaining some of the misconceptions and misunderstandings, the paper clarifies the role of special rapporteurs and the contribution they make to the UN.


2020 ◽  
Vol 321 ◽  
pp. 01006
Author(s):  
Martin Jackson

The paper presents highlights of the titanium alloy research developments since Ti-2015 (San Diego). The review underlines the strong and collaborative fundamental research conducted at UK universities through strategic government sponsored programmes. The role of advanced characterisation and modelling techniques in order to better understand the effects of deformation, fatigue loading and environment on titanium alloys continues to be world leading. Researchers in the UK are also continuing to develop a range of new alloys, methods of extraction and emerging near net shape processes via casting, powder and wire-fed routes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Fracalossi de Moraes

ABSTRACT In 1964, the UK government imposed an arms embargo on South Africa, which it maintained until the end of the white minority rule. What explains this embargo? Using mainly archival evidence, this paper demonstrates that domestic political dynamics in the United Kingdom mediated the influence of the transnational anti-apartheid and anti-colonial struggles on the British government. The United Kingdom imposed and maintained this embargo due in part to a domestic advocacy network, whose hub was the Anti-Apartheid Movement. The paper provides a comprehensive explanation of an important issue in British foreign policy, the anti-colonial struggle, and Southern Africa's history. There are theoretical implications for foreign policy analysis concerning the role of advocacy networks, interactions between local and global activism, the role of political parties’ ideology and contestation, the effects on foreign policy of changes in a normative environment, the effects of norm contestation, and normative determinants of sanctions.


2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOWARD GLENNERSTER

AbstractThe distribution of wealth is widening in many countries and with it the growing importance of inherited wealth. In 1974, a Labour Government came to power in the United Kingdom committed to introducing an annual wealth tax. It left office without doing so. Using the official archives of the time and those of a key advisor this paper traces both the origins of the policy and its fate at the hands of the civil service. It explores two related questions. What does this experience tell us about the role of the civil service in the policy process in the UK and what lessons might be learned by those wishing to tackle the issue of widening wealth disparities today?


Author(s):  
John Feather ◽  
Suzanne Lockyer ◽  
Graham Matthews ◽  
Adrienne Muir

This paper describes and analyses the major organizations involved in library and archive preservation in the UK and Ireland, and puts them in their international context. The work was based on a questionnaire survey and interviews with stakeholders, as part of a wider review of the role of the National Preservation Office. It is concluded that the complexity has led to some confusion, and that there is a lack of coordination which needs to be resolved.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 403-413
Author(s):  
Jane Welbourn ◽  
David Devins ◽  
Martin Reynolds

This article offers an early assessment of the extent and scope of participation by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Degree Apprenticeship (DA) provision for meeting the broader workforce development objectives of the UK Government. While the take-up of DAs by HEIs and businesses has been undeniably lower than the publicly declared Government targets, the issues seem to be related to matters of institutional ‘stickiness’ in HEIs and implementation practicalities for businesses. The article reflects on the institutional dynamics involved in HEIs’ collective shifting of their practice in response to Government intervention to associate funding with HE–business collaboration. The authors’ observations are drawn from the experience of one HEI; they adopt an auto-ethnographic perspective to reflect on the role of the DA model as one way of stimulating how HEIs can work with businesses to co-design workforce development initiatives and offer ideas for future development.


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