Podcasts

Back

The UK after the Elections

26
May 2015
Francis Ghilès

This podcast is performed by Francis Ghilès. The general elections in the UK have resulted in conservatives making unexpected wins while the labor and other smaller parties, notwithstanding SNP's major rise, saw some declines. This Webinar will aim to analyze the causes and implications of such results. The Virtual Brief held in Policy Center for the New South under the theme "The UK after the Elections", was presented by Francis Ghilès, Associate Senior Researcher at CIDOB, and the following summarizes the discussions of the brief:

The 56th Parliament general elections of the United Kingdom held on the 7th of May 2015 have resulted in Conservatives making unexpected wins while the labor and other smaller parties, notwithstanding SNP's major rise, saw some declines. This webinar will aimed to analyze the circumstances and implications of such results.
The Conservatives won 12-seat majorities in parliament as Labour Party members were almost wiped out by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Scotland, and the Liberal Democrats suffered major losses. The campaign was marked by the growing support for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which came third in terms of votes. UKIP voters are perceived to be those abandoned by the Conservatives and New Labor, who have had some difficulties in adjusting to modern Britain and its new ethnic composition.
In contrast, Francis Ghiles explained that the dismaying results of the Labour party were partly due to its collapse in Scotland and the fragmentation of votes. Aside, Miliband’s personality as the Leader of the Labor Party did not create a general consensus due to many of his controversies. The reputation of the last Labor government as economically incompetent jeopardized the desire for stability that most of the voters were looking for in the current elections. However, there is still a margin of hope for the Labor Party to regain its popularity in the long term and it lays in the absence of commonality.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Stratégie américaine dans l’Indo-Pacifique: La théorie réaliste, encore et toujours
    Authors
    Abdelhak Bassou
    June 19, 2019
    Les Etats-Unis ont alternativement défendu le système westphalien et fustigé ses principes d’équilibre des forces et de non-ingérence dans les affaires intérieures d’autrui en les prétendant immoraux et démodés. Il leur est même arrivé de faire les deux à la fois. Ce qui ne les empêche pas de continuer à affirmer la validité universelle de leurs valeurs pour l’édification d’un ordre mondial pacifique et de se réserver le droit de les soutenir à l’échelle planétaire. Henri Kissinger ...
  • Download PDF
    The Geopolitics of the Renminbi Evolution
    Authors
    Marcus Vinicius de Freitas
    June 17, 2019
    There is no doubt that the ascension of China, which is at the centre of the global debate, is the most relevant fact of the 21st century. A rising power with many vulnerabilities, yet a clear understanding of what they are and with the willingness to actively reduce them to a minimum, manageable level. China has managed to become, after all, the second largest economy in the world, with outstanding economic performance. Globalisation has brought China from the periphery into the co ...
  • EU democracy is alive and well as the battle for Europe’s top jobs starts
    Authors
    Thomas Richter
    May 27, 2019
    The author is an alumnus of the 2018 Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program As European citizens wake up on Monday morning, democracy is alive and well in Europe. Voter turnout increased to 50,5% compared to with 42,6% in 2014, the highest for two decades as voters across the continent responded to the populist threat. Anti-EU, populist and nationalist parties have seen gains (around 115 seats) and as a committed European i am saddened to see more voters turn to populists for ...
  • Download PDF
    The UK’s policy towards Africa post-Brexit
    Authors
    Juliana Suess
    May 24, 2019
    On the eve of Britain’s exit from the European Union, the country is redefining its international approach. The United Kingdom has already taken action by becoming involved in new economic commitments, new trade agreements in Commonwealth countries but also from a diplomatic point of view in West Africa. While development aid remains a focal point of its intervention in Africa, it risks being undermined by the Brexit and its economic consequences. However, the United Kingdom is now ...
  • Download PDF
    The escalating China-US trade dispute: economic and geopolitical implications for Sub-Saharan Africa
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    May 22, 2019
    The trade tensions between the United States and China will cause only minor immediate damage to their giant economies. However, tariffs have important and diverse effects on individual sectors and cause heightened uncertainty. The main adverse effects on Sub-Saharan Africa will therefore be through global investor confidence, economic growth and commodity prices, and these effects could be severe if the dispute escalates further and endangers the rules-based trading system. The tra ...
  • A bubbling tide of chest beating jingoistic nationalists
    Authors
    Helmut Sorge
    May 20, 2019
    The year 1912. The ocean liner “Titanic” was a technical wonder of the world. At least for the British. The unsinkable pride of the “White Star Fleet”, built in Northern Ireland, made to board 3511 passengers and crew. In the early hours of April 15th, 1912, the glory on the sea hit an iceberg, nature   displayed the fragility of progress and technology.  A tragedy. Realizing his  time had come, too soon but  nevertheless, Wallace Hartley, an onboard band leader, chose the  appropri ...
  • Abiynomics: The Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict
    Authors
    Joseph Hammond
    May 16, 2019
    The author is an alumnus of the 2018 Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program Last year Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took a big step toward stabilizing the Horn of Africa when he agreed to sign a long-disputed peace agreement with Eritrea - one that previous Ethiopian governments had refused to sign beca of the border demarcation within the agreement would seem to leave Ethiopia to blame for sparking the conflict in 1998 that eventually caused as many as a quarter of a mi ...
  • Analyse à chaud des élections de mai 2019 en Afrique du Sud
    Authors
    Abdelhak Bassou
    May 13, 2019
    A la question de savoir qui a gagné les élections du 8 mai en Afrique du Sud, une seule réponse s’impose : L’ANC. Cette réponse suppose qu’il y a un perdant et conduit, donc, à une deuxième question : Qui a perdu les élections de Mai 2019 en Afrique du Sud ? Aussi étonnant que cela puisse paraitre, la réponse est, là aussi, l’ANC.  L’ANC a gagné, mais il est toujours mal en point En Effet, le parti cher à Mandela a gagné les élections, mais a perdu en audience et en confiance. Des ...