This unique textbook addresses the `big questions' of political science: how the state operates and how it has been conceptualised in the United Kingdom. By focusing on parliamentarism and the key institution of parliament, it analyzes and illuminates both the theory and practice of the state. The result is a refreshingly lucid antidote to drier studies of the British constitution.

The book deals with the fundamental issues of modern British politics: the party system; the challenge of corporatism and interest groups; the organization and structure of the central state; the territorial debates around devolution and relations with the European Community; and constitutional reform