Democratic Turbulence in the United Kingdom

Democratic Turbulence in the United Kingdom assesses the past, present and future of the democratic system of the United Kingdom (UK). The author has over a number of years considered democratic and constitutional development in the UK from a variety of perspectives. Drawing on this previous work, in this book Blick proposes a combined theory of the functioning of UK democracy. He demonstrates the applicability of this theoretical framework by applying it to the period 2014 onwards. This timespan has seen pronounced turbulence for the UK as a state and for its system of governance. It commences with the Scottish independence referendum; is followed by the Brexit episode, centring on but not confined to the referendum of 2016; and then the coronavirus emergency of 2020 onwards. These experiences – interacting with other tendencies such as the ‘hung’ Parliament of 2017–2019, tensions at the centre of government involving the Prime Minister, ministers and civil servants, disruption in the party system, and the arguable rise of populism of the Right and of the Left – have called into question many entrenched perceptions of the UK system, and even its viability as a state in its current form.