Democratic Audits of the UK
The three major audits of the UK are: |
1. Democracy under Blair: A Democratic Audit of the United Kingdom, by David Beetham, Iain Byrne, Pauline Ngan and Stuart Weir, Politico’s, 2002 (Second Edition)
The second edition was revised to take account of the decision to invade Iraq. The audit covers 14 areas of democratic practice and human rights, organised in four sections, to give a comprehensive account of the state of democracy under the New Labour government, holding the balance between reforms such as the Human Rights Act and devolution and the drive to make central government more powerful than ever.
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2. Political Power and Democratic Control in Britain, Stuart Weir and David Beetham, Routledge, 1998
An authoritative account of the accountability deficit at the heart of government in Britain and the power of the executive over Parliament. Tony Wright MP, chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, wrote: ‘A triumphant achievement . . Anyone who thinks that constitutional reformers simply trade in easy slogans should be referred to the hard analysis in this bumper book’.
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3. The Three Pillars of Liberty: Political Rights and Freedoms in the UK, by Francesca Klug, Keir Starmer and Stuart Weir, Routledge, 1996.
The first ever systematic audit of Britain’s system for protecting political rights and freedoms. Using a Human Rights Index compiled from international human rights instruments, including the European Convention, the authors found that though the UK is a liberal democracy, free from widespread and gross violations of human rights, there were nevertheless 42 violations and 22 near-violations of European and international human rights norms. The late Lord Scarman described the study as ‘a truly great work’.
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