Political Quarterly Blog

Democracy’s failure to deliver equality for women results from fundamental biases of design

Joni LovenduskiApril 3, 2019

Most democratic governments claim to support equality for women, but none have so far achieved it. Even after decades of struggle and despite significant ...

FeminismGovernmentUK5 min read

My Generation, Baby: The Politics of Age in Brexit Britain

Torsten Bell and Laura GardinerMarch 20, 2019

Generational politics is nothing new, but the extent of the profound generational cleavage that has emerged in British electoral politics is. After the Brexit ...

EconomyUKWelfare & Inequality9 min read

We are at a political juncture as momentous as 1945 and 1979

Florence Sutcliffe-BraithwaiteMarch 15, 2019

We are currently in a political moment which could lead to a major paradigm shift in economic policy. There were similar moments twice in the last century, in ...

CommentGovernmentUK7 min read

What Brexit means for the future of UK capitalism

Martin SandbuMarch 11, 2019

Long before it acquired the name of Brexit, the project of making the UK leave the European Union was a solution in search of a problem.This EU?bashing wa...

BrexitCommentUK10 min read

Review: Identity. Contemporary Identity Politics and the Struggle for Recognition, by Francis Fukuyama

Tristan BrookesMarch 6, 2019

In his new book on identity politics, American political scientist and economist Francis Fukuyama makes the case for imposed national identities. By failing to...

Reviews5 min read

A Second Brexit Referendum: Democracy as Discovery

Albert WealeMarch 4, 2019

I began this series of blogs by noting the fogginess of the UK’s constitutional position in relation to the Brexit referendum. In formal terms the vote was adv...

BrexitCommentUK5 min read

A Second Brexit Referendum: The Generation Game

Albert WealeFebruary 28, 2019

The 2016 Brexit referendum, we were often told during the campaign, was a ‘once in a generation’ opportunity for the British people to decide on future members...

BrexitCommentUK5 min read

Is the current political climate giving small parties a stronger voice in the House of Commons?

Louise ThompsonFebruary 28, 2019

Speaking in the chamber is a challenge for any MP. However keen you are to give a speech on an issue, there is no guarantee that you will be called by the Spea...

CommentGovernmentUK6 min read

A Second Brexit Referendum: The Myth of Popular Sovereignty

Albert WealeFebruary 27, 2019

Brexit is an issue that combines the need for urgent practical decision making with profound questions about the value and meaning of democracy. In m...

BrexitComment5 min read

A second Brexit referendum: The problem of constitutional agency

Albert WealeFebruary 22, 2019

There might be many reasons why you think a second referendum should not be held on the UK’s membership of the EU. Most obviously, if you are a Leaver, you thi...

BrexitComment5 min read

Sovereignty, delusion, and the economics of Brexit

Mona AliFebruary 19, 2019

Reclaiming national sovereignty has been a mantra of Brexiteers. Yet one of the many ironies of Brexit is that Britain actually enjoys a special status wi...

BrexitEconomyLong Reads10 min read

The productivity puzzle in public service reform

Pamela DowJanuary 30, 2019

You may remember a news story about a sex offender treatment programme in prisons being disbanded. The decision was taken not just because the programme was in...

CommentUKWelfare & Inequality7 min read