British politics is facing one of the most tumultuous and dramatic periods of its recent history. The 2010 general election led to the first peacetime coalition government since World War Two, the 2015 general election produced a Conservative government that nobody – including the Conservatives – expected, and the outcome of the recent referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union has prompted the resignation of the Prime Minister, a leadership challenge against the Leader of the Opposition, and calls for independence or reunification referenda in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that could break up the United Kingdom. These are, however, but the latest in a series of dramatic events that have shaken the British political system and challenged its structure and operation, such as the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of the Labour Party, the continuing fallout of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, the near collapse of the financial system of 2008, the rise of insurgent political parties such as the Greens and UKIP, and the growth of nationalist sentiment in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Such events are not only forcing changes in the way political parties and politicians behave, but are contributing to changes in the way that British citizens express their political preferences and judge the performance of their governments.  

This module provides an introduction to the key institutions, actors and issues of contemporary British politics. It provides an overview of the political system, and the key role of political parties in linking political events and issues to the decisions of voters. It also considers the changing role of the citizen in British politics, examining how and why the way people express their political demands and preferences is evolving, and focusses on the role of the key group at the forefront of such changes: young people.

The module is divided into three themes. The first focusses on the pivotal role of Britain’s political parties, and challenges the view that they are of declining relevance in modern politics. Students will examine the origin and ideological beliefs of the major parties that have shaped modern British democracy, as well as insurgent parties that look to re-shape and disrupt the established order. Students will also examine the key mechanism by which the fortunes of political parties are decided – elections – and be introduced to the key processes which dictate how and why voters choose certain parties in elections, and how this in turn shapes the party’s campaigns and promises, with reference to the recent 2015 UK general election, the 2016 Welsh Assembly election, and the referendum on the UK’s EU membership.

The second theme of the module switches the focus from institutions to people, and focusses on political engagement and participation in modern Britain. It studies how the ways in which citizens engage with politics and choose to make their voices heard is changing, with traditional forms of participation (such as voting) in decline and ‘alternative’ forms (such as protesting, or Internet-based activity) becoming more common, and what the consequences of these changes are for British democracy. Students will also examine inequalities in political engagement, such as that between young and old, and consider both the causes and consequences for British democracy, as well as the potential for ‘new’ forms of political activity – such as online participation – to overcome them.

The final theme of the module is to examine some of the key issues facing modern British politics – such as the declining participation and engagement of young people – and explore both the consequences for British democracy and the policy responses that are being considered (or have already been implemented) to address these issues. This section of the module allows students to consider how contemporary challenges and issues interact with the institutions, processes and individuals they have studied throughout the module, and to consider the likely success of policy responses (or non-responses) to such issues.

• By the end of this module, through a combination of essays, presentations and group discussion and debate, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of the role of political parties and the UK Parliament in the operation of the UK political system, and of the historic and ideological basis of the major political parties
• Outline the consequences of devolution for the electoral environment in which political parties operate
• Demonstrate the ability to link the ideological basis of political parties to their actions in elections and stances on policy issues
• Demonstrate a clear understanding of the role of political participation and engagement in a modern democracy, and the major debates regarding its evolution
• Explain the distinctive role of young people and of political generations in the evolution of political participation
• Apply knowledge of the UK political system, political parties and citizens’ participation to the assessment of major issues confronting UK democracy and of potential policy responses to those issues

3.1 Lectures

The course consists of twenty lectures across two semesters.

The lectures address one topic each, and introduce students to the key components of each topic and the basic information needed for further independent study. They will include the opportunity for questions and comments from students and be accompanied by detailed slides which will be made available. Each lecture is accompanied by a required reading which students are expected to complete before attending – the lecture material will provide an introduction to each topic but will be incomplete without the additional reading.

3.2 Independent Learning

Students are expected to engage in independent learning outside of the lectures. This includes the required reading for each lecture as a minimum. Additional reading material for each topic can be found in the ‘Reading Resources’ handbook, and further advice can be provided by the course tutor.

The source of all required readings are detailed in the Lecture Schedule in Section 4. Digital copies of book chapters are all available through Learning Centre for students to download. Journal articles can be found through either accessing the website of the journal itself (identified in italics e.g., British Politics), or by using appropriate search engines such as Google Scholar (when using such search engines, it is best to enter only the title of the article you want to find, rather than the full biographic information). Students should make it a priority to become familiar with the practice of searching for and accessing journal articles as soon as possible, as this will be a key skill required for successful study throughout their degree. Help on searching for and accessing journal articles is available from the library website and from the course tutor.

• This module will also help students to develop a range of transferable skills, including:

• Time management
• The capacity to conduct independent, critical research and to identify and critique research resources
• Written and verbal communication of complex arguments
• The capacity to make complex arguments and research topics accessible to non-expert audiences
• The capacity to provide constructive and critical feedback to others’ arguments and research
• The capacity to debate and consider critical feedback and alternative arguments in both written and verbal format

The assessment is a key component of the module and essential to ensure that students achieve the learning outcomes specified in section 2. The assessments provide the opportunity for students to both demonstrate and develop not only their knowledge of a substantive topic relating to modern British politics, but also their research and communication skills. The module assessment consists two essays, each worth 50% of the final mark. Students are required to complete one essay per semester, and must base each on a different topic.

Semester One

The UK Parliament and Political Parties

 The Conservative Party I – The Rise and Fall of Thatcherism

The Labour Party I – The ‘Long Death March’ and New Labour

The Liberal Democrats, Cameron’s Conservatives and the Coalition Government

The Decline of New Labour and the Rise of Jeremy Corbyn

The Rise of the Insurgents

The 2015 General Election

The European Union Referendum

Elections in Wales (with Dr Sioned Pearce)

Semester Two

Introduction to Political Participation

The Study of Political Participation and Engagement in Britain - Introduction to Quantitative Research

The Decline of Formal Politics in Britain?

The Rise of ‘New Politics’?

The Rise of the Internet and Social Media

The Role of Young People in Changing Patterns of Participation

 Issues in Modern British Politics I: Youth Apathy vs. Youth Alienation?

 Issues in Modern British Politics II: Devolution and Nationalism (with Dr Sioned Pearce)

Issues in Modern British Politics III: Religious and Ethnic Minority Representation in Britain (with Dr Ekaterina Kolpinskaya)

There is no main text book for this course and the following list is extensive but not exhaustive. Detailed guidance on recommended and secondary reading will be given week by week in the module kit.

Alcock, P. (2003) Social policy in Britain (second Ed.), Palgrave Macmillan, London

Andrews, L. (1999) Wales Says Yes: The Inside Story of the Yes for Wales’s referendum campaign, Bridgend, Seren

Andrews, R. & Martin, S. (2010) Regional Variations in Public Service Outcomes: The Impact of Policy Divergence in England, Scotland and Wales. Regional Studies, 44, (8), 919-34

Andrews, R. & Mycock, A. (2008) Dilemmas of devolution: The `politics of Britishness' and citizenship education. British Politics, 3, (2) 139-155

Armstrong, H.W. & Wells, P. (2005) Multi-Level Governance and Civil Society: The Third Sector in the Design and Delivery of EU Regional Policy in Sagan, I. & Halkier, H. (eds), Regionalism Contested: Institutions, Society and Territorial Governance, London, Ashgate Publishing

Bache, I. & Flinders, M.V. (2004) Multi-level Governance, Oxford, Oxford University Press

Baker, P. Gabrielatos, C.  and McEnery, T. (2013) Discourse Analysis and Media Attitudes: The Representation of Islam in the British Press, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Bennister, M. and Heffernan R. (2012) Cameron as Prime Minister: The Intra-Executive Politics of Britain's Coalition Government. Parliamentary Affairs, 65 (4) 778-801

Bevir, M. (2000) New Labour: a study in ideology. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2

Birrell, D. (2008) Devolution and quangos in the United Kingdom: the implementation of principles and policies for rationalisation and democratisation. Policy Studies, 29, (1) 35-49

Brenner, N (2004) Urban governance and the production of new state spaces in western Europe, 1960-2000. Review of International Political Economy, 11 (3) 447-488

Brenner, N. (1999) Globalisation as Reterritorialisation: The Re-scaling of Urban Governance in the European Union. Urban Studies, 36 (3) 431-451

Bristow, G. (2008) All for one and one for all? Territorial solidarity and the UK's system of devolution. Presented to Seminar on Regional Economic Disparities, University of Edinburgh 10th and 11th April 2008

Bristow, G. (2010) Critical Reflections on Regional Competitiveness, London, Routledge Studies

Budge, I., McKay, D. Brtle, J. & Newman, J. (2013) The New British Politics, London, Routeldge

Bulpitt, J. (1996) The European Question in David Marquand and Anthony Seldon (eds) The Ideas That Shaped Post-War Britain, Illinois, Fontana Press

Centre for Constitutional Change: www.futureukandscotland.ac.uk/about/people/lindsay-paterson

Chaney, P. (2013) An electoral discourse approach to state decentralisation: state-wide parties' manifesto proposals on Scottish and Welsh Devolution 1945-2010. British Politics, 8 (3) 333-356

Delaney, D. (2005) Territory: a short introduction, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing

Dorling, D. (2010) Injustice: why social inequality persists, London, Policy Press

Fairclough, N. (2003) Analysing Discourse: textual analysis for social research, London, Routledge

Fairclough, N. (2013) Critical Discourse Analysis: the critical study of language, Routledge, London

Farrelly, M. (2009) Citizen Participation and Neighbourhood Governance: Analysing Democratic Practice. Local Government Studies, 35 (4) 387-400

Flint, J. & Raco, M. (2001) Communities, places and institutional relations: assessing the role of area-based community representation. Local Governance and Political Geography, 20 (5) 585-612

Gabrielatos, C. & Baker, P. (2008) Fleeing, Sneaking, Flooding a Corpus Analysis of Discursive Constructions of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK Press, 1996-2005. Journal of English Linguistics, 36 (1) 5-38

Giddens, A. (1998) The third way: the renewal of social democracy, Cambridge, Polity Press

Goodwin, M., Jones, M. & Jones, R. (2005) Devolution, constitutional change and economic development: Explaining and understanding the new institutional Geographies of the British state. Regional Studies, 39, 421-436

Gore, T. & Fothergill, S. (2007) Cities and their hinterlands: how much do governance structures really matter? People, Place & Policy Online, 1 (2) 55-68

Gore, T. (2008) Collaborative Governance and Territorial Rescaling in the UK: A Comparative Study of Two EU Structural Funds Programmes. GeoJournal, 72 (1-2) 59-73

Government of Wales Act (2006) National Archives online 12.07.09 www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/32/section/61

Greenwood, S. (1996) Britain and European Integration since the Second World War, Manchester, Manchester university Press

Ham, C. (2010) The coalition government's plans for the NHS in England. British Medical Journal, 341-3790

Harris, N. & Hooper, A. (2006) Redefining 'the space that is Wales': place, planning and the Wales Spatial Plan. Territory, Identity, Space, London, Routledge

Hay, C. (2002) Political Analysis: a critical introduction, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan

Hayton, R. (2014) Conservative Party Statecraft and the Politics of Coalition. Parliamentary Affairs, 67 (1) 6-24

Hooghe, L. & Marks, G. (2001) Multi-level governance and European Integration, Oxford, Rowman and Littlefield

House of Commons: www.parliament.uk/business/commons/

House of Lords: www.parliament.uk/business/lords/

Jackson, A. (2003) Home Rule: an Irish History 1800-2000, London, Weidenfield and Nicolson

Jackson, E. (2010) ‘Top-up payments for expensive cancer drugs: Rationing, fairness and the NHS'. Modern Law Review, 73 (3) 399-427

Johnson, N. (2007) The Government of Wales Act 2006: Welsh Devolution Still a Process and Not an Event? Web Journal of Current Legal Issues, 4, online 09.03.10 http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2007/issue4/johnson4.html

Jones, R. & MacLeod, G. (2004) Regional spaces, spaces of regionalism: territory, insurgent politics and the English Question. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 29 (4) 433-452

Jones, R., Goodwin, M., Jones, M. & Pett, K. (2005) `Filling in' the state: economic governance and the evolution of devolution in Wales. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 23, 337 – 360

Jones, R.W.  & Scully, R. (2012) Wales Says Yes: Devolution and the 2011 Welsh Referendum, Cardiff, University of Wales press

Jones, R.W. (2008) Devolution: the next step. And the one after that, presented at the Public Affairs Cymru annual lecture 30, 2008

Jones, R.W. (2014) The Facist Party in Wales: Plaid Cymru, Welsh Nationalism and the Accusation of Facism, Cardiff, University of Wales Press

Keating, M. (2013) Rescaling the European State: the rise of territory and the making of meso, Oxford, Oxford University Press

Keating, M. (1998) The New Regionalism in Western Europe: Territorial Restructuring and Political Change, Edward Elgar Publishing

Klein, R. (2010) The new politics of the NHS: From creation to reinvention, Abingdon, Radcliffe

Lowe, R. (1990) The second world war, consensus and the foundation of the welfare state. 20th century British history, 1

MacLeod, G. & Goodwin, M. (1999) Reconstructing an urban and regional political economy: on the state, politics, scale, and explanation. Political Geography, 18 (6) 697-730

Marwick, A. (1982) British Society Since 1945, Penguin, England

McAllister, L. and Cole, M. (2014) The 2011 Welsh General Election: an analysis of the latest staging post in the maturing of Welsh politics. Parliamentary Affairs, 67 (1) 711-730

Mohan, J. (2011) Mapping the Big Society: perspectives from the Third Sector Research Centre, Third Sector Research Centre Working Paper 32

Morgan, K. (2007) The Polycentric State: New Spaces of Empowerment and Engagement? Regional Studies, 41, 1237-1251

Morrison, L. (2006) We risk forgetting what it means to be free. British Medical Journal, 333 (7581) 127

New Labour (1997) a Voice for Wales, Government White Paper for Devolution

O'Donnell, C.M. (2011) Britain's coalition government and EU defence cooperation: undermining British interests: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2011.00980.x/full

Perraton & Wells (2005) Multi Level Governance and Economic Policy in Bache and Flinders (eds.), Multi-Level Governance, Oxford, Oxford University Press

Politics in the Troubles (BBC Documentary) www.bbc.co.uk/history/topics/troubles_politics

Richardson, J.E. (2007) Analysing Newspapers: an approach to critical discourse analysis, Palgrave Macmillan, New York

Roberts, J.M. & Devine, F. (2003) the Hollowing Out of the Welfare State and Social Capital. Social Policy and Society, 2 (4) 309-318

Smith, K. (2006) a critical discourse analysis of developing the curriculum cymreig: the language of learning Welshness, University of Miami

The European Parliamentary website: www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/agenda

WG (2002) Wining Wales: the national economic development strategy of the Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff, Welsh Government

WG (2003) Wales a Better Country: the strategic agenda of the Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff, Welsh Government

WG (2004) the Wales Spatial Plan, Cardiff, Welsh Government

WG (2006) Making the Connections: delivering beyond boundaries, Cardiff, Welsh Government

WG (2006) People, Plans and Partnerships: a national evaluation of community strategies in Wales, Cardiff, Welsh Government

WG (2008) People, Places and Futures: the updated Wales Spatial Plan, Cardiff, Welsh Government

White, J.T. (2006) Catholicism and Nationalism in Ireland: From Fusion in the 19th Century to Separation in the 21st Century, Department of Political Science and Sociology, Xavier University, Cincinnati

A more detailed bibliography will be provided at the start of each semester.