Political traditions and UK politics / Matthew Hall.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 252-266) and index.

Variations on a theme : the British political tradition and explanations of British politics -- Tradition or traditions -- Exploring tradition -- The British political tradition revisited -- The British political tradition and political life in the UK -- The participatory tradition -- The nationalist tradition.

Many accounts of recent developments in British politics have incorporated the two notable trends of reference to the Westminster Model and a tendency towards British exceptionalism. In order to tackle the issues emanating from these accounts this book seeks to critically consider the use of the concept of political traditions in British politics. In doing so it develops a critical conception of the predominant and competing political traditions operating in Britain. Matthew Hall offers a theory of how change and continuity in British politics may be explained by stressing the centrality of conflict and contestation in driving historical change and continuity. He develops the idea of the asymmetrical resonance of political traditions over time, explained through reference to contingent events. Including an evaluation of classical approaches to the British political tradition presented by Oakeshott, Birch, Beer and Greenleaf, as well as the critical views of Marsh, Tant and Evans, his book also assesses more recent usages of the concept of political tradition by Bevir and Rhodes and Marquand.