Is the 'North' being politicised? An investigation into the changing nature of party politics in the North of England.

关于北方政治独特性的看法已经存在了一段时间，然而，最近的一些事态发展增加了这一问题的政治突出性。自2014年以来，人们越来越关注通过“城市地区交易”向英格兰北部部分地区下放权力，由于“北方强国”议程，人们更加关注“北方”的经济。近年来也出现了几个新的北方地区主义政党，特别是自欧盟公投以来，国家政党的政治家们也做出了一些引人注目的努力，以增加对“北方”的政治关注。鉴于这种背景证据，我假设，在英格兰北部的政党政治的性质正在发生变化。测试是否是这种情况将是本研究项目的主要目的。这将提出该项目将解决的几个关键研究问题。它将考虑“北方”作为一个政治上独特的地区的想法是否被政治化，或者“北方”的较小次区域是否被独立政治化。它将审查导致这种情况的潜在因素，包括对身份的关切、社会经济不满和对宪法改革的要求。它将确定动员“北方”政治化的行动者，并考虑他们的动机和目标。至关重要的是，它将探讨所有这一切对英格兰北部政党政治的影响和共鸣。这将涉及审查政党如何应对和参与政治变革以及“北方”独特的政治挑战和机遇。虽然有越来越多的学术工作研究英格兰北部的政治，一个详细的研究，考虑如何围绕身份，治理和政治冲突的问题走到一起，并影响政党政治在“北”将提供一个有用的贡献的文献。到目前为止，还没有一项单独的研究将这一重要问题作为一个整体来处理并深入探讨。拟议的研究方法将结合联合收割机分析的学术文献和二级来源的主要定性数据的分析，从深入的半结构化访谈。文献回顾的第一项任务是研究将“北方”视为政治上独特地区的广泛工作。这将涉及审议关于区域主义和社区的一般文献。在此之后，研究将把注意力转向“北方”政治化的想法。Hooghe和Marks（2009）围绕身份、治理和政治冲突的重要性提出了一个令人信服的政治化理论。本研究将从这一理论中得出一个分析框架，并将其应用于整个研究。研究还将借鉴政治学研究的几个领域的文献，包括身份政治，多层次治理的性质和影响以及选举竞争文献。主要研究访谈的主要目的是发现参与者对“北方”是否被政治化的看法，并考虑他们对英格兰北部政党政治的影响。选择这种定性方法的动机是希望解释参与者的观点。这项研究的主要研究样本将由来自各政党的主要国家和地方政治家以及来自北方利益集团的活动家和利益攸关方组成。抽样方法将是有目的的，根据他们的相关性和对英格兰北部政党政治当前辩论的贡献确定潜在的采访参与者。

Perceptions about Northern political distinctiveness have existed for some time however, several recent developments have increased the political salience of this issue. Since 2014 there has been an increased focus on the devolution of powers to parts of the North of England through 'city-region deals' and greater attention has been given to the economy of the 'North' due to the 'Northern Powerhouse' agenda. There has also been an emergence of several new Northern regionalist parties in recent years and there have been some notable attempts by politicians from national parties to increase political focus on the 'North', particularly since the EU referendum. In view of this contextual evidence, I hypothesize that the nature of party politics in the North of England is changing. Testing whether this is the case will be the primary aim of this research project. This will pose several key research questions that the project will address. It will consider whether the idea of the 'North' as a politically distinct region is being politicised, or whether smaller sub-regions of the 'North' are being politicised independently. It will examine the potential factors driving this including concerns around identity, socio-economic grievances and demands for constitutional reform. It will identify the actors mobilising the politicisation of the 'North' and consider their motives and aims. Crucially, it will explore the impact and resonance of all of this on party politics in the North of England. This will involve examining how political parties are responding to and engaging with political changes and the distinct political challenges and opportunities in the 'North'. While there is a growing body of academic work examining the politics of the North of England, a detailed study considering how issues around identity, governance and political conflict are coming together and impacting upon party politics in the 'North' will provide a useful contribution to the literature. There is, as yet, no individual study which has addressed this important issue as a whole and explored it in depth. The proposed research methodology will combine analysis of the academic literature and secondary sources with analysis of primary qualitative data gathered from in-depth semi-structured interviews. The first task of the literature review will be to examine the extensive work looking at the idea of the 'North' as a politically distinct region. This will involve consideration of the literature on regionalism and community more generally. Following this, the study will turn its attention to the idea of the politicisation of the 'North'. Hooghe and Marks (2009) offer a compelling theory on politicisation centred around the importance of identity, governance and political conflict. The study will derive an analytical framework from this theory that will be applied throughout. The research will also draw on the literature form several areas of the study of political science including work on the politics of identity, the nature and impact of multi-level governance and literature on electoral competition. The main aim of the primary research interviews will be to discover participant's view on whether the 'North' is being politicised and consider their opinions on how this is or is not impacting upon party politics in the North of England. The choice of this qualitative approach is motivated by the desire for explanation of participants' views. The study's primary research sample will be made up of leading national and local politicians from a variety of political parties as well as activists and stakeholders from Northern interest groups. The sampling method will be purposive with potential interview participants identified based on their relevance and contribution to the current debates around party politics in the North of England.