Blog

• The world as we know it never existed
  Craig Berry, Deputy Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute, writes that Donald Trump’s election reminds us that world order is based on American imperial power, not liberal ideals. The American empire’s unravelling will now be accelerated.
• Devolution and identity in Greater Manchester
  'Devo Manc' opens opportunities for the left, and Labour should be arguing for more metro-devolution, not as an alternative to a national strategy, but as an accompaniment to it. And Labour can learn something from Greater Manchester about how a sense of place, past and patriotism can form part of a progressive narrative.
• Corbynism isn’t a social movement, and Labour shouldn’t be one
  Paul Thompson analyses the confused and contradictory conceptions of Labour, as a party and a movement, that lie at the heart of the summer leadership campaign.
• Place-based health - some critical questions
  Steve Iliffe responds to Jessica Studdert's call for more local control within the NHS, but asks whether the pressures of an ageing population are really the critical issue, and what a move towards localism in the NHS would really look like.
• Voting, Violence and Division
  After the Brexit vote, Cathy Elliott challenges three common myths: that elections and referenda are express our pre-existing identities; that the outcome of a referendum or election is sacrosanct because it is democratic; and that democracy is always a peaceful way of resolving difference.
• A progressive, human rights-oriented foreign policy for our time: Responsibility to Protect
  Jo Cox was a staunch advocate of 'Responsibility to Protect' as a central element of a progressive foreign policy. The ideals Jo stood for are more important than ever now and must be remembered and fought for. Yasmine Nahlawi outlines what R2P should mean for Labour now.
• The psychological limits of Corbyn’s moral authority
  Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership campaign was based on his moral authority, in turn said to be the key to renewing the party’s appeal in its traditional heartlands. Deploying recent research on the psychological basis of morality, and its relationship to political views, Bill Blackwater suggests that this view was always misguided.
• After Brexit: British democracy in crisis
  Leading historian Helen McCarthy argues that representative democracy in Britain is in a crisis worse than that of the 1930s, and calls for an end to partisan disengagement.
• Can liberal democracy be rescued?
  Commissioning Editor Claudia Chwalisz argues that, in an age of technocracy, referenda and populism, participatory and deliberative mechanisms are crucial to the survival of pluralist, tolerant democracies.
• Against ‘Lexit’
  Our co-editor, James Stafford, sets out his critique of the 'left' case for leaving the European Union. 'Lexit' is tactically, strategically and ethically flawed.
• Universal Credit, Ideology and the Politics of Poverty
  In a piece we’ll be publishing in the journal later this year, George Morris examines Universal Credit's Thatcherite lineage and asks whether it could be transformed by a Labour government into a system that worked to truly counter poverty.
• Common People, Saturday’s Kids, and Happy Meals
  Social historian Ewan Gibbs asks what 'class politics' should mean for Labour in a largely post-industrial context. Too often, 'culture wars' over hummus and McDonalds take centre-stage, obscuring the realities of structured social and economic inequality.
• ‘The New Economics’ in Norwich: a revival of radical left-wing economic thinking?
  Alan Finlayson reports from Norwich. The 'New Economics' series of lectures and discussions has echoes of left-book club discussion groups or WEA classes. But they may also be something newer.
• Panama, Corbyn and Piketty
  In the wake of the Panama tax avoidance revelations, James Stafford asks if Labour should focus on corruption, rather than injustice or inequality, as the defining attribute of Tory rule.
• Welcome to the Renewal blog
  The editors on what we're doing in the first issue of our new co-editorship of Renewal, the big themes and questions we'll be looking at in future issues and in our all-new blog ...