Books
| Published date | 01 March 1985 |
| Date | 01 March 1985 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1985.tb01567.x |
| Subject Matter | Books |
PofiticulStudies
(1985), XXXIII, 136-178
Books
British
Politics
Philip Norton,
The British Polity
(New York, Longman, 1984), xiv
+
386 pp., €9.95 pbk
The present generation of British politics textbooks is looking very tired. Several
of
them were first
published more than
a
decade ago; most of them treat Margaret Thatcher as, at most, a sort of
‘add-on’. Partly because
so
many of the standard texts are
so
old, teachers and students are
increasingly driven to supplement them with volumes like Henry Drucker’s
Developments in
British Politics
or
the Essex team’s
The New British Political System.
The main advantage of
Philip Norton’s new book is that it is a genuine product of the
1980s,
containing, for example, a
lot
of
material on the
1983
general election. It is clearly and vigorously written, and its coverage is
unusually wide, with chapters on British political history, the mass media, law enforcement and
Britain’s relations with the European Community. The reader benefits from the fact that Dr
Norton himself is clearly a voracious reader. Some potential users may be put off by the amount of
space the author devotes to issues
of
reform (the ratio
of
‘ought’ to ‘is’ in these pages is quite high)
and also by the fact that the book is aimed at an American undergraduate audience and therefore
contains large numbers
of
explicit Anglo-American comparisons. But these are matters of taste.
The British Polity
should definitely be considered for adoption as
a
textbook by everyone
currently teaching a course on British government and politics.
ANTHONY KING,
University
of
Essex
ISBN
0
582 28272
1.
R.
L. Borthwick and
J.
E.
Spence (eds),
British Politics in Perspective
(Leicester,
Leicester University Press, 1984), x+251 pp,,
€18.00
ISBN
0
7185 1234, €5.95 pbk
ISBN
0
7185
1247 2.
Several years ago a well-known British academic remarked that British politics had become very
predictable and distinctly boring, but that that the two elections
of
1974
have livened things up no
end! One
of
the results of that enlivening is a spate
of
books up-dating
our
information, discussing
the significance
of
various developments and the portents
for
the future.
British Politics in
Perspective
is one such volume. As might be expected there are chapters on electoral trends, the
party system, Parliament, the power of the Prime Minister and on pressure groups-all useful and
workmanlike, but it is good
to
see chapters specifically on the role
of
the state, Parliament and
economic affairs, Britain and the EEC and, above all, on foreign policy. The book’s greatest
drawback is that at least two of its chapters and, inevitably, the conclusion are significantly out
of
date because
of
the
1983
election, which is a pity. Such volumes are subject to circumstances, but
not entirely, and, if some rewriting was not possible, surely something more than a short postscript
to one chapter was? Nonetheless, the book remains a useful commentary on and discussion
of
recent changes and trends and should find a place on the reading lists
of
courses on British politics.
MICHAEL RUSH,
University
of
Exeter
Henry Pelling,
The Labour Government,
1945-51
(London, Macmillan, 1984),
Unlike most books on the Attlee government, this one concentrates on the foreign policy
difficulties and decisions
of
that regime.
Dr
Pelling is particularly sensitive to the numerous and
powerful ways the American alliance tied down the government. The book is the result
of
a careful
viii+313 pp., f25.00ISBNO333 363566.
OO32-3217/85/01/0136-43/$03
.OO
0
1985
Political Studies
Books
137
search of the recently opened cabinet papers
on
the
1945-51
period. It is spare and fair rather than
assertive
or
sweeping.
I
heard a note
of
sympathy for the plans
of
Herbert Morrison here but these
are not spelt out
or
argued for. The strongest overall impression the book leaves is of wasted
opportunities. Pelling points out how some of the key openings to wider European arrangements
were passed up by this government, obsessed with something it called sovereignity even while it
was selling its autonomy to the Americans. It is sad too to read this account of the first Labour
opportunity to govern and see how little was made of it by
a
party which may never govern again.
H.
M. DRUCKER,
Universityof Edinburgh
L. Radice,
Beatrice and Sidney Webb: Fabian Socialists
(London, Macmillan, 1984),
On
23
July
1892,
in the office
of
the Registrar of St Pancras Workhouse, the elegant Miss Beatrice
Potter married Sidney Webb, ‘an ugly little man (she recorded) with
no
social position and less
means, whose only recommendation-so some may say-is
a
certain pushing ability’. The
marriage lasted almost
51
years. Had it produced nothing beyond its written output, it would have
been full
of
achievement. But it is only when one considers the total impact of the Webb
partnership-the stewardship of the Fabian Society, the foundation of the London School
of
Economics and
of
the
New Statesman,
the complete re-ordering
of
the Labour Party in
1918,
Sidney’s Cabinet position in the two minority Labour governments, Beatrice’s
1909
Minority
Report
on
the Poor Law (and the claim which must consequently be made for her, that she,
no
less
than Beveridge, was one
of
the architects
of
the welfare state)-that one becomes aware of the
profound impact it has had upon the shaping
of
modern British society.
In
telling this story,
Dr
Radice has combined
a
pleasing economy
of
style with
a
critique of the Webbs and their work
which is scholarly and sympathetic but not in the least apologetic.
I
doubt that this volume will be
the last word
on
the subject, but it deserves to be regarded as
a
central point of reference.
GEOFFREY ALDERMAN,
Royal Holloway College
xii
+
342 pp.,
ISBN
0
333 36183
0.
Richard
A.
Chapman,
Leadership
in
the British Civil Service:
a
study
of
Sir
Percival
Waterfield and the creation
of
the Civil Service Selection Board
(London, Croom
Helm, 1984), 210 pp., $36.95 ISBN
0
7099
3402
5.
The sub-title is more informative than the title. Much of the book is a historical study
of
the
administrative politics surrounding. the creation
of
‘Cisbee’. Sir Percival, as First Civil Service
Commissioner from
1939
to
1951,
was a key figure. Lessons are drawn for the civil service today at
the end of the first four chapters and in the last. The historical sections are a skilful and plausible
reconstruction of the views and prejudices, the discussions and squabbles
of
the time. The analytic
sections range more widely than leadership to discuss the culture of the higher civil service. Much
of the analysis, including the criticisms made
of
the closed world of Whitehall, seem sensible,
though not particularly novel.
A
more extended discussion of possible changes to meet the
criticisms would have been useful. It is sad to read (p.105) that policy makers do not need to
inspire others to work
or
maintain morale in the workforce.
In
general, examining
a
particular
policy area to draw some general points seems an excellent approach, limited principally by the
time that has elapsed and Sir Percival’s tenure of his post, long by the standards of Permanent
Secretaries and much longer than is usual at lower grades.
CRAIG PICKERING,
London Business
School
R.I.P.A.,
The Home Office: Perspectives
on
Policy and Adminktration
(London,
Royal Institute
of
Public Administration, 1983), 99pp., f6.00pbk ISBN0900628 308.
The controversies which have surrounded the Home Office since its inception in
1782
are to some
extent reflect in this collection
of
six lectures. These celebrate the bicentenary-if not always
the institution itself. Michael Zander, for example, in an informative and provocative chapter
on
criminal justice and penal policy, concludes that the Home Office performance has sometimes
138
Books
been
less
than adequate.
Hugo
Young,
too,
is rather unimpressed. Casting a critical eye over the
department’s record as protector of civil liberties he notes the repeated remedial interventions by
the European Court of Human Rights, and the European Commission.
Lord Allen provides an interesting account of the development
of
the department and Lord
Windlesham considers its
role
in broadcasting policies. James Cdlaghan stresses the ‘continuous
crisis management’ which preoccupies the Home Office, but perhaps the most perceptive chapter
is that by Sir Cyril Philips, analysing the establishment
of
the Metropolitan Police.
A
notable omission is
a
chapter devoted to the Home Office’s responsibilities for immigration
and race relations. Although mentioned in passing, a more thorough examination would have
been welcome, particularly in view
of
the severely criticised approach to deportations
of
the
present Minister of State. Further consideration, too, might have been given to the desirability
of
dividing its functions between a Department of Justice and a Ministry of the Interior. Some of the
host of quite disparate duties of the Home Office are mentioned by Lord Allen. Listing just
a
few
of those of one department, he cites responsibilities for badgers, the succession to the throne, the
Prayer Book, the baronetage, London taxis, House
of
Lords reform and ‘miscellaneous subjects
unallocated, including rambling letters’,
of
which, no doubt, there is a not insignificant number.
The collection is not indexed, it has no bibliography and is rather overpriced for its length.
Nevertheless, the essays are stimulating, well-written and quite informative. They give support to
Morrison’s contention that politically ‘the corridors
of
the Home Office are paved with dynamite’.
JOHN BENYON,
University
of
Leicesfer
J.
Lea and
J.
Young,
What
is
to be done about Law and Order?
(Harmondsworth,
During the seventies the Left had little to say about law and order, thus leaving uncontested an
important ideological space which the Tories ruthlessly exploited. Since then the Left has changed
its attitude, and this is one of several recent and quite radical books on law and order. What is
distinctive about this contribution is its concern with street crimes such as mugging. Too often,
argue the authors, these crimes are still being ignored by the Left, who prefer instead to focus
on
the powerful, the polluters and City swindlers who allegedly do the ‘real’ damage to society. There
is something in what they say, and their emphasis on street crime serves to highlight that most
street crime is intra-class crime, the poor working class attacking their own kind.
Lea and Young have been criticized by some on the Left for pandering to Tory hysteria over
particular forms of working class crime. This view of their work is far too crude. However, they
have only themselves to blame, since their view
of
what they see
as
Left Idealism is sometimes close
to
caricature. This debate within the Left limits the appeal
of
the book. At times, as in the chapter
on race and crime, the authors seem more interested in scoring points against fellow socialists than
reaching a wider public. Nevertheless, they make a useful contribution.
MICK RYAN,
Thames
Polytechnic
Penguin,
1984), 284
pp.,
f2.95
pbk
ISBN
0
14
00
6593
8.
Dermot Englefield
(ed.),
Commons Select Committees: Catalysts for Progress?
(London, Longman,
for
the Industry and Parliament
Trust,
1984), xxvi+288
pp.,
€9.95
ISBN
0
582 90260
6.
In October
1982
a
seminar was held by the Industry and Parliament Trust to discuss the new
departmentally-related Commons’ Select Committees. The meeting brought together MPs, clerks,
academics and some members
of
the Trust. Various papers were presented. These and the
discussion they generated were subsequently edited by Dermot Englefield, the Commons’ Deputy
Librarian, and form the first quarter of this book. The papers-by the Leader of the House,
a
clerk, a backbencher, three Committee chairmen, an Opposition spokesman, an industrialist,
a
trade unionist, a civil servant, and an academic-provide brief (roughly five-page) assessments
of
the Committees’ work during the first three sessions
of
their existence. The assessments offered are
hardly profound, but they provide some useful snippets
of
information and some (quotable)
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