Reshaping the British Constitution: Essays in Political Interpretation

Nevil Johnson

The British constitution is an elusive business, usually dissolving into mere politics when people try to come to grips with it. Reshaping the British Constitution is a critical, skeptical study that seeks to address the issue by first discussing what is involved in having a constitution and, in particular, a customary uncodified constitution like that of Britain. After recalling the almost forgotten tradition of dispersal of powers and checks the balances, Nevil Johnson then turns to the contemporary working of the British constitution, surveying the monarchy and religious establishment, the central Government and its powers, Parliament and the position of the Judiciary. All this provides a basis for a detailed examination of the principal

post-1997 reforms - devolution, the Human Rights Act 1998 and its effects, the failure of House of Lords reform, and the impact of EU membership on the constitution. Johnson concludes that Britain is as far as it ever was from real 'check the balances' and that the 'elective dictatorship' is even stronger.

Nevil Johnson is an Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, where from 1969 to 1996 he was reader in the Comparative Study of Institutions in the University of Oxford and Professional Fellow. The early years of his career were spent in the administrative class of the Civil Service. From 1966 to 1981 he edited the journal Public Administration, from 1981 to 1987 he was a member of the Economic and Social Research Council and he serves as a part-time Civil-Service Commissioner from 1982 to 1985. He has twice held visiting professorships in Germany and has many publications at his credit, including In Search of the Constitution: Reflections on State and Society in Britain (1977) and State and Government in the Federal Republic of Germany (1983).