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The Welsh Labour government occupies a unique position in UK territorial politics, favouring neither the status quo nor independence for Wales while advocating a new settlement for the whole state. This article provides a detailed examination of its policy, focusing on its position on the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. Drawing from a range of documentary sources, we analyse the Welsh government's constitutional proposals and its decision-making in the wake of the 2016 referendum on European Union membership. We argue that Welsh policy is defined by ambiguity. While it advances an alternative constitutional vision, it refrains from rejecting Westminster's sovereignty outright. In the aftermath of the referendum, it sought to accommodate that sovereignty with its own constitutional claims through enhanced intergovernmental collaboration. In light of the Johnson administration's centralising reforms, the strategy appears to have failed. Caught in the fractious politics of the Union, Welsh constitutional policy now faces an uncertain future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the development of the Council of Social Service for Wales during what is often called the Golden Age of the Welfare State. Recovering the neglected history of the peak organisation for voluntary social service in Wales adds to our understanding of the histories of social policy and postwar Wales. The article addresses social policy from a doubly peripheral perspective – it attends to a territorial periphery of the UK State while voluntary action can be left at the margins of Welfare State analysis. From this perspective we hope to cast new light on the historiography of the 'British Welfare State' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brexit has unveiled previously hidden aspects of United Kingdom (UK) society, law and politics. It provides a valuable opportunity to investigate the social reception of law, and in particular the mediation of the law and constitution in the press. The distinctive constitutional arrangements and histories of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England have given rise to different territorial interpretations of the UK state. These asymmetries have parallels in the UK's territorial media landscape, yet we have little understanding of how this landscape contributes to constitutional discourses. This article offers quantitative content and thematic analysis of UK-wide media coverage of major court judgments which have served as critical junctures in the Brexit process. The analysis reveals striking territorial variation in the volume and substance of coverage. Here, the media appears to reinforce divergent understandings of the constitution: while English reporting chimed with a more unitary account of the constitution, reporting elsewhere was more consistent with a vision of the UK as union-state. In the light of these findings, we argue that media analysis can make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the law and the constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using archival materials, we reflect on the legal process of creating (and mitigating) a border in Ireland after partition in 1922 and interactions between those laws and the people whom they affected. After 1922, superficially durable exceptions developed to the territorial state's distinctions between citizens and foreign nationals under the aegis of the Common Travel Area. They survived the 1930s UK–Ireland 'Economic War', were sustained (if in a restricted form) during the Second World War and were rebuilt in its aftermath. These arrangements proved beneficial for both countries, providing an outlet for surplus labour for Ireland and a resource for the UK economy. We nonetheless explore how far practice reflected this overarching cooperative framework, particularly given the complications introduced by the policies of Northern Ireland's institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concluding the British Journal of Politics and International Relations' (BJPIR) Brexit Special Issue, this article seeks to set the unsettled times and unexpected events associated with the Brexit in historic context and tease out the prospects for a 'bespoke' UK exit agreement. Drawing on classics of social science history--by Barrington Moore, Gourevitch and Davis--it reflects on 'suppressed historic choices' and historical periodisations. Three key dilemmas are interrogated: the Brexit dilemma (control of immigration/regaining of sovereignty vs European Union (EU) market access), the Brexiteers' dilemma (sustaining economic prosperity while restricting immigration) and the Remainers/soft Brexit dilemma (of weakening Parliamentary democracy by staying in the Single Market). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare state theory has struggled to come to terms with the role of the third sector. It has often categorized welfare states in terms of the pattern of interplay between state social policies and the structure of the labour market. Moreover, it has frequently offered an exclusive focus on state policy - thereby failing to substantially recognize the role of the formally organized third sector. This study offers a corrective view. Against the backdrop of the international shift to multi-level governance, it analyses the policy discourse of third sector involvement in welfare governance following devolution in the UK. It reveals the changing and contrasting ways in which post-devolution territorial politics envisions the sector's role as a welfare provider. The mixed methods analysis compares policy framing and the structural narratives associated with the development of the third sector across the four constituent polities of the UK since 1998. The findings reveal how devolution has introduced a new spatial policy dynamic. Whilst there are elements of continuity between polities - such as the increasing salience of the third sector in welfare provision - policy narratives also provide evidence of the territorialization of third sector policy. From a methodological standpoint, this underlines the distinctive and complementary role discourse-based analysis can play in understanding contemporary patterns and processes shaping welfare governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designed by Beveridge and built by Attlee's post-war Labour government, the welfare state was created during the 1940s. Britain has been seen - in domestic debates and internationally - as a world first: the place where both the idea and the practice of the welfare state were invented. I draw together comparative welfare state analysis with law and society scholarship (previously largely developed in isolation from one another) - as well as using British political cartoons as a source - to develop a revisionist historical critique of this conventional wisdom. First, the British welfare state has always been comparatively parsimonious. Second, the idea of the welfare state seems to have its origins outside the United Kingdom and this terminology was adopted relatively late and with some ambivalence in public debate and scholarly analysis. Third, a large body of socio-legal scholarship shows that robust 'welfare rights' were never embedded in the British 'welfare state'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes issue with aspects of the influential ‘regulatory’ perspective on European governance, especially as developed by Majone and Moravcsik. While many of their claims are compelling, these accounts become much less convincing when they move from empirical analysis to normative prescription—an argument developed in the article's first major section. The article charts the ambivalent treatment of connections between national democracies and at the EU level by regulatory theorists, considers their treatment of democracy, efficiency, welfare, social citizenship, understood here as features or legacies of majoritarian, or more accurately mass, democracy in Europe. The second section offers an alternative academic agenda for the analysis of Europe's multi-level politics, which places it in historical perspective. It seeks to contribute to a growing body of EU scholarship that finds inspiration in the macro-comparative approach of Rokkan, while also drawing links with studies in American political development. A rounded assessment of the prospects for democracy, legitimacy and political stability in Europe needs at least to integrate national and Europe level trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author analyses the scope and limits of the policy autonomy devolved to the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). He engages with James Mitchell's application of Ted Lowi's seminal analysis of 'policy types' to Scottish devolution. These concepts are used to frame a case study of Welsh early childhood education and care (ECEC), demonstrating extensive innovation in Wales concerning the form of ECEC and its impact on compulsory schooling. However, there is some evidence that innovation in the form of ECEC has not been matched by sufficient increases in spending. Although echoing Mitchell's account of the fiscal limits to devolution, the author suggests a greater scope for policy innovation than Mitchell detects. The discrepancy suggests that there is room for refinement of the 'policy-types' framework, to draw attention to 'regulatory' aspects of public service provision; it may also hint that, although formally weaker, the WAG has more potential for policy innovation than the Scottish Executive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European debate on the challenges of globalisation often degenerates into a contest between a purportedly ‘Anglo-American’ model of liberalised markets lacking a social dimension, and an inflexible ‘European Social Model’ of generous welfare provision but slow growth and high unemployment. We argue in this article that this is a false choice. Data on the comparative performance of European states in implementing the ‘Lisbon Agenda’ show that countries which perform well in terms of economic efficiency and liberalisation also perform well socially. Although combining efficiency and equity may be easier for some political economies than for others, we question the notion that European states are irrevocably ‘locked in’ to particular welfare regime types, suggesting instead that they are generally ‘hybrids’, and that successful reforms may be achieved even in the most unlikely cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes constitutionalism, European integration and the British political economy in 2005. With regard to constitutionalism, it is technically inappropriate to define the Constitutional Treaty as a constitution. In fact, the Constitutional Treaty, at one level, manifests a simplification and rationalization of the treaties, as well as an attempt to reorder the former three pillar structure of the European Union (EU) into a singular framework. With regard to European integration, emphasis is placed upon a combination of domestic statecraft and political party management as important constraints upon the establishment of governmental preferences towards such integration. The third theme is derivative of the incorporation of EU studies into the analysis of the British politics. The issue here speaks of the extent to which membership of the EU has headed towards the Europeanization of British politics.

In Britain the imagery and rhetoric of the postwar welfare state remain powerful--citizens should have equal access to public services based on need hot place of residence. Devolution is sometimes depicted as a threat to this tradition. This article shows that the immediate risk of a social policy race to the bottom is small. Moreover, because of the peculiarities of British territorial politics the traditional imagery was never borne out in practice; the article traces policy variation before and after devolution. Finally, locating British social policy within the comparative framework of "nationalization" and "citizenship," I argue that Britain lost its status as an exemplary welfare state partly because it failed to provide an adequate territorial framework for the development of social policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Kingdom evolved as a "state of unions," in which government arrangements were territorially varied in line with the particular circumstances of the sequence of acts of union between the core state territory of England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The recent devolution reforms have built on that territorial nonuniformity, embedding a number of idiosyncrasies into the devolved UK state: a lopsidedness that leaves the biggest and wealthiest part of the United Kingdom--England--governed centrally wihle the non-English nations have devolved government, devolved government arrangements for those nations that are markedly asymmetrical, and an underdeveloped system of intergovernmental relations connecting United Kingdom--level and devolved political arenas. Together these issues pose important questions of whether the devolution reforms amount to a coherent overall package, whether the reforms are stable, and whether they erode a common UK citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on policy change and discourse in Europe. Commercial liberalism; Discursive institutionalism; Relationship between master and sectoral discourses.

Abstract The debate between Veit-Wilson and Atherton raises key conceptual questions for the analysis of welfare states. Veit-Wilson, in particular, focuses on the important, but strangely neglected question of when and why a state qualifies as a welfare state. Atherton usefully draws attention to historical debates about the legitimate purposes of state welfare policies and worthy recipients of state benefits, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon countries. His contribution may draw our attention to the shifting meaning of concepts (such as poverty) over time. In this contribution I seek to broaden the debate. First, without underestimating the importance of such criteria, rather than presenting one single (normatively based) “discriminating criterion” defining welfare statehood, I argue that other conceptions of “the welfare state” may be useful as well—so long as analysts are clear and explicit about how they are using the phrase. Second, in the current conjuncture of the perceived “transformation” perhaps even “destruction” of the welfare state, historical and comparative research grounded on clear and explicit concepts is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the social foundations of welfare or state regimes. Implications of the welfare concept of Esping-Andersen; Emphasis on questions on the process of retrenchment, reform and social-structural change; Elimination of the welfare state crisis.

Describes the European Court of Justice (ECJ), using heroic and villainous imagery. Public images of the Court; Strategic context of the ECJ; Importance of the historical perspective of European Community law; Role played by the Court in the process of European integration.

Analyzes the Treaty of Maastricht as a political compromise in the process of European Union integration. Negotiation of the Treaty; Instrument for integration.

Argues that a dialogue between rational choice, sociological and historical institutionalism is limited. Tendentional structuralism of neo-institutionalism; `Social ontology' of historical institutionalism.

Discusses the impact of integration in Europe on its constitutionalism. Views on its problems on democracy; Relations between its democracy and its constitutionalism; Conclusion.

The article features various issues ranging from anthropological, political to comparitive historical aspects presented in the current volume.

Taking place amid a global pandemic, the 2021 Senedd Election saw Welsh Labour returned as the largest party at the sixth consecutive occasion since the institution's founding in 1999. Results for opposition parties were mixed: the Conservatives achieved their highest ever vote share but their seat tally fell short of pre-election expectations, and Plaid Cymru again made little progress. Using data from the 2021 Welsh Election Study, we explore the election campaign and results, and offer a first analysis of vote choice. We find that Labour not only benefitted from incumbency advantages drawn from voters' approval of the Welsh Government's handling of the pandemic, but through its use of symbols, branding and messaging, the party continues to remain attuned to a national identity position that broadly aligns with that of the electorate as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the political implications of genetic engineering for human genome project in Great Britain. Impact of behavior genetic and evolutionary psychology on public debate; Conformation of the human nature of genetic research with political conservatism; Interaction between biology and environment.

An introduction to the special issue which delves on the issues surrounding the European Union membership referendum in Great Britain and Gibraltar set for June 2016 is presented.

In the 1975 referendum England provided the strongest support for European integration, with a much smaller margin for membership in Scotland and Northern Ireland. By 2015 the rank order of 'national' attitudes to European integration had reversed. Now, England is the UK's most eurosceptic nation and may vote 'Leave', while Scotland seems set to generate a clear margin for 'Remain'. The UK as a whole is a Brexit marginal. To understand the campaign, we need to make sense of the dynamics of public attitudes in each nation. We take an 'archaeological' approach to a limited evidence-base, to trace the development of attitudes to Europe in England since 1975. We find evidence of a link between English nationalism and euroscepticism. Whatever the result in 2016, contrasting outcomes in England and Scotland will exacerbate tensions in the UK's territorial constitution and could lead to the break-up of Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]