The Conservative Party is one of the most successful political parties in the western world. Its success has been built on its large grass roots membership. And yet that memberhip appears to be increasingly disaffected and in decline.;This book is the first in depth study of this crucial section of the Conservative Party. Drawing on new and revealing survey data, it paints a fascinating picture of the social make-up and political views of a grass roots membership who dislike Jacques Delors more than the European Community, and The Sun newspaper most of all. The book challenges the stereotypical view of the Conservative activist as an eccentric and politically irrelevant Thatcher-loving extremist. Instead, the authors argue that the grass roots membership are the unsung heroes of political life; helping to keep the party system working and democracy intact at a time when it is under considerable strain.;The authors claim that to some extent the party is the author of its own problems, and point out the likely dire consequences for its future success if the current decline continues. They conclude by outlining the ways in which the leadership might revitalize its most important polit

It is universally accepted that there has been a huge growth in EU lobbying over the past few decades. There is now a dense EU interest group system. This entirely new volume, inspired by Mazey & Richardson's 1993 book Lobbying in the European Community, seeks to understand the role of interest groups in the policy process from agenda-setting to implementation. Specifically, the book is interested in observing how interest groups organize to influence the EU institutions and how they select different coalitions along the policy process and in different policy domains.
In looking at 20 years of change, the book captures processes of institutional and actor learning, professionalization of lobbying, and the possible emergence of a distinct EU public policy style. More specifically, from the actors' perspective, the editors are interested in assessing how the rise of direct lobbying and the emergence of fluid issue-based coalitions has changed the logic of collective action, and what is the potential impact of 'venue-shopping' on reputation and influence. From an institutional perspective, the contributors explore resource and legitimacy demands, and the practical impact of consultation processes on the emergence of a distinct EU lobbying relationship. It will be essential reading for academics and practitioners alike.

Constructing a Policy-Making State? sets out to examine the processes by which Europeanization takes place. Europeanization is defined as the process by which the key decisions about public policies are gradually transferred to the European level (or for new policy areas, emerge at the European level). This is in contrast to definitions of Europeanization which focus on the adaption of member states to European public policies. Thus, the main focus is whether a European Union 'policy-making state' is being created via changes in the distribution of power between member states and the European level institutions over time. In addition to several overview chapters (such as on agenda setting in the EU), there are twelve sectoral studies which analyse the differing trajectories and outcomes of the Europeanization process and the extent to which the European Union can make 'authoritative allocations'. The case studies have been selected in order to illustrate the degree of cross-sectoral variation in the process of Europeanization, from sectors which have yet to see very much Europeanization, such as health, to sectors such as competition policy which are almost fully Europeanized. The book is consciously multi-theoretic in its approach, drawing on a range of theories and concepts, from theories of European integration, to theories of public policy processes.

This volume attempts to examine the many possible causes of Brexit. The conceptual 'peg' on which the volume hangs is that, irrespective of one's views on whether Britain's exit from the EU was a good or a bad thing, Brexit can justifiably be seen as yet another example of a British policy fiasco. Put simply, the British political elite was not at its best. The collective concern of this volume is twofold. First, it advances possible explanations of how the Brexit issue arose. Why was Britain’s membership of the EU thought to be so problematic for so many members of the British political elite and ultimately for a majority of voters? How did we get to June 2016 and the Brexit Referendum? Secondly, the volume examines how the issue was managed (or mismanaged) following the referendum result up until the Withdrawal Agreement in March 2019. The contributions to this volume explore these questions by looking at Brexit from different analytical angles. Some authors explore the long-term causes of Brexit, by disentangling the fraught relationship between the UK and the EU, which had provided the Brexit train with steam; others explore the highly conflictual domestic political dynamics in the run-up to the referendum and in the negotiations of a Brexit deal. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of European Public Policy.

This volume attempts to examine the many possible causes of Brexit. The conceptual 'peg' on which the volume hangs is that, irrespective of one's views on whether Britain's exit from the EU was a good or a bad thing, Brexit can justifiably be seen as yet another example of a British policy fiasco. Put simply, the British political elite was not at its best. The collective concern of this volume is twofold. First, it advances possible explanations of how the Brexit issue arose. Why was Britain's membership of the EU thought to be so problematic for so many members of the British political elite and ultimately for a majority of voters? How did we get to June 2016 and the Brexit Referendum? Secondly, the volume examines how the issue was managed (or mismanaged) following the referendum result up until the Withdrawal Agreement in March 2019. The contributions to this volume explore these questions by looking at Brexit from different analytical angles. Some authors explore the long-term causes of Brexit, by disentangling the fraught relationship between the UK and the EU, which had provided the Brexit train with steam; others explore the highly conflictual domestic political dynamics in the run-up to the referendum and in the negotiations of a Brexit deal. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of European Public Policy.

Originally published in 1974 Campaigning for the Environment addresses the issue of the environmental lobby. Using seven case-studies from the time of publication, the book covers the important aspects of environmental campaigning, where the environment has been threatened and where pressure groups have been formed to defend it. The book discusses the political problems of protecting and improving the environment, and states that each campaign involves taking on major sections of the political system. Despite having been published over 40 years ago, the commentary of the book, and the analysis in the case studies is still as relevant today as it was then. This book will be of interest to academics working in the field of environment and sustainability, conservation and political studies.

This book revisits and re-defines the policy style concept and explores the long-standing debate in British political science concerning how best to characterise the British policy style. The book highlights several trends that suggest that the British policy style has shifted towards the impositional end of the policy style spectrum, bringing it more in line with the traditional Westminster model of governing. However, these changes also reflect a more frenetic policy style which might increase the number of policy blunders and failures in British Government unless means are found to access and manage the specialist expertise that interest groups possess.

The tension between policy stability and change is a key political phenomenon, but its dynamics have been little understood. Why Does Policy Change? examines and explains the dynamics of major policy change by looking at case studies from British Transport policy since 1945. The significant contrasts between road and rail policies in this period lend themselves perfectly to the authors' theories of what brings about policy turnabout.

First published in 1982, Policy Styles in Western Europe considers the growth of the modern state in the 1980s and examines the implications of this for the making and implementation of public policy decisions. It argues that the business of government was simply easier in the 1970s and that the growth of the modern state has meant an expansion of public policies, with the state widening in areas of societal activity. This book looks at the similarities and differences that exist among the countries of Western Europe. Whilst it is increasingly clear that most policy problems arise from areas of concern common to all Western democracies, for example, unemployment, inflation and crime, this book focuses on whether or not individual countries exhibit characteristic policy styles in response to them. In this volume, the country-studies consider the main characteristics of the individual policy processes in relation to a simple typology of political styles. Each author considers a series of central questions: the relationship between the government and other actors in the policy process; the degree to which policy-making has become sectorised and segmented; and the broad approach to problem solving in terms of anticipatory or reactive styles.

A key textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students of contemporary European politics, European Union: Power and policy-making 4th edition offers a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the European Union policy process. Intended to advance understanding of the EU as a now mature and ongoing policy system, this book addresses the central issues relating to the distribution of power and influence in the European Union including: Theoretical perspectives The roles of key institutions in the processing of policy problems Different channels of representation The EU as a policy-making state Written by a distinguished group of international scholars, this new edition will also appeal to the worldwide community of researchers on the EU. New to this edition: New chapters on The Politics of Multispeed Europe, The Distribution of Power Among Institutions, EU Agencies, Covert Integration in the European Union, and Political Representation and Democracy in the EU. New authors and theoretical approaches on many topics such as differentiated integration, opt-outs and multi-speed integration, negotiation and coalition building, the interplay of judicial and legislative policy-making, power distribution, agency behaviour, integration by subterfuge, the democratic deficit fully updated data and content throughout Jeremy Richardson is joined by a co-editor, Professor Sonia Mazey, for the fourth expanded edition of this highly regarded textbook on the EU. Jeremy Richardson is an Emeritus Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, UK, and Adjunct Professor at the National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is also Founder and Co-editor of the Journal of European Public Policy Sonia Mazey is a Professor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the College of Business and Law, University of Canterbury, New Zealand and formally a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, UK

First published in 1982, Policy Styles in Western Europe considers the growth of the modern state in the 1980s and examines the implications of this for the making and implementation of public policy decisions. It argues that the business of government was simply easier in the 1970s and that the growth of the modern state has meant an expansion of public policies, with the state widening in areas of societal activity. This book looks at the similarities and differences that exist among the countries of Western Europe. Whilst it is increasingly clear that most policy problems arise from areas of concern common to all Western democracies, for example, unemployment, inflation and crime, this book focuses on whether or not individual countries exhibit characteristic policy styles in response to them. In this volume, the country-studies consider the main characteristics of the individual policy processes in relation to a simple typology of political styles. Each author considers a series of central questions: the relationship between the government and other actors in the policy process; the degree to which policy-making has become sectorised and segmented; and the broad approach to problem solving in terms of anticipatory or reactive styles.

Originally published in 1974 Campaigning for the Environment addresses the issue of the environmental lobby. Using seven case-studies from the time of publication, the book covers the important aspects of environmental campaigning, where the environment has been threatened and where pressure groups have been formed to defend it. The book discusses the political problems of protecting and improving the environment, and states that each campaign involves taking on major sections of the political system. Despite having been published over 40 years ago, the commentary of the book, and the analysis in the case studies is still as relevant today as it was then. This book will be of interest to academics working in the field of environment and sustainability, conservation and political studies.

Contents:
1. Government, interest groups and policy change
2. The dynamics of the rail 'hollow core': the prelude to Beeching
3. Occupying the 'hollow core': the Beeching era at British Rail 1960-65
4. Roadbuilding as a policy idea and a weak advocacy coalition 1900-54
5. Ministers and motorways: the making of a hegemonic policy community 1954-59
6. Undermining a hegemonis policy community: trunk roads and the first wave of environmentalsim 1973-79
7. 'Roads for prosperity' versus 'sustainable mobility': new challenges and confrontations 1989-93
8. The destruction of 'roads for prosperity': from hegemony to ignominy 1993-99
9. The 'hollow core' revisisted: rail privatisation 1987-92
10. Why does policy change? 'The four I's' and the significance of time

Nuffield European Studies Series editors: Joachim Jens Hesse and Vincent Wright This series provides students and teachers in the social sciences and related disciplines with interdisciplinary and comparative works dealing with significant political, economic, legal, and social problems confronting European nation-states and the European Community. It will comprise both research monographs and the edited proceedings of conferences organized by the Centre for European Studies at Nuffield College, Oxford. The role of interest groups in the formulation of EC policy is a central aspect of the development of the European Community. This book is unique in providing both an academic analysis of the system and an insider's view of how lobbying actually works. The first part examines the consequences of the increasing transference of power to Brussels in terms of the EC policy process, the activities of the Commission of the EC as an `adolescent' bureaucracy, and the behaviour of interest associations at national and European level. Subsequent chapters look in detail at the wide range of interest groups involved in lobbying, including business, industry, the financial sector, and voluntary organizations. The combination of contributions from academic specialists and practitioners, including Commission officials and interest group leaders, will make this book uniquely interesting as a study of a key area of the evolving European policy process. Contributors: Lynn Collie, Martin Donnelly, Dick Eberlie, Wyn Grant, Brian Harvey, Robert Hull, Grant Jordan, Jeffrey Knight, Andrew McLaughlin, James Mitchell, Jean-Pierre Peckstadt, Jane Sargent

A key textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students of contemporary European politics, European Union: Power and policy-making 4th edition offers a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the European Union policy process. Intended to advance understanding of the EU as a now mature and ongoing policy system, this book addresses the central issues relating to the distribution of power and influence in the European Union including: Theoretical perspectives The roles of key institutions in the processing of policy problems Different channels of representation The EU as a policy-making state Written by a distinguished group of international scholars, this new edition will also appeal to the worldwide community of researchers on the EU. New to this edition: New chapters on The Politics of Multispeed Europe, The Distribution of Power Among Institutions, EU Agencies, Covert Integration in the European Union, and Political Representation and Democracy in the EU. New authors and theoretical approaches on many topics such as differentiated integration, opt-outs and multi-speed integration, negotiation and coalition building, the interplay of judicial and legislative policy-making, power distribution, agency behaviour, integration by subterfuge, the democratic deficit fully updated data and content throughout Jeremy Richardson is joined by a co-editor, Professor Sonia Mazey, for the fourth expanded edition of this highly regarded textbook on the EU. Jeremy Richardson is an Emeritus Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, UK, and Adjunct Professor at the National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is also Founder and Co-editor of the Journal of European Public Policy Sonia Mazey is a Professor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the College of Business and Law, University of Canterbury, New Zealand and formally a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, UK