David Vitale: Leaving the EU: A Matter of “Trust”?
Since the referendum in 2016, the Government has repeatedly justified its decisions on Brexit by invoking the concept of public trust. In December last year, the Prime Minister rejected the … Continue reading
Leah Trueblood: More Good Days for Democracy: The Report of the Independent Commission on Referendums
At the beginning of Democracy in America, de Tocqueville writes that in studying democracy its “…Faults strike one at first approach, but its qualities are only discovered at length.” The … Continue reading
Tom Hickey: The Republican Core of the Case for Judicial Review
Richard Bellamy is right about many things. One of them is that judicial review cannot be defended on the basis of what he calls its “epistemic properties:” on its supposed … Continue reading
Albert Weale: The Constitution of Democracy and the Pretensions of the Plebiscite
When the UK’s High Court rendered its decision on whether the government could trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty under the royal prerogative to initiate the UK leaving the … Continue reading
Patrick O’Brien: The Democratic Legitimacy of Changing Your Mind: A Response to Richard Ekins
In his post of last week, Richard Ekins argues that political and legal elites should resist the urge to ‘treat other voters as fools or monsters or deny the outcome … Continue reading
Tom Quinn: Mandates, Manifestos & Coalitions: UK Party Politics after 2010
One of the most important assumptions underlying this view of British politics since 1945 was that governments were given mandates by voters in elections. That followed from the fact that … Continue reading
Nick Barber: Does China Enjoy Greater Legitimacy Than Any Western State?
I was listening to the radio a little while ago, and heard Martin Jacques talking about China. I listened with renewed concentration. Jacques was formerly editor of Marxism Today, so … Continue reading
Jeff King: Down with Pirates
In this post, I argue against protest voting for fringe parties that mock the conventional party systems. To some it may look liberal and progressive, but it in fact offers … Continue reading
Mike Gordon: Time for a Citizens’ Assembly on Lords Reform?
After the collapse of the coalition government’s House of Lords Reform Bill in August, the UK Parliament’s upper chamber remains resolutely unreformed. The substance of this most recent attempt to … Continue reading
Conor Gearty: Liberty and Security
The contemporary discussion about secret trials in the UK echoes earlier controversies about TPIMs, control orders, detention without charge, special advocates, the use of torture – the list seems depressingly … Continue reading
