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

  • Download PDF
    Under Invested The Caribbean-African Relationship
    Authors
    Len Ishmael
    June 27, 2019
    Caribbean and African ties run deep. They are based on a shared history, culture, and sense of a common identity forged by the slave trade which forcibly relocated more than 10 million Africans to the New World, in the process, creating large centres of African Diaspora in the Caribbean and elsewhere. The common historical experiences of slavery and colonialism inspired formation of the Pan-African Movement in the first half of the 1900’s led by the African Diaspora outside of Afric ...
  • A Brief Examination of President Bolsonaro's Initial 6 Months of Foreign Policy
    Authors
    Raphael Camargo
    June 26, 2019
    The author is an alumnus of the 2015 Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program Five brief bullet points: this was the entire contents of President Jair Bolsonaro’s political plan presented during the 2018 Brazilian Presidential race detailing his foreign policy ambitions. Besides the pro-Trump rhetoric, little was known regarding Mr. Bolsonaro’s international relations plan. Elected with 55.13% of the valid votes in a second-round turn, the victory of the Social Liberal Party (PS ...
  • Download PDF
    China’s FDI in Brazil: recent trends and policy debate
    Authors
    Pedro da Motta Veiga
    Sandra Polónia Rios
    June 25, 2019
    From 2010 onwards, China has become a relevant foreign investor in Brazil, mainly through State-owned companies investing in infrastructure – particularly in the energy sector. In the first years of the current decade, Chinese investment has been widely welcomed in an environment characterized by declining investment rates and low economic growth. However, more recently, some concerns have been raised of an “excessive” dependence of China state companies in sectors perceived as stra ...
  • Partager Sanctions: America's Chokehold
    Authors
    Helmut Sorge
    June 21, 2019
    The New York Times reported this morning that after the shot down of an U.S. drone by Iranian forces, President Trump ordered military retaliation, but called it off in the early phase. Below is a facts' review through the international press perspectives. “You are pushing everyone towards a confrontation” Unusually, the satellite images were not presented to the media. Possibly, the photos were taken from a submarine, or there was fear that the enemy could figure out who and how ...
  • A New World Order with Chinese Characteristics
    Authors
    Marcus Vinicius de Freitas
    June 20, 2019
    The world is navigating through turbulent waters, witnessing one the most significant transitions ever in its history. With the ascension of China and the steady decline of the United States, there is a general sense of insecurity and fear about the future and the unknown. Change is never a comfortable period due to the turmoil it frequently generates. The relationship between the United States and China will never be the same, but it will not end up in war, as some expect. China is ...
  • 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 ...