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Politics and Policy

Our research themes

Politics and policy-making in Europe have become ever more complex: national politics and policies are impacted both by the increasing importance of the European Union and by the global system. Processes of ‘Europeanisation’ are tied to those of ‘globalisation’, prompting responses that question sovereignty, accountability, adaptability and inclusivity across different political levels. Our research examines politics and policy-making in the context of pressures for integration and fragmentation within the European Union (EU) and as a response to developments in the wider international system. We explore the policy challenges that arise for the EU from the recent euro-zone crisis, the increased flows of migrants and refugees from outside, the perceptions of stronger threats to foreign policy and security from developments on its doorstep and beyond. We analyse political responses – stemming, for example, from ‘BREXIT’; wider varieties of ‘euro-scepticism’; and new forms of ‘populism’. Our research links EI staff with colleagues across the LSE

 

Highlights 

Prime Ministers in Greece: The Paradox of Power

by Kevin Featherstone and Dimitris Papadimitriou 

Prime ministers in greece

Prime Ministers in Greece: The Paradox of Power is concerned with a large question in one small, but highly problematic case: how can a prime minister establish control and coordination across his or her government?

The Greek system of government sustains a 'paradox of power' at its very core. The Constitution provides the prime minister with extensive and often unchecked powers. Yet, the operational structures, processes and resources around the prime minister undermine their power to manage the government. Through a study of all main premierships between 1974 and 2009, Prime Ministers in Greece argues that the Greek prime minister has been 'an emperor without clothes'. The costs of this paradox included the inability to achieve key policy objectives under successive governments and a fragmented system of governance that provided the backdrop to Greece's economic meltdown in 2010.

 

The Meaning of Partisanship

by Jonathan White and Lea Ypi

The meanings of partisanship

For a century at least, parties have been central to the study of politics. Yet their typical conceptual reduction to a network of power-seeking elites has left many to wonder why parties were ever thought crucial to democracy. This book seeks to retrieve a richer conception of partisanship, drawing on modern political thought and extending it in the light of contemporary democratic theory and practice. Looking beyond the party as organization, the book develops an original account of what it is to be a partisan. It examines the ideas, orientations, obligations, and practices constitutive of partisanship properly understood, and how these intersect with the core features of democratic life. Such an account serves to underline in distinctive fashion why democracy needs its partisans, and puts in relief some of the key trends of contemporary politics.

 

Key Research Themes

  • EU institutional Politics and Governance
  • Crisis Politics in the European Union
  • Brexit
  • Democratic Deficit of the EU
  • Public Opinion, Elections and Politicization of the EU
  • Law, Politics and European Courts
  • The Politics of Europeanisation
  • Mobility, Migration and Integration
  • The Role of National Parliaments in the EU

Selected publications

Pahontu, RL (2021) "Divisive Jobs: Three Facts of Risk, Precarity and Redistribution", Political Science Research and Methods.

Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian, Monika Heupel, Mathias Koenig-Archibugi, Markus Patberg, Astrid Séville, Jens Steffek and Jonathan White (2021) "Emergency politics after globalization", International Studies Review.

Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian and Jonathan White (2021) "Europe and the Transnational Politics of Emergency", Journal of European Public Policy.

White, Jonathan. (2021) "What Kind of Electoral System Sustains a Politics of Firm Commitments?", Representation 57 (3). 

Alogoskoufis, G. and K. Featherstone (eds) (2021) "Greece and the Euro: from Crisis to Recovery", LSE Hellenic Observatory (e-book).

Invernizzi Accetti, Carlo, and Jonathan White (2020) "Ideologies and the EU", special issue, Journal of European Public Policy 27 (9). Reprinted as: Carlo Invernizzi Accetti and Jonathan White (eds.) (2021) "Ideologies and the European Union", London: Routledge.

Anderson, Christopher J., Getmansky, Anna, and Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler (2020) “Burden Sharing: Income, Inequality, and Willingness to Fight”, British Journal of Political Science 50 (1) 363-379.

Anderson, Christopher J., Arrondel, Luc, Blais, André, Daoust, Jean-Francois, Laslier, Jean-Francois and Straeten, Karine (2020) “Messi, Ronaldo, and the Politics of Celebrity Elections: Voting For the Best Soccer Player in the World.” Perspectives On Politics 18 (1): 91-110.

Economides, Spyros (2020) 'Kosovo and the european union', in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, Oxford University Press.

Featherstone, K. and D. Sotiropoulos (2020) 'The Oxford Handbook on Modern Greek Politics', Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Featherstone, Kevin (with Abels, Christoph M., Anheier, Helmut K. and Begg, Iain) (2020) 'Enhancing Europe’s Global Power: A Scenario Exercise with Eight Proposal', Global Policy, Volume 11, Issue 1, February.

White, Jonathan (2020) "Europeanizing Ideologies", Journal of European Public Policy 27 (9), pp.1287-1306. 

White, Jonathan (2019) 'Politics of Last Resort: Governing by Emergency in the European Union', Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kleine, Mareike (2018) ‘Liberal Intergovernmentalism and Its Critics.’ Special Issue (56:7) of the Journal of Common Market Studies (co-edited with Mark Pollack).

Academic staff working in this area 

Impact

Academics in the "Governance and Democracy in the European Union" stream provide expertise on numerous issues: national elections; Brexit; public opinion; legislative behaviour; political parties and EU institutions.

Our academic staff contribute to public debate in the Guardian and the Financial Times, VoteWatch Europe and blogs including The Conversation , openDemocracy and The UK in a Changing Europe. They provide expertise to parliamentary committees in the UK and Denmark. They disseminate their research in conferences and educational fora in the UK, Europe and the United States.

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