Publications

(Luke Raikes) 2022: In recent years, UK policymakers have sought to learn from Germany's relatively successful attempts to rebalance regional growth since reunification. But the UK must learn the right lessons from Germany, to address its severe regional inequalities.

Recent political scandals in Westminster have once again put the issue of trust in politicians at the top of the agenda.

While MPs have become more representative in terms of gender, ethnicity and sexuality in recent years, there is a large and growing ‘representation gap’ on class.

This ‘class ceiling’ is not driven by discrimination against working class candidates by voters, but by a lack of supply of candidates by parties. Representation in politics matters because it has an impact on the policy decisions taken and the voting behaviour of citizens.

In this report we argue that political parties and government should take action to close the ‘representation gap’.

Ed Arnold (June 2022): From 23.–25.3.2022, RUSI and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) hosted a three-day British-German defence and security policies dialogue. This brought together leading parliamentarians, and security and defence experts from both countries to discuss the war in Ukraine and other threats and challenges to European security. Read the report of the dialogue here.

Michael Doherty (April 2022): Our annual report on the general trade union situation in Ireland, here in the original English.

Michael Doherty (April 2022): Our annual report on the general trade union situation in Ireland, here in German.

Juliane Itta & Michèle Auga (April 2022): Our annual report on the general trade union situation in the UK, here in the original German.

Frances Foley (March 2022): Labour and the Liberal Democrats are discussing a non-aggression pact to defeat the Conservatives. But Labour needs to win 124 seats for a majority of one. Britain’s political parties should be preparing now for potential minority government. This paper sets out how a Labour-led government could and should actually work. It goes behind the scenes of the 2010–15 coalition, the 1977–78 Lib-Lab Pact and the recent formation of a centre-left coalition government in Germany.

Frances Foley (January 2022): Citizens’ assemblies (CAs) and other deliberative processes have witnessed a renaissance – a ›deliberative turn‹ – in recent years in the UK and Ireland. Likely a response to the recent political turmoil of Brexit, the progressive surge of 2017 and generational divides, CAs are increasingly called upon to fill a democratic gap. The problem with their implementation remains the interaction with existing representative systems. Using first hand perspectives, this paper examines the advantages of initiatives in the UK and Ireland, as well as the challenges they face.

Josh Emden, Luke Murphy, Mark Kelleher (December 2021): This briefing summarises the findings of two workshops held at a fringe event in Glasgow City Council Chambers at COP26. The workshops involved hearing from nine speakers detailing international case studies where projects or governments implemented a just transition in their nation or community. Five of the case studies are focused on national just transition examples from around the world and four are focused on community examples of just transition around the world that emphasise community engagement and participation.

Gareth Forest (Lewis), Anna Markova (November 2021): The UK government has enshrined targets that align with official scientific advice on climate change. While it has publicly announced very ambitious goals it has only hesitantly taken up steps to support the decarbonisation of domestic industries. A comprehensive, socially and ecologically sustainable industrial strategy that is co-designed by and with workers is still lacking. Social justice, gender justice, decent work and collective bargaining are essential components of this historical structural change, achievable only through worker participation, and without them a just transition will be impossible to realise.