Mind the gap: political analysis, public expectations and the parliamentary decline thesis

The parliamentary decline thesis formed the dominant theory and narrative of legislative behaviour and capacity during the 20th century. And yet in analytical terms the thesis provides a relatively blunt instrument for dissecting complex socio-political relationships. The bluntness of this tool has not been remedied by the lazy thinking and unconscious theorising that has too often dominated research in this field. The central argument of this article is that the dominant public, media and academic perception of an eviscerated and sidelined parliament provides a misleading caricature of a more complex institution. Moreover the constant promotion and reinforcement of this caricature by scholars arguably perpetuates and fuels public disengagement and disillusionment with politics.<br/

Ahead of his time: Richard Crossman and house of commons reform in the 1960s

In the context of growing concern during the 1960s about Britain's relative economic decline, and parallel concern about the increasing remoteness of government and administration from the people, there was growing interest among commentators in modernising Britain's political institutions, in order to render them more effective and representative. Much of this interest was shared by Labour's Richard Crossman, who had himself previously written scholarly analyses of the deficiencies of Parliament, and had proposed reforms to reverse its apparent decline and marginalisation. Crossman was granted a unique opportunity to give practical effect to his proposals when he was appointed Leader of the House in 1966, but he enjoyed only limited success, due largely to the fact that few of his senior Labour colleagues shared his enthusiasm for reform, particularly once they had risen to Ministerial rank, and thus enjoyed the power and privileges this bestowed upon them. Many Ministers also failed to discern a link between parliamentary reform and reversal of Britain's economic decline. On the contrary, the economic problems confronting the 1964–1970 Labour Governments were widely viewed as necessitating stronger action from the centre, and this would hardly be achieved by devolving power to, or sharing it with, backbench MPs in the House of Commons

UK Health action zones: political accountability and political marketing - perspectives from the South West

This article evaluates the accountability of the strategic layer of Plymouth Health Action Zone (HAZ) and identifies conclusions with a wider application to partnership governance. The structures of Plymouth HAZ are assessed in the context of horizontal, vertical and downward models of accountability. The study finds fundamental weaknesses in the accountability regime. Vertical mechanisms are superficial and often inappropriate. The impact of horizontal accountability is marginalised through factors such as informal networks of dependency and a culture that discourages rigorous scrutiny. Downward accountability is addressed through the dissemination of information about achievements. In particular, the study highlights the difficulties of relying on local partners as the main mechanism of accountability. Plymouth HAZ is also evaluated in relation to political marketing and found to possess a sales-orientatio

Indeterminate sovereignty and the rule of law: A descriptive analysis of changes to parliament’s use of language

Judges increasingly alter or veto government decisions. The aim is to explain this ‘judicialization’ of British politics. Existing theories focus on what the judges’ want for themselves, or they focus on changes to social attitudes. But a key variable, often omitted in research, is the law itself. If the meaning of law is increasingly difficult to determine we should expect a greater role for adjudication in politics. A descriptive time series analysis of 8278 sections of primary and secondary legislation between 1920 and 2010 demonstrates a significant increase in indeterminate language used by Parliament to communicate with government and the courts. This includes policy spaces with high judicialization: immigration, homelessness and anti-discrimination