an article by Daniel John Evans (Cardiff University, UK) published in Capital & Class Volume 42 Issue 3 (October 2018)
Abstract
Welsh devolution has not been adequately theorised.
Following the narrow vote for Welsh devolution in 1997, many academics in Wales adopted a nakedly ‘celebratory’, uncritical view of devolution as a radical change to the British state, taking at face value the claim that it was designed to rejuvenate Welsh democracy.
The power relations inherent to the transformation of the British state are rarely discussed in Wales. As a consequence, the developments which have occurred in Wales since devolution – political disengagement, the rise of the far right, the vote for Brexit – seem hard to grasp: it is simply presumed that something has ‘gone wrong’ with the application of devolution. This dominant way of thinking assumes that devolution was designed to ‘work’.
Using Gramsci’s concept of passive revolution, this article argues that devolution to Wales (and Scotland) was a central plank of New Labour’s transformation of both the Labour Party and the British state.
Building on a reading of the post-war British state as a historic bloc, I draw attention to the power relations inherent in Welsh devolution and the ‘top down’ nature of the process, which was led by the Labour party in order to preserve its hegemony in Wales and the United Kingdom as a whole.
After outlining the political struggles and strategies of transformismo which occurred within the process of passive revolution, where hegemony is temporarily ‘thinned’, I contend that contemporary Wales represents a period of interregnum, where the old world (the traditional centralised British state) has died, but a new Welsh state cannot be born.
As Gramsci predicted, this has led to the emergence of a host of ‘morbid symptoms’ in Wales.
I conclude by reflecting on the nature of the interregnum and whether ‘restoration’ or ‘revolution’ is likely to triumph in Wales.
Showing posts with label Wales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wales. Show all posts
Monday, 19 November 2018
Friday, 8 February 2013
‘It's Always English in the Cop Shop’: Accounts of Minority Language Use in the Criminal Justice System in Wales
an article by Iolo Madoc-Jones and Odette Parry (Glyndwr University, Wales) published in The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume 52 Issue 1 (February 2013)
Abstract
European language activists have successfully campaigned for the right to use regional or minority languages in judicial contexts. Despite this, such rights are rarely exercised. This is commonly understood as a function of the unavailability and/or inaccessibility of appropriate language services, so judicial authorities in a range of countries are urged to do more to meet their obligations to meet the needs of minority language speakers.
The article draws on a study of language use in one criminal justice system where the right to use a minority language exists. It uses a discourse analytic approach to explore how first-language Welsh-speaking criminal justice service users account for their choice, and usage, of language, and what purposes these accounts may serve for narrators.
Despite their commitment to the Welsh language, none of the study respondents used Welsh in their most recent episodes in the police station or at court.
Two competing discursive constructions were evident in respondent accounts which served specific objectives for narrators. A ‘down to them’ discursive construction, which drew on wider imperialist discourses, positioned narrators as powerless victims of a system in which they had no choice over language.
This construction legitimised narrators’ claim to Welshness and castigated agencies of the criminal justice system.
Simultaneously, however, narrators deployed ‘up to me’ discursive constructions to demonstrate resistance to the role of victim. This construction positioned narrators as more powerful and as exercising agency and choice in the criminal justice system.
The article thus challenges oversimplified understandings of minority language use and non-use in the criminal justice system.
Abstract
European language activists have successfully campaigned for the right to use regional or minority languages in judicial contexts. Despite this, such rights are rarely exercised. This is commonly understood as a function of the unavailability and/or inaccessibility of appropriate language services, so judicial authorities in a range of countries are urged to do more to meet their obligations to meet the needs of minority language speakers.
The article draws on a study of language use in one criminal justice system where the right to use a minority language exists. It uses a discourse analytic approach to explore how first-language Welsh-speaking criminal justice service users account for their choice, and usage, of language, and what purposes these accounts may serve for narrators.
Despite their commitment to the Welsh language, none of the study respondents used Welsh in their most recent episodes in the police station or at court.
Two competing discursive constructions were evident in respondent accounts which served specific objectives for narrators. A ‘down to them’ discursive construction, which drew on wider imperialist discourses, positioned narrators as powerless victims of a system in which they had no choice over language.
This construction legitimised narrators’ claim to Welshness and castigated agencies of the criminal justice system.
Simultaneously, however, narrators deployed ‘up to me’ discursive constructions to demonstrate resistance to the role of victim. This construction positioned narrators as more powerful and as exercising agency and choice in the criminal justice system.
The article thus challenges oversimplified understandings of minority language use and non-use in the criminal justice system.
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Work as a Health Outcome in the Devolved Nations:
How Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland tackle sickness-related worklessness
by Mark Weston and Julia Manning published by 2020health December 2012
Executive Summary
The proportion of adults in Britain who are unable to work because of health problems has more than tripled since the 1970s, at an estimated annual cost to the economy of over £100 billion. While half of those in Scandinavia who suffer a major injury return to work, in Britain the proportion is just one in six. In England alone, 2.1 million people claim health-related benefits, a number that despite health improvements has barely shifted in the past decade.
Work is clearly needed to improve our record on reducing sickness-related worklessness, therefore. This report gathers lessons from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and draws on them to make recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners in England, as well as identifying areas for improvement in the devolved nations themselves. Efforts in the latter are often more advanced than those in England, and each boasts innovative programs that provide useful lessons for the Health and Wellbeing Boards that will bear primary responsibility for redressing England’s deficit in this area.
Based on our review of the literature, in-depth telephone interviews with high-level stakeholders in the field, a field visit to Glasgow, and a London workshop with members of Health and Wellbeing Boards, we make the following recommendations for those wishing to reduce sickness-related worklessness in England and in the devolved nations:
by Mark Weston and Julia Manning published by 2020health December 2012
Executive Summary
The proportion of adults in Britain who are unable to work because of health problems has more than tripled since the 1970s, at an estimated annual cost to the economy of over £100 billion. While half of those in Scandinavia who suffer a major injury return to work, in Britain the proportion is just one in six. In England alone, 2.1 million people claim health-related benefits, a number that despite health improvements has barely shifted in the past decade.
Work is clearly needed to improve our record on reducing sickness-related worklessness, therefore. This report gathers lessons from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and draws on them to make recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners in England, as well as identifying areas for improvement in the devolved nations themselves. Efforts in the latter are often more advanced than those in England, and each boasts innovative programs that provide useful lessons for the Health and Wellbeing Boards that will bear primary responsibility for redressing England’s deficit in this area.
Based on our review of the literature, in-depth telephone interviews with high-level stakeholders in the field, a field visit to Glasgow, and a London workshop with members of Health and Wellbeing Boards, we make the following recommendations for those wishing to reduce sickness-related worklessness in England and in the devolved nations:
- The importance of leadership: The success of Wales and Scotland in this area has been founded on strong leadership from the centre. England’s Health and Wellbeing Boards should press the case for action to high levels of government as well as locally.
- Clear national strategies: The governments of Scotland and Wales developed strategies that held the various stakeholders to account and defined clear timelines and responsibilities for action. These resulted in the establishment of effective national bodies to promote workplace health and return to work services, and in a flurry of local-level initiatives to see policies through. England and Northern Ireland currently lack such well-defined strategies.
- Get your own house in order: The Northern Ireland Civil Service and RCN Wales have shown leadership in developing effective workplace health strategies. Sickness absence costs the NHS over £500 million each year (Black, 2008), and private sector firms are likely to look more favourably on efforts to reach them with work and health schemes if those delivering them look after their own staff well. Improving the health of those working for the NHS can have the added effect of persuading them of the importance of the work and health nexus.
- Goal-directed joint working: Involving a range of stakeholders in the development of policies and the delivery of programmes is vital for effective implementation. Engaging the most relevant stakeholders for achieving particular objectives and securing their sign up to targets increases accountability and renders goals more likely to be met.
- Consistent communications: The value of communicating consistently to all audiences was repeatedly highlighted by our interview respondents. Strong and clear messages can assist in the creation of a coherent “national brand” for health and work.
- The value of hubs: Employers and health care practitioners are likely to benefit from one-stop shops that provide a single point of contact to which they can turn for assistance and information, and which can direct them to the relevant service.
- The value of hubs for programme implementers: To avoid reinventing the wheel, those designing and delivering health and work programmes would benefit from a central hub – either national or UK-wide – where case studies and data on programme effectiveness are collated and disseminated.
- Inclusion of cost-benefit analysis in evaluations: Evaluation of programmes in the devolved nations has been consistent and quite rigorous. However, few analyses have assessed the benefits of projects in comparison with their costs. Practitioners in all four home nations should endeavour to incorporate cost-benefit analysis into policy and programme evaluation.
- Targeting of “other” health professionals: Allied Health Professionals, practice nurses, optometrists and even practice receptionists can transmit valuable messages to those with health conditions, and rather than expending all their time and effort trying to convince GPs, advocates of programmes should focus part of their communication campaigns on these non-GP audiences.
- Take a long view: Prevention is vital to reducing sickness-related worklessness, and there is much that employers and health and social service providers can do to help stop people needing to take time off work. If a health problem develops, early intervention is needed to prevent it causing prolonged absence. Care and guidance should not stop when a client returns to work, moreover – the steps on the road back to employability should be valued and built into targets, and continued assistance in the period after re-employment reduces the risk of clients being placed in unsuitable jobs in order to meet targets, and helps with adjustments that lead to sustained employment.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Neighbourhood initiatives in Wales and England: shifting purposes and changing scales
an article by Madeleine Pill (Cardiff University, School of City and Regional Planning) published in People, Place & Policy ONLINE Volume 6 Issue 2 (2012)
Abstract
This article compares two government-led ‘flagship’ area-based initiatives (ABIs) targeting deprived neighbourhoods – the New Deal for Communities, launched in England in 1998, and the Communities First programme, launched in a post-devolutionary Wales in 2001.
In England, a shift in the national paradigm from ‘big state’ interventions towards the ‘big society’ agenda has heralded the decline of the ABI approach.
In Wales, the approach remains but has recently been re-launched.
Shifts in the purpose of neighbourhood governance as encapsulated in these two ABIs are considered and contrasted, using Lowndes and Sullivan’s (2008) typology of rationales as a framework.
The shift in the emphasis of both ABIs from holistic, place-bound strategies to broader, service-influencing efforts points to the up-scaling of neighbourhood governance, despite the renewed policy emphasis on localism.
Full text HTML
Full text (PDF 14pp)
Abstract
This article compares two government-led ‘flagship’ area-based initiatives (ABIs) targeting deprived neighbourhoods – the New Deal for Communities, launched in England in 1998, and the Communities First programme, launched in a post-devolutionary Wales in 2001.
In England, a shift in the national paradigm from ‘big state’ interventions towards the ‘big society’ agenda has heralded the decline of the ABI approach.
In Wales, the approach remains but has recently been re-launched.
Shifts in the purpose of neighbourhood governance as encapsulated in these two ABIs are considered and contrasted, using Lowndes and Sullivan’s (2008) typology of rationales as a framework.
The shift in the emphasis of both ABIs from holistic, place-bound strategies to broader, service-influencing efforts points to the up-scaling of neighbourhood governance, despite the renewed policy emphasis on localism.
Full text HTML
Full text (PDF 14pp)
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Welsh digital inclusion research shows access to the internet is not a magic bullet
LASA ICT E-Bulletin (June 2012)
The Welsh Government devised a programme of research, including analysis of national survey data, mapping of internet use rates at neighbourhood level, and case studies of older people to understand the lived experiences of those affected by digital inclusion policies.
Findings revealed, according to the LSE Media Policy Project (PDF 2pp) that internet access alone will not raise participation in education, impact the job market or civic life.
The Welsh Government devised a programme of research, including analysis of national survey data, mapping of internet use rates at neighbourhood level, and case studies of older people to understand the lived experiences of those affected by digital inclusion policies.
Findings revealed, according to the LSE Media Policy Project (PDF 2pp) that internet access alone will not raise participation in education, impact the job market or civic life.
Friday, 18 May 2012
The Civil Service and Intergovernmental Relations in the Post-devolution UK
an article by Richard Parry (University of Edinburgh) published in The British Journal of Politics & International Relations Volume 14 Issue 2 (May 2012)
Abstract
The civil service, as an ‘apolitical’ actor, may supply a significant facilitating role in intergovernmental relations. This is especially the case in the UK, where even the most senior civil servants are not politically appointed and remain in office when their political masters change party colours.
Furthermore, civil servants who work for the Scottish or Welsh governments are part of a unified (British) Home Civil Service. As such they have been socialised in and respect similar operating procedures, which also encompass Northern Ireland despite its independent civil service.
These factors have contributed to oil (lubricate) and glue (hold together) intergovernmental relations. Experience since 1999 is of a civil service accommodating well to various kinds of party incongruity and of working successfully with nationalists in government. The unified service seems well-entrenched, including in a 2010 UK statute, and relationships at official level on financial matters have become particularly important in times of austerity.
In the longer term the ‘interdepartmental’ mode of working may be harder to sustain as operating procedures set up in a path-dependent way from before 1999 erode as more civil servants are externally recruited and contact with Whitehall departments is reduced.
It is even possible to envisage a reversal of attitude in which the devolved administrations value the civil service link to Whitehall more than does the UK government.
Abstract
The civil service, as an ‘apolitical’ actor, may supply a significant facilitating role in intergovernmental relations. This is especially the case in the UK, where even the most senior civil servants are not politically appointed and remain in office when their political masters change party colours.
Furthermore, civil servants who work for the Scottish or Welsh governments are part of a unified (British) Home Civil Service. As such they have been socialised in and respect similar operating procedures, which also encompass Northern Ireland despite its independent civil service.
These factors have contributed to oil (lubricate) and glue (hold together) intergovernmental relations. Experience since 1999 is of a civil service accommodating well to various kinds of party incongruity and of working successfully with nationalists in government. The unified service seems well-entrenched, including in a 2010 UK statute, and relationships at official level on financial matters have become particularly important in times of austerity.
In the longer term the ‘interdepartmental’ mode of working may be harder to sustain as operating procedures set up in a path-dependent way from before 1999 erode as more civil servants are externally recruited and contact with Whitehall departments is reduced.
It is even possible to envisage a reversal of attitude in which the devolved administrations value the civil service link to Whitehall more than does the UK government.
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Wales 2011
The 2011 edition of indicators of poverty and social exclusion in Wales, providing a comprehensive analysis of trends.
This is the third update of Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Wales. It is set against the Welsh Government's stated commitment to end child poverty by 2020. After looking at the mixed results of policy over the last ten years, it examines how far higher employment might take Wales towards its goal - and what its wider implications might be.
The study examines:
This is the third update of Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Wales. It is set against the Welsh Government's stated commitment to end child poverty by 2020. After looking at the mixed results of policy over the last ten years, it examines how far higher employment might take Wales towards its goal - and what its wider implications might be.
The study examines:
- poverty rates amongst adults, children and pensioners;
- under-employment;
- qualification levels; and
- the effects of higher employment on child poverty.
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