This title is a revised and extended replacement for the same author's text on Elections and Voting Behaviour in Britain in the same series. The book provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of electoral politics today and of its evolution in the post war period. Two entirely new chapters focus on electoral reform and on the main theoretical approaches to the study of elections and voting.
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.
In the century since women were first eligible to stand and vote in British general elections, they have relied on news media to represent their political perspectives in the public realm. This book provides a systematic analysis of electoral coverage by charting how women candidates, voters, politicians' spouses, and party leaders have been portrayed in newspapers since 1918. The result is a fascinating account of both continuity and change in the position of women in British politics. The book demonstrates that for women to be effectively represented in the political domain, they must also be effectively represented in the public discussion of politics that takes place in the media.
Within an international framework, this work provides a fully comprehensive approach to the geographical coverage of elections. Numerous applications of ideas and concepts from human geography are incorporated into a new political context, illustrating the manner in which electoral patterns reflect and help produce the overall geography of a region or state. Discussions of various topics are well supported by numerous maps and diagrams which help clarify arguments and serve to define elections within their basic geographical context.
Originally published in 1972, this edition includes expanded sections on class and voting and elites and participation in modern democracy. Many popular misconceptions - about the militancy of party activists, the relations between MPs and constituents, the role of TV and the fairness of the electoral system - are critically examined. Equally important is the review of representational theories, from Greek to Victorian, in the light of what we know today about the workings of Parliament, the role of pressure groups and the mixture of rational and irrational motives in human behaviour. A range of twentieth century critiques, including those of Robert Michels, Joseph Schumpeter, Robert Dahl and Peter Bachrach is presented. Wherever possible, British experience is compared with that of the USA, continental Europe or the Commonwealth.
A History of British Elections since 1689 represents a unique single-volume authoritative reference guide to British elections and electoral systems from the Glorious Revolution to the present day. The main focus is on general elections and associated by-elections, but Chris Cook and John Stevenson also cover national referenda, European parliament elections, municipal elections, and elections to the Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies and the Scottish parliament. The outcome and political significance of all these elections are looked at in detail, but the authors also discuss broader themes and debates in British electoral history, for example: the evolution of the electoral system, parliamentary reform, women's suffrage, constituency size and numbers, elimination of corrupt practices, and other important topics. The book also follows the fortunes not only of the major political parties but of fringe movements of the extreme right and left. Combining data, summary and analysis with thematic overviews and chronological outlines, this major new reference provides a definitive guide to the long and varied history of British elections and is essential reading for students of British political history.
Using information from the UK elections, this title shows how voters and parties are affected by, and seek to influence, both national and local forces, placing the analysis of electoral behaviour into its geographical context.
The 2019 British general election saw a dramatic redrawing of the electoral map, with the Labour Party losing seats to the Conservatives in former heartlands in the North of England and Midlands. Yet this had been a long-term shift, with the opposite trend occurring in major cities and university towns, where Labour's support has been increasing. What has driven these changes in electoral geography? Why do they matter? This book offers a definitive account of the changing electoral geography of England and Wales over the past half century. Jamie Furlong and Will Jennings argue that long-term trends in social and economic structure have significantly altered the spatial distribution of voters and, combined with changes in the parties' appeal to those voters, have led to a gradual, though recently accelerating, realignment of the geographical basis of electoral competition. Constituency-level analysis of voting at general elections between 1979 and 2019 reveals a swing from Labour to the Conservatives in demographically 'left behind' areas (areas with largely white, working-class populations and lower levels of educational attainment), while Labour's support has remained stable in areas characterized by high levels of economic deprivation and insecure employment. Areas that have experienced improvements in their socioeconomic condition - typically cities where Labour have inefficiently stacked up votes - have swung towards Labour, whereas areas characterized by economic and population decline have swung towards the Conservatives. Spatial analysis reveals clusters of seats where each party has more support than expected based on sociodemographic composition - places where, in short, place matters. In Merseyside, Labour's vote is much higher than would be predicted by demographics, while this is similarly the case for the Conservatives in Lincolnshire and parts of the West Midlands. But what makes these areas distinctive? We present qualitative case studies for Merseyside and Lincolnshire to identify the place-based, contextual factors that help explain their unusual political characteristics. The book argues for the need to recognize the importance of people, places, and parties in shaping the geography of electoral outcomes.
The essays in this collection show how electoral geography has shifted from empiricist activity towards a closer involvement with the wider issues addressed by social scientists. They illustrate the potential contributions that electoral geographers can make towards the understanding of global, national and local societies.
