British Political Process Research Articles

Parties, Pressure Groups and the British Political Process

The Political QuarterlyVolume 80, Issue s1 p. S96-S106 Parties, Pressure Groups and the British Political Process R. T. McKENZIE, R. T. McKENZIE (1917–1981) was a Canadian who taught political science at the LSE, author of British Political Parties (1963) and a pioneer of election broadcasting. The author is Reader in Sociology in the University of London (London School of Economics and Political Science). He is the author of British Political Parties: The Distribution of Power within the Conservatives and Labour Parties.Search for more papers by this author R. T. McKENZIE, R. T. McKENZIE (1917–1981) was a Canadian who taught political science at the LSE, author of British Political Parties (1963) and a pioneer of election broadcasting. The author is Reader in Sociology in the University of London (London School of Economics and Political Science). He is the author of British Political Parties: The Distribution of Power within the Conservatives and Labour Parties.Search for more papers by this author First published: 05 April 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2009.02145.x Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume80, Issues1September 2009Pages S96-S106 RelatedInformation

An Independent Bank of England

This article traces the schemes for an independent Bank of England in the British political process in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Treasury examined the issue of central bank independence on four separate occasions. Furthermore, the Bank of England held a series of internal discussions about its autonomy and about how such a reform could be implemented. Using recently released material disclosed under the 2000 Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former Treasury and Bank of England officials, these schemes are examined together with other corresponding discussions that pervaded the political process. It is shown that the debate surrounding an adjustment to the status of the Bank of England in terms of its structure and functions was embedded in the political and monetary institutions several years before the `sudden' implementation of the reform. Furthermore, the Labour Party's policy for central bank independence contained many features that originated in the preceding schemes.

Politics and Power in the United Kingdom

PRODUCING an introductory text for any academic discipline is a challenging task; however, the work involved in compiling and writing a comprehensive user-friendly and contemporary work for British Politics undergraduate students has to be one of the most daunting tasks to face the political scientist. With the trend towards receiving ever more information and news on politics and political events from the worldwide web, coupled with the expansion of transmission time by a range of radio and television outlets, much political coverage tends towards simplistic explanation, driven largely by personality rather than policy concerns. Consequently, the importance of producing a thorough introductory text removing misperception and misinformation has intensified. However, in Politics and Power in the United Kingdom edited by Heffernan and Thompson, both established and well-respected figures in their subject disciplines, the authors have joined a field already identified by a clutch of writing teams most notably (Axford, Browning, Huggins and Rosamond, Jones and Grey and Budge, Crewe, Mackay and Newton). The editors seek to examine the core institutions and process of the British political process against the backdrop of the changes that have occurred during Labour's time in office between 1997 and 2005. It is within this context that the contributors focus on the related issues of continuity and change as a device for attracting and sustaining reader interest.

Young people and contemporary politics: Committed scepticism or engaged cynicism?

Growing concern about public disaffection with the British political process and its institutions has manifested itself in a number of ways. Whilst some have addressed the apparent decline in electoral participation, others have sought to assess and understand the motivations and interests of specific groups within the population such as women and those belonging to ethnic minorities. Recently, attention has also begun to focus on young people's engagement with the political process. This concern was borne out by a campaign launched in the run-up to the 1997 General Election. Backed by a cross-party alliance, the music industry initiative Rock the Vote urged young people to make sure they were entered on the electoral register so that they might exercise their democratic rights. Symbolically the campaign’s May 1996 launch event took place at the prestigious Ministry of Sound club in London’s West End. In promoting itself Rock the Vote attempted to reinforce the idea that, collectively, the youth vote could play a potentially important role in British politics. There is a perception that young people are increasingly seen as being politically important. During the last general election the victorious Labour Party made a concerted effort to target youth with a specially produced promotional video and advertising in magazines and even nightclubs. Similarly, following their defeat, the Conservatives opted to elect William Hague as their new leader in a clear vote of confidence in youth over experience. Hague, in a bid to make his age part of his appeal, has talked of a ‘fresh start’, worn a baseball cap and attended the Notting Hill carnival.

The Party Mandate and the Westminster Model: Election Programmes and Government Spending in Britain, 1948–85

Do party manifestos matter to government policy? Does a genuine party mandate operate within the British political process? These questions are generally neglected in analyses of British politics, but they are crucial in assessing how far political parties transmit electoral preferences into government action. We try to answer them through a novel use of available data, using content analysis to code and classify policy emphases within the post-war election programmes of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties. Statistical analysis reveals that government party programmes are remarkably well reflected in post-election policy priorities, measured as percentages of central government spending in major policy areas. This gives strong support to traditional mandate theory within the context of the ‘Westminster model’ of party government. Anomalies, such as a strong relationship between Liberal emphases and expenditures in three key areas, and the more consistent relationship of expenditures with Conservative rather than Labour priorities, are also considered.

The Racialization of British Politics

The idea of ‘race’ was an important part of the post-1945 political and ideological context within which migration from the New Commonwealth began. This is demonstrated by an analysis of an important policy document which provides a foundation upon which to evaluate the character and significance of racism in the subsequent political process. This evaluation contrasts and comments upon rival accounts of the impact of racism offered by writers who have analysed official government files from the period. The paper concludes by arguing against a conception of racism which presumes that it is a constant and unchanging ideological bloc within the British political process.

The Americanization of British Political Communications

Abstract Even though operating within a different electoral system, Great Britain is rapidly following in the footsteps of the United States in the area of political communications. Electoral communications, including advertising, have found a place in the British political process. This study seeks to find what place and is based largely on personal interviews with politicians, party officials, broadcast and print journalists, academicians and advertising agency executives. Emphasis is on the marketing and communications efforts of the Conservative Party as the leader in the trend toward American-style campaigning. However, both the Labour Party and SDP/Liberal Alliance are also examined.

Adversary politics and the eighties

Since 1974, when it was first formulated, the 'Adversary Politics' analysis o f the British political process has attained wide currency. 1 I f it is not yet the new or thodoxy it has become a very well established heterodoxy, for, certainly it has by no means gone uncontested. One quarter dismisses it as a thorough-go ing misdescription. Other opponents accept its description of British politics as adversary but claim that the result is benign. On the other hand the 'adversary ' thesis (as I shall call it for short) has been further elaborated over the last eight years and in its latest manifestation, Bogdanor ' s The People and the Party System, is articulated with a greater sensitivity and thoroughness than before. Finally, we must note the popular success to date of the Liberal /SDP alliance which has adopted the 'adversary ' thesis as its own, and describes its purpose as being to 'break the mould ' o f British politics. In this paper I propose to look at each of these four viewpoints in turn. To begin with, however , I must emphasize that this 'adversary ' thesis is novel. It demands electoral reform; but for very different reasons than the long line of those who, as Bogdanor relates, were urging electoral reform from the time of the Second Reform Bill onwards. Bogdanor notes that ' the public were not very much moved by the theoretical deficiencies in the electoral system pointed out by reformers '2 but the situation today is radically different and it would not be too much to say that the old critique has been s tood on its head. The earlier arguments were about electoral justice. Today ' s a rgument is about governmenta l efficiency. Ramsey Muir, R. W. G. Mackay and Enid Lakeman all made unimpeachable cases against the disproportionalism of our plurality system, but when their critics pointed out as they invariably did (and still do) that what they called ' s t rong and stable gove rnmen t ' (by which they meant single-party government) was more important than mathematically exact representation, their replies were muted and defensive. Mackay, indeed, never addressed this question at all. Ramsey Muir argued that there was no reason why a 'balance of parties ' in the C om m ons should not produce satisfactory government provided the customs and conventions of parl iamentary procedure were suitably modified, but he hardly claimed that the product might be much super io r ) Enid Lakeman argued, but shortly and defensively, that coalitions were not necessarily unstable. 4 Their emphasis was always placed on the importance of proport ionali ty, not on government performance. The current 'adversary ' critique

Race, pluralism and power: The British parallel with South Africa

The recent direct collective action by Blacks in Brixham is only the latest in a history of similar events. Interest is usually directed to understanding the precipitating issues and the motives of immediate participants. This article sets them in their structural context by focusing on the location of Blacks in the British political process. Despite the obvious and many differences between the Black communities in South Africa and Britain, this article points to a surprising parallel. The two countries are remarkably similar in making their political process impenetrable to issues centring on race over and above limits set by that process. Direct collective action such as that in Brixham or Soweto, has to be seen in the light of this impenetrability. Although related together in this article, the two themes, of impenetrability and the South African parallel, are distinct. Nor are they of equal importance, for the article has something more important to say about impenetrability. But the parallel is not normally recognised and is, I believe, the logical consequence of impenetrability.

The Impact of Constituency Structural Characteristics upon Political Preferences in Britain

Introduction The significance of socioeconomic class, as defined by occupation, the British political process has been apparent for some time. Indeed, so great is the political impact accorded by most students of British politics that other factors have often been overlooked or slighted. It is almost as though were considered to be the only explanatory variable British political behavior.l Richard Rose has shown, however, that consideration of factors other than is essential to an adequate understanding of the political process. While he grants that in a comparative perspective, class is more important for British parties than it is any other European party system, yet he argues that Britain occupation or socioeconomic class is of much less importance for party loyalties than is customarily reckoned.2 The influence of nonclass cleavages is sufficiently great that at times it can override social cleavages the determination of partisan support. 3 Consider, for example, the political behavior of the ideal type worker-one who, addition to having a manual occupation, sub-

The Law of Elections and Business Interest Groups in Britain

R ECENT WRITINGS by British political scientists have stressed the role of pressure groups as a third force to the already well-described and well-known duality of party and government.1 There has been an increasing amount of material in print which details various aspects of this vast phenomenon. As yet, much of the research has scarcely uncovered the salient features of this subject. In part, this has been occasioned by the scarcity of available sources especially on this side of the Atlantic. Whatever materials are available, are by no means widely disseminated or sufficiently detailed to allow any semblance of comprehensive study. However, the increase in scholarly materials from British writers promises to provide some remedy for the present deficiencies while underscoring developments in British politics within the last decade, particularly the emergence of extra-party interest groups defying party and government. This has been most true of those organized business interests whose existence was, and still is, threatened by the nationalization program of the Labour party. The election of 1950 is most noteworthy in this respect. Recently, certain charges, first voiced in 1949 and partially answered by the courts in 1952, asserting the illegality of certain types of pressure group behavior, have been renewed in connection with the forthcoming general election. These charges have been occasioned by a public opinion survey on attitudes toward nationalization sponsored by various firms of the steel industry. This survey was directed by Mr. Colin Hurry and was implemented by the British Market Research Bureau. It involved some two million questionnaires localized in 127 marginal constituencies.2 As they were in 1949, these charges have been raised by the Labour party in the press and in Parliament, and question the legality of political propaganda originating from pressure groups with regard to the British law of elections. The exploration of this question is the major concern of the following discussion. The conclusions derived should lead to further questions as to (a) the role of pressure groups in the political processes of the United Kingdom; and (b) the nature of the British political process in general. Mr. Hurry's project is in some respects an extension and a refinement of techniques used by various companies in the period 1949-51. Methodologically speaking, there is a great deal of similarity between this undertaking and that of the insurance companies in 1949, although the latter was on a lesser scale. Hurry's attempt goes beyond a mere survey of attitudes. Rather, the suggestion