Department of Government

Brexit Budget or Business as Usual? Unpicking the 2016 Autumn Statement
The 2016 Autumn Statement has provided the first substantive indication of the fiscal direction of Theresa May’s new government as Brexit negotiations loom on the horizon. Kate Alexander Shaw analyzes the key announcements and checks the political small print. Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement shows us once again that politics in 2016 is operating well outside the normal rules of the game. […]

‘Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit’: event review
Department of Government MSc Public Policy and Administration student Perry Scott reflects on the recent public lecture by Craig Oliver, who discussed his new book ‘Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit’, at LSE on Monday 14 November. Craig Oliver’s Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit is a frank attempt to write history from the view of the Remain side: “We wanted to tell […]

A Postcolonial Approach to Social Science?
How can academia decolonize the social sciences? Lay Sheng, winner of the 2016 GovBlog writing competition, explores the possibilities in his competition winning article. It is a paradox that despite the many conceptual flaws of positivist social science, no new theories have been able to unseat its dominance. The postmodern critique, for example, attempts to generate particularistic accounts of social […]

Book Review: John Chalcraft’s ‘Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East’
LSE Department of International Relations doctoral candidate Andrew Delatolla reviews John Chalcraft’s recent book Popular Politics: In the Making of the Modern Middle East. John Chalcraft’s recent book Popular Politics: In the Making of the Modern Middle East sets out to accomplish two difficult tasks: first, the book provides a survey history of contentious politics in the MENA region beginning in 1783 […]

HOTSEAT: Brian Klaas on the 2016 US Presidential Election & Implications of a Trump Presidency
As the world continues to digest the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential Election, Brian Klaas discusses the result and what we might expect from a Donald Trump Presidency.   Dr Brian Klaas is Fellow in Comparative Politics at the LSE Department of Government and author of ‘The Despot’s Accomplice’. He is an expert on global democracy, democratic transitions, political […]

How Will Capitalism End?
Department of Government PhD candidates Anahi Wiedenbrug, Antoine Louette and Temi Ogunye  reflect on Wolfgang Streeck’s recent public lecture at LSE titled ‘How Will Capitalism End ?’, which took place on Monday 7 November. Listen to the event podcast. The End of Capitalism When one hears talks of the end of capitalism, one cannot help but assume that a superior replacement […]