Constitutional Futures Revisited Britain's Constitution to 2020
, by Hazell, Robert
- ISBN: 9780230252134 | 0230252133
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 5/15/2010
The UK is going through a period of unprecedented constitutional change. There is much unfinished business, and further changes still to come. Where are these changes taking us? In this book, leading political scientists and lawyers forecast the impact of these changes on the UK's key institutions and the constitution as a whole.
Robert Hazell is Professor of Government and the Constitution at University College London, UK, and Director of the Constitution Unit in UCL`s School of Public Policy. Originally a barrister, he was a senior civil servant in the Home Office before becoming Director of the Nuffield Foundation, and then founding the Constitution Unit in 1995.
| List of Figures | p. x |
| Preface | p. xii |
| List of Abbreviations | p. xiv |
| Notes on Contributors | p. xvi |
| Introduction: Forecasting Constitutional Futures | p. 1 |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| The constitution in flux | p. 1 |
| The reform programmes of the parties | p. 3 |
| The unfinished business of constitutional reform | p. 4 |
| The main forecasts made in Constitutional Futures in 1998 | p. 6 |
| Forecasting techniques | p. 10 |
| Constitutional scenarios | p. 11 |
| The four constitutional scenarios | p. 16 |
| Dispersed Constitutionalism the most likely future scenario | p. 18 |
| Structure of the book | p. 19 |
| Appendix | p. 19 |
| Future studies and forecasting techniques | p. 19 |
| Notes | p. 25 |
| The Decentralised State | |
| Scotland and Wales: The Evolution of Devolution | p. 29 |
| Introduction | p. 29 |
| The drivers of constitution-making in Scotland and Wales | p. 31 |
| Outcomes | p. 36 |
| Conclusion | p. 42 |
| Notes | p. 42 |
| Tying the UK Together? Intergovernmental Relations and the Financial Constitution of the UK | p. 43 |
| Introduction | p. 43 |
| Starting points | p. 44 |
| Financial arrangements in decentralised states | p. 47 |
| Territorial constitutional futures for the United Kingdom | p. 49 |
| Restructuring the intergovernmental finance system | p. 51 |
| Outcomes | p. 53 |
| Conclusion: Britain's devolved constitutional futures | p. 54 |
| Notes | p. 55 |
| Northern Ireland: Polarisation or Normalisation? | p. 56 |
| Recent trends | p. 56 |
| Drivers of change | p. 58 |
| Constraints on change | p. 62 |
| The matrix | p. 64 |
| The scenarios | p. 67 |
| Comparative evidence | p. 69 |
| Conclusions | p. 71 |
| Notes | p. 72 |
| Answering the English Question | p. 73 |
| What is the English question? | p. 73 |
| Answers to the English Question: The options | p. 74 |
| The future of devolution for or in England | p. 80 |
| Conclusions | p. 88 |
| Notes | p. 89 |
| The Future of Britishness | p. 90 |
| Scenario axes: Identifying the 'steady state' Union | p. 91 |
| Devolution as a modification of 'steady state' Union | p. 93 |
| The end of Britishness: The future as separation | p. 94 |
| The new Britishness: The future as adaptation | p. 99 |
| Conclusion | p. 104 |
| The Central State | |
| The Judiciary | p. 109 |
| Drivers of change | p. 109 |
| Possible future scenarios | p. 114 |
| 'Back to the Future': Political constitution and consensual decision-making | p. 116 |
| 'Dialogue of the Deaf': Political constitution and unilateral decision-making | p. 117 |
| 'A problem shared is a problem halved': Legal constitution and consensual decision-making | p. 118 |
| 'Judges on Top': Legal constitution and unilateral decision-making | p. 119 |
| Conclusions: The relative likelihood of the scenarios | p. 122 |
| Whitehall | p. 123 |
| Drivers of change | p. 124 |
| Countervailing drivers | p. 131 |
| Scenarios | p. 132 |
| Not going to happen | p. 137 |
| Conclusion | p. 137 |
| Notes | p. 138 |
| The Future of the Monarchy: The Reign of King Charles III | p. 139 |
| Working assumptions | p. 139 |
| The present position | p. 140 |
| Drivers of change | p. 143 |
| Turning points | p. 150 |
| Scenarios | p. 153 |
| Conclusion | p. 154 |
| Notes | p. 155 |
| New Forms of Accountability | |
| The New Human Rights Culture | p. 159 |
| Introduction | p. 159 |
| Drivers of change | p. 162 |
| The axes of change | p. 170 |
| Possible outcomes | p. 172 |
| Final predictions | p. 175 |
| Notes | p. 176 |
| Downward Slope? FOI and Access to Government Information | p. 178 |
| Introduction | p. 178 |
| Drivers toward greater access to information | p. 180 |
| Drivers toward less access to information | p. 184 |
| Axes | p. 187 |
| Scenarios | p. 191 |
| Conclusion | p. 195 |
| Notes | p. 196 |
| Watchdogs of the Constitution - the Biters Bit? | p. 197 |
| Introductory | p. 197 |
| Issues and trends | p. 199 |
| Drivers of change | p. 202 |
| Scenarios | p. 205 |
| Wider impact | p. 211 |
| Conclusion | p. 212 |
| Notes | p. 214 |
| Media Pressures on Politics | p. 215 |
| Drivers of change | p. 215 |
| Main constraints on change | p. 223 |
| Likely future changes | p. 225 |
| Matrix and four scenarios | p. 226 |
| Conclusions | p. 230 |
| Representation | |
| Majoritarianism under Pressure: The Electoral and Party Systems | p. 233 |
| Introduction | p. 233 |
| The gradual decline of the British electoral system | p. 234 |
| Initiating and enacting reform | p. 237 |
| Parliamentary obstacles to electoral reform | p. 238 |
| What electoral system might be chosen? | p. 239 |
| Majoritarian futures? | p. 242 |
| Conclusion | p. 247 |
| Acknowledgements | p. 248 |
| Notes | p. 248 |
| Whither the Parties? | p. 249 |
| Introduction | p. 249 |
| Recent trends | p. 249 |
| Main issues in the next ten years | p. 252 |
| Drivers of change | p. 253 |
| Main constraints on change | p. 256 |
| Four scenarios | p. 256 |
| How plausible are each of these scenarios? | p. 264 |
| Conclusions | p. 265 |
| Notes | p. 266 |
| Parliament: Emasculated or Emancipated? | p. 267 |
| Context | p. 267 |
| Drivers of change | p. 269 |
| Constraints on change | p. 272 |
| Matrix | p. 273 |
| Plausibility of the four scenarios | p. 274 |
| Conclusions | p. 283 |
| Notes | p. 284 |
| Conclusion: Where Will the Westminster Model End up? | p. 285 |
| Introduction | p. 285 |
| Continuing dynamism of constitutional reform | p. 285 |
| More tightly constrained UK executive | p. 287 |
| Further big constitutional changes unlikely | p. 287 |
| Devolution will loosen but not break the bonds of the United Kingdom | p. 289 |
| More assertive Parliament and judiciary | p. 290 |
| Delegation to independent bodies to restore trust in politics | p. 291 |
| Where will the Westminster Model end up? | p. 293 |
| Westminster Unchanged | p. 295 |
| Westminster Devolved | p. 296 |
| Westminster Constitutionalised | p. 296 |
| Westminster Transformed | p. 297 |
| Which scenarios are most likely? | p. 297 |
| How majoritarian will the Westminster Model be in future? | p. 298 |
| Table of Cases | p. 301 |
| Table of Legislation | p. 302 |
| Bibliography | p. 303 |
| Index | p. 326 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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