A Turbulent Year – With No End in Sight
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2041905817744637 |
DECEMBER 2017 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 3
A Turbulent
Year – With
No End in Sight
2017 was a year of political
anniversaries. From the Russian
revolution to Martin Luther nailing
his 95 theses to a Wittenberg
church door, there has been a seemingly
endless stream of centenaries.
The ten-year anniversary of the start of
the global financial crash received relatively
little attention but more than any other
commemoration the so-called ‘credit
crunch’ goes a long way to explaining our
current political turbulence. In the UK, and
elsewhere, wages have barely risen in real
terms in a decade. What once seemed rock
solid political systems have been battered
by populist revolt across the political
spectrum.
From Brexit to Donald Trump, white
working class voters have often been
identified as a determining factor in these
political shifts. Experts have talked a lot
about culture and identity as the driving
force behind the anger of those ‘left
behind’. But in this issue’s cover feature,
Will Jennings and Gerry Stoker argue that
economics – and particularly post-financial
crisis austerity – has played a major role in
the growing disenchantment with the old
political order among white working class
voters.
Brexit remains the defining issue in
British politics. Polls suggest the country is
still deeply divided about the prospect of
leaving the European Union. But there has
been little change in the tone, or quality,
of public discourse on Brexit. Reporting
on the recent Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit,
Alan Renwick suggests that consulting
voters about what they want could help
heal some of Britain’s partisan wounds.
Brexit has changed the party political
dynamic, too, most notably for Theresa May.
Following her catastrophic decision
to call a premature general election, the
Conservative leader is the most vulnerable
prime minister in decades. But with the
Tories divided on Brexit, Ms May could
be in place for a while yet, writes Graham
Goodlad.
The financial crisis continues to cast a
shade over European politics, too. Before
2007, Catalan nationalism was a minority
concern. Now it is an international story, in
part due to a series of on-going economic
and political crises in the Spanish state.
Looking at the case of such ‘stateless
nations’, Paolo Dardanelli argues that
European Union integration has actually
fuelled fragmentation.
2017 has been a major political year on
the continent. Benjamin D Hennig maps
both the German and French elections,
which produced centrist winners but also
saw major gains for the far-right. Charles
Lees reports in-depth from Germany where
Angela Merkel won a fourth term in power
but the Alternative for Germany (AfD)
emerged as a major force, raising questions
about the future of Germany’s post-war
political model.
One anniversary that did go much
remarked upon was that of the 1917
revolutions in Russia. A century on, Russia
again finds itself at a crossroads with
President Putin set for another term in
office but domestic economic and political
challenges mounting, as Alexander Titov
reports. Meanwhile, Inderjeet Parmar looks
at a far more recent anniversary – that of
Donald Trump’s dramatic victory in the
2016 US presidential election. One year on
‘America First’ means ‘business first’ at home
and ‘military first’ abroad.
James Mitchell, Lynn Bennie and Rob
Johns examine the unusual case of
membership surge enjoyed by the Scottish
National Party and the Scottish Green Party
in the wake of the 2014 referendum on
independence. Between them, the two
parties registered more than 100,000 new
members – but did this new membership
radically change these parties as some
predicted?
Elsewhere, Elena Bergia looks at the
role played by women in war. Women are
often portrayed as the victims of war but
they can play a range of roles in conflict,
from peacemakers and mothers to active
participants.
With the echoes of the financial crisis
still ringing out across the global economy,
an end to the political turbulence seems
highly unlikely. Political Insight will be
here to follow all the developments. If you
would like to join the debates or contribute
to Political Insight please drop me an email
(address on the opposite page) or log on to
www.politicalinsightmagazine.com.
Peter Geoghegan
Editor
Political Insight December 2017.indd 3 03/11/2017 10:54
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