The United Kingdom faces with two major federal constitutional debates. The first is about the nations which comprise the British state and hence the division of power between Westminster and regional parliaments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The second surrounds the United Kingdom and the European Union. This text explores the British engagement with the federal idea from the early 1600s onwards, and sets contemporary discussions in context. In the past four centuries, the British have often looked to the federal idea as a possible solution to problems of the unity of the United Kingdom and of the British Empire. This period has also seen successful adoption of federalism by many countries, including Britain's former colonial possessions. John Kendle examines the break-up of the first British empire and the development of modern federalism. As well as discussing the Anglo-Irish relationship and the United Kingdom's relationship to Europe, the author focuses on other contemporary issues such as the world order, imperial federation and decolonization.

Michael Temple argues that the new local governance system "created" by Margaret Thatcher's reforms, when combined with New Labour's emphasis on delivering measurable improvements to outputs, has enabled Tony Blair to have unprecedented control over the public policy process. The author concludes that, far from a more pluralist political culture, the emphasis on achieving centrally determined outputs means that New Labour's governing style is more centralized and directive that the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher; to what end is still uncertain. (view table of contents)

The Conservative government has proved to be radical in changing the welfare state, and such changes often produce uncertainty and conflict in relations between central and local government. This book attempts to identify the breakdown of relations and key problems since 1985. years.

Product Description: In this volume a number of contributors consider the recent trends towards increased centralization of government experienced in Britain, as compared with patterns in other parts of Europe. How strong are these trends? Where do they originate? What are the reasons for them? The findings of "The New Centralism" are that the trend outside Britain is away from centralisation, and that in particular a regional level of economic policy-making is emerging in a number of different societies which is almost entirely absent in Britain...read more

Product Description: Brand New!! Unmarked. Never read. Every page present. Every corner sharp.

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Product Description: Discusses the process of policy-making for local government and illustrates the findings through case studies of the creation and abolition of the GLC and the Metropolitan counties.

Product Description: Originally published in 1981, this text established itself as a significant contribution in the study of local government. Its "power-dependence" model of central-local government relations underpinned the vast growth in the study of policy networks in British government...read more