Those who are ‘ideologically colour-blind’ do not express explicitly negative views of racial minorities but instead reject the argument that racial discrimination is a significant social problem (Bonilla-Silva 2003). In the UK, it has been shown that this ideology is as widespread among white voters as it is in the US, with previous research indicating that few racial minorities will subscribe to colour blindness.

Social democratic parties across Europe have increasingly adopted restrictive immigration rhetoric in response to the electoral successes of radical right parties; however, the consequences of such accommodation remain contested. Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte, Associate Professor of Quantitative Political Science, will explore this topic by discussing the design and results of a study examining how attitudes may have changed following UK Labour leader Keir Starmer’s “Island of Strangers” speech, in which he adopted a significantly more rigid stance on immigration.

What happens when an institution with a liberal reputation adopts more illiberal policies? Even though the European Union is known for promoting liberal values, it has increasingly adopted restrictive asylum policies. In this paper, we examine the effects of what we call "liberal value clash'' - institutions with a liberal reputation adopting policies that run counter to their values. Using a pre-registered video experiment, we show that factual information is only a small part to make voters aware of liberal value clash.

(co-authored with Mats Ahrenshop, Anthony Calacino and Hayley Pring)

Deliberative mini-publics are currently being employed throughout the world, and it has been well documented that women are less likely to exercise their voice in deliberation. Yet the advent of digital platforms that host discussions online could mitigate this gendergap, and make it easier to test theories about the design of deliberative institutions.