by Brendan Donnelly This article first appeared on euroblog, the Blog of the European Movement: http://euromove.blogactiv.eu/ During the referendum on voting reform in 2011, it was sometimes claimed by advocates of the present British electoral system, misleadingly known as “first past the post,” that it tended to produce definite [...]
By Zach Paikin In the wake of the Scottish referendum, many in the United Kingdom are beginning to discuss a federal future for their country. Constitutionally stable federalism has been a frequent legacy of Britain’s global history, from Canada to Australia to the United States. Canadians in particular, as a [...]
Contribution by Brendan Donnelly to the LSE project “Hacking the UK Constitution”, https://constitutionuk.com/ Federalism, what federalism? It might be expected that the Federal Trust would welcome the willingness of politicians and commentators after the Scottish referendum to consider seriously what they describe as “federal” structures for the United Kingdom. There [...]
A Personal View from Brendan Donnelly It is sometimes said that David Cameron regards Tony Blair as his political model. The European policies of the two Prime Ministers may appear superficially very different. Mr. Blair presented himself as fundamentally favourable to the European Union, and Mr. Cameron is at best [...]
Substantial intellectual contributions to federal analysis have been made by individuals based in the UK; and the UK has participated in the development in many prominent federal constitutions throughout the world, including those of India and Germany. Yet the UK itself is traditionally a unitary state, widely regarded as one [...]
Review by Brendan Donnelly Much of this short book by Professor Jan Zielonka of Oxford University is rightly devoted to the euro. It is on the success or failure of the single European currency that the answer to the question of the book’s title “Is the EU doomed?” will essentially [...]
by Brendan Donnelly A number of lessons can be learned from the diplomatic reverse suffered by the British government in its attempts to prevent Mr. Juncker from becoming President of the European Commission. 1. British governments are prone grossly to exaggerate the extent of support they enjoy for their political [...]
by Brendan Donnelly If Jean-Claude Juncker becomes the next President of the European Commission, it will mark an important development in the democratic life of the European Union. Millions of voters in the recent European Elections will see their favoured candidate take on one of the most important posts in [...]
by Brendan Donnelly First published on the European Movement Blog Predictably, many commentaries in the British mass media have gloatingly presented the European Elections as a continent-wide reject ion of the process of European integration, as the long-ignored peoples of Europe rising up in democratic wrath against their oppressors in [...]
by Brendan Donnelly First published on the European Movement Blog The European Elections are sometimes described by academics and other observers as “secondary” elections, in which the electorate take little notice of the European policies or claimed achievements of those standing for election, but simply express their (often unfavourable) judgements [...]
