Abstract
To this point we have described the institutions of British government, but have done so in rather a static fashion. This chapter attempts to bring these structures to life and to demonstrate how actors and institutions produce policies. We also demonstrate how the distinctive character of British governmental institutions affects the policies produced so that they may be different from those emanating from other political systems, even those faced with similar policymaking problems. In particular, the majoritarian nature of British parliamentary government will, everything else being equal, produce greater variation in policy than would be found in more consensual parliamentary systems.
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Notes
These figures are drawn from Ivor Burton and Gavin Drewry, “Public Legislation,” Parliamentary Affairs, various years.
David Judge, Backbench Specialization in the House of Commons (London: Heinemann, 1989).
Parliament does, however, review the content of these instruments through a select committee.
Brian W. Hogwood and Michael Keating, Regional Government in England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982).
R.A.W. Rhodes, Beyond Westminster and Whitehall: The Sub-Central Governments of Britain (London: Unwin & Hyman, 1988).
Brian W. Hogwood and B. Guy Peters, Policy Dynamics (Brighton: Wheatsheaf, 1983).
Hugh Heclo and Aaron Wildavsky, The Private Government of Public Money (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974), 76–128.
Keith Krehbiel, Information and Legislative Organization (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992).
The phrase is Lord Hailsham’s. See his BBC lecture (1976) of the same name.
Jorgen Rasmussen, The British Political Process: Concentrated Power Versus Accountability (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1993).
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© 1998 Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Hancock, M.D., Conradt, D.P., Peters, B.G., Safran, W., Zariski, R. (1998). How Is Power Used?. In: Politics in Western Europe. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14555-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14555-3_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
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