Comment & Analysis

We’ve been doing a lot of work lately on establishing a new Republic Schools Programme.  The programme’s simple aim is the recruitment of volunteers around the country to visit schools and give talks or conduct activity based classes, around the issues of monarchy and constitutional reform.

Key to the success of the programme, of course, is finding interesting ways to frame the issue in the context of contemporary debates.  For instance, there’s a lot of debate about the power of government and the apparent weakness of parliament which can be traced back to the stunted growth of democracy in the UK.  Questions about civil liberties and Europe, about national identity and the vitality of our democracy also provide opportunities to discuss the fundamental questions of our constitution: where does power originate, who exercises power and in whose interests?  How, essentially, does our constitution promote or subvert the principles of democracy, in spirit or in practice.

All this is a roundabout way of saying that the multitude of current debates about power lead to the monarchy.  Questions about the monarchy are not simply about Elizabeth Windsor or Buckingham Palace, they’re about the nature of our political settlement.  Our entire constitution hangs on the Crown, on a notion of deference to power and a paternalistic relationship between the governed and the governors.

So when our volunteers visit schools around the country, it won’t just be to counter silly myths about tourism, charity or 66p.  It will be an opportunity to challenge students to think critically about the fundamental questions of our constitution and how they relate to some of the big political debates of the day.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 8:19 pm and is filed under General, Republic & Campaigns, Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are now closed.