Book Notes
| Date | 01 September 1997 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9248.00114 |
| Published date | 01 September 1997 |
| Subject Matter | Book Notes |
Book Notes
British Politics
Arthur Aughey and Duncan Morrow (eds), Northern Ireland Politics (Harlow,
Longman, 1996), xii 247 pp., £12.99 pbk ISBN 0 58225346 2.
This volume is a series of twenty-three articles on aspects of Northern Ireland's recent past and
contemporary political life by members of the politics facultyat the University of Ulster. It contains
several maps, a brief chronology of events (1920±95) and a short bibliography. The individual
articles are of diering lengths and originality but overallthe book is intended to oer an up-to-date
account mainly for the bene®t of students and lecturers. It is the ®rst bookof its type and admirably
ful®ls the intended purpose. Some chapters discuss predictable topics but others speci®cally are
devoted to less familiar subjects such as Direct Rule, Local Government, Law and Order, Equal
Opportunities for Women, the Media, Arts and Sport. All are welcome and the more valuable for
being incorporated into a single volume. Something more extended on the international rami®ca-
tions of `The Troubles' and a piece speci®cally on comparisons with ethnic con¯ict elsewherewould
have added a further dimension to this ®ne volume. Few of the authors employ theoretical
constructs. These, though, are minor and perhaps cavilling comments on what now is the best
available volume in the ®eld.
ALAN O'DAY
University of North London
Robert Bacon and Walter Eltis (foreword by Robert Skidelsky), Britain's Economic
Problem Revisited (Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1996), lxvi 256 pp., £45.00 ISBN
0 333 64770 X, £14.99 pbk ISBN 0 333 64771 8.
Twenty years ago Bacon and Eltis grabbed the headlines with their explanation of Britain's
economic problems in terms of `too few producers': the expansionof the non-market public services
crowding-out manufacturing and investment. Never mind that other economists were not slow to
challenge the argument and point out its ¯aws and limitations, Baconand Eltis caught the changing
tide of anti-state fashion, helping to create an intellectual climate favourable to Thatcherism. This
edition contains a reprint of the second edition text, but will be chie¯y read for its forty page `Bacon
and Eltis after 20 Years' essay and the Skidelsky foreword. The economic record since 1979 is
assessed and the argument is advanced ± with a sideways look at the Swedish experience ± that
pressures to increasewelfare (health and education) spending and expand public sector employment
could lead to a re-run of the crises of the 1960s and 70s. In some waysthe book is a warning against
`forgetting previous disasters', and it may be seized on in arguments about further private provision
of welfare. But it is unlikely to dislodge Will Hutton from the best-seller list.
KEVIN THEAKSTON
University of Leeds
Logie Barrow and Ian Bullock, Democratic Ideas and the British Labour Movement
1880± 1914 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996), ix 326 pp., £40.00
ISBN 0 521 56042 X.
Until recently the social democratic left since 1920 has shown little interest in issues of constitu-
tional and democratic reform. However,in this detailed and scholarly account of political ideas, the
authors show that a lively debateabout the democratization of politics took place within the labour
movement before World War I. Such discussion was related both to the future socialist state as a
whole and to the internal workings of existing socialist organizations. The virtues of referendums,
proportional representation, leadership in political parties, the autonomyof MPs and the merits of
#Political Studies Association 1997. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 CowleyRoad, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main
Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Political Studies (1997), XLV, 805±851
the Cabinet system as opposed to local government-style committees were hotly debated. Such a
debate was not some abstractintellectual exercise, but was linked to issues of the day such as female
surage, the Boer War, the EducationAct of 1902 and the activity and demands of trade unionists.
The authors argue that a `weak' view of democracytriumphed over a `strong' one. Although overly
dismissive of Fabian ideas, they conveythe very complex nature of the debates very well. The work
should interest not only historians of the period, but also those concerned with the relationship
between socialism and democracy in general.
JOHN GREENAWAY
University of East Anglia
Eugenio F. Biagini (ed.), Citizenship and Community: Liberals, Radicals and Collective
Identities in the British Isles 1865± 1931 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
1996), xi 369 pp., £45.00 ISBN 0 52148035 3.
Concerned with the strength and longevity of radicalliberal ideology, this collection of essays is the
latest contribution to a wave of revisionism in the social and political history of the late Victorian
period to the early 1930s. The `currents of radicalism' thesis upon which it is based holds that
popular radical ideas exerted an in¯uence well beyond the brief, euphoric moments of popular
protest which characterized nineteenth century Britain. Free trade, land reform, and popular
religion were important components, and these arecovered here, often in ways that reveal the over-
simplistic assumption, to be found in previous interpretations, that the relationship between
individualism and collectivism was antinomic. But radicalism's truly decisivecontribution lay in its
ability to inspire a multiplicity of campaigns for constitutional reform. Well-crafted essays by
Martin Pugh and Pat Thane on women's surage, Ian Machin on disestablishment, Eugenio F.
Biagini on J. S. Mill and democracy, and Claire Fitzpatrickon Irish nationalism, show the in¯uence
of notions of civic virtue, republicanism and political community, and how these interacted with
social democratic ideas during the rise of the Labour party. A small, necessarily general criticism:
while Biagini's editorial policy has ensured that the thematic range is sensibly broad,there is a need
to pull together the strands into a broader interpretive framework. Such an opportunity was
presented by the editor's own introductory chapter, but sadly failed to materializedue to its rather
vague nature.
ANDREW CHADWICK
London School of Economics and Political Science
Martin Burch and Ian Holliday, The British Cabinet System (Hemel Hempstead,
Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1996), xii 305 pp., £13.95 pbk ISBN 0 13206194 5.
This is a highly successful attempt to developand use a fresh approach to explore the `black box' of
the British cabinet system. The authors provide a coherent conceptual armoury and employ it,
appropriately and systematically, to illuminate `cases' of policy making at the centre. The `cabinet
system' embracesa wider institutional landscape than the Cabinet itself, and has evolved since 1945
into a set of ocial and ministerial instruments that havebeen employed in a great variety of ways
under dierent administrations and across a host of issues. This development leaves general-
izations ± and especially textbook conventional wisdom ± greatly de®cient, and paves the way for a
novel treatment. At the heart of Burch and Holliday's analysis is an attempt to assess the relative
importance of institutional constraints and the role of individual actors in ways that get beyond
pallid, compromised summations. They give detailed explanations and illustrations of the factors
aecting the relationship between, in eect, structure and human agency. This is a fundamental
issue in the social sciences and it is good to see it applied to British government.In this, for example,
power potential is not confused with power; formal arrangements must be understood amid the
informal links and networks in and around the Cabinet and its committees; and a purchase must be
gained on the elusive factor of a Government's`tone' or style. The analytical framework of Part one
is full of important insights as the authors equip themselves for the rest. The fourteen short case
studies of Part two cash it in with a wealth of detail gleaned largely from actors' autobiographies,
newspapers and ocial documents. The authors demonstrate whatcan be done with such sources,
yet in due course Public Record Oce ®les may reveal ± rather like the packet of cards at the end of
806 Book Notes
#Political Studies Association, 1997
a Cluedo game ± whether the inevitable factual speculations are correct, and whether judgementsof
in¯uences and relationships are sound. Despite a somewhat repetitiousand dogged style, this book
will be of great value to students as well as moreadvanced scholars of British government in staking
out an innovative and potentially fruitful line of analysis. It is a considerable achievement.
CHARLES D. RAAB
University of Edinburgh
Peter Catterall and Virginia Preston (eds), ContemporaryBritain: an Annual Review 1995
(Aldershot, Dartmouth, 1996), xx 476 pp., £46.00 ISBN 1 85521645 0.
The sixth so far, this is a collection of thirty nine chapters of varying quality, from Paul Arthur's
thorough analysis, and thoughtful accounts of the political system (`the constitution'), to some
problematical chapters. That said, it is not always possible to write a seminal account of what is,
after all, only one very recent calendar year.The topics covered are familiar to students of `Britain'.
So is the painful fact that though a book on contemporary`Britain', it is really all about `England':
the other components of this `union' receive scant attention, except in terms of their peculiarities.
Scotland, ever the exception, is dealt with in an omnibus chapter. Such a style has its ownproblems;
I rather prefer Kellas' more balanced approach in 1994 to that of McCrone in 1995. Generally, the
chronologies are good, but certain chapters are conceptual, and factual, problems: the chapter on
EU is open to much conceptual criticism. At best, this book just might serve as a rather selective
aide me
Âmoire to the cognoscenti, which is hardly reason enough for a series of costly annual
publications. The non-specialist is unlikely to bene®t much: one year, albeit often `introduced', is
hardly a snap-shot of `Britain'. However, were ®rst accounts to be supplemented with judicious
pointers to more extensive and intensive material,it might prove useful to some; but it does not, so
it is not. Thus, while it has the merit of general continuity of authors, still, even when evaluated in
terms of its declared objectives ± `to provide a factual digest and guide' ± its success is quali®ed.
FRED NASH
University of Southampton
Jens Peter Frùlund Thomsen, British Politics and Trade Unions in the 1980s: Govern-
ing Against Pressure (Aldershot, Dartmouth, 1996), ix 283 pp., £39.50 ISBN
1 85521 750 3.
This is an excellent book which should be read by all interested in state theory and contemporary
British politics. The book's title gives a somewhat false impressionof its contents. In fact, Thomsen
is most concerned with an attempt to defend a statistapproach: what he calls a bottom line politicist
position. His argument in essence is that the Government's policy during the Thatcherite period
provides ample evidence of the autonomy of the state. In particular, he suggests that the
Government's ability seriously to reduce the role and power of trade unions, a signi®cant role and
power prior to 1979, demonstrates that the state can negotiate, and even remove, the constraints
which in societal based-accounts of the relationship betweenthe state and civil society are often seen
as overwhelming. In order to substantiate this argument, Thomsen reviews developments in three
policy areas: economic policy; industrial relations policy; and youth training policy. Each of the
chapters reviewing these policy areas is useful in its own right. They revealan excellent grasp of the
material and an ability to utilize that material in support of an argument. In addition, the two
chapters which review the statist approach and the concluding chapter which outlines Thomsen's
own model will repay careful reading and be useful to students. While I would recommendanyone
interested in this area to buy this book, I do have two reservations which, in part, re¯ect my own,
rather dierent, theoretical position. First, in my viewThomsen overestimates the power which the
unions had prior to 1979. Here, he is in good company but my own work has consistently argued
against this interpretation. Of course, if one overestimates the union's past power then one might
put more stress on subsequent change. Second, if Thomsen wishes to further develop his case then
he needs to turn his attention to the relationship between the state and capital; only a convincing
demonstration that the statecan signi®cantly negotiate and reduce the constraints ± structural and
intentional ± put on it by capital would, in my view, provide clinching support for the statist
position Thomsen develops. Nevertheless, this book makes an important contribution to the
Book Notes 807
#Political Studies Association, 1997
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