Community cohesion: a political project of governance

This chapter identifies the key themes that have emerged in the book and sets out some future research agendas for the analysis of cohesion and new dimensions of diversity and difference.

This collection has explored the political project of governance being pursued through the active reinvigoration of the community realm, the stated objective of which is the promotion of greater ‘cohesion’ within British society. The most vivid articulation of this policy agenda was the government response to the disturbances in northern England in 2001. Both the functional and political elements of governance were evident in the resulting community cohesion agenda, which subsequently expanded to encompass far broader themes, including national identity, citizenship, civic allegiance, migration and governmental authority. In part it has been reactive, seeking explanations and solutions to specific localised problems or events and reflecting a wider quest for evidence-based policy making – thus, the use of investigative national commissions on community cohesion (Community Cohesion Independent Review Team, 2001; Commission on Integration and Cohesion, 2007) supported by a series of local reports and recommendations and indeed the establishment of the Institute of Community Cohesion in 2005. There has also been a broadening of the range of agencies assigned key roles, with, for example, schools and housing associations being given new roles and duties to promote community cohesion (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2007; Housing Corporation, 2007).

However, many of the chapters in this book also identify the political nature of the new politics of community, which sets limits on which elements of social division fall within the remit of the cohesion paradigm and which areas and populations are to be subject to government action. This cohesion agenda therefore represents the contemporary manifestation of a civilising offensive through which governments seek to inculcate particular values and to reshape the morals and behaviour of the population (Elias, 2000; Burnett, 2007). This agenda has focused on cultural explanations based on assumptions about the motivations and allegiances of particular groups within British society. In doing so, it neglects the wider structural processes that constrain the choices of individuals. In addition, as Burnett points out in this volume, the agenda is wedded to particular interpretations of cohesion and citizenship and represents a retreat from a multiculturalism that is deemed to have failed.