A new analysis of mind/body unity, based on the philosophy of Spinoza.

This book examines the development of Welsh devolution in the context of great economic and political uncertainty. Drawing on research carried out over more than a decade, it explores whether Welsh devolution has developed the capacity to resist internal and external pressures and to continue to pursue a distinctive political and policy agenda.

The creation of the National Assembly for Wales and Scottish Parliament has altered the democratic landscape of the UK. In assuming many policy and adminstraitve responsiblities previously held by the central government, the Welsh assembly promises innovation in governance and there are high expectations that devolution will bring about significant changes in Welsh life. New Governance - New Democracy? questions whether these expectations are likely to be fulfiled. Drawing on interviews with many of the people who have influenced the devolution experiment, from poltitions to ordinary citizens, this book offers interdisciplinary discussion and analysis of issues ranging from electorial turnout, participation and legitimacy to the involvement of marginalized groups in the process of government. It also examines the developing relationship between the new Welsh legislature and the voluntary sector, the governance of economic development and the regulation and political control of public agencies in Wales.

Civil Society in Wales provides a critical evaluation of the main themes and points of contention facing discussions of public policy in contemporary Wales. Topics covered include religion and civil society, the voluntary sector, the media, nationalism, community regeneration, young people, and citizenship.

So whose Wales is it? There is a degree of ambiguity that runs through Welsh politics that in turn has hindered discussions of a clear Welsh political identity. Can any one party claim to have done more than any other in the fight for securing and then developing Welsh devolution? The track record of all four main players, Liberal, Labour, Conservative and Plaid Cymru, is looked at, from the time of Queen Victoria to these days of devolution and Yes Cymru. From one of the leading proponents of the devolution of Wales, Gwynoro Jones, and an award-winning author and former BBC journalist, Alun Gibbard, this well illustrated book looks at these often-bitter claims and counterclaims. Alun Gibbards' insightful documenting and analysis complement Gwynoro Jones' first-hand experience and knowledge in a project that is unique in its scope and structure. Between 1536 and 1542 the regime of Henry VIII incorporated Wales into England. Wales was to have no separate existence. Its language was banned from public life and its legal system abolished. It was meant to disappear. Yet here we are in the 21st Century with an increasingly self-governing Wales with a strong sense of identity and a pride in its language. Alun Gibbard and Gwynoro Jones have traced the revival of Wales from the industrialising country of the 1880s and the nonconformist consciousness that led to Sunday closing. They describe the bitter battles over devolution in the 1970s through to the small margin in favour of a Welsh Assembly in 1997 and on to the well-established lawmaking, tax-varying Parliament with solid public support that we see today. We were not meant to be here. This book shows how we survived. Carwyn Jones First Minister of Wales 2009-2018 The rhetorical question in the book's title, Whose Wales? echoes the kind of questions which historians and political commentators have raised over the decades, from Gwyn Alf Williams' When was Wales? to Dai Smith's enigmatic question in the title of his book on Welsh politics, Wales! Wales? Professor Sir Deian Hopkin.

Female activists around the globe have long used the political opportunities afforded by constitutional reform to further gender equality and women s participation in politics. This timely and accessible volume addresses the way in which changes introduced by devolved governance in Wales have transformed the role of women in contemporary Welsh politics and presented a new phase in the history of Welsh women s activism. Based on original interviews with participants as well as a range of secondary sources, "Women, Politics, and Constitutional Change" examines the innovations, background, and effects that have led the new Welsh legislature to the second-highest proportion of women representatives in all of Europe, and the pro-devolution rhetoric of inclusiveness that opened the way."