Short Course: Britain in Crisis: Perils and Prospects

July 30, 2024 APSA Annual Meeting, Short Courses Comments Off on Short Course: Britain in Crisis: Perils and Prospects

Britain in Crisis: Perils and Prospects

Full Day Short Course
9:00am – 5:00pm

While Brexit has dominated discussion about the future of the United Kingdom and has – rightly or wrongly – been blamed for a range of policy challenges that the country currently faces, a focus solely on Brexit obscures the depth and range of crises confronting the British polity. For more than a decade, the United Kingdom has experienced political turbulence marked by systemic crises, including long-term shifts in the organization and conduct of party politics, the destabilizing of the social compact between citizens and the state, the stagnation of the economy and growing inequality, and increasingly fraught relationships among Britain, its European neighbors, and the global community. At the same time, British politics has been punctuated by shorter term crises, including COVID-19, that have increased the policy load on institutions, political actors, and citizens who are already struggling to respond to systemic issues and that highlight new fissures within the major political parties, which have strained to offer solutions or clear direction on how to move the country forward.

Why is the United Kingdom experiencing such profound structural and political crises now? Why do the major political parties seem unable to develop policy responses that can mobilize broad public support to solve problems? How have current crises reshaped long-standing policy debates in the UK around issues such as Scottish nationalism, conflict in Northern Ireland, and the rise of a multicultural society? How have crises had an impact on the ability of the UK to interact productively with its European neighbors and global partners, and how have UK foreign policy challenges themselves contributed to domestic political problems? Ultimately, is there a path forward to move the country beyond its present political, economic, and social crises, and from where in the political system is this impetus likely to emerge?

This full-day short course will grapple with these and related questions as the United Kingdom enters an election year with few clear answers to its multiple and interrelated challenges. We will examine “Britain in Crisis” from four perspectives: politics and the party system, foreign policy and the European Union, fiscal and economic policy, and public policy. These perspectives illustrate how the UK faces unprecedented challenges to the foundations and practices of its representative democracy, and presenters will explore both the substance of these challenges and possible solutions.

In addition to panelists invited by the British Politics Group, we welcome proposals from all APSA members whose work relates to the topics under consideration. Proposals for papers, panels, or other forms of participation should be sent to Dr. Janet Laible (Lehigh University), at jml6@lehigh.edu, no later than May 1, 2024. We especially encourage submissions by junior scholars, including graduate students. Further information about the British Politics Group can be found at www.britishpoliticsgroup.com (NOTE: accepted participants need not be members of the British Politics Group but are requested to become members. All participants must register for the full APSA conference to register for the short course. Short course registration involves a small fee that is collected by APSA).