DOCSLIB.ORG

In Modern Britain

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
In Modern Britain Power & Participation &IN MODERN BRITAIN David Beetham, Andrew Blick, Helen Margetts and Stuart Weir A Literature Review by Democratic Audit Power and Participation in Modern Britain An internal Democratic Audit paper, February 2008A Literature Review 1 Power & Participation IN MODERN BRITAIN by Democratic Audit for the Carnegie UK Trust Democracy and Civil Society programme David Beetham, Andrew Blick, &Helen Margetts and Stuart Weir Democratic Audit Literature Review for Carnegie Trust UK Designed by Tony Garrett, Printed by Creative Print Group, Wembley 4 The Democratic Audit Preface his paper was originally are keen to receive feedback on commissioned by the its findings to date, not least any Carnegie UK Trust gaps. Comments can be fed back to inform its new to Democratic Audit or directly Democracy and Civil to Carnegie UK’s Democracy Society Programme. Programme Director, Raji Hunjan TThe programme has been set at [email protected] up to contribute towards the strengthening of civil society Charlie McConnell and people empowerment across Chief Executive, Carnegie UK the UK and Ireland. The Trust has established a Commission of Inquiry into the future of civil society, chaired by Geoff Mulgan, and this has just completed its first phase of investigation. The Trust will be publishing its initial findings later this autumn. For further information on the work of the Carnegie Commission see www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk In addition to the work of the commission, Carnegie has contracted a number of independent think tanks to map and analyse power in the UK and Ireland, of which this paper is one. Our aim is to move beyond the work of the Rowntree Trusts’ Power Inquiry, which largely focused upon the interface between the citizen and the local and national state. Carnegie’s power mapping exercise is intended to examine wider political, economic, cultural, social and media influences in society and ways in which civil society can affect and democratise the distribution of power. This paper does not necessarily represent the views of Carnegie UK. Indeed, we see this very much as work in progress and Power and Participation in Modern Britain 5 6 The Democratic Audit Contents Preface 5 Part 4: Participation in Civil Society 47 Acknowledgements 8 Inequalities in Resources and Power 47 About the Authors 8 Poverty and social exclusion Towards middle class hegemony Introduction 9 Economic, social and cultural inequalities Executive Summary 11 The balance of power Who Participates? 52 Part 1: Variations in political participation Theories Of Political Power 14 Associational life and social capital Introduction 14 Personal and political efficacy The Nature of Political Power 15 Citizen Action 55 Key features of political power Spaces for participation: closed, invited, claimed/created The Ideological Framework 17 Observations 59 Part 2: Power And Participation in Practice 19 Part 5: Conclusions 60 National Government and Globalisation 19 Power at a global level Perspectives on power and influence 60 Britain’s role in the world Comments on local democracy 62 Political and Corporate Power 22 Government at the centre The powers of the executive Corporate influence on government The media – ‘unelected legislators’? Power in the workplace Participation in Local Governance 31 The new localism The Brown effect The local governance framework Part 3: Handles On Power 36 Government Policies on Participation 36 Rights and Citizen Mobilisation 37 Redress Countervailing Influences 40 Civil society Trade unions Political parties? The Power of the Internet 44 Power and Participation in Modern Britain 7 Acknowledgements About the authors e are very pleased to of the Institute for Political and Professor David Beetham be able to publish this Economic Governance, University is a leading British political report on power and of Manchester, for advice on theorist and Associate Director participation in Britain drafted sections; and to Professor of Democratic Audit. He has with a generous grant Marian Barnes, of the School of undertaken many recent interna- from the Lipman- Applied Social Science, University tional consultancies on democracy WMiliband Trust. The research for of Brighton, who shared with for UNESCO, the UN High this literature review was carried us the fruits of her researches Commission on Human Rights, out in the summer of 2007. We had into participation. Thanks too to International IDEA and the Inter- only three months in which to carry Professor Keith Ewing, of King’s Parliamentary Union (IPU). Recent out the research and so there are College, London, for sharing with publications include Democracy gaps in what we have been able to us ideas on workplace rights; to and Human Rights, Democracy, a cover; and the research has been Hilary Wainwright, co-editor of Red Beginner’s Guide and Parliament becoming increasingly out of date. Pepper and research director of the and Democracy in the Twenty- Nevertheless we believe that we New Politics Project of the Tran- first Century: a Guide to Good have identified issues that are of snational Institute, Amsterdam, for Practice, IPU 2006; and (jointly) great importance to the Brown her thoughts on participation; and International IDEA Handbook government’s governance package, to Martin McIvor, of UNISON, for on Democracy Assessment and and especially to its welcome valuable insights into modern trade Democracy under Blair. He emphasis on participation, and so unionism. acted as adviser on the ESRC we decided that we should publish We are also grateful for valuable programme on participation. it, warts and all, if at all possible. contributions to the study from Andrew Blick is currently full-time Our thanks go to the trustees of those who attended a seminar to Research Officer at Democratic the Lipman-Miliband Trust for discuss power and participation at Audit. He has conducted political rescuing the report. 1 Parliament Street, London SW1: research for Lord Radice, Professor We also owe thanks to all Anthony Barnett, openDemocracy; George Jones and BBC Television. those who gave us advice and Tufyal Choudhury, University of He was Secretary to an All-Party information last summer. We owe Durham; Jane Foot; Sofia Hamaz, Group of MPs on the Constitu- particular thanks to Professors Linacre College, University of tion for two years. He is author of Keith Dowding and Patrick Oxford; Peter John; Stephen People who Live in the Dark (on Dunleavy, both of the LSE, Pittam, Joseph Rowntree Charitable political advisers) and How to go and John Gaventa, Fellow at Trust; and Lord Smith of Clifton. to War and has contributed to a the Institute for Development Raji Hunjan, who was in number of Democratic Audit books Studies, University of Sussex, charge of the democracy project at and reports. who gave us early steers on the Carnegie UK Trust, was unfailingly theoretical literature of power; enthusiastic and supportive. Helen Margetts is Professor of to Jane Foot, independent policy We owe thanks too to Charlie Society and the Internet at Oxford consultant and associate, Centre McConnell, director, and Morven University and was formerly for Urban & Community Research, Masterton at Carnegie. Professor in Political Science, Goldsmiths College, University UCL, and Director of the School of of London, for a personal seminar Stuart Weir, Andrew Blick, David Public Policy, UCL. She carries out on local government in Britain; Beetham and Helen Margetts research and writes on electoral to her and Professor Peter John, 5 February 2008 systems and results, popular 8 The Democratic Audit Introduction attitudes to democratic issues, olitical power is important, tion in the UK, and particularly e-government and participation on because it constitutes the to enable people to take full the Internet. She is a consultant very fabric of politics, advantage of the government’s to the National Audit Office and and of society itself, and drive to open up participation at was co-leader of the team that determines how the local level. wrote the influential NAO study, benefits, opportunities and The paper has its origins in Government on the Web. She also Pdisadvantages of life in the United a literature review, undertaken led on the study, The BNP: the Kingdom are shared between its on behalf of the Carnegie UK roots of its appeal, for the Joseph inhabitants and communities. Trust, to inform its longer-term Rowntree Charitable Trust. Yet the study of power in the UK project to map power in the UK. is, as the sociologist Anthony It is necessarily indicative: the Professor Stuart Weir is Director of Giddens wrote 30 years ago, research was carried out within a Democratic Audit, a research body ‘almost uncharted territory’. This very short time-span and there are attached to the Human Rights paper is an initial exploration of inevitably omissions. While the Centre, University of Essex. He is this ‘uncharted territory’. There review broadly covers the United joint author of three democratic is still scarcely any empirical Kingdom as a whole, much of audits of the UK, including research on power in the United the detailed research, especially Democracy under Blair and of Kingdom, the literature on partici- on local governance, centres on other Audit books and reports. pation is sparse, and this paper England and Wales and we barely He was one of the authors of the represents the first attempt we cover the impact of devolution. International IDEA Handbook know of that seeks to consider Further, most of the research was on Democracy Assessment and both power and participation conducted before Gordon Brown has acted as a consultant on together. For Democratic Audit, became Prime Minister and we democracy and human rights a deeper understanding of the have been able only to modify the in India, Macedonia, Malawi, structures of power – institutional study to take account of what are Namibia, Nigeria, Palestine and in society at large – is vital potentially far-reaching changes and Zimbabwe.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Download Book
    Challenges to Democracy Political Studies Association Yearbook Series Titles include: Keith Dowding, James Hughes and Helen Margetts (editors) CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRACY Ideas, Involvement and Institutions Chris Pierson and Simon Tormey (editors) POLITICS AT THE EDGE The PSA Yearbook 1999 Political Studies Association Yearbook Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-91373-4 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Challenges to Democracy Ideas, Involvement and Institutions The PSA Yearbook 2000 Edited by Keith Dowding Professor of Political Science London School of Economics James Hughes Senior Lecturer in Comparative Economics London School of Economics and Helen Margetts Professor of Political Science Director, School of Public Policy University College London in association with Political Studies Association © Political Studies Association 2001 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2001 978-0-333-78982-7 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
    [Show full text]
  • The Party's Over?
    The Party’s Over? 63rd Annual International Conference 25 - 27 March 2013 City Hall, Cardiff, Wales Cover images: courtesy of www.visitcardiff.com Stay informed of Routledge Politics journal news and book highlights Explore Routledge Politics journals with your 14 days’ free access voucher, available at the Routledge stand throughout the conference. Sign up at the To discover future news and offers, Routledge stand and make sure you subscribe to the Politics we’ll enter you into our & International Relations Bulletin. exclusive prize draw to win a Kindle! explore.tandfonline.com/pair BIG_4664_PSA_A4 advert_final.indd 1 27/02/2013 11:38 Croeso i Gaerdydd! Welcome to Cardiff! Dear Conference delegate, I’d like to welcome you to this 63rd Conference of the Political Studies Association, held in Cardiff for the first time and hosted by the University of Cardiff. We are expecting over 600 delegates, representing over 80 different countries, to join us at Cardiff’s historic City Hall. The conference theme is ‘The Party’s Over?’; are the assumptions that have underpinned political life and political analysis sustainable? This subject will most certainly be explored during our Plenary Session ‘Leveson and the Future of Political Journalism’, a debate that has enormous ramifications for the future of UK politics. We will bring together some of the most passionate and eloquent voices on this topic; Chris Bryant MP, Trevor Kavanagh, Mick Hume and Professor Brian Cathcart. This year’s Government and Opposition- sponsored Leonard Schapiro lecture will be given by Professor Donatella Della Porta, who will consider the issue of political violence, the new editor of the American Political Science Review, Professor John Ishiyama, will discuss ‘The Future of Political Science’ and the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones AM, will address attendees at the conference dinner.
    [Show full text]
  • Brian Michael Barry 1936–2009
    BRIAN BARRY Columbia University in the City of New York Brian Michael Barry 1936–2009 BRIA N BARRY was the leading European normative political theorist of his generation, his intellectual infl uence being felt in Europe, North America, Australasia and indeed wherever normative political theory in the ana- lytical mode is practised. As well as being a Fellow of the British Academy (elected in 1988), he was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the only Briton to have received the prestigious Johann Skytte prize from the University of Uppsala for achievement in the study of political science. During his life he published seven single-authored books and fi ve co-edited volumes, as well as over seventy articles and a large number of reviews and review essays, some of the latter being full- length and original articles in their own right. In addition, at his death Barry left a number of unpublished manuscripts, including one ready for publication on international justice, as well as work on the theory of voting and lectures in the history of political thought. He had a deep and abiding commitment to the professionalisation of the study of politics, and was an inspiration to many younger scholars. He held academic positions at Oxford (variously), Keele, Birmingham, Southampton, Essex, British Columbia, Stanford, Chicago, the California Institute of Technology, the European University Institute, the London School of Economics and Columbia. Some positions he occupied for only a short time (inevitably given their number); yet, sometimes even a brief tenure would be suffi cient for him to leave his mark with long-term consequences.
    [Show full text]
  • Authoring a Phd How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis Or Dissertation
    Authoring a PhD How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation Patrick Dunleavy Visit our online Study Skills resource at www.skills4study.com Palgrave Study Guides A Handbook of Writing for Engineers Joan van Emden Authoring a PhD Patrick Dunleavy Effective Communication for Arts and Humanities Students Joan van Emden and Lucinda Becker Effective Communication for Science and Technology Joan van Emden How to Manage your Arts, Humanities and Social Science Degree Lucinda Becker How to Write Better Essays Bryan Greetham Key Concepts in Politics Andrew Heywood Making Sense of Statistics Michael Wood The Mature Student’s Guide to Writing Jean Rose The Postgraduate Research Handbook Gina Wisker Professional Writing Sky Marsen Research Using IT Hilary Coombes Skills for Success Stella Cottrell The Student’s Guide to Writing John Peck and Martin Coyle The Study Skills Handbook (second edition) Stella Cottrell Studying Economics Brian Atkinson and Susan Johns Studying History (second edition) Jeremy Black and Donald M. MacRaild Studying Mathematics and its Applications Peter Kahn Studying Modern Drama (second edition) Kenneth Pickering Studying Psychology Andrew Stevenson Study Skills for Speakers of English as a Second Language Marilyn Lewis and Hayo Reinders Teaching Study Skills and Supporting Learning Stella Cottrell Palgrave Study Guides: Literature General Editors: John Peck and Martin Coyle How to Begin Studying English Literature (third edition) Nicholas Marsh How to Study a Jane Austen Novel (second edition) Vivien Jones How to Study Chaucer (second edition) Rob Pope How to Study a Charles Dickens Novel Keith Selby How to Study Foreign Languages Marilyn Lewis How to Study an E.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter John, Keith Dowding and Stephen Biggs*
    l RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY IN LONDON: A MICRO-LEVEL TEST OF THE BEHAVIOURAL ASSUMPTIONS OF THE TIEBOUT MODEL Peter John, Keith Dowding and Stephen Biggs* * John Lecturer in Politics, Department of Politics, Keele University, Keele, Staffs, ST5 5BG; Dowding Lecturer in Public Choice and Public Policy, Government Department, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE and Biggs Researcher, London School of Economics. John and Dowding are equal co-authors of this article. Biggs was research assistant on the project. The research for this article was carried out from January to September 1993, directed at Brunel University by Keith Dowding and Peter John and was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Grant number 23 3815. An earlier version was read to the PSA Rational Choice 1 Group and we are grateful for comments received. We also thank George Boyne and Anne Gelling for written comments. ABSTRACT The Tiebout model, which theorises that residential choice can regulate the supply of local collective goods, has generated much criticism, but few empirical tests of its behavioural assumptions. The article presents the findings of the first British micro-level test of the effect of local taxes and services on geographical mobility, a postal survey of households' moving decisions in four London boroughs during the years of the poll tax. Taxes and services are found to be important factors in the moving decision corroborating the behavioural assumptions of the model. Respondents acted Tiebout-rationally as those moving into low tax/good service quality boroughs are more likely to cite low taxes and good services as a moving factor than those doing the reverse.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter C. John: Curriculum Vitae
    Peter C. John Department of Political Science Phone: +44 (0)203 3108 1145 or +44 (0)7780 983928 University College London Fax: +44 (0)207 679 4969 Gower Street E-mail: [email protected] London WC1E 6BT Homepage: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/spp United Kingdom Personal Born December 11, 1960 United Kingdom Citizen Education B.Sci. Economics and Politics, University of Bath, 1983 M.Phil. Politics, Nuffield College, 1986 D. Phil. Politics, Nuffield College, 1992 Employment Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University College London, 2011- Hallsworth Chair of Governance, University of Manchester, 2004-2011 Professor of Politics, Birkbeck, 2001-2004 Reader in Politics and Sociology, Birkbeck, 1999-2001 Reader in Politics, University of Southampton, 1998-1999 Lecturer in Politics, University of Southampton, 1995-1998 Lecturer in Politics, University of Keele, 1992-1995 Research Fellow, Policy Studies Institute, 1988-1992 Research Assistant, Nuffield College, Oxford University, 1987-1988 Publications Books Published Experimentation in Political Science and Public Policy: The Challenge and Promise of Field Trials, Routledge, 2017. Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action, Princeton University Press, 2015, with Helen Margetts, Scott Hale and Taha Yasseri. Peter C. John 2 Public Policy Investment: Priority-Setting and Conditional Representation In British Statecraft, Oxford Uni- versity Press, 2013, with Anthony Bertelli. Policy Agendas in British Politics, Palgrave, 2013, with Anthony Bertelli, William Jennings and Shaun Bevan. Exits, Voices and Social Investment: Citizens’ Reaction to Public Services, Cambridge University Press, 2012, with Keith Dowding. Handbook of Urban Politics, Oxford University Press, 2012, edited with Karen Mossberger and Susan Clarke.
    [Show full text]
  • Justice and Democracy: Essays for Brian Barry Edited by Keith Dowding, Robert E
    Cambridge University Press 0521836956 - Justice and Democracy: Essays for Brian Barry Edited by Keith Dowding, Robert E. Goodin and Carole Pateman Frontmatter More information Justice and Democracy ‘Justice’ and ‘democracy’ have alternated as dominant themes in political philosophy over the last fifty years. Since its revival in the middle of the twentieth century, political philosophy has focused on first one and then the other of these two themes. Rarely, however, has it succeeded in holding them in joint focus. This volume brings together leading authors who consider the relationship of democracy and justice in a set of specially written chapters. The intrinsic justness of democ- racy is challenged, the relationship between justice, democracy and impartiality queried and the relationship between justice, democracy and the common good examined. Further chapters explore the prob- lem of social exclusion and issues surrounding subnational groups in the context of democracy and justice. Authors include Keith Dowding, Richard Arneson, Norman Schofield, Albert Weale, Robert E. Goodin, Jon Elster, David Miller, Philip Pettit, Julian Le Grand and Russell Hardin. is Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics. His books include Rational Choice and Political Power (1991), The Civil Service (1995) and Power (1996). . is Joint Professor of Social and Political Theory and of Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He is the author of many books on politi- cal theory, public policy and applied ethics which include, most recently, The Real Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, with B. Headey, R. Muffels and H.J. Dirven (1999) and Reflective Democracy (2003).
    [Show full text]
  • British Journal of Political Science Volume 34 Part 1 January 2004 Notes and Comments 183
    British journal of political science volume 34 part 1 January 2004 Notes and Comments 183 Analysing Bureau-Shaping Models: Comments on Marsh, Smith and Richards KEITH DOWDING AND OLIVER JAMES* In a recent article in this Journal Marsh, Smith and Richards (MSR) note the massive recent changes in the organization of British government and the attention the bureau-shaping model has received both at a theoretical level and as an explanation of changes. I They suggest that the model has breathed new life into debates about the behaviour of officials and is important in the context of the 'Next Steps' agency reform. They state two aims of their article: 'First, it is a critical contribution to the literature on the bureau-shaping model', and secondly it examines 'the model's utility as an explanation of the changes that have occurred in British central government in the past decade'.2 They also use their arguments as part of an assault upon rational choice and empirical political science more generally in favour of interpretative sociology. However, in this Note, we respond to their work on the bureau-shaping model and rational choice. First, we specify the bureau-shaping model a little more clearly than do MSR. From Dunleavy's original version a number of important variants have been developed.3 To the detriment of their 'test', MSR do not distinguish between the original and the later models. Indeed, most of their evidence is actually directed at the James variant.4 Few of their criticisms are original and the later bureau-shaping models have taken many of the points on board.
    [Show full text]
  • Conference Programme
    Politics and the Good Life 66th PSA Annual International Conference 21 - 23 March 2016 Hilton Brighton Metropole and The Grand Brighton #PSA16 Routledge Politics, International Relations and Strategic Studies Routledge partner with prestigious societies and think tanks across the world to publish highly-cited journals and leading book titles. Join our community and partner with the top publisher of ranked titles across the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports® Political Science and International Relations categories. Sample every journal at bit.ly/RoutledgePSA16 Take a look at our book titles at bit.ly/PSAconference Sign up to our newsletter bit.ly/RoutledgeNewsletter Like us on Facebook bit.ly/RoutledgeFacebook Follow us on Twitter bit.ly/RoutledgeTwitter bit.ly/RoutledgePSA16 Welcome to Brighton! Dear Conference Delegate, I’d like to welcome you to this 66th Conference of the Political Studies Association, held in Brighton. We are expecting over 700 delegates, representing over 60 different countries, to join us at the Hilton Brighton Metropole and The Grand Hotel Brighton. The conference theme is ‘Politics and the Good Life’. What does any notion of ‘the good life’ actually mean in the twenty-first century and is there any sense of a shared vision? Some delegates may well remember the popular BBC sitcom that ran in the late 1970s and was called The Good Life. It starred Richard Briers, Penelope Keith, Felicity Kendal and Paul Eddington and focused around a decision by ‘Tom Good’ (Briers) to reject the market-driven materialism that he sees all around him and instead to adopt a sustainable, simple and self- sufficient life (i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Challenges for Democracy in a Global Era
    11160 PSA Conf 2009:PROOF 30/03/2009 17:51 Page 1 59th Annual Conference Challenges for democracy in a global era Manchester University 7-9 April 2009 Political Studies Association Awards 2005 11160 PSA Conf 2009:PROOF 30/03/2009 17:52 Page 2 11160 PSA Conf 2009:PROOF 30/03/2009 17:52 Page 1 PSA 59th Annual Conference Manchester University, 7-9 April 2009 www.psa.ac.uk/2009 A Word of Welcome A warm welcome to the fifty-ninth annual conference of the Political Studies Association, in Manchester. We are expecting more than 500 delegates including international visitors from Brazil, Egypt, China and Singapore among several other countries. A special welcome is extended to the distinguished guest speakers invited by our specialist groups and to the Right Honourable David Blunkett MP who is taking part in the Roundtable to commemorate Sir Bernard Crick. Three exciting plenaries are in prospect, including the Government and Opposition Leonard Shapiro lecture given by Professor Fred Halliday. On Wednesday we also look forward to hearing our after dinner speaker, Chris Mullin MP. 2008 has been another successful year for the Political Studies Association and for the profession on many fronts. Membership of the Association continues to rise, financial reserves are healthy and we sustain a growing range of activities. The fallout from the RAE results and related HEFCE funding decisions have certainly posed real challenges for the discipline which the Association will need to address. But this comes at a time when the demand to study politics subjects at degree level has been continuously rising.
    [Show full text]