Citizenship and the Politics of Civic Driven Change

Nation states are premised on the legitimizing presence of a polity comprised of citizens. The politics of this relationship is central to discourse on how societies evolve. Yet in the discipline of international development studies the topic remains peripheral. Reasons can be found in conceptual confusion, in selectivity in donor thinking and policies towards civil society and in the growth-driven political economy of NGO-ism. Remedies for the political lacunae are being sought through a concerted focus on people's rights, citizenship and qualities of leadership that all show valuable progress. This chapter will examine a comprehensive complement to such efforts referred to as civic driven change (CDC). Originating in a grounded empirical approach, the constituent principles and elements of CDC offer a lens that can both sharpen and deepen insights and advance analysis of civic agency in socio-political processes. As an ontologically grounded normative proposition, CDC allows exposure and examination of 'uncivil' forces stemming from contending claims on citizenship. These factors are typically ignored or denied in an historical harmony model of societal change. A CDC narrative is illustrated by reference to contemporary examples of citizen action that play out at multiple sites of governance

An analysis of UK and EU external migration control governance and mechanisms: securitization, manipulation and cooperation

This research analyses the relationship between the UK and the EU in context to external migration control. It has used a combination of Constructivism and Bourdieu to deconstruct the field of analysis and understand how an actor’s behaviour can affect the structure of the external migration control field. Bourdieu was chosen to inform the theoretical framework as his field theory allowed a number of actors to be explored. It also recognises the importance of historical relationships impacting upon current interactions. Bourdieu explain these interactions as habitual or doxical. Habitual behaviours are learnt behaviours that adhere to the norms of the field. Doxical behaviours act against the norms and are used by actors, like the UK, to gain a higher status within the field and increase key capital. The three behaviours that have been explored are; securitization, manipulation and cooperation. In order to identify these behaviours policy documentation from key actors, like Frontex, have been qualitatively coded. The analysis uses three key moments in the history of the UK and the EU to guide the exploration of the data, these are; the Maastricht Treaty (1992), the Amsterdam Treaty (1997) and the UK Immigration Act 2014. The documentation chosen for analysis ranged from unilateral, bilateral and multilateral political agreements. Other documentation includes reports from associated actors that are part of the external migration control field. The documentation reveals the extent to which habitual behaviours dominate the relationship between the actors

Envisioning the future village: the role of digital technology in supporting more inclusive visions in the neighbourhood planning process

This thesis presents the development of a digitally aided Collaborative Envisioning Framework, to support disenfranchised young people in contributing to a ‘shared vision’ of their community’s future. Drawing from the research areas of planning, design, collaboration and envisioning, this study sought to address the existing democratic deficit in local decision making activities, by utilising the new potentials of digital technologies. The research aim was to support communities, particularly disengaged young people, in becoming involved with decision-making activities, namely generating a shared vision for a neighbourhood plan. Since the radical policy changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and Localism Act 2011, members of the public have been handed increased responsibility and accountability in contributing to the local decisions affecting them. However, the tools and resources have been criticized for not engaging and including all sectors of the public, particularly young people (who arguably have the most to gain, or lose, as a result of decisions made). Using community and neighbourhood planning as a microcosm of a larger problem, this study looked towards the potentials of digital tools as a way to address this democratic deficit. To discover whether they offered anything more than existing tools, by helping young people to contribute to the generation of a ‘shared vision’ (a requisite of a neighbourhood planning application). It also addressed the assumption that the public had an understanding of what creating a ‘shared vision’ entailed, and had the skills and knowledge required to create one. It firstly identified envisioning as a design activity, which needs creativity, imagination, empathy, collaboration, communication and deliberation, and then identified ‘designable factors’ such as processes, tools (digital and non-digital), environments, and services which are able to support these, focusing on which were most suitable for the young audience. The research also explored behavior and motivation theories which guided the design of an envisioning framework. To achieve this aim, a constructive design research methodology was adopted consisting of a designed artefact - ‘The Collaborative Envisioning Framework’ which was utlised throughout numerous workshops. The interactions between the workshop participants and the envisioning framework generated multiple sets of qualitative data, which were analysed and interpreted to form the next iteration of the framework. The research demonstrates that existing tools and resources aimed at supporting inclusivity and meaningful visions for neighbourhood plans are not, in their current form, adequate to firstly, engage the diverse groups of people they should be including, and secondly, to support a generative, creative activity of envisioning, and suggests that the use of digital tools (namely Ageing Booth App, Morfo App, and Minecraft) offer something new. The original contributions to knowledge are: an advancement of constructive design research methodology; contributions to the discourse surrounding the purpose and value of visons within community planning; and a practical ‘Collaborative Envisioning Framework’ which can be followed by public sector and private organisations who seek to support communities in producing ‘visons’ for their community

Competing priorities at the EU’s external border. EPC Issue Paper, November 2018

In 2015, there was a significant increase in the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean and arriving on European shores. The numbers were such that the phenomenon became known in the public debate as the ‘migration crisis’. Numbers have since diminished to what is perceived to be a much more manageable level. The crisis period, however, continues to reverberate within European politics and to drive law and policy reform. Much of that reform has focused on how the European Union (EU) manages its external border and especially the role that foreign policy plays in that management. This Issue Paper seeks to shed some light on the interplay between border management and foreign policy, and to make recommendations for a more integrated and consistent European approach. Collectively, the chapters in this Issue Paper acknowledge that cooperation with third countries to control migration and manage the external border is inevitable. However, they argue that the EU must make a number of law and policy decisions to enhance the coherence and effectiveness of border management and foreign policy measures in the pursuit of lasting, sustainable solutions that reflect core EU principles. Only by doing so will the Union achieve a border management approach that can be ‘all things to all men’ in balancing security with respect for fundamental rights