Liberal values are the hallmark of a civilised society. Yet they depend on an optimistic view of the human condition, Stripped of this essential ingredient, liberalism has become a hollowed-out abstraction. Tracing its effects through the media, politics and the public services, the author argues that hollowed-out liberalism has helped to produce our present discontent. Unless we stop boasting about our values and try to recover their essence, liberal society will be crushed in the coils o...

This book shows the importance of political ideas in policy-making and demonstrates the extent to which pragmatic considerations preclude the imposition of rigid ideological programmes. It charts the decline of the postwar British 'consensus', the changing face of both the Conservative and Labour parties under the long shadow of Thatcherism, and the growing emergence of single issue policies such as environmentalism and feminism.With an extensive bibliography and suggested seminar and essa...

In this timely book, Mark Garnett provides a bracing reassessment of the role of the British Prime Minister, from Margaret Thatcher’s controversial tenure to Boris Johnson’s attempt to confront a pandemic with a ministerial team created to face the very different challenge of Brexit. Taking a thematic approach, Garnett explores the impact of major political developments and personalities on key aspects of prime ministerial functions as party leader, Cabinet-maker, chief diplomat and electo...

Exploring British Politics is a concise, comprehensive, and accessible guide to the subject. Fully updated and revised, the new edition covers developments since 2016 in the role of the executive, parliament, the civil service, political parties, general elections, party ideology, and membership, as well as examining turmoil and leadership battles within the Labour and Conservative parties, the politics of growing inequality, public action and reaction, demographic trends and thei...

Labour leader Harold Wilson was once asked how difficult he found being prime minister of the United Kingdom. ‘Not half as difficult as being Leader of the Opposition’, he replied. Sadly for the Labour Party, much of the last century has been spent in shadow government. But were these wasted years in the Party’s history? Or did they offer vital opportunities for creation and improvement?In Keeping the Red Flag Flying political historians Mark Garnett, Gavin Hyman and Richa...

The Routledge Handbook of British Politics and Society conducts a rigorous, innovative and distinctive analysis of the relationship between British politics and society, emphasizing that the UK is now far from a monolithic, and unshifting, entity.Examining the subject matter with unrivalled breadth and depth, it highlights and interrogates key contemporary debates on the future of the UK, the nature of 'Britishness', and the merits of multiculturalism, as well as contempor...

This book reviews the history of British general elections since 1964, charting the changes in voters and parties at every step. In parallel, it shows how electoral analysts have responded to these developments. This fully revised and updated edition examines the general elections of 2015, 2017, and 2019 in the context of the momentous referendums on Scottish independence (2014) and EU membership (2016), showing the impact of these votes on an electorate which has become increasingly volat...

This book examines the development of political leadership in Britain since the 1970s, in the context of changes within and between parties large and small and increasingly volatile voters.Contemporary media commentary on British politics is dominated by party leaders. Yet their visibility has been matched by unprecedented vulnerability to challenge, thanks not least to recent changes in the ways that they are chosen. This book focuses on the evidence and themes which are most rele...

Latin American Conservatism and the Rise of the Far Right is a comparative study that focuses on contemporary conservatism in Latin America and its historical development, seeking to identify and analyze dialogues, similarities, and differences between countries in the Global South and North, as well as their interactions with former colonial powers.Scholars of modern conservatism and right-wing ideologies in Latin America have focused on profound changes since the Second ...

Michael Oakshott described conservatism as a non-ideological preference for the familiar, tried, actual, limited, near, sufficient, convenient and present. Historically, conservatives have been associated with attempts to sustain social harmony between classes and groups within an organic, hierarchical order grounded in collective history and cultural values. Yet, in recent decades, conservatism throughout the English-speaking world has been associated with radical social and economic poli...

Crime and Punishment tells the story of Rodion Raskolnikov, an ex-student who plans to murder a pawnbroker to test his theory of personality. Having accomplished the deed, Raskolnikov struggles with mental anguish while trying to both avoid the consequences and hide his guilt from his friends and family.Dostoevsky's original idea for the novel centered on the Marmeladov family and the impact of alcoholism in Russia, but inspired by a double murder in France he deci...

Richard Garnett C.B. was born on the 27th February 1835.Educated in Bloomsbury he then joined the nearby British Museum as an assistant librarian in 1851, shortly after his father’s death.He was continuously promoted to high-ranking positions at the British Library until his retirement in 1899.In his personal life he married Olivia Narney Singleton in 1863 and was the father to six surviving children. Despite the constant call of work and family he found time to tra...