Full Issue

DOI10.1111/2041-9066.12090
Published date01 September 2015
Date01 September 2015
Rise of Political Englishness European Union Referendum Votes at 16?
A UK Constitutional Convention? Egypt After the Arab Spring
Federalism in UK and US Women in Parliament The Future of the BBC
Making sense of issues, arguments, trends and developments September 2015
POLITICAL
INSIGHT
A NEW ERA?
General Election 2015 Analysed
2 POLITICAL INSIGHT SEPTEMBER 2015
Contents
General Election 2015: Business as 4
Usual or New Departure?
John Curtice
A British Constitutional Convention? 8
Alan Renwick
Why Aren’t There More Women 12
in British Politics?
Meryl Kenny
Towards a Federal United Kingdom? 16
Lessons from America
Stephen Tierney
In Focus: May 2015 – A Climate Change 20
in UK Politics
Benjamin Hennig and Danny Dorling
Debate: Should the Voting Age be 22
Lowered to 16 for UK Elections?
Jan Eichhorn and Andrew Mycock
US Presidential Election 2016 24
David Karol
The Rise of Political Englishness? 28
Michael Kenny
The EU and Britain’s Political Parties: 32
Conflict and Consensus
Graham Goodlad
Country Focus: Egypt 36
Ahmed Abd Rabou
Last Word 40
Steven Barnett
Cover image: © Press Association.
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Editor
Peter Geoghegan
editor@politicalinsightmagazine.com
Editorial Board
Professor John Benyon
University of Leicester
Professor Neil Collins
University College Cork
Professor Charlie Jerey
University of Edinburgh
Professor Andrew Massey
University of Exeter
International Advisory Board
Professor Luciano Bardi
University of Pisa
Professor Andrew Gamble
University of Cambridge
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Professor Robert Goodin
Australian National University
Professor Zhu Guanglei
Nankai University
Professor Ian Holliday
University of Hong Kong
Professor Ira Katznelson
Columbia University
Martha Kearney
British Broadcasting Corporation
Professor Gurpreet Mahajan
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Professor Pippa Norris
Harvard University
Professor Rasul Bakhsh Rais
Lahore University of Management
Sciences
Professor Rod Rhodes
University of Southampton
SEPTEMBER 2015 POLITICAL INSIGHT 3
A Bit
Like 1992?
“All the polls have made
the same mistake. They
said one thing to us, and
another at the ballot box.
A bit like in 1992.” That was veteran pollster
Peter Kellner’s verdict on 8 May, after a
General Election earthquake that arguably
shook political commentators even more
than it did the British public.
After months of polls predicting various
permutations of a hung parliament,
Conservatives emerged as a single party
government. As in 1992, when John
Major surprisingly won re-election, the
Tory majority is wafer-thin – but so far is
proving workable.
So are we back to the early ‘90s all over
again?
In this week’s cover feature John Curtice
analyses the General Election result
and discovers that while a Conservative
victory and single party rule looks like a
return to the status quo in British politics,
the reality is rather different. Instead,
the old certainties of our politics are fast
disappearing as fringe parties become
increasingly popular and growing regional
divides pose serious problems for both
main parties, but especially Labour.
Benjamin Hennig and Danny Dorling
agree. In the regular In Focus slot they plot
the geography of the Conservative victory
and find that British voters have become
increasingly segregated, with the Tories
consolidating their hold over the south.
An important – and much discussed –
aspect of the General Election campaign
was Scotland. The Scottish National Party
won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats, and
the possibility of Ed Miliband forming a
government with the assistance of the
Nationalists damaged Labour in parts of
England.
But the General Election also saw the
emergence of a nascent sense of political
Englishness. Michael Kenny traces the
growth of Englishness as a feature of
British politics, from the rise of Ukip to the
debates around English Votes for English
Laws.
One of the biggest challenges to
answering the so-called ‘English Question’
is the lack of a significant demand for a
parliament for England. Nevertheless,
constitutional reform remains a live
issue in British politics. Amid calls for a
Constitutional Convention, Alan Renwick
looks at what form such an initiative might
take and whether it might be able to solve
the thorny issues facing it.
When John Major won in 1992, there
was no devolution in the UK. More
than two decades later, the clamour for
further powers for Scotland (and Wales)
is growing. Stephen Tierney looks at the
American model of federalism and asks if
the United Kingdom could be heading in
the same direction.
Constitutional arrangements are not the
only aspect of British politics witnessing
calls for reform. Many are advocating a
lowering of the voting age to 16, in the
wake of last year’s Scottish independence
referendum. In this issue’s debate, Jan
Eichhorn and Andrew Mycock argue the
pros and cons of such a move.
More women than ever were elected in
May, but women remained heavily under-
represented in British political life. Meryl
Kenny examines whether the time has
come for gender quotes.
Away from Parliament, Graham Goodlad
looks at the differing attitudes of the
UK’s main political parties to Europe,
ahead of the referendum on European
Union membership. Turning attention to
politics on the other side of the pond,
David Karol examines the race to succeed
Barack Obama as US president. The 2016
campaign looks set to be a turning point
in American politics, with the Democrats
widely expected to choose a female
nominee for the first time (Hilary Clinton),
but the election itself will be fought along
very familiar red-blue lines.
Four years ago, the regime of Egyptian
dictator Hosni Mubarak was swept away
in the Arab Spring. Ahmed Abd Rabou
returns to Egypt to find the country’s
hopes of democracy and prosperity still
unrealised.
Political Insight continues to go from
strength to strength. We welcome
submissions both to the magazine and to
our popular blog. If you would like to join
the debates online or in print, get in touch
with me directly or by visiting http://www.
psa.ac.uk/insight-plus
Peter Geoghegan
Editor
(editor@politicalinsightmagazine.com)

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