Welsh Politics Research Articles

The Welsh criminal justice system: On the jagged edge By R.Jones, R.W.Jones, Cardiff: University of Wales Press. 2022. pp. 292. £24.99 (pbk); £24.99 (ebk). ISBN: 9781786839435; 9781786839442

The Welsh criminal justice system: On the jagged edge By R.Jones, R.W.Jones, Cardiff: University of Wales Press. 2022. pp. 292. £24.99 (pbk); £24.99 (ebk). ISBN: 9781786839435; 9781786839442

Unprecedented Times, a Very Precedented Result: the 2021 Senedd Election

AbstractThe sixth election to Senedd Cymru/the Welsh Parliament was held in May 2021. The context for the election was heavily shaped by the Covid‐19 emergency, which restricted election campaigning and dominated the political agenda prior to polling. The result saw the continuance of Labour's long‐term hegemony in Welsh politics; Labour benefitted from strong public ratings of the handling of Covid‐19 by the Welsh government and First Minister. However, apparent stability in devolved Welsh politics may be threatened by developments elsewhere in the UK, which could make the ‘devolutionist unionism’ of Welsh Labour more difficult to sustain.

Walter Map and the matter of Britain by Smith, Joshua Byron (review)

192 North American journal of Celtic studies Smith, Joshua Byron. Walter Map and the matter of Britain. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. ISBN 978–0–8122–4923–3. 272 pp. $69.95 (cloth), $69.95 (eBook). Daniel G. Helbert West Texas A&M University In this book, the first monograph on Walter Map in English, Smith uses his laser-focused study of De nugis curialium to gesture outwards and reflect on some bigger questions in Celtic studies and the literary milieu of late-twelfth-century Britain. Some of the major issues surrounding Walter Map that are addressed in this study are: the literary culture of the twelfth-century March of Wales; the status of Latin within Welsh and Anglo-Norman society; the portrayal of Welsh politics, law, ethics, and culture within non-Welsh literature ; Henry ii’s court and its association with literary production; and the origins of the Lancelot-Grail cycle and how the ‘Matter of Britain’ was created. Perhaps selling himself short, Smith narrows these concerns into two specific arguments: ‘The first is that Walter Map’s De nugis curialium is not the disheveled and disorganized text that scholars have imagined’, and the second is that ‘ecclesiastical networks of textual exchange played a major role in exporting Welsh literary material into England in the twelfth century’ (1). Smith’s first chapter establishes the context for these arguments by situating Map within the Marches and Henry ii’s court. That combination is especially important for the reception of Map’s work because, as Smith shows, Map is keen to establish himself as an ‘expert’ on the Welsh for Henry’s court—even though Map himself identifies variously as a ‘Marcher’ and as an ‘Englishman’. Chapters ii and iii do the meticulous work of carrying out the first part of Smith’s argument; his thorough examination of the contents , structure, and history of Bodley 851 (the sole witness to De nugis curialium) insists that, instead of a singular jumbled mess of ‘trifles’ divided into five linked sections, Map originally intended to have five distinct and unified works with separate (though related ) themes. Smith is especially convincing in his reading of Map’s ‘doublets’, thought by most (myself included) to be rambling repetitions of earlier sections. Instead, Smith demonstrates how these repetitions are actually moments of revision that have been permanently preserved, unintentionally, in a single manuscript that has copious scribal errors and non-authorial sections. Reading through one section of these revisions leads to his fourth chapter, in which Smith analyzes Map’s romance of King Herla. This romance has long been thought to have ‘Celtic analogues’ because of its employment of certain folk motifs and the setting of ancient Britain. Instead, Smith demonstrates that ‘Herla’ is a nearly full-blown invention by Map that has been made to look like a ‘Celtic’ story for demonstrable political purposes. The provocative implications of this reading are taken up further in chapters v and vi, which argues that this situation of non-Welsh, Latinate authors working with Welsh-Latin documents and inventing the Matter of Britain is likely to be the status quo rather than an individual anomaly. Daniel Helbert [dhelbert@​ wtamu​ .edu] is Assistant Professor of English at West Texas A&M University. He researches and teaches the comparative literature of the British Middle Ages, medievalism, and environmental humanities. Reviews 193 In regard to the first of his two arguments, Smith’s meticulous reading of Map certainly heightens one’s appreciation of the strange and important document we call De nugis curialium. The misperception that Map was an unorganized and flighty author stems from two sources: (i) the disheveled state of the document represented by Bodley 851, and (ii) Map’s own comments about his flightiness. The latter of these has inappropriately confirmed the former in the past when (now, in hindsight) his comments fit more appropriately within the ubiquitous modesty topos of the period. As to the reading represented by the faulty manuscript, that is now a problem that can be partially mitigated by Smith’s account. Rather than a hodgepodge of random and often repetitive tales jumbled together under a misleading ‘authorial’ organization, Smith demonstrates how Map was in the process of...

Welsh Politics after the EU Referendum

This paper examines the electoral and ideological contest that has taken place between Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru in the five National Assembly elections that have been held between 1999 and 2016. Both parties have found success when they have managed to combine effective leadership with a coherent programme and a strong sense of Welsh identity. However, the Welsh vote to leave the EU in the June 2016 referendum has dealt both parties a poor hand in speaking up for Welsh interests. Can they find a common cause in working together and also with Scotland to take Wales forward in a progressive constitutional direction?

An Introduction to British Arthurian Narrative by Susan Aronstein (review)

Susan aronstein, An Introduction to British Arthurian Narrative. New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2012. pp. xvi, 189. isbn: 0-8130-4189-9. $69.95This new series from the University Press of Florida offers introductory surveys aimed at undergraduate students, graduate students, and general readers. To create a 'compact' survey of so sprawling a subject as the British Arthurian tradition is a particular challenge, and in many ways Susan Aronstein's engaging book succeeds admirably. The author's careful historical contextualizing of her many texts (starting with a helpful Chronology at the beginning of the book) creates a persuasive thread of continuity from pre-Conquest Arthurian 'history' through to Thomas Malory's late-medieval summa Arthurianica. There are times when the detail is subject to challenge or correction, but a reader new to this literary tradition is certain to enjoy, and learn much from, Susan Aronstein's overview.After a brief introduction that demonstrates both the persistence of the tradition and the nostalgia that has always characterized it, the first section of the book is devoted to 'the circumstances that made the legend particularly appealing to writers and their audiences' (p. 13). These circumstances are, Aronstein argues, a British history of crises of legitimacy, warfare, and persistent appropriations of useful stories from the past. A survey of some 500 or so years of this history forms a bracing prelude to the meat of the chapter, a discussion of the English chronicle tradition. Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, and Laaeamon all code the Arthurian story as history, though for somewhat different ends; but the themes of conquest, imperialism, and confrontation/ control of various 'others' are common throughout the discussion. Next are two poems focusing on the death of Arthur, the Alliterative Morte Arthure and the Stanzaic Morte Arthure. While the first starts with a vision of Arthurian plenitude, the second is already marked by a wistful sense of days gone by, and Aronstein's evocation of the atmosphere of 'transience and loss' (p. 54) is telling and moving.Chapter Two, 'British Arthurian Romance,' deals with works concentrating on the 'golden age of Arthurian plenitude' (p. 55). In contrast to the relentless forward motion of the historically-inflected chronicle texts, the romances in this chapter pause to focus on the individual. Aronstein begins with Welsh texts, moving through Culhwch ac Olwen's nostalgia for the good old days of the Welsh warrior nobility to the reflection of Welsh politics in the Welsh Arthurian romances. A section on popular Arthurian romances follows; the texts are presented 'as both fantasy and critique' (p. 80), speaking to and of the fractured social landscape in the wake of the Black Death. By organizing these texts around the themes of War and Conquest, Chivalric Adventures, Chivalric Identities, and Otherworldly Encounters, Aronstein weaves the many works into a coherent presentation. Particularly striking is how her concentration on the Gawain romances allows her to present Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as part of a unified, often popular, tradition. It is potentially misleading to argue that the importance of Arthurian popular romances is suggested in part by their being 'among the first printed books at both London and Edinburgh' (p. …

The Conservative Party and Welsh Politics in the Inter-War Years

Abstract Following the 1931 general election, the Conservative party dominated the electoral landscape in England and reached a twentieth-century high in Scotland. Conservatives in Wales, by contrast, failed to ride the wave of ‘National’ politics in the 1930s, with their best performances at the ballot box confined to the immediate aftermath of the First World War. The following article explores the reasons for Conservative failure in Wales and explains the pattern with reference to two types of constituency, namely the industrial seats of South Wales and the rural seats of Welsh-speaking West Wales, both of which were crucial to any party hoping to advance in the principality. The article highlights the essential durability of pre-1914 political cultures, along with the Conservatives’ failure both to neutralise the anti-English flavour of the Victorian Celtic revival and, unlike Labour in South Wales, to capitalise on the mutable nature of the dissenting tradition. The obstacles to Conservative success were further shaped by social and economic conditions, linguistic peculiarities and denominational identities, compounded by the ability of the Liberal party in West Wales, and increasingly the Labour party in South Wales, to (re)construct imagined ‘national’ political identities that served as counter-hegemonic discourses against British Conservatism. Amid the recent transnational turn, this article alerts us to the continuing scope of the national idiom in discussions of modern British political culture.

The 2011 Welsh General Election: An Analysis of the Latest Staging Post in the Maturing of Welsh Politics

This article analyses the fourth elections to the National Assembly for Wales (Assembly). It tracks some important longitudinal themes and early trends in the development of a more distinctive Welsh politics post-devolution. We delineate the principal campaign themes and dynamics; and chronicle shifts in opinion polling and electoral support for the main political parties. The election results are analysed and contextualised within the wider UK political and electoral context, as well as against the benchmark of the traditional ‘second-order’ thesis. The article considers the profile of the new Assembly with regard to the gender and ethnic profile of its Assembly Members (AMs). Finally, it assesses the overall operation of the electoral system with specific regard to the proportionality of results and the legal restriction on dual candidacy.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats: From Government to Opposition and Then Back Again?

For over 50 years from 1945 onwards, the Liberal Party and then the Liberal Democrats were either in decline in Wales or struggling to survive from election to election. Since 1997, however, there has been a steady evolution in the party's electoral and political strength. Over this past decade, the Welsh Liberal Democrats, as a state party, have experienced a change in electoral fortunes that has on occasions put them into national political power well in advance of their federal counterparts in England. As an autonomous state party within a federal structure, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have been able to take like a duck to water to the arrival of devolution in the form of the Welsh Assembly. This article examines how the evolution of the party has occurred and, in particular, the role that has been played by the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Members in Welsh politics. The article also explores not only the strengths but also the weaknesses that still dog the Welsh party as it seeks once more to become a major force in Welsh politics.

Proving the Potential of Independent Commissions: A Critical Review of the Richard Commission on the Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales

This article examines the composition, operation and recommendations of an independent commission, the Richard Commission on the Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales, which was set up in July 2002 and reported in March 2004. It is written from an insider's perspective (I served as a member of the Commission) and discusses the way in which the Commission functioned, its deliberations and its report, emphasizing the unprecedented nature of its evaluation of Welsh politics and public administration. The article highlights the lasting significance of the Richard Commission report, not only in Wales, but for future governance arrangements across the United Kingdom as a whole. It considers more generally the functions of commissions and suggests a continued role for them in assisting the various activities of government.

Steady State or Second Order? The 2003 Elections to the National Assembly for Wales

ABSTRACTThis article examines the second National Assembly for Wales election in May 2003. It focuses on the campaign and results, examining the relationship between the process and dynamics of devolution, and identifiable significant shifts in Welsh politics. It compares the 2003 results with those in the first election in 1999 and isolates a number of phenomena, such as turnout and support for the parties most closely associated with the region, that help establish whether the second election signals a return to 'traditional' voting or whether there remains a pattern associated with so‐called 'second order' ballots.

The Welsh Assembly election of 2003: the Triumph of ‘welfarism’

This article briefly covers some of the main events of the first legislative period of the Welsh Assembly between 1999‐2003, then examines the Assembly election campaign and the election results in 2003, before drawing some general conclusions about the current state of Welsh politics. The further decline in turnout in 2003 compared to 1999 is examined. Doubt is cast on whether technical improvements in the political process such as postal voting or e‐voting will, by themselves, reverse the current downward trend in turnout. More attention needs to be given to key questions of the ‘performance’ of parties and politicians in Wales.

Managing Nature and Narratives of Dispossession: Reclaiming Territory in Cardiff Bay

This paper builds upon Watts and Peet's notion of an 'environmental imaginary' to conceptualise the distinctive ways in which the politics of nature are inserted into urban regeneration strategies. In particular, it seeks to examine how regional discursive formations frame the scope for a transformation of urban ecological politics. The chosen case study, the redevelopment of Cardiff Bay, would seem to have offered a significant opportunity for fashioning a more radical urban ecological politics, because the strategy's proponents bridged social and ecological worlds in an unusually explicit way in their justificatory narratives of dispossession, bound up with a major physical reconstruction of the dockland environment. These narratives are shown to be grounded in the historical development of the near-hegemonic regional coalitions of south Welsh politics, and to unfold in the treatment of both the ethnic minority residential community within Cardiff's docks, and the estuarine environment, as 'deviant' in a number of respects—in need of 'reclamation' and 'integration' with the rest of Cardiff and Wales as a whole. The analysis considers why radical ecological politics failed to develop and whether the contradictions inherent in the regeneration strategy might yet encourage its emergence.

Writings on the Margins: Welsh Politics

Books reviewed in this article: Andrews, L., Wales Says Yes Davies, R., Devolution: A Process not an Event Osmond, J., New Politics in Wales Osmond, J. (ed.), The National Assembly Agenda Taylor, B. and Thomson, K., Scotland and Wales: Nations Again? Day, G. and Thomas, D. (eds), Contemporary Wales: An Annual Review of Economic and Social Research

The First Welsh National Assembly Election

THE WELSH LABOUR PARTY COULD HAVE ANTICIPATED THE FIRST elections to the National Assembly with a fair degree of equanimity, if not optimism. In the 1997 General Election, the party had won 55 percent of the vote and delivered on its promise of a devolution referendum which it won, albeit by a narrow majority. The architect of Labour's devolution policy, Ron Davies, the Welsh Secretary of State, who was widely respected within and beyond the Labour Party, had spoken of a new Welsh politics, with policy-making open to and inclusive of other Welsh parties. All this, however, was called into question by what Ron Davies subsequently described as his ‘moment of madness’ on Clapham Common in October 1998. Although the circumstances remain unclear, they resulted in his resignation from the post of Secretary of State and leader of the Welsh Labour Party. Alun Michael, a Cardiff MP and a minister at the Home Office, was appointed Welsh Secretary and subsequently endured a bitter and bruising leadership contest with Rhodri Morgan, during which claims were made that he was Blair's man, and not really an enthusiastic devolutionist but part of the Millbank control system. Large sections of the party were disillusioned by the process and serious questions were raised as to what extent disillusioned party activists would be involved in the Assembly election campaign.

Politics in eighteenth-century Wales

Exploring key aspects of Welsh politics from 1688 to 1789, this text examines: the Parliamentary elections in Wales, the behaviour of Welsh MPs at Westminster and manifestations of public opinion such as Jacobitism and calls for Parliamentary reform. Bracketed by the Glorious Revolution and the French Revolution in 1789, this period of study focuses upon the political actions of two Welsh MPs in particular, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn and Sir John Phillips.

The Contradictions of Welsh Politics

The Contradictions of Welsh Politics

Remaking Wales: nation-building and the geographical imagination, 1925–1950

Despite the fact that many nationalist movements have the interpretation and control of social space at their core, studies of nationalism have tended to ignore the cultural dimensions of land and territory. There are, however, moves towards a historically and culturally sensitive reading of the role of geography in nationalism. This paper applies such a reading to the ideology of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Nationalist Party, in the interwar period. It begins by outlining the significance of the geographical and cultural imagination in Welsh politics and then traces the emergence of geographical discourses of Welshness. The territorially rooted sense of national identity was threatened by the policies of the British state and this paper focuses on the geographical discourses mobilized during campaigns of resistance to military land requisitioning. Territory was also important in the integrative sense of nation-building and this paper considers one such scheme—the construction of a North-South road to unite Wales. It ends by arguing for an imaginative reading of the nation.