In 2010, the British Coalition government came to power explicitly promising spending cuts as part of a wider fiscal consolidation programme to resolve a debt crisis. Despite this promise to reduce public services, the British public seemed to reluctantly accept as necessary the imperatives of this debt crisis. Why? Through the analysis of data from focus groups conducted around Birmingham, this thesis tackles this puzzle of austerity acquiescence by answering a double-edged central research question: how do everyday actors make sense of austerity, and what do these processes tell us about the legitimation of austerity and the wider politics of crisis? The central argument is that while austerity is a vague and highly moral idea, it is simultaneously powerful and 'successful' inasmuch that it resonates with the 'mood of the times'. In other words, fiscal consolidation has been conferred a degree of legitimacy since it can be justified in line with some of the intersubjective beliefs and experiences of the public. Through this argument, this thesis primarily contributes to the discipline of political economy through a novel empirical account of austerity acquiescence and a constructivist framework for exploring how crises and narratives are conferred legitimacy through resonating with the mood of the times.

This thesis explores what impact thirteen years of Britain’s New Labour government’s (1997-2010) social exclusion policy agenda had on the representation of non-white communities within England’s authorised heritage narrative, told through the places, objects and ‘things’ given heritage value by ‘experts’. This thesis finds that certain mainstream heritage organisations in England perceive there to be an ‘established’ heritage that is agreed, therefore cannot be challenged even as we uncover more about the diverse realities of the county’s past. Two ways are considered by which to understand the hegemony of this heritage and how it might be ‘used’ to the benefit of a more diverse national narrative: the first by accepting Laurajane Smith’s assertion that there is an authorised heritage discourse (AHD) in England and seek ways to harness it rather than subvert it. The second follows on from the first in proposing how communities of interest might participate equally in the process of heritage making. The first way is drawn out through an interrogation of heritage sector policy and practice – from organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage, national museums, amongst others – to decipher the meaning of heritage in England and who it is for, according to those mainstream organisations that create and manage it. The second utilises case studies of major heritage projects in England that have sought to engage with non-white audiences to understand the methods mainstream heritage organisations have used to do so. It is concluded that the model for heritage making in England acts as a barrier to a diverse heritage. Using the work of Rodney Harrison, an alternative ‘dialogic’ heritage is suggested that encourages it to be seen as fluid and contested and challenge the notion of any heritage being perceived as 'established'.

Depuis les années 2000, l’équilibre mondial se trouve confronté à deux menaces majeures, le réchauffement climatique et la fin annoncée des ressources en hydrocarbures, préfigurant un changement de paradigme énergétique imminent. Face aux inquiétudes grandissantes concernant l’équilibre des systèmes énergétiques futurs, de nombreux pays ont récemment vu dans l’industrie nucléaire la solution permettant d’allier système de production stable et faible pollution. Depuis 2006, le Royaume-Uni s’est également engagé dans la voie de la renaissance nucléaire. Toutefois, cette transformation soulève de nombreux questionnements pour une industrie qui a, au cours de l’ère néo-libérale des années 1990, subi de nombreuses transformations provoquées par un désengagement progressif de l’Etat à travers des phases de privatisation, d’agencification et de déstructuration. Selon les théories de la gouvernance, ces processus sont les symptômes d’une érosion pérenne et profonde des pouvoirs de l’Etat centralisateur, dont les leviers d’action ont été émoussés et qui ont été vidés de leur substance (hollowed out). Dans la mesure où la renaissance nucléaire britannique est conditionnée par un soutien étatique fort, le cas britannique constitue un exemple de choix afin de tester cette théorie. À travers une mise en perspective historique et selon une approche systémique, cette recherche analyse l’évolution des politiques électronucléaires britanniques de 1979 à 2015. Son objectif sera de démontrer que, depuis la fin des années 2000, la relance du nucléaire a déclenché la réactivation des mécanismes de leadership étatique, malgré la permanence des principes de primauté des marchés et de concurrence vertueuse. Il s’agira alors d’identifier ce nouveau paradigme qui a émergé depuis le milieu des années 2000, au sein des relations entre l’État britannique, la société civile, l’industrie nucléaire nationale et les marchés. Cette nouvelle dynamique se caractérise par des pratiques dorénavant hybrides d’action politique, telles que des formes innovantes de gouvernance technocratique, de néo-corporatisme et de néo-keynésianisme. / Since the turn of the century, the threats of climate change and the future depletion of the world’s oil reserves have triggered mounting concerns over a looming energy crisis, foreshadowing a shift in energy paradigm. Many industrial nations have recently turned to nuclear power as a possible low-carbon and stable means of producing electricity. In 2006 the UK became a new player in this worldwide nuclear renaissance. However, the UK nuclear industry was greatly weakened during the neo-liberal era of the 1990s, when its previously monopolistic structure was dismantled and privatised. According to governance theories, such practices underscore how the State has essentially been hollowed out and has seen its capacity to interfere in policy-making greatly eroded throughout the 1990s. Since new nuclear energy projects rely on strong state support, the British situation offers a case in point to test this governance theory. This research explores how the British nuclear power policies evolved from 1979 to 2015 from a historical and systemic angle. It reveals that, since the end of the 2000s, the UK State has managed to revive some of its leadership instruments, despite its attachment to free market principles. A new paradigm is therefore emerging in the relationship between the State, the citizens, the industrial sector and the electricity markets that can be characterised by new innovative and hybrid decision-making practices, involving forms of technocratic governance, neo-corporatism and neo-Keynesianism.