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ID: 091111

Constitutional Anomie: patterns of democracy and the governance of britain / Flinders, Matthew

Flinders, Matthew	Journal Article
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Publication

2009.

Summary/Abstract

'The Governance of Britain' agenda represents Gordon Brown's attempt to respond to long-standing criticisms regarding the way in which Labour governments have since 1997 approached the topic of constitutional reform and democratic renewal. The central argument of this article is that the Labour Party remains afflicted by constitutional anomie and these recent documents, combined with the behaviour of politicians, have done little in response. This article is of methodological importance because it assesses the cumulative impact of recent reforms through the application of Lijphart's framework and reflects on the utility of this tool. It is of conceptual importance because the results of the systematic analysis add further weight to the accusation of constitutional anomie while also allowing the development of a new conceptual tool - bi-constitutionality - which offers a way of understanding long-standing debates. The article is of normative importance because it avoids the descriptive-prescriptive approach to constitutional literature that has dominated British political studies, and it is relevant for comparative politics because it replicates and takes forward a methodology that has been applied around the world. In doing so it provides a critical case of executive politics and statecraft vis-à-vis constitutional reform.

Key Words

United Kingdom ; Governance ; Britain ; Labour Party ; Constitutional Reform ; Constitutional Anomie ;
Labour Governments ; Iran - Democracy - 1941-1953

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ID: 099784

New labour legacy: comparing the labour governments of Blair and Brown to labour governments since 1945 / Mullard, Maurice; Swaray, Raymond

Mullard, Maurice	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

The election of the Conservative-Liberal coalition in May 2010 provides the opportunity to start to map out the record of the Labour governments between 1997 and 2010. This paper deals with the specific question how the Brown/Blair governments performed on public expenditures when compared to the records of UK Labour governments since 1945. Did the public expenditure record of the 1997 represent a departure from that of previous Labour governments? This is important to ascertain since there are strongly held beliefs that New Labour was not committed to Labour's historic commitments of income redistribution and universal benefits. The analysis that follows is constructed around five major public expenditure programmes that reflect Labour's priorities. These include total expenditure, expenditure on health, education, housing and social security.

Key Words

Housing ; Social Security ; Labour Governments ; Blair/Brown Governments ; History 1945 to 2010 Iincome Distribution ; Health Spending ;
Education Spending

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ID: 111652

Response to Roy Hattersley and Kevin Hickson / Walker, David

Walker, David	Journal Article
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Publication

2012.

Key Words

Capitalism ; Market Economy ; Social Democracy ; Labour Governments ; Localism ; Political Failure ;
Roy Hattersley ; Kevin Hickson

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