James Hickson

⭐Enjoy free access to our journal Editors’ highlights from recent issues. Access these articles for free until 30 April. Congrats to all featured authors! @gemmagasseau.bsky.social @jmchickson.bsky.social
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/subject/Edit...

Call for papers: We're getting used to cities standing up to populists leaders. But what explains this & what intellectual, legal & political resources can they draw on in their fight? Delighted to be working w/ @mwojciechowska.bsky.social @jmchickson.bsky.social Joe Hoover. Apply: lnkd.in/ee3dkZj6

May be of interest to members of @psapolthought.bsky.social

Localism, Levelling Up and Taking Back Control: Tensions in the Ambiguous Justification of English Devolution There is an increasingly powerful argument for the decentralisation of policy making in England's highly centralised political context. In recent years, this issue has represented one of the clearest...

Wonderful to end the year with news that my recent article with @jacknewman.bsky.social now has a permanent home in Vol.96 Issue 4 of @politicalquarterly.bsky.social. Read it here: doi.org/10.1111/1467...

Big thank you to @drjoehoover.bsky.social and @theorylab.bsky.social for inviting me to present my paper on Inequality, precarity, and domination in 'left behind' communities as part of their work in progress seminar series. Some great feedback to think about on the train back north...

TheoryLAB is excited to have @jmchickson.bsky.social presenting on "Inequality, precarity and domination in ‘left behind’ communities” at our Work in Progress Seminar Wed., 11 Nov. (4-5.30pm) at QM’s Mile End Campus. Message here or spir-theorylab@qmul.ac.uk for info or to join our mailing list.

📢 My new journal article is out today in Global Political Economy in a great collection edited by @jmchickson.bsky.social and @stellamorgana.bsky.social. I explore job insecurity across England’s mayoral combined authorities — and what this means for regional inequality and economic growth.

A🧵...

It’s Not Enough to Read Orwell A new film argues that, in an era of rising authoritarianism, audiences have become too numb to the speculative force of “1984.”

Surveillance and propaganda reign supreme in the fictional world of “1984”—for which generations have found real-life parallels, again and again. The new film “Orwell: 2+2=5” argues that noting such similarities isn’t enough, writes Shirley Li:

Contributions for this collection come from
@timchristiaens.bsky.social
Laila Mourad
Yujing Tan, @crystalennis.bsky.social & Shivant Jhagroe
Elia El-Khazen
Gianluca Iazzolino
@rebeccaflorisson.bsky.social

Building on our workshop last year on The Global Politics of Precarity and Insecure Work, @stellamorgana.bsky.social and I are delighted to share a collection of 6 original commentary articles on this theme in @gpejournal.bsky.social

Read the full introduction here: doi.org/10.1332/2635...

What is the endgame in this toxic immigration debate: is it friends and neighbours thrown out of the country? | Jonthan Liew The notion of remigration was abstract, but the right is dragging it towards respectability. If the goal is homogeneous whiteness, they should say it, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew

What is the endgame in this toxic immigration debate: is it friends and neighbours thrown out of the country? | Jonthan Liew

We escaped war and torture but now we feel unsafe in Britain Special report: Amid protests and rising aggression towards asylum seekers across the country, we spoke to those being targeted

I’ve been frustrated to see so much of the ongoing story about asylum seekers and the protests against them covered without hearing from those seeking asylum and now being met with hostility and hatred

I set out to speak to those directly affected to find out about the impact this is having 👇

Localism, Levelling Up and Taking Back Control: Tensions in the Ambiguous Justification of English Devolution The government’s devolution bill is justified along economic growth lines. This risks the devolution agenda as a whole if it doesn't materalise.

@jacknewman.bsky.social and @jmchickson.bsky.social discuss the tensions and ambiguity at the heart of the devolution agenda

"Although the what of English devolution appears to be settled for now, the why remains much more volatile."

Nice to be back in Manchester today for the MANCEPT workshops, where I presented on radical municipalism and republican political theory as part of the workshop on The City as a Normative Political Space: Institutions, Relations, and Republicanism.

Localism, Levelling Up and Taking Back Control: Tensions in the Ambiguous Justification of English Devolution The government’s devolution bill is justified along economic growth lines. This risks the devolution agenda as a whole if it doesn't materalise.

"Although the what of English devolution appears to be settled for now, the why remains much more volatile."

@jacknewman.bsky.social and @jmchickson.bsky.social discuss the tensions and ambiguity at the heart of the devolution agenda

Congrats Bruno! Well deserved.

My take on the hefty English devolution & community empowerment bill that was introduced earlier this month.

One of several reforms the govt is quietly getting on with, it marks a shift towards a more coherent, standardised framework and places English devolution on a firmer constitutional footing.

Localism, Levelling up, and Taking Back Control: tensions in the ambiguous justification of English devolution

@jmchickson.bsky.social @jacknewman.bsky.social

#Englishdevolution #politicaldecentralisation #takingbackcontrol #levellingup #localism

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Localism, Levelling Up and Taking Back Control: Tensions in the Ambiguous Justification of English Devolution There is an increasingly powerful argument for the decentralisation of policy making in England's highly centralised political context. In recent years, this issue has represented one of the clearest....

New article in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social by @jmchickson.bsky.social and @jacknewman.bsky.social - a timely intervention following the recent publication of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Localism, Levelling Up and Taking Back Control: Tensions in the Ambiguous Justification of English Devolution There is an increasingly powerful argument for the decentralisation of policy making in England's highly centralised political context. In recent years, this issue has represented one of the clearest...

Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1111/1467...

Failure to live up to the full promise of devolution — by radically enhancing local democracies and disrupting centralised power — risks creating inherent instability (& lack of trust) throughout the devolution project, even as govt seeks to deliver continuity and momentum with it's Devolution Bill

More than this, whilst Conservative and Labour governments have both deployed multiple rhetorical justifications for devolution in England, it is their concern for policy efficacy — and increasing economic performance — that has most demonstrably shaped the actual delivery of devolution policy.

However, we argue that policymakers have so far failed to acknowledge the tensions between these different justifications, or the extent to which they create different expectations for how English devolution will look, feel, and function in practice.

In the article, we trace three normative arguments that have been used by recent governments to build the case for devolution in England: that devolution enhances democracy; that it promotes policy efficacy and government efficiency; and that it disrupts concentrations of power.

Localism, Levelling Up and Taking Back Control: Tensions in the Ambiguous Justification of English Devolution There is an increasingly powerful argument for the decentralisation of policy making in England's highly centralised political context. In recent years, this issue has represented one of the clearest...

NEW: @jacknewman.bsky.social and I have just published our new article 'Localism, Levelling Up and Taking Back Control: Tensions in the Ambiguous Justification of English Devolution' open access in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social. Read the article here: doi.org/10.1111/1467...

You can read the full blog here: blog.apaonline.org/2025/06/11/t...

Crucially, republicanism also demonstrates why we now need a deeper & more demanding democratic model; grounded on a more active model of citizenship as well as public institutions that can simultaneously constrain, diffuse, and channel power in order to neutralise sources of domination in society

In an age of resurgent authoritarianism - in politics and throughout society - reviving such republican insights within popular political discourse can help us to reveal both the increasing ubiquity of domination in contemporary life and the corrosive effect this has on our democracies.

For republicans, domination typically describes the capacity of those with social, economic or political power to interfere arbitrarily in the lives of others. Even if this power is never actually exercised, living in its shadow makes it impossible to enjoy a life of meaningful freedom or equality.

Republicanism helps us to highlight the common thread that connects the autocratic aspirations of populist leaders, the disproportionate influence of the global '1%', and the overbearing forms of management associated with the modern workplace: domination