UK Constitutionalism and Economic Performance: Comparative Perspectives

The UK is, in several respects, an outlier among modern constitutional democracies. Significantly, the UK does not have a codified constitution and, due to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, the rules that regulate constitutional issues are not entrenched. In addition, a significant number of constitutional rules are conventions that cannot be enforced by courts.

The interdisciplinary Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society, and the Rule of Law (CISRUL) invites applications for a PhD studentship to compare the UK’s constitutional framework with other liberal democracies, and to consider whether and how the UK’s economic performance differs as a result.

The lack of a codified constitution, the absence of a strong form of constitutional review, the weakness of the second chamber (House of Lords), and the first-past-the-post electoral system are all features of the UK constitution that result in a central government where decision-making is much more concentrated than in other mature democracies.

In addition, power in the UK is concentrated not only horizontally, but also vertically. The UK is one of the most centralised countries among liberal democracies, with the proportion of tax revenue and public spending that is controlled by central government much higher than in comparable countries. The horizontal and vertical concentration of power makes the UK a paradigmatic example of the model that Arend Lijphart dubbed ‘majoritarian democracy’, which he has argued is inferior to the ‘consensus democracy’ model when it comes to effective policymaking.

The PhD researcher will develop an independent research project that examines whether and how the UK’s particular constitutional framework is related to its economic performance. Questions to consider include the following:

• To what extent is the UK constitution an international outlier, considering the changes it has undergone in the past thirty years?
• Is the UK the paradigmatic example of a majoritarian democracy, as Lijphart suggested?
• Is the UK’s constitutional framework responsible, at least in part, for its relative decline in economic performance?

The PhD researcher will work under the interdisciplinary supervision of 2-3 CISRUL staff drawn from Law, Politics and Business. Possible co-supervisors include Professor Tamas Gyorfi (Law), Dr Erin Ferguson (Law), Dr Robert Taylor (Law), Professor Ian Greener (Politics), and Professor Ignacio Canales (Business).

CISRUL supports a vigorous community of PhD students, who take a leading role in our many activities. Each year, CISRUL provides funding for its PhDs to design and host a major international conference on a topic proposed by them.

Because CISRUL is intended to be a lively community on campus, we expect our PhD students to be in residence in Aberdeen throughout their PhD, and we do not anticipate they will study remotely.

The studentship is open to applicants of any nationality.

The studentship includes: 

• tuition fees (home or overseas)
• annual maintenance of £19,237
• an allowance for research and conference travel (£1000/year)
• generous funding to design and host workshops and/or conferences at CISRUL.

Applicants must hold or be about to complete a postgraduate Masters degree in a relevant field. In most cases, we will be looking for the equivalent of a First Class or Distinction in the Masters, especially in the dissertation.

Applicants must also satisfy the University’s English language requirements. If you do not already have the appropriate certification, any offer will be conditional on securing this prior to commencing study.

For more details, refer here