High expectations surrounded the National Assembly for Wales. Devolution would create a ‘new politics’ and an active civil society would contribute to changing political culture in Wales. ‘Civil society’, however, was an unfamiliar term and one of the most under-researched aspects of contemporary Welsh society.
Revitalizing Democracy?: Devolution and Civil Society in Wales takes advantage of the ‘real-time’ experiment of devolution to assess whether these high expectations were realised in practice.
It investigates the influence of regional government on political culture by focusing on the impact of devolution on civil society during the Assembly’s first term. Its particular focus is on whether devolution enhances civil society’s ability to contribute to revitalising democracy and the interrelationship between civil society and national identity. The book develops an empirical understanding of post-devolution civil society through theoretically informed, detailed and case study based research. It illustrates the significant impact of devolution on civil society and suggests potential policy prescriptions. It will be an essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary Welsh politics and UK devolution and will be of broader appeal to those interested in civil society and comparative research on regional government.
Elin Royles is a Lecturer in Welsh Politics at the Institute of Welsh Politics, Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She has published articles on civil society in post-devolution Wales and is working on a comparative study of civil society and regional government in Wales and Catalonia.