Other News
NSS response rate 72%!
Many thanks to our finalists who participated in the National Student Survey this year. The response rate of 72% is the highest figure we have ever achieved. As promised, four lucky winners of £72 Amazon vouchers will be notified (by 11th May).
The Changing Role of Germany in the Course of the Current Eurocrisis: Self-Image vs. Public Image
A Pinpoint Politics article by Lena-Sophie Demuth
After World War II, the foreign policy of Bundesrepublik Deutschland (West Germany) aimed at getting back in line with its neighbouring states, reconstructing its economy and rebuilding the image of a state responsible for a war that had claimed over 60 million casualties, including more than 6 million deaths in the wake of the biggest genocide the world had seen – the Holocaust. This long path towards becoming a sovereign state was characterized by a strong relationship with the USA, its major partner and investor; membership in the NATO; and European integration as one of the priorities of post-war Germany. True to the motto of becoming an economic giant but a political midget, Germany together with the bordering country and erstwhile hereditary enemy France were at the forefront of the European integration taking a stand for a united Europe built on a shared past, common values and the iron will that war must be averted in the future by all means.
THE BRITISH HOUSING MARKET: TOO BIG TO FAIL?
A KnowledgeCentre article by Ben Jacoby
Warwick Commission reports on mayoral powers
The Warwick Commission has warned that the Government’s drive to encourage cities to adopt elected mayors cannot provide a ‘one-size-fits-all solution’. The Warwick Commission on Elected Mayors and City Leadership also supports calls for mayors to have a formal remit that extends beyond the city boundaries which are currently being proposed in referenda in ten core English cities, including Coventry and Birmingham. The Commission was launched last year to investigate the track records and experiences of elected mayors in the UK and around the world. The study centres on the question: "What is the role of elected mayors in providing strategic leadership to cities?"
Warwick’s research team interviewed 42 mayors, staff and senior council figures in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US in what is believed to be the widest ranging international comparative research exercise, at least in relatively similar political systems in the 'Anglosphere'. It draws on a range of existing evidence as well as a thorough analysis of how the history of local government has brought the question of elected mayors to the forefront now.
The Commission is chaired by Professor Wyn Grant, Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at Warwick.
The Hustlers of War: The Revitalised Image of the Mercenary
A Pinpoint Politics article by Ramsha Khan
The narrative of warfare in the last decade has been a poignant one, as we bore witness to the terrorist attacks, invasions, and revolutions that ignited across the globe. In its historical context this is not a phenomena out of the ordinary – indeed, the paradigm of conflict can be dated as old as mankind itself. However, there have been certain shifts in the form of warfare today, and, as these shifts in form collide with the liberal ideology and capitalist thought the western world is built upon, the resulting implications can be evidenced in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts, as well as the Arab Spring revolts. An actor that is receiving an ever-increasingly central position on this stage is the mercenary, or private soldier, along with the corporate structures and governments that control his role.