Recall powers for the people or for Parliament?
Posted by Nick Cowen in America, Politics on 21/03/2012
The Commons Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform is currently considering the introduction of recall powers against MPs who engage in serious wrongdoing. In response to a proposal that Parliament or a committee of MPs be given the power to initiate a recall petition of one of their colleagues, I warned:
There is a risk that a recall petition will be wielded (or avoided) on the basis of political considerations rather than individual MP behaviour. The key problem here is that a fair process must have controls both on an affirmative decision to trigger a petition, and a decision not to trigger a petition when serious wrongdoing has taken place. This is in a context where the agents responsible for the decision will feel significant, perhaps overwhelming, pressure to be partial to allies or potential allies in Parliament, especially those who might be able to help or harm their career progression.
My full written response to the Government’s draft recall proposal can be read here. Total Recall (also available as a PDF) provides a more detailed account of how direct democratic mechanisms in the US help to hold legislators to account.
Och aye the EU!
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 20/03/2012
By Lucy Hatton
Following the announcement that a referendum on Scottish independence is to take place in autumn 2014, debate has raged about what implications this will have for Scotland’s membership of the European Union. Whilst Scottish nationalists, who have called for the referendum, are incredibly optimistic about the future position of Scotland within the EU, many other politicians and academics have questioned the basis of this view. Whilst it is unlikely that the true consequences of Scotland’s independence will be made clear until after the result of the referendum, speculation is rife about what independence from the UK could mean for Scotland’s position in the EU.
The West, Islam and Islamism now out on Amazon Kindle
Posted by Nick Cowen in Multiculturalism, Religion, Security, Social Cohesion on 13/03/2012
The West, Islam and Islamism by Caroline Cox and John Marks is a systematic analysis of the ideology of Islamism and its relationship with the West. The authors distinguish between Islam as a religion, and Islamism as a totalitarian doctrine that resembles other extremist doctrines of the 20th century, including Marxist communism and Fascism. This second edition includes exhaustive evidence of the radical ideals that travel under the banner of Islamism.
Waterstone’s Bookseller wrote: This Civitas pamphlet provides one of the best-researched and most detailed assessments yet on the clash between Islamism and Liberal Democracy in the post 9/11 world. Everyone has an opinion on this topic – read this and yours will be more informed than most.
Charles Murray and the Underclass now out on Amazon Kindle
Posted by Nick Cowen in Family, Marriage and the Culture, Social Security on 08/03/2012
Charles Murray is one of America’s most respected social policy analysts. His ideas about the underclass, outlined in his classic Losing Ground, and re-examined more recently in Coming Apart, have entered the mainstream of the debate about poverty. Murray’s thesis, that the underclass represents not a degree of poverty but a type of poverty, characterised by deviant attitudes towards parenting, work and crime, has been explosively controversial. However, some aspects of his thesis have become more difficult to resist, especially in the wake of the August 2011 riots, which Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke blamed on a lawless ‘feral underclass‘.
As social policy increasingly focusses on tackling the multiple needs of individuals now labelled NEETs (those Not in Employment, Education or Training), one of Murray’s key predictions appears to have been confirmed:
After a few more years, quietly and without anyone having to admit he had been wrong, the intellectual conventional wisdom in Britain as in the United States will undergo a gradual transition. After all the statistical artifacts are taken into account and argued over, it will be decided that England is indeed becoming a more dangerous place in which to live: that this unhappy process is not occurring everywhere, but disproportionately in particular types of neighbourhoods; and that those neighbourhoods turn out to be the ones in which an underclass is taking over. Reality will once again force theory to its knees.
Charles Murray and the Underclass: The Developing Debate is the definitive discussion of the ‘underclass’ as it applies to British social policy.
Dissatisfied Defectors Caution Conservatives
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 07/03/2012
By Lucy Hatton
This weekend, Roger Helmer MEP announced his defection from the Conservative Party to the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Although many will have been shocked by his decision, others have long thought that the politician’s views, especially those concerning the EU, are more in line with UKIP than the Conservatives. In fact, Helmer’s defection is just one in a long succession of instances that serve as warnings to the Conservative Party about the consequences of the positions they take and the compromises they make on issues of significance.
Examining the EU’s Sanctions on Syria
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 29/02/2012
By Anna Sonny
While the rest of the world struggles to agree on a coherent plan of action for Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s troops continue to lay siege to Homs, mercilessly suppressing opponents to his regime. More than 7,500 civilians have been killed since the uprising began last March and the government is still refusing to allow relief organisations into the country. The EU’s latest round of sanctions, agreed on Monday, aim to block the Syrian government’s funding and dry up its resources. But, are these measures enough to force Assad’s exit from power?