Political science & theory
Showing 1–16 of 20 results
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Brexit. Volume 3
£26.00Brexit. Volume 3
‘Meticulously sourced, merciless and revelatory. It is a closely observed study of power, and how it is gained, used and lost’ FINANCIAL TIMES
The unmissable next instalment of Tim Shipman’s #1 bestselling Brexit quartet.
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Britain Is Better Than This
£10.99Britain Is Better Than This
An urgent and timely exploration of a British political system in peril – and what we must do to save it. For centuries, British identity has been shaped by ideas of exceptionalism, grandeur and competence. Yet British democracy is failing. Governments supported by a minority of voters are elected with enormous majorities under a deeply unrepresentative first-past-the-post system. The result has been failed leaders delivering wounding blows to the country’s economy, prosperity and international image. Britain Is Better Than This explores what lies beneath this sense of malaise, revealing the structural and constitutional failures at the heart of a sclerotic political system. It sheds light on a culture of lies, distrust and corruption. It reveals fundamental flaws in core institutions, including the media, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It draws on events such as the MP expenses scandal, Brexit, ‘Partygate’ and the farci
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Code of conduct
£9.99Code of conduct
The extraordinary turmoil we have seen in British politics in the last few years has set records. We have had the fastest turnover of prime ministers in our history and more MPs suspended from the House than ever. No wonder people are asking whether ‘parliamentary standards’ is a contradiction in terms. As Chair of the Committees on Standards and Privileges, Chris Bryant has been in the thick of the battle over standards in parliament. Cronyism, nepotism, conflicts of interest, misconduct and lying: politicians are engaging in these activities more frequently and more publicly than ever before. ‘Code of Conduct’ looks at every angle of parliamentary conduct, charting the history of how we got here.
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Democracy
£8.99Democracy
Democracy refers to both ideal and real forms of government. The concept of democracy means that those governed – the demos – have a say in government. But different conceptions of democracy have left many out. Here, Naomi Zack takes us through key conceptions of democracy, from ancient Athens to the modern world.
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Failed state
£20.00Failed state
One of Britain’s leading policy experts explores the dysfunction at the heart of the British state.
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Four chancellors and a funeral
£25.00Four chancellors and a funeral
The sequel nobody wants. After a decade of the Tories, could it get any worse? Spoiler – it does. Towards the end of 2021, Britain had been frogmarched into an escalating series of surreal calamities. Brexit was a disaster, the NHS was in crisis, the government was bathed head-to-toe in impropriety, senior Tories were still acting as though the public purse was their personal feed-trough, and the air crackled with anger about PartyGate. ‘Four Chancellors and a Funeral’ delivers more of Russell Jones’s signature scathing wit, combining a detailed historical record of 2021 and 2022, with acerbic commentary, all of it leavened by jokes at the seemingly endless maelstrom of failures, nincompoops, and hypocrisies.
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Great Britain?
£20.00Great Britain?
Things have not been going Great for Britain. Wages are flatlining, taxes are rising, and public services are collapsing. Our children can’t afford to buy a house and our neighbours are reliant on foodbanks. We are all yearning for a way out of the financial crises, generational wars and political dysfunction that dominate our lives. Most of all we want our – and Britain’s – future back. Torsten Bell offers both a clear-eyed diagnosis of the problems facing the country – a uniquely toxic combination of huge inequality and stagnant economic growth – and a hopeful, bold vision for the alternative. As he shows, the Britain of today contains the raw materials to build a better Britain tomorrow – an investment nation of good work and secure homes, and a society in which both burdens and prosperity are shared.
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How migration really works
£10.99How migration really works
Global migration is not at an all-time high. Climate change will not lead to mass migration. Immigration mainly benefits the wealthy, not workers. Border restrictions have paradoxically produced more migration. These statements might sound counter-intuitive or just outright wrong – but the facts behind the headlines reveal a completely different story to the ones we’re told about migration. In this revelatory book, based on more than three decades of research, leading expert Professor Hein de Haas explodes myths from left to right that politicians, interest groups and media regularly spread about migration.
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How to be a patriot
£10.99How to be a patriot
How do we define patriotism in a diverse society?
What divides us and what brings us together?
Why do we feel uncomfortable celebrating our country’s history?
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How tyrants fall
£22.00How tyrants fall
Strongmen are rising. Democracies are faltering. How does tyranny end? Tyrants project invincibility, but all of them fall. This is because they face critical weaknesses that can form a fatal trap. Whether it’s their inner circle turning against them or resentment of elites in the military, the masses alienated by cronyism or revolutionaries plotting in exile, tyrants always have more enemies than friends. And when they fall tyrants don’t quietly retire – they face exile, prison or death. But understanding dictators isn’t enough. ‘How Tyrants Fall’ is the gripping, deeply researched blueprint for how to bring them down.
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Planet on fire
£9.99Planet on fire
The environment is collapsing at a rapid rate, and in increasingly unpredictable ways. Everyone knows that this is happening, and yet the only politics that is emerging to tackle it are coming from the increasingly nativist far-right. How should the left respond? In ‘Beyond Barbarism’, two rising stars of the British left lay down a set of proposals for a fundamental re-shaping of the global economy and offer a roadmap for tackling climate breakdown. Building on the debates surrounding the Green New Deal, debates that both authors have been central to, Lawrence and Laybourn argue that it is not enough merely to spend our way out of the crisis. Instead we need to rapidly reshape the shape and purpose of the economy, away from the emphasis on endless growth and towards creating a healthy and flourishing environment for everyone.
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The CIA
£25.00The CIA
As World War II ended, the United States stood as the dominant power on the world stage. In 1947, to support its new global status, it created the CIA to analyse foreign intelligence. But within a few years, the Agency was engaged in other operations: bolstering pro-American governments, overthrowing nationalist leaders, and surveilling anti-imperial dissenters in the US. The Cold War was an obvious reason for this transformation – but not the only one. Intelligence historian Hugh Wilford draws on decades of research to show the Agency as part of a larger picture, the history of Western empire. While young CIA officers imagined themselves as British imperial agents like T.E. Lawrence, successive US presidents used the covert powers of the Agency to hide overseas interventions from postcolonial foreigners and anti-imperial Americans alike.
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The history of ideas
£22.00The history of ideas
In this bold follow-up to ‘Confronting Leviathan’, David Runciman unmasks modern politics and reveals the great men and women of ideas behind it. What can Samuel Butler’s ideas teach us about the oddity of how we choose to organise our societies? How did Frederick Douglass not only expose the horrors of slavery, but champion a new approach to abolishing it? Why should we tolerate snobbery, betrayal and hypocrisy, as Judith Shklar suggested? And what does Friedrich Nietzsche predict for our future? From Rousseau to Rawls, fascism to feminism and pleasure to anarchy, this is a mind-bending tour through the history of ideas which will forever change your view of politics today.
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The identity trap
£25.00The identity trap
For much of their history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. It is no surprise then that many who passionately believe in social justice have come to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride in their identity if they are to resist injustice. But over the past decades, a healthy appreciation for the culture and heritage of minorities has transformed into an obsession with group identity in all its forms. A new ideology – which Yascha Mounk terms the ‘identity synthesis’ – seeks to put each citizen’s matrix of identities at the heart of social, cultural and political life. This, he argues, is The Identity Trap. Mounk traces the intellectual origin of these ideas. He tells the story of how they were able to win tremendous power over the past decade.
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The identity trap
£10.99The identity trap
For much of their history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. It is no surprise then that many who passionately believe in social justice have come to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride in their identity if they are to resist injustice. But over the past decades, a healthy appreciation for the culture and heritage of minorities has transformed into an obsession with group identity in all its forms. A new ideology – which Yascha Mounk terms the ‘identity synthesis’ – seeks to put each citizen’s matrix of identities at the heart of social, cultural and political life. This, he argues, is The Identity Trap. Mounk traces the intellectual origin of these ideas. He tells the story of how they were able to win tremendous power over the past decade.
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The impossible office?
£14.99The impossible office?
Why has the office of Prime Minister endured longer than any other democratic political office? Sir Anthony Seldon, historian of Number 10 Downing Street, explores the intimate details and experiences of our PMs – including the recent churn of Johnson, Truss and Sunak – discussing who has been most effective and why.
£14.99