Political institutions in the United Kingdom

Abstract:

This work seeks an answer to the question - ‘What is an institution?’ - and in its search it describes how institutions in the UK work in practice and how they interact within a wider institutional complex.

The work is organised over seven chapters. The first chapter gives the background to the various types of institution and sets the boundaries for defining institutions. Chapter two looks at institutions of representation, specifically the UK Parliament and how and why the ‘Westminster model’ was so important in the development of a ‘set of norms, values and meanings’. The next category of institutions of representation - parties and groups - is the feature of chapter three, which looks at ‘linkage’ between government and those who are governed, with particular emphasis on political parties and organised groups. Chapter four examines the main institutions of the core executive - departments, agencies and the institutions of co-ordination centred around the Cabinet, the Prime Minister and the Treasury - and the influence that the notion of collective and individual ministerial responsibility to parliament has had on the principle of accountability. Territorial institutions are the focus of chapter five, which explores the relatively simple structure of territorial management in the UK pre-1999 and the more complex situation post-1999, following devolution. Chapter six examines the role of judicial institutions and the relationship they enjoy with political institutions. The final chapter is by way of conclusion, reviewing the extent of institutional change since 1997 and the characteristic continuity of institutional patterns.

The work will interest scholars and students engaged in political sciences.

David Judge is Professor of Politics in the Department of Government at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.