Politics — Blog — Sage Perspectives Blog

We’ve had to dramatically shift how we talk about UK politics.

Our book, Politics in the UK; Place, Pluralism and Identities seeks to update how we analyse politics. Politics is full of narratives and analytical tools that we’ve used for decades. Sometimes when we find that old models no longer work as we imagine that they used to, we spend years talking about it, keeping alive analytical structures that we should have buried long ago. Traditional political cleavages in voting patterns are a good example of this. We have been talking about how they no longer work since at least as far back as when Joanie was an undergrad, more than 20 years ago.

ResearchRachel WolfeJune 30, 2024UK Elections, Politics, Labour party, Progressive politics

The importance of understanding how to promote peace in the Middle East and North Africa

Understanding how to promote peace in the region is perhaps more pressing now than at any time in the post-Cold War era. The region faces a myriad of security challenges including the rise of extremism, proxy wars at the regional level, and the negative effects of climate change

We Inter Are: Identity Politics & #MeToo

To argue that one’s location in the social structure shapes one’s perception and experience is not to suggest that this relationship is self-evident. The question of how it should be understood is a matter of intense debate; not just across positionings in the social structure (gender, race, class or sexuality, in India caste) but within them also.

Research, Editor's PicksKimberley SimpsonMarch 11, 2020Feminist Review, MeToo, Identity, Politics, Identity Politics

One Belt One Road: US Perspectives on China’s Belt and Road Initiative

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one of the most ambitious development projects ever undertaken, comparable only to the post-World War II Marshall Plan and China’s own Three Gorges Dam project. Significantly, China deftly presented it to the world as a civic economic project designed to benefit all participating countries and many other countries where its effect was expected to be indirect but positive.

The resilience of the European Union to Brexit

What impact will Brexit have on the decision-making processes and outputs of the European Union (EU)? Losing one of its largest member states – in terms of the size of the UK’s population, economy, diplomatic resources and military power – could have important consequences for the policies that the EU will adopt and for the relations among the remaining states. Much has been written about the causes of Brexit and its possible effects on the United Kingdom (UK) and the economic relations between the UK and the EU27. However, there has been little systematic analysis of the possible effects of Brexit on the functioning of EU institutions.

ResearchLORNA MCCONNVILLEOctober 24, 2019SAGE post, Politics, Brexit, Council, bargaining, networks, legislation

Feminist Political Economy in a Globalized World: African Women Migrants in South Africa and the US

Migration is one of the most important social phenomena of our times. In the social science literature, particularly among US-based scholars, African migrant women remain an understudied population. The experiences of African women migrants, either as immigrants or refugees, clearly demonstrate that migration is a gendered process.

Why do voters choose corrupt politicians?

While in public citizens express their clear rejection of corruption and their intentions not to support corrupt politicians, empirical evidence shows that voters around the world only mildly punish corrupt politicians. From a theoretical point of view it is puzzling how corrupt governments survive in democratic societies, as one of the main functions of free elections, a fundamental to every democracy, is to hold governments accountable.

The political revolt of the lower middle class against automation: a common explanation for Brexit, Trumpism or the yellow vests

Labour markets in advanced economies are increasingly marked by job polarisation, whereby job creation occurs either at the high- or low-skill levels, while mid-skill jobs are disappearing. This is mainly due to the process of automation of many routine-based tasks, as machines, computers, and robots can replace certain repetitive human tasks. What impact does this development have on politics? In our recent paper, we demonstrate that the fear of labour automation may translate into greater support for radical right parties.