Upcoming Conference
Monday, 24 April 2006
Room 223, Moses Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Since 1997 Britain has undergone radical constitutional reform.
Scotland now has its own parliament and Wales has a national assembly.
Britons now have a bill of rights. A new supreme court is to be
established.
How have these and other reforms come about and
what do they add up to? These questions will be addressed
by a panel of academics and practitioners from Britain, the US
and Canada.
For the schedule, please click here (.pdf).
For abstracts, please click here.
PART ONE: THE BRITISH STORY SINCE 1997
- What has been done – Andrew
McDonald (UK Department for Constitutional
Affairs)
Constitutional reform in a state without a codified constitution.
An analysis of the constitutional reforms undertaken since 1997;
an evaluation of their objectives and progress towards those objectives.
- Why have the changes come about – Peter
Riddell (The Times of London)
Understanding the politics of reform. The origins of Labour’s
interest in constitutional reform; Labour’s conversion to
whole-hearted reform under John Smith; New Labour’s retention
of reform as part of its project; what New Labour hopes to realise
through constitutional reform; misgivings within New Labour over
constitutional reform.
- How the changes have come about – Kenneth
MacKenzie (formerly of the UK Cabinet Office)
The extent to which the progress of constitutional reform owed
its drive to the way in which it was handled within government.
New Labour’s style of governance: tension between the substance
of the reform and the way it has been taken forward?
4) Constitutional reform in its intellectual
context – Mark
Bevir (University of California, Berkeley)
The intellectual origins of constitutional reform
in Labour thinking. Labour’s conception of democracy and
of public sector reform.
PART TWO – MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL
5) Judicial reforms: the emergence of the
third branch of government - Kate Malleson (Queen
Mary College, University of London)
6) Understanding asymmetrical devolution – Ailsa
Henderson (Wilfrid Laurier University)
7) The impact of EU membership on constitutional
reform and political change in Britain - Craig Parsons
(University of Oregon)
8) What do citizens want from constitutional
change? - Joseph Fletcher (University of Toronto)
9) What do the constitutional reforms mean
for Britain as a multicultural society? - Jack Citrin
(University of California, Berkeley)
10) Close – Andrew McDonald
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