Government and Politics in Britain: An Introduction | John Kingdom

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	Table of Contents The detailed contents list which follows is more extensive than that which appears in the book and is designed to give you comprehensive information on how topics are covered. 1 Introduction: Studying Politics Part I Politics in Context 2 The World of Ideas: Political Ideology 3 The Constitution: the Unwritten and the Unknowable 4 The Global Context: this Sceptred Isle 5 Britain in Europe: Awkward Partners? 6 A Disunited Kingdom: Territorial Politics 7 The Social Context: Our Divided Society Part II Mobilizing the Demos 8 Mind Politics: What We Think 9 The Electoral System: Parsimonious Democracy 10 The Politics of Power: a Life History of the Party System 11 Inside the Parties: Masses, Leaders and Powers Behind Thrones Part III Government at the Centre 12 Pomp and Circumstance: the Living Dead of the Constitution 13 Parliament: Not to Reason Why 14 The Heart of Government: of Cabinets and Kings 15 The Village of Whitehall: of Ministers and Mandarins 16 Getting and Spending: the Politics of Public Expenditure 17 The Politics of Influence: Who Gets What, When, How Part IV The Outer Reaches of the State: Worlds Beyond Whitehall 18 Arm's-length Administration: Quasi-autonomy, Quasi-democracy 19 Local Government: the Grass Roots of Democracy 20 Justice and Politics: Trials and Errors 21 The Coercive State: the Politics of Law and Order 22 Thinking Synoptically 1 Introduction: Studying Politics What is Politics? Encountering politics Politics as compromise: the 'art of the possible' Politics as authority Politics as power Politics as deception What do political scientists study? The state Government The state and the government The political and the non-political Is there really a world beyond politics? Political Science A master science? The interdisciplinary perspective The governance perspective Peering behind the facade top Part I Politics in Context 2 The World of Ideas: Political Ideology Does ideology matter? Ideology and the Western Tradition Liberalism The pattern of development: liberté, egalité, fraternité The liberal revolutions Economic liberalism New Liberalism Neoliberalism Whose interest? Socialism The pattern of development: in search of Utopia Marx and Marxism The anarchistic tradition Whose interest? Conservatism The pattern of development: the retreat from rationalism Whose interest? A Changing Climate Feminism The pattern of development: liberté, egalité and sisterhood Forms of feminism Whose interest? Environmentalism The pattern of development: industrialism in question Forms of environmentalism The global challenge Whose interest? A Third Way? Whose interest? An End of Ideology? top 3 The Constitution: the Unwritten and the Unknowable Seeking the Constitution Defining the constitution Why study the constitution? Britain's elusive constitution Efficient and dignified elements Sources of the constitution Change and development Limiting Government The separation of powers The rule of law Parliamentary sovereignty Protecting Individual Rights Fundamental rights Towards a rights culture? A Written Constitution? The political debate: limited government or social rights? Unwritten and Unknowable? top 4 The Global Context: this Sceptred Isle Britain entering the global stage The era of colonialism and mercantilism The era of free trade Signs of decline Reconstructing world capitalism The Bretton Woods era The post-war boom The crisis decades Perpetual crisis A new world order New world disorder The global economy today The dramatis personae Uneven development: global imbalance Globalized violence The global arms bazaar The world at war War in a cold climate From cold war to hot peace Military globalization The day the world changed: global terror Globalized governance: the missing dimension? An end of sovereignty? Virtual governance: global power Uniting the nations Retreating from empire: the British Commonwealth Special relations Britain and mainland Europe Globalization in question? A global Utopia? Sovereignty preserved? Still a 'Sceptred Isle'? Decline and fall top 5 Britain in Europe: Awkward Partners? The Entry Process The Integration Process The Single European Act The Maastricht Treaty The Nice Treaty An Anatomy of the EU The Council of Ministers The European Council The European Commission The European Parliament The Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) The Committee of the Regions (COR) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) The legislative process The Budget Scale Revenue Expenditure Europe as a Domestic Issue Economic and monetary union The social dimension What Next? Enlargement Variable geometry Democracy National sovereignty and European integration The story so far top 6 A Disunited Kingdom: Territorial Politics Unity and Devolution Scots, wha hae: Scotland Land of my Fathers: Wales English regionalism: the forgotten dimension Ireland: a Terrible Beauty The seeds of discontent Belfast from the 1960s: the killing streets Seeking a political solution Policing the troubles A time to forget Territorial Politics in the UK New politics - dull politics? Federal drift top 7 The Social Context: Our Divided Society Political Culture What is political culture? British political culture Classes Apart Defining social class An anatomy of the classes The upper class The middle class The working class Class and politics The Monstrous Regiment: Sexism in British Society British patriarchy Women and work Political implications of sexism Race and Politics What is racism? Manifestations of racism The roots of racism The pattern of immigration Institutional racism Racism and politics Covering the Cracks top Part II Mobilizing the Demos 8 Mind Politics: What We Think Political Socialization Defining political socialization The family The peer group Religion Education The arts Advertising The Press Partisanship Content: 'All the news that's fit to print' (motto of the New York Times) Ownership: the press barons Journalists Self control: avoiding lying in the Sun Broadcasting Evolution The impartiality requirement Ruling the waves: political interference The 'new media' The Internet We're watching you Mind Politics top 9 The Electoral System: Parsimonious Democracy Representative Democracy Democracy and representative government Representative democracy in Britain The electoral process today Economizing with Democracy: Evolution of the Electoral System A democratic travesty Forces for change The 1832 Reform Act Chartism The Representation of the People Act 1867 Votes for women Electoral Behaviour People voting Stability and volatility Stable party identification Volatile voting patterns Influencing Voters: Politicians and the Election Campaign Packaging the parties Monitoring the campaign 'Sound and fury, signifying nothing'? The British Electoral System: Disproportional Representation? The case against first-past-the-post The alternatives Signs of change Effects of PR in Britain A Crisis of Legitimacy? top 10 The Politics of Power: a Life History of the Party System Defining parties The party system Genesis The Conservatives: the era of Peel and Disraeli The Liberals: the era of Gladstone The emergence of mass parties Challenge to the Established Order: the Rise of the Labour Party Labour pre-history Emerging from the womb War and the Inter-war Era The birth of the 1922 Committee Labour: a viable government The Era of Consensus: the End of Ideology? Winds of change: the Macmillan era Constitutional change in the Conservative Party The white heat of technology: the Wilson era On the fringe The Consensus Cracked: the 1970s Heath: the rise and fall of Selsdon Man No such thing as society: the coming of Thatcherism The Thatcher Era: Fractured Consensus or New Centre? The party begins to swing Labour in the 1980s The end of an era The Major Years: Things Fall Apart 'Back to Basics': low behaviour in high places New Labour, New Consensus Trust me, I'm a spin doctor Meltdown Liberal Democrats: no room in the centre On the fringe From Butskillism to Blatcherism? An historic second term Liberal Democrats Whos's for the poisoned chalice? The Tory leadership election Evaluating British Two-party Democracy The party system in Parliament The parties in the country top 11 Inside the Parties: Masses, Leaders and Powers Behind Thrones Anatomy of the Mass Party The constituency associations Red flag and blue rinse: the annual conference The central machinery The parliamentary cadres The life and soul of the parties: satellite groups Inside the Parties: Tweedledum and Tweedledee? Internal cohesion Choosing the leader Party patronage Candidate selection Party policy-making: mass rule or iron law of oligarchy? Who Pays the Piper? Conservative Party Labour Party Liberal Democrats Feathers and Favours Regulating the paymasters State funding Masses, Leaders and Powers Behind Thrones top Part III Government at the Centre 12 Pomp and Circumstance: the Living Dead of the Constitution The physical setting The evolution of Parliament The monarchy Characteristics of the monarchy today The functions of the monarchy The hollow crown How long to reign over us? In defence of monarchy The House of Lords Composition Politics in the House of Lords Peer pressure: the functions of the House of Lords The end of the peer show: a reluctant revolution The debate The chains of history The House of Commons Parliamentary mumbo-jumbo The Speaker The timetable 'The best club in London': an MP's job Honourable members Dishonourable members: private interests and public confidence top 13 Parliament: Not to Reason Why The Parliamentary Parties: Sustaining Government Backbench organizations Policy-making The culture of obedience Making Laws The legislative process Restrictions on legislative influence Private members' legislation Legislation from Europe The value of the legislative process today Debates in Parliament Empty debate Scrutiny of the Executive Questions in the House: a fretful hour Scrutiny by committee Reporting Parliament: the Fourth Estate Problems of reporting Parliament Live from the Commons: broadcasting Parliament From Golden Age to Golden Sunset? The Golden Age of Parliament Friendly fire: will the real opposition stand up Reform and talk of reform Denouement: a deeper function exposed top 14 The Heart of Government: of Cabinets and Kings Defining the executive head An Anatomy of Cabinet Government What is cabinet government? Evolution of the Cabinet Collective responsibility Cabinet structure Cabinet committees The Cabinet Office The Cabinet Secretariat From substance to shadow The Central Policy Review Staff 1970-1983: RIP Cabinet government: dead or sleeping? The Prime Minister: Elective Dictatorship? Who is the prime minister? The prime minister as president Head of state The populist connection The cabinet connection The official connection A prime-ministerial department? The Westminster connection Sharks and banana skins Destiny and disposition A Monarchical Culture? top 15 The Village of Whitehall: of Ministers and Mandarins An Anatomy of a Bureaucracy The civil servants The structure of the civil service The genesis of the modern civil service The Culture of Whitehall Social make-up: unrepresentative bureaucracy? Skimming the milk: selecting mandarins The expertise of the mandarins: gentlemen versus players? Mandarins in the hereafter: life after Whitehall Secrets of Success Information and power Official Secrets Acts Beyond Official Secrets Acts Official secrecy and the media A la recherche du temps perdu: political memoirs A right to know: towards a Freedom of Information Act A right to tell: towards a whistleblower's charter A monarchical inheritance Power in Whitehall: Obedient Servants? Individual ministerial responsibility Mandarins and ministers: 'Yes Minister'? Politicizing Whitehall When governments change Managing the Mandarins: Reinventing Government? Plus ça Change: Room at the Top top 16 Getting and Spending: the Politics of Public Expenditure The Nature of Public Expenditure Trends in public expenditure The institutions The purposes of public expenditure Paying for the State Controlling public expenditure: developing the machinery The Gladstonian cycle Prior approval: who gets what, when, how in Whitehall The budgetary process: who pays what, when, how? Calling the executive to account Managing Capitalism Rescuing capitalism: the coming of Keynes The years of plenty: the Treasury loses its grip Public expenditure under Thatcher: the end of Keynes Labour and the 'stakeholder economy' The global factor Public Expenditure and Long-term Economic Decline The institutional setting: Victorian institutions in a Keynesian landscape Competitive decision-making in Whitehall Failure to incorporate the economic interests into policy-making The hands-off state top 17 The Politics of Influence: Who Gets What, When, How The Group Approach Definitions Types of pressure groups The policy bazaar: bargaining with power Talking to power Explaining Group Politics Pluralism Evaluating pluralism Corporatism Questioning the logic of group action A post-corporate era? New Labour: old corporatism or new social partnership? Beyond the Group Approach Elite theory Marxist perspectives Questioning the Marxist perspectives Who Gets the Loot? top Part IV The Outer Reaches of the State: Worlds Beyond Whitehall 18 Arm's-length Administration: Quasi-autonomy, Quasi-democracy Introducing the Quango Sick of Democracy: the National Health Service Genesis The era of welfare corporatism: doctor knows best The New Right reforms Prescriptions for a cure Nationalizing Industry Motivations for state ownership The concept of the public corporation State shareholdings Privatization: the Full Circle The case for privatization The pattern of privatization Mammoths and fat cats: problems with privatization Public-private partnership (PPP) Regulating the Natural Monopolies Creating competition Existing regulatory machinery New regulatory bodies Problems with regulation Quangos in Politics Who's afraid of the quango? top 19 Local Government: the Grass Roots of Democracy Local government, democracy and local governance Evolution The spirit of local democracy The industrial revolution: a municipal revolution Into the twentieth century: reappraising the pattern Into the twenty-first century What Does Local Government Do? Classifying functions Allocating functions within the state The Wider World of Local Governance A 'new magistracy'? The enabling authority: government by contract The Local Political Environment The council Choosing councillors: local elections The calibre of councillors Political parties Local interest groups 'Yes Councillor': municipal mandarins Management and Leadership: the Dilemma of Local Democracy We can't go on meeting like this: cabinets and elected mayors Finance Fees and charges Borrowing Local taxation Central grants Auditing the books Local Government in a Centralist State Conceptualizing central-local intergovernmental relations The wider network Local Democracy in Crisis top 20 Justice and Politics: Trials and Errors The Legal System The courts The European dimension Access to the law The Dramatis Personae Solicitors Barristers The judiciary Magistrates Twelve men good and true: the jury Questions of impartiality Who are the judges: social characteristics Judges and Politics Judges making law Judicial activism Open conflict with government Interest affiliation Administrative Justice Administrative tribunals Public inquiries The ombudsmen The Citizen's Charter: freedom, equality and fraternity - or your money back Judicial review Towards an administrative court Law and Politics top 21 The Coercive State: the Politics of Law and Order Evolution Structure, accountability and control Culture and the Policing Function Police culture Fighting crime Reform and resistance to reform Maintaining public order Making the punishment fit the crime: penal policy Trends in Modern Policing Centralization: a national police service? Militarization Politicization Helping the police with inquiries: suspicious customers Quis Custodiet ipsos Custodes: Who Guards the Guards? The complaints procedure Beyond the Blue Horizon The military The security services: the 'cloak and dagger' of the state Who watches the watchers? The Coercive State and the Community The alternative to the strong arm Policing at arm's length top 22 Thinking Synoptically Organic theories of the state Systems theory and the political system Policy networks The governance perspective A synoptic study strategy top