1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996198215403316

Autore

Weir Stuart

Titolo

Political power and democratic control in Britain : the democratic audit of the United Kingdom / / Stuart Weir and David Beetham

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York : , : Routledge, , 1999

ISBN

1-134-86411-6

1-134-86412-4

1-280-32182-2

0-203-42312-7

0-415-24616-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (543 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

BeethamDavid

Disciplina

306.2/0941

320.941

321.80941

Soggetti

Democracy - Great Britain

Great Britain Politics and government

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Cover; Political Power and Democratic Control in Britain; Copyright Page; Contents; List of figures, tables and boxes; Foreword; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations and acronyms; Introduction; 1. Auditing Democracy in Britain: Introducing the Democratic Criteria; 2. Ancient and Modern: The governing culture in Britain; Part 1: Elections and Mandates; Introduction; 3. The Other National Lottery: The political effects of Westminster elections; 4. The Independence of Elections: Government and outside influences on elections; 5. Sticking to the Manifesto: Election mandates in action

Part 2: The Core ExecutiveIntroduction; 6. Does The Cabinet Really Govern?: Cabinet government or quasi-presidential rule?; 7. Ministers and Mandarins: The powers of ministers, bureaucrats and their departments; 8. Agents of Power: The role of agencies and quangos in government; 9. Government Below the Centre: Government at regional and local level; 10. Networks in Power: External influences working within government; 11. The Rules of the Game: Britain's informal and



flexible executive; Part 3: Checks and Balances; Introduction

12. Giving Account to Parliament: How ministerial responsibility works in practice13. A Parliament Bound: Party constraints on scrutiny and accountability; 14. Heckling the Steamroller: The imbalance of power between government and Parliament; 15. The Rule of Law: The limited role of the judiciary; Part 4: The Balance Sheet; Findings: Good in Parts: Measuring British democracy against Democratic Criteria; Conclusions: Tying Down Gulliver: The absence of a written constitution; Appendix: The Democratic Audit; Table of Cases; Bibliography and sources; Books and articles; Official documents

Index

Sommario/riassunto

Democratic Institutions and Practices is the second study carried out under the Democratic Audit of the UK. This volume explores the formal institutions and processes of the liberal democratic state: including the executive, elections, parliament and the civil service.