Fragmented Powers

Confrontation and Cooperation in the English-Speaking World
Synopsis
Table of contents
(22 chapters)Abstract
This introductory chapter presents the book’s rationale and structure and reflects on the notion of ‘fragmented powers’ as a key entry into understanding evolving power dynamics in the English-speaking world. Combining historical and contemporary perspectives, from the late 18th century to the contemporary era, fragmentation as a non-linear process reveals the tensions between centralisation and decentralisation, as well as confrontation and cooperation in the fields of constitutional and institutional issues, politics and political party systems, the media, and in urban and social policies at both the intra-national and transnational levels. The adoption of a long view perspective and a multidisciplinary approach allows to critically assess the concept of fragmentation by questioning both its positive and negative effects on the cultural, political and socio-economic environments.
Part 1 Taking Stock: The Challenges of Fragmented Governance
Abstract
Contrasting the Madisonian model of democracy with Westminster style arrangements, this chapter examines how American political scientists and policymakers expressed second thoughts about the constitutional settlement of 1787 and looked towards the British political system for possible reforms to their own. In particular, it details the arguments offered by Thomas Finletter, James MacGregor Burns, and others, from the 1940s through to the early 1960s that the United States might adopt certain features of the Westminster model. The chapter analyzes their proposals and the – essentially negative – reception that they received. It concludes by addressing the failure of these proposals and the endurance of fragmented government within the United States.
Abstract
The United States experienced its own damaging attempt at secession between 1861 and 1865, and one would expect the US Government to condemn all secession attempts at home and abroad. This paper examines four cases of secession in sub-Saharan Africa and the US policy toward those independence movements: Katanga, Biafra, Eritrea, and South Sudan. The finding is that the American Government's policy toward fragmentation in other countries has surprisingly not been characterized by a condemnation of the secessionist movements. The US response has most often been tacit support or reluctant opposition to nascent independence movements, which always stopped short of full diplomatic recognition prior to 1991. Anticommunism also played a role in US foreign policy decisions regarding secession abroad during the Cold War but did not lead in any case examined to open political or military intervention.
Abstract
The paper addresses the extent to which the Indian Child Welfare Act illustrates the fragmentation of power between States, tribal and federal governments. Voted in 1978 after heated debates in Congress, the act aimed at stopping the abusive placements of Native children in non-Native families, by reinforcing tribal courts' sovereignty. Because the ICWA introduced an exception in child welfare proceedings, its opponents have relentlessly attempted to have it repealed. The debates in Congress were tensed enough to foreshadow State courts' backlash against the ICWA during the following decades.
Abstract
Homelessness in Greater Boston has been a recurring issue since the 1980s. Massachusetts is the only right to shelter state in the nation, which theoretically guarantees that families with children under the age of 21 must be offered a place to sleep every night. However, research shows that among the various obstacles case managers encounter when trying to assist the homeless, the fragmentation of services and initiatives is one of the most persistent limitations to their actions. At the state and local levels, coordination between service providers has repeatedly proved uncertain. These providers point to an ongoing, unhealthy competition to get funding for their shelters or service centers, which has devastating repercussions on the people they serve. Boston officials hold a difficult position, as the state capital city draws many homeless families and individuals hoping for better support, thus putting pressure on local shelters to provide more beds every night. Unsurprisingly, the onset of the pandemic worsened an already strained homeless assistance network, by forcing clients to seek shelter elsewhere due to reduced capacity and creating a new type of fragmentation. In the context of limited space, where zoning laws have relentlessly favored single-family homes in wealthy neighborhoods, Greater Boston is now facing a dire shortage of housing, while migrants from abroad continue to be drawn to its progressive social policies, hoping to find shelter from poverty and war.
Abstract
The UK housing system has undergone major transformations over the last four decades. It has been privatised and fragmented as a result of the rise and dominance of neoliberal and managerial principles. These changes have led to the expansion of homeownership (in the hands of millions of individuals), the development of a not-for-profit sector divided into a multitude of small housing associations and the decline of local authorities which have lost their powers of building, regulating and sometimes even planning for new homes. At the same time, a counter-trend based on regulation and incorporation has favoured greater centralisation at national level. The housing system is not alone in that respect. The UK welfare state in general has been submitted to the same principles and forces over the same period that have aimed at fragmenting the erstwhile extensive powers of local authorities. Nevertheless, the pendulum appears to be swinging in the other direction: local authorities once side-lined are reclaiming some of their lost powers and are determined to have an active role again. This chapter examines how the housing system has become fragmented in the context of the transformation of the UK welfare state, and how the power of local government has been deliberately fragmented. It also reviews the consequences of this transformation on housing conditions and provision; finally, it raises the question of recent trends and policy choices possibly leading to the defragmentation of the system in the future.
Abstract
In 1989, Muslims' concern with freedom of speech and ineffective attempts to prevent the publication of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses not only crystallised a ‘Muslim consciousness’ but also shed light on the fragmentation of Muslim mobilisation and the lack of ‘communal unity’ that prevented Muslims from having a representative national organisation to lobby the government. In 1997, the institutionalisation of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) under the auspices of a New Labour government filled this gap and empowered Muslims to participate in British governance. In this regard, the MCB has established itself as a key authoritative intermediary between Muslim communities and the British Government, playing a crucial role in the advancement of Muslims' social and religious rights while raising awareness of discrimination and socio-economic disadvantage. In light of this development, this chapter will provide an analysis of the evolution of the British state's engagement and cooperation with the MCB between its launch under New Labour in 1997 and the present. Taking a historical perspective, this chapter will first briefly explain that the implementation of the MCB was meant to overcome the fragmentation and existing divisions within Muslim communities, which were deprived of an effective national representative organisation to represent Muslim interests. It will then underline the fruitfulness of cooperation between the government and the MCB, which coincided with the heyday of multiculturalism and resulted in significant advancements for Muslims in terms of religious rights. The chapter will then depict the British state's shifting relationship with the MCB and disinclination to cooperate with this organisation following the terrorist attacks of 2005.
Part 2 Drifting Apart in the Political, Media and Cultural Spheres
Abstract
After briefly presenting the composition of the Scottish independence movement, this chapter examines the sources of fragmentation within it, at the level of goals, ideology and strategy. All movement organisations share a common goal of independent Scottish statehood, but they understand independence in different ways and support different degrees of independence both from the United Kingdom itself and from two major international organisations, namely the EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). At the level of ideology, the movement organisations all claim to belong to one or both of two ideological families: the nationalist family and the wider left family (including its socialist, social-democratic and ecological branches). If the whole movement is united in its identification with the left, it is however divided in the way it envisages nationalism and positions itself in relation to it. Finally, although the whole movement is united in backing both a legal path to independence and institutional strategies, the most significant sources of fragmentation in the Scottish independence movement have been strategic. Alongside gender self-identification, internal divisions over what strategy to adopt to reach the movement's goal of independence were among the main reasons behind the birth of new parties in the early 2020s. This chapter concludes that assessing the extent to which the Scottish independence movement is united or fragmented is a question that can only be answered in a chronological manner.
Abstract
Building on the notions of stratarchy and campaign assemblages, this chapter sheds light on the current power-sharing arrangements, organisational dynamics and reconstruction strategy of the British Liberal Democrats. To do so, it looks into the 2021 Greater London Authority (GLA) campaign and builds on ethnographic observation and a series of qualitative interviews. It particularly analyses the cooperation and subversion practices at play between the federal party, London region party, local parties as well as GLA and local by-election candidates. First, we focus on the arm's length approach adopted by the federal party and the delegation of the campaign management to the regional party. Second, we point to the difficulty of finding candidates and of managing them, which creates tensions between electable candidates, paper candidates, campaign staff and the local parties. Finally, despite incentives to foster cooperation and avoid shirking, we also find evidence of subversion practices between different local parties within GLA constituencies due to the local parties' different political make-up, resources or willingness to focus on local by-elections at the expense of the GLA election. Our main findings point to a fragmented campaign assemblage and to the stratarchical organisation being fostered by the unwinnable character of the election for the party.
Abstract
The Europe issue was long a basis of intra-party divisions within the Conservative Party, and the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union revealed the extent of the divide. The decision of the UK electorate to leave the EU was expected to resolve the issue and allow for a return to unity within the Conservative Party. Yet, under the leadership of Theresa May, divisions on the Europe issue endured. Boris Johnson succeeded, where his predecessors had failed, in restoring intra-party unity. He successfully secured the backing of party members and the electorate, and the loyalty of the parliamentary party, by strategically prioritising the politics of support and placing Brexit at the core of his statecraft. However, it was also the extent to which Johnson was willing to go so as to silence opponents of his Brexit policy that characterised his leadership.
Abstract
The multiplicity of the late-night television offer is a recent phenomenon. In the late 1940s, TV was still in its experimental stage and programming was limited to certain hours of the day. How then did late-night evolve from one dominant program to the cornucopia that exists today? To what extent did the progressive fragmentation of the media environment contribute to this exponential growth in late-night programs? To answer these questions, this chapter will look closely at three phases of late-night history: the ascendance of The Tonight Show during the Johnny Carson era, Johnny's succession when two princes vied for his late-night throne, and then finally the latest developments where a new generation of late-night royalty, which I refer to as The House of Stewart, would emerge with a plethora of shows. Simultaneously, this chapter will also delve into the media context during each phase which became increasingly fragmented leading to an explosion of new ways of experiencing television.
Abstract
The white nationalist project of establishing a racially homogeneous state out of the United States hinges on the pursuit of power through the fragmentation of national spaces along racial lines. In a shifting political context, prominent ideologue Jared Taylor perceives Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory as an opportunity to further engage his audience. This chapter offers a discourse analysis of seven audiovisual productions published by Taylor on the online magazine American Renaissance between the 3 November 2020 presidential election and the 6 January 2021 Capitol Hill riot. Through a multidisciplinary approach encompassing political science, race studies and information science, this case study illuminates how white nationalism uses fragmentation as both an objective and an argument. A fracture of the information contract seeks to define extremism as a bastion of objective truth, countering perceived mainstream media bias. The electoral dynamics subsequently serve as a vehicle for reshaping political dynamics and recasting partisan divisions as racial polarisation. Ultimately, this narrative arc steers towards a new strategic orientation, redefining the contours of territorial fragmentation and the white nationalist agenda itself.
Abstract
Over its almost 25 years of existence (1964–1988), the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS, or Centre) was chronically understaffed, at times thriving academically and politically, and all too often on the edge of closure. It however left a tangible trace in the history of academia and political activism, not only by laying the groundwork for a new research field, that of cultural studies, but also by having been a place of nearly constant pedagogical freedom and experimentation. By being a space of cooperation and confrontation both within and without, the Centre has been deeply influenced by political events and university reforms alike. It became a democratic space: guarding the walls of an unstable academic praxis, reinventing itself over and over, redefining its aims and objects, publishing ground-breaking research in the realm of social science and doing field work in constant relationship to left wing politics. This paper aims at situating the CCCS and analysing the ways in which it has invested the concept of fragmented powers: first, by replacing the Centre in the wider context of British post-war politics, then by retracing its steps alongside the evolution of the British university system over the second half of the 20th century and finally by examining its administrative, pedagogical and publishing practices, as so many instances of fragmented powers inside a university research study.
Part 3 Coming Together? Beyond Frictions, Divisions and Mobilisations
Abstract
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, labour movements across the world fragmented along racial lines. Across the English-speaking world, and especially in the colonies and metropole of the British Empire, a tradition which scholars term ‘white labourism’ became important and then, in the first half of the 20th century, dominant as a political and ideological trend within the labour movements of white British countries. This article concerns the prehistory of white labourism as a dominant strain in three of these British-ruled white settler states, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, by looking at the activities there of the American-based working-class movement, the Knights of Labor. As the Knights expanded into these countries in the 1880s and 1890s, they brought with them an emphasis on the exclusion of Chinese immigration and other racial exclusionary practices later associated with white labourism; on the other, their racial egalitarianism with respect to African-American workers in the United States, tens of thousands of whom became members of the movement, placed them as an alternative to later white labourist currents. This chapter addresses these contradictory contributions of the Knights as a global movement to the way that later workers understood the connections between race and class, empire and whiteness.
Abstract
Far from being united under the banner of sisterhood, American women opposed each other on the issue of gender equality in the 1970s–1980s. As the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) passed the US Congress in 1972, antifeminists mobilized under the lead of Phyllis Schlafly to prevent its ratification. Identified as major threat to traditional families, the ERA would have mandated that “equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex” (section 1). If this sociocultural and political struggle around women's rights revealed the different loyalties and interests of women at the time, it also testified to the institutional fragmentation of power in the country. Conservative women were not only fighting against feminism to preserve the privileged position they thought they occupied in the patriarchy; they were also animated by a strong anti-federal government sentiment. A combined examination of these antifeminist and anti-governmental stances reveals some the reasons why the ERA was eventually never added to the Constitution and could also explain why the United States is such a disunited country, especially regarding women's rights.
Abstract
This chapter explores the multifaceted dynamics of urban regeneration and gentrification within the London Borough of Southwark, examining their impact on social inclusion and exclusion. Through in-depth analysis of three regeneration schemes – the Bellenden Road scheme in Peckham, the Bermondsey Spa Regeneration Scheme and the Heygate Estate Scheme in Elephant and Castle – the research elucidates the intricate interplay between revitalisation efforts, socio-economic shifts and community dynamics. The concept of ‘social tectonics’ emerges as a lens through which to understand the fragmentation of neighbourhoods resulting from gentrification. The study illustrates how the influx of affluent newcomers often leads to the creation of parallel worlds within communities, exacerbating tensions between long-standing residents and newcomers. Furthermore, it highlights the process of displacement as a central feature of gentrification, with the demolition of social housing and the lack of affordable replacements driving the displacement of low-income residents. Moreover, the study underscores the loss of neighbourhood identity and diversity as a consequence of gentrification, as once-vibrant and diverse areas are transformed into homogenised enclaves catering to the tastes of the affluent. A critical discourse analysis is equally required to scrutinise the link between language and context, namely the language used in governmental reports, and the historical context of these neighbourhoods. The schemes implemented in the early 2000s reshaped the identity of these three neighbourhoods and represent the ways in which Southwark Council used political strategies over the last 2 decades to create a polarised and fragmented society.
Abstract
The Truman Brewery, once home to London's largest brewery, is now the focus of a development proposal looking to place a shopping mall at the heart of Brick Lane. This development plan is accused of undermining and fragmenting the local community and led to the campaign ‘The Battle for Brick Lane.’ This latest development plan is heavily criticised for bringing further socio-economic fragmentation to the area – on one side, the low-income inhabitants mainly from the Bangladeshi community and the local businesses struggling with rocketing rent prices, and on the other side, the gentrified incomers who will be pulled to the area through the creation of new retail and office spaces. This development will also bring along fragmentation from the architectural, territorial and community perspective. However, almost ironically, at least surprisingly, this threat fostered a new sense of community in the Brick Lane area. It unwillingly begot an unpredictable cooperation between historic preservation pressure groups on the one hand, and anti-gentrification activists on the other hand, along with independent local shopkeepers. While researchers on gentrification have provided long-lasting evidence of the interrelation between conservation and gentrification, this latest gentrification threat to London's East End seems to refute this argument or at least point towards a restructuring of power relations in the context of the super-gentrification of the East End. The chapter will then focus on this growing sense of cooperation between two activist groups – deemed antagonistic in the past – in the context of the further fragmentation of a (super-)gentrified area.
Abstract
After the launch of Fridays for Future (FFF) and then Extinction Rebellion (XR) in 2018, young people's climate and environmental activism grew significantly. Several years on, these two global movements are still campaigning, while many youth-led environmental networks and groups have been reinvigorated or created around the world. Much of the work these young climate and environmental activists are doing is around obtaining commitments and concrete actions from powerholders regarding the climate crisis and environmental degradation. This chapter discusses the experiences of young activists within climate and environmental movements in Britain between 2018 and 2023. Drawing on the authors' extensive fieldwork involving interviews with young protesters, this chapter focuses on an in-depth interview with two young, very committed, non-stereotypical activists. They provide insights regarding the ‘do-ability’ of activism in different places and spaces, as well as positive and negative outcomes of activism for young activists experiencing intersectional inequalities (age, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, gender) within a ‘progressive’ global social movement and prefigurative politics. Three important characteristics of youth-led environmental activism are identified and analysed: cooperation, confrontation and fragmentation. In this way, the chapter explores young people's climate and environmental activism beyond more affluent white communities.
Abstract
This chapter seeks to make sense of the current anarchical drift of world politics, in which exclusionary ethnonationalisms, intense technological competition and the revival of power politics have been fuelling remilitarisation and major armed conflicts. Using a historical comparative approach, it argues that late-20th century globalisation has reached its political, social and spatial limits. Much like the long breakdown of late-19th century imperial globalisation, which unravelled in the face of a combustible mix of exacerbated nationalisms, disruptive social and economic strains, imperial rivalries and military build-ups, current global disintegration expresses the inescapable material and ideational tensions generated by the uneven distribution of gains and losses between and within states.

- DOI
- 10.1108/9781836084129
- Publication date
- 2025-01-24
- Editors
- ISBN
- 978-1-83608-413-6
- eISBN
- 978-1-83608-412-9