scholarly journals The Scottish Parliament Election 2016: Another Momentous Event but Dull Campaign

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cairney
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Scottish Parliament ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Scottish Independence

The Scottish Parliament election in 2016 produced two surprising results: it represents a reversal of SNP/ Labour party fortunes so complete that we now take it for granted, but the SNP did not achieve a widely-expected majority; and, the huge surge of support for the Scottish Conservatives was enough to make it (easily) the second largest party. A mistaken sense of inevitability of the result – another SNP majority – helped produce a dull campaign and keep alive the prospect of a second referendum on Scottish independence. This article has four main sections: putting the 2016 election in recent historical context; considering the implications of consistently high SNP support on the constitution; highlighting key issues in the election campaign; and, examining the SNP's policy agenda from 2016.

The Annals of the Parish: Referendum Year 2014

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Eberhard Bort
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Top Down ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Scottish Parliament ◽  
National Conversation ◽  
Scottish Independence

The decisive No vote in the Scottish independence referendum on 18 September 2014 was not a vote for the constitutional status quo, although it confirmed that Scotland would remain part of the United Kingdom. The referendum outcome is likely to have far-reaching consequences for the power relations between London and Edinburgh and, perhaps more than expected, for the constitutional future of the entire UK. A tight timetable for the delivery of extra powers for the Scottish Parliament is in place, and the ‘elephant in the room’, the constitutional status and governance of England, is now firmly on the agenda. There is also pressure for decentralisation in Scotland itself. And the huge ‘democratic awakening’ which characterised this ‘national conversation’ about Scotland's future, with massive democratic participation and a record turnout, demands that these changes will have to be brought about in a participative way – and not ‘top-down’, as a Westminster or Holyrood ‘stitch-up’.

The contours and issues of contemporary apologetics

2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-237
Author(s):  
Michael Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Faith And Reason ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Trinity

In this article, I examine five important components of the apologetic enterprise. Specifically, based on two biblical examples, I note that apologetics occurs within particular and broad cultural contexts, addresses perennial religious and philosophical concerns, involves defending diverse Christian traditions, and sometimes necessitates clarification or even development of theological insights. I also discuss several key issues facing contemporary apologists, issues arising from our own modern and now postmodern historical context. Among those issues are concerns over how religious knowledge may be accrued, how faith and reason relate, whether God’s existence or nature can be established by reason, whether it is reasonable to believe miracles have happened or are even possible, whether the Bible is trustworthy, how science and Christianity relate, whether core doctrines of Christianity—like the Incarnation or the Trinity—are coherent, why God allows evil, and how Christianity and other religions interrelate. By describing these various features of apologetics, I hope to aid the reader in seeing the complex and intricate nature of the contemporary Christian apologetic task.

The total archive: Data, subjectivity, universality

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Jardine ◽  
Matthew Drage
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Archive Data

The complete system of knowledge is a standard trope of science fiction, a techno-utopian dream and an aesthetic ideal. It is Solomon’s House, the Encyclopaedia and the Museum. It is also an ideology – of Enlightenment, High Modernism and absolute governance. Far from ending the dream of a total archive, 20th-century positivist rationality brought it ever closer. From Paul Otlet’s ‘Mundaneum’ to Mass-Observation, from the Unity of Science movement to Wikipedia, the dream of universal knowledge dies hard. As a political tool, the total archive encompasses population statistics, gross domestic product, indices of the Standard of Living and the international ideology of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Health Organization, the free market and, most recently, Big Data. Questions of the total archive engage key issues in the philosophy of classification, the poetics of the universal, the ideology of surveillance and the technologies of information retrieval. What are the social structures and political dynamics required to sustain total archives, and what are the temporalities implied by such projects? This introduction and the articles that follow describe and place in historical context a series of concrete instances of totality. Our analysis is arranged according to four central themes: the relationship between the Archive (singular) and archives (plural); the image of the archive and the aesthetics of totality; pathologies of accumulation; and the specific historical trajectory of the total archive in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Visual War: A Content Analysis of Clinton and Trump Subreddits During the 2016 Campaign

2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent J. Hale ◽  
Maria Elizabeth Grabe
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Major Party ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Self Presentations ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

U.S. political party genderization (Republicans as masculine; Democrats as feminine) is well-documented in research. To determine if Hillary Clinton may have disrupted these patterns as the first female major-party presidential nominee, Reddit posts during the 2016 election campaign were analyzed. Most studies focus on professional news or candidate self-presentations concocted by image handlers. We departed from this tradition, focusing on (a) gender qualities that Redditors assign to candidates on this platform and (b) statistical tracking of these patterns over time. The results provide insight into how the electorate presented the two candidates and Donald Trump’s largely unexpected victory.

scholarly journals Early Childhood Education and Care in England under Austerity: Continuity or Change in Political Ideas, Policy Goals, Availability, Affordability and Quality in a Childcare Market?

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
JANE LEWIS ◽  
ANNE WEST
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Incremental Change ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Children's Development

AbstractProvision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in England is highly marketised. Since 2010, when the Labour Party lost power to a Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition, followed by a Conservative victory in 2015, there has been a strong austerity agenda. It is therefore surprising that ECEC has continued to be supported and expanded. However, we show that policies to address the three key issues of availability, affordability and quality have undergone significant incremental change in response to shifting emphases between the two main goals of increasing children's development and mothers' employment, together with a much firmer orientation towards the importance of growing the childcare market.

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Source Monitoring

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen J. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Source Monitoring ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Multiple Features ◽  
Neural Architecture ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Neuroimaging Techniques

Source monitoring is a metamemory function that includes processes for encoding and organizing the content of memories, and processes that selectively revive, cumulate, and evaluate that content in the service of making attributions about the origin of the information (e.g., perception vs imagination). Neuroimaging techniques, especially functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), are encouraging rapid developments in understanding the neural mechanisms supporting source monitoring. This chapter reviews current findings, placing them in historical context. It highlights key issues of particular relevance, including: neural reinstatement—the match between brain activity at encoding and later remembering; the role of lateral parietal cortex in cumulating multiple features and attending to information during remembering; functional specificity of the prefrontal cortex with respect to cognitive control; and identifying functional networks that support source monitoring. Suggestions are made for clarifying the big picture and increasing the specificity of our understanding of source monitoring and its neural architecture.

Economic prospects may boost Dutch mainstream parties

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Healthcare Provision ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Eu

Subject Political and economic consequences of austerity in the Netherlands. Significance The popularity of the Dutch governing parties has declined steadily since they came into power in 2012. The absolute winner in the polls continues to be the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders. There are signs, however, that mainstream parties are coming back into favour, thanks to a combination of promising economic prospects and relatively stable immigration levels. Impacts The EU, healthcare provision, integration and care of the elderly are likely to be key themes during the election campaign. Calls for a referendum on the withdrawal of the Netherlands from the EU -- a 'Nexit' -- are likely to intensify. Prospects for the Labour Party in the next election will depend on whom the party elects as its leader.

Scottish government launches fresh independence push

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Intent To Stay ◽  
National Party ◽  
Single Issue ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Scottish National Party ◽  
Scottish Parliament ◽  
Scottish Government ◽  
Scottish Independence ◽  
European Family

Subject Scottish independence drive. Significance Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon launched a fresh independence drive on April 28. Speaking at the spring conference of her Scottish National Party (SNP) in Edinburgh, she said it was “Scotland’s intent to stay part of the European family of nations”. The conference saw delegates back plans for an independent Scottish currency, the declaration of a climate emergency and the establishment of a non-party Citizens’ Assembly to generate debate about Scotland’s future. Impacts The SNP’s anti-Brexit stance and efforts to help EU citizens will bolster migrant communities’ support for both the party and independence. A major non-party, grassroots march in Glasgow on May 4 kicked off a new programme of demonstrations to raise independence support. The 20-year anniversary of the opening of the Scottish Parliament in July will drive further debate and reflection on Scotland’s future. Unionist parties will focus increasingly on the single issue of rejecting independence to galvanise their support.

scholarly journals Overcoming being Overwhelmed in the Trump Era

2017 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 49-51
Author(s):  
Navyug Gill
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Strategy ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Political Spectrum

This piece offers a teaching strategy to help students overcome the sense of being overwhelmed by the 2016 election and its immediate aftermath. I emphasize the importance of understanding Trump in a broader historical context yet with a sharper analytical focus. By attending to the specificity of language, separating policy from rhetoric, and recognizing the limitations of the current political spectrum, students learn to avoid the pitfalls of caricature and exceptionality. Ultimately this empowers them to imagine and engage in a wider, more creative and transformative world of politics. 

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