Suchergebnisse

The policy process in the devolved Scottish system reconciles the Scottish themes of delivering social policy from the centre, through channels of advice and professional direction, and the New Labour theme of broad social policy strategies aiming at better service delivery and employment outcomes. Beneath the surface issues there is a trend to re-structure some services. The Scottish Executive's strategy Social Justice, set out in annual reports, relates devolved and non-devolved responsibilities in a way that has implications for the structure of Executive departments and the policy-making demands made upon civil servants. The research reported here uses interviews with officials to explore the structures of policy making in the Executive within a context of expectations about ministerial and official roles inherited from the previous administrative devolution.

The gradual transformation of British politics through the processes of devolution has been a 'work in progress' since Scotland and Wales voted in favour in the 1997 referenda (in the case of Wales, for the creation of an Assembly with devolved powers). Yet these major constitutional changes have not been matched by a realignment of the UK media (Cushion, Lewis and Groves, 2009). In this context, the particular deficiencies of the Welsh media have become increasingly politically relevant in recent years, with its shortcomings (in terms of informing the public about devolved politics) regularly highlighted by politicians, academics and journalists. A 2014 BBC poll, for example, found that fewer than half of Welsh respondents knew the NHS was devolved, which Thomas (2014) suggests results from a Welsh media landscape in which "huge numbers of people" get their news from London-based newspapers. The contrast with Scotland is marked: while Scottish devolution provided a pretext for London-based national newspapers to reduce news content from all three devolved nations it simultaneously provided a catalyst for the further development of an independent media policy in Scotland itself. In interviews, London journalists argued that since Scotland had its own parliament it had its 'own news' and its own newspaper editions to carry it (Denver, 2002). More recently, Macwhirter (2014) rued the financial decline of the Scottish newspaper industry, suggesting that this makes it harder for the Scottish media to perform their traditional role as 'cultural curators' and forum for informed debate. However, sentiments like this merely highlight the more acute media deficiency in Wales, because the Welsh media is considerably more fragmented than its Scottish equivalent, with no real tradition of a Welsh national press to draw on and the majority of newspaper readers dependent on London-based publications. Around 1,760,000 (from a total population of three million) read newspapers with 'virtually no Welsh content' (Davies, 2008).

This article reviews developments in Scottish local government post-devolution. In doing so it outlines some expectations, assumptions and realities about local government in Scotland. Three assumptions are examined and rejected: 1999 was "Year Zero" for Scottish local government; central-local relations are characterised by a cohesive centre versus a cohesive locality; central-local relations in Scotland are nothing more than a fuzzy microcosm of central-local relations in England. The article argues that Scotland increasingly offers a different "story" of central-local government relations with pre-existing differences accentuating in the context of minority government, different processes of governance and attitudes to the welfare state. Adapted from the source document.

This article reviews developments in Scottish local government post-devolution. In doing so it outlines some expectations, assumptions and realities about local government in Scotland. Three assumptions are examined and rejected: 1999 was 'Year Zero' for Scottish local government; central–local relations are characterised by a cohesive centre versus a cohesive locality; central–local relations in Scotland are nothing more than a fuzzy microcosm of central–local relations in England. The article argues that Scotland increasingly offers a different 'story' of central–local government relations with pre-existing differences accentuating in the context of minority government, different processes of governance and attitudes to the welfare state.

The 2001 election was the first UK general election to be held since the creation of the Scottish parliament. If the Scottish parliament is now the center of Scotland's political life then UK general elections might be expected to become 'second order' elections marked by lower turnouts & voters using the occasion to cast a protest vote against the record of the Scottish Executive. The existence of the parliament might also be thought to change the tactical situation faced by the political parties. However, there is no evidence that either turnout or the incidence of protest voting was much affected by the advent of devolution, or indeed that the parties respected the division between reserved & devolved matters in their campaigns. The election was, however, notable for a debate which developed during the campaign about the future financing of the Scottish parliament. 1 Table, 25 References. Adapted from the source document.

Offers one of the first detailed considerations of how political parties in Northern Ireland have adapted to the impact of the dual legitimacy of Protestant-British-Unionist and Catholic-Irish-Nationalist identities central to the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. Extends debates about devolution and party competition which have been centred on Great Britain to the United Kingdom. Outlines how the continuing bi-communalism of the electorate discourages parties from reshaping identity or chasing votes beyond the ethnic divide. Analyses how nationalist parties, Sinn Fein in particular, have developed the rights of all citizens on the island of Ireland to be Irish, under the post-Good Friday Agreement Irish constitution. Assesses the data indicating a modest growth of a common Northern Irish identity. In this article we examine how party political competition in Northern Ireland impacts on understandings of national identity and citizenship both within the region and elsewhere in the UK. These dynamics can be seen in expressions of political identity and through organisational change and electoral strategies. The consociational framework in which Northern Irish parties operate is one of the most powerful dynamics and we assess how it has shaped intra-community party competition, most notably through the emergence of the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein as the strongest unionist and nationalist parties respectively. However, our analysis of campaigning and voting in the 2010 General Election and 2011 Assembly elections also shows that the transformation of party political competition in the UK after devolution is an important dynamic and one that has shaped unionist electoral strategies in particular. Adapted from the source document.

Research Highlights and Abstract Offers one of the first detailed considerations of how political parties in Northern Ireland have adapted to the impact of the dual legitimacy of Protestant-British-Unionist and Catholic-Irish-Nationalist identities central to the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement Extends debates about devolution and party competition which have been centred on Great Britain to the United Kingdom. Outlines how the continuing bi-communalism of the electorate discourages parties from reshaping identity or chasing votes beyond the ethnic divide Analyses how nationalist parties, Sinn Féin in particular, have developed the rights of all citizens on the island of Ireland to be Irish, under the post-Good Friday Agreement Irish constitution Assesses the data indicating a modest growth of a common Northern Irish identity In this article we examine how party political competition in Northern Ireland impacts on understandings of national identity and citizenship both within the region and elsewhere in the UK. These dynamics can be seen in expressions of political identity and through organisational change and electoral strategies. The consociational framework in which Northern Irish parties operate is one of the most powerful dynamics and we assess how it has shaped intra-community party competition, most notably through the emergence of the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin as the strongest unionist and nationalist parties respectively. However, our analysis of campaigning and voting in the 2010 General Election and 2011 Assembly elections also shows that the transformation of party political competition in the UK after devolution is an important dynamic and one that has shaped unionist electoral strategies in particular.

In this article, we explore the electoral dynamics of multi-level political systems for the case of the United Kingdom (Scotland and Wales) through a comparison with multi-level voting behaviour in Germany, Spain and Canada. The analysis suggests that sub-state elections can be `second order' in relation to state-wide elections, but that this `second orderness' is reduced when more powers are decentralized to the sub-state level (and, thus, more is at stake in sub-state elections), and if sub-state identities and parties are stronger. Consequently, elections in Scotland and Wales are unlikely to be or become only `second order' to Westminster elections, and British state-wide parties will continue to face challenges and pressures to adapt their organizations and programmes to the devolution of the British state.

Central to Scotlands creative economy is Creative Scotland, the national agency, which sits within the broader context of creative and cultural provision. For the first time a corporate plan has been produced that includes working across the span of Scotlands Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) with a diverse range of partners. This paper focuses on the current status of Scotlands Creative Economy, particularly the little studied Creative Rural Economy. The paper then examines definitions, convergence on key issues and the move from list-based categorisation to more refined analyses. An international comparison including another creative rural economy is also attempted. Policy and practice is assessed with reference to the interconnectedness of creative nation, city, region, project, place and people alongside themes such as partnership, skills, infrastructure, design, spillovers and sector growth. Lastly, the unique needs of the Creative Rural Economy are highlighted as well as the requirement for dedicated business and support tools. The file for this record represents only a sample chapter from the whole work, which is available for purchase from the publisher.