Britain and Europe: The End of the Affair?

2014 ◽  
Vol 113 (761) ◽  
pp. 91-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Matthijs
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
European Policy ◽  
The Core

Through a renegotiation of its own fundamental membership terms, Britain wants to reform Europe from within—but by staying out of the euro it refuses to be at the core of European policy making.

scholarly journals Deepening and Connecting Democratic Processes. The Opportunities and Pitfalls of Mini-Publics in Renewing Democracy

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
Ank Michels ◽  
Harmen Binnema
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Specific Design ◽  
Fundamental Nature ◽  
The Core ◽  
Equal Chance ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Selection Of

In recent decades, so-called “mini-publics” have been organized in many countries to renew policy making and democracy. One characteristic of mini-publics is that the selection of the participants is based on random sampling or sortition. This gives each member of the community an equal chance of being selected. Another feature is that deliberation forms the core of the process of how proposals are developed. In this paper, we investigate the possibilities and challenges of sortition and deliberation in the context of the call for a deepening of democracy and more citizen engagement in policy making. Based on extensive research on citizens’ forums (G1000) in The Netherlands, we show the potential of mini-publics, but a number of shortcomings as well. Some of these are related to the specific design of the G1000, while others are of a more fundamental nature and are due to the contradictory democratic values that deliberative mini-publics try to combine. One of these concerns the tension between the quality of deliberation and political impact. We conclude that combining institutional approaches could be a way out to deal with these tensions and a step forward to both deepen and connect democratic processes.

Reconsidering the state

2020 ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Kate Crowley ◽  
Jenny Stewart ◽  
Adrian Kay ◽  
Brian W. Head
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The State ◽  
Binary Choice ◽  
Policy Effectiveness ◽  
Comparative Public Policy ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
The Core ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Public Policy Analysis

State-centred and society-centred explanations in comparative public policy analysis disagree markedly on the extent to which the state has autonomy or is essentially a clearing-house for outside forces. In this chapter, we reconsider the position of the state in policy studies by investigating the interactions and inter-dependency between the state and society rather than making a binary choice between state-centred and society-centred perspectives on governance. The core argument is that policy studies can improve its ability to apprehend the position of the state in dilemmas of contemporary policy-making by acknowledging that the state is, at once, both critical to collective action and reliant on crucial elements of societal support for its policy effectiveness. In such terms, governance is a useful label for the variety of ways in which society is not simply acted upon by the state, but actively shapes the actions of and outcomes of state activity.

Balancing Identities: How Economic Inequality and Class Affect Work-life Balance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Filippi ◽  
Caterina Suitner ◽  
Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara ◽  
Davide Pirrone ◽  
Mara A. Yerkes
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
European Policy ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Fundamental Part

Work-Life Balance (WLB) is recognized as a fundamental part of people’s well-being and prioritized in European policy making. Until recently, little attention was given to the role of economic inequality in people's inferences of WLB. In Study 1, we experimentally tested and confirmed a) the effect of economic inequality on WLB, and b) the role of status anxiety in mediating this relationship. In Study 2, we provided a replication and advancement of Study 1 by manipulating socioeconomic class in addition to economic inequality. Results showed that in the inequality condition, people expected less WLB through a partial mediation of status anxiety and competitiveness. We also found that class mattered, with economic inequality mainly affecting participants in the low-class condition. In sum, economic inequality enhanced participants’ competitiveness and concern about their social status, which in turn affected WLB. This demonstrates the need for policies promoting WLB in those countries characterized by high inequality.

32. Conclusion: The Future of Parliamentary Politics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Judge ◽  
Cristina Leston-Bandeira ◽  
Louise Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
The Core ◽  
Parliamentary Sovereignty ◽  
The Future ◽  
Parliamentary Politics

This concluding chapter reflects on the future of parliamentary politics by identifying key puzzles implicit in previous discussions which raise fundamental questions about what Parliament is and why it exists. The goal is to determine the ‘predictable unknowns’ as starting points for exploring the future. Three principal puzzles that need ‘hard thinking’ in order to understand legislatures are considered: representation, collective decision-making, and their role in the political system. The chapter also examines the difficulties in reconciling ideas about popular sovereignty and direct public participation with notions of parliamentary sovereignty and indirect public participation in decision-making; the implications of the legislative task of disentangling UK law from EU law in the wake of Brexit for Parliament's recent strengthened scrutiny capacity; and how Parliament has integrated the core principles of representation, consent, and authorization into the legitimation of state policy-making processes and their outputs.

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