Public service interpreting and the politics of entitlement for new entrants to the United Kingdom

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Tipton
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
New Entrants ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines the function and perception of public service interpreting provision in contemporary Britain against the backdrop of conflict that has emerged in media and political circles as a result of the spiralling cost of such provision. Using an approach based on critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2000, 2003; Fowler 1991) the article begins by examining a corpus of media reports in which the twin societal aims of community cohesion and integration are often seen as being hindered by translation and interpreting services. The issue of whether interpreting services play or should play a role in integration and cohesion amidst the ongoing processes of welfare reform in Britain is then examined and contrasted with a broader understanding of welfare that foregrounds the role of public service interpreting in the processes of resettlement and socialisation. The discussion also considers the relationship between public service interpreting, welfare reform and status of language services as a welfare entitlement for new entrants.

A Problem Shared? The Role of the Public in the Legitimation of Policy: A Case Study of Gendered Welfare Change in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Richards-Gray
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Disadvantaged Women ◽  
Welfare Change

Abstract This article argues that shared problematizations—shared political and public ways of thinking—legitimize policies and their outcomes. To support this argument, it examines the legitimation of gendered welfare reform in the recent U.K. context. Drawing on focus groups with the public, it provides evidence that the public’s problematization of welfare, specifically that reform was necessary to “make work pay” and “restore fairness”, aligned with that of politicians. It argues that the assumptions and silences underpinning this shared problematization, especially silences relating to the value and necessity of care, have allowed for welfare policies that have disadvantaged women.

Pronominalization of Social Actors on Universities’ Websites: Effectiveness and Constitutiveness from a Critical Discourse Analysis Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 184
Author(s):  
Selvarajah Tharmalingam ◽  
Ali M. Al-Wedyan
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
Class 1 ◽  
Vice Chancellors

<p class="1"><span lang="EN-GB">Discursive construction of staff identities at universities’ websites is deliberately created to categorically identify the staff according to their positions. The constructions of these identities are normally implicit in nature. The study attempts to identify the power relations with regard to the ‘WE’ and ‘I’ dichotomy in discourse from a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) perspective. In addition, corpus techniques also aided this study to find the collocates of these two pronouns. Transitivity analysis was conducted to categorise processes associated with each pronoun. So, the processes associated with each pronoun are a way of identifying the role played at the institution level. The focus was on specific personal pronouns ‘We’ and ‘I’ for their use, mainly, as inclusive and exclusive strategies. The data was collected from international universities’ websites. The text was selected from the ‘welcome note/letter’ by Rectors, Vice Rectors, Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, and Presidents. The universities selected for this study are from various geographical areas, namely; Universiti Science Malaysia (USM) in Malaysia, Yarmouk University (YU) in Jordan, and University of Birmingham (UB) in the United Kingdom. The analysis indicates that the use of the pronouns has a social and administrative hierarchical significance. The social actors are represented according to the specified role to play in their respective institutions.</span></p>

Regional Parties and National Politics in Europe

2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 657-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
WILLIAM B. HELLER
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Regional Parties ◽  
Nationalist Party ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Popular Party ◽  
The Relationship

Parties participate in national politics that do not pretend to national presence. The author asks whether such parties affect policy outcomes and concludes that they do, albeit in unexpected ways. Basically, nonnational parties influence policy making under certain conditions by trading policy for authority. They help national parties get the policies they want in return for transfers of policy-making authority to regional governments. This willingness to support national policies with minimal amendment makes regional parties attractive partners for national parties in government. The author examines this argument in light of detailed evidence from Spain's minority Socialist and Popular Party governments in the 1990s, along with discussions of the role of regionalism in Belgian politics and of the relationship between the Scottish Nationalist Party and the Labour Party in the United Kingdom.

Misconceptions and Misrepresentation: Challenging UK Media Reports of Recent Visits of UN Special Procedures

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhona Smith
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Press Coverage ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Special Procedure ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
The Uk

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.

scholarly journals Climate Emergency: UK Universities' Declarations and Their Role in Responding to Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briony Latter ◽  
Stuart Capstick
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Promotional Material ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
University Of Bristol ◽  
The University

On April 17, 2019, the University of Bristol became the first university in the United Kingdom (UK) to declare a climate emergency. Against a backdrop of high visibility and public concern about climate change, as well as climate emergency declarations from other sectors, another 36 UK universities followed suit over the next year. This paper explores what these climate emergency declarations show about how UK universities are responding to climate change and wider sustainability concerns, as well as how they view and present themselves in relation to this. Critical Discourse Analysis of the declarations allowed for in-depth scrutiny of the purpose and wider social context of the documents, demonstrating that they function as promotional statements, as presenting a collective voice, and showing a commitment from the universities to action. We argue that while these provide the potential for advancing sustainability within the sector, the tendency to use declarations as publicity and promotional material does detract from new commitments and action. The research contributes to the discussion around the role of universities as institutions with a responsibility both to act on climate change and to shape the broader societal response to it. It also provides insights as to how future research can evaluate universities in relation to their commitments and strategies, and provides suggestions to help ensure they live up to the promises and intentions that they have publicly made.

scholarly journals The status of English in the EU institutions after Brexit: A discursive analysis of selected press articles

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-25
Author(s):  
Albert Guziak
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Status ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Eu

The aim of this article is to find out what the status of English, currently the primary working language within the EU institutions, might look like once the United Kingdom leaves the EU structures. To that end, this paper will analyse a selection of press articles. Although the manner in which the so-called Brexit will take place is still uncertain, a diverse range of opinions and prognostications on what will happen to English is being expressed publicly, taking into consideration many factors (political, sociological and purely linguistic) which may contribute to a possible scenario or scenarios. This article does not lay claim to submitting any firm or reliable vision of the future as none such exists elsewhere. This paper intends to analyze some discursive strategies employed by the authors of the articles to place the discussed subject into a discursive framework by using tools of critical discourse analysis which mainly focus on the relation of power and language.

The Secularisation of the British Constitution

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Rivers
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Individual Liberty ◽  
Minimal Impact ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Relationship

In recent years, the relationship between law and religion has been subject to increased scholarly interest. In part this is the result of new laws protecting religious liberty and non-discrimination, and it may be that overall levels of litigation have increased as well. In all this activity, there are signs that the relationship between law and religion is changing. While unable to address every matter of detail, this article seeks to identify the underlying themes and trends. It starts by suggesting that the constitutional settlement achieved by the end of the nineteenth century has often been overlooked, religion only appearing in the guise of inadequately theorised commitments to individual liberty and equality. The article then considers the role of multiculturalism in promoting recent legal changes. However, the new commitment to multiculturalism cannot explain a number of features of the law: the minimal impact of the Human Rights Act 1998, the uncertain effect of equality legislation, an apparent rise in litigation in established areas of law and religion, and some striking cases in which acts have been found to be unlawful in surprising ways. In contrast, the article proposes a new secularisation thesis. The law is coming to treat religions as merely recreational and trivial. This has the effect of reducing the significance of religion as a matter of conscience, as legal system and as a context for public service. As a way of managing the ever-deepening forms of religious diversity present within the United Kingdom, such a secularisation strategy is implausible.1

scholarly journals Translation and Political Discourse

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mátyás Bánhegyi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe paper describes the text linguistic research of political texts in the field of Translation Studies and presents an overview of critical discourse analysis-based studies. First, the relationship between text, power and ideology and its implications on the role of translation are explored. This is followed by a review of a number of studies on the translation of political texts and on the power relations involved. The paper classifies such studies into the following six categories representing distinct research fields: translators' professional roles and politics; translators acting as mediators in situations of political conflict; translators' professional responsibilities and the strategies they apply; the inference of translators' own historical, social and cultural backgrounds; manipulation in the translation of literary texts and other text types; and critical discourse awareness in Translation Studies. The most recent studies in the above research fields and their results are also presented. It is concluded that these approaches exhibit quite varied research methods and their results are almost impossible to compare. With a view to the future development of this research field, it seems expedient to introduce a unified research theory, method and tool.

scholarly journals Cultural sustainability: A perspective from independent libraries in the United Kingdom and the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062199282
Author(s):  
Kirsten Loach ◽  
Jennifer Rowley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Sustainability ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Organisational Values ◽  
Sustainability Policy ◽  
The Relationship

As organisations that collect and maintain cultural artefacts, independent libraries make important contributions to cultural sustainability. Surfacing and elaborating on these contributions has the potential to establish their value to wider sustainable development agendas. However, sustainability policy and research across the gallery, library, archive and museum sectors tends to focus on environmental, social and economic concerns. The small number of studies that do consider cultural sustainability tend to focus on the role of galleries, libraries, archives and museums in heritage preservation, without consideration of their role in sustaining culture through the three other key areas of preserving and promoting cultural identity, cultural diversity and cultural vitality. In addition, previous studies do not consider the role of culture in enabling sustainability at an organisational level. Complementing previous research on the relationship between museums and cultural sustainability (conducted in Australia, Cyprus and Romania), this study seeks to expand understanding of the relationship between galleries, libraries, archives and museums and cultural sustainability in the context of the independent library sectors in the United Kingdom and the United States. Semi-structured interviews conducted with professionals from independent libraries in both countries employed a card-based game method to explore the key areas of cultural sustainability in which their organisations can contribute. Interviews also explored the challenges associated with achieving organisational sustainability, together with the organisational values that impact the sustainability of independent libraries. The research identifies a series of supportive and conflicting relationships between the contributions that independent libraries make to each of the four key areas of cultural sustainability, as well as the organisational values that can inhibit or assist organisational sustainability. Resulting in a framework to assist in the management of internal organisational sustainability and contributions to external cultural sustainability agendas in independent libraries, it provides a new perspective to support understanding of the relationship between galleries, libraries, archives and museums and cultural sustainability.

The Role of Academics in the Legal System

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Twining ◽  
Ward Farnsworth ◽  
Stefan Vogenauer ◽  
Tesón Fernando
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
System P ◽  
The Relationship

This article considers the ways in which legal scholars relate to and participate in practical legal affairs. The discussion covers audiences and influence of legal scholars in the United Kingdom; the relationship between the American legal academy and the institutions; civil law systems; the nature of international legal scholarship; and the influence of international legal scholars on international law.

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