Book reviews
Book Review: Government and Politics in Britain, 4th Edition, by John Kingdom with Paul Fairclough
The fourth edition of this popular textbook aims to offer a comprehensive introduction to government and politics in Britain today. Set against the turbulent background of a world in economic, ideological and religious flux, the book analyses key developments in twenty–first–century British politics – from the collapse of the longest–serving Labour government to the challenges […]
Book Review: Yes: The Radical Case for Scottish Independence by James Foley and Pete Ramand
Scottish voters will decide on 18 September 2014 whether to remain in the United Kingdom or to become an independent country. James Foley and Pete Ramand argue in Yes: The Radical Case for Scottish Independence that Scotland must go its own way, but that this should only be the first step in a more radical transformation of Scotland. Democratic Audit’s Richard Berry applauds […]
Book Review: Making Democracy Fun: How Game Design can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics by Josh Lerner
Making Democracy Fun by Josh Lerner posits that public participation in decision-making can be enhanced by using games in public meetings, with the author drawing on multiple case studies of where this approach has been implemented. Ron Johnston finds a fascinating book that is as open about the dangers of game-playing as it is about the potential benefits, but suggests […]
Book Review: Civic Participation in America by Quentin Kidd
Participation in democratic processes has fallen significantly in recent years, a decline associated by Quentin Kidd with changes in citizenship, the political economy and the public sphere. Nick Hayward finds a book focused on the United States that has great relevance for Britain and the rest of Europe, although questions the author’s reluctance to address the importance of social […]
Book Review: At Power’s Elbow: Aides to the Prime Minister from Robert Walpole to David Cameron
Special Advisers and prime-ministerial aides have come to prominence increasingly over the last decade, with operatives like Alastair Campbell and Andy Coulson frequently making front-page news. But little is generally known about the role itself, what it entails, and how it has developed down the years. Catherine Haddon, in reviewing this new offering from Andrew Blick and George Jones, finds […]
Book Review: Democratic Decline and Democratic Renewal: Political Change in Britain, Australia and New Zealand
Ian Marsh and Raymond Miller link the decreasing quality of democracy to the failings of political parties in Democratic Decline and Democratic Renewal. This detailed study of the politics of the UK, Australia and New Zealand is an ambitious attempt both to document decline and to reverse the trend, finds Jack Simson Caird, who is impressed by the […]
Book Review: Policy Agendas in British Politics
How do Governments arrive at policy decisions in the United Kingdom? There has been a great deal of commentary on the apparent disconnect between Westminster and voters, with priorities not necessarily shared between the two. This book by Peter John, Anthony Bertelli, Will Jennings and Shaun Bevan, will help illuminate the reader on how these policy agendas […]
Book Review: The Democratic Foundations of Policy Diffusion: How Health, Family and Employment Laws Spread Across Countries
This book claims that laws spread across countries in very public and politicized ways. Katerina Linos argues that politicians choose to follow certain international models to win domestic elections, and to persuade sceptical voters that their ideas are not radical, ill-thought-out experiments, but mainstream, tried-and-true solutions. Whilst it is not new to discover that countries borrow and emulate policies, the […]
Book Review: The Political Integration of Ethnic Minorities in Britain
In this book the authors set out to explore the extent and nature of the political integration of Britain’s growing ethnic minority population. The analysis is based on the largest and broadest academic survey ever of the political attitudes and behaviour of Britain’s main ethnic minority groups, the 2010 Ethnic Minority British Election Study, in […]
Book Review: The British Constitution: Continuity and Change – A Festschrift for Vernon Bogdanor
Despite the efforts of the Liberal Democrats in Government, the movement for constitutional reform is at a nadir in the wake of the defeat of the AV referendum and the abandonment of democratisation of the House of Lords. As a result, awareness of the constitution has never been higher, making Matt Qvortrup’s Festschrift for Professor Vernon Bogdanor […]
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