British Policy Research Articles

Taxation and Left-Wing Redistribution: The Politics of Consumption Tax in Britain and Sweden

Recent research claims that the link between partisanship and policy is weak and that left-wing governments tax the poor surprisingly heavily. In this article, I argue that leftwing taxation depends on the institutional context, not constraints from unions or overall spending. Using novel data, I demonstrate that the left tax more regressively in countries using proportional electoral systems, and more progressively in majoritarian countries. The political mechanism is evaluated in a comparison of Swedish and British tax policy after WWII. Uncertainty over future influence made the left in Britain wary of consumption tax, while the left in Sweden combined consumption tax with expanded social programs. Political risk shaped the strategies of key actors and helps explain the divergence in tax policy during this period.

Expedition turned Invasion: The 1888 Sikkim Expedition through British, Indian and Chinese eyes

AbstractA fresh look at the 1888 Sikkim Expedition using both Chinese and English language sources yields very different conclusions from that of previous research on the subject. During the course of policymaking, the British Foreign Office and the British Government of India did not collaborate to devise a plan to invade Tibet; conversely, their aims differed and clashed frequently. During the years leading to war, the largest newspapers in British India gave plenty of coverage to the benefits of trade with Tibet, thus influencing British foreign policy and contributing indirectly to the outbreak of war. The Tibetan army was soundly defeated in the war, while the British troops suffered only light casualties. Although the Tibetan elites remained committed to the war, the lower classes of Tibetan society quickly grew weary of it. During the war, the British made much use of local spies and enjoyed an advantage in intelligence gathering, which contributed greatly to their victory. Finally, although the war was initially fought over trade issues, the demarcation of the Tibetan-Sikkim border replaced trade issues as the main point of contention during the subsequent peace negotiations. During the negotiations, Sheng Tai, the newly appointed Amban of Tibet, tried his best to defend China's interests.

Parenting the crisis: The cultural politics of parent‐blame Tracey Jensen Bristol: Policy Press, March 2018, ISBN:978‐1447325062, 216 pages, £20.79 pbk

There is a long and ignoble trend within British social policy making of blaming parents for social problems—particularly when the problem is poverty, and the parents are impoverished. But by the end of the 20th century, parent blaming was assuming a new cultural form. The problem was not framed ‘only’ in terms of those parents who failed to shoulder their responsibilities, such as ‘feckless’ fathers or ‘unfit’ mothers, but in terms of a deficit on the part of all mothers and fathers, who were seen to require official training in the art and (pseudo)science of child rearing. Thus, the New Labour government placed ‘supporting families’ at the heart of its policy agenda, a therapeutic mission that aimed to instruct all parents in the appropriate ways to feel about their children and behave towards them. The Coalition government led by David Cameron picked up the baton, by promoting the adoption of particular parenting styles and practices as a resolution to the problems of poverty and inequality. ‘What matters most to a child's life chances is not the wealth of their upbringing but the warmth of their parenting,’ he told the think-tank Demos in 2010 (in Jensen, 2018, p. 116). Jensen's original account situates the new ‘politics of parent blame’ within a wider ‘cultural industry’ of media and social networks promoting a fashionable ‘parent pedagogy’. Inspired by Stuart Hall's classic 1978 study Policing the Crisis, which charted the construction of the ‘mugger’ as ‘a new cultural figure, upon whom street crime is racialised and against whom social anxieties around youth, urban space and control become projected’ (Jensen, 2018, p. 8), Parenting the Crisis maps the construction of mothers, in particular, as a deficient figure against whom anxieties about social inequality and disorder are projected. The ubiquity of a culture that demands the performance of an ‘intensive’ parenting style—one that is ‘reflexive, intensive, expert-guided, thoughtful and self-scrutinising’ (Hays, 1996)—results in mothers becoming invested and subjected ‘by the norms and rules of such parenting regimes and by their dividing practices’ (Jensen, 2018, p. 101). In the insecurity generated by such a parenting culture, mothers practise self-surveillance and judgement on themselves and each other. Thus, policy that projects maternal emotion and behaviour as both a cause and solution to socioeconomic equalities—‘warmth’ not ‘wealth’—gains implicit affirmation. The strength of Parenting the Crisis lies in the way it reveals this complex interaction between these cultural norms and constructions, and the politics of parent blame, engaging the question of why parents (and particularly, mothers) are receptive to policies that seek to train them to be ‘better parents’. Later chapters explore the ‘weaponisation’ of parent blame in the context of austerity and ‘post-welfare’. Here, the focus is on the families culturally demonised by ‘poverty porn’ and targeted by policies such as the Troubled Families initiative, where familiar tropes of ‘welfare scrounging’ and the ‘underclass’ are recycled through the image of the deficient parent. Although this is true, it is hardly new; arguably, a more novel and insidious development is the way that parenting practices culturally associated with the ‘respectable’ working class—for example, with regard to food, discipline and relations between home and school—have been problematised through the mobilisation of intensive parenting as a cultural norm. The degree to which ‘dividing practices’ operate against parents whose practices imply resistance to the tenets of the new parent pedagogy would be worthy of further study.

1930’larda Türk-Yunan Yakınlaşması: Üçüncü Taraf Olarak İngiliz Faktörü

The third party effect in international relations gained popularity in 1990s in the context of conflict resolution. However, the Turkish-Greek relations in the modern era have always been discussed in reference to a third party involvement and Britain has always prevailed over the other countries as the most prominent third party. This study searches for the British influence on the Turkish-Greek rapprochement in 1930s. The British factor influence is usually taken as a matter of Great Power dominance or the “provocateur of rivalries between the two nations” from the Turkish point of view or “cooperation of allies” from the Greek point of view. Whereas, this study focuses on a specific conjuncture in which Britain acted neither as a “provocateur” nor as an “ally” for any party. In reference to the historical sources, it is documented that from the late 1920s the British approach to the Turkish-Greek affairs was altered dramatically, parallel to the overarching systemic changes in the interwar period Specifically, it is argued that the revision of British financial policy in response to the Great Depression and its retreat from the Eastern Mediterranean as a naval power directed Greece to change its foreign policy orientations with a sudden demarche and offer Turkey a peace settlement. Rather than attributing this rapprochement to the efforts of charismatic leaders, this study analyses the issue with a realist mind in reference to the British policies modified in parallel to the systemic changes during the interwar years.

Politics, audience costs, and signalling: Britain and the 1863–4 Schleswig-Holstein crisis

AbstractAudience costs theory posits that domestic audiences punish political leaders who make foreign threats but fail to follow through, and that anticipation of audience costs gives more accountable leaders greater leverage in crisis bargaining. We argue, contrary to the theory, that leaders are often unaware of audience costs and their impact on crisis bargaining. We emphasise the role of domestic opposition in undermining a foreign threat, note that opposition can emerge from policy disagreements within the governing party as well as from partisan oppositions, and argue that the resulting costs differ from audience costs. We argue that a leader's experience of audience costs can trigger learning about audience costs dynamics and alter future behaviour. We demonstrate the plausibility of these arguments through a case study of the 1863–4 Schleswig-Holstein crisis. Prime Minister Palmerston's threat against German intervention in the Danish dispute triggered a major domestic debate, which undercut the credibility of the British threat and contributed to both the failure of deterrence and to subsequent British inaction. Parliament formally censured Palmerston, contributing to a learning-driven reorientation in British foreign policy.

West Indies technologies in the East Indies: Imperial preference and sugar business in Bihar, 1800–1850s

Today India is among the major sugar producers and sugar-making has a long tradition, yet the adoption of modern sugar technologies was delayed. Which factors underpinned this? This article examines the attempts of European sugar entrepreneurs to adopt new sugar technologies in 1830s–1840s Bihar. Its findings correspond with recent literature on Indian economic development which emphasises the role of declining agricultural productivity in economic stagnation in the colonial period. This article supports the conclusions that low agricultural productivity was the outcome of inadequate investment on the part of the British Empire. It also highlights that in the case of commercial crops – such as sugar – investment into new technologies with potential for increasing productivity was hindered by British trade policies. As British imperial policies gave preference to the welfare of the British consumer, lacked consideration for colonial manufacturing, they did not create a beneficial environment for long-run investment projects.

The Image of Great Britain in the Soviet Press in the Context of the Spanish Civil War (1936‒1939)

The developments of the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1939, including its international aspects, have been thoroughly studied both in foreign and in Russian historiography. However, the introduction of new research approaches, in this case imagology, allows us to revisit even the well-established views. The paper examines the сreation and subsequent development of the image of Great Britain in the Soviet press in the context of the Spanish Civil War. The research draws on publications in the Soviet ‘Pravda’ and ‘Izvestiya’ newspapers, as well as in the ‘Ogoniok’, ‘Za rubezhom’ and ‘Agitator’s Sputnik’ magazines. The study reveales a rather ambiguous position of the Soviet press in relation to the British policy in Spain. Several topics played a key role in creating the image of the ‘Foggy Albion’ in the Soviet press. The leitmotif of publications of the Soviet journalists was the image of the empire in decline. In this regard, the Soviet press emphasized the acquiescence of the British government faced with aggressive actions from Francoists backed by Germany and Italy, as well as its inability to protect national interests of its own state. Parallel to this, the image of Great Britain as a split society was created. The Soviet journalists stressed that passivity of the government caused mounting criticism from both political left and right. At the same time, they praised the work of the civil society and volunteers in support of the republic. Finally, the Soviet media bashed London for its gradual drift from non-intervention towards appeasement and even direct inducement of aggressors. The author concludes that the image of Great Britain created in the Soviet press was intended to convince the Soviet public opinion in the fallacy of the British policy. In the face of an impending global war, London was portrayed as an unreliable ally, prone to concessions to aggressors.

Catholicism and Foreign Policy: Esme Howard and British Policy towards Poland, 1919

ABSTRACT Esme Howard, the British diplomat posted to the Paris Peace Conference to handle policy towards North and Northeastern Europe, saw his proposals except for the Polish Corridor largely ignored by David Lloyd George, the prime minister, and his advisors at Downing Street. The two men had decidedly different conceptions of post-war Poland: Howard plumped for a large Poland with adequate territory and economic resources to counter the certain revival of Britain’s adversaries Germany and Russia; Lloyd George looked for a smaller one to appease republican Germany and Russia whether the latter became ‘Red’ or ‘White’. It has been suggested that as Howard was Roman Catholic, he looked to support reborn Roman Catholic Poland as much as he could. Such assertions are incorrect. Before and after 1919 in his various postings, he always put British interests above all else, even in Catholic countries in which he served. His advice at Paris was to ensure smaller Powers like Poland and the Baltic States could with British support maintain a regional balance of power against Britain’s Berlin and Moscow. Lloyd George lacked any strategic vision in seeking to ameliorate differences with the Germans and Russians.

‘Royal diplomacy: British preparations for the State Visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to the United States, June 1939.’

ABSTRACT This article explores the preparation made by the British government, primarily the Foreign Office, for the state visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to the United States three months before the outbreak of the Second World War. It considers the dynamics of the relationship between the officials in Whitehall, the British ambassador in Washington, Sir Ronald Lindsay, the agenda of the Roosevelt administration and the role of the British royal family as ambassadors in their own right. Lindsay’s role was also pivotal because he was a personal friend of the King and was also on much respected and influential figure in Washington. The article does not discuss the course of the state visit, although there is discussion of the literature that relates to it. However, it does reveal that securing a concrete alliance with the United States was not the priority of the British government in the summer of 1939; that the focus of the Foreign Office, in particular, was on the growing diplomatic crisis in Europe. Lastly, the article argues that in the months leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War, the Foreign Office was confident in its own ability to lead the formulation of British foreign policy; that it was not eclipsed by Neville Chamberlain’s very personal involvement in appeasing the fascist dictators.

The British Low-Profile Policy and Its Failure in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1964–1967

ABSTRACT Following the Suez Campaign in October 1956, Great Britain began to step away from the Middle East. Its policy aimed at a gradual withdrawal from the region while protecting its interests, ensuring the uninterrupted supply of oil, and curbing Soviet expansion. Hence the policy of the United Kingdom (UK) was to maintain stability as another war between Israel and its Arab neighbors would be detrimental to its economy and provide the Soviet Union with the opportunity to deepen its incursion into the region. Britain therefore adopted a low-profile policy, designed to avoid taking sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict. In practice, it was burying its head in the sand. The Arabs viewed the absence of clear support for them, particularly in the issue of water, as implicit support for Israel, especially since Britain was secretly supplying the latter with weapons. London’s low-profile policy did not stand the test of regional developments. The tension between Israel and Egypt that emerged in mid-May 1967, intensified over the closing of the Straits of Tiran by Egypt, led the UK to take steps to ensure free passage through them.

Aba Women’s Riots (November to December, 1929)

This paper offers a narrative and analysis of a central event in the colonial history of Nigeria - the Aba Women's War of 1929, also called the Aba Women's Riots by colonial officials. The paper sourced its materials from extant literature through extensive collection of secondary data from the archives in Nigeria. The Women's War of 1929 addresses the historical debates related to the causes and consequences of the event with assessments of each side's strengths and weaknesses. Focusing mainly on the actions of African participants, the paper explains the cultural, social, and economic issues that led to the Women's War and the reasons why women used specific strategies. It also evaluates the aftermath of the conflict and how the protest practices used by Igbo and Ibibio women influenced British colonial policy.

Архівування аудіовізуальної спадщини у Великій Британії: історичні традиції та сучасна практика

The aim of the article is to investigate the history of the formation and current state of development of archiving of audiovisual heritage in Great Britain. The research methodology is based on a system of modern basic scientifi c pproaches (socio-cultural, systemic, interdisciplinary) and a set of general scientifi c methods – bibliographic, comparative-historical, retrospective, empirical (descriptive), critical, typological, of system analysis. The tendencies of the organization of British audiovisual archives, means and methods of formation of collectives and infrastructure are analyzed. The following methods were used: genetic, inductive, historical, comparative, as well as systematization, generalization, classifi cation. A special place in the study is occupied by the art history approach, within which, in particular, morphological analysis allowed to distinguish the genre-species structure of audiovisual heritage in individual centers of its storage. The scientifi c novelty of the study is that for the fi rst time the main reasons for the foundation and some historical stories of 4 key centers for audiovisual heritage in the UK are traced: the Imperial War Museum, the National Archive of the British Film Institute, the Moving Image Archive of the National Library of Scotland, the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales; and also revealed the composition of the documents concentrated there – an important component of world cultural heritage. The historical role of British archivists in the development of the theory and practice of audiovisual archiving is shown. The peculiarities of the British archival policy, focused (in pre-Internet times) primarily on the formation and preservation of audiovisual collections and its impact on the world practice of audiovisual archiving, are analyzed. Changes in the priorities of archives’ activity in the context of digital transformation and integration into the digital media space are identifi ed. Emphasis is placed on archival initiatives in the direction of providing and updating the information and source potential of audiovisual collections. The peculiarities of the British model of organization of archiving of audiovisual heritage and functional specifi cs of its separate subjects are revealed. It is concluded that in the future the main research interest should be focused on the formation of a network of regional audiovisual archives and modern strategies for audiovisual archiving with relevant practices.

A Common Market for film: British policy and the unification of European film

ABSTRACT This article examines the formulation and impact of British film policy concerning the unification of European film industries from the immediate post-war era to the end of the 1970s. It focuses on the activities of the Board of Trade, which was instrumental in determining British policy responses to integrationist film movements in Europe as well as the broader process of European unification. Various schemes to pool filmmaking resources and remove trade barriers emerged on the continent, both within and outside the EEC. Some depended on intergovernmental cooperation while others called for the creation of supranational bodies, which would govern film production and trade. Concurrently, the proliferation of film co-production treaties bound the major filmmaking nations of Europe into close practices of cooperation. As this article shows, the UK government stood at the margins of Europe’s intergovernmental film diplomacy, assuming a defensive, protectionist position which reflected British resistance to supranational governance.

Specifics of the International Political Position of the Commonwealth of Australia in the first half of the ХХ-th century

The paper focuses on the initial stage of the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the process of its establishing as an independent State. The international political context for the development of the country, from the period of creation of the Federation to the beginning of the Second World War, is primarily viewed. The Commonwealth’s international position, its place and role in the regional and global geopolitical processes of the early XX century, in particular in the context of its relations with Great Britain, are analyzed. The features of the transformation of British colonial policies on the eve of the First World War are examined. The specifics of the UK system of relations with Australia, as well as other dominions, are being examined. The features of status of the dominions in the British Empire system are shown. The role of the dominions and, in particular, the Commonwealth of Australia in the preparatory process for the First World War, as well as the peculiarities of its participation in hostilities, is analyzed. The significance of the actions of the First World War on the domestic political situation in Australia, as well as its impact on dominions relations with the British Empire, is revealed. The history of the foundation of the Australian-New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and its participation in imperial forces on the frontline of the First World War is analyzed. The success and failure of its fighters, as well as the role of ANZAC, in the process of formation an Australian political nation are analyzed. The economic, humanitarian and international political consequences of the First World War for the Commonwealth of Australia are examined, as well as the influence of these consequences on the structure of relations between the dominions and the British Empire. The socio-economic situation of the Commonwealth of Australia on the eve of World War II, in particular the impact of the Great depression on the development of the country as a whole and its internal political situation in particular, is analyzed. The ideological, military-strategic and international political prerequisites for Australia’s entry into the Second World War are being considered.

Understanding Social Insurance: Risk and Value Pluralism in the Early British Welfare State

This article seeks to make two contributions to the understanding of social insurance, a central policy tool of the modern welfare state. Focusing on Britain, it locates an important strand of theoretical support for early social insurance programs in antecedent developments in mathematical probability and statistics. While by no means the only source of support for social insurance, it argues that these philosophical developments were among the preconditions for the emergence of welfare policies. In addition, understanding the influence of these developments on British public discourse and policy sheds light on the normative principles that have undergirded the welfare state since its inception. Specifically, it suggests that the best model, or normative reconstruction, of social insurance in this context is a value-pluralist one, which pursues efficiency and equality or solidarity, grounded in group-based perceptions of risk.

Discourse of Power under Power Play: An Analysis of Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace between Displaced Diaspora and Nondiaspora

This paper examines the causes and consequences of the shifting values infused in the displaced Diasporas in comparison to those who are not from diasporic background yet colonized. Amitav Ghosh’s critically acclaimed novel The Glass Palace introduces few dislocated figures particularly Rajkumar Raha, and his mentor Saya John, who overlook the power play of the British acting as collaborators. Arriving in Burma as orphans, they amassed enormous profit with teak business in the Burmese forests, and gradually transform themselves into business tycoons. Utilizing colonial havoc, they become affluent while fully understand the British power politics. This novel also throws light on two other Nondiasporic characters; Beni Prasad, the District Collector, and Arjun, a Lieutenant in the British Indian Army, who equally shake hands with their European masters being part of their exploitative venture and ideological network. However, interestingly they could not flourish like Rajkumar and Saya John, rather collapsed completely under British policy. Ultimately, they committed suicide through an acute remorse. This paper shows how people from displaced Diaspora become the instances of failed Cosmopolitanism who are unable to rise as transnational in their new home. It also clarifies that, the construction of identity is interrelated with the discourse of power, and the multi-dimensional impact of power and politics.

The post-Ottoman order in the Middle East: Mark Sykes and the complexity of the Kurdish question

ABSTRACT This study examines Britain’s Middle Eastern policy discussions in relation to the future of Kurdistan. It argues that perceptions of the Kurdish question were significantly influenced by the conflicting strategies of the India Office and of the Foreign Office. The primary aim of this study is to examine Mark Sykes’s specific role in determining the future of Kurdistan by neglecting its cause in the post-Ottoman settlement, which has not been considered in the previous literature. Sykes’s views of the Kurds strongly influenced the British policy decision not to recognize the validity of the Kurdish question, and to leave the Kurds off the new map of the Middle East. In addition, this article identifies the role of Orientalist ideology, critiquing Sykes’s perception of the Kurdish question by applying a post-colonial approach primarily based on Edward Said’s theory. It concludes that Sykes’s understanding of Kurdistan was translated into the British policy-making process, both during the war and in the postwar period, which consequently contributed to the post-Ottoman complexity of the Kurdish question to this day.

Ritual performances and collective violence in divided cities – The riots in Belfast (1886) and Jerusalem (1929)

This article explores the interrelation of violence, space, and public rituals in Belfast and Jerusalem. With the image of being cities of violence, contested by two groups that compete for political and spatial hegemony, Belfast and Jerusalem are also characterised as divided, both on a material and symbolic level. The roots of this division can be traced back to the era of the British Empire, especially to the riots in Belfast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the uprisings in Jerusalem during the British Mandate of Palestine. In the wider context of British imperial policies of differentiation along religious lines and urban separation, communal identities were strengthened, and processes of residential segregation were accelerated, thereby creating urban frontiers. On the basis of historical sources, particularly reports by Royal Commissions of Inquiry that were set up to investigate the riots in Belfast and Jerusalem, this paper analyses how violent urban geographies were created in both cities in different but also remarkably similar ways. Down to the present day, public religious and political rituals, often combined with nationalist and militarist elements, are a crucial part of periodic manifestations of collective violence in these cities. Practices of appropriation of space and a temporary redrawing of borders and boundaries are dominant features of these rituals. Religious ceremonies, street parades, funeral processions or political demonstrations take place at contested sites or are led through areas “belonging” to the “other” group. The analysis shows that these ritual practices contributed greatly in transforming parts of the cities into urban spaces characterised by exclusion and imbued with memories of violence. This paper concludes that ritual performances in public space have a strong impact on the production and shaping of collective violence during riots.

“Global Britain”: from Idea to Implementation

The article explores a new British foreign policy agenda under the catchy slogan of “Global Britain”. Over time, the thesis of Global Britain has been viewed by the British leadership as a matrix for a new foreign policy. This slogan is still being filled with various conceptual elements and real political, trade and economic steps. The concept of Global Britain is analyzed through UK-US relations, the Commonwealth and cooperation with the EU in the period before and after Brexit. It is concluded that ideologically, Global Britain is not a set of fundamentally new ideas; rather, it is a reformatting with different accents of the previous foreign policy provisions (the well-known concept of the “Three Majestic Circles” by W. Churchill) and taking into account reducing its opportunities and leverage in the European Union and the European region as a whole and attempts to reorient the economy, trade and financial relations towards the dynamically developing countries of Asia and other regions. It is highlighted that the difficult and protracted negotiations on Britain‟s withdrawal from the EU and UK snap elections in 2019 slowed down the filling of the concept with real content. At present, the future of the British foreign policy largely depends on the course of the new US President, the UK-EU cooperation, and the impact of pandemic on British economy.

UK-Turkey Relationship in Light of Brexit

The 2016 UK EU membership referendum has been a catalyst for a stronger political dialogue between Turkey and Britain. The countries have taken a firm line of strategic partnership which meets the interests of both parties to strengthen their international positions. In late December 2020, the parties managed to forge a trade agreement envisaging most of the previously established rules. At the same time, a full-scale trade agreement is hampered by Ankara’s obligations within the EU Customs Union and Preferential agreements. Turkey occupies an important place in the new foreign strategy of the UK. London considers Ankara, which is pursuing an increasingly tough policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Black Sea region, as a situational ally in strengthening its international positions weakened by Brexit. The author notes that the declared strategic partnership in the political sphere has a number of limitations associated with the conflict potential of relations between Turkey and the European Union, as well as the growing importance of the values factor in British foreign policy. The UK actually needs to find a balance between other international players in the Brussels-London-Ankara triangle for its own geopolitical and economic goals. The nature of British-Turkish relations is of considerable interest to Russia.