Theme: Parties & Elections | Content Type: Journal article

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Diary of an SNP First Minister: A Chronopolitics of Proximity and Priorities

Hannah Graham

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Zoran Borojevic

| 1 min read

This article provides a content analysis of Nicola Sturgeon's first ministerial diaries in the final two years of her leadership (April 2021–March 2023). As first minister, to whom and what did she give her time—which issues and interest groups had access? Which didn't? Or, who and what may be missing? An audience with a national leader can be indicative of priorities and potential for influence—as can its absence. The lens of chronopolitics—the politics of time—is used here to consider twenty-four months of diaries, with 681 entries. Some key social and political issues in Scotland were kept away from the FM's meetings and delegated to other ministers to oversee, whereas other issues appear to be signature priorities, including climate and the environment, economy and finance, culture, and health and Covid-19.

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Volume 95, Issue 4

Latest Journal Issue

Volume 95, Issue 4

This issue features a collection 'Responding to Rachel Reeves' Mais Lecture', in which authors including Dan Corry, Aveek Bhattacharya and Kira Gartzou-Katsouyanni give their analyses of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement of economic policy given before Labour came to power. In addition there is a collection featuring Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Abby Innes and Gavin Kelly responding to Michael Jacobs' assessment of today's global 'polycrisis'. Other articles include Philippe Marlière's assessment of why French social democracy is in turmoil; and Helen Margetts, Cosmina Dorobantu, and Jonathan Bright's piece on building progressive public services with artificial intelligence. A selection of book reviews feature Dick Pountain's review of Left Is Not Woke by Susan Neiman, and Helen McCarthy's review of The Solidarity Economy: Nonprofits and the Making of Neoliberalism after Empire by Tehila Sasson.

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