Michael Keating - Böcker

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.There is a broad consensus across European states and the EU that social and economic inequality is a problem that needs to be addressed. Yet inequality policy is notoriously complex and contested. This book approaches the issue from two linked perspectives. First, a focus on functional requirements highlights what policymakers think they need to deliver policy successfully, and the gap between their requirements and reality. We identify this gap in relation to the theory and practice of policy learning, and to multiple sectors, to show how it manifests in health, education, and gender equity policies. Second, a focus on territorial politics highlights how the problem is interpreted at different scales, subject to competing demands to take responsibility. This contestation and spread of responsibilities contributes to different policy approaches across spatial scales. We conclude that governments promote many separate equity initiatives, across territories and sectors, without knowing if they are complementary or contradictory. This outcome could reflect the fact that ambiguous policy problems and complex policymaking processes are beyond the full knowledge or control of governments. It could also be part of a strategy to make a rhetorically radical case while knowing that they will translate into safer policies. It allows them to replace debates on values, regarding whose definition of equity matters and which inequalities to tolerate, with more technical discussions of policy processes. Governments may be offering new perspectives on spatial justice or new ways to reduce political attention to inequalities.

Is Europe witnessing the death of the once mighty nation-state? If it is, then two of the most powerful factors in its post-war decline have been European integration and regionalism. Both challenge the nation state's monopoly of authority - one from above, the other from below. Although it is increasingly recognized that the two are connected. This book provides a definitive examination of the new patterns of politics and policy that link the three levels of European Union, nation state, and region. Looking at each member state in turn the authors emphasize the diversity of the European experience. European integration has differing impacts on different regions. In some it is seen as a threat, centralizing power and increasing their peripherality. To others it is an opportunity to by-pass national governments and assert their personality.The authors are sceptical of the `Europe of the Regions' scenario, in which nation states fade away in favour of the other two levels. But they do show how the Maastricht commitment to subsidiarity together with the twin forces of European integration and regional assertion are profoundly changing the politics of Europe as it moves into the twenty-first century.

On 18 September 2014, Scotland held a referendum on the question: Should Scotland be an independent country? This is a most unusual event in modern democracies and engaged the political class, civil society, and the general public to an unprecedented degree, leading to an 85 per cent turnout in the final vote. This was an occasion to debate not just the narrow constitutional issue but the future of the nation, including the economy, social welfare, defence and security, and Scotland's place in Europe and the world. Debating Scotland comes from a team of researchers who observed the debates from close-up and engaged with both sides, with the media and with the public in analyzing the issues, while remaining neutral on the independence question. The book examines the main issues at stake, how they were presented, and how they evolved over the course of the campaign. The editors and contributing authors explore the ways both independence and union were framed, the economic issues, the currency, welfare, defence and security, the European Union, and how the example of small independent states was used. The volume concludes with an analysis of voter responses, based upon original survey research, which demonstrates how perceptions of risk and uncertainty on the main issues played a key role in the outcome.

The Handbook of Scottish Politics provides a detailed overview of politics in Scotland, looking at areas such as elections and electoral behaviour, public policy, political parties, and Scotland's relationship with the EU and the wider world. The contributors to this volume are some of the leading experts on politics in Scotland.

The United Kingdom has often been seen as a unitary nation-state. This book argues that it should be understood as a plurinational union in which the key elements of demos, telos, and ethos are contested.Except in the mid-twentieth century, its territorial boundaries have been contested and the matter of sovereignty has never definitely been settled. Since the end of the twentieth century, devolution to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland has made this more apparent. With the weakening of the British national project, tensions between the centre and the peripheral nations have grown, greatly exacerbated by Brexit. Eurosceptics have long argued that membership of the European Union is inconsistent with the sovereignty of the British people and Parliament. On another reading, however, both the UK and the EU are plurinational unions and highly compatible. The EU, indeed, served as an important external support system for the devolution settlement. Brexit destabilizes it. Unionism historically served as a doctrine and a set of practices seeking to reconcile a unitary state with a plurinational reality. Since devolution, it has struggled to come to terms with the new constitutional reality or embrace the idea of shared sovereignty. The Union is under increasing strain but there is no simple way of resolving these strains, either by secession of the component nations, or a return to the unitary state. The peoples of these islands need to find new constitutional concepts for living together in a world in which traditional ideas of national sovereignty have lost their relevance.

Transnational integration and other challenges to the nation-state have deprived it of its mystique and broken the automatic link between state and nation. This has encouraged the revival of stateless nationalisms, but also provided new means for their accommodation. The author argues that these changes call for a radical rethinking of the nature of sovereignty and of the state itself to meet the twin challenges of recognition of nationality and of democracy. Drawing on the experience of four plurinational states - United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, and Canada - and of the European Union, he analyses the challenges of plurinationalism and its recognition.Keating argues that we are not moving to a world without states, but to a complex political order with multiple sites of sovereign authority, and asymmetrical constitutional r s6ngements. This political order is new but at the same time old, as traditions of diffused authority and shared sovereignty, from before the rise of the nation-state, are rediscovered and rehabilitated. Democracy can no longer be confined to the framework of the nation-state but must extend to the new political spaces which are emerging above and below the state. Political movements and public opinion in the stateless nations are increasingly embracing these ideas and are the harbingers of a post-sovereign political order.

Globalization and European integration are sometimes seen as the enemies of nationalism, sweeping away particularisms and imposing a single economic, cultural and political order. The book argues on the contrary that, by challenging the 'nation-state' as the sole basis for identity and sovereignty, they open the way for a variety of claims by stateless nations. It is certainly true that recent years have seen a strong recurrence of nationalist claims, in Europe and in other parts of the world. At the same time, however, globalization and European integration provide new ways of managing nationality claims. At one level, they lower the stakes in independence and might permit peaceful transitions to independence. Yet they may also make independence in the traditional sense less important and provide ways in which multiple and conflicting nationality claims could be accommodated in new political structures. The chapters in this collection consider these issues from a theoretical perspective and through case studies of stateless nationalisms in western, eastern and central Europe, the former Soviet Union and Quebec. They record a wide variety of experiences and show that, while there are no easy answers to conflicting national claims, there is reason to believe that they can be managed through democratic political processes.

Transnational integration and other challenges to the nation-state have deprived it of its mystique and broken the automatic link between state and nation. This has encouraged the revival of stateless nationalisms, but also provided new means for their accommodation. The author argues that these changes call for a radical rethinking of the nature of sovereignty and of the state itself to meet the twin challenges of recognition of nationality and of democracy. Drawing on the experience of four plurinational states - United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, and Canada - and of the European Union, he analyses the challenges of plurinationalism and its recognition.Keating argues that we are not moving to a world without states, but to a complex political order with multiple sites of sovereign authority, and asymmetrical constitutional arrangements. This political order is new but at the same time old, as traditions of diffused authority and shared sovereignty, from before the rise of the nation-state, are rediscovered and rehabilitated. Democracy can no longer be confined to the framework of the nation-state but must extend to the new political spaces which are emerging above and below the state. Political movements and public opinion in the stateless nations are increasingly embracing these ideas and are the harbingers of a post-sovereign political order.

After three hundred years, the Anglo-Scottish Union is in serious difficulty. This is not because of a profound cultural divide between England and Scotland but because recent decades have seen the rebuilding of Scotland as a political community while the ideology and practices of the old unionism have atrophied. Yet while Britishness is in decline, it has not been replaced by a dominant ideology of Scottish independence. Rather Scots are looking to renegotiate union to find a new place in the Isles, in Europe, and in the world. There are few legal, constitutional or political obstacles to Scottish independence, but an independent Scotland would need to forge a new social and economic project as a small nation in the global market-place, and there has been little serious thinking about the implications of this. Short of independence, there is a range of constitutional options for renegotiating the Union to allow more Scottish self-government on the lines that public opinion seems to favour. The limits are posed not by constitutional principles but by the unwillingness of English opinion to abandon their unitary conception of the state. The end of the United Kingdom may be provoked, not by Scottish nationalism, but by English unionism.

Social scientists have regularly proclaimed the end of territory under successive waves of modernization, yet it continually re-emerges as a key principle of social, economic, and political organization. Rather than a de-territorialization we are witnessing a rescaling of social life as functional systems, identities, and political expression migrate to new levels. This is not new, but is a recurrent feature of the European state. States have sought to reassert control over these new spaces, while political and social movements have sought to politicize them and open them up to popular influence. The result has been the emergence of the meso-level or region as set of contested spaces, and increasingly as a level of government. Social and economic interests are refracted at these new territorial levels to reshape the policy agenda and create new social alliances and conflicts. Regions have emerged as spaces for public policy, with significant divergences over economic development, welfare policies, public services and environmental issues. Rescaling poses important normative questions about self-determination and social solidarity. These cannot definitively be resolved but are reframed, with new forms of self-government being possible and social solidarity emerging at new levels. Competitive regionalism has become a dominant theme but there is no generalized race to bottom as regions respond to the challenge in multiple ways. Regions are not going to replace the nation-state as they remain loosely-bounded and contested spaces but territory continues to reshape European polities. Drawing on a rich interdisciplinary literature and on original research, the volume provides a fresh and engaging analytical approach to the understanding of territory and power in contemporary Europe.

An all star cast of academic experts offer an important and timely analysis of the pursuit of autonomy. They argue that it is key to move beyond the primarily normative debate about the rights or wrongs of autonomous regions on the basis of cultural concerns, instead focusing on understanding what makes autonomy function successfully.

Hoosiers have always loved basketball! Long before Larry Bird carried Indiana State University to the 1979 NCAA National Championship or Bobby Knight walked the sidelines at Indiana University, basketball fostered community identity across the Hoosier state. From Indiana's tiniest towns to its biggest cities, high school basketball is a source of pride, unifying communities with different races, religions, and social and economic status.First drawn simply to documenting the architecture of Indiana's high school buildings and basketball courts, Chris Smith and Michael Keating quickly discovered that the real story was about more than just brick and mortar, maple and shellac. Told repeatedly by locals how important these places were to their communities, they began to embrace the "game on Saturday, church on Sunday" mantra that is found in many towns through Indiana, watching countless hours of basketball and becoming a part of the Hoosier tradition themselves. With over 150 color photographs and unforgettable stories from high school basketball and beyond, Chasing Indiana's Game: The Hoosier Hardwood Project is a tribute to the Hoosier state and all who love basketball.

Changing Borders in Europe focuses on the territorial dimension of the European Union. It examines the transformation of state sovereignty within the EU, the emergence of varied self-determination claims, and the existence of a tailor-made architecture of functional borders, established by multiple agreements.This book helps to understand how self-determination pressures within the EU are creating growing concerns about member states’ identity, redefining multi-level government in the European space. It addresses several questions regarding two transformative processes – blurring of EU borders and state sovereignty shifts - and their interrelations from different disciplinary perspectives such as political science, law, political economy and sociology. In addition, it explores how the variable geographies of European borders may affect the issue of national self-determination in Europe, opening spaces for potential accommodations that could be compatible with existing states and legal frameworks. This book will be of key interest for scholars, students and practitioners of EU politics, public administration, political theory, federalism and more broadly of European studies, international law, ethnic studies, political economy and the wider social sciences.

Australia faces major challenges to its forms of governance. Changing expectations from its citizens, global pressures on the economy and technological innovation are impacting on government operations. Yet most of its institutions were designed a hundred years ago. Cabinet government was inherited. Parliament was already established in its forms and procedures. The federal structure, the High Court and the federal public service were created as a consequence. The party structure has been effectively frozen since the 1920s and a tradition of handing some responsibilities to arms-length organisations was well established.So how have these institutions changed over the last hundred years and how well will they adapt to the demands of the modern world? Do they have the capacity to adapt appropriately and enable governments to achieve their preferred outcomes? In this book experienced academics and practitioners explore these questions. They examine each of the institutions in terms of their ability to meet new challenges and provide some hope that Australia's institutions, even if at times slow to move and dominated by internal interests, have a capacity to adapt and govern effectively. The book shows our political institutions in a new light, as dynamic, often flexible organisms; it provides important new insights into the way we are governed and how our system of governance might develop in the future.

The United Kingdom, Spain and Belgium have all undergone political devolution in recent years, with powers transferred from central government to regions and nations within these states. There is a rich literature on devolution, but surprisingly little on its consequences for public policy. This book explores the effects of devolution on the policy process, policy substance and policy outcomes in the UK, Spain and Belgium. The chapters study a range of policy spheres, including education, health care and general social policy, examining the scope for policy innovation and policy divergence between different levels of government. The analyses highlight the scope for comparison across devolved governments, which often face similar policy challenges and seek to exercise their autonomy within similar constraints. Each study underlines the importance of pre-existing policy communities, political cultures and institutions in shaping the scope for policy innovation within devolved governments. Each study also reinforces the need to consider devolved policy-making within the context of the nation-state. Devolution altered the relationship between the state and meso communities, but there remains a considerable degree of political and policy interdependence between governments at each level of the state. This book was previously published as a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.

A highly topical examination of the effect of European integration on relations between states and minority nations. This new collection brings together the leading specialists in the field, and covers a wide range of cases, from Northern Ireland in the West, to Estonia and Latvia in the East, and Cyprus in the South-East. The contributors assess how European integration has affected the preparedness of states to accommodate minorities across a range of fundamental criteria, including: enhanced rights protection; autonomy; the provision of a voice for minorities in the European and international arena; and the promotion of cross-border cooperation among communities dissected by state frontiers. The comprehensive chapters stress the importance of the nationality question, and the fact that, contrary to the hopes and beliefs of many on the left and right, it is not going to go away. Beginning with an introductory essay that summarizes the impact of European integration on the nationalities question, this accessible book will be of strong interest to scholars and researchers of politics, nationalism, ethnic conflict and European studies.

A highly topical examination of the effect of European integration on relations between states and minority nations. This new collection brings together the leading specialists in the field, and covers a wide range of cases, from Northern Ireland in the West, to Estonia and Latvia in the East, and Cyprus in the South-East. The contributors assess how European integration has affected the preparedness of states to accommodate minorities across a range of fundamental criteria, including: enhanced rights protection; autonomy; the provision of a voice for minorities in the European and international arena; and the promotion of cross-border cooperation among communities dissected by state frontiers. The comprehensive chapters stress the importance of the nationality question, and the fact that, contrary to the hopes and beliefs of many on the left and right, it is not going to go away. Beginning with an introductory essay that summarizes the impact of European integration on the nationalities question, this accessible book will be of strong interest to scholars and researchers of politics, nationalism, ethnic conflict and European studies.

A revolutionary textbook introducing masters and doctoral students to the major research approaches and methodologies in the social sciences. Written by an outstanding set of scholars, and derived from successful course teaching, this volume will empower students to choose their own approach to research, to justify this approach, and to situate it within the discipline. It addresses questions of ontology, epistemology and philosophy of social science, and proceeds to issues of methodology and research design essential for producing a good research proposal. It also introduces researchers to the main issues of debate and contention in the methodology of social sciences, identifying commonalities, historic continuities and genuine differences.

A revolutionary textbook introducing masters and doctoral students to the major research approaches and methodologies in the social sciences. Written by an outstanding set of scholars, and derived from successful course teaching, this volume will empower students to choose their own approach to research, to justify this approach, and to situate it within the discipline. It addresses questions of ontology, epistemology and philosophy of social science, and proceeds to issues of methodology and research design essential for producing a good research proposal. It also introduces researchers to the main issues of debate and contention in the methodology of social sciences, identifying commonalities, historic continuities and genuine differences.

Winners and losers: it's the brutal reality in most advanced economies. Increased inequality, economic stagnation and financial instability are the consequences of technological change, globalisation and the massive increase in financial systems. Governments struggle to deal with the unrest this creates and to resolve competing claims for the spoils of growth.Australia's egalitarian traditions and past reforms have served the country well, but the risks of weakening demand, stagnating living standards and structural unemployment are growing and require urgent attention. Does Australia have the fiscal and political capacity to achieve a reform agenda?Can the Australian political system manage these vital changes? Will voters support them? Fair Share ignites the necessary debate to instigate action.

Examining the effects of economic and political restructuring on regions in Europe and North America, the main themes here are: international economic restructuring; political realignments questions of territorial identity; and policy choices and policy conflicts in regional development.

This volume addresses the issues arising from the recent devolution referenda by exploring the historical development of the proposals, the importance of national and regional identities, the changing policies of the political parties and the approaches of business and other major groups towards devolution. It also looks at the impact on electoral reform coming from the proposal that proportional representation be used to elect the regional assemblies and how the new assemblies are to be financed. Finally the book discusses the implications of a devolved British state where different countries and regions achieve different levels of autonomy at different paces.

Examining the effects of economic and political restructuring on regions in Europe and North America, the main themes here are: international economic restructuring; political realignments questions of territorial identity; and policy choices and policy conflicts in regional development.

This volume addresses the issues arising from the recent devolution referenda by exploring the historical development of the proposals, the importance of national and regional identities, the changing policies of the political parties and the approaches of business and other major groups towards devolution. It also looks at the impact on electoral reform coming from the proposal that proportional representation be used to elect the regional assemblies and how the new assemblies are to be financed. Finally the book discusses the implications of a devolved British state where different countries and regions achieve different levels of autonomy at different paces.

Offering a general view of the development of subnational foreign action around the world, this work covers topics such as the repercussions upon subnational autonomy of the progressive consistution of international regimes such as the EU, NAFTA and APEC.

Offering a general view of the development of subnational foreign action around the world, this work covers topics such as the repercussions upon subnational autonomy of the progressive consistution of international regimes such as the EU, NAFTA and APEC.

A critical challenge to Scotland's new system of government is the making and implementation of public policy. This book offers a comprehensive account of the policy process in contemporary Scotland. There is a review of theories of policy-making, focusing on decentralised systems. The author then identifies the key actors and institutions, patterns of policy making, and the extent of convergence and divergence in comparison with England and other devolved territories.Case studies of policy making in health, higher education, housing, criminal justice, social inclusion and economic development allow the reader to see how policy making works in practice. There is an analysis of financial planning and decision making, and an examination of Scotland's role in UK and European policy networks. Comparisons are made with other devolved governments in Europe and beyond.The book is based on extensive research, including interviews with leaders of interest groups, politicians and officials across the Scottish Government and in the Scottish Parliament, an analysis of spending patterns, an examination of the legislative output, and case studies of policy making.Key Features*Provides the only comprehensive account of policy-making under devolution in Scotland*Places Scotland within a broader theoretical and comparative framework and analyses institutions and processes of policy-making*Contains case studies of specific policy fields and a thorough treatment of financial questions*Emphasis is placed on Scotland's insertion into UK, European and international networksThe second edition includes new and updated information in the following areas: * Election results* Voting by class, etc.* Manifestoes* Scottish Executive (now Government) departments* Background of MSPs* Committees* Expenditure dataThere is also updating to take account of the change in government in 2007, including substantially revised material on intergovernmental relations and on Eu

Is social democracy in a terminal condition in Europe? It's in office almost nowhere and appears bereft of ideas in the face of the economic crisis that might have given it a historic opportunity. While accepting the truth of this, the contributors to this volume take a stand again those who claim that social democracy is dead. By arguing that social democracy is not a single set of ideas or practices but a way of reconciling market capitalism with social inclusion and equality, they show that it has actually been remarkably successful during the 20th century. Its key principles are still relevant but must be adapted to new conditions. This book examines the fortunes of social democracy in western and east-central Europe and the policy challenges in economic policy, labour markets, social welfare, public services, European integration and decentralization.

Silicon technology now allows us to build chips consisting of tens of millions of transistors. This technology not only promises new levels of system integration onto a single chip, but also presents significant challenges to the chip designer. As a result, many ASIC developers and silicon vendors are re-examining their design methodologies, searching for ways to make effective use of the vast numbers of gates now available. This work outlines an effective methodology for creating reusable designs for use in a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design methodology. It is an attempt to capture and improve on current practices in the industry, and to give a coherent, integrated view of the design process.