Routledge Studies in British Politics
About the Book Series
This series aims to engage experts in the fields of UK politics, political history and public policy-making whilst addressing a wide array of political dynamics, contexts, histories and ideas. Many of the current major political trends and issues - such as the long-term impact of Brexit, the implications of political disenchantment, the surge in party membership, growing constitutional strains on the UK, and the unbalanced nature of formal political participation in terms of class, gender and ethnicity - are major challenges to political elites.
The series will retain a particular focus on British government, British politics and public policy, while locating those issues within a European and global context. Its will aim to:
- Promote research excellence with regards to British politics, including interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Disseminate relevant knowledge widely.
- Engage and inform the public debate about the nature of British politics.
- Contribute towards the development of public policy.
- Stimulate innovation in teaching and research.
The series will initially focus on five core areas:
- Political thought and ideology: the dynamics of ideological change within and outside political parties; mapping the interplay of ideology and policy; debating different ideological traditions in British politics; and considering the impact of new forms of critical political thought
- British party politics: how different parties in British politics are responding to new electoral, organizational and policy challenges.
- Remodelling the UK polity: (De)Europeanization, devolution, and multi-level governance are promoting new national projects while delegating and dispersing powers from the centre through a ‘new localism’.
- Managing the public household: including regulation, industrial policy, the economics of austerity, and politics beyond the crisis.
- Society and State: citizen-focused public policy, digital politics, the relationship between parliament and citizens, the politics of gender, civic participation, populism, immigration and culture, declining public trust, and the politics of public expectations.
For guidance on how to structure your proposal, please visit: www.routledge.com/info/authors
Book proposals should be sent to the series editors:
Series editors:
Patrick Diamond, Queen Mary University, London [email protected]
Tim Bale, Queen Mary University, London [email protected]
Permacrisis and the Policy Continuum in the UK: Deepening Inequalities before, during and after COVID-19
1st Edition
Edited
By Anémone Kober-Smith, Anne Beauvallet
November 28, 2025
This book examines the UK’s enduring ‘permacrisis’—austerity policies, Brexit, climate change, inflation, and the rising cost of living—through the lens of the policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a policy continuum. The book demonstrates that the policy continuum cannot be ...
Surges in Party Membership: The SNP and Scottish Greens after the Independence Referendum
1st Edition
By Lynn Bennie, James Mitchell, Robert Johns
July 30, 2025
This book presents a comprehensive analysis of a remarkable and unexpected outcome of the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence. Despite defeat in the Scottish referendum, the two leading parties in the Yes campaign – the Scottish National Party and Scottish Green Party – experienced an ...
Institutionalised Dissent: The Official Opposition in the UK since 1935
1st Edition
By Nigel Fletcher
May 06, 2025
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of a peculiar but now firmly established British institution— the Official Opposition— tracking its development since 1935. Despite its inherent importance to the conduct of politics and government, the Official Opposition as an institution remains poorly...
Forging the Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, the 1970s, and the Origins of Neoliberalism
1st Edition
By Terrence Casey
December 31, 2024
This book tells the story of the rise of Margaret Thatcher in the context of crises assailing Britain in the 1970s and how her ascent to power ushered in the neoliberal era. Forging the Iron Lady details her journey from relative obscurity to the pinnacle of power as a collective, as well as ...
Towards a Very British Version of the “Culture Wars”: Populism, Social Fractures and Political Communication
1st Edition
Edited
By Alma-Pierre Bonnet, Raphaële Kilty
December 30, 2024
This book examines the emergence and the political use of what has come to be known as “culture wars” in the United Kingdom. Adopting multidisciplinary perspectives, it investigates the ways in which cultural identities are used for political ends. The book bridges the conceptual and theoretical ...
‘Just Like Us’?: The Politics of Ministerial Promotion in UK Government
1st Edition
By Bill Jones
July 19, 2024
Informed by interviews with key political figures and commentators, this entertaining and enlightening book exposes the influences, processes and motivations behind ministerial promotion in British government. It identifies and analyses the political sinews that have influenced the selection and ...
Why London is Labour: A History of Metropolitan Politics, 1900-2020
1st Edition
By Michael Tichelar
January 09, 2023
This book answers the question why London has been a stronghold for the Labour Party for relatively long periods of the last century and continues to be so to this day to an extent that surprises contemporaries. The book draws on evidence from history and political sociology as well as the ...
The Brexit Effect: What Leaving the EU Means for British Politics
1st Edition
By Gianfranco Baldini, Edoardo Bressanelli, Emanuele Massetti
November 24, 2022
This book examines the seismic impact of Brexit on the British political system, assessing its likely long-term effect in terms of a significantly changed political and constitutional landscape. Starting with the 2015 general election and covering key developments up to "Brexit Day", it shows how ...
The Making of the Conservative Party’s Immigration Policy
1st Edition
By Rebecca Partos
August 29, 2022
This book explains the development of the Conservative Party’s immigration policy during the seven decades since 1945, up to today. By bringing together existing theories from the fields of political science and migration studies, this book offers a new model of party policy-making, which...
Neil Kinnock: Saving the Labour Party?
1st Edition
Edited
By Kevin Hickson
May 19, 2022
The book reappraises Neil Kinnock’s policies, impact, legacy and leadership of the Labour Party 30 years on from his defeat in the 1992 general election. It offers comprehensively fresh perspectives and some first-hand accounts – some friendly, others more critical – from leading academics, ...
Neoliberalisms in British Politics
1st Edition
By Christopher Byrne
December 18, 2020
Taking a chronological approach, this book challenges established economistic and ideologistic narratives of neoliberalism in Britain by charting the gradual diffusion of an increasingly interventionist neoliberal governmental rationality in British politics since the late 1970s, and the various ...
British Public Opinion on Foreign and Defence Policy: 1945-2017
1st Edition
By Ben Clements
September 30, 2020
This book provides a long-term perspective on the opinions of the British public on foreign and defence policy in the post-war era. Thematically wide-ranging, it looks at the broader role of foreign and defence policy in British politics and elections, public opinion towards Britain’s key ...