Politics and Power in the United Kingdom

PRODUCING an introductory text for any academic discipline isa challenging task; however, the work involved in compilingand writing a comprehensive user-friendly and contemporary workfor British Politics undergraduate students has to be one ofthe most daunting tasks to face the political scientist. With the trend towards receiving ever more information and newson politics and political events from the worldwide web, coupledwith the expansion of transmission time by a range of radioand television outlets, much political coverage tends towardssimplistic explanation, driven largely by personality ratherthan policy concerns. Consequently, the importance of producinga thorough introductory text removing misperception and misinformationhas intensified. However, in Politics and Power in the United Kingdom editedby Heffernan and Thompson, both established and well-respectedfigures in their subject disciplines,     

The Governance of Fiscal Policy in the United Kingdom and Canada

This article analyzes the governance of fiscal policy in the United Kingdom and Canada under the Blair Government and the Chrétien Government. It seeks to identify whether the capacity of the core executive to steer fiscal policy has been “hollowed out.” The conclusion drawn is that in both the United Kingdom and Canada, far from having been hollowed out, there has actually been a strengthening of the capacity of the Treasury and the Department of Finance, respectively, to steer fiscal policy.     

The Politics of Patronage in the United Kingdom: Shrinking Reach and Diluted Permeation

Delegation is a central concept in the study of governance and public policy. The modern state could not function without delegation because it provides a structural and esoteric capacity beyond the cognitive and physical limits of politicians. This article focuses on the role of ministers in making appointments to quasi-autonomous agencies, boards, and commissions in the United Kingdom. Research undertaken within the Cabinet Office reveals a pattern of shrinking reach and diluted permeation in relation to ministerial appointment powers. This finding is significant because the existing body of research in this field is generally associated with exposing clientelistic relationships between political parties and quangos, and patronage is frequently regarded as a resource through which political parties can "politicize" or "colonize" the state. This article therefore contributes a case study that exhibits countervailing tendencies and a quite different pattern of statecraft that raises broader questions about the evolution of state projects.     

Film Policy in the United Kingdom: New Labour at the Movies

The article summarises key aspects of government intervention in the British film industry since the election of a Labour government in 1997. The process of amalgamating a variety of existing institutions (including British Screen, the British Film Commission and the Arts Council's Lottery Film Department) into the new UK Film Council is described and the implications for developments in the English regions is considered. The issue of the continuing American dominance of the industry is explored and this is related to the contentious concept of an economically 'sustainable' domestic industry. In conclusion it is proposed that more careful attention be given to the cultural and educational implications of current policy.     

Need Public Policy Ignore the Third Sector? Government Policy in Australia and the United Kingdom

The policy of Australian governments, both Commonwealth, state and territory, toward those organisations that comprise a third sector of the organised economy is patchy and piecemeal. Absent is any recognition that they constitute a distinct sector; absent too is any recognition of their contribution to economy, society and politics. Such a situation is not inevitable. After identifying some of the gaps and contradictions in Australian policy toward the third sector, this article outlines the many policy initiatives to encourage the third sector or social economy (in European Union terms) taken by the Blair government in the United Kingdom. Given that there is a good deal of policy borrowing between Australia and the United Kingdom, the stark contrast between the two countries in this policy field is puzzling. This article concludes by identifying four developments that led to this policy explosion in the United Kingdom and finds them largely missing in Australia. This leads to a conclusion that a similar range of policies are unlikely to develop here.     

The United Kingdom National Security Strategy: the Need for New Bearings in Security Policy

The first ever UK National Security Strategy statement reflect shifts in perspective on the nature of security concerns and the character of risks and threats in an era of globalisation. However, the UK National Security Strategy itself is a major disappointment. It fails as an attempt to conceive of a genuine strategy. It also fails to engage explicitly and fully with key imperatives for UK security policy, such as Islamist terrorism and the emerging power of China. However, the UK National Security Strategy, despite being weak and disappointing, offers important new bearings on where the National Security Strategy and the government's means to security policy should go from here, identifying areas to strengthen and develop national security structures.     

The Constitutional Revolution in the United Kingdom

The changes to the territorial constitution in the United Kingdomsince 1997 have been extensive, but there is no agreement ontheir long-run significance, opinion being divided as to whetherthe changes are substantive or cosmetic and whether they representthe conclusion of a process or the start of a new one. Thisarticle connects these arguments with historical debates onthe nature of the British state and its distinctive constitutionand multiple identities in order to assess whether the devolutionprocess of recent years signals continuity, rupture, or reformof U.K. institutions. It concludes that some of the changeshave introduced quasi-federal features to the constitution andmark a historical watershed, although progress toward full federationremains limited.     

Territory and Power Revisited: Theorising Territorial Politics in the United Kingdom after Devolution

The article seeks to contribute to theoretical analysis of political decentralisation in the UK occasioned by devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1998–9. It examines the contribution that can be made by Jim Bulpitt's 1983 book, Territory and Power in the United Kingdom . First, it argues that Bulpitt's critique of conventional wisdoms in the early 1980s remains highly relevant to reflecting on shortcomings in the literature today. Key among these is the lack of a common conceptual language for analysis, and Bulpitt's overarching re-conceptualisation of the field as the study of 'territorial politics' would repay renewed reflection. Secondly, the article clarifies Bulpitt's own centre perspective and argues that its application is best understood today as a realist historical institutionalist account of UK territorial politics. In so doing Bulpitt also provides an enduring methodological and interpretative challenge to assumptions of state centralism. Thirdly, the article argues that key methodological/interpretative insights can be adapted from Territory and Power in analysis of UK territorial politics and the advent of devolution. This reinforces the utility of Bulpitt's historical institutionalism to contemporary analysis. Finally, it argues that Territory and Power 's concepts and methods, understood in these ways, would bear application in comparative studies of political decentralisation.