Overview
- Focusses on democracy in Britain rather than assuming that Britain is vulnerable to going the way of Turkey or Donald Trump’s America
- Combines extensive empirical knowledge of UK politics with an acute understanding of democratic accountability, both in theory as well as in practice
- Examines evidence from Conservative and Labour governments since 1997
Part of the book series: Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century (CDC)
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About this book
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.
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Keywords
Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
‘This book by a world-renowned political scientist with great knowledge of the subject tackles the controversial topic of the current state of British democracy. You may not agree with all he says (I didn’t), but you will certainly learn a lot (I did)’.
—Kenneth Newton, former Executive Director, European Consortium for Political Research, UK
‘How Sick Is British Democracy? is a highly readable and sophisticated analysis of the health of British democracy. Rose deftly diagnoses the aspects of the British body politic that are struggling to retain their democratic qualities, those that are healthy, and those suffering chronic shortcomings. Students will find this extensive treatment of the institutions and practices of British democracy and be challenged to consider proposals to improve them’.
—Janet Laible, Executive Director British Politics Group, an affiliate of the American Political Science Association
‘A distinguished political scientist draws upon a lifetime’s work to diagnose what ails British democracy and how it can be fixed. Since the same problems surface elsewhere, this insightful and witty book is both relevant and interesting to an international audience’.—James Curran, Professor of Communications, Goldsmiths University of London, UK
‘We are used to discussing the health of the economy, but this stimulating book applies the medical analogy to British democracy. What comes across from this much needed health check is a sense of an accumulation of co-morbidities. However, the prognosis is nonetheless optimistic thanks to a detailed analysis of how UK democracy can reform itself. Like a good doctor, Richard Rose thus explains that there are no miracle cures and that the key to good health is following the right advice’.
—Andrew Glencross, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Aston University, UK
‘Richard Rose provides a thorough analysis of the state of British democracy after years of upheaval. He reports that it is in mixed health - better than fatalists would argue but not without its problems. His proposed solutions outline the terrain over which British politics will progress for years to come’.
—Kevin Hickson, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Liverpool, UK
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Richard Rose is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde, UK, and a Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute Florence, Italy, and the Science Centre Berlin, Germany. He has been writing award-winning studies of British politics and democracy in comparative perspective for more than half a century.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: How Sick Is British Democracy?
Book Subtitle: A Clinical Analysis
Authors: Richard Rose
Series Title: Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73123-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-73122-9Published: 22 May 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-73125-0Published: 23 May 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-73123-6Published: 21 May 2021
Series ISSN: 2946-3416
Series E-ISSN: 2946-3424
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXIX, 178
Number of Illustrations: 4 b/w illustrations, 5 illustrations in colour
Topics: European Politics, Political Leadership, Governance and Government, Public Administration