How Sick Is British Democracy?: A Clinical Analysis (Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century)

Description

Forecasts of the death of democracy are often heard and the United Kingdom is on the death watch list. This book challenges such a gloomy view by carefully examining the health of the British body politic from Tony Blair’s time in Downing Street to the challenges of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. It finds some parts are in good health, for example, elections are free and losers as well as winners accept the results, unlike the United States. Other parts show intermittent symptoms of ill health, such as Cabinet ministers avoiding accountability. There is also a chronic problem of managing the unity of the United Kingdom. None of the symptoms is fatal. The book identifies effective remedies for some symptoms, placebos that offer assurance without cure, and perennially popular prescriptions that are politically impossible. Being a healthy democracy does not promise effectiveness in dealing with economic problems, but a big majority of Britons do not want to trade the freedom that comes with democracy for the promises of undemocratic leaders.   Preface The Need for Clinical Analysis References Acknowledgements Praise for How Sick Is British Democracy? About This Book Contents About the Author List of Figures List of Tables 1 Diagnosing the Health of the Body Politic 1.1 Democracy: A Disembodied Ideal 1.2 Anatomizing the Body Politic 1.3 Many Symptoms of Ill Health 1.4 Potentially Fatal Symptoms References 2 Elections the Heart of Government 2.1 Institutionalizing Choice 2.2 Responsibility for Government Fixed 2.3 What Voters Make of Their Choice References 3 Party as the Lifeblood of Government 3.1 Parties Decide Who Can Be an MP 3.2 Representing Society in Parliament 3.3 Representing Voters in Parliament 3.4 MPs Can Influence Policy but not Govern References 4 A Single Brain in Downing Street 4.1 Parties Decide Who Can Become Prime Minister 4.2 What a Prime Minister Can and Can’t Do 4.3 Personality Constant, Popularity Fluctuates 4.4 Two Ways to Become an Ex-Prime Minister References 5 Whitehall’s Collective Brainpower 5.1 Cabinet Ministers Fill Gaps Left by Downing Street 5.2 Opening up the Market for Policymaking 5.3 Shuffling and Reshuffling Accountability References 6 The Limbs of a Disunited Kingdom 6.1 Multiple Identities 6.2 A Unitary Crown Without Uniformity 6.3 From a British Party System to Four National Systems 6.4 The Contingency of Consent References 7 An Unbalanced Constitution 7.1 Politicians Are the Judges of What They Can Do 7.2 Constitutional Rules Are Not Politics as Usual 7.3 Constitutional Disputes Need Political Resolution References 8 Limits on Democratic Sovereignty 8.1 Governance Creates Interdependence 8.2 No Island Is an Island unto Itself 8.3 Brexit: A Domestic Foreign Policy References 9 A Mixed Bill of Health for British Democracy 9.1 What Britons Think of Democracy 9.2 Diagnosis: Intermittent Ills, None Fatal 9.2.1 Representation Healthy, Problems Intermittent 9.2.2 Direction of Government Intermittently Healthy 9.2.3 Challenges from Beyond Westminster 9.3 Prescriptions for Treatment 9.3.1 Feasible 9.3.2 Placebos 9.3.3 Technically Impossible, Politically Impossible or Both 9.4 Coda 9.5 A Note on Sources References Index