Book Reviews: Government and Politics in Western Europe – Britain, France, Italy, West Germany

AuthorAalt Willem Heringa
Date01 June 1994
DOI10.1177/1023263X9400100206
Published date01 June 1994
Subject MatterBook Reviews
Book Reviews
Yves Meny,
Government
and
Politics
in
Western
Europe
-
Britain,
France,
Italy,
West
Germany,
Oxford University Press, 1993, 2nd ed. 367 pages,
hardback £30.00, paperback £12.95.
Dominique Pelassy, Qui
Gouverne
en
Europe?,
Fayard, 1992, 430 pages,
paperback FF 160.
The French have to uphold atradition in comparative political and constitutionalstudies.
Both books under review here fall within this tradition - the same tradition of which
Maurice Duverger's learned studies form part. Luckily for those interested in compara-
tive political and constitutional research Meny's book, originally written and published
in French under the title Politique
comparee:
Les
democraties.
has been translated into
English and made available to a larger audience.
The interesting aspect
of
both books is that they aim at explaining constitutional rules
in their political context; in fact the central theme is not so much the constitutional
structure
as laid downin
written
rules,
but
rather
how
this
structure
functions inprac-
tice. That makes very interesting reading, although it is not always easy, because both
authors assume that their readers are relatively familiar with the various European
constitutional systems and how they function. They have to start from this assumption
because their approach is truly comparative: the systems that are under analysis are not
being described as such; on the contrary, the authors have made a continuous effort to
switch from country to country in order to make as many comparisons and show as
many differences as possible.
In this respect Pelassy probes very deeply; her analysis is not just confined to a few
major constitutional systems, as is Meny's book, and she also devotes great attention
to the other West European (including non European Union members) states. This
difference between the two books has everything to do with the aim the two authors had
in mind when they began their respective enterprises. Meny wrote a book which is also
MJ 1 (1994) 221

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