Democracy, power and governance

Rebecca Willis is the author of 'Too Hot to Handle? The Democratic Challenge of Climate Change' - out today. Here she explains that, despite these uncertain times, we should have faith in people to understand, accept and play their part in responding to crises, both immediate, acute health threats like COVID-19, and the slow-burn of the climate crisis.…Read more

Marius Guderjan, Hugh Mackay and Gesa Stedman look at the impact of the election, Rishi Sunak's budget and developing trade agreements and immigration policy to explore Boris Johnson's increasingly exclusive populism and explain why their account of Brexit and austerity in 'Contested Britain: Brexit, Austerity and Agency' is framed with the notion of agency.…Read more

Lisa Mckenzie, author of 'Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain' argues that, if there has ever been a time where we need a prosocial politics, education system, business model and society, it is now.…Read more

In this episode of the Transforming Society Podcast, Helen Davis, Commissioning Editor for Law at Bristol University Press, speaks to Joshua Rozenberg about his new book. They speak about the role of judges in society and how the book helps to demystify the law. Ultimately they come back to the key question that's also the title of the book... are judges enemies of the people?…Read more

Stuart Rees, author of Cruelty or Humanity: Challenges, Opportunities and Responsibilities, publishing later this year, talks about how non-violent expressions of power in music and poetry can provide a perspective that is the very opposite of top down, militaristic ways of thinking and behaving.…Read more

In our latest impact case study, Torild Skard shows how her book 'Women of Power: Half a Century of Female Presidents and Prime Ministers Worldwide', led to the establishment of the UNSCC course on Leadership, Women and the UN to promote a more gender-balanced workplace within and beyond the UN system and strengthen the voice of women at the leadership table.…Read more

John Weeks, Coordinator of the Progressive Economy Forum and co-editor of 'Rethinking Britain', provides an insightful analysis of the election results. He reveals that there was actually no evidence of a shift of voters to the centre, examines the impact of Brexit and the implications of the result for Labour Party policy.…Read more

After a year characterised by political uncertainty, one thing that seems clear during this election campaign is that the two largest parties have their work cut out to build enough support to achieve a clear majority. British politics is experiencing an unprecedented level of fragmentation. Traditional divides along the lines of class are blurring, as Read More

The extract below from Peak Inequality, published in 2018, sums up the conclusion to that book and remains pertinent today. Jeremy Corbyn, like all of us, may have many faults, but he also epitomises both something that is fundamentally decent and the possibility for change. It is significant that elections are held in December in Read More

John Clarke’s book, Critical Dialogues: Thinking Together in Turbulent Times, celebrates the productive possibilities of what he terms ‘thinking together’. His work can be used to challenge the idea of identity as singular, fixed and immutable – an idea in which people are assumed to have their own, unique, authentic identity, and to belong to Read More