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This paper compares the adoption of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) by Australian and UK legislators, with a view toward how this may affect styles of representation and roles of the MPs in the two polities. In particular we provide an overall picture of the scope of current activity in each country in terms of website adoption, and whether this is accelerating over time. In addition we profile the basic functions that legislators are using their websites for and what differences, if any, emerge in approach across the two systems. Finally, we examine factors at the individual, organisational and systemic level that might help explain the variance in rates and levels of uptake of the new technology. In addressing these issues we build on the extant literature that has examined the individual and organisational factors that have influenced candidates and parties adoption of ICTs in the UK and Australia as well as a range of other countries. In addition, the paper comparatively extends to Australia our recent benchmarking work on British MPs’ use of the Internet, which helps illuminate the macro and institutional-level factors influencing the diffusion of ICTs among elected representatives. We are thus able to examine larger questions about the extent to which national traits are determinative of political and particularly representational uses of the Web, over and above micro- and meso-level factors as well as of course, the imperatives of the technology itself. Finally, we can begin to start to look more broadly at what the new ICTs can offer to traditional models of representation in rapidly changing advanced industrial democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to enhance our understanding of the ways in which decentralizing reforms influence and shape party politics at both the statewide and non-statewide level, looking at the special case of asymmetric devolution. In asymmetric devolution, statewide political parties have to adapt to the presence of new arenas of political competition at the subcentral level, but these new arenas are either not present, or not equally developed, in the whole state territory. The paper hypothesizes possible party reactions and adaptations to these circumstances, focusing on changes in party organization, interparty cooperation and interparty competition. It then goes on to assess the emerging reality of party politics under asymmetric devolution in two prominent Western European cases: Spain, where asymmetric devolution has developed over the past two decades, and the United Kingdom, where devolution has been established more recently. This comparative analysis illustrates the organizational strains that asymmetric devolution creates for political parties, and assesses its impact on party competition and government formation at the statewide level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the patterns of competition policy convergence in the European Union?s member states challenge existing formulations of the Europeanization process and specifically the notion that the likelihood of policy harmonization is a function of the preexisting compatibility or ?fit? between national and supranational policies. In the case of antitrust, the member states in which the existing arrangements were least compatible with the European policy were generally the first to adopt the approach of the European Commission?s competition enforcement regime, while the United Kingdom, in spite of having an established ? albeit dysfunctional? competition regime since the late 1940s, was the last of the medium and large-sized members to move toward harmonizing its antitrust rules. The paper concludes that the preexistence of an antitrust system actually made harmonization more difficult for Britain. It maintains that the unique homegrown policy and corresponding enforcement institutions allowed British industrial interests to develop preferences for specific orientations of the domestic system, which stymied attempts to Europeanize the British policy until a confluence of internal and external alignment pressures reshaped and redirected those preferences towards a more Europeanized approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If it did not introduce some scope for policy divergence, what was the point of devolution to Scotland and Wales? Yet public debate around policy divergence in the UK often borders on the hysterical. Any instance of divergence is widely greeted as an intimation of crisis, perhaps for the UK state as a whole and certainly where matters of social citizenship are at issue (as is typically the case) for the UK’s Labour government. On the other hand, many groups in Scotland and Wales regard the scope for divergence as too strictly limited. Equally, the recently created office of the London Mayor has been used to highlight problems of poverty and deprivation in the midst of the UK?s wealthiest city. This paper complements the more detailed case studies of the other papers on the panel with a policy-theoretic approach to understanding the scope and limits of divergence in social policies. Lowi’s classical claim that different policy-types generate distinctive politics, suggests that this policy-focus will be highly relevant to discussion of the political prospects under devolution, regionalisation and decentralisation in the UK. We critically review categorisations of ‘policy types’ and tentatively suggest a new application of this form of analysis to the devolution settlement to evaluate it in terms of the record of and prospects for the development of distinctive (social) policy profiles. Our paper connects with wider panel themes Lowi linked the now widespread claim that ‘policy (re)creates politics’ to variation in policy types. Building on Lowi and Majone, James Mitchell has noted that many ‘distributive’ and some ‘regulatory’ policies have been devolved, while ‘redistributive’ instruments are largely retained at the centre. The powers of the London Mayor also follow broad pattern, albeit with less authority and resources. Mitchell notes that ‘distributive’ programmes (in health, education etc) involve long-standing spending commitments, which conventional scholarly wisdom suggests are notoriously difficult to change (Lindblom, Pierson). Thus, Mitchell sees the scope for innovation by the devolved authorities being mainly in regulatory policies. We develop a variation on this theme which points in a subtly but significantly different direction. Drawing on Paul Peterson’s work on US Federalism, we suggest that policy ‘types’ should be analysed in not a one-dimensional, but two dimensional conceptual space, defined by policy purposes and instruments respectively. Peterson sees taxing/spending and regulation as policy instruments that can be used to pursue aims of redistribution and economic development (and perhaps also ‘allocation’). Of course, each instrument will have its own strengths and weaknesses for each purpose. Our hypothesis is that the greatest scope for innovation uses regulatory instruments in the pursuit of Peterson’s category of developmental policies. Developmental policies take two principle forms concerning planning and incentives for business (often locational policies) and major spending programmes such as health and education (allocational policies). Contrary to Mitchell, we see considerable scope for - and indeed evidence of - innovative (revisions of) regulation of these policies in Scotland, Wales, and even to a degree in London. Perhaps particularly in the context of on-going welfare reform across the UK, the scope for divergence in the regulation of distributive policies is considerable. We analyse instances of divergence childcare and preschool education, health care, fees in higher education and residential care. Of course, the analytical distinctions developed here are not hard and fast in political practice. Thus initial divergences in regulation are likely to have fiscal implications, and sometimes sooner rather than later - a potential source of instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with deriving an appropriate theoretical approach to central government fiscal policy making towards territorial units. Using the example of 1979-1999 fiscal policy making in the United Kingdom, the paper attempts to establish a model for fiscal analysis of centre-periphery relations which is time- and place-specific yet flexible to modify it to the specific governmental arrangements and political realities of other nations. Using elements of structural and public choice approaches, the paper asserts that academic conclusions on fiscal allocations should focus on the central government interests rather than mainly or exclusively on territorial demands. In the British context in the period discussed, the priorities of a Prime-Minister-Chancellor ?axis? are determined to be closest to the priorities of the central government at large, while the continuously shifting ordering of government priorities is determined to be based on some specific features of public policies, such as the policy?s relevance to the government support groups, the policy?s electoral and political visibility, the policy?s convenience for the central government and the ideas and individuals pursuing those ideas present in a specific public policy area. The paper has substantial theoretical significance in that it goes beyond evaluation of specific fiscal arrangements to discern the factors most relevant to the analysis of public policies at large and fiscal policies in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States are usually described, in general discussions of American as well as comparative politics, as the most constitutionally stable democracy, and as a model of presidential system ‘engineered’ by the creative minds of framers dedicated to establish a democracy based on separated institutions checking their respective use of delegated power. This paper challenges this mechanic approach to constitutional design and evolution. It argues, through historical and theoretical evidence, that the American constitution (much like most constitutions generally, and like the French Fifth republic constitution specifically) could have lead, in the early phase of its implementation, to either a presidential system or a ministerial government, given the combined influences of historical forces and the political sensibilities and strategic actions of the nation’s first leaders. The American constitutional construction has been the product of unstable and temporary coalitions, not the straightforward design of a coherent and cohesive majority. The process is full of doors left open, interpretative disputes, and turning points in the implementation phase, and this project first reviews the different ‘constitutional moments’ of the American constitutive process, and replaces these turning points in a larger political and historical context, as products of historical struggles and legacies of competing visions of governance. The key element of our analysis is to make better substantive use of observations made by different scholars: namely that American revolutionaries, in their efforts to construct a republic, sought not to get rid of the architecture of institutions of Great Britain, but to improve them by setting up mechanisms that would prevent the corruption that had perverted British politics. The British institutions were for the new American political leaders, both their main source of inspiration and the very system they had built so much resentment against. After the frustrating experience of the Articles of the Confederation, the United States Constitution was to be the perfected synthesis of two extremes, executive corruption and legislative tyranny. The two institutions newly constructed had different historical roots: while the presidency was essentially a transformation of the British Crown and Cabinet, Congress was the refinement of much more recent and radical idea of democratic governance. The challenge was to make democratic, efficient and stable not only the institutions themselves, but their interaction as well. This paper indicates that the early United States went, from 1789 to 1800, through a much more floating and unstable implementation phase than what is generally believed: an uneasy struggle of each institution to test and practice its potential for subordination, to assert its prerogatives, and to find its place in the constitutional order. Next, the paper traces the evolution of clauses, statutes, and behaviors that could have led the United States on the evolutionary path towards ministerial government, or a close version of it. We will first look at the design of the constitution and look for clauses that signaled the erection of a presidential system, but left the door open for different ulterior developments: selection process, presence of Cabinet members in the House, senatorial power of appointment, presidential power of removal, … We will then examine the early implementation phase to identify when and how the original model could have taken different equilibration paths. Much attention is given to historical evidence regarding Alexander Hamilton’s political entrepreneurship, his critical attempt to shape executive-legislative relations, and his underlying desire to morph his executive function into prime ministership -in a tellingly similar fashion as the British Lord Treasurer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In already completed papers (Zuckerman, Dasoviæ, Fitzgerald, and Brynin 2002 and Zuckerman, Fitzgerald and Dasoviæ 2002), we show that partisanship is bounded -most everyone never supports one or the other of the major parties prefers its main rival at varying rates. Decisions about partisanship reflect the logic of appropriate behavior, which is torn between processes of social conformity and individualization, and the principles of out-group homogeneity. In this paper, we demonstrate that those who are just entering the electorate also display the characteristics of bounded partisanship. As would follow from studies of social networks and political socialization, the partisan preferences of their parents strongly influence the characteristics of bounded partisanship among the young. As would follow from the logic of appropriate behavior, young persons do not automatically and routinely follow the partisan examples of their parents. For them too, political interest and reinforcing social contexts facilitate the recognition of appropriate behavior. At the same time, our analysis provides very little evidence of young persons taking partisan stances that depart from those of their parents. In the established democracies of Britain and Germany the partisanship of the young tends to follow that of their parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses computer-assisted content analysis (Alceste software) to analyze the debates on Repeal of the Corn Laws in the House of Lords in May/June 1846. At issue is the puzzle, why would a chamber consisting of aristocratic landowners (whose income was largely derived from agricultural rents) accept a policy of free trade in agriculture? It is argued that support for the free trade legislation in the Upper Chamber was largely motivated by political self-interest–namely, that by voting for repeal, peers conceded the economic privilege of protection in order stave off democratic reform of parliament. This paper presents the first extensive empirical analysis of the repeal legislation in the House of Lords, and produces findings that contradict some of the prevailing historiography. Building on previous computer-assisted content analysis of the debates on trade policy in the House of Commons from 1814-1846, this paper also finds empirical support for the growing acceptance by MPs and peers of the importance of public opinion in constraining the policy making ability of legislators (construed as a progression from the trustee to the delegate form of representation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current literature suggests that Britain’s major parties traditionally have had weak relations with their MEPs, and only limited control of their legislative behavior. However, since the growth in codecision power of the European Parliament, the Labour and Conservative Parties have, in fact, created coordination systems to provide control of MEP legislative decisions. The paper outlines a model based on these new coordination systems, and the rewards and sanctions created to provide greater control. The paper concludes with discussion of implications of this change for the national parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Anglo-American ‘special relationship’ since 1945. While most studies focus on utilitarian or cultural perspectives to explain the resilience of the relationship, this paper adopts a constructivist approach. The ‘special relationship’ has become a key norm for British foreign policy makers that shapes decisions and policy goals. The ‘idea’ of the special relationship has dominated British foreign policy from Churchill to Blair even if the rationale for its existence has been transformed by changes in relative power and despite the difficulties that the ‘special relationship’ has caused for Britain’s relations with Europe, the Middle East and domestic public opinion. The paper examines the creation of the ‘special relationship’ and the impact of foreign policy crises upon it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys the changing role and position of the Foreign Secretary in British government since 1974 in nine stages. First, it discusses the background, appointments and careers of Foreign Secretaries in this period. Next, it compares and contrasts the Foreign Secretaryship with other ministerial positions before going on to analyse the heavy demands placed on the Foreign Secretary. The fourth section examines the relationship between the Foreign Secretary and officials in the Foreign Office, discussing also the assistance given to the Foreign Secretary by the junior ministers and special advisers appointed to the department. The role of the Foreign Secretary in relation to the security and intelligence services is the subject of the fifth section. The role and power of the Foreign Secretary can only be understood in the context of the relationship between him and the Prime Minister, and the ups and downs in that crucial relationship since 1974 are analysed in the next section of the paper, leading in to a discussion of the Foreign Secretary’s position in the Cabinet. Before concluding, the paper discusses the role of the Foreign Secretary in parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike many countries, Britain’s present pensions ?crisis? is not due to a discrepancy between public pension revenue and expenditure. A major problem is the low level of pensions saving across the system as a whole. Recent reports suggest that this is due in large part to the enormous complexity of British pensions. This paper argues that the British system of pensions, both public and private, demonstrates a systemic tendency to increasing complexity as a result of the path dependent nature of pensions. The most important contributor to this path dependency, it is argued, is not increasing returns (as path dependence theory would suggest) but the contractual nature of pensions. The paper uses empirical evidence from the decade and a half following the introduction of Britain’s system of universal state pensions in 1946 to support this assertion. It argues that by 1961 a system of mass pensions characterised by a single element had come to comprise three elements, that each of these elements was from the outset locked in by contractual obligations, and that this contractual lock-in was the primary cause of the increasing complexity of the system. Check author’s web site for an updated version of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the span of abortion politics in Great Britain from the enactment of the 1967 Abortion Act through legislative activities in the 1990s. The paper is drawn from research on Britain I conducted as part of the project of the Research Network on Gender Politics and the State (RNGS), a cross national study of women’s movement impact on the state in post-industrial democracies and the role of women’s policy agencies in opening up the policy making process to women and women’s interests (Stetson 2001a). This project covers policy debates in several areas in addition to abortion: job training, political representation, prostitution and priority issues of the 1990s (RNGS 2002). The goal of the paper is to determine if there is a ?typical? British pattern of abortion politics by examining three policy debates that typify the British political system’s response to the competing interests over the regulation of the procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health makes up nearly half of each devolved government’s budget, unfailingly wins headlines, and across the UK is perceived to be in a state of crisis. It has thus been thrust into the headlines across the four countries, and has been the subject of heated debates. How this important policy sector is governed sheds light on what can and will be changed by devolved assemblies, and the divergence already showing between countries with similar baselines until 1998 provides a natural experiment in the mechanics of policy formation. This paper examines the divergence from two perspectives. First, it looks at the areas where there has been change and where policy and practice has remained the same, highlighting the continuing similarity in regulation and financing and the important divergence in governance, accountability and formal oversight. It explains this continuity, present and past divergence, and changes in countries’ trajectories by analyzing the relationship between the strengths of policy advocacy coalitions and the political opportunity structures of the four systems. Rather than being four systems "moving apart" or "holding together," health policy in the UK should be seen as multi-arena politics in which some groups win in some places. Check author’s web site for an updated version of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data gathered in the 2001 British Election Study to investigate the determinants of turnout in general elections. The analyses focus on the explanatory power of a variant of a modified rational choice model which has stimulated protracted debate among students of voting behaviour. The paper also considers two versions of the much discussed ?heartlands hypothesis? which has been offered to explain the unprecedented drop in turnout in the 2001 general election. Analyses indicate that all three variables in the modified rational choice model have strong and statistically significant effects. Although sense of civic duty is predictably powerful, turnout also is affected by expected benefits and perceived costs of voting. Analyses do not support a ?Downsian? version of the heartlands hypothesis that blames low turnout on New Labour’s abandonment of traditional Labour policy and ideological positions. A ‘stokesian? version of the hypothesis that attributes effects to government performance dissatisfaction among Labour’s heartlands supports fares better. The paper concludes by considering the implications of major findings for future trends in electoral participation in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘New Labour’ Party came into office in 1997 committed to ‘modernise’, among other institutions, UK local government. A ‘flagship’ policy in its modernisation agenda was to replace the traditional committee system with, for the first time in the UK, executive-based local government, headed preferably by directly elected executive mayors. The first section of this paper outlines the origins of this mayoral policy, its legislative embodiment in the Local Government Act 2000, and its implementation. It outlines the three executive models that constituted the restricted choice available to most local authorities and the consultations that councils were required to undertake, including the statutory referendums required prior to the introduction of a directly elected mayor. It concludes with the recent election of the first eight of these English mayors and the political embarrassment that several of the elections produced for the Government. The second main section of the paper reviews these events with reference to the main programme theme of APSA 2002: the contribution (or lack of it) of political science research to policy development. Its conclusion is that two obvious opportunities for lesson-drawing - learning from experience in other countries, including the US, and learning through experimentation and the piloting of different executive models in selected UK authorities - were largely ignored, and that this resistance to lesson-drawing has been at least one of the major reasons for the low and generally negative impact of the Government’s mayoral policy to date. As for the rhetorical question in the sub-title, there was a moment when it looked possible that the chance injection of a ‘Giuliani factor’ following the events of 9/11 might stimulate public interest and acceptance of the idea of elected mayors … but it didn’t! [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work exploring the relationship between public opinion and public policy over time has largely been restricted to the US. A wider application of this line of research can provide valuable insights into how representation varies across political systems, however. This paper takes a first step in this direction using a new body of data on public opinion and government spending in the UK. The analyses reveal that the British public appears to notice and respond (thermostatically) to changes in public spending in particular domains, even more so than in the US. At the same time, the magnitude and structure of UK policymakers' response to public preferences is less pronounced and more general. The findings are suggestive about the structuring role of institutions on opinion representation across countries. Check author’s web site for an updated version of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network services reforms in the EU have stimulated a large new political science literature which tracks changes in national or sectoral institutional structures or policy making processes. This literature is strangely silent concerning the impact of these changes on the regulated firms. Taking its starting point in the telecommunications sector this paper examines whether the divergent administrative structures of Oftel and RegTP result in differences in market access and consumer protection in the German and UK telecommunications sectors. The paper concludes that these markets operate in a similar fashion because of the implementation of detailed EU directives. However, EU telecommunications directives do not regulate takeovers, which constitute a key aspect of telecommunications trade. Access to foreign telecommunications markets frequently takes place through takeovers. Divergent market structures in Germany and the UK shape very different perceptions of what an EU takeover directive should contain. Germany has changed some of its legislation to become more like the UK but these changes have made Germany more vulnerable to takeovers and to threats to its traditional ways of structuring its market. Germany’s new sense of vulnerability put a damper on Germany’s enthusiasm for an EU takeover directive while the UK wholeheartedly supported the proposal [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper related to undergraduate research on political science in Great Britain to be presented at the Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association from August 28-3, 2014. Topics discussed include academic decision -making for implementing a new course and role of social science in the same, research on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education (STEM), and association of involving of undergraduates in primary research activity with the Boyer Commission.

In the last decade, as more European states have responded to threats from terrorism with new national security laws and policies, these laws and practices have sometimes come into conflict with human rights jurisprudence concerning rights to privacy, free expression, unlawful detention, and other rights. These issues are making their way to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which is trying to decipher where to draw the line with these policies in terms of their negative impact on human rights. In this paper, I examine how the ECtHR might be influencing national courts in the area of human rights law and national security policy. I also examine other factors driving national court behavior in these cases. This paper investigates these questions quantitatively analyzing the decisions of high courts over the last several years in three member states of the Council of Europe: the U.K., Denmark, and Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within hours of the outset of unrest in the August 2011 English Riots, the government asserted that this was the doing of "criminal gangs." Although this assertion was subsequently abandoned, it referred to ongoing processes: a criminalization of youth in Britain. The recycled images of flames and hooded teenagers came to serve as the proof of youth "gone bad." Yet in many ways these articulations were the realization of Guy Debord's definition of the spectacle: the inversion of life, where images come to be the materialization of life. The image is supposed to be intolerable, and yet it stands in for expectation. Thus appearance stands for reality. To look more closely is both an exercise in futility and an act of subversion. This paper will explore both the actions supposedly captured in the images depicting the riots, and the discourses surrounding the reproduction of those images. It seeks to connect the youth politics of the everyday - the problems of being ignored as political subjects - to the formal political structures that rely on youth to be socially unruly on the one hand, and disciplined consumers on the other. The paper concludes with a comparative analysis of the consumer images that continue to discipline young people and also served as the model for framing the images of the unrest. The paper examines how spontaneous, uncoordinated action came to be read through mass media spectacle, promoting appearance over reality, through the reproduction of intolerable images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK held its second nationwide referendum, on reform of the electoral system, in May 2011. This paper analyses the quality of debate that preceded the referendum in the print media. It begins by considering how debate quality in the context of a referendum campaign may best be conceptualized. Then, using content analysis of media coverage and drawing where possible on international comparisons, it investigates three aspects of that debate: its quantity; the balance between Yes and No arguments, and the quality of reasoning. It finds that the quantity of debate was comparable to other recent electoral reform referendums. The coverage was balanced overall but not, on the whole, within individual newspapers. The different indicators of the quality of reasoning present a mixed picture. The paper concludes by considering how the analysis could be developed further, notably through more detailed comparison with other cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about heath care reform in the U.S. and Great Britain is presented which is prepared for presentation at the American Political Science association annual conference, from September 1-4, 2011, in Seattle, Washington. The paper discusses topics including divergence in the governance of health care regimes, and the ongoing round of health care reform in the two countries.

Using three-wave panel data, this paper examines shifts in perceptions about the electoral systems at issue at the UK electoral referendum, and their consequences, and how these may have affected voting choices. After taking into account 'baseline' effects such as initial partisan preferences and cues, the paper asks: to what extent do the attitudes of respondents indicate that the campaign provided voters with relevant information? In the context of criticism of the low information content of the campaign and its 'negativity', can the efforts of the campaigners be described as successful attempts at 'manipulation' at the expense of deliberation? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the representation of minority ethnic groups, along with women, people with disabilities, and people of varying ages, sexual orientation and religion or belief in public organizations has become an important policy goal of the UK central government. The drive to make the public sector workforce more representative of the national population, culminated in the introduction of an Equalities Act in October 2010, which included an Equality duty to that very end. However, although equality and diversity in the public sector workplace has been of high salience in the policy and politics of the UK during the past decade or so, little is actually known about the levels of representation of women and minority ethnic groups within public organizations; still less about the potential determinants of variations in the levels of representation. Within central government, the civil service has a long history of concern with policies to promote equal opportunities in employment. However, a perception still persists that it is dominated by a certain sort of white male exclusionary culture. Nevertheless, what little research there is on gender and minority ethnic representation in the UK public sector is dated and focused largely on levels of representation in local rather than central government, which is often thought to be more open to political pressures to mirror the communities that they represent. Aside from the absence of published research on rates of gender and minority ethnic representation, organizational influences on the representativeness of central and local government are little studied. These too merit extended attention, especially given that in the UK individual organizations are held legally responsible for enhancing gender and minority ethnic representation. The aim in this paper is to explore the determinants of gender and minority ethnic representation in central and local government in the UK. This will be accomplished by studying rates of representation in the workforce of the major central government spending departments, such as the Departments of Health, Education and Work and Pensions, as well as all the local governments in England. In the first part of the paper, equality and diversity policy and practice in the UK is outlined, before prior research on gender and minority ethnic representation is examined and arguments developed on the potential organizational influences on variations in representation. Next, data on gender and minority ethnic representation within UK central government departments are described along with the empirical methods and results of statistical models predicting variations in employment rates. The subsequent part of the paper repeats that analysis for all the local governments in England. Finally, theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed and areas requiring further research considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EU integration challenges the fundamental right of sovereignty traditionally claimed by European nation-states. This ongoing transformation continues to cause a variety of reactions within EU Member States. At the extremes these have included approval by cosmopolitans who see it as a step towards a more universal model of citizenship, but a rejection by diehard nationalists who perceive the shift as an onslaught on the national community's right to self-determination. Between these two poles a wide spectrum of other positions and dispositions endorse or reject the goals of EU integration to varying degrees. Conceptualised within a historical-institutionalist framework, the central research question addressed by the paper is a comparative one. It asks why political parties which share similar topographical locations within their respective national party systems, and share membership of the same, or closely neighbouring, political families in Von Beyme's sense, often show significantly different alignments on EU integration, depending on policy sector and point in time - although different internal currents within the parties may share more common ground with their foreign counterparts than with other currents in their own parties. The paper examines four conservative parties, two of which - the British Conservative Party, the French Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) - are located within Western European national political environments, while the two others - the Polish Platforma Obywatelska (PO), and Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) - operate within the same Central European post-communist state. All of the parties have recently been, or are currently, parties of government. While it is self-evident that ideology and policy do not exist in a vacuum, but in constant interplay with other institutional and contextual factors, these other variables are largely bracketed out for present analytical purposes in order to concentrate on the evolving ideologypolicy interface in its own right. In this meso-level analysis the focus is on the relationship between core ideological values, ideologically coloured understandings of national and international environments, general posture towards EU integration, and positions on specific institutions, processes or policies, in particular those implying a shift in the understanding of rights of states and nations. The approach to ideology applied here uses a qualitative reading of a range of more theoretical texts (books, articles, transcribed speeches, interviews) as well as manifestos from the period since 2001. The choice of this period is productive, both in terms of EU developments (introduction of the Euro, constitutional debates, Lisbon Treaty) and of party development in the three countries (changes of party leadership and of government in Britain and France, founding of the parties in Poland and successive accession to power). The patterns of variation and similarity between the parties revealed even at this intermediate level of detail are a valuable complement to the necessarily reductive categorisations and generalisations drawn in macro-level comparative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deindustrialization is regularly invoked in studies of advanced capitalism, yet a consideration of both its historical causes and its differential impacts on political outcomes in countries over time remains elusive. Adopting a historical institutional approach, this paper seeks to link the origins and effects of deindustrialization in Britain and Germany since the 1960s. These two countries are widely seen as reflecting different political approaches towards deindustrialization, with the former embracing and even accelerating the shift to a more service-oriented economy and the latter seeking to minimize the impact of such changes. The paper argues that variation in the British and German outcomes has been crucially shaped in the past half-century by the countries' respective political economic institutions and their contrasting national policy discourses on economic competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the many references to an "Anglo-Saxon model" there were, as the financial crisis unfolded, important discretionary fiscal policy differences between the US and the UK. This paper considers the reasons why the US adopted a far larger fiscal stimulus (as a share of 2008 GDP) than the UK, the Labour government in the UK committed itself to early fiscal retrenchment, and the UK failed to embrace spending projects whereas they constituted a sizeable proportion of the US total. Although relative deficit and debt levels should be considered and agency-based variables cannot be disregarded, the paper emphasizes the part played by underlying economic variables and the institutional architecture. It suggests that there were particular opportunities open to the Obama administration in its early months while the Labour government in the UK faced significant constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased support for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) adds to the difficulties that the issue of European integration causes for the British Conservative Party. A hard Eurosceptic party supporting withdrawal from the European Union (EU), UKIP is winning support from disaffected Conservatives and intensifying divisions with the Conservative parliamentary party on the EU issue. This paper examines how the EU issue has re-emerged as a difficult and divisive one for the Conservatives. It firstly explores the challenge posed by UKIP and the Conservative response, drawing on the literature on competition between niche and mainstream parties. The paper then examines the extent to which the Conservatives have pursued a soft Eurosceptic policy while in coalition with the more pro-integration Liberal Democrats, divisions between hard and soft Eurosceptics within the Conservative Party, and the limits of Cameron's modernisation project in relation to the EU issue. Finally, the paper considers the significance of Cameron's January 2013 announcement that a Conservative government elected in 2015 would seek a 'new settlement' between the UK and EU and then hold an 'in-out' referendum. The paper draws on data from interviews with MPs, MEPs and party officials conducted by the authors, as well as our own surveys of parliamentary candidates, analysis of manifestos and YouGov and British Election Study data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nature and intensity of constituency (district-level) campaigning at the 2010 General Election in Britain and its subsequent impact on electoral outcomes. Data are derived from questionnaire surveys sent to constituency agents immediately after the election. The paper considers the extent to which campaigns have continued to modernise through the incorporation of e-campaigning and the degree to which party supporters are involved in campaigns alongside party members. It then examines the variation in campaign intensity relative to seat marginality and whether or not party campaigns yielded electoral payoffs. It shows that e-campaigning was not a significant component of parties' overall campaign efforts and that party supporters provide an important source of volunteer labour alongside party members. Finally, it suggests that the overall outcome of the election was in part a function of the surprisingly effective campaigning by the Labour Party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of terrorism has in recent years become a major subject of academic research; however, counter-terrorism remains relatively understudied. This paper attempts to redress this imbalance through a systematic study of counter-terrorism policies in the United Kingdom. The paper will attempt to determine the extent to which current permanent UK counter-terrorism legislation is informed by emergency and temporary Northern Irish legislation. Politicians have tended to rely on the rhetoric of precedence (or lack thereof) in order to pass new counter-terrorism legislation into law. The most cited case was Home Secretary Roy Jenkins who, on the introduction of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Bill after the Birmingham pub bombings in November 1974 stated: "These powers, Mr. Speaker, are Draconian. In combination they are unprecedented in peace time. I believe they are fully justified to meet the clear and present danger."1 The aim of the research is to test the idea of "precedence". It will draw out themes in Northern Ireland-specific legislation from the twentieth century which resonate with current counter-terrorism policy. Critically, the research will attempt to determine whether those responsible for drafting and enacting recent and current counter-terrorism policy were aware of the precedents set by earlier iterations of counter-terrorism policy. It aims to clearly delineate historical precedents for current counter-terrorism policy, and it argues that governments have a responsibility to seek new ways of dealing with political violence other than reflexively instituting policies that have been in place for centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-2000s, Britain's political communication environment has undergone rapid change. During the 2010 election campaign, television continued its dominance as the most important medium through which the British public acquires its political information, as Britain's first ever live televised party leaders' debates received saturation coverage for almost the entire campaign. But over the previous half-decade the growing mainstream popularity of the internet has started to undermine some broadcast-era assumptions regarding strategic news management, both in government, and on the campaign trail. This new, hybrid, environment, one characterised by a complex intermingling of the "old", the "new", and the "renewed" creates particular uncertainty for "old" news media, established politicians, and political parties. The old media environment, dominated by media and political elites working in traditional television, radio, and newspapers, remains significant for British politics, but politics is increasingly mediated online. The internet is creating a more open, fluid political opportunity structure - one that increasingly enables the British public to exert its influence and hold politicians and media to account. The origins of this current hybridity can be traced back over the last couple of decades, but since the mid-2000s, the pace of change has quickened, and the stage on which the drama of British politics unfolds is in the process of being redesigned, partly by political and media elites, and partly by ordinary citizens. This paper provides an overview of this changing political communication environment and its consequences for British politics. The first part draws on the latest data to illustrate key developments in new media usage in Britain. Part two explores the way in which news, so central to an informed citizenry, is changing. Part three examines the parties' news management strategies and how they have sought to use a blend of old and new media to boost their popularity. The paper then moves on to explore the role of media during the momentous 2010 general election campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions many European countries have begun to develop adaptation strategies. However, developing and implementing these is not easy due to all kind of institutional complexities. Many of the current governance institutions are the product of times in which the climate issue was hardly of any importance. This paper deals with the question if our institutions are able to adapt to climate change. The paper presents a theoretical framework to assess the capacity of institutions to deal with climate adaption and applies it to adaptation strategies in four different European Countries: the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden. It concludes that institutions in these countries provide the basic qualities to adapt. Using the theoretical framework, five institutional weaknesses have been identified which can cause tensions on the long term: 1) the lack of openness of the political system towards learning and variety; 2) the strong onesided reliance on scientific experts; 3) the tension between top down policy development and bottom-up implementation; 4) the institutionalized mistrust in the problem solving capacity of civil society and 5) the wickedness of reserving funding for the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the regulation of lobbying in the United Kingdom. It begins by reviewing a number of lobbying scandals in the 1980s and 1990s, and the industry's response to them which was to establish a self-regulatory code of conduct administered by a new trade body, the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC). While far from perfect, the merits of this approach were commendable and the industry's reputation for ethical conduct was certainly enhanced. However, there has been debate over the last couple of years about the appropriateness of self-regulation, culminating in a recent inquiry by the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee. The paper analyses the written and oral evidence taken during that inquiry, and concludes that the case for mandatory, external and independent regulation of the British lobbying industry is now overwhelming. Statutory regulation presents the only realistic prospect by which all interest representatives can be obliged to provide more detailed information on their activities. Moreover, the industry itself is severely fragmented and largely leaderless. Only legislation can require all UK lobbyists to open up their behaviour to public and media scrutiny. The paper concludes by suggesting the outlines of a mandatory regulation scheme which could be introduced. Over 40 years ago, the first detailed study of British lobbying famously concluded with a plea for "Light! More Light!" It is in not only the public interest, but also the industry's own enlightened self-interest, to meet this call for greater transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many students of comparative politics believe that countries with proportional representation have low reform capacity since coalition governments are unable to respond effectively to changes in the economic and social environment. My aim is to question this view. This paper argues that reform capacity does not depend on the number of parties in government, but on the availability of institutions that allow parties to commit to policy packages. The paper tests the argument empirically through an investigation of employment policies in four European democracies: Belgium, Britain, Ireland, and the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about the policy transformation of pension regimes is presented which is prepared for presentation at the American Political Science Association Conference, in Toronto, Ontario, on September 2-6, 2009. The paper discusses topics including the recent pension reforms in the U.S., Great Britain, Sweden and Japan, and the relationship between income inequality and pension regimes.

What impact does losing have on future mobilization attempts by social movements? Although social movement scholarship has not generally focused on the effects of loss, losing may have predictive impact for subsequent mobilization. If loss is cumulative, every subsequent loss should diminish the likelihood of social movement remobilization efforts; if loss provides learning opportunities, with strategic adjustments, social movements may be more likely to remobilize. This paper employs two case studies of women's organizing in Great Britain during the 1984-85 mining strike and the 1992-93 anti-pit closure campaign to assess the impact of political loss upon subsequent activism and mobilization efforts. Relying on evidence from field research, primary documents and interviews with activists, the paper argues that remobilization efforts are not only the result of acting upon grievances in a context of apparently favorable political opportunity but depend upon political learning specific to the outcomes of previous campaigns and the experience of those outcomes. The paper concludes that two factors: 1) political learning and 2) the construction of the outcome, even in cases of political loss, will condition the likelihood of remobilization. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Neighbourhood' is a long standing concept in public policy and one that re-emerged in the UK from 1997 under the New Labour administration. This paper builds on the work of Lowndes and Sullivan (2008) which identified four distinct rationales for neighbourhoodworking - civic, social, political and economic. The framework is tested through primary research in the city of Manchester, and in the context of significant shifts in UK urban policy since 2006. The research shows that different rationales are held by actors at different locations within the complex system of multi-level governance within which neighbourhood policy is made and implemented. National policy makers and neighbourhood based actors have been effectively allied around neighbourhood based working as a means of empowering citizens, particularly those in deprived neighbourhoods. Actors at the city level, however, have focused on a more diffuse concept of 'place', which aims to reflect wider market dynamics and facilitate 'entrepreneurial' urban strategies. Neighbourhood working is linked to service improvement and regarded primarily in instrumental terms. As central government policy moves away from 'top down' interventions in deprived neighbourhoods towards narratives around city-wide 'place shaping', rationales for a neighbourhood approach to regeneration are coming under further challenge. The paper concludes by suggesting that 'neighbourhood' may be best seen as an 'empty signifier' within urban policy, the meaning of which is contested among policy actors, and only temporarily fixed in specific temporal and spatial contexts. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines what role symbols of Islamic repression and massacre play in the radicalisation of some young British Muslims, especially from North Africa, by creating a basis for what social movement theorists have identified as the mobilising factor of injustice. It is suggested here that myths, memories and symbols of colonial repression, contemporary repression of free political expression in North African states, and current perceptions of Western 'oppression' of Islam are serving as rationales for radicalisation amongst some North Africans in Britain as a function of oxygenation - exchanges amongst different Islamic communities throughout Britain, and 'blowback', initially from the Soviet-Afghanistan War, and more recently the Iraqi insurgency. This paper argues that myths, memories and symbols of the North African past matter, by being part of a lager mechanism of radicalisation and explores how these symbols may be cultivated and disseminated at popular and elite levels. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that agenda/opinion dynamics should be represented in the form of an error-correction model, where political agendas and public opinion coexist in a long-run equilibrium that is subject to short-run corrections. As such, responsiveness is theorised as an interdependent relationship between the political agenda and public opinion, where dynamic effects include both short-run corrections (i.e. negative feedback) and long-run equilibrium forces/friction. This paper considers time series data for the United Kingdom for the period between 1959 and 2001 on the content of the legislative agenda articulated in the Queen's Speech at the opening of each parliamentary session, coded according to the framework of the Policy Agendas project (see Baumgartner and Jones 1991; 1993; Jones and Baumgartner 2005), plus reconstituted public opinion data on Gallup's "most important problem" from British Political Opinion 1937 - 2001 (King et al 2001) and the original Gallup Index. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restructuring the Welfare State: Tax Expenditures, Welfare Reform, and Employment Policy in the US and UKThis paper explores the similarities as well as difference in one aspect of the USA's and the UK's welfare reform effort: the use of employment tax credits. In the case of the USA, this is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Welfare to Work Tax Credits (WOTC/WtW). In the case of the UK, this is the Working Family Tax Credit (WFTC). The first section of this paper traces the common elements of the political context from which this policy choice emerged. The second section traces the key differences between the countries in terms of implementation and outcomes. The final section of the paper assesses the degree to which preexisting institutional and organizational commitments and structures shapes the both the adoption as well as the outcomes of new ideas and policy tools. This analysis offers the chance to explore how not only welfare reform, but also the politics of welfare state transformation played out in different political and institutional settings and thus offers greater levergae into debates over the transformation of the welfare state. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we seek to explain IGR in Britain (with a focus on Scotland) and Belgium, and, respecting the general theme linking the papers of this panel, we also wish to consider the extent to which intergovernmental interactions in both countries have assumed a 'non-hierarchical' character. We define IGR as patterns of centralregional (vertical) or inter-regional (horizontal) interaction between different (levels of) government(s) within a state with a view of co-ordinating issues of mutual concern.i Furthermore, our paper analyses policy-coordination in three different settings: a devolved setting (Britain), a constitutionally federalized setting (Belgium) and a three-tiered EU setting (insofar as we also consider to what extent these regions interact with the European Union). We hypothesize that devolution or federalism as well as the interaction of either setting with the EU influences the nature of IGR and the capacity of the centre to engage in hierarchical policy co-ordination. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the current behaviour of government MPs in the British House of Commons, from the 2005 election to the Summer recess in 2006. Labour backbench rebellion so far in the 2005 parliament is running at the rate of a rebellion in 27 per cent of divisions. If Labour MPs keep that up, this session is on target to be the most rebellious first session of any post-war parliament, and the parliament will be on target to be the most rebellious parliament of the post-war era. The paper explains where this rebellion has come from (not where all commentators think) and the consequences for the rest of the parliament (not - yet - as serious as it could be). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable attention has been paid to former legislators who have moved on to lobbying jobs. This paper looks at the reverse situation - professional lobbyists who then became legislators, in both the United States and the United Kingdom. One of the oddities of this phenomenon is that while the majority of the relevant literature is from America, there is actually a higher proportion of lobbyists-turned-legislators in the UK. We report here on the results of a pilot study which we undertook, the results of which have encouraged us to complete a fuller study which is currently ongoing. The paper considers the lobbying, electoral and legislative phases of our respondents' careers. It has become clear from the pilot study that the US and UK respondents will need to be surveyed in different ways, but nonetheless the responses which were obtained throw some light on a relatively unusual group of public officials. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explanations of party competition and vote choice are commonly based on the Downsian view of politics: parties maximize votes by adopting positions on policy dimensions. Correspondingly, voters choose parties according to their preferences on these dimensions. However, recent research shows that British voters choose parties based on competence rather than on ideological position. This raises the question of whether spatial theories are currently relevant to this context. This paper responds by offering a theoretical account of party competition and of vote choice which combines elements of the spatial model with the 'issue ownership' model. The issue ownership model relies upon perceptions of party competence on issues and the salience of issues to predict party strategies. It therefore has obvious relevance to these trends in voting behaviour. However, the issue ownership model remains relatively untested. In this paper we therefore examine the validity of the model from the perspective of both parties and voters. We analyze the empirical assumptions of the issue ownership model and test its application to the 2005 British General Election. Moreover, we also examine the relative importance of spatial and competence-based voting over time. Our findings suggest that a better developed issue ownership model offers a satisfactory explanation of voter choices and party competition in the most recent British election. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jacob Hacker's notion of 'drift' is an important addition to the conceptual toolkit of institutionalists and welfare state analysts concerned with change as well as continuity. Drift occurs when policy fails to adapt to changing patterns of social risk either because of the 'stickiness' of welfare institutions, or as a result of 'deliberate efforts by political actors to prevent the recalibration of social programs' (Hacker 2005: 46). While many institutionalists concerned with policy change have focused particular attention on ideas (inter alia Blyth, Cox, Hay, Schmidt), they feature less explicitly or prominently within Hacker's framework. This paper brings together 'ideational' perspectives with the analysis of policy drift through a comparative analysis of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in three 'liberal welfare regimes'. Although existing accounts of drift are predominantly concerned with the (non) adaptation of existing policies to new circumstances, social-structural change can also create needs that could only be met by wholly new policies. Indeed, Hacker himself notes that 'US social policy could have adapted to changing social realties …some nations … have dramatically expanded public protections that help women enter the labour force and balance work and child rearing … however, the US clearly did not follow this path.' (2005: 54). But this argument is too sweeping. Here I excavate and analyse attempts to follow this sort of path in the US and two other 'liberal' states.First, the paper insists that purportedly 'new' risks are rooted in social (gendered and socio-demographic) trends that date back to the 1950s and 60s. Second, drawing on Barrington Moore's classic, but neglected concept of 'historically suppressed alternatives' (1978) it retrieves US, Australian and UK political and policy initiatives that sought or seek to address the new risks associated with change gender roles. Despite expectations that liberal regimes would treat ECEC as largely a private/market matter, the paper shows that each of these countries has each played the role of ECEC 'leader' during different decades since the 1950s (first the US in the 50s and 60s, then Australia in the 70s, and particularly 80s and early 90s, and the UK since the late 90s). This pattern - both the achievement of and (at least in two cases) decline from leadership - requires explanation. The paper focuses particularly on two aspect of the role of ideas. First their international currency - the manner in which ideas developed in one state can help to shape debate and policy elsewhere - especially the early - and enduring - influence of US policies and policy ideas (especially those surrounding the Head Start programme) in Australia and the UK. Second, it argues that the existence or non-existence of ideas is rarely crucial - apparently influential policy ideas have been present in and since the 1950s and 60s in all three states. Indeed, elements of policy that attempt to 'counter' drift induced by changing gender roles have also been present in them (some, like Head Start apparently well entrenched). As Crouch and Keune (2005) note, states' policy configurations can contain diverse - even contradictory - elements (or as TH Marshall classically argued they can 'make a square meal of a stew of paradox'). Much more than the existence of particular ideas or even individual policies, drawing on work by Blyth and Hay I argue that to address changing social risks requires the skilful articulation of particular ideas and policies into a broader political project. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the circumstances under which Michael Howard became leader of the British Conservative Party in November 2003, and analyzes his effectiveness as Leader of the Opposition through the general election of 5 May 2005. Howard inherited a party bitterly divided over its leadership, its policy direction, and its future. After immediately establishing his credibility as a fearsome debater at the dispatch box in parliamentary debates with Prime Minister Tony Blair, he established a vision for Britain in his "British Dream" speech. While staying true to Conservative principles of fair play, choice, and expanded opportunity, he offered a framework for the policies the Tories would put before the British people at the 2005 general election. Ultimately, the Conservative Party's 2005 Election Manifesto emphasized six themes: 1) More Police, 2) Cleaner Hospitals, 3) Lower Taxes, 4) School Discipline, 5) Controlled Immigration, and 6) Accountability. The main argument of this paper is that those themes were chosen because they represented areas of policy where Howard had provided an effective critique of government policy and had established a realistic alternative. This paper details Howard's effectiveness in holding the Labour Government of Tony Blair to account.After exploring the enormity and dimensions of Howard's task as Leader of the Opposition, this paper concludes that he deserves enormous credit for leading the Conservative Party out of the political wilderness, and that he effectively established a credible alternative to New Labour. While the current leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, has recently been given much credit for the revival of his party, Michael Howard's contributions should not be underestimated. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the phenomenon of blogging in the 2004 US presidential campaign, this paper examines blogging during the 2005 British general election campaign. The paper seeks to establish how widespread blogging was, the extent of bloggers' partisanship, what issues blogs were concerned with, what the purpose of the messages posted by the bloggers were, and what if any impact blogs had beyond the immediate community of users. These questions were addressed through a content analysis of over 300 blogs and 1,300 posted messages, by additional searches of the Lexis-Nexis newspaper archive, and via the use of Internet poll data on blogging. The research found that blogging in the UK is in its infancy. There were few bloggers posting messages about the campaign and few people accessed blogs regularly. The findings provide important insights into the evolving online election communication environment in the UK. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the world today there is a large gap between the number of states that could easily obtain the military power of nuclear weapons and the number of states that actually choose that power. Curiously, a number of states that sought that power at one time or another have abandoned it. Yet, in other states, the quest for nuclear weapons continues. What causes this variance in behavior?Scholars generally rely on one of three explanatory models to address this question. The security model argues that states develop nuclear weapons when they find them useful to bolster their own security and deter external threats. The domestic model finds that states develop nuclear weapons if it strengthens the regime internally to do so. Finally, the normative model suggests that a desire to reinforce positive aspects of a states identity will lead it to pursue nuclear develop or adhere to a prohibition against nuclear weapons. This paper evaluates the relative weight of these three explanatory models in the decision-making process of three very early nuclear-capable states. This paper codes the justifications made by political leaders in Great Britain, Canada, and Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. The purpose of this analysis is to determine the relative weight of three distinct and competing explanations for nuclear acquisition, and to suggest a means of evaluating additional cases nuclear and potential nuclear states. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constitutional and institutional restructuring in the UK in the 1990s resulted in the creation of new parliamentary spaces, structures of governance and party dynamics. Another outcome has been an historic shift in the gendered distribution of political power with high proportions of women elected to the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales. Issues of gender are often neglected in accounts of political change and constitution-building, however, women activists and feminist ideas were important elements in the shaping of constitutional reform within the UK. In addition to the achievement of high levels of descriptive representation for women as members of parliament (MSPs) and government ministers, activists also succeeding in building gender concerns into the fabric of the new parliamentary and governmental blueprints and structures. This paper focuses on the Scottish case and draws upon research undertaken as part of the UK Devolution and Constitutional Change Programme (Economic and Social Research Council) to examine the impact of devolution - including the substantial presence of female office-holders - on women's substantive representation and citizenship. The paper examines the institutional performance of the first Scottish Parliament and Executive (1999-2003) and policy developments in a single field, domestic abuse, using the framework criteria of recognition, representation, accountability and outcomes. It is contended that high levels of descriptive representation and the new constitutional arrangements and institutional designs in Scotland are mutually reinforcing and have resulted in some gains in the substantive representation of women. However such representation is complex and contingent upon issue and political context. It argues that the complexity and contingency of representation in post devolution Scotland requires 'thick conceptions' of substantive representation comprising a whole-system approach rather than a narrow focus on whether or not women representatives 'act for' women. Domestic abuse policy developments provide evidence of clear and tangible gains for women across all our dimensions of evaluation. In this policy area, at least, we can argue that the conditions for citizenship have been enhanced through 'thick' substantive representation: by female MSPs and ministers; by regendered political institutions as a whole; through institutionalised mechanisms and channels; and via the enhanced access and voice of organised women; by the representation of domestic abuse as misrecognition and maldistribution which blights women's lives and undermines their opportunity and capacity to participate on a par with men; and by new accountability structures and relationships that counter legacies of institutional gender bias and capture. However, opportunities for women - and men - to 'act for' women are constrained, sometimes dramatically, by partisan politics, institutional and political considerations and the prevailing norms of 'traditional' political culture. In general, the substantive representation of women is constrained, sometimes confounded, by myriad political, institutional, organisational and discursive constraints. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]