This volume features key political issues for 1990s Britain: the reform of the Labour party; the use of opinion polls; the impact of the media; European integration; Scotland and regional trends; and the bases of party support.
Volume 13 provides theoretically informed and methodically sophisticated analyses of both current and historical developments, along with regular contributions on research methodology, and reference material.
The "British Elections and Parties" series publishes research on parties, elections and voting behaviour in Britain, providing analyses of current and historical developments. It is produced under the auspices of the Political Studies Association's Election, Public Opinion and Parties study group. Volume 9 includes research based around four themes: electoral reform; partisanship and voting; parliamentary behaviour; and the attitudes of the young. It provides a source of data on public opinion polls, a summary of local election results, UK referendums, key economic indicators, political parties and a chronology of major political events in 1998.
The most authoritative study of a landmark British General Election - the fifteenth book in the renowned Nuffield series of election studies. This highly readable account covers all the salient features - the background, the campaign, the results and the consequences of Labour's victory. Based on close observation of party headquarters, it explores each party's strategic decisions and their implementation, showing how 1997 saw campaigning techniques at an altogether new level of sophistication. The battle in the media and the constituencies is analysed in detail. There is a mass of data and thorough statistical analysis of the campaign and results. Plates and cartoons entertainingly illustrate the campaign trail and recapture the drama of the election.
Did Labour′s landslide victory in 1997 mark a critical watershed in British party politics? Did the radical break with 18 years of Conservative rule reflect a fundamental change in the social and ideological basis of British voting behaviour? Critical Elections brings together leading scholars of parties, elections and voting behaviour to provide the first systematic overview of long-term change in British electoral politics.
This systematic study considers the early performance of New Labour in power. Each chapter examines New Labour's initial comments, charts opening policy moves, and traces policy trajectories in each major department of state.
Exploring the historical context, the structure and method of operation, Local Elections in Britain clearly addresses the key issues and confusions that surround the local election system including: * the nature and extent of electoral participation including the crucial issue of low turnout * the candidates, and the growing proportion of women challenging for council seats * the performance of political parties, now a central feature of local elections * the dangers of viewing local elections as national opinion polls Drawing on the results of more than 100,000 local elections dating back over three decades the book is the most comprehensive study of local elections in Britain.
Studies of the influence of class and religion on politics often point to their gradual decline as a result of social change. Backed up by extensive evidence from 11 case studies and a 15-country pooled analysis, the editors argue instead that the supply of choices by parties influences the extent of class divisions: political choice matters.
How Political Parties Respond focuses specifically on the question of interest aggregation. Do parties today perform that function? If so, how? If not, in what different ways do they seek to show themselves responsive to the electorate? This fascinating book studies these questions with reference to Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Canada. A chapter on Russia demonstrates how newly powerful private interest groups and modern techniques of persuasion can work together to prevent effective party response to popular interests in systems where the authoritarian tradition remains strong.