Books: British Politics

P. Cosgrave, Thatcher: the First Term (London, The Bodley Head, 1985)
A. King (ed.), The British Prime Minister (second edition) (London, Macmillan, 1985)
A. Ranney (ed.) Britain at the Polls 1983 (Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 1985)
D. S. Bell (ed.), The Conservative Government 1979–84: an Interim Report (London, Croom Helm, 1985
S. Fothergill and J. Vincent, The State of the Nation (London, Pan, 1985
Philip Norton (ed.), Parliament in the 1980s (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1985
Leo Pliatzky, Paying and Choosing: the Intelligent Person's Guide to the Mixed Economy (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1985)
John Grieve Smith (ed.) Strategic Planning in Nationalised Industries (London, Macmillan, 1984)
E. Durbin, New Jerusalem (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985)
Geofrey Foote, The Labour Party's Political Thought (London, Croom Helm, 1985)
D. Selbourne, Against Socialist Illusion: a Radical Argument (London, Macmillan, 1985)
J. Grigg, Lloyd George—From Peace to War (London, Methuen, 1985)
David Dutton, Austen Chamberlain: Gentleman in Politics (Bolton, Ross Anderson Publications 1985)
Norman Flynn, Steve Leach and Carol Vielba, Abolition or Reform? The GLCand the Metropolitan County Councils (London, George Allen & Unwin, 1985)     

British Political Science and Comparative Politics

The internationalization of political science makes it especially difficult to identify a distinctive British approach to comparative politics. While there is certainly evidence of a distaste for cross-national comparison in Britain, this is no more marked than in other countries. In fact, on the evidence of a survey of major journals, Britons make relatively heavy use of the comparative method. British comparative research is less likely to use statistical indicators and methods than that found in other countries. Apart from this, the distinctions between comparative politics here and elsewhere are more matters of style and less matters of substance.     

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.