The current fiasco over expenses at Westminster has created a major opportunity for political reform in Britain. You might not know it from the media's focus on celebrity populism, but there has actually been some useful thinking on the left over the past year which addresses the causes of the crisis quite precisely.
David Marquand's book Britain Since 1918 has started a conversation about democratic republicanism as a British political tradition, perhaps the only tradition that addresses the relationship between parliament and people in a way that is adequate to the current situation.
I've been collating some of that conversation for my own reference, and I thought it was worth sharing it here. Please feel free to suggest any other relevant links in the comments.
Audio David Marquand, Kenneth Morgan, Philip Stephens, The Strange Career of British Democracy, IPPR, 18/09/08
Tom Griffin, The democratic republican moment, OurKingdom, 19/09/08
Richard Reeves, The Dynamics of Power, New Statesman, 25/09/08
Giles Radice, Surveying the Left, Progress, 28/11/08
Anthony Barnett, Gerry Hassan, Britain's Neo-Liberal State, OurKingdom, 29/11/08
Pamphlet Anthony Barnett, Gerry Hassan, Breaking Out of Britain's Neo-Liberal State, Compass, 05/01/09
Sunder Katwala, Uneasy allies? Progressive dilemmas revisited, Liberal Conspiracy, 02/02/09
Sunder Katwala, Progressive dilemmas and the democratic republican tradition, Next Left, 3/02/09
Stuart White, What is democratic republicanism?, Next Left, 03/02/09
Tim Gore, Democratic republicanism... and the EU, Next Left, 07/02/09
Video Paul Lay, Quentin Skinner, Geoffrey Robertson, Melissa Lane, Liberty, Sovereignty and Republicanism, Convention on Modern Liberty, 28/02/09
David Marquand, How Free Are We? Liberty in Britain, History Today, 03/09
Stuart White, 'Progressive Conservatism' or democratic republicanism? Next Left, 03/03/09
Tom Griffin, Modern Liberty: The Levellers' republican legacy, OurKingdom, 04/03/09
Stuart White, Democratic republicanism and the economic crisis, Next Left, 06/03/09
Melissa Lane, Liberty as a Social Value - Lessons from the Levellers, OurKingdom, 11/03/09
Anthony Painter, Coming to Terms with Change, Progress, 31/03/09
Pamphlet Richard Reeves, Philip Collins, The Liberal Republic, Demos, 07/05/09
Stuart White, 'The Liberal Republic': How Liberal? How Republican? Next Left, 07/05/09
Anthony Barnett, Mulgan Says, "Sod em", OurKingdom, 11/05/09
Richard Reeves, A Republican Moment? Demos, 19/05/09
Richard Reeves, Is Cameron a republican liberal? Demos, 26/05/09
Stuart White, Cameron's Agenda: Populism not republicanism?, Next Left, 26/05/09
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