Lead supervisor:
Prof Richard Wyn Jones 
Other supervisor(s):
- Dr Huw Pritchard
Start date: October 2024 (Full time)
Award: General
Subject Pathway:
Criminology and Law
Thematic Cluster:
Rights and Governance Cluster
Devolution and the Central State
Research on devolution has tended to focus on what Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland gain. Far less attention has been paid to what happens at the Centre – to Westminster and Whitehall – when power is redistributed away from them.
The purpose of this research is to address that gap, examining how demands for constitutional reform have sought to deal with the Centre. From the campaign for Irish Home Rule through to modern devolution, this research reflects on what reformers have said about the institutions, powers and culture of central government – and how the Centre itself has responded to the pressures of change.
As an interdisciplinary project, this research explores the legal and political impacts of successive waves of constitutional reform. In so doing, it will interrogate questions such as the nature of sovereignty, the purpose of the Union and the proper role of the central institutions within it.
This research aims to build a more complete picture of constitutional reform, offering broader insight into how central institutions react to – and are shaped by – the forces of change around them.