The Labour Party’s European policy under Jeremy Corbyn: no Brexit, no Grexit

Jeremy Corbyn’s surprise election as leader of the Labour Party shone an unexpected light on his views regarding European integration. A previously known Eurosceptic, he has stated since his elevation that he’d campaign for the UK to remain in the EU regardless of the result of any putative renegotiation. Here, Isabelle Hertner casts an eye over Corbyn’s new European policy, and argues that a ‘no Brexit, no Grexit’ European policy places us in the midst of interesting times

‘Seven, or seven and a half out of 10″: Jeremy Corbyn’s conspicuous absence from the referendum campaign

Labour has been “almost invisible” during the referendum campaign, according to one study. Isabelle Hertner explains how Jeremy Corbyn’s abiding Euroscepticism has led him to call for EU reform rather than choose to highlight the Union’s achievements, despite pressure from colleagues in the party

The Europe Jeremy Corbyn wants is very different from the one David Cameron seeks

As Labour’s In campaign gets underway, Isabelle Hertner asks what we can expect from a leader who, despite voting to leave the EEC in 1975 and deploring the austerity demanded of Greece by fellow EU states, has backed a Remain vote

Germany's Strategic Narrative of the Eurozone Crisis

This article outlines how Germany has sought to project a strategic narrative of the Eurozone crisis. Germany has been placed center stage in the Eurozone crisis, and as a consequence, the German government's crisis narrative matters for the future of the common currency. We highlight how the German government has sought to narrate a story of the cause of the Eurozone crisis and present policy solutions to influence policy decisions within the EU and maintain domestic political support. This focus on the public communication of the crisis is central to understanding the development of Germany's policy as it was negotiated with EU partners, the U.S. and international financial institutions. We draw on speeches and interviews by Chancellor Angela Merkel and two of her senior cabinet ministers delivered at key moments of the Eurozone crisis between May 2010 and June 2012. The article argues that while Merkel and her governments have been able to shore up domestic support for her Eurozone policies, she has struggled to find a coherent strategic narrative that is both consistent with German domestic preferences and historical memory, and with those of other Eurozone members.</jats:p

Interpreting toxic masculinity in political parties: A framework for analysis

The term ‘toxic masculinity’ was coined in the 1990s by sociologists and psychologists. It has since been appropriated by scholars and commentators interested in gendered behaviours and outcomes in politics. However, despite the attention belatedly being paid to masculinities as part of that research, our appreciation of, specifically, toxic masculinity’s part in shaping political practices remains underdeveloped. This article proposes a move in this direction by designing a conceptual framework for exploring toxic masculinity inside political parties. We adapt findings from the original toxic masculinity literature to generate a series of indicators of toxic masculinity spanning the policy and discursive aspects of party political action. We then test the framework using a paired comparison of two parties of the populist right where we might expect to see relatively high levels of toxic masculinity: the Alternative for Germany and the UK Independence Party. Our empirical findings give us confidence that drawing on the concept of toxic masculinity can provide us with novel insights into the interplay between masculinity and political party cultures. We also hope that it will inspire a significant body of new research into toxic masculinity in political parties from across the party spectrum as well as globally

Europhiles or Eurosceptics? Comparing the European policies of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats

The Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats are often portrayed as Britain’s pro- European parties. Indeed, both parties express a keen interest in keeping Britain in the European Union (EU) and in promoting a constructive engagement with other member states. Yet, to what extent can the two parties be characterized as Europhiles? In this article, we develop Taggart and Szczerbiak’s (2008) concept of hard and soft Euroscepticism, extend it to Europhile party positions, and apply it to Labour and the Liberal Democrats’ recent European policies. For this purpose, we analyze manifestos and party leaders’ key speeches on the EU. We find, overall, that the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats are ‘soft’ Europhiles whose discourses have focused on EU reform. Yet, whilst their EU policies are very similar, their EU strategies differ: the Labour leadership have generally tried to contain the salience of EU issues, whereas the Liberal Democrats have followed a more offensive EU strategy after 2014. This can best be explained through electoral incentives and internal dynamics

Don’t mention Europe: a study of the Europeanisation of party organisation in the British Labour Party, the French Socialist Party and the German Social Democratic Party.

This thesis examines how the British Labour Party, the French Socialist Party (PS) and the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) have ‘Europeanised’ their organisations in three different arenas: (1) in the electorate and party system; (2) in central government and parliament; and (3) in their internal procedures and activities. ‘Europeanisation’ is defined as ‘a shorthand term for a complex process whereby national actors (in this case, parties) adapt to, and also seek to shape, the trajectory of European integration in general, and EU policies and processes in particular’ (Bomberg: 2002, 32). The underlying argument is that social democratic parties have to respond to challenges created by the European Single Market, which demands the reduction of state subsidies, and by the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which sets limits to public spending. Social democratic parties are expected to react to these challenges by Europeanising their organisations. This thesis draws on the academic literature, party documents and contemporary newspaper articles, together with insights gained from 70 semi-structured interviews with EU experts at the European and national levels. The central claim is that Labour, the PS and SPD have not become as Europeanised as might have been supposed for three ostensibly pro-European parties. Whilst successive party leaderships have paid lip service to the increasing importance of European integration, their party organisations have barely been involved in the formulation of European policy. The findings have serious implications for the three parties and domestic politics in Britain, France and Germany, since the memberships lack the enthusiasm and expertise to lead well-informed, critical, Europeanised debates and election campaigns

UK general election preview: what to look out for as Britain goes to the polls

The UK’s snap election on 8 June initially looked like being a comfortable victory for Theresa May and the Conservatives, but with the polls tightening in the last few weeks, there is now far more uncertainty about the outcome. We asked some of our contributors for their reflections on the campaign and the key things to watch out for when the results come in. Patrick Dunleavy: Three things we’ve learned already from the 2017 campaign turnaround Eunice Goes: Corbyn will lose the election, but he has already changed British politics Thomas J. Leeper: The Brexit election that never was Eleanor Knott: EU citizens – taxation, but no representation Isabelle Hertner: The Liberal Democrats’ pro-EU campaign has fallen flat Stuart Brown: The SNP will win in Scotland, but the story of the night might well be the revival of Scottish Labour Julian Göpffarth: The view from Germany – a longing for British pragmatis