Instability and Inequality in British Democracy

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

The transformation that has occurred in UK politics between the 2010 General Election and today has been remarkable. The most significant shift has been from an era of relative stability in the UK’s constitution, policymaking, and system of party politics, to one in which the institutional framework and the very roots of the British political tradition are being questioned as never before. Yet at its heart the political instability we are witnessing revolves around much more long-standing concerns about the extent and impact of inequality in British society. While the debate about inequality was familiar to politicians and political observers in the general election of 2010, the contemporary politics of racial, economic, geographic, and gender-based inequalities have become much more fundamental in driving political outcomes. At the same time, it is important to recognise that such inequalities are fundamentally a product of the structure and constitution of the British state, rather than unfortunate contingencies that have arisen within a “neutral” Westminster model.

In this panel, we present papers from a planned special issue of the journal Parliamentary Affairs to mark the UK’s 2024 General Election. We examine the twin themes of ‘instability’ and ‘inequality’ to reflect on where British politics stands after 14 years of Conservative rule. At the heart of our approach is the Asymmetric Power Model of British politics, developed over 20 years ago by Marsh, Richards and Smith (2003) in response to theories of network governance and a differentiated polity that had come to dominate UK political studies in the 1990s and 2000s. The Asymmetric Power Model highlighted that while UK politics may have appeared from the outside to be a ‘level playing field’ in which multiple interest groups compete for influence within a plural polity, there are in fact systemic inequalities of power and access to decision-making. A core theme of this collection will be the manner in which structural inequalities drive and are the source of major instabilities in British politics. The outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum is but one very notable and striking example of inequality fuelling instability in the state and political system, as regions of the UK which have suffered from long-term economic disadvantage often voted to leave the European Union.

The panel will begin with a brief presentation of the special issue and some of the key themes that have emerged, with a particular focus on the link between political instability and societal power asymmetries. The four main papers will together consider the UK’s main political parties, the causes and effects of political instability in the UK, and the role of intersecting structural inequalities.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / British Politics Group

Individual Presentations

• Editorial: Instability and Inequality in the British State - Patrick Diamond, Queen Mary University London; Jack Newman, University of Bristol

• Instability, Crisis, and Statecraft in Conservative Britain - Richard Hayton, University of Leeds

• Weaponising Women and Gender: UK Election Party Appeals to Women Voters - Anna Sanders; Francesca Gains, University of Manchester

• The Enduring Inequalities of British Politics: Muslim Women’s Representation - Farah Hussain, Queen Mary, University of London

• Territorial Politics in a Changing UK State: The Challenge of English Devolution - Jack Newman, University of Bristol; Patrick Diamond, Queen Mary University London

Chair

• Jack Newman University of Bristol

Discussant

• Patrick Diamond Queen Mary University London