The Institute for Government is today calling for reforms to the ways that select committees operate. To fulfil their crucial role in scrutinising government, these committees must improve their focus on what they are trying to achieve and their understanding of their own impact; and they must be better supported and led than by the currently-dysfunctional Liaison Committee.
Category: News
On Friday 15 May, the PSA Women and Politics Specialist Group and the Political Leadership Specialist Group – supported by Birkbeck and Canterbury Christ Church University – co-hosted a workshop on ‘Women, Gender and Political Leadership’. The increasing prominence of female leadership and recruitment, ranging from the UK General Election debates to the US Presidential race, has given the study of gender and political leadership a new urgency and importance. This one-day event – organised by Dr. Mark Bennister (Canterbury Christ Church), Dr. Meryl Kenny (Leicester), and Dr. Ben Worthy (Birkbeck) – brought together 40 participants to explore this under-researched area, examining in detail the challenges for women in office and the means by which they can attain it.
With a much reduced majority, what problems will David Cameron face with his backbench critics? Professor Philip Cowley of the University of Nottingham has been researching backbench dissent for 20 years and wrote this article for the Telegraph blog, looking at the problems ahead. As he shows, although the government’s majority is small, it is larger than people realise, and many Conservative MPs will not want to do anything to destabilise the government ahead of the forthcoming EU referendum.
Read more here.
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Research methods workshop for PhD students
The PSA Specialist Group on Parliaments and Legislatures is planning a one day workshop focusing on research methods in legislative studies for PhD students who are members of the group.
We had a fantastic few days in Sheffield last week for the annual PSA Conference. Our three panels were the perfect antidote to the horrible wet weather, with ten excellent papers followed by some very good comments and discussion.
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PSA Conference 2015: Specialist Group Events
Over PSA Conference 2015, we have a number of events schedules, including three panels, our specialist group meeting, and a reception.
The group organised a re-launch reception in the Palace of Westminster on the 25 November 2014, with guest speaker Angela Eagle MP (pictured below). With new convenors for the group and plenty of activity planned and implemented, we wanted to mark the re-launch of the group and, as a result, place the study of Parliament at the centre of political research.
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Parliament Week Initiative 2014
Hardcopy or #Hashtag? Young People’s Vision for a Digital Parliament
17 November 2014, 2:30pm-4:00pm, Attlee Suite, Portcullis House
The “Hardcopy or #Hashtag?” event takes place during Parliament Week, the theme of which is youth engagement. This event has been organised jointly by the Parliaments and Legislatures Specialist Group and the Political Studies Association. This is the culmination of a series of workshops which have been held around the country in which sixth form students have worked with 11 participating universities and politics undergraduate students to come up with innovative ideas to increase youth engagement with Parliament through digital means.