Contributions for this collection come from
@timchristiaens.bsky.social
Laila Mourad
Yujing Tan, @crystalennis.bsky.social & Shivant Jhagroe
Elia El-Khazen
Gianluca Iazzolino
@rebeccaflorisson.bsky.social

Congrats Bruno! Well deserved.

Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1111/1467...

Failure to live up to the full promise of devolution — by radically enhancing local democracies and disrupting centralised power — risks creating inherent instability (& lack of trust) throughout the devolution project, even as govt seeks to deliver continuity and momentum with it's Devolution Bill

More than this, whilst Conservative and Labour governments have both deployed multiple rhetorical justifications for devolution in England, it is their concern for policy efficacy — and increasing economic performance — that has most demonstrably shaped the actual delivery of devolution policy.

However, we argue that policymakers have so far failed to acknowledge the tensions between these different justifications, or the extent to which they create different expectations for how English devolution will look, feel, and function in practice.

In the article, we trace three normative arguments that have been used by recent governments to build the case for devolution in England: that devolution enhances democracy; that it promotes policy efficacy and government efficiency; and that it disrupts concentrations of power.

You can read the full blog here: blog.apaonline.org/2025/06/11/t...

Crucially, republicanism also demonstrates why we now need a deeper & more demanding democratic model; grounded on a more active model of citizenship as well as public institutions that can simultaneously constrain, diffuse, and channel power in order to neutralise sources of domination in society

In an age of resurgent authoritarianism - in politics and throughout society - reviving such republican insights within popular political discourse can help us to reveal both the increasing ubiquity of domination in contemporary life and the corrosive effect this has on our democracies.

For republicans, domination typically describes the capacity of those with social, economic or political power to interfere arbitrarily in the lives of others. Even if this power is never actually exercised, living in its shadow makes it impossible to enjoy a life of meaningful freedom or equality.

Republicanism helps us to highlight the common thread that connects the autocratic aspirations of populist leaders, the disproportionate influence of the global '1%', and the overbearing forms of management associated with the modern workplace: domination