STORRE Collection: Electronic copies of History and Politics journal articles.Electronic copies of History and Politics journal articles.http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2142024-03-29T00:25:27Z2024-03-29T00:25:27ZRecasting the state: The Scottish National Party and the Nieuw‐Vlaamse AlliantieBrown Swan, Coreehttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/358302024-03-07T01:06:37Z2022-12-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Recasting the state: The Scottish National Party and the Nieuw‐Vlaamse Alliantie
Author(s): Brown Swan, Coree
Abstract: In 2014, voters in Scotland and Flanders were faced with a choice which would shape the constitutional future of their respective nations as well as that of the British and Belgian states. The Scottish National Party and the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie sought different types of self-government, but their proposals were made in response to the embedding state. This article analyses the messaging of each party, determining that both discursively use the state – as concept and as institution – in similar ways. Both acknowledge the interdependence inherent to governance in the twenty-first century, but argue that self-government remains necessary. They also use the perceived failings of the state to make their case for self-government. However, there are important, albeit subtle, areas of variation, reflecting both the nature of each party’s self-government goals and their strategies in pursuit of them.2022-12-01T00:00:00Z'We Can’t Afford to be a Branch Office’: The Territorial Dynamics of the British Labour PartyBrown Swan, CoreeKenny, Michaelhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/358292024-03-07T01:06:27Z2024-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: 'We Can’t Afford to be a Branch Office’: The Territorial Dynamics of the British Labour Party
Author(s): Brown Swan, Coree; Kenny, Michael
Abstract: Despite having delivered devolution, the British Labour Party has faced significant challenges in adapting to, and competing effectively in, a multi-level political space. This article explores this dynamic in the context of a pivotal period of change (2015–2019), in which the party was led by Jeremy Corbyn, a political outsider, and when British politics was riven by Brexit. In this article we highlight the operation of a key strategic duality underlying the territorial politics pursued by both Scottish and Welsh Labour parties: an endemic and unresolved desire to seek greater autonomy from the UK party, on the one hand: and the preference to retain or gain influence at the centre of British politics, on the other. How these goals were pursued, and tensions between them managed by the territorial parties and their leaders, are central to an understanding of how the party handled the challenges created by devolution more broadly.2024-01-01T00:00:00ZSpeaking for ‘our precious Union’: unionist claims in the time of Brexit, 2016–20Cetrà, DanielBrown Swan, Coreehttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/358252024-03-07T01:04:48Z2022-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Speaking for ‘our precious Union’: unionist claims in the time of Brexit, 2016–20
Author(s): Cetrà, Daniel; Brown Swan, Coree
Abstract: Brexit and its implications pose the latest challenge to the Union as a political project and to unionism as the doctrine of state legitimacy. How did key unionist actors articulate the legitimizing foundations of the Union in the critical period 2016–20? And to what extent did they set out a renewed case for its continuation? Drawing on an extensive database including parliamentary debates, party documents and conference notes, we find that, despite the profound nature of the challenges posed by Brexit, dominant legitimizing claims continued to be instrumentalist defences of the Union rooted in economics and welfare. These were underpinned by ideas of social union around shared solidarity and belonging and supplemented by an invocation of common British values. Overall, while we identify a plurality of competing and often conflicting unionist themes, we conclude that key unionist actors struggled to adapt the legitimizing foundations of their political project to the realities of a post-Brexit UK.2022-01-01T00:00:00ZIntergovernmental Relations in the UK: Time for a Radical Overhaul?McEwen, NicolaKenny, MichaelSheldon, JackBrown Swan, Coreehttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/358242024-03-07T01:04:28Z2020-07-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Time for a Radical Overhaul?
Author(s): McEwen, Nicola; Kenny, Michael; Sheldon, Jack; Brown Swan, Coree
Abstract: Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic have put relationships between the UK government and its devolved counterparts under growing strain. Tensions generated by both of these developments have exposed the inadequacies of the existing, under-developed system for bringing governments together in the UK. The limitations of the current system include the ad hoc nature of intergovernmental meetings, and their consultative rather than decision-making character. Drawing upon an analysis of how intergovernmental relationships are structured in five other countries, the authors offer a number of suggestions for the reconfiguration of the UK model. They explore different ways of enabling joint decision making by its governments, and argue against the assumption that England can be represented adequately by the UK administration. Without a serious attempt to address this dysfunctional part of the UK’s territorial constitution, there is every prospect that relations between these different governments will continue to deteriorate.2020-07-01T00:00:00Z