The Citizen State: Identity and Power in Welsh Politics - With Roger Awan-Scully

Breaking Britain: A Podcast about the Politics of a Disunited Kingdom

In this episode, recorded on 8 February 2021, we explore how tensions over the unity of the British state have affected debates over power and identity in Welsh society. With its own legislature, language and party landscape, Wales has evolved a unique political culture whose internal evolution has become increasingly affected by debates over independence and the role of the EU in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England.
To explore the transformation of Welsh politics, we've been joined by Professor Roger Awan-Scully. Through his work as Professor of Political Science at Cardiff University and Chair of the Political Studies Association, Professor Awan-Scully has developed fascinating insights into the power dynamics around the politics of devolution and identity in Wales as well as the United Kingdom as a whole. In ground-breaking studies such as Representing Europe’s Citizens? Electoral Institutions and the Failure of Parliamentary Representation in Europe, Wales Says Yes: Devolution and the 2011 Welsh Referendum and more recently 'For Wales, do not see England: An analysis of the 2017 General Election', he has explored the pressures on the UK Union in fascinating ways that can help place accelerating political change in Wales in a wider historical and global context.
The background music is by Through the City by Crowander, and the production for this podcast was by Daniel Mansfield.