- Philip Cowley
Philip Cowley is a British
political scientist and anacademic at theUniversity of Nottingham in theUnited Kingdom .He is particularly notable for two things: one the analysis of
Parliamentary voting behaviour in the UK House of Commons andHouse of Lords and secondly his opposition to a lowering of the UKvoting age below 18.Parliamentary Revolts
In the first he is involved in the continuous production of highly detailed and closely analysed briefing papers and reports of divisions in the
UK Parliament , with eye-witness accounts of whipping practices in action, counts and comparisons of rebellious voting by Parliamentarians and discussion of how such activity impacts on its political context. He co-ordinates this work through the maintenance of awebsite - www.revolts.co.uk - produced in a blog format. He is assisted by his colleaguesMark Stuart , also of theUniversity of Nottingham , andLord Norton of theUniversity of Hull . They are funded by theEconomic and Social Research Council and through previous research by their respective universities and theLeverhulme Trust . The project is not affiliated to any political party, nor does it receive funding from any other source."Votes For Adults"
In the second he has produced a
website entitled "Votes for Adults" in which he claims to dismiss comprehensively the arguments put forward in support of a reduction of thevoting age to 16. This is in opposition to theVotes at 16 campaign, supported by a broad coalition of youth charities and other organisations. Since the adverse report of the Electoral Commission towards a reduction in thevoting age in the near future, Cowley's maintenance of the website has ceased as a result of his success.Bibliography
*"Developments in British Politics 8", Macmillan, 2006 (ed. Patrick Dunleavy, Richard Heffernan, Philip Cowley & Colin Hay)
*"Rebels: How Blair Mislaid His Majority", Politico's 2005 (shortlisted for the Channel 4 Political Awards Book of the Year)
*"Revolts and Rebellions: Parliamentary Voting Under Blair", Politico's, 2002 (Winner of W J M Mackenzie Prize for best book published in political science in 2002)External links
* [http://www.revolts.co.uk Revolts]
* [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/philip_cowley/ Comment is Free: Philip Cowley]
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