Responsible participation and housing: restoring democratic theory to the scene

Tensions between individual liberty and collective social justice characterise many advanced liberal societies. These tensions are reflected in the challenges posed for representative democracy both by participatory democratic practices and by the current emphasis on (so-called) responsible participation. Based on the example of ‘community’ housing associations in Scotland, this paper explores these tensions. It is argued that the critique of responsibility may have been over-stated – that, in particular, ‘community’ housing associations offer the basis for relatively more inclusive and effective processes of decision-making than council housing, which relies on the traditional processes and institutions of representative local government for its legitimacy

Some Reflections on the Limitations to Public Participation in the Post-Political City

Neoliberal practices are the new orthodoxy within urban governance imposing limits to participatory and more democratic forms of engagement in the city, particularly where they challenge the official discourses through which cities strive to be competitive spaces in the globalizing economy. This paper offers a theoretical understanding of these limits through two related propositions. First, that urban governance has assumed a post-political configuration; second, and reflecting such a configuration, urban entrepreneurialism is becoming defined by a new style of politics, urban neo-populism. Against the disciplining imperative of creating the competitive city, neo-populism becomes defined around the manufacture of consensus politics, the effect of which is to marginalize protest and dissensus

Radicals vs positivists and the diversification of paradigms m geography

Paddison R., Findlay A. Radicals vs positivists and the diversification of paradigms m geography. In: Espace géographique, tome 14, n°1, 1985. pp. 6-8

Introducing ‘Brexit Geographies’: five provocations

This Special Issue (SI) of Space and Polity profiles the varied contributions of geographical inquiry to scholarly debates on the causes, meaning and implications of the UKs decision to Brexit from the EU. By way of framing the SI, this Introduction develops the argument that insofar as it is confronting, complicating and challenging geographical ideas and debates, Brexit recursively is intruding on and perhaps even implicating itself in the structuration of geographic thought and practice, most immediately in the UK and in European states particularly impacted (not least Ireland) and especially with respect to political geographical research. We develop this argument through five provocations, questioning the ways in which Brexit exists as a troubling reality for: a) critical policy studies; b) the project of decolonizing geography; c) historiographies of human territorialization and sovereignty; d) the status of evidence-based public policy in a post-political and post-truth age, and; e) the management of risk, hazards, and disasters. A completing/completed Brexit we conclude, may bequeath a tradition of ‘Brexit Geographies’ and therein leave an enduring signature on the history of Anglo-European geographic thought

Skilled labour migration in the European context : Franco-British capital and skill transfers

International skilled migration has been identified as an increasingly salient component of the internationalization of firms and the world-economy. This paper investigates how such transfers take place within firms operating in Europe, specifically of French firms with capital investments within the U.K. Using a channel approach, and focussing on movements of French skilled labour within the internal labour market of the firm, it is shown that the scale of such transfers varies between different types of enterprise. Several explanations are offered, some of which suggest that alternatieve methodological approaches to the channel framework may be necessary in order to understand the incidence of such international transfers.La migration des personnels qualifiés en Europe : capitaux franco-britanniques et transferts de compétences. La migration des personnels qualifiés, et plus spécifiquement des cadres, a été identifiée comme une des composantes non négligeables de l'internationalisation des entreprises et de la globalisation de l'économie mondiale. Cet article étudie les modalités de ces transferts à l'intérieur des entreprises dans l'espace européen, et plus précisément au sein des entreprises françaises implantées au Royaume-Uni. Utilisant le cadre conceptuel des filières de migration, développé dans les années 80 par les géographes britanniques, la variété de ces mouvements selon les différents types de compagnies est mise en évidence. Plusieurs explications sont offertes, certaines suggérant que le cadre conceptuel utilisé initialement n'est pas à même de rendre compte de l'ensemble des mouvements observés dans le contexte européen.Findlay Allan, Lelièvre Éva, Paddison Ronan, Boyle Mark. Skilled labour migration in the European context : Franco-British capital and skill transfers . In: Espace, populations, sociétés, 1994-1. Les migrations internes - Internal migrations. pp. 85-94