Book Reviews : Ruling Britannia: The Failure and Future of British Democracy by Andrew Marr. London: Michael Joseph, 1995. £16.99. 372 pages
| Author | Peter Unwin |
| Published date | 01 April 1996 |
| Date | 01 April 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711789601300107 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
101
practical
ways
by
the
effect
on
NGO
facilities
at
New
York
of
the
constant
attempt
by
Western
powers
to
cut
the
UN’s
in
any
case
very
small
budget,
and
the
space
problems
in
the
host
country’s
shabby
provisions
for
the
entire
UN
Seat.
All
these
problems
have
grown
as
earlier
NGO
indifference
to
UN-system
machinery
has
greatly
receded,
More
and
more
NGOs
realise
that
they
need
to
’be
there’,
and
so
many
are
pounding
on
the
UN’s
doors
that
ECOSOC
is
undertaking
a
massive
review
of
the
entire
system.
Moreover,
peace
and
other
NGOs
have
also
abandoned
their
disdain
and
are
clam-
ouring
to
be
heard
in
the
Security
Council
and
General
Assembly,
where
there
are
no
pro-
visions
whatever
for
consultation
with
NGOs.
This
is
nothing
but
healthy.
I
The
views
of
sympathetic,
indeed
eager
diplomats
should,
however,
be
heeded.
NGOs
do
often
have
ego
problems.
They
need
to
cooperate
and
coordinate
better
among
them-
selves
and -
further
horror
of
horrors -
agree
to
let
one
speak
for
many.
They
must
not
lose
the
support
of
the
kind
of
UN
diplomat
who
remarked
to
me,
’Some
really
would
try
the
patience
of
a
saint
I
mean,
we
don’t
have
enough
time
to
listen
to
all
185
of
our
own
dele-
gations,
and
they
want
me
to
arrange
for
them
to
make fifteen
separa> p
esentations
to
us...’
These
and
other
headaches
for
UN
delegates
are
fully
familiar
t the
expert
contribu-
tors
to
this
book,
who
show
remarkably
little
antagonism
towards
the/UN
culture
and,
while
rightly
criticising
its
weaknesses,
much
objectivity
about
weaknesse in
the
NGO
one.
There
is
so
much
to
cover
in
this
exploding
universe
tha~ the
St dy
Group
organized
by
the
David
Davies
Institute,
and
editor
Peter
Willetts
are,
I
believe, o
be,
cong~atulated
on
avoiding
another
entire
dimension
that
is
a
book
in
itself.
This
isBof
course,
what
place
the
expanding
bridge
between
the
NGO
community
and
the
UN
may
have~in
the
issue
of
fully
democratizing
our
only
universal
public-service
institution.
’
For
NGO
workers
this
issue
involves
agonizing
quite
a
lot,
as
anyone
who
advocates
a
United
Nations
Parliamentary
Assembly
has
been
well
and
truly
told.
The
NGO
communi-
ty
is
the
nearest
thing
we
have
to
global
representation
of
citizens
but
it
is
simply
not
rep-
resentative
enough
to
constitute
a
democratic
voice
of
’We,
the
Peoples’
at
the
United
Nations.
This
is
ironic
for
the
movement
that
has
done
so
much
to
raise
democracy
to
the
global
level.
Yet
the
NGO
movement
is
now
daily
demonstrating
the
enormous
value
to
the
UN
of
what
it
does
best,
in
specialist
political
advocacy
and
advice
on
technical
issues.
What
roles
will
NGOs
best
play
alongside
elected
representatives
of
We,
The
Peoples
in
a
future
UN
Parliamentary
Assembly?
That
is
a
future
conundrum
for
the
sponsors
of
this
remarkable
book.
ERSKINE
CHILDERS
Ruling
Britannia:
The
Failure
and
Future
of
British
Democracy
by
Andrew
Marr.
London:
Michael
Joseph,
1995.
£16.99.
372
pages.
This
is
an
important
book.
Behind
a
wilfully
silly
and
facetious
style
that
seems
designed
to
irritate
and
interrupt,
Andrew
Marr,
political
columnist
of
The
Independent,
has
given
us
a
serious
and
worrying
analysis
of
the
state
of
politics
and
government
in
Britain
today.
He
brings
out
three
topical
themes
in
particular.
A
Conservative
administration
which
profess-
es
itself
intent
to
limit
and
diminish
the
power
of
the
state
has
in
fact
concentrated
power
in
its
own
hands
still
further.
Many
of
the
changes
it
has
introduced
have
replaced
openly
accountable
bodies
with
organizations
answerable
only
to
ministers.
In
doing
so
it
has
con-
tributed
to
a
process
already
in
train
that
is
diminishing -
some
would
say
destroying -
the
reputation
and
authority
of
politics
and
of
the
state.
Most
of Mr
Marr’s
analysis
concerns
Britain’s
domestic
arrangements,
and
is
perhaps
not
a
fit
subject
for
review
in
an
international
journal.
But
at
the
heart
of
the
book,
between
pages
162
and
229,
he
gives
us
a
brilliantly
observed
and
sustained
account
of ’The
Decline
and
Fall
of
the
Free
State’.
Here
at
least
half
his
argument
concerns
Britain’s
external
cir-
cumstances,
and
demonstrates
vividly
that
the
plight
of
government
today
results
as
much
from
international
as
domestic
developments.
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