عنوان

A road half travelled :

Number

TLets766240

Title Proper

A road half travelled :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Wager, Alan John

Title Proper by Another Author

a temporal, case study analysis of inter-party co-operation in the British context, 1945-1999

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Queen Mary University of London

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2018

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

Queen Mary University of London

Text preceding or following the note

2018

Text of Note

This thesis looks at five case studies of attempted co-operation between British political parties. The objective is two-fold: to provide an explanatory framework to better understand instances of potential cooperation within the institutional context of British politics, and to build analytical narratives that shed light on the inter- and intra-party dynamics when co-operation between parties has been mooted in Westminster. It addresses a lacuna in the study of British Politics by providing a temporal comparison of understudied examples of attempted co-operation. This comparison inductively draws out what lessons can be learnt about why co-operation is attempted, and the factors that inhibit it. This framework suggests that these examples of mooted co-operation constitute disruptions of the majoritarian norms which inform the British Political Tradition. It does so through a historical institutionalist lens: the cultural norms of Westminster provide a strategic context, but elite political agents strategically interact with this institutional environment. This tradition is manifested through intra-party pressure against co-operation, and a belief that co-operation is electorally disadvantageous. Equally, actors' interpretation of what is possible or desirable within the perceived constraints of Westminster party politics really matters. This suggests a role for situated agency and strategic leadership, captured through the concept of a disruption/defence of existing institutional equilibrium derived from heresthetics. This thesis contends that the discourse around co-operation holds a rhetorical and performative purpose beyond the success or failure of formal co-operation. Institutional context and memory create incentives for actors to either accentuate or downplay the effect of co-operation, but do not determine the shape and aims of cooperation. As a result, both culture and calculus are all-important to inter-party co-operation.

British political parties

British politics

Co-operation

two-party politics

Wager, Alan John

Queen Mary University of London

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y