Political Power and Democratic Control in Britain

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ISBN: 9780415096447 | 0415096448
Cover: Nonspecific Binding
Copyright: 6/28/1999

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This volume is a comprehensive analysis of the formal institutions and processes of the British liberal democratic state, detailing the absence of effective checks and balances and the inability of Parliament to render the executive open and accountable. It measures democratic practice in the UK against a unique index of democratic criteria specially constructed by the authors.

List of figures, tables and boxes

vii

Foreword

Acknowledgements

xiii

List of abbreviations and acronyms

xvii

Introduction

Auditing Democracy in Britain

(19)

Introducing the Democratic Criteria

Ancient and Modern

(23)

The governing culture in Britain

Part 1 Elections and Mandates

Introduction

(4)

The Other National Lottery

(34)

The Political effects of Westminster elections

The Independence of Elections

(21)

Government and outside influences on elections

Sticking to the Manifesto

100

(23)

Election mandates in action

Part 2 The Core Executive

Introduction

119

(4)

Does the Cabinet Really Govern?

123

(28)

Cabinet government or quasi-presidential rule?

Ministers and Mandarins

151

(40)

The powers of ministers, bureaucrats and their departments

Agents of Power

191

(42)

The role of agencies and quangos in government

Government Below the Centre

233

(38)

Government at regional and local level

Networks in Power

271

(28)

External influences working within government

The Rules of the Game

299

(37)

Britain's informal and flexible executive

Part 3 Checks and Balances

Introduction

333

(3)

Giving Account to Parliament

336

(34)

How ministerial responsibility works in practice

A Parliament Bound

370

(34)

Party constraints on scrutiny and accountability

Heckling the Steamroller

404

(36)

The imbalance of power between government and Parliament

The Rule of Law

440

(61)

The limited role of the judiciary

Part 4 The Balance Sheet

Findings Good in Parts

473

(16)

Measuring British democracy against Democratic Criteria

Conclusions Tying Down Gulliver

489

(12)

The absence of a written constitution

Appendix The Democratic Audit

501

(2)

Table of cases

503

(1)

Bibliography and sources

504

(1)

Books and articles

504

(14)

Official documents

518

(5)

Index

523

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Political Power and Democratic Control in Britain

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials