Experiencing Coalition: penal policymaking and the 2010-15 UK government

Annison, Harry (2016) Experiencing Coalition: penal policymaking and the 2010-15 UK government. British Society of Criminology 2016 Conference, Nottingham, United Kingdom. 06 - 08 Jul 2016.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The 2010-15 Conservative-Liberal Democrat government was exceptional in peacetime British history, the first coalition government for sixty-five years. This period has resulted in an array of scholarly literature addressing important policy developments during this period, perhaps most notably the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda (see for example British Journal of Community Justice special issue, 2013 and Probation Journal special issue, forthcoming). In addition, a growing body of autobiographical and scholarly literature is emerging which reflects on policymaking during this period (eg Laws, 2016; Baker, 2015; Seldon and Finn, 2015; and Bochel and Powell, 2016).

This paper presents initial findings from a project that makes an important contribution to this existing terrain by addressing a question that has hitherto received little attention (but see Annison, 2015 chapter 7): drawing on ‘elite’ research interviews, and underpinned by an interpretive political analysis framework (Bevir and Rhodes, 2003), it explores how coalition was experienced by key protagonists specifically in the criminal justice policy domain. How, if at all, did coalition influence the practice of policymaking by senior penal policymakers? How did this altered landscape interact with their pre-existing beliefs and traditions? This paper identifies some of the emerging themes and begins to tease out the broader implications from this (purportedly) exceptional period in British politics for our understanding of penal policymaking.

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