Overview
- Discusses key developments in UK governance following Scotland’s independence referendum and the General Election of 2015
- Combines survey data on public attitudes with interview data outlining elite attitudes towards the process of constitutional change
- Explores a pattern of discrepancy between elite and public attitudes in which the elites persistently underestimate the interest of the public in debates about how the UK is governed
Part of the book series: Comparative Territorial Politics (COMPTPOL)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
- governance of the UK
- Scottish independence referendum 2014
- British general election 2015
- the Smith Commission
- devolution in the UK
- voting age of 16 in the UK
- Greater Manchester's devolution deal
- public attitudes to constitutional change
- Scottish devolution
- political engagement in the UK
- English votes for English laws
- political participation in the UK
- British constitutional powers
- elitist politics
- elitism in British politics
- British Politics
- democracy
About this book
This book explores the governance of the UK, and the process of constitutional change, between Scotland’s independence referendum in September 2014 and the UK general election in May 2015. The book contrasts the attitudes of the public, captured through an original survey, with those of politicians, civil servants, and civic leaders, identified through over forty interviews. It pays particular attention to two case studies involving recent changes to the UK’s governing arrangements: the Smith Commission and the transfer of further powers to the Scottish Parliament, and Greater Manchester’s devolution deal that has become a model for devolution across England. It also considers the issue of lowering the voting age to 16, contrasting the political attitudes of younger voters in Scotland with those in the rest of the UK. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of UK politics, devolution, constitutional change, public attitudes, and territorial politics.
Reviews
“This timely volume is essential reading for all those interested in the ongoing reform of the constitutional and governmental architecture of the United Kingdom in the wake of the Scottish independence referendum. The authors provide a much-needed synthesis of political and public opinion on a range of critical issues which have come to define debates about citizenship and identity politics in the United Kingdom.” (Dr Andy Mycock, University of Huddersfield, UK)
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Daniel Kenealy and Jan Eichhorn are Lecturers in Social Policy, Richard Parry is Honorary Fellow in Social Policy, Lindsay Paterson is Professor of Education Policy and Alexandra Remond is Doctoral Researcher in Politics. All are based at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science, UK.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Publics, Elites and Constitutional Change in the UK
Book Subtitle: A Missed Opportunity?
Authors: Daniel Kenealy, Jan Eichhorn, Richard Parry, Lindsay Paterson, Alexandra Remond
Series Title: Comparative Territorial Politics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52818-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-52817-5Published: 21 July 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-84993-5Published: 01 August 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-52818-2Published: 04 July 2017
Series ISSN: 2947-8162
Series E-ISSN: 2947-8170
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 177
Topics: British Politics, Governance and Government, Democracy, Comparative Politics