Other News
Hollande, Houla, and Hope
A Pinpoint Politics article by Andrew Kelly
Have you heard? Hope swirls in the air again. It is only over a month now since President Francois Hollande cried in his victory speech in Tulle: “le changement est arrivé. L’espérance est arrivé.” Austerity will have to go, as Greece, Spain, and Italy all lift their heads towards France in the hope that Hollande is right. With pleasantries and formalities out of the way, the austere world continues to wait as the Hollande-Merkel relationship tries to resolve to a position that is favourable for themselves and the Eurozone. A process that some may progressively liken to Sisyphus’s eternal relationship with his rock, or perhaps the more popular association between a rock and a hard place. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, President Obama has dusted off his fabled ‘Hope’ portrait (courtesy of Shepard Fairey), along with the highs and lows of his first term in office, to remind the people of why they had turned to him.
PAIS PhD student publishes article in special issue of 'Globalizations'
Maurice Stierl, a first year PhD student in PAIS, has contributed a full-length research article to a special issue of the journal Globalizations. The theme of the issue is 'Global Movement' and Maurice's article is entitled ''No One Is Illegal!' Resistance and the Politics of Discomfort'. Maurice's doctoral research looks at EU border security and dissent, and his supervisors are Dr James Brassett and Dr Nick Vaughan-Williams.
The article and special issue can be accessed here: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rglo20/current
Understanding the Confidence Fairy in Markets, Debt, and Economic Theory
A Pinpoint Politics article by Brendan Pastor
When Paul Krugman coined the term confidence fairy, he meant it as a pedantic critique of UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s austerity agenda. The cuts that were administered to the welfare systems were driven by a need to reduce the deficit – the existence of which hampered market confidence in Britain’s economy, or so was argued. Of course, Krugman attacked this logic through economics (some of which is disputed even by his supporters), implicitly making use of his Nobel Prize to substantiate his argument. But he was definitely on to something. Although not the first to do so, he was certainly the most important voice drawing our attention to the perpetual use of the word confidence to justify a political and economic policy – one with implications that have been felt across the world.
PAIS student Andrew Terrell scheduled to speak at Solve2012 Policy Expo
In Memoriam: Roger Duclaud-Williams
The University is saddened to report that former Politics and International Studies Lecturer, and later Principal Teaching Fellow, Dr Roger Duclaud-Williams died on 13 June.
Roger took his first degree in Law at the University of Oxford and subsequently studied Political Science at the City University of New York. He received his PhD from the University of Sussex. After a temporary post at the University of Glasgow, he was appointed to the Department of Politics and International Studies at Warwick in 1974. He retired from Warwick in 2011.
Read an obituary for Roger written by David Mervin in The Guardian here