Search

The British electoral system treats parties disproportionately and differentially. This original study of the fourteen general elections held between 1950 and 1997 shows that the amount of bias in those election results increased substantially over the period, benefiting Labour at the expense of the Conservatives. Labour's advantage peaked at the 1997 general election when, even assuming there had been an equal share of the votes for the two parties, it would have won 82 more seats than its opponents. This situation came about because of different aspects of two well-known electoral abuses - malapportionment and gerrymandering. With the use of imaginative diagrams the book examines these processes in detail, illustrating how they operate and stresses the important role of tactical voting in the production of recent election results.

Microsimulation is widely used to analyse redistributive policies and budget changes but few models have simulated the geographical impacts of policies. Building on past work on microsimulation, Geography matters presents a new spatial simulation methodology. The study: identifies the main reasons for the paucity of geographical microsimulation work; discusses the conceptual and practical issues; explains the differences between static and dynamic microsimulation; reviews the literature on geographical microsimulation and gives a succinct overview of other methods that have been used for the geographical analysis of survey data, as well as other data. Keeping mathematical and statistical jargon to a minimum, the authors then illustrate how to build a geographical microsimulation model. The simple technique can be used by any social scientist with a basic understanding of quantitative research methods. In addition, they propose a new technique for simulating the fortunes of household spaces rather than households. The work presented here aims to promote more convergence of the methods used by economists, geographers and other social scientists working in this field. As well as being of interest to researchers concerned with the geographical implications of social policies, it makes a useful introduction for undergraduate and postgraduate students to simulation methods in the social sciences.

The rapid expansion in support for the Scottish National Party (SNP) between the 2010 and 2015 general elections substantially changed the country’s electoral geography, as again did its relative decline at the next election in 2017. At that last contest, however, the SNP won many seats with fewer than 40% of the votes cast, a situation very different from that in the rest of Great Britain. That difference – which had a considerable impact on the formation of a government in June 2017 – came about because of the nature of the competition in individual seats.

presented at Defence Academies & Colleges International e-Learning Conference, 25th – 27th March 2009, Stellenbosch, South Africa., This paper explores how the boundaries within organisations, structural and cultural, impact the take-up of an innovation, such as e-learning in a complex higher education and defence environment. In doing so, the paper examines how structure and environment act as impediments, or facilitators, to newer education and training developments and whether these factors can be mitigated against or managed. The most apparent barriers are structural. These are sanctioned forms that delineate organisational workgroups and entities. They are inextricably meshed with the policies, processes and practices that scaffold teaching and learning activity. Structural dimensions can generally be managed or guided towards a common mission, goal or endpoint. The more pervasive elements, however, are cultural and include issues pertaining to role and identity and working within a more ambiguous environment. Many human factors associated with change may be observed as overt behaviour, but often they emerge as more subtle manifestations, which are both difficult to identify and to manage in organisational settings. Strategies that rely on influence, rather than control, can be more appropriate in the latter case. The most challenging issues often occur at the boundaries of a system. Commonly these complex issues and behaviours are interpreted as problems, and much of the organisational effort is directed towards overcoming such change barriers. This paper will examine various aspects of boundary behaviour, drawing on theories and models of change, as well providing practical examples and strategies to manage these boundary transitions more effectively.

International audience