Abstract
This is the second edition of British Government and Politics which has been updated to include content on the 2010 general election. The book opens with an introduction on British society and the British people. This is followed by a series of chapters on the constitution, legislature, executive and judiciary. Further sections explore devolution, local government and the European Union, political parties, pressure groups, voting and elections. The final chapter considers democracy in theory and in practice. An unusual feature for a British politics textbook is the inclusion of a comparative dimension. Many chapters feature international examples from European liberal democracies as well as the United States and South Africa. Although some readers may find these interesting, the comparisons are fortunately very concise and do not encroach upon the primary purpose of the book.
The book is clearly organised with a thematic structure which addresses a wide range of highly relevant themes. The content is very detailed yet accessibly written and clearly explained throughout. An extensive series of tables and figures convey a wide range of useful data. For example, the outcomes of all general elections from 1945 to 2010 are presented as well as more specialist information such as the levels of party spending. Furthermore, each chapter closes with a glossary of key terms and contains references to more advanced further reading including website resources. This is a text with an emphasis on British government rather than British politics. The book is more concerned with constitutional arrangements, institutions and the processes of government than with political debates and ideologies. It communicates the content using key terminology, bullet points and summary boxes and does not extensively consider broader debates involving concepts and theories. Moreover, some ideas which are contested and disputed within the literature are presented in quite a simplified way. The content is therefore rather packaged and processed as opposed to being presented in its ‘raw academic form’. For this reason, it is more suitable for advanced-level syllabuses, making it ideal for further education students. It is perhaps less suitable for first-year undergraduates for whom there is a large range of other texts aimed at the higher education market which are more tailored to their needs. However, each chapter contains an extensive range of factual information, making it a good supporting guide for a wide variety of readers across many disciplines and at all levels.