Prestige publication gives University experts a hotline to politi
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:56:00 GMT
The government might have changed but Britain is still confronted a raft of problems over its cultural and political identity – problems that could eventually undermine the existence of the UK. And there is every prospect that the Coalition will stick to the same views as its Labour predecessors.
Researchers Dr Andy Mycock and Dr Catherine McGlynn
So it is timely that a team of academic experts at the University of Huddersfield who specialise in the study of Britishness – past, present and future - have been responsible for the content of a prestigious journal that lands on the desks of the country's top politicians.
The journal is entitled "Parliamentary Affairs" and it is published by the Hansard Society. Not only do leading politicians read it, but they write for it as well – former Labour minister Jack Straw has contributed an article on the constitution to the volume that has been edited by Dr Catherine McGlynn and Dr Andy Mycock, who are both senior lecturers in politics at the University of Huddersfield and members of its ground-breaking Academy for the Study of Britishness.
Other Huddersfield academics who have contributed to the journal are Professor Jim McAuley and Dr Chris Gifford. Experts from other universities around the UK were also invited to contribute.
Although Gordon Brown's Labour Government was still in power when Catherine and Andy set to work on their edition of "Parliamentary Affairs", the message it contains is as relevant as ever.
"There is little evidence that the new Government conceives the idea of Britishness in a particularly different way to the previous government," says Andy. But he argues that the issue is a crucial one.
"Politically it matters because of concerns about the perceived decline in ascription to a British national identity and politicians also have concerns about community tensions and the ability to conceive a version of Britishness which is inclusive, which brings together the citizens of the UK.
"So it is seen as politically and socially important to project a coherent and inclusive British national identity. What drives those concerns are tensions around multi-nationality and devolution and the potential that the United Kingdom could break up at some point in the future. Other tensions are created by the end of Empire, immigration, and membership of the EU – a dilution of both political sovereignty and cultural community."
The special edition of "Parliamentary Affairs" has its origins in a 2008 conference on identity and citizenship organised by the Academy for the Study of Britishness. It was decided to follow this up with a journal, and contributors presented drafts of their articles at an editorial conference which also took place at the University of Huddersfield - this was funded by the Political Studies Association.
The completed journal identifies several "blindspots" in debates about Britishness, says Andy Mycock. Politicians such as David Cameron often overlook key groups, he adds, explaining that some areas, such Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth, are consistently omitted by those articulating a renewed understanding of Britishness.
"Furthermore, there is scant acknowledgement of the variable relevance of Britishness across the UK and elsewhere. The volume aims to open up debates about Britishness by shifting focus and offering a more generous understanding of the scope and importance of British and other national identities."
One of the arguments made by Catherine and Andy in their introduction to the journal is that the "politics of Britishness" has, particularly in England, often been transformed into the "politics of Englishness".
Therefore the special edition of "Parliamentary Affairs" aims to adopt what it described as "a unique, explicitly multi-national approach to explore how identity politics in general and the 'politics of Britishness' in particular are being played out across the post-devolutionary UK."
Articles in the journal deal with topics such as the legacy of Empire, the Commonwealth, the identity of British Muslims and the role played by Northern Ireland.
The roster of articles in the special edition of "Parliamentary Affairs", write Andy and Catherine, "serve as a challenge to policy-makers, scholars and others to engage with the relationship between the differing levels of governance within which the British state is enmeshed and the ways in which multiple understandings of belonging and identity shape the political will of those who live in the UK".
• The publication of this special volume further enhances the reputation of the Academy as a centre of research excellence whose members continue to lead debates about citizenship, nationality and identity in the UK. A further special journal is planned for publication next year on the Party Politics of Identity and an edited collection of articles from the New Perspectives on Britishness lecture series, which began in October 2009 and has brought leading figures to Huddersfield over the past year, is planned for publication in 2011.For further details about this publication and the activities of the Academy for the Study of Britishness, please contact Dr Andy Mycock on 01484 472816 or email at a.j.mycock@hud.ac.uk.
