Presentation by Dr Hywel Ceri Jones CMG on the occasion of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of Erasmus+ held by the European Commission in Brussels on 14th December 2022.[1] Note: An expanded version of this speech was published in March 2023 by AIACE Vox Vice President Schinas and Commissioner [...]
Dr Andrew Black, Global Policy Institute, [email protected] and Professor Sam Whimster, Global Policy Institute, [email protected] Rationale for change and reform: Britain is one of the most centralized democracies in the OECD. Resource allocation decisions are centralized in London, and instructions are handed down ‘vertically’ to the devolved nations and [...]
It is fair to say that federalism makes most UK unionists uncomfortable when it is considered at all. It is seen as foreign and alien to the principle of absolute parliamentary sovereignty located in Westminster. In the 1970s the Kilbrandon Commission notoriously dismissed federalism as a constitutional structure for states not [...]
On 29th October 2022, I took part in the Federal Trust’s conference on the future of the United Kingdom. Though the day had a focus on federalism my preferred model leans towards a form of close constitutional confederalism, which neatly deals with the sovereignty aspirations of the home nations in [...]
Even with the introduction of devolution in Scotland and Wales at the end of the 20th Century, there is a sense that these isles are now approaching a significant constitutional crossroads. Each nation has, in recent decades, developed an individual political culture with clear distinguishing features from the workings of [...]
What has happened to my country? I have been a student, activist, MP, minister and writer in its political life for five decades. Never has it been so broken, divided, confused, uncertain about its future. The Queen’s death marked the last moment when the United Kingdom was briefly itself. Britain [...]
As the damage from leaving the European Union became increasingly clear, it was confidently predicted by many Remainers that the country would eventually ‘wake up’ to the fact that it was a mistake. However, there has been no sudden dawning of this sort and the country remains bitterly divided. So how might [...]
From 'Unidentified Political Object' to European Democracy Essay on the Unforeseen Democratization of the European Union A Federal Trust Essay by Jaap Hoeksma September 2022 This essay aims to draw attention to the far-reaching implications of the recent jurisprudence of the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) concerning the democratic [...]
All the evidence - from shrinking trade, to relative economic performance, to the Northern Ireland protocol, to the rotting queues at Dover - indicate that Brexit has failed. It has not only been the disaster that Remainers warned, but has also failed to achieve the wild outcomes promised by the [...]
This article was first published by Global Policy Institute (London). Despite the apparent acceptance at international level of several linked, though in some cases contradictory, norms, namely the (civic) nation-state sovereignty, the territorial integrity of nations-states, unitary and federal governance structures, and the right of self-determination, these norms are frequently [...]
