Power for power's sake: Johnson's profoundly alarming premiership

Some commentators hoped that Boris Johnson, having secured a five-year mandate in the General Election, would embrace a softer Brexit than his rhetoric implied. They were mistaken. Johnson seeks power for power's sake, writes Phil Syrpis (University of Bristol), and rejects scrutiny and constraint

The sovereignty illusion: freedom to set one’s own rules has a high price

As the clock ticks down to 31 December 2020, the UK government has repeatedly invoked the concept of ‘sovereignty’ to explain the UK’s reluctance to enter into an FTA with the EU. In this blog, Clair Gammage and Phil Syrpis (University of Bristol Law School) explore the contradictions of navigating the post-Brexit world as a ‘sovereign’ state for the UK

Enough magical thinking. The silly season must stop here

Britain has only a couple of months left to decide on its future relationship with the EU. Phil Syrpis (University of Bristol) says it is time for both the government and the opposition to level with the public about the choices involved. The coarse sloganeering of the past two years will lead to a destructive Brexit unless politicians get real

The people's vote is not the answer to the Brexit riddle

Momentum seems to be building for a people's vote on Brexit. Phil Syrpis (University of Bristol) argues that it will not provide the answer to Brexit - whether or not the government secures a deal with the EU. Rather, he argues that the calls for a people's vote are distracting campaigners from making the case for the outcomes they really want

12 - The Present Limits and Future Potential of European Social Constitutionalism

The future of economic and social rights is unlikely to resemble its past. Neglected within the human rights movement, avoided by courts, and subsumed within a single-minded conception of development as economic growth, economic and social rights enjoyed an uncertain status in international human rights law and in the public laws of most countries. However, today, under conditions of immense poverty, insecurity, and political instability, the rights to education, health care, housing, social security, food, water, and sanitation are central components of the human rights agenda. The Future of Economic and Social Rights captures the significant transformations occurring in the theory and practice of economic and social rights, in constitutional and human rights law. Professor Katharine G. Young brings together a group of distinguished scholars from diverse disciplines to examine and advance the broad research field of economic and social rights that incorporates legal, political science, economic, philosophy and anthropology scholars