Gordon Brown announced his decision to stand down as an MP at the next general election this week. His time as Prime Minister has been much criticised but Jim Buller and I have recently published an article in Parliamentary Affairs arguing that we should factor context into our assessment of political leaders. This leads to…Read more (Re) Assessing Gordon Brown as Prime Minister
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Improving Turnout: The Voter Engagement Inquiry
Coming back from paternity leave this week, I was pleased find the Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform's report on Voter Engagement in the UK had been published. I was honoured to give to be invited to give oral evidence to the committee earlier in the year. Here are my written submissions of evidence…Read more Improving Turnout: The Voter Engagement Inquiry
Electoral management in the Scottish independence referendum: a new blog post
The Scottish independence referendum took place yesterday. Thankfully, it seems that this was not one poling day which suffered from problems with electoral management. I've written a blog post that explains more on Eastminster and the Democratic Audit. Scotland has voted no in the referendum. National soul searching, political repercussions and significant constitutional reform may (or…Read more Electoral management in the Scottish independence referendum: a new blog post
In defence of postal voting
I was on the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland show yesterday, briefly speaking about postal voting and voter fraud, in the context of the forthcoming Scottish referendum.Postal voting has become increasingly popular in the UK in recent years, but there have been some accusations that it allows electoral fraud:For the next few days, you can watch the clip…Read more In defence of postal voting
Explaining why policies and political institutions change: a new article
I've just published a new article on why policies and political institutions change in the journal Government and Opposition. It is a theory piece, which will largely interest for academics who teach/research theories of public policy, that proposes something called neo-statecraft theory. You can download 'Neo-Statecraft Theory, Historical Institutionalism and Institutional Change' here (or ask me for a copy). Here…Read more Explaining why policies and political institutions change: a new article
New Research on assessing British party leaders during austerity
How have the British political party leaders performed during austerity? What is a fair way of assessing them? Dr. Jim Buller and I have recently edited a special issue of Parliamentary Affairs, based on a University of East Anglia workshop that addresses these questions. The special issue includes our own article which further develops an approach…Read more New Research on assessing British party leaders during austerity
Who were the most successful British political party leaders since 1900?
Who were the most successful British political party leaders since 1900? I have written a post for Left Foot Forward about a collaborative University of East Anglia-Queen Mary University of London project which involves evaluating the British Labour and Conservative Party Leaders. The post is by Charles Clarke and myself in the run up to…Read more Who were the most successful British political party leaders since 1900?
Why advancing electoral integrity is so difficult in Britain
Pippa Norris and colleagues at the Electoral Integrity Project have just published a new book on Advancing Electoral Integrity. The book is formed from a workshop at Harvard University last year. I have a chapter in the book that aims to do a number of things: Claims that electoral management is an often overlooked way…Read more Why advancing electoral integrity is so difficult in Britain
Who was the greatest and worst Labour party leader of all time?
I am part of a team organising a conference evaluating British Labour party leaders. Speakers including the leading biographers and political commentators on each leader. For more information, please see: http://politicalleadership.org/events/labour-party-leaders/
My evidence to Parliament’s Voter Engagement enquiry
I gave oral evidence to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee's inquiry into Voter Engagement yesterday. The Committee is concerned about levels of voter registration and turnout in the UK. The inquiry is timely because voter engagement is a pressing problem for British elections and democracy. One in five people are now missing from the electoral register…Read more My evidence to Parliament’s Voter Engagement enquiry
Toby S. James 