Cyhoeddiadau

This Research Note presents new estimates of trade union membership derived for detailed geographical areas across Great Britain. Analysis reveals the wide variations in union density that exist both across the country and within particular regions.  Over the period 2000-2021, union density is shown to vary between 10% in Kensington and Chelsea to 54% in…

This Statistical Compendia is based on research supported by the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD). Those who wish to use this data should cite its source as: Davies R., Bryson A. and Jones S. (2022) Geographical Variations in Trade Union Membership – 2000-2021, Cardiff: Wales Institute of Social &…

Policy experts reflect on the first twenty years of self-governance in Wales. Following a 1997 referendum, the United Kingdom established the Welsh Parliament and began a process known as “devolution,” granting Wales increasing powers of self-governance over the next twenty years. This collection reflects on the course of Welsh devolution and the emergence of a…

Multiple systemic crises have highlighted the vulnerabilities of our globalised food system, raising the demand for more resilient and ecologically sustainable alternatives, and fuelling engagement in practices such as community-supported agriculture (CSA). In CSA, local farmers and households share the costs and products of farming, allowing them to organise food provision non-commercially around short supply…

The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the rural idyll, as urban-dwellers seek greener, safer spaces. If the counter-urban trend appears for novel reasons, it does so along lifestyle mobilities’ well-worn paths. These paths often depend upon spatial inequalities. Yet, despite awareness that inequalities undergird mobilities, spatial inequalities have remained under-theorized in the lifestyle mobilities literature. This…

The UK, as elsewhere, has seen an accelerating trend of bank branch closures and reduced opening hours since the early 2000s. The reasons given by the banks are well rehearsed, but the impact assessments they provide to justify such programs and signpost alternatives have been widely criticized as being inadequate. This is particularly so for…

Emerging in the mid-2010s, the Foundational Economy has been heralded as ‘a compelling counter-project against neoliberalism’ and ‘an alternative pathway … [for] progressive political renewal’. Grounded in a review of cross-disciplinary debates, this paper introduces the concept of the Foundational Economy and places it in relation to heterodox geographic theories of socio-economic development such as…

The globalization of agriculture is reconfiguring the geography of farming, with increasing concentration of commodity production in favourable regions recast as ‘global farmlands’. Such areas have become targets for investment by transnational agribusiness. In such localities, the influence of agribusiness can shape local political processes, land and labour markets, and processes of urban development. This…

Academics at the University of South Wales, affiliated to WISERD, have looked at how the pandemic has affected bus service levels across Wales. Their guest article details how the most deprived areas – where people most depend on bus services – have been hardest hit.

The 20th century saw the catastrophes of the First and Second World Wars. International intellectual cooperation was considered necessary if humanity were to renew civilized society and build a prosperous economy to the benefit of all. Such exchange also became an instrument of ideological “soft-power” or cultural diplomacy, using propaganda, and exploiting the arts, sciences,…