Abstract
AbstractIn this article, we aim to look at the political, social and emotional world created by the UK’s House of Commons select committees and the part played by their chairs. Drawing upon the theoretical traditions of political anthropology (Spencer (2004, Anthropology, Politics and the State: Democracy and Violence in South Asia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)), group analytical theory (Foulkes (1948, Group Analytic Psychotherapy: Method and Principles, London, William Heinemann Medical Books)) and pragmatic philosophy (Dewey (1922, Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology, New York, NY, Henry Holt and Company)), we view the experience of individuals as relational, created in their interaction with other individuals and groups. The context is that select committees aspire to consider evidence impartially and work cohesively to hold government to account. Our focus is on the political work of the chairs of Commons’ select committees. Committee chairs, members and staff are constrained by the architecture, rules and rituals in their bid to achieve plausibility, but at the same time find the room to express individuality in the ways that they manage emotions and communicate with others through words, silence, bodily movements or facial expressions. By embodying the committee, and mediating between those involved, the work of chair involves walking between friends and enemies—forming alliances, dealing with disagreements and disciplining the unruly—to create the impression that select committees are above party politics.
Highlights
The UK House of Commons’ departmental select committees appear to be islands of collaboration and rationality within the UK political world of bitter
Since our research duo was composed of an anthropologist and a group analyst, this study was inter-disciplinary before we even began to talk to informants together
The ethnographic aspect of our methodology was influenced by both anthropology and group analytical theory
Summary
The UK House of Commons’ departmental select committees appear to be islands of collaboration and rationality within the UK political world of bitter. Crewe (2017) and inspired by Spencer (2004), Group Analytic method (Foulkes, 1948), family therapy reflecting team technique (Brownlee et al, 2009) and organisational inquiry methods developed through Sarra’s (2005) work in the NHS In this particular study since 2018, we have watched committees (on Parliament TV and live, from the audience in public and from the staff table in private sessions), revisited all the fieldnotes on Emma’s earlier studies of committees (2015, 2018) studied inquiry documents, and interviewed chairs, members, clerks and other staff individually and in different groups, both formally and informally
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