Constitutional Futures: A History of the Next Ten Years by Robert Hazell (Professor of Government and the Constitution and Director of the Constitution Unit in the School of Public Policy, Professor of Government and the Constitution and Director of the Constitution Unit in the School of Public Policy, University College, London)
Tony Blair has described the government's programme of constitutional reform as `the most extensive package of constitutional change ever proposed'. It will transform the political landscape, in ways which are not yet fully understood; and some of which the government does not intend. This book is a guide to the new political and legal system that will result. The changes will include greater checks and balances and greater separation of powers a new territorial politics, with greater competition between the nations and regions of the UK fragmentation of the party system, and the emergence of more regional political parties a shift of power from Parliament to the courts, with more litigation against government, and between the new levels of government within the UK changing concepts of citizenship and democracy a more pluralist, consensus-building style of politics with more coalition governments and more minority parties in place of the adversarial two-party system. These are just some of the themes explored in the Constitution Unit's new book, Constitutional Futures: A History of the Next Ten Years. It is a seminal piece of work, which should interest teachers and students of law and politics, opinion formers and policy makers, and all those involved in this period of unprecedented constitutional change.