Understanding devolution in Wales

This free course charts the transformation of the Welsh devolution settlement in the 20 years following the referendum on devolution in 1997. You will consider how an Assembly with minimal public support and limited law-making powers became a Parliament with the power to set taxes. You will explore some of the biggest challenges facing politics in Wales today, from debates over the size of the Senedd and lack of scrutiny to questions of funding fairness and judicial independence.Using video, audio and interactive elements, this course brings the debates dominating Welsh politics to life.

• Introduction
• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• Acknowledgements
• section1Section 1: Designing devolution
• Introduction
• 1 Political parties
• 2 The evolving devolution settlement
• 2.1 Pre-1979
• 2.2 1979
• 2.3 1997 referendum
• 2.4 A very close vote
• 2.5 Devising the new Assembly
• 2.6 New politics
• 3 The First Assembly (1999-2003)
• 4 The Second Assembly (2003-2007)
• 4.1 Richard Commission
• 4.2 Bonfire of the Quangos
• 5 The Third Assembly (2007-2011)
• 5.1 One Wales Government
• 5.2 LCOs
• 5.3 All Wales Convention
• 5.4 Referendum on law making powers
• 6 The Fourth Assembly (2011-2016)
• 6.1 Referrals to the Supreme Court
• 6.2 The Silk Commission
• 6.3 Two Wales Bills
• 7 The Fifth Assembly (2016-2021)
• 7.1 Raising taxes for the first time in 800 years
• 7.2 An Assembly becomes a Parliament
• 8 The Internal Market Bill and Brexit
• 9 Section 1 summary
• Glossary
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements
• section2Section 2: Ongoing issues for devolved government
• Introduction
• 1 Funding
• 1.1 Accountability
• 1.2 Fairness
• 1.3 Holtham Commission
• 2 A separate legal jurisdiction
• 2.1 Thomas Commission
• 2.2 Commissions in review
• 3 The size of the Senedd
• 3.1 Arguments against more MSs
• 3.2 Arguments for more MSs
• 4 A lack of scrutiny
• 4.1 Media
• 4.2 Civil society
• 4.3 Wales’ Commissioners
• 5 Inter-institutional relations
• 5.1 Lack of a written constitution
• 5.2 Political differences
• 5.3 Comparisons with Scotland and Northern Ireland
• 6 Section 2 summary
• Glossary
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements
• section3Section 3: Understanding Welsh voters
• Introduction
• 1 Interview with Roger Awan-Scully
• 2 Welsh identity
• 3 Attitudes towards devolution
• 4 The Welsh Language
• 5 Low voter turnout
• 6 Votes at 16
• 7 Section 3 summary
• 8 End of course summary
• Glossary
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements