This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the political thought and practice of Raymond Plant (Professor Lord Plant of Highfield) and celebrates the three aspects of his public life which speak to his idea of the good society: scholarship, politics, and civil society. Firstly, Plant's scholarship was remarkable in its breadth including philosophy, social work, political studies, social policy, theology, and jurisprudence. In particular, Plant's work on Hegel, the New Liberals, socia...

Social Democracy is on the back-foot, and increasingly centre-left political parties are struggling to win office. Bringing together a range of leading academics and experts on social democratic politics and policy, Why the left loses offers an international, comparative view of the changing political landscape, examining the degree to which the centre-left project is exhausted and is able to renew its message in a neo-liberal age.Using case studies from the UK, Germany, Spain, Fra...

The Brown Government provides an interim evaluation of Gordon Brown’s Labour administration through identifying continuities and discontinuities with the Blair governments from 1997. By focusing on key ideas and areas of public policy it presents an analysis of the first 18 months of Brown’s government. This book is notable for its topicality particularly for the discussions of the credit crunch, the British banking crises and the interconnectedness of these events with the global economic...

This Companion provides a comprehensive overview of the life, work and legacy of Britain’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Expert contributors examine the major impact she had on British and global politics as the longest-serving Prime Minister in modern British history.Organised into three substantive parts exploring Thatcher’s political life before, during and after her premiership, this Companion guides the reader through the key periods of a unique and varied po...

The election of the most left-wing Labour Party Leader since 1945, followed by the Party's third consecutive general election defeat and the ongoing cultural divisions around Brexit present an ideal opportunity for a thorough re-evaluation of the state of the Party within its broader ideological and historical context.This second edition of this highly respected book analyses the current developments and places them in their historical setting through a clear three-part framework o...

This book provides the first evaluation of the three Conservative administrations which have been affected, shaped and largely determined by the age of Brexit.It breaks new ground by collectively analysing the Cameron, May and Johnson administrations in an era of political and social shock and disruption, caused by the phenomenon of Brexit. As an edited collection, the project brings experts together who explain the complexities of ideas, leadership, votes, policy areas and territorial pol...