Author Description

From Library Journal This collection of essays by political scientists offers a useful, if somewhat staid, introduction to recent developments in British politics. While the focus is on the general election of April 1992 when John Major's Conservatives secured a fourth consecutive victory against the Labour party, considerable attention is paid to the period preceding the election when the Conservatives dumped Margaret Thatcher and when Labour overhauled its policies and internal organization. Patrick Seyd's chapter on Labour's "great transformation" is particularly insightful. While Seyd acknowledges that Labour needed to modernize its program if it was to regain power, he notes that Neil Kinnock's efforts had an adverse impact on local party activism, which may have hurt the party at election time. This book will be of interest not only to students of European politics but also to supporters of President Bill Clinton, who may wonder why their candidate was able to win the White House when Labour's Neil Kinnock failed in his attempt to secure Number Ten Downing Street.- Kent Worcester, Social Science Research Council, New YorkCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description How could an incumbent party, saddled with a controversial leader, whose personal unpopularity was reaching new lows, manage to engineer an electoral victory in the face of a painful and persistent economic recession?After nearly a generation in power, where did the Conservatives find the political will to shed the cumbersome mantle of Thatcherism and defeat the combined challenges of a rejuvenated Labour party and a newly energised centre party?Why did the voters in Britain, in defiance both of conventional wisdom and of most pollsters, choose to cap a long and remarkably volatile campaign season by awarding to the party of cold competence an unprecedented fourth consecutive Parliamentary majority?And how is this extraordinary electoral mandate likely to affect