The Devolution Gambit: Political Territorialisation as a Threat to Constitutional Order (Springer Series in Electoral Politics)

This book examines the increasing territorialisation of party competition and the relaxation of unitarian rule through devolution, presenting a long-term analysis of electoral developments in the United Kingdom since the end of the Second World War. Subsequently, the book looks into the undermining of the traditional majoritarian mode of British government as a result. It analyzes the significant role of these long-term developments and their detrimental effect on the parliament’s ability to resolve issues like the Scottish Independence Referendum or the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, and it addresses their underlying causes. The author additionally reconnects these electoral developments to the changing nature of devolution and shows how the deepening of devolution accelerates the negative electoral consequences for the British system of government. Finally, the book shows why the British Labour Party is turning more and more into a long-term minority party as a result of these developments. The book is a must-read for scholars, students and policy-makers, interested in a better understanding of comparative politics and devolution in general, as well as in the more specific case of the United Kingdom’s electoral system. Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 Abbreviations 11 List of Figures 12 List of Tables 13 1 Introduction 14 2 The Principles of Majoritarian Government 28 3 The Structure of Party Competition in the United Kingdom 34 3.1 The Concept of Party Competition 34 3.2 Structural Limitations of Electoral Competition 43 4 Devolution as a Challenge to Political Order 54 4.1 Devolution—A Systemic Liability? 54 4.2 Reforming an Unfixable System 61 5 Measuring the Territorial Dimension of Party Competition 74 5.1 Time Frame and Case Selection 74 5.2 Operationalisation of “Party Competition” 77 6 The Development of Regional Competition 83 6.1 Shifting of the Prize—Changes in the Regional Seat Distribution 83 6.2 Stable and Changeable? Government Formation and Parliamentary Majorities 86 6.3 Towards Single-Party Domination—The Territorialisation of Parliament 88 6.4 Uneven Decline—The Development of Electoral Support 95 6.5 More Volatility, Less Vulnerability—The Problem of Increasing Local Majorities 114 6.6 Structural Limitations—Regional Differences in Voter Mobilisation 126 7 Unequal Chances—Party Competition in the Era of Territorialisation 139 7.1 Still Enough—Competition Under Exceptional Mobilisation 139 7.2 Broken Beyond Repair?—Competition Under Normal Campaign Performances 148 7.3 Conclusion 160 8 Territorialisation as a Threat to Political Order 171 References 179