Do We Want a Referendum on the Common Market?

In March 1975 Britain quarrelled about whether to hold a referendum on membership of the European Community. The Hansard Society organised an important debate about it between Enoch Powell, Geoffrey Howe, John Mackintosh and Keith Kyle. This is a report on that event drawn from a recently discovered recording. Many of the arguments deployed then are being repeated in today's debate about a ‘people's vote'—including the long‐term effects on the UK's constitution of having recourse to the referendum device.     

The presidential dynamics of leadership decline in contemporary British politics: the illustrative case of Tony Blair

The presidential analogy has provided many explanatory insights into the contemporary development of the British premiership. Nevertheless, the usage of this analytical device is almost invariably confined to the establishment and consolidation of leadership. This article demonstrates that the presidential dimension has comparable utility in accounting for the erosion and decline of leadership. In examining the Blair premiership in relation to three signature themes of the American presidency – public outreach, personalized leadership, and democratic disjunction – the analysis reveals a set of dynamics that not only provides a vehicle for political opposition but largely predetermines the nature and formulation of that critique.     

The United Kingdom National Security Strategy: the Need for New Bearings in Security Policy

The first ever UK National Security Strategy statement reflect shifts in perspective on the nature of security concerns and the character of risks and threats in an era of globalisation. However, the UK National Security Strategy itself is a major disappointment. It fails as an attempt to conceive of a genuine strategy. It also fails to engage explicitly and fully with key imperatives for UK security policy, such as Islamist terrorism and the emerging power of China. However, the UK National Security Strategy, despite being weak and disappointing, offers important new bearings on where the National Security Strategy and the government's means to security policy should go from here, identifying areas to strengthen and develop national security structures.     

Case Comment: The Legality of ‘Kettling’ after Austin

This case comment considers the European Court of Human Rights decision of Austin v United Kingdom (2012) 55 EHRR 14. Austin claimed, unsuccessfully, that police kettling at a public protest in London amounted to a violation of her right to liberty under Article 5 of the European Convention of Human Rights. This case comment suggests that the court took an unexpected and unorthodox approach to the issue of ‘deprivation’ within Article 5. This decision may come to undermine the protections afforded by Article 5 and extend the current exceptions to Article 5 to an indefinite range of situations.     

论英国青少年罪犯监管中的人权问题

青少年罪犯的监管问题一直是犯罪学研究中最为重要的一部分。青少年人群一直是人权保障的关键对象。青少年罪犯,与成年人不同,他们因为年龄偏低、社会阅历少、心理状态不稳定、世界观与人生观尚未正式形成,在监管过程中,他们的人权更容易受到伤害。所谓他山之石可以攻玉,本篇论文将通过比照国际人权标准,分析英格兰与威尔士的刑罚体系,研究英国在青少年犯监管中的人权问题。     

Institutionalised cooperation and policy convergence in European defence: lessons from the relations between France,Germany and the UK

What are the prospects for trilateral concord among Britain, France and Germany in terms of defence policies? Would more institutionalised links among them lead to more convergence of their defence policies? To answer these interrogations, this article investigates the relation between policy convergence and institutionalised cooperation, in particular by studying whether and when one is a prerequisite to the other. First, this article examines the extent to which these countries' defence policies have converged since the end of the cold war based on several indicators: their attitudes towards international forums, their defence budgets, the structure of their armed forces and their willingness to use force. Second, we study each of the bilateral relations between the three states to qualitatively analyse their degree of institutionalisation and the convergence of their defence policies. This article concludes that contrary to the arguments of many discussions, think-tank reports and political actors, there is no evidence that institutionalised cooperation leads to policy convergence as far as defence is concerned.     

印(尼)马对抗时期美英的外交矛盾与协调

印(尼)马对抗问题背后所体现的美国冷战政策与英国非殖民化政策,是影响战后东南亚政治发展的两大要因。美国为防止印尼倒向共产主义阵营,防止印支问题复杂化,极力回避美英特殊关系及《澳新美安全条约》所要求的军事援助义务,力主对苏加诺奉行和缓政策。而英国为维持既得利益,防止澳新偏离英联邦外交轨道,一方面通过《英马防务与互助协定》、《澳新马防务协定》加强对印尼军事防御,另一方面则力图联合美国共同承担战争责任,压制苏加诺接受马来西亚联邦。为此,美英两国在对印尼政策上不断采取外交协调,但在印尼九·三○事件发生前美英关系中的矛盾性始终无法调和,为此美国又联合日本共同实施对印尼援助政策,由此逐步降低英国在东南亚政治发展中的影响力。印(尼)马对抗时期美英的外交矛盾与协调在一定程度上反映出亚洲冷战发展中大国政治关系的分化与重组。     

Empirical evaluation of a technology acceptance model for mobile policing

Technology acceptance in policing is under-researched, yet mobile devices are widely implemented across UK police forces. The paper validates a mobile technology acceptance model (M-TAM) developed in a single police force. It shows that the M-TAM is transferrable to other UK police forces, and potentially worldwide. The influence of local supervision and fit of technology to roles and tasks are shown to be the most influential factors. Factors beyond the technology itself, such as the influence of peers and involvement of operational officers in technology investment decisions, must be considered to accommodate the strong cultural barriers in policing.     

A Critical Analysis of the EU Legal Provisions on Terrorism

Terrorism activities within the EU are essentially transnational. Given that counter-terrorism operations and prosecutions have been allocated to different actors in different EU member states, operating within quite differing legal provisions and systems, co-ordination by the EU in this area is to be welcomed. In addition to critically examining the new EU laws in this area, this paper focuses on legal framework for the interaction of police, security services, and judiciary across Europe in this task, to include Europol and Schengen provisions. It also pays particular attention to the divergent positions of the UK and Ireland within this framework.     

Symposium Introduction: Local Responses to ‘Austerity’

This introduction to the symposium sets out the context for local government in the United Kingdom at the current time. It outlines the scale of the reductions in funding since 2010, showing how uneven these cuts have been across the country and the reasons for this. It also describes the increased exposure to risk of both local government and of the citizens and communities it serves. The central question for the papers which follow is how local government is responding to these twin challenges. The papers provide insights from a number of detailed studies of individual authorities, exploring the strategies adopted to manage in response. The analyses focus on the distributive consequences for individuals and communities, but they also reflect on the wider consequences for local government itself. A particular concern is whether local responses are changing as austerity moves from its initial to its later phase.