Simon Usherwood

The Open University · Department of Politics and International Studies

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are key actors in the conceptualisation, practice and debate on international protection. Their work with refugees and migrants is extensive and varied, at local, national and international levels. In this report, we consider the extent to which we can understand these various actions through reference to contextu...

Studies of civil society organisations (CSOs) working on international protection related issues have typically focused on those groups with positive dispositions towards refugees, without asking either whether this is the full range of dispositions in such groups or why negatively-disposed individuals appear not to mobilise in the same way. This a...

Simulation and negotiation game design typically works from matching learning objectives to specific settings for delivery. Understanding how variables like student numbers, prior knowledge and available time and space for game play will look like is vital for producing efficient active learning environments. This paper demonstrates the challenges...

Horizon 2020 Protect project, DELIVERABLE No. D5.6. Published by the PROTECT Consortium. The PROTECT Consortium is composed of: University of Bergen, University of Catania, Ghent University, Giessen University, Ljubljana University, Lund University, Open University (London), Queen Mary University (London), University of Surrey, University of Stut...

The 2016 decision by the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union was a seminal one for both parties. In this special issue, we consider the extent to which the inter-penetration of the national and the European arenas produced significant opportunities for recasting political action. The nesting of these two levels matters firstly in all...

The introduction of the symposium sets out a possible research agenda on producing systematic empirical evidence of the effect of active learning tools to the discipline of political science, inspired by and drawing from educational research. It discusses the core research questions of such an agenda. Do active learning environments enhance politic...

There has been previous work that has shown that games based on playing cards can be an effective way of demonstrating to students the logic of Hobbes realist view of the world and the impact of anarchy individually and at the international level in a visceral fashion. This paper builds from this model and develops several approaches that use a sim...

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) has moved from being a single-issue party par excellence to a broader party of protest, taking advantage of wider feelings of discontent and disconnection. However, the 2016 referendum on UK membership of the EU fundamentally challenged its development and operation, by removing a core part of the party’s rationale...

The 2016 referendum marks the start of a new era of euroscepticism in the UK, as the basic parameters of debate have shifted from EU membership to non‐membership as the central working assumption of the political system. This shift radically alters the political opportunity structure for those groups and elements that have developed in the period s...

It is difficult to overstate the impact that the 2016 decision by the United Kingdom (UK) to leave the European Union (EU) has and will have on the country’s politics and society. The referendum held that year became an opportunity for the crystallisation of various contents and disaffections—not all of them directly linked to the EU itself—and ope...

One of the big challenges in bringing simulations into the classroom is the question of how (or even whether) to assess them. In this chapter, I will consider the underlying logics of simulations, which in turn suggest a number of assessment strategies. These include assessing knowledge acquisition, skills development and critical reflection. Beyon...

‘An area of freedom, security and justice’ explains the two main aims of the Schengen Agreements of 1985 and 1990. The first concerned border controls: to eliminate those internal to Schengenland; establish controls round its external frontier; and set rules to deal with asylum, immigration, and the movement or residence of other countries’ nationa...

The EU has major economic and environmental powers, and is increasingly active in foreign policy, defence, and internal security. ‘How the EU is governed’ asks: how is this power used and controlled, and how is the EU governed? The system for governing the EU, with its complex mix of intergovernmental and federal elements, makes decision-making dif...

‘What the EU is for’ explores the development of the European Community (EC). For France and Germany, finding a way to live together in a durable peace was a fundamental political priority that the EC was designed to serve. As the Second World War recedes into a more distant past, the motive of peace and security remains a powerful influence on gov...

The EU has been given some of its powers because its size offers advantages not available to individual member states. Other powers prevent member states from damaging each other, including: the environmental policy, which is generally agreed to be desirable; and social policy, although with sharp disagreement as to the degree of EU intervention re...

In March 2017, two events illustrated the EU’s achievement and fragility. The first, the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of the Rome treaties, was an opportunity to reflect on how the integration process has become fundamental to European governance and government, reaching into almost every area of public policy. The second was the UK’s submis...

Monetary union requires that money in all its forms be able to move freely across frontiers between member states and that exchange rates changes between them be abolished. ‘Single market, single currency’ explains how the single market programme went far towards fulfilling the first requirement and the Exchange Rate Mechanism prepared the ground f...

‘How the EU was made’ examines the combination of interests and events leading to the development of the EC, including the founding treaties. The Single European Act (SEA) provided for completion of the single market by 1992, strengthening the EC’s powers and institutions. It was succeeded by the Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice, and Lisbon treaties, li...

A most impressive aspect of the EU project has been its ability to develop and expand from a small group of relatively similar states in Western Europe into an EU of much greater width and depth. ‘The EU and the rest of Europe’ argues that enlargement can be seen as an essential part of the EU and its continued development, not least in its dealing...

‘Agriculture, regions, budget: conflicts over who gets what’ argues that because the single market enhances productivity in the economy, there is benefit for most people. But there will be some who lose from the opening of markets to new competition, and these may demand compensation for agreeing to participate in the new arrangements. Such compens...

‘The EU in the world’ considers how EU policies for dealing with the rest of the world have been developed. China seems likely to catch up with the US as a military and economic power. However, it is argued that the EU has the potential to be, much sooner, at least an equal partner with the US in matters of the economy, environment, and soft securi...

The EC’s external relations were, in line with its powers, originally concentrated in the economic field. But there were from the outset also political aims. ‘A great civilian power … and more — or less?’ argues that as the EU develops its capacity in the field of security, it will become something more than a great civilian power. However, its str...

Eine der größten Probleme für Simulationen in der Lehre von Europastudien sind Anlaufkosten. Das Schaffen eines neuen Szenarios von Grund auf oder die Adoption eines bestehenden Spiels stellt Lehrende vor Herausforderungen. Dieses Papier diskutiert diese Herausforderungen, im speziellen die Spannung zwischen Spielregeln, die eine komplexe Welt redu...

Since the advent of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, a key turning point in terms of the crystallisation of opposition towards the European Union (EU), Euroscepticism has become a transnational phenomenon. The term ‘Euroscepticism’ has become common political language in all EU member states and, with the advent of the Eurozone, refugee and security cri...

Contribution to "UK Election Analysis 2017: Media, Voters and the Campaign" (http://www.electionanalysis.uk/), published 19 June 2017, hosted at: http://www.electionanalysis.uk/uk-election-analysis-2017/section-7-brexit-and-european-perspectives/why-the-general-election-will-make-little-difference-to-the-article-50-negotiations/

Both camps made extensive use of social media during the referendum, both to mobilise existing supporters and to convert new ones. However, the three main groups—Stronger In, Vote Leave and Leave.EU—each took differing strategies within this. Drawing on tweets published by the groups, the article compares the use of different positive and negative...

After spending a year working on the development of a new online Master’s programme in higher education, members of the development team were interviewed to reveal their thoughts about the nature of the programme. The dialogue of each interview was summarised as a concept map. Analysis of the resulting maps included a modified Bernsteinian analysis...

The eurozone crisis has shown how the fates of all European states are closely bound together, even if they do not all participate in the same institutions. Thus the UK has found itself drawn into debates about eurozone governance despite not being part of the single currency. Likewise, other EU member states have been forced to consider more close...

One of the most notable challenges of getting colleagues to try out simulations in European studies teaching is the overcoming of start-up costs. In particular, the creation of a scenario from scratch or the adaptation of an existing game can be daunting. Drawing on the author"s extensive practical experience, the paper discusses these challenges a...

This Very Short Introduction explains the European Union in plain English. Fully updated for 2007 to include controversial and current topics such as the Euro currency, the EU's enlargement, and its role in ongoing world affairs, this accessible guide shows how and why the EU has developed from 1950 to the present. Covering a range of topics from t...

The European Union has come a long way since the process of its construction was launched in 1950. War has indeed become unthinkable among the member states, which now include most European countries. ‘Much accomplished... but what next?’ argues that it is in the civil domain that the Union can complement American power with civilian aspects of pea...

‘How the EU was made’ examines how interests and events combined to bring about the development of the European Community and looks at the founding treaties. The Single European Act provided for completion of the single market by 1992. It strengthened both the Community's powers and its institutions. It was succeeded by the Maastricht, Amsterdam, N...

‘Agriculture, regions, budget: conflicts over who gets what’ argues that because the single market enhances productivity in the economy, there is benefit for most people. But there will be some who lose from the opening of markets to new competition, and these may demand compensation for agreeing to participate in the new arrangements. Such compens...

‘An area of freedom, security, and justice’ explains the two main aims of the Schengen Agreements of 1985 and 1990. The first concerned border controls: to eliminate those internal to Schengenland; establish controls round its external frontier; and set rules to deal with asylum, immigration, and the movement or residence of other countries' nation...

‘What the EU is for’ explores the development of the European Community. For France and Germany, finding a way to live together in a durable peace was a fundamental political priority that the new Community was designed to serve. Following the twelve years of Nazi rule that ended with devastation in 1945, the Community offered Germans a way to beco...

Using France and the UK as case studies, this paper discusses how the focus of groups opposed to Europeanintegration has changed over time. Such groups often claim to have a generalised or ideological opposition tothe European Union, but in practice it is apparent that particular issues arouse most attention. The article coversthe period since the...

The use of simulations in European Studies is becoming more widespread, given the possibilities of immersing students in complex issues and building substantive knowledge and affective understanding. We identify a number of barriers to the full realisation of this potential. Drawing on observations from various games, it is suggested that for a suc...

Simulations are employed widely as teaching tools in political science, yet evidence of their pedagogical effectiveness, in comparison to other methods of instruction, is mixed. The assessment of learning outcomes is often a secondary concern in simulation design, and the qualitative and quantitative methods used to evaluate outcomes are frequently...

One of the most notable challenges of getting colleagues to try out simulations in political science teaching is the overcoming of start-up costs. In particular, the creation of a scenario from scratch or the adaptation of an existing game can be daunting. The paper discusses these challenges and ways that they can be overcome, through creating onl...

In the two decades since the emergence of the European Union at Maastricht there has been a concerted attempt to build a European political space, typified by the debates on constitutionalization and democratization. Much less noticed, but no less important, has been the mobilization of publics, interest groups and political parties against the int...

Since the early 1990s, The UK Independence Party (UKIP) has campaigned on a central ideologicalplatform of British withdrawal from the European Union (EU). The negative construction of this corevalue has resulted in repeated internal divisions within the party, in large part on the best strategy forachieving it. The mutations of UKIP's strategy sin...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of how best to reproduce realistic reproductions and outcomes in the dynamic environment of a simulated negotiation on a political theme. Design/methodology/approach Using a case study run by the author of a university undergraduate negotiation module, qualitative data are provided to suppo...

The UK has the most fully developed set of anti-European Union groups of any country, from national political parties through to local grassroots organisations and sectoral lobbies. For most of these groups, the media plays a central role in their work, enabling them to reach audiences much greater than otherwise possible. In this paper, the profil...

A key element of using simulations is the use of participant immersion as a driver of learning, but this is always compromised by the requirements of simulations to simplify the real world. Using a case-study of a university-level Politics module on negotiation, this paper considers how best to balance this tension and enhance immersion. To achieve...

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) has been one of the most successful single-issue parties in modern British political history. With its central policy of withdrawal from the European Union, UKIP was the third largest party in the 2004 European Parliament elections. However, this article highlights the tensions that exist within the party, in terms...

Events relating to the European Union are typically conceived of as being a ‘second‐order’ phenomenon in domestic politics; ‘European’ referenda, elections, etc. are first and foremost a function of domestic/national issues. However, in the case of anti‐EU groups it is apparent that they are formed primarily as a result of European events. This pap...

There is now a relatively extensive literature on the party politics of euroscepticism, considered either in comparative perspective or in relation to single states. There is also a literature which approaches the dynamics of party positioning on EU integration in a broader view, considering support as well as opposition. These studies contain impo...

The Main Aim Of This Article Is To Understand Some Of The processes at work in the management of European policy formation by political parties in the UK. More specifically, it attempts to apply and extend the model proposed by Aspinwall of institutional constraints on that policy management. Whereas Aspinwall limits the application of his model to...

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of London, 2003.

In comparison with other European countries, left-wing opposition to the EU in the UK is relatively under-developed, both in terms of organisational capacity and of popular support. This paper proposes two inter-linked explanations for this. On the one hand, there is a paucity of suitable political organisations on the left, providing a barrier to...

Since the early 1990s, there has been a persistent and insistent debate within the British political classes about the desirability of having a referendum on the European Union, either on the occasion of a treaty ratification or more generally on the wider issue of British membership. However, such calls failed to become the official policy of a go...

In bicameral parliamentary systems, the main domestic duty of the Upper House is to scrutinise legislative drafts passed forward from the Lower House. However, international diplomatic duties also play a significant role in developing international relations between national parliaments and can be considered as another emerging path in developing i...