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SUMMARY:Towns\, Cities and the Tilting of Britain's Political Axis -  Will
  Jennings\, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the
  University of Southampton
DTSTART:20180220T120000Z
DTEND:20180220T140000Z
UID:TALK99061@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lucy Theobald
DESCRIPTION:A new cleavage is emerging that is fundamentally changing poli
 tics in the early decades of the twenty-first century. The divide is betwe
 en citizens residing in locations strongly connected to global growth and 
 those who are not. In geographical terms\, it is between those from big ci
 ties - the densely populated urban centres of the emerging knowledge and c
 reative economy - and those who live beyond that world in suburban communi
 ties\, post-industrial towns\, and coastal areas. Populations of the forme
 r tend to be young (and getting younger)\, better educated\, more diverse 
 (and increasingly so)\, more likely to work in professional-creative ‘co
 smopolitan’ occupations (such as finance\, science\, public administrati
 on\, education\, health\, arts and recreation)\, and less likely to own th
 eir home. They are also more socially liberal\, pluralistic in their ident
 ity and relaxed about social change (in particular immigration). In contra
 st the populations of smaller towns and rural settings are more prone to n
 ostalgia\, uneasy about immigration and tend to be more authoritarian and 
 socially conservative in their views. These dynamics impacted on the resul
 t of the EU referendum in June 2016\, and the 2017 general election as wel
 l. Contrary to some claims\, there has not been a ‘Brexit realignment’
  of British politics\, but rather a longer-term tilting of the political a
 xis that is manifested in the geographic polarisation of voting behaviour 
 and which stems from trends in economic development\, education\, and soci
 al values. This talk will explore how trajectories of social and economic 
 decline of different places shaped the result of both the referendum and t
 he general election\, and what the implications are for public policy afte
 r Brexit. \n\nWill Jennings is Professor of Political Science at Public Po
 licy at the University of Southampton and Co-Founder of the recently launc
 hed think tank The Centre for Towns. His research explores questions relat
 ing to public policy and political behaviour\, specifically in relation to
  agenda-setting\, public opinion\, elections\, democratic innovations\, po
 litical geography\, policy disasters\, and anti-politics. He was a member 
 of the independent inquiry instigated by the British Polling Council and M
 arket Research Society to investigate the performance of the pre-election 
 polls at the 2015 general election. He is co-author of Policy Agendas in B
 ritish Politics (Palgrave\, 2013)\, The Politics of Competence: Parties\, 
 Public Opinion and Voters (Cambridge University Press\, 2017) and The Good
  Politician: Folk Theories\, Political Interaction and the Rise of Anti-Po
 litics (Cambridge University Press\, 2018).\n\nFree admission. \nTo regist
 er your interest for this event email: cipp@polis.cam.ac.uk
LOCATION:Faculty of English\, Room GR-06/07
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