The Westminster parliament lies at the heart of UK democracy. Yet its role and powers became increasingly controversial during the ‘Brexit’ process, following the 2016 referendum decision to leave the European Union. Fierce arguments were framed as ‘parliament versus people’, which fed a populist narrative and raised fundamental questions about where UK sovereignty should lie. This article charts the stages of parliament’s Brexit ‘perfect storm’, tracing its causes to four factors: the design of the referendum, a period of (unfamiliar) minority government, deeply divided political parties, and the weakness of parliamentary rules in facilitating a solution. In the end, the Brexit argument was primarily one inside the Conservative Party, but parliament got the blame.
This article examines the complex context of the UK's departure from the European Union and its political implications,analyzing the roots of Brexit and pointing out that it stems from long-standing social,political and iden-tity divisions,particularly between liberals and conservatives over immigration and education.The article reviews the historical lineage of Brexit,emphasizing Britain's complex relation-ship with European integration and the impact of the imperial legacy on Brexit.It also exam-ines the role of the election campaign in the referendum,particularly the impact of slogans such as"Take Back Control"on voters.The article also looks at the far-reaching impact of Brexit on domestic politics,including the in-tensification of Scottish independence and the rise of nationalism in England,and argues that Brexit has not only altered the UK's relation-ship with the EU,but also reshaped the UK's own political landscape.
The UK has seen, within recent years, a noticeable increase in Euroscepticism, culminating in the vote to leave the European Union altogether. Although there were many reasons for the Brexit vote, the UK, in common with some other EU countries, had become increasingly concerned about rising levels of immigration, particularly from within the EU. This has led to an increase in a process of Othering those of a different background, nationality or religion, and ultimately the EU itself. This article seeks to explore aspects of othering of the EU in the UK, partly in the light of the Brexit vote. It focuses on the role of the media and political elites in this process. The article draws from secondary sources and sets out a research agenda based on seeking to understand the othering process of the EU, within the UK that requires further empirical research.
This study mainly explored psychological stress caused by the COVID-19 among parents in developmental disabilities and how it was related to parents' views of school success in mainland China. The Psychological Stress Questionnaire and Views of Social and Academic Success were administered to 1919 parents of children with developmental disabilities. Results showed that parent characteristics including gender, age, educational level, family income and job nature and children characteristics (i.e., disability types) were related to psychological stress caused by the COVID-19, and that psychological stress caused by the COVID-19 significantly negatively predicted parents' views of school success. The contributions, limitations, and implications of the present research are discussed.
Rape is an event that induces an existential crisis by exerting a major impact on living for oneself, living together and living connected. It causes psychological and physical sufferings. Even after many years, most raped women have a traumatic memory of the event. The consequences of rape on the alteration of female identity are indisputable. The purpose of this article is to study the consequences of rape on the identity of victims; describe the feelings developed by the victims during and after the rape; understand how a victim manages to overcome the trauma of rape.
