scholarly journals “Till debt do us part”: financial implications of the divorce of the Irish Free State from the United Kingdom, 1922–1926

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 818-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Fitzgerald ◽  
Seán Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Financial Stability ◽  
Gross National Product ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Debt ◽  
Domestic Markets ◽  
Financial Gain ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Political Cost ◽  
The Uk

Abstract In this paper, we discuss the apportionment of national debt when Ireland exited the UK in 1922. We estimate that the claim on Ireland amounted to 80 percent of Irish Gross National Product (G.N.P.) and describe how it was ultimately waived at the expense of an unchanged land border with Northern Ireland. While this represents the largest debt relief episode in the twentieth century, the political cost of the agreement exceeded the financial gain in the long run. We find that domestic markets reacted more to political uncertainty than the pending liability, despite the financial stability which resulted from the debt write-down.

Part I Financial Markets, 3 UK Central Banking and Financial Stability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton Guy ◽  
Marsh Andrew
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Central Banking ◽  
Debt Management ◽  
National Debt ◽  
Legal Tender ◽  
Bank Of England ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
William Iii

This chapter talks about the Bank of England as the UK's central bank, which was established in 1694 by a Charter granted by King William III and Queen Mary II under the authority of an Act of Parliament. It explains the principal object of the Act in creating the Bank as a vehicle for raising money for the government. It also discusses how the Bank was closely associated with the raising and management of the national debt since its inception, which is a function that the Bank retained until the creation of the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) in 1998. This chapter highlights how the Bank raised money by issuing of banknotes, which became widely used as a convenient means of making large—value payments. It points out that the Bank of England notes were not formally legal tender until 1833.

Denmark and the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-141
Author(s):  
Agnes Cornell ◽  
Jørgen Møller ◽  
Svend-Erik Skaaning
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Interwar Era ◽  
Civil Societies

Denmark and the United Kingdom are analyzed in-depth as examples of clear positive cases, i.e. surviving democracies with substantial democratic legacies and vibrant associational landscapes. The two case studies show how Denmark and the UK had developed consolidated democracies on the eve of the interwar era. These democracies were bolstered by broad acceptance of democratic procedures among elites and masses as well as strong parties interlaced with lively civil societies. The result of this combination was political regimes, which were immune to the political radicalization of the day. Antidemocratic movements and parties found preciously little support, the established parties remained loyal to democracy, and they came together to strike political agreements in order to counter economic crisis and anti-democratic mobilization in the 1930s. The evidence offered by these case studies thus provide additional support for our theoretical mechanisms.

On the Political Economy of Long-Run Trends in Strike Activity

1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Hibbs
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Coal Miners ◽  
Strike Activity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
General Strike

Outbursts of strike activity in many industrial societies during the late 1960s and early 1970s focused considerable attention on relations between labour, capital and the state in advanced capitalist systems and led to many inquiries into the sources of the ‘new’ labour militancy. The events of May–June 1968 in France, the ‘hot autumn’ of 1969 in Italy, and the nation-wide strikes of the coal miners in 1972 and 1974 in the United Kingdom (the first since the great General Strike of 1926) are the most dramatic examples, but sharp upturns in strike activity in Canada (1969, 1972), Finland (1971), the United States (1970) and smaller strike waves in other nations also contributed to the surge of interest in labour discontent.

A Century of Fiscal Squeeze Politics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hood ◽  
Rozana Himaz
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Marked Reduction ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Financial Outcomes ◽  
Political Cost ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
The Uk

Contributing to the literature on austerity, this book identifies and compares episodes of ‘fiscal squeeze’ (that is, substantial efforts to cut public spending and/or raise taxes) in the UK over a century from 1900 to 2015. It looks at how different the politics of fiscal squeeze and austerity is today from what it was a century ago, ways in which fiscal squeeze can reshape the state, leading to new ways of organizing government or providing services, and at how political credit and blame play out in the aftermath of fiscal squeeze. The analysis is both quantitative and qualitative, starting with reported financial outcomes and then looking at the political choices and processes that lie behind those outcomes to identify patterns and puzzles that have not been recognized or explained adequately so far in received theory. Thus the book identifies a long-term shift from deep but short-lived episodes of spending restraint or tax increases in the earlier part of the century towards episodes in which the pain is spread out over a longer period during the latter part of the century. It also identifies a marked reduction of revenue-led squeezes in the last part of the century. Analysing fiscal squeeze both in terms of reported outcomes and a qualitative analysis of loss imposition, political cost to incumbents and state, helps to solve a puzzle in the literature about the electoral effects of austerity and apparently erratic voter ‘punishment’ of governments that impose austerity policies.

Public concerns will slow EU and UK privatisation

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Cost ◽  
Current Leadership ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Public Concerns

Subject Privatisation moves. Significance The UK Labour Party reaffirmed its objective of renationalising several privatised utilities and taking over projects funded by public-private partnerships at its September 24-27 annual party conference. The plan to shift back to public ownership has proved contentious with business as indicative of hostility to the private sector but popular with the public which associates privatisation with higher prices and poorer service quality. Impacts Renationalisation would be likely to use up much of a future Labour government’s political capital. The political cost would be regarded by Labour’s current leadership and its supporters as a price worth paying to honour a defining pledge. While renationalisation would be symbolic, the fortunes of such a government would depend more on its handling of the economy.

Populist politics and democracy in the UK: implications for community development

2020 ◽  
pp. 165-186
Author(s):  
Keith Popple
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Political Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Finance Capitalism

This chapter outlines how British populist politics, and in particular right-wing populist politics, has had significant implications for communities, for the theory and practice of community development, and for those presently involved in the activity in the United Kingdom, where it has suffered substantial financial cutbacks. The outcome of the austerity measures that has led to the contemporary presence of populism in the UK has been a mounting dissatisfaction and a general lack of trust in politics amongst millions in the country. This, together with a hangover from the 'parliamentary expenses scandal' that involved members from both Houses of Parliament, has created a marked degree of scepticism about the workings of the British electoral system. Further, there has been a growing lack of confidence in the system of neoliberal globalised finance capitalism that has left countless communities poorer and economically less secure. People's anger and frustration with these actions have been harnessed by the political right, which during the 2016 Referendum debate focused on the impact of immigration on communities. The chapter then notes the unique elements of community development and reflects on the role it can play in these challenging times. It argues that community development now requires greater funding and recognition while reconceptualising itself in a more radical manner.

scholarly journals Czy parlament może zmienić mężczyznę w kobietę? Granice i miejsce zasady supremacji parlamentu w brytyjskim porządku konstytucyjnym wobec europejskich procesów integracyjnych (wybrane problemy)

2018 ◽  
pp. 71-82
Author(s):  
Marcin Łukaszewski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Constitutional Principle ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
The Uk

The political system of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is of interest to researchers for several reasons. One of the most important motivations certainly involves the unique construction of its Constitution, the content of which is not formulated in a single legal act of a supreme status. This unwritten Constitution encompasses at least four parts. The most important part is undoubtedly constituted by one of three principles of the political system, namely the principle of the sovereignty (omnipotence) of parliament. This principle, which is regarded as a constitutional principle by some and as a principle above the Constitution by others, constitutes the core of British constitutional law. The topic of this paper is an attempt to indicate the boundaries of this principle in the British constitutional order and to place it in relation to remaining principles. The boundaries of this principle have been considered by British constitutionalists on numerous occasions. Considerations on the relation of this principle to the remaining elements of the Constitution have been the subject of interest for courts of law, including the House of Lords, which used to function as the court of last instance in judicial proceedings prior to the 2005 reform. It is worth emphasizing that even the lords/judges frequently disagreed on the boundaries of the principle and even on whether the principle can be examined by any court. There were also views that the principle is only a virtual construct, and even if it had ever applied to the political system at all, it can no longer be referred to, given contemporary European integration processes. The complicated combination of elements of the British constitution with the presence of the United Kingdom in the structures of the European Council and European Union (preceded by the European Community) have produced a number of interpretations of the principle of the omnipotence of the parliament in the new political reality the UK has found itself in. It was the adoption of the European Communities Act 1972, followed several decades later by the adoption of the European Union Act 2011 that led to the discussion on the construction of the British Constitution and either the approval or rejection of the concept that the Constitution of the United Kingdom with its meta-principle should be interpreted anew.

scholarly journals Unintended repercussions of Brexit? The departure of skilled Germans from Britain after the referendum

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Stawarz ◽  
Nils Witte
Keyword(s):  
Panel Study ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Return Migrants ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Legal Consequences ◽  
The Eu

Although the referendum on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union—better known by its portmanteau Brexit—had no immediate legal consequences for migrants, the changed public atmosphere and looming consequences for their status are creating uncertainty among migrants in the UK. This article analyses the impact of Brexit on Germans who lived in the UK and returned to Germany in 2017/18. Our analysis relies on the first wave of the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS), a novel probability-based sample of German return migrants from the EU member countries. The results show that more than half of German return migrants from the UK are strongly affected by Brexit. Furthermore, those who returned on account of Brexit are more likely to blame the political situation, the lack of social security, and their dissatisfaction with life in their host country than those who did not return on account of Brexit – or than those returning from other EU15 member countries. In sum, our results indicate that Brexit may have the unintended consequence of driving out skilled and socio-culturally more integrated migrants who had been living in the UK for several years.

scholarly journals Challenges and impossibilities of ‘standing alongside’ in an intolerable context: Learning from refugees and volunteers in the Calais camp

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Burck ◽  
Gillian Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberation Psychology ◽  
Humanitarian Crisis ◽  
Context Learning ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Narrative Practice ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Narrative Framework

This article describes the experience of setting up a psychosocial and therapeutic support project in the French Calais refugee camp, by a group of family therapists and clinical psychologists from the United Kingdom. This came about in response to reports of a humanitarian crisis unfolding on our doorstep, with the British government’s lack of support for the growing numbers of refugees gathering along the UK border with France. The project involved working alongside other agencies in the camp to provide psychosocial and resilience-based therapeutic support to unaccompanied young people, women, children and their families and also to many volunteers in the camp. The process of setting up the work is described, as well as the challenges and dilemmas of offering an intervention in extremely unsafe and insanitary conditions, where for most the experience of trauma was ongoing. The project was informed by systemic–narrative practice and community/liberation psychology, which incorporate the political and social context. A narrative framework offered a way of drawing on people’s strengths and resources, rooted in their cultural and social histories and helping them connect with preferred identities, which we found to be essential in the context of ongoing crisis.

scholarly journals Disability and political representation: Analysing the obstacles to elected office in the UK

2020 ◽  
pp. 019251212094745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Evans ◽  
Stefanie Reher
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
European Population ◽  
The Political ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Recruitment Process ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Political Recruitment ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Elected Office

Around one-sixth of the European population have a disability, yet there are few self-declared disabled politicians. Despite scholarly and political interest in the under-representation of various social groups, little attention has been paid to disabled people. This article identifies and analyses the barriers to elected office faced by disabled people by drawing upon interviews with 51 candidates and elected politicians in the United Kingdom. It reveals barriers which occur throughout the political recruitment process, from initial participation to selection and the election campaign. They broadly fall into: (a) a lack of accessibility, including the built environment and documents; (b) a lack of resources to make events and activities accessible; and (c) ableism, including openly expressed prejudices but also a lack of awareness and willingness to make processes inclusive. While people with different impairments encounter some distinct barriers, all of them have similar experiences of obstacles and exclusion which go beyond those faced by people from other under-represented groups seeking elected office.

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