Ideology and Politics in Britain Today

Politics and ideology now exist in a confused and changing world where traditional political doctrines are being reformulated and challenged by new ones. Politicians still call themselves socialists, conservatives and liberals, but amongst these groups exist very different understandings of what these terms represent. This volume examines the variety of ideas, values and doctrines that influence British politics today, in the light of how they developed and arrived in their present state. The first section of the book looks at different aspects of the wider context: the nature of political doctrines or ideologies, and the role they play in politics in general; the British constitution and how one ideology - liberalism - has been especially important in shaping it; and the role of economic theory in modern politics. The main section of the book examines individual ideologies, broadly grouped into two catagories of "mainstream" (conservatism, socialism, liberalism and nationalism) and the "fringe" (greens, the far left and the far right). Finally a short section considers the future and what forces may shape the further development of those doctrines which are part of British politics today.