On behalf of the Political Leadership Specialist Group, in partnership with the University of Birmingham’s British Politics Research Group, we would like to highlight the upcoming one-day academic workshop on the value of the Statecraft framework for analysing British politics in the contemporary period.

It is free to participate in this event; limited places are still available for anyone who would like to attend the workshop at The Exchange in Birmingham. Those wishing to attend should contact Mark Bennister and Peter Kerr here.

The full programme for this workshop can be seen here: https://www.psa.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Programme-Statecraft-Workshop-Sept-2026.pdf

Special thanks to Nathan Critch (University of Manchester) and Kitty Stannard (University of Birmingham) for co-organising the event.

In this moment of intense political upheaval, the British state finds itself facing a crisis of both its political and economic model. This poly-crisis is increasingly acknowledged by incumbent politicians, who are scrambling to find ways to “rewire” the state and revive British economic growth. Political leaders in Britain appear increasingly under pressure given the continued prevalence of populist politics and anti-political sentiment, leading to acute problems maintaining their legitimacy and position.

The panels and papers will explore, in different ways, the utility of the statecraft approach in helping us understand how statecraft has evolved since Jim Bulpitt developed the concept in relation to the Thatcher government, how governmental statecraft is developing in the current context of poly-crisis, and what these new applications reveal about the viability of the contemporary British state. In seeking to explore contemporary statecraft in the context of crisis, the workshop seeks to address several key questions. First, how must Bulpitt’s framework be adapted to account for a state settlement now defined by depoliticised institutional arrangements, the hollowed-out state and the primacy of financial market credibility, a reality starkly highlighted by the 2022 mini-budget? Second, what distinct modes of statecraft are being deployed in the post-Brexit era, how have politicians adapted their leadership, party management and rhetorical styles in the era of populism and anti-politics, and how do these strategies work within or consciously challenge the political constraints of the contemporary British state itself, and/or the wider economic constraints placed on governance?