• Can we bring political parties back to life?

How to restore trust in democratic politics is a central issue in Britain and across the advanced industrial democracies. As the only UK think-tank which is itself a democratically-run membership society, democracy has been a consistent theme for the Fabian Society.

The focus of our research in this area is on the future of political parties, and how parties must change if they are to remain relevant and to contribute to democratic engagement. (However, Fabian publications and events also address broader questions of democratic renewal, including the role of the media, constitutional change). In an anti-political age, the case against political parties is often prominent in public debate. Some advocate a shift to an age of 'post-party politics'. While there are good grounds for scepticism that this would make democracy more effective, parties must change if representative democracy is to reconnect.

The Fabian Society will make particular recommendations for reform of the Labour Party. The Fabian Society's is uniquely placed to provide an influential and independent forum for debate about how the party should reform – because we are affiliated to the Labour Party but we guard our organisational, editorial and financial independence fiercely.

Fabians have played a significant role historically, from the Society's role in founding the Labour Party with the trade unions; Sidney Webb's drafting of the 1918 Constitution and Fabian work calling for the rewriting of Clause IV, from Tony Crosland in the 1950s to Giles Radice in the early 1990s. Our work seeks to continue this tradition with challenging contributions to the debate about Labour's future.

To discuss working with the Fabian Society in this area, please contact Tim Horton, Research Director.

How do we make Britain more equal?

Fabian work on life chances has had a significant impact on policy and political discussion of inequality, setting a challenging agenda to make Britain more equal at a time when each of the three main parties claims that social justice will be a central concern.

A successful strategy for inequalities must work at three levels:

Philosophy: Why does inequality matter? Which inequalities matter most and why?

Policy: What policies are required is capable of narrowing the gaps in life chances?

Politics: How can a public case for greater equality be made in a compelling way, to build a winning coalition capable of mobiliisng the support and resources required?

The 'equal life chances' agenda recognises that today's unequal outcomes shape tomorrow's unequal opportunities, and has a particularly strong concern with the intergenerational transmission of inequalities, to prevent life chances being so strongly determined by the circumstances into which we are born as they are at present.

The Fabian Life Chances Commission report, published in 2006, had influenced the government's strategy for ending child poverty, and was praised for its innovative deliberative research into public attitudes to inequality and poverty. Its argument for a 'pre-birth' inequalities agenda influenced the Chancellor's decision to extend child benefit from the 29th week of pregnancy.

In 2007, we are beginning major research projects on educational inequalities, and on examining the role of the state and civil society in addressing life chances and inequalities. We will also address how to forge a coherent strategy across major equalities 'strands', seeking to inform the strategy of new Commission for Equality and Human Rights and of campaigners for equality and equalities.

To discuss working with the Fabian Society in this area, please contact Tim Horton, Research Director.

Who will shape the world after Bush?

Foreign policy has been deeply controversial, particularly since September 11th 2001 and the Iraq war. Will new political leadership in Britain, the United States, France and elsewhere provide an opportunity for new thinking or for more of the same?

This strand of work will address the foreign policy lessons of the last decade, and assess the shifting 21st century world order. But our focus will be on how the internationalist left can propose constructive solutions to major global challenges.

What practical agenda should those who believe we need multilateral solutions to global problems be pursuing? What can Britain and the EU do to make these possible?

What will this mean in practice on the biggest questions – such as climate change, global poverty and development, security, Middle East peace and migration?

Can diplomacy and democracy mix? What would a more democratic and ethical foreign policy involve?

The Fabian New Year Conference in January 2008 will be one of the largest public conferences on foreign policy ever held in Britain, providing a focal point for this strand of our work, following a series of events and publications across 2007.

To discuss working with the Fabian Society in this area or dicuss future Fabian work on international issues, please contact Jemima Olchawski.

Publications

• Obama must seize moment on Middle East
• Labour can learn from Obama
• Learning lessons from America
• What New Labour could learn from Obama
• How Peace Broke Out in the Middle East: A short history of the future
• A New Social Europe
• Must Politics Disappoint?

• 2025: What next for the Make Poverty History generation?
• Summer 2006: The World After Bush
• Sunder Katwala: The World After Bush
• Trumpets Round the City Walls
• Just World
• The Making of Europe's Constitution
• Progressive Globalisation

Events

• The Global Change We Need Conference tickets
  
• Miliband leads pre-Copenhagen summit
• Lessons from America podcast
• React to US election result
• America Votes; Europe Responds
• Sidney Blumenthal in conversation with Jonathan Freedland
• New Year Conference 2008: Change the World
• What do Iran's democrats want from us?
• Peter Mandelson lecture: a New Consensus for Europe

News

• Miliband: "Europe is a test for all parties"
• Woolas writes to the Fabians on immigration
• Obama's online campaigner interviewed
• "Labour needs to learn from US campaign"
• Labour needs to find friends with passion
• Nomination battle not over, says Clinton adviser
• Brown commits to Iraq inquiry "to learn all possible lessons"
• Sunder Katwala: a foreign policy that went astray
• Europe after UKIP

Could a New Britishness Unite Us?

The Fabian Society has been central to a significant public debate over how a new Britishness can provide the 'ties that bind' a diverse society together. Our work in this area explores how we maintain the strong sense of collective citizenship, which is necessary for Britain to share common projects, such as a drive to narrow inequalities.

The Britishness debate links together several major 'identity questions' in contemporary British politics, which are often considered in isolation from each other: the Union after devolution; diversity, multiculturalism and integration; the role of religion in a multi-faith and secular society; Britain's ambivalence over its place in Europe and role in the world; and how a new constitutional settlement could contribute to democratic renewal.

The Fabian New Year Conference in January 2006 saw over 750 people debate 'Who do we want to be? The future of Britishness'. The event and Gordon Brown's keynote speech sparked an immense amount of public and political discussion. The conference was previewed by the Fabian Review Britishness Issue (December 2005) which set out a series of practical policy proposals for strengthening citizenship.

Fabian publications and events continue to explore practical ideas to foster a strong sense of collective citizenship, with a particular focus on how the themes of Britishness, democratic renewal and equality need to be linked together. John Denham and Sadiq Khan are leading a Fabian project on the role of government in fostering citizenship and integration, seeking to reframe government policy and public debate around British Muslim communities in particular, which will report in 2007.

To discuss working with the Fabian Society in this area, please contact Sunder Katwala, General Secretary.

Can't we get greener than this?

With a growing consensus about the urgency of concerted action to address climate change, and environmental issues rising up the public agenda, how can the domestic and international coalitions needed be built in time? What practical steps would a new environmental contract require of government, business and citizens themselves?

Fabian activity seeks to fuse values of sustainability, equity and internationalism, examining a 'red and green' sustainable politics of the left at home and abroad.

In addition to publications, public lectures and debates, the Fabian Society runs a high-level Environmental Policy Network which brings together leading decision-makers and opinion formers from policy, politics, business, civil society and academia to examine specific environmental policy challenges, and which helps to inform our work in this area.

To discuss working with the Fabian Society in this area, please contact Jemima Olchawski, Events Director or Tom Hampson, Editorial Director.