IVlUDERI I .
NfETflUDS OF
T.E.ACr11NG POL1I'1CJ1L B-.. ~~·;;YI
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Prem La...
142 downloads
1796 Views
16MB Size
Report
This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form
IVlUDERI I .
NfETflUDS OF
T.E.ACr11NG POL1I'1CJ1L B-.. ~~·;;YI
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Prem Lata Sharma
SARUP&SONS NEW DEUII-110002
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
Published by
SARUP&SONS 4740/23, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj New Delhi-11 0002 Ph. :3281029,3244664
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
0 Reserved
1st Edition : 2002 ISBN- 81-7625-305-7
Printed in India
Published by Prabhat Kumar Sharma for Sarup & Sons, Laser Typesetting at Mayank Printers and Printed at Roshan Offset Press, Delhi.
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
Preface
In the modern scientific and teclmological, industrial world the teaching of political science has acquired a very important dimension. Besides theoretical background, lesson in practical politics through student politics, seminars. workshops and elections, can he given. There topics have been discussed very lucidly in this book - Editor
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
Contents
v
Preface I.
Teaching of Political Science
2.
The Political PrinciQle
18
J
Ibe ~olitical Method
21
4.
Two ExQeriments in Teaching Political Science
40
5.
Training for Teaching Political Science
50
6.
Organizations and Teaching of Political Science
65
7.
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
81
8
~olilical ~allies
96
9
Earliamcnt and Ministers
116
10
I ocal GoYernmen!
139
and Elections
II. Judicia!Y and Government in Great Britain
155
12. Public Administration and Policy Studies
172
13. The Future of Teaching Political Science
193
Copynqh!
mat ria
Teaching of Political Science
Few political theorists show any interest in the political education of the child: and those who do are usually pessimistic about the value of introducing political theory into the school curriculum. Miller,• for example, argues that 'children can be given only the most simplified account of governmental institutions, and hardly any notion of the actual charact>r of political activity'. At best we can teach only a purely descriptive 'civics' in which we tell 'school children about such things as the formal relations between central and local government, the methods of election of MPs and local councillors, the distinctive work of different officials, and so on'. And whilst Miller believes that 'it is better to have this knowledge than not to have it', he recognizes that it 'provides only a static picture of institutions, which will certainly not, in itself, provide only a static picture of institutions, which will certainly not, in itself, provide any training in social values'. And it is a person's general social values, rather than his civic knowledge, which determine the quality of his citizenship. Oakeshott took a similar view of the necessary limitations upon the form of political knowledge which can be taught to the young. The most that can be offered to them is 'an introduction to the current activities of governments and to the relevant structures and practices with some attention to the beliefs and opinions which may be held to illuminate them.' But in childhood, this knowledge must remain inert: it is a stock of' ideas, beliefs, images, practices', not a working capital. It is 'not, perhaps, a very inspiring study and in its more dessicatcd passages ... unlike Greek irregular verbs in holding out no evidence of •
J D.B. Miller, The Nature ofPolitics (Harmondsworth : Penguin. 1965) pp. 275-6
Copynghlcd m lcria
2
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
better things to come' . • However, for Oakeshott, this somewhat unpromising study of politics is no more misleading or tedious than much else which has to be learned in school. His conception of political education hangs together with his general view of schooldays as a stage of education in which much has to be learned ' without the point of learning it being evident to the learner.'•• This mechanical view of schooling as a period for acquiring information without much understanding of its value is at odds with the currently child-centred orientation of educational theory. Nowadays, few educationists dissent from Whitehead's condemnation of the rote learning of ' inert ideas'. And if, in practice, schools are not always the happy, exciting institutions which are idealized in educational literature, most teachers pay lip-service to the notion that the young child's schooling should be adventurous, relevant, meaningful, related to his present concerns and not merely a preparation for a distant future adult life. He should be capable of understanding what be is asked to learn: indeed, this prescription that the child should understand what he learns seems to entail that he should also exercise some degree of choice over what he studies in school. And th.is conclusion is hard to reconclte with Oakeshott's claim that 'at school we are, quite properly, not permitted to follow our own inclinations' . Thus, it seems that we must either rule out meaningful political education in schools or we need a conception of politics which can be assimilated to child-centred educational theory.
It has been a weakness of much child-centred education that it has applied too literally the slogan, ' We teach children, not subjects.' Much of educational value has followed from widespread acceptance of the sentiments underlying this view: fewer children go 'unwillingly to school' and schools are happier places than they often were half a century ago. But a less desirable c onsequence of this slogan has been a tendency to ' dissolve the curriculum' and to pay insufficient attention to the epistemological structure of the forms of knowledge and experience which ought to characterize the educated life in civilized communities. And because of this awareness that the curriculum has been unduly neglected, there is a danger that the educational pendulum might swing towards an extreme subject-centredness. It is fortunate, therefore, that educational theory is increasingly influenced by the work • "
M. Oakcshon, Rationalism in Politics and Other EJsays (london Methuen. 1962) p.326. Ibid., pp. 315·1 6
Copyngh!cd rna ria
Teaching of Political Science
3
of two psychologists (Piaget and Bruner) whose interest is in both the intellectual development of the child and the stru cture of human knowledge. It has generally bee:! assumed that Piaget 's greatest contribution to education is as a psychologist. In fact, he has approached the problem of the development of intelligence as an !epistemologist His primary interest has been in the logic of knowledge, and his experiments have been designed to demonstrate, not the development of intelligence in vacuo, but how intelligence develops in relation to the growing understanding of scientific concepts in particular areas of knowledge. Hence, to attempt to apply Piagetian theory to education is to be committed, in part to an examination of the forms of knowledge one is trying to teach, no less than to an examination of the child's psychology. Briefly, Piaget implies that the learning of concepts in a discipline passes through three stages. There is a pre-operational stage when the learner finds it difficult to focus upon more than one variable in a problem at a time. Secondly, there is a concrete operational stage in which the Ieamer is pre-occupied with ca~gorizing and classifying his experience in concrete terms; building his concrete experience of phenomena into abstractions or concepts. Finally, there is a formaloperational stage when concepts and principles are used in the hypothetical and abstract thinking characteristic of mature disciplinary thought. Piagetians have often attached age norms to these stages: two to five years, fi ve to eleven years and eleven-plus respectively. Recently there has been a tendency to play down the notion that the Piagetian stages are age-dependent and to stress instead the more valuable conception that these define a necessary sequence through which the Ieamer must pass in approaching any d iscipline for the first time at whatever age. • The realization that Piaget is saying important things about the logical character of academic disciplines has comr. somewhat later than the grasp of what he is saying about the mental characteristics of the Ieamer. This later development owes much to the work of Bruner and his associates. The Piagetian conception that mastery of a subject must depend upon stages of development which the child is usually passing through in the primary and early secondary years has led Bruner to argue that it is possible (and, indeed, necessary) to teach the fundamental •
Summary accounts of the work ofPiaget C'!JI be found in: W.H. Maier, Three Theories of Child Development (New York: Harper & Row, 1965) Ch. 3 ; J.H. Flavell, The Dcvelopmemal Psychology ofJean Piaget (princeton: Van Nostrand, 1962). A more difficult account of the developmental stages can be found in Piaget's own Ligica and PsycholoKJ•(Manchester University Press, 1953).
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
4
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science.
concepts of any discipline to children at any age. In The Process of Education he wrote: ' We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest fonn at any stage of development' . • These objectives are to be pursued by a 'spiral curriculum.' The circle of fundamental concepts and principles are acquired on the ground floor of one's education. Educational growth at different stages of schooling is then achieved, not by introducing the Ieamer to distinctively new concepts and principles, but by applying these first principles to more difficult and complex material. On the spiral analogy, being educated involves climbing a spiral staircase, returning again and again to the same point of view, but ever higher in · the spiral with the wider perspective upon experience which this makes possible. Fundamental concepts and principles are used to analyse material of increasing difficulty and complexity. Bruner's confidence in the possibility of introducing young children to disciplinary study without destroying its integrity is grounded upon the conviction that the fundamental ideas in the sciences and the humanities are both powerful and simple and that their key concepts and principles are intimated even in the behaviour of very young children. On this view, the task facing teachers of the young is not the simplification of abstruse, scholarl y subject-matter, but rather a development of principled understanding of what is essentially simple and fundamental to human experience. Thus, in the social disc.iplines, Economics, Sociology and Politics, for example, we are confronted not with the problem of reducing explanations of complicated ' adult' institutions into the vocabulary of children, but with identifying those aspects of their own behaviour which require explanation in the language of economics or sociology or politics. In political tenns this means that we are faced with the problem of identifying that area of children's behaviour which is political in character, and not with the dilemma of how to explain the functions and operations of things like Parliament, the Cabinet, the Civil Service, local government, the assize or magistrate's court, or the United Nations Association; in short, the materials of traditional 'civics.' If Bruner is right in thinking that it is possible to teach any discipline to any child, this means that it ought to be possible to introduce politics into the school curriculum. The only sound objection to the application of Bruner's thesis to politics would follow from a •
See J. S. Bruner, n1e Process of £ducario11 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. t 963); also. Towards a Tlreoryof !nsrrucrion (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. t966). Copynghlcd rna ria
5
Teaching of Political Science
demonstration that the phenomena of politics form no part of the experiences of children. Since children count, measure, add, subtract, live in rectangular houses, drink from cylindrical glasses, and so on, mathematics presents no problem to those educationists who wish to relate teaching to the experiences of the child. The concrete manifestations of this subject are available for inspection daily and from an early age. Similarly, since young children soon learn to regulate their behaviour in accordance with the laws of physics, and since simple experiments to illustrate the working of physical laws can easily be constructed from everyday objects, physical science is taught increasingly in the primary school. But what about the institutions and modes of behaviour which constitute the data of the social disciplines: in particular, how far do children have experi~nces which could be described as political? Traditionally, political education has focused upon politics as a macro-activity: civics has been parliamentary-oriented and education for citizenship has been a preparation for things to come. What has been taught has been remote from the Ieamer's interests and concerns: it has, therefore, been impossible to use his own experience as a point of departure or to exemplify the principles being taught. Hence, in order to 'Brunerize' political education a concept of politics is required which locates it within the experience of the child. Oddly enough, despite their own conclusions that political education in schools can only offer the somewhat unappetizing diet of traditional Civics, both Oakeshon and Miller point a way out of this dilemma. Thus, Miller argues that ' politics is a basic human activity which makes its appearance wherever there are people and rules. It may be seen in small compass in a tennis club or a dramatic society, and in its widest scope in the manoeuvrings of the cold war'. • Similarly, Oakeshott writes: 'politics I take to be the activity of attending to the general arrangements of a set of people whom chance or choice has brought together. In this sense, families, clubs and learned societies have their politics'.•• This suggests that we might find politics at work in the experience of children much less remotely than through the governmental apparatus of the local community and the state. For, from this micro of view, even schools have their politics. They have to be governed; they have their conflict of interests. There are rules for the
•
• Op. cit., p. 290 . .. Op.cit., p.ll2
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
6
Modern Me1hods of Teaching Polilical Science
orderly conduct of the social re lationships which learning entails; they have their systems of punishment, and so on. So children experience at first hand (though it might be more accurate to say that they suffer) the politics of the school. And, particularly under the stimulus of the progressive education movement, the vocabulary of social philosophy is frequ ently employed in discussion of their education. The individualism of the child and the desirability of increasing his freedom in school is increasingly canvassed; at the same time, the authority of the teacher is called into question. Segregated secondary schooling and streaming in schools has implications for quality of educational opportunity and provision. The interests of the child are taken to be a fundamental educational datum. Some educationists have written of the rights of childhood. Moral and social principles are involved in the sort of social regulation which is adopted by the school. This raises questions about the function of law in a community and of different modes of legislating as well as the problems of justice and punishment. And related to all these issues is the question of democracy: in relation to school government, how far shou ld children be more than passive, disenfranchised members of the school community? Any discussion of the desirability of school democracy must begin from the fact that most schools have usually functioned as tyrannies. This is often as true of the headteacher's relationship with his staff (however benevolent his despotism may be) as it is of the adult-child relationships in schools. There are those who would argue that a paternalist rather than a democratic form of school government is entailed by the nature of the school and its disciplinary functions (here 'disciplinary'. is intended to refer to the content and methodology- the disciplines-of the curriculum, as well as to the problem of maintaining an orderly framework within which learning can occur). Not only does the school operate within the context of expectations on the part of the community outside, so tha~ even teachers are not absolutely free agents: it also seems that in detennining the content of the curriculum or (for example) the rules affecting attendance at school, the immatu rity of the child renders him unlit to make informed and responsible decisions on these matters. Although his interests must constantly be borne in mind, some educationists would argue that it is pointless to consult him about these, since he is in a very poor position to judge what his own best interests are. Hence, whilst schools undoubtedly have their politics, it seems that the totalitarian rather than the democratic model is most appropriate to school government.
Copynghlcd m lcria
Teaching of Political Science
7
One attempt to resolve this difficulty of giving practical political experience within an institution which apparently offers little opportunity for this, has been the resort to 'mock' political activities: mock elections, parliaments, local councils, trials and so on. There is not room here to explore the vario1.1s objections which might be raised against this educational device. But the most serious of these is that in mock activities the political processes of discussion and decision-making are entirely separated from administration: they divorce experience of the machinery of government from its responsible use. In mock activities no one is being asked to do anythin.g but talk, and this form of political education often seems as liable to produce asinine and irresponsible talk as to encourage responsible political attitudes. Elected school parliaments or councils where class representatives come together with teachers to discuss school problems have sometirr.t:s been tried in an attempt to avoid the limitations of mock activities and to put political education on a more rea.listic footing. Here, the degree of child participation may very from the near pupil autonomy of some progressive schools to more circumspect attempts to create machinery through which pupils may express their opinions, but stopping short of any intention to share with them the management of the school. The specter of A.S. Neill deters most educationists-as well as some political theorists (e.g. Miller}-from seriously entertaining the more radical of these alternatives. And when pupil participation is confined to limited and occasional consultations, it is often argued that this merely makes a confidence trick of any talk of school democracy. No doubt school councils, of whatever kind, give some practice in electoral procedures and the workings of representative government: if taken seriously by the staff, they may be a genuine instrument for the expression of grievances and the consultation of interests. However, they share with mock activities a parliamentary orientation: most children are denied all but minimal active participation for most of the time. A more radical objection to school councils is raised by those who argue that this device invites children to meddle in matters which they cannot properly understand and to legislate for things (the content of the curriculum, for example) which they cannot possibly alter. Moreover, the intelligent child knows that this is so and sees through the entire exercise for the bogus thing it is. This was Lord James's judgement upon school democracy: ' there is a fundamental unreality about selfgovernment in schools that certainly does not escape the intelligent
Copynghled malcria
8
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
child. In very few schools would the vote of the Schools Council be capable of bringing about any major change in the school such as the dropping of French from the curriculum. •• One way of avoiding this difficulty would be to identify limited areas of school life where children could practise responsible government without encroaching upon the statutory responsibilities of the school. In the smaller groupings within the school where continuous fact-toface relationships are possible, procedures might be established which would underline the values of democratic decision-making. The class unit comes to mind in this respect. It seems less outrageous to suggest that class discipline might be fashioned out of democratic discussion than the disciplinary structure of the whole school. And in relation to curriculum content, the project-type of learning situation influenced by the work of Dewey has also-as Dewey himself intended-many democratic-type procedures written into it. There exists little systematic evaluation of the consequences of inviting children's participation in the planning of their own education. But the series of experiments encouraged by Kurt Lewin• throw some light upon this question. Lewin and his associates evolved a situation where young boys were engaged in craft activities. Three separate groups were established and submitted, respectively, to authoritarian, democratic and laisserfaire patterns of social control: that is, there was a group where objectives and routines were dictated by the leader, a second where appropriate aims and methods were evolved from group discussion, and a third in which boys were left to their own devices. This third alternative proved least satisfactory (it was unpopular with the boys and unproductive), whilst the democratic group scored over the authoritarian regime in being more popular and productive of better quality work. It is important not to read too much into this limited series of experiments. Perhaps its most pertinent implication for the school situation is in the distinction it suggests between a completely liberal educational situation and a participant regime in which a mature adult leader encourages, stimulates and guides group discussion. The laisser-faire siruation has within it the seeds of anarchy which critics of school democracy usually fear. It seems a necessary condition for democratic education in schools • E James, Education for Leadership (london: Harrap, 1951) p. 68. •• K.Lewin, Resolving Social Conflicls (Now York: Harper, 1948). See also the briefaccount of Lewin's work in W.J.M. Mackenzie, Polilics and Social Science (Harrnondsworth: Penguin, 1967) pp. 183-4.
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
Teaching of Political Science
9
that teachers should not conclude that the encouragement of democracy involves them is abdication of responsibility for providing the leadership which is implicit in their role and professional competence. However, whatever use a class lesson may make of the techniques of democratic discussion, it lacks many of the characteristics of a political situation. It is probably in the extra-curricular life of the school that pupil participant activity can best be encouraged. Where children as:;ociate voluntarily in clubs and societies to promote different interests, the kind of objection which is raised against pupils meddling in the school's statutory functions loses its force . In these areas of voluntary activity it ought to be possible to encourage discussion of objecti ves, participation in rule-and constitution-making, and to involve members in executive functions in a way which emphasizes the relationship between the quality of decision-making and administration and the quality of the resultant activity. Where children have to live with the decisions they have made in relation to activities which they enjoy, there is a premium upon responsible discussion and management. As officers and committee members of school societies implementing democratic decisions, they are involved in the sort of real management situations which never face mock 'cabinets' in mock parliaments or the 'judicial' officers ir. a mock trial. Apart from the intrinsic value of these extra-curricular groups in promoting activities which children value within the school, have they any instrumental value as training for participatlon in political life in the wider community outside the school? It can at least be claimed on behalf of mock parliaments and school councils that their model is the government of the state. Arguably, in these cases. the macro situation is only the micro situation 'writ large' . In what sense. if at all. is the situation of the extra-curricular club or society analogous with the political life in the adult community outside the school? Crick doubts the value of all attempts to understand the political macrocosm by reference to the microcosm: 'common usage may encourage us to talk about politics in the small group--in the trade union. in the office, and even in the family ... Some social scientists, perhaps being a little too clever, make quite a song and dance about "the politics of small groups." They hope by studying the microcosm to understand the macrocosm. But the difference is not just one of scale: a valuable qualitative distinction is lost. If all discussion, conflict. rivalry, ~truggle and even conciliation is called politics. then it i~ forgotten , _once
Copynghlcd m lcria
10
Modern Methods ofTeaching Political Science
more, that politics depends upon some settled order. Small groups are subordinate parts of that order. They may help to create politics, but their internal behaviour is not political simply because their individual function is quite different from that of the state itself. And, unlike the state, they have no acknowledged legal right to use force if all else fails' .• Mackenzie takes a different view: 'both political scientists and plain men feel that what they meet in tbe politics of the state turns up again in the politics of the club, the office, the army unit and even the family. What generates political interest in all this range of institutions is that we think we can feel politics in them, and that we cannot describe them adequately without using political concepts'.** Perhaps it is an exaggeration to claim, as Mackenzie does, that the problems of state government are to be found, in essence, in the management of something like a family . It is no doubt true that to participate in the administration of a club, a trade union, a chamber of commerce or a school gives little of the feel of what it is like to confront the kind of problem which exerc ises those who govern the state. As Crick implies, simply to have the power over life and death puts these, qualitatively in a different category. In that sense, the macrocosm is not in the microcosm. But Mackenzie is also right to suggest that small groups are the only place where the common man really gets the feel of politics. The quinquennial exercise of the franchise in a general election gives little sense that one is actively engaged in politics. The man who is inclined to become more closely involved in the government of those matters which most affect him finds a more satisfactory sense of participation through the management of voluntary associations. It is through membership of these that we promote and defend our distinctive interests whether these be economic, cultural, professional, religious or recreational. Whilst the members of a tennis club may do nothing more than administer their own pleasures, other associations are also pressure-groups or lobbies whose influence may assume national (even supra-national) significance. And it is not merely that some conflicts of interest (e.g ., those between management and labour) are resolved through negotiation between interests groups themselves: it is also that departments of state recognize that these are often repositories of considerable expertise which ought to be consulted in the interest of efficient government: ' the various associations supply the parties, • 13. Crick, In Defence ofPolitics (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964) p. 20 •• Op. cit., p. 156.
Copynghlcd m lcria
Teaching nfl'olitical Science
It
ministries and officials with that technical and specialized advice without which laws would be mere chimeras and administration a mere bungle'.* The relevance of this fact of associational democracy is that it assigns an important educational function to the voluntary extracurricular groupings which exist in schools. If the political macrocosm can be characteri;·.ed as 'associational democracy' (voluntary associations contributing to the management of society's affairs alongside, and sometimes in partnership with, the state), the associations within schools are doubly relevant for political education. first, they are themselves part of the macrocosm: school football or tennis clubs, school dramatic or learned societies are fulfilling the same functions for their members, as ar~ similar associations in the community outside for theirs. They are a method of pursuing genuine interests, and offer similar scope for member participation in management. On the other hand, viewed instrumentally as a training for political participation, they are a more accurate model of the body politic than are the alternative parliamentary models, in demonstration the existence of more accessible outlets for continuous and active political participation on the part of the ordinary citizen. Viewed thus, political education through participation in extracurricular groups goes some way to meeting Miller's objection to traditional Civics: that 'on the whole, schools are devoted to solidarist conceptions of authority, power and interest: the notion of political conflict as unending, and of inte'rests as essentially plural and competitive in character, could not be introduced into the management of schools without turning them into replicas of A.S. Neill's and would, in any case, sort badly with predominant notions of immanent general interest which lie behind most schools' examination of social, political and economic questions.'* The fact that schools have used inappropriate models in their treatment of social questions is no reason why they should continue to do so. And whilst Miller's strictures may accurately reflect traditional attempts to establish school democracy, the widespread proliferation of extra-curricular activities in good secondary schools represents. in fact, a pluralist conception of social organization. Different and competing interests are recognized and encouraged, and •
S.E. Finer. Anonymous Empire (london : l'all Malll'ress, 1958) p. 108. There is a ~rowing literature on pressure groups . For a recent shon accoulll of th<se (and bihliographyl. s~e F. G. Castles. Pre.tsure Groups and Palttical (ulwre (l.l>ndon: Routledge & Kcgan Paul. IQ67)
•-• Op. cit.. p 275.
Copynghlcd m tcria
12
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
children are faced with genuine problems of choice in terms of the interests they are ab le to pursue. At this point two related objections might be raised against this analysis which has focused upon the possibility of giving children practical experience of politics. First, has political theory no contribution to make towards political education? Second, why assume that the point of political education is to serve the utilitarian purpose of education for citizenship? Indeed (and th is is why these objections are related), is not politica l education primarily an example of that species of activity concerned w ith discovery of truth about th e world and, hence, an essentially theoretical activity? Hitherto, our emphas is upon the practice of politics has followed from the attempt to discover a way of exemplifying political concepts and principles by reference to experiences capable of having meaning for c hildren ; it has been a search fo r co ncrete ill ustrat ion within children's experience, of the simple, strategic, political concepts of politics. All that need be claimed for the different forms of practical political experience which have been discussed is that they contribute towards the concrete-ope rat ional development of the learner as a necessary preparation for the distinctively formal-operational or abstract consideration of political activity. What has been argued so far could fit ei ther a utilitaria n or a transcendental justification of political education. To have stressed the importance of practice is not necessarily to have advocated mere education for cit izenship. Essentially, the argument for learning by doing is not the utilitarian assum ptio n that everything which is learned should have a practical application. The j ustification for learning by doing is intrinsically pedagogical: doing is a necessary condition for understanding. The Piagetians ' insistence upon a concrete-operational stage of learning is recognition of this sense in which our formal understanding is dependent upon practic3l activity. Moreover, there are tacit dimensions to all our knowledge: we all know more than we can tell. • The best of theoretical explanations inevitably fails to get r ight to th e heart of the matter, and this is as true of explanations of social behaviour as of distinctively motor skills. Thus, even where political education is conceived (as by Miller. for example) primarily as a truth-seek ing enterprise, practice as well as theory seems to be essential to proper understanding. •
Sec M. Polan) i. The Tacit Dimension (London: Rou1lcdgc 8:. Kcgan Paul. 1967).
Copynghlcd m lcria
Teaching of Political Science
13
Howeve r, there is an insistent and perennial demand that education should be related to life in the sense of cultivating insights which have practical value in the daily business of living. And this instrumental conception of education cannot be dismissed merely as a threat from Philistines who are insensitive to what really constitutes the good life. The quality of civihzed life is manifest as much in our dai ly comings and goings in the market place as it is in our distinctively intellectual and aesthetic activities. Indeed, the location of any human activity is so apt to shift continuously along the means-ends spectrum, that th e dichotomizing of instrumental and intrinsically valuable activities becomes difficult to sustain. And especially in terms of a human activity like the practice of politics, the requirement that we should teach for academic detachment, pure and simple, is open to question. Crick has argued the importance of not turning one's back 'On the whole tendency of Western civilization to be an improving, reformist, ameliorative, not simply l1 contemplative cultu re.'* On the other hand, perhaps if we value political education as primarily an activity of understanding, thankful merely that there may be a by-product in terms of an improvement in political participation, we shall be less likely to be pre-occupied wit h teaching the mastery of political machinery, thus avo' ling the sterility of traditional Civics. Maybe it is right to insist that commitment to political activity is really a bonus which might accrue from political understanding. After all, to understand politics may be to be driven to greater personal participation, if only from a sense that one's d ignity as a person requires active participation in helping to shape the social framework within which even non-utilitarian activ ities have to be pursued. But on the other hand, it might not: emphasizing the truth-seeking aim may lead to the cultivation of a superior academic detachment-'politics is a dirty game' -the business of politics being left to the practical man who, impatient of all theory, becomes impotently pragmatic. Whether as a valuable study in itself, or as instrumentally valuable in improving the qual ity of political activity, a knowledge of political theory seems essential for the educated man. Political theory has both an empirical and a theoretical dimension: it assimilates knowledge of the structure of political institutions and the sociology of political behaviour, as well as famil iarity wiih the ethical presuppositions of different forms of government. In tum, both of these '
Op. cit.. p. Il l .
Copynghlcd m lcria
14
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
contributory disciplines·- the sociological and the ethical-have a historical context. It is only too evident that our political institutions were not born yesterday and, arguable, neither they nor the values which sustain or transform them are Platonic Forms. Hence, the study of a tradition (or traditions) seems essential to political understanding and it is this fact which leads some educationists to contend that political education is best undertaken incidentally through the study of history. There is little doubt that in the past most people have derived their understanding of political concepts and principles mainly from their school History which, traditionally, has had a political bias. Most of our power concepts-authority, freedom, justice, monarch, subject, war, peace, treaty, revolution and so on-derive from our school History. And it is clear that a significant strand in the English history of the past two centuries is the record of attempts by ordinary people to gain control of their affairs through the development of voluntary associations. This is a theme implicit in the social history of industrialism which is common to many secondary-school History syllabuses. Thus, if there is anything in our earlier argument that an important task of political education is to demonstrate the role of interest groups in the government of the democratic state, the history of the past two centuries offers important evidence for this claim . The story of how ordinary citizens learned to help themselves is no less important than the account of their struggle for the franchise. Indeed, the former is frequently a success story; the latter, arguably, a record of frustrated hopes and expectations. It is doubtful whether the level of political maturity in the community is any testimonial to the efficacy of th is sort of incidental political education through history. But if history cannot supply the whole of political education it is a necessary contributory element. History has a dramatic quality which contributes an affective dimension to political intelligence. In a democratic community political vigilance requires that the va lues of politics should be felt no less than intellectually apprehended. Hence, concerned as it is with the particular event, history provides both !I wealth of concrete exemplification of the principles of political behaviour and a culture of the imagination which is effectively, as well as intellectually, important for political education.
A full discussion of the educational implications of incidental as against direct, deliberate teaching of political theory in schools is beyond the scope of this chapter. Certainly, there is a case for the development of Social Studies in schools which, as rarely hitherto, are rooted in the
Copyngh!cd rna ria
Teaching of Political Science
15
social dtsciplines. And some attention to political theory would be an essential element in this approach towards social education. But whether through history or political theory, it is important to consider the age at which the theoretical consideration of politics might begin. For to argue as we have, following Bruner, that ch ildren are necessarily involved in political activity from an early age is not to claim that they can themselves offer or understand theoretical accounts of the principles which explain their experiences. The researches of Piaget and his associates amply demonstrate that it is one thing to behave appropriately in practical situations, but quite another to give scientifically respectable accounts of such behaviour. Little empirical evidence exists to assist in the demarcation of clear stages of development in relation to social and moral principles. However, Piaget's The Moral Judgment ofthe Child has some relevance to the question of political maturity as his own political references in this work indicate. Piaget studied the behaviour of children in order to assess their perceptions of the rules of games. He suggests that before the age of ten children see the political universe as a theocracy or gerontocracy.• Even the rules of marbles appear handed down from God or from the village elders. But from about ten-years-old. the child' s perception of the social order is transformed. The notion of a fixed, eternal social universe is eroded by his 'discovery of democracy' : ' the rule of a game appears to the child no longer as an eternal law, sacred in so far as it is laid down by adults; but the outcome of a free decision and worthy of respect in the measure that it has enlisted mutual consent' .•• Thus, it is at the age when chi ldren are enteri ng the secondary school that moral heteronomy gives way to moral autonomy and democratic political education appears possible. On Piaget 's evidence it would be pointless to give an account of democratic government rnuch before the age of twelve. More than this, the objections which we noted to the introduction of practical democracy into schools would carry considerable weight when applied to the primary school, given Piaget's account of stages of moral development. At the primary stage it would be useless either to give children selfgovernment or even to consult them about mailers affecting their interests. They appear quite content to accept the authority of their elder> '
J Piaget.71re Mora/Judgmento.fthe Chi/d(London: Routledge & Kcgan Paul.
1 91 ~ !
pp 42-56. _. Ibid.. p. 57
Copynglltcd m tcria
lh
Modern Method5 of Teaching Political Science
iiJr whatever rules are required to govern their behaviour. Generally s;,'!aking, then, the early' tee'ns would seem to mark the point before which neither the theory nor practice of politics can meaningfully be imroduced into the curriculum of the school. This does not mean, of course, that young children should be denied explanations of why they are being asked to behave in accordance with appropriate rules. Children's perception of the fact that rule-giving should be a rational actrvity may be assisted or inhibited by whether or not they live in a COI!lmtmity where adults are accustomed to offer reasons for what they do or expect others to do. Piaget himself implies that the development of moral autonomy is, in part, sociologically conditioned in this way. • The field of political education has been unduly neglected in educational research: hence, it is not possible to offer research based prescriptions of content or method. However, the work of Piaget and Bruner points to three pertinent areas of research to which educationists and political theorists together might address themselves. First, there is need for philosophical investigation of the ' logical geography' of Politics. Is it an autonomous or a derived area of study? How does it relate to other social disciplines? It it a pure or applied discipline? What is the nature of political ' facts' and how far is the vocabulary of Poiitics an empirical, how far a normative, form of discourse? How far in political education are we committed to teaching a distinctive 'language' or only to a reinterpretation for technical purposes of the vocabulary of common speech? A developmental approach to the teaching of Politics requires the identification of strategic facts, concepts and principles and of the relationship these bear to each other. Epistemological priorities have to be established for teaching purposes: what concepts (if any) are necessarily antecedent to the understanding of others? What are the facts and particulars from which political abstractions are fashioned and to which they can be referred in common experience?.. Second, if the behaviour of children is capable of explanation by reference to political, empirical investigation is required into the nature of political behaviour in learners of different ages, abilities and cultural background. If political education is justified as a preparation for citizenship, it is important to identify the forms of political activity • lbi,J .. PI'· 68·9 . •,. Forth is sort of approach to philosophy of the curriculum, sec 1'.11. Phoenix. Healml of \lea11i11g (New York. McGraw-IIi II. 1964).
Copynghlcd malcria
Teaching
~1 Political Science
17
\\ hiclt are accessible to the average citizen, and to attempt to establish areas of overlap betwzen the politics of the school and that of the adu:t world. We have suggested above that the concept of associational democracy might have important implications for a deve lopmental approach towards political education. In this research area the task . would be to study the political environment within which the Ieamer functions and how this environmental data might be used to illustrate, concretely, the teaching of political theory. Third, it is also important to attempt to establish the ages at which it is possible to teach given political concepts with some guarantee that they will be understood. Again, the capacity for political behaviour must be clearly distinguished from the ability to explain such behaviour. In this area, Piaget's work on moral development is suggestive. But as he himself wams, it is dangerous to generalize from an ability to behave autonomously in relation to the rules of games to a similar capacity for democracy in the more sophisticated rule making-situations which characterize even the politics of families and schools. Stages of development in political intelligence can only be delineated following assessment of actual experiments in political education. It is not suggested that curriculum development in the field of political education should await the completion of a programme of educational research of this scope and complexity. Making a sacred cow of educational research is, perhaps, the surest guarantee of the educational status quo. To ' programme' research in this way is not to call a halt to political education pending watertight empirical evidence of what is pedagogically possible, but to hint at the sort of questions which might be asked alike by educationists and political theorists who are concemed to improve the quality of political thought and action in a democratic community.
Copynghlcd m lcria
The Political Principle
Jodged by the highest standard-and those who love them will not care to use any other-the Public Schools must be said to have failed. llte men whom they have turned out have not been d istinguished as a body by joy in life and art, by hatred of poverty, serfdom and war, or by happy eagerness in the search for truth and reality. They have for the most part given no thought to such things; and when, in rare cases, they have been uneasily stirred from their acquiescence in the existing order by a gu ilty conscience, they have turned their attention to pitifully inadequate Agenda Clubs and the like. It is futile to point to their record in the war; the private soldier has received and deserved the same praise. The officers and the rank an d file have a like shown a rare courage and devotion which has kept hope al ive during the nighnnare of the last three years. But such th ings are a tribute to the spirit of man, not to that of the Public Schools. Many writers- men like Mr. Shaw, Mr. Wells, and Mr. J.A. Hobson-leave one with the impression that the only thing to do is to make a clean sweep of the whole evil system. Concentrating in the main on one issue, they see in the Public Schools the strongest bulwark of those reactionary forces of class selfishness and narrow patriotism which form the most dangerous opposition to the coming of a genuinely free and united democracy. Few who have honestly faced the facts wi ll consider their accusation groundless; and at first sight the conclusion seems inevitable. Nevertheless, the Public Schools are supremely worth preserving. Reactionary often in effect, they and the older Universities stand almost alone in a commercial age of five per cent loans as being in the ultimate intention liberal and humane; and the intention can be released from the decay which has overtaken it, and the instruments by
Copynghlcd m lcria
1'l1e Political Principle
19
which it is misinterpreted. and, receiving a new direction, may well issue after a time of laborious reform in a fresh stream of life and healthgiving energy. To revolutionise the Public Schools is one of the most crying needs of the age; to destroy them would be fatal. It must be said at the outset that any attempt to 'democratise' the Public Schools by the rough and ready method of throwing them open to all classes, could only be made by refonners completely ignorant of the real nature of the difficulties involved. The nation is divided into classes, separated the one from the other by differences in manner of life, which, to any but those who are endowed with a special sympathy, form the most rea l of all distinctions; and it is mark, not of a 'democratic, but of an impatient and narrow-sighted intellect, merely to ignore the fact. The average public school-boy feels tltese distinctions more acutely and more unreasoningly than any other member of society; and to force them on his attention at every moment of the day, before he is capable of superseding his instincts in the matter by an intellectual and moral revolt against the system which has shut off the great mass of humanity from any delicacy or fineness of life, is simply to reinforce in the most powerful manner possible all those hereditary prejudices which teach him that it is naturally right for 'the superior' to rule 'the inferior.' The idea of 'local scholarships' and the like has often in the past been put into practice, and in almost every case it has resulted in a hideous failure.* What is wanted is not to introduce into the Public Schools an inevitably unreal and superficial democracy, but to convert them into instruments by means of which a genuine and complete democracy may be achieved; not to produce in them a jarring mixture of classes, but to make them fit to play their part in the eventual abolition of all class distinctions. To give a scholarship to the son of the local plumber may be either well-intentioned folly or a Machiavellian stroke of reactionary wisdom; but to create such a spirit in the school that it views with disappointment the timid clauses of a much advertised Education Bill, and with bitter indignation the shelving of them, is to do something towards producing that moral and intellectual revolution without which a social revolution of any sanity or stability is impossible. •
To take a somewhat analogous case, it is extrcmd) doubt fill whether the 'Working Lads' Club' system, with its heart) handshakes, its football and ping-pong. docs not do more harm than good . It is not to b<: denied that some have found here their lirst impulse towards unselfish social work: but for others. the subtly poisonous atmosphere ofcharity and condescension. so common in these clubs. puts the social problem in :m entirely false light. It would certainly be intinitcly more dangerous tu bring the hoy into hourly contact "ith people he regarded as bounders and boors
Copynghtcd m tcria
20
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
The Public Schools, therefore, while remaining ' a class preserve.' must become instrumental in hastening the day when such a phrase will be happily mean ingless. There for the moment we will leave the matter, to return to it later when we come to show that one and the same reform will work the desired transformation in these institutions, whether considered, on the one hand, as engines of political progress, or, on the other, as purely intellectual associations for the attainment of culture. For, after all, the supreme object of the genuine educationalist must be to bring out and reinforce that love of beauty, that passion for truth, and that disinterested desire to do what is right and good simply for its own sake, which are latent, in however slight a degree, in most young minds, but which are commonly so neglected and overlooked that men learn to hate and dishonour these things, instead of finding in them their greatest joy. The old classical curriculum, now so rapidly disappearing, was at any rate based on a right view of what the aim of education should be; inevitably narrow though is often was, and quite unsuited to the needs of many minds, it did attempt to impart a genuine love of letters, and an entirely disinterested knowledge of the nobility of two great civilisations. It was, as has been said, liberal and humane in intention, though not always so in result; whereas, both in intention and result, the curr iculum by which it is now being superseded is inherently and viciously bad. There has been no more dangerous product of the war than the agitation in favour of a ' practical' education, by which is meant not education at all, but simply a rule and thumb training in the arts of ' efficiency' and ' success.' Men who have never read a word of Goeth e or listened to a note of Beethoven are hot with denunciations of German materialism; and meanwhile they read with enthusiasm a letter appearing in the Times over the signature of a num ber of influential men, urging that Public School education should in the future be based on subject wh ich should fit the schoolboy to take his proper place in modem life, ' whether in science, commerce, or the forces of th e Crown. ' It is bitterly amus ing to notice the three occupations that are exclusively considered. The life of the intellect, the life of the spirit, and the true culture that is fostered by a Jove of great literature, art, and music- all these are pre-sumably of no account, and are not even worthy of mention by the side of the money-making pursuit, and training in tactics and strategy. The science which studies the relation of man to man, and the art which aims at building up a better and a juster polity--th ese are the mere day-dreams of visionaries, unworthy of consideration in ' these strenuous times.· Admiration for
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
7he Political Principle
21
Pruss ian methods, and for the Pruss'ian type of mind, is not even thinly disguised. 'TI1e wonderful efficiency of the Gennans, both in science and languages,' we are told, 'points to the fact that their schools and universities answer these two vital requirements better than do ours.' In other words, we are to bow down and do worship before that splendid idol of Kultur which we passionately denounced three years ago, when we made up our minds to take part in a fearfu l war sooner than allow a hopelessly false ideal, if ideal it can be called, to be thrust upon the world. It is bad enough when a British Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the British House of Commons, proclaims the infamous doctrine of Bemhardi, that the safety of the State is the highest law; but if our education is to aim in the future at producing mean and little-minded hunters after a spurious material efficiency, the Getmans may well laugh up their sleeve at the victory in the field which will signalise the world's triumph over the physical, but not the moral, forces of Prussianism. Yet the moral victory may still be won; and it is because we see in the Public Schools one of the few remaining weapons with which to win it, that we have called their preservation a matter of the supremest moment. They must learn to tum out men who are splendidly free in mind and spirit: their liberalism must be, not destroyed, but fulfilled . Better a thousand times the study of Homer and Plato, even if it involves hours of tedious prosing about the digamma and vowel gradations, than a steady pressure towards short-h~nd and book-keeping. For all that. the classics, as the staple diet of education, are doomed. For many young minds a purely literary education is quite unsuitable; they see no connection bel\veen the \Vritten word and the living actualities around them, and ' work' appears in the light of a meaningless but apparemly necessary piece of unpleasantness. Others instinctively understand the hannony of life and literature; but they find the path of approach too difficult, and the interest which they would otherwise feel in their subject is extinguished in the boredom of irregular verbs. The case of the grown man who takes up the study of an unfamiliar language is of course altogether different. The end in view casts its light back over the unattractive means; and the mature mind will take positive pleasure in overcoming the obstacles which bar its progress. It is true that some boys are capable of feeling this intellectual pleasure: but. save in the rarest cases, only when the intense personal fascination of the object to be attained is however vaguely and imperfectly. unp
Copyngh!cd rna ria
22
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
An additional point is gained if the successive means arc so many ends in themselves- ends the full significance of which is realised only when the final end is reached. School education should resembk. not a journey through a dark tunnel to a scene of beauty (as is usually the case with classical education), but progress up slope every stage of which is lovely- the aim being to see this very slope, and many hidden features of the landscape with a new vision from the summit. And in the one case, if the train breaks down (as it so often does), time has been at best wasted; in the other, wherever the traveller stops his life has been enriched. We believe that there is one great reform which will fulfil the intention of the old curriculum and at the same time free us from its drawbacks- the substitution of political for classical education. It is an appalling thought that the best educated members of the most powerful Em pire in the world should leave school without ever having been trained to consider seriously the realities of the world about them, and the true nature of the responsibil ity which they bear. Some indeed go on to Oxford and Cambridge; a few take the Greats of History school there, and with minds already hardened, commonly use their new found knowledge to make a brilliant defence of an inherited point of view, instead of relentlessly forging out a point of view for themselves in the light of truth. But many have no University course before them; they go straight into a chosen business or profession, and without the equipment which would enable them to sift evidence and see through shams, rely for their knowledge of affairs on the partisan notions which the reader of only one newspaper inevitably acquires. It will, no doubt, be said that the whole manner of life at a Public School in itself constitutes a political training, and that the mind is habituated by environment to good citizenship. As a matter of fact, the habit of mind produced is at rare worst that of the brutal tyrant, at best that of the perfect ruler. The crying need of the world to-day is neither for bullies nor for governors, but for a race of men who, equipped with knowledge, imagination, and constructive skill, will be able to build a new national and international order of which th e foundation is reverence for personality and the keystone brotherhood. We lay ourselves open here, no doubt, to the formal charge of begging the formal charge of begging the question. 'Socialism will be the salvation of the World: therefore preach Socialism in the Public Schools.' Provided that the exploded State variety is not meant, we plead
Copynghlcd m lcria
The Political Principle
23
guilty to a belief in the first half of the proposition. 13ut "c do not say ·Preach Socialism'; '~say 'Teach Politics.' .It• is only necessary that the vital issues should be honestly raised; the young and free mind may be confidently reckoned on to do the rest. Or so at least those will think who believe on the one hand in the original virtue of the unspoiled intelligence, and one the other, in the inhere:1t righteousness of their own cause. It is not propaganda that is desired, but the creation to thought on the debatable question; and although brilliant men will always be found who adhere to the Tory position, no man of honour could find it desirable that this position should be accepted without thought and without understanding. If the Conservative principle is ultimately moral, Tories will have nothing to tear form the presentation of arguments for and against: if its acceptance is due to ignorance, selfishness, or mental and spiritual lethargy, they had better cast aside their Toryism and save their souls. It is not, however, as an agent of democracy that the study of Politics is chiefly urged, but as a unique educational instrument. The word is used, of course. in the good Greek sense, so as to include History and cover the whole life of man in society. Ethics are of its essence, nor indeed can metaphysics be separated from it. Here is a subject which satisfies every possible criterion . It is intensely ' liberal' and yet strike almost every boy as of great personal mtcrest and moment; the technique necessary for its mastery is acquired pari passu with knowledge of its subject matter; and its adoption would put an end once for all to that hateful divorce of school work from the realities of life which makes so many class-rooms little hells of boredom. The inexi>erienced layman may urge that such meat is too strong for the ' immature' mind. A lot of nonsense is talked on this subject. The boy of from seventeen to nineteen is perfectly capable of understanding the connection between capital and diplomacy in the nineteenth century, of criticising Plato's republic, and of forming a judgment as to the respective merits of Christian and Nietzhean ethics; and very much younger boys can grasp the meaning of social and ethical princi~J ies when expressed in their simplest forms. Even economics, which grown men find so boring, exercise over many boys an intense fascination (in which respect they ma} be usefully compared with pure mathematics), for they give an attractive insight into the working of one part of the world's machinery. It will be well to meet at this point three objections which will be raised. The first and most serious is concerned with the pure theory of
Copynghlcd m lcria
24
Modern Methods a/Teaching Political Science
pedagogics. The true aim of education, it is often said, is to discipline the mind. Accord ingly, subjects must be chosen which are distasteful to the pupil, so that, being compelled to work his way through them, he may acqu ire a certai n unswerving sternness of intellect that will fit him for the battle of life. Latin grammar is to be learnt, not in spite, but by reason of its upleasantness. A more suicidal policy could not well be imagined. It is not questioned that a fine intelligence can ra rely emerge save from continual conflict with difficulties. But in no conceivable sense can it be called more ' difficult' for a boy to master, say, the eccentricities of Homeric grammar th an to understand the meaning of shelley's Prometheus Unbound or criticise the ideas of the Sophists. By compelling him (in so far as compulsion is possible) to get through an unsa'loury task, you produce at best a highly efficient intellectual slave, calculated to perform unquestioningly the allotted ta~k, and at worst a man hopelessly bored with things of the mind; but by creating such an atmosphere that the boy wi ll leap at difficulties of his own free will and grapple with them till he solve them because for his own sake he dare not let them go, you produce a master, instinct with intellectual joy and passion. Save in the rarest cases of intense mental vitality on the part of alike of t.:acher and puil, this atmosphere cannot be created by the teaching of tedious subjects. The second objection is of a more practical nature. One of the commonest ways of checking progress is to suggest that a particular reform is highly admirable, but must come from some other quarter first. Everything depcn~s on eve1ything else, and so the vicious circle remains unbroken. Here it is the Un iversities that are the difficulty. Many boys on the classical side of a Public School try for scholarships at Oxford or Cambridge, and are entered by their parents with this object; and it would be fata l to compromise their chances. It may be answered that, in the first place, the Universities will certainly make no move until pressure is put on them from below; and secondly that the surest way to get a scholarship even now, at any rate at Oxford, is to write a good essay and general paper. Few colleges can resist the lure of a probable first in Greats. Without desiring to underestimate the difficulties here involved and the necessity for proceeding warily, one may say with some confidence that pressure from a number of schools, combined with the movement of opinion effected by the war, might well result in making abi li ty in elementary Greats work the chief criterion both for admission to the Universities and for scholarships.
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
The Political Principle
25
The third and final objection is that contained in the old reactionary cry against all advance-it is not ' Practical. ' At one of the old Public Schools several experiments have during the last two years been successively made, which go far to show that this particular refonn is not only practical but in practice works. As far as the classical sixth is concerned, a beginning was made by impressing many of the ordinary classical hour, and using them (as is no doubt the practice in many schools) for lectures on various aspects of Greek life- the development of religi >us and philosophic thought, the history of the drama. and the like. Meanwhile the weekly essay hour was expanded, and used as a vehicle for the discussion of current political problems. Interest in Politics and Sociology steadily grew; and eventually a ' Politics Class' was established for older boys from every part of the school. In the meantime the work of the Classical Sixth was being extended to include such subjects as political Science and Elementary Economics. Finally, th movement of intellectual interest and excitement produced by these refonns culminated in the publication of a serious political and literary review, founded, edited, and writer by boys. These things are described in detail in our third chapter. The greater difficulty, no doubt, arises when one passes from such experime.1ts as._.!Jese to the task of evolving a curriculum suitable for every successive stage in the school a curriculum at once simple and vitally interesting. It is obvious that a detailed scheme, if it is to be of any value, must gradually issue from a careful consideration of results. But experience of essay work with small boys shows one thing to be certain: that it is not by any thing to be certain: that it is not by any means beyond the power of human ingenuity to adapt political education to the needs of junior fonns, in such a way as to make it far more stim ulation than any fare which is provided for them at present. To tell a boy to describe a tea-party (a practice still curiously favoured in the low fonns of many well-known schools) is to lead him nowhere, except possibly to a pitying contempt of schoolmasters; but to make him think about liberty and discipline (or even the Christianity which few men dare to face) is to do something towards producing neither a dullard nor a prig, but a intelligent citizen of his country and the world. The trouble with most men in not that they are brainless, but that they have been so ha_bituated from early youth to apply their brains only to one or two particular spheres-literature, miuhematics, science, or their future profession-.that when they come to maturity politics are the natural object ofthoi,Jghtlessness and prejudice. The sooner a boy learns to apply
Copynghlcd m lcria
26
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
his thought directly to the affai rs of the world and the principles which should govern them, the better for him and his fellows. Even without any change of curriculum, a great deal may be done by revised methods of teaching. It is the fashion to treat of most subjects from the antiquarian point of view; in the vast majority of cases they can, and should be taught from the political. The place of Classics in a reformed time-table affords on difficulty. As soon as a boy comes to a public school any master of reasonable ability can tell whether he has or is likely to develop any aptitude for the subject. If he has, he should be placed in a classical 'set,' to divide his time between it and the ordinary form work; if he has not, it is grotesque that he should be coerced into a meaning less and souldestroying grind. Sets should be weeded out terminally, as it became apparent that particular boys were deriving no further benefit from this part of their work; and at the top of the school there should be a small special classical form, corresponding to the present History special (which would then, in its remodelled shape, become the regular Upp:r sixth). But even these maturer specialists should devote many hours to the subjects studied by the ordinary rank and file. In this way any boy whose mind would develop best under the stimulus of the. more literary side of classical education, would have the chance of becoming a sound scholar. No doubt the time given to other subjects would prevent him from writing verses with the elegance of a Munro: possible this last refinement will have its place again when a new social system, brought into being through political education, has made the enjoyment of more normal literature possible for all.
Copynghlcd m lcria
The Political Method
In the previous chapter we suggested that Classics, in spite of its man y merits, was doomed as the basis of a liberal education. We suggested Politics as its rightful successor, and put forward our general arguments in favour of this suggestion. But we were mainly concerned in that chapter with general principles. In speaking of the curriculum, we contented ourselves with saying that a great deal might be done by revised methods of teaching, which would treat subjects already figuring on the orthodox time-table in a political rather than an antiquarian spirit. The aim of the present chapter is to expand that suggestion, taking in tum four subjects- Classics. History, English Literature and Divinity. I. CLASSICS
Classics owes its place in our time table to the Renascence, and it is worth while going back for a moment to the history of that movement, in order to discover what the Renascence scholars and schoolmasters really meant by ·c lassics' and what they sought to get out of it. The home of the movement was the city states of fourteenth and fifteenth century Italy. These cities had achieved a virtual independence, and their very existence and their whole organisation were a standing protest against the theocratic and feudal ideas on which the medieval world was based. In classical Greece they discovered a far away world that had been apparently all that they themselves wished to be. Men studied and taught Greek that they and their pupils might become not merely scholars but ' Grecians.' Pericles, Plato, Phidias, and the rest were studied not merely as the masters of an old world but the models for a new one. In fine. Renascence 'Classics' was fundamentally political.
Copynqhled malcria
28
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Of this great movement much came. Florence produced its Lorenzo, a new Pericles; its Machiavelli, a new Plato; its Michelangelo, a new Phidias; and a score of othe rs. But the new Greece was as tran:;itory as the old. Philip of Hapsburg and his father played the part ' of extinguisher far more completely than Philip of Macedon and his son. For an imitation never has quite the vitality of its model. Meanwhile ' Greece crossed the Alps' as the old saying was, and entered larger and less intense societies, to which the real life of ancient Athens was something infinitely more remote. The new learning ceased to be political and became antiquarian and purely literary. Politics moved into other channels-Calvinism, Jesuitism, Ocean trade. But the school-master had got hold of his text-books an he ~tuck to them. l.lte nineteenth century antiquarian classics of the school stand in outline already before us; the minute reading of traditional test, selected for style more than maner (Plutarch, for example, one of the biggest influ ences of the real Renascence, is rejected by the ' antiquarians' because he wrote late Ureek), the cult of composition, and the perfunctory study of superficial history crowded into a spare hour. What we want, then, is not to repudiate the ideal of the Renascence but to return to it. The root of the Classics is the life of the Classical peoples. Their literature is of value as the embodiment of that life. Their languages are of value as the keys to that literature. Detailed imitation of the city state is of course not for us, any more than detailed imitation of Aeschlus is to be recommended to our theatres or our churches, whichever of the two should chance to claim him. But in politics, art, and re ligion, the Greeks and Romans raise nearly all the great problems in their simplest forms. They are the sc hool-masters of Europe, not because they taught her Greek grammar and Ciceronian prose, but because they taught her politics, and it is for this that we shall have to go to them, even if we no longer go to them for their grammar and the ir prose. To descend now to practical detail:- it is to be assumed that all public school-boys will come having learnt some Latin. Those who are proficient will have learnt some Greek. Those few whose real bent seems to lie in the direction of these languages will continue to study them, and they, of course, will get far more from Classics than their less gifted fe llows. Even in the matter of studying the languages there are degrees. There are many who can get some distance in translation into English, who wi ll get no real profit from composition, after the very early stages
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
29
The Political Method
are past. Others can get much from general read ing assisted by 'cribs.' who will get nothing from a detailed and intensive study which emphasises points of style. But let us take the case of the boy whose Classics are what the present-day Classical master calls 'hopeless.' This boy is often a really vital personality, a keen student of the great poets and an ' authority' on Man and Superman and God the Invisible King. Have Thucydides and Plato no message for him, even though it be in the language of Jowett? and Euripides, in the verse of Gil bert Murray? (Would that we had other classical poets translated with the same courageous freedom). Our only attempt to teach him 'C lassics without tears ' -without syntax and accidence-has been in Greek and Roman History. But what history! a maze of niggling military details and diplomatic dishonesties, histories where Lysander occupies five times as much space as Socrates, and Marius fifteen times as much space as Lucretius. What is wanted is not 'politics' in this worst of senses but a study of Greek and Roman polity. Even in the narrower sense of ' politics,' interest has been killed by anti-quarianism. One of the present writers happened to wish to interest a good classical sixth fom1 boy in the British Empire, an handed him The commonwealth of Nations. The first chapter, it will be remembered, is wholl y devoted to Greece and Rome, tracing the Athenian. MaC'cdonian, and Roman cxpcrir.1ents in Imperialism as a prelude to the study of the British. One reaching the end of that long chapter, the boy remarked, ' I never dreamt that Greek and Romau history were so wildly interesting.' What we want is Greek history on these lines, and Roman history, especially history of the Roman Empire (at present almost entirely neglected to make room for Brennus and Camillus), treated on the lines of Lord Cromer' s Ancient and Modern Imperialism.
2. HISTORY History, other than Classical History, is a comparatively new subject in our time-table, but (as is not the case with other new subjects such as the natural sciences) its teaching has been mainly in the hands of classical masters, imbued with the antiquarian rather than the political spirit. Just as in Roman history we have been very zealous to begin at the begin ning but not at all zealous to get to the end, to mark out in broad outline the general contribution of the Roman Empire to modem civilisation, so in English history we arc much more conscientious in our study of the growth of the Manor than in our study of the growth
Copynghlcd m lcria
30
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
of the Trade Union. For a thousand boys who could ' write a short note' on Surajah Dowlah, there will not will not be found one who has even heard of Mr. Gokhale. The present writer teaches on a three years syllabus of English History. He gives his entire third year to the French Revolution and after, carrying down to 1914 with a scramble. But he is uneasily conscious of the whole thing as a long meandering tale, interesting by fragments perhaps, but essentially in vertebrate, pointless, signifying nothing. Not doubt the knowledge gained, in so far as it is gained, has a bigger cultural value than the knowledge of Greek and Latin grammar. Mere disconnected items of knowledge as to the why and the when of Anselm, WyclifTe, 3wift, and Burke is something. But can we do nothing more than that? History, Hke every other really educational subject, should teach the pupil to think,-and to think about politics. History is past politics: Politics is contemporary history. We want to make our boys envisage the problems that confronted bygone statesmen, to see how these problems arose, to deduce what attitude towards them arose, to deduce what attitude towards them statesmen of this or that school would be likely to take up, to verify the fact that they actually did or did not take up the attitude deduced, to attempt to forecast what consequences would follow from the pursuit of this or that policy, to discover why one policy or party made its views prevail rather than another, to verify from the facts that t11e consequences of this policy, as deduced, did (or, again, did not) follow. And if not, why not? The first step, then, in 'political' history teaching is an exercise of the imagination. Instead of focusing ou r antiquarian spy-glass, we must get ourselves back in imagination into the period we are dealing with. There are various devices for doing th is. Get the boys to construct a dialogue between two or three leading actors in the period, carefully dating the dialogue of course, and encouraging the attempt at ' forecasts, ' intelligent but inevitably inaccurate as such will be. Another plan is to get the boys to compose a speech for a famous statesman in defence of a piece of policy, Cromwell, for instance, introducing the idea of the New Model Army in the Long Parliament. Much is often said, and rightly, of the value of 'sources'. the stimulus boys will get from being introduced to contemporary documents, such as, in th is case, the three preserved fragments of Cromwell's speeches on the subject. In our opinion it is even more important that they should write a speech for Cromwell than that they should read Cromwell's speech. In any case, Cromwell' s
Copynghlcd m lcria
The Political Method
31
authentic speech will have a far greater value when the real article can be set beside two dozen home-made imitations. But the best device we know of is 'the Newspaper.' You begin by assuming that our present day press, with its telegraphic news, existed at the period in question. It is then necessary to give some idea of the composition of a newspaper, and in days like these when democracy is being throttled by a pseudo-democratic capitalist press, no lesson could be more salutary. The ordinary middle-form boy hardly realises, till the matter is put to him, in any newspaper there are, apart from advertisements, two distinct parts, news and comment; that the latter is a sem1on on the text of the former; that the object of th·e sermon is to tell the public what to think about the text; that the text selected is that which will, from the point of view ofthe policy of the paper, make the best sermon. Then take an event, say the publication of the Treaty of Amiens or the attempted a rest of the Five Members of the Long Parliament and consider the production of the next day's morning pepper. It is most important to fix the name of your pear, for the name will indicate its policy and so the character of its leading article. Is it to be 'The Puritan Times,' supporting Pym; or ' The Constitutional Gazette' supporting Hyde; or 'The Throne and Sceptre' Standing for Divine Right? If time allowed it would be no bad exercise to get the form to compose the leading articles for all these three journals. So much for political treatment of the past. But the deepest political interest of the problems of the past is the light they throw on the present. Take, for example, that most unpromising tract of history, the Hundred Years War. What is the traditional treatment of that subject?' - causes of the war' analysed under five antiquarian headings, followed by a good deal of unscientific and 'sp011ing' military history. Not names are better known or more highly honoured than our victories: none more obscure than our defeats except for the transient moment when the career of Joan of Arc transfers our sentimental sympathies to 'the weaker side' . We were beaten of course, in the end, and the Jess said about all that the better. Besides we are getting near the end of the term, and there's still the Wars of the Roses to be done .... Before 1914 the present write was at loss to know what to make of this subject, surely it is easier now. England was the first of the European peoples to obtain a national consciousness and vitality. Nationalism overflows into aggressive lmperialism-·Prussianism . Henry V. with his narrow orthodoxy, his old baronial outlook, his worship of war, stands for our
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
32 .
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
first and worst attack of the Prussian distemper. Orleans is like unto Ypres. This leads us straight from the fifteenth to the twentieth century; and the teacher will be take seriously, perhaps for the first time. The Hundred Years War is no doubt and 'old unhappy far-off thing.' It can, however, be used to apply the political warning-that Militarism was heard of before the days of modern Germany, and that the disease is still infectious. The best problems of history are the problems that are still alive, still current politics. That is why the relations of England and Ireland, pushed into a comer by the antiquarian tradition, are such very vital stuff for teaching. The constitution of 1782, which tried and failed, and the constitution of 1914 which fortunately was not tried; the United Irishmen and Sinn Fein; Tone and Casement; '98 and 'Easter Week' ; the Union and the Convention;- these provide a most fascinating series of parallels, the fascination lying in the fact, of course, that one series is complete and the other (Nov. 1917) is not. To take another example, what does antiquarianism make of the history of British India under Warren Hastings?- the sad case of Nuncomar, Cheyte Singh, the motives of Philip Francis (who may have been the author of the Letters of' Junius,') and the rest of it. What matters here is that battle was then first engaged between the more and the less decent conception of Imperialism, and that, in spite of much blundering and injustice by the way-injustice above all to Warren Hastings, who was a more honourable man than any of his prosecutors, Burke included-the more decent conception won the day. It matters little that boys should know about Nuncomar; it matters much that they should know some of the general principles of Imperialism, both as stated in an anti-Imperialism, book like Mr. Brailsford's The War of Steel and Gold, an also as stated in Mr. Curtis's The Commonwealth of Nations. Take any period of history for a term's work and the vital parts will usually be those that strike chords vibrating in sympathy with living political issues, and what these parts will be varies curiously from year to year. Our three years' cycle aforementioned brought us to the middle of the eighteenth century in the summer of 1914, and again in the summer of 1917. In the summer of 1914 Mr. Asquith's government was confronted with the lrish problem. Should they force upon Ireland at the point of the sword a policy they believed in? Walpole's Excise scheme raised much the same ethical issue. In 191 1, so far as I remember, the Peerage Bill was a leading feature! But in 1917, nothing
Copynghlcd m lcria
The Political Method
33
much mattered till we had got to the great wars, and the parallels of Chatham, Chamberlain and Lloyd George. We incline to think that in an ideal scheme history would be no longer taught by 'periods' but by 'subjects' ; and the subjects would not be mapped out in advance in a rigid syllabus, but chosen each term (or for convenience. at the end of the preceding term), on grounds of political suitability. Probably most history teachers, when schools reassembled in September 1914, forsook the traditional round if only for a week or two, and delivered themselves upon the causes of the war as then understood. They were entirely right, and what was the exception ought perhaps to be the rule. Here two difficulties arise. All sense of continuity will be lost, says the critic; and again, where will you get your text-books? The only answer I can find is to suggest that side by side with such teaching of 'subjects,' there should be carried on from term to term a brief out-line of English History, with a text-book. For the special subjects no text-books would be needed. Indeed at present the text-book is the enemy rather than the friend of history teaching as the present writers understand it. 3. ENGLISH LITERATURE
There is an old story to the effect that some one once tried to evoke Mr. Balfour's indignation by bringing to his notice the fact that no English Literature was taught in our Public· Schools. 'Then thank goodness' , said Mr. Balfour, ' that on that subject at least the schoolmaster has not yet laid his blighting hand!' But that was long ago, and to-day English Literature is as well established in the timetable as English History. and there could be no more singular example of the influence of the Classical tradition on the teaching of a new subject. Classical texts are edited for school use with notes and introductions; therefore English texts have been treated in the same manner. Classical texts, for the ordinary boy, are difficult and require detatled verbal study; therefore in English texts difficulties must be cultivated and obtruded. The pace is slowed down for the sake of comment, and the most abstruse (which, incidentally, are generally the worst) passages receive the fullest attention. But the only justification of ' teaching' English Literature is to make the boys love it for themselves. If we can only make them hate it. as we undoubtedly often do, we had much better leave it alone. It is better that a boy should never have read Paradise Lost and believe it to be grand and beautiful,
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
34
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
than that he should be able to pass an examination in it, and consider it ' awful rot. ' If the master spends a term over one book of it, sets exacting preparations, and demands a knowledge of all Mr. Verity's notes, the boy will regard it as 'awful rot.' And why should he not? Under such a system it is more than likely that he will never 'hear' the poetry at all. But if the master provides a plain text, bearing no resemblance to a school book, gets through the whole epic in a tenn, by the device of cutting out about half of it, leaving the poetry to make, for the most part, its own appeal by means of the best available reading aloud, his won, presumably, and that of the more capable members of the fonn, then the boy will very likely think quite otherwise. He has been known, in fact of take it home tor the holidays, and not only reread it but make his obedient parents do the like! I select Paradise Lost because it generally passes for a somewhat frigid and inhuman masterpiece. As a matter of fact, it is a good classroom book. The story is amusing, the imagery simple and concrete, and the music of the verse indestructibly magnificent. There is, on the other hand, much poetry, especially lyric poetry, that must be handled very cautiously in the class-room. Once create the impression that 'work' is afoot, and you will probably do more hann th11n good. In the case of the responsive boy more English Literature can be taught out of the class-room tan ever will be taught inside it. But we think every boy should have a volume of Lyric Poetry with him in school now and then, for use in odd half hours when sterner subjects pall. Let the reading o·f Shelley, Rupert Brooke, or whom you will be an act of truancy on the part of master and fonn alike. That is perhaps the nearest way to the sympathetic atmosphere. And let the boys, as soon as they know a little, choose their authors and pieces, in part at least, for themselves. The classical tradition shows its character most strongly, however, in the timidity with which it clings to standard authors of the past, to 'classics' as we call them in the looser sense. These writers are 'safe.' If they are not, they can be expurgated. They raise no controversial questions, or if they do, as is more probable, they raise them in an obsolete fonn, such as no longer cries out for an answer. Also, being written for a bygone generation, they abound in those easy 'difficulties' allusions requiring historical explanation, obsolete words, and the like, which are the opportunity of the pedant and the burden of the boy. We would say nothing against Shakespeare. He wrote what are perhaps the very best school-books in the world. and the best school edition is The
Copynghlcd m lcria
35
The Political Method
Temple Shakespeare, which was made for the drawing room, not the class-room, and where the notes are insignificant and can be ignored. We would say nothing against Shakespeare, but we would say a great deal in favour of Bernard Shaw. Shaw himself once raised the question 'Better th an Shakespeare?' Well, in some respects, from the schoolmaster's point of view, he is not as good, of course; but in others he is better, beyond a doubt. More boys will really l!njoy him. There is no better training in quick-wittedness than one of Shaw' s plays, read in pan s of course. with the minimum of comment between the acts. Shakespeare exalts the tragic passions, and we may be thankful that not all boys can enter very fully into these. For many boys above the middle of the school, Macbeth will be wonderful poetry and wonderful melodrama, but hardly more. Shaw exalts quick-wittedness, openm indedness, humour, and generosity. The average boy can understand these qualities, and he is not likely to err by excess of any of them; so he can learn much from ' The Waiter' in t'ou Never Can Tell, from Caesar, Dick Dudgeon, Lady Cicely, and, as he grows older, from Peter Keegan and Blanco Posnet. The modem school of drama, if we omit the obviously unsuitable play- for some are quite unsuit
4. DIVINITY In dealing with English Literature, we only touched on politics by the way, but here we are at th e very centre of them again . For the
Copynghlcd m lcria
36
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
fundamental question in all politics to-day is, are we going to apply Christianity to social and international problems or are we not? It is the ignoring of that question that has brought the Church, and with it school ' Divinity', into its present sad state. The difficulty here has not been the Classical tradition but the Protestant tradition. When Northern Europe broke the fetters of priestcraft, it set up the Bible in place of the Church as the source of infallible authority. Much was gained; but much was lost. For a church can live, and grow better, just as it can grow worse. But the Bible is fmished and complete. For school purposes, ' Divinity' and ' Bible-work' have come to be almost interchangeable tenns. Now ' God moves in a mysterious way', and for the plain man that is usually equiva lent to saying that he does not ' move' at all. The problem of miracles reveals our difficulty in an acute fonn. The Catholic tradition accepts the continuity of miracles in the Church through the ages of the saints and down to to-day; and this tradition unquestionably has its seamy side. It is conceivable that at some future date a modem Christianity will reject all miracles from the gospel narrative as decisively as Christian opinion to-day rejects the story of Jonah. But these things are not yet. Meanwhile our Protestant tradition accepts as a whole the Biblical miracles and rejects as a whole all reputed miracles of later date. In face of this fact, no amount of teaching to the contrary will convjnce the ordinary boy that in the Bible we have a picture of how God works in the world to-day. To him the whole thing is irrelevant, and a religion based on the Bible alone is a religion out of touch with the modem world. Of course, the Bible must have a very important place in the new 'Divinity' teach ing, as we conceive it. But room must be left for other and more modern things, for 'the growth of Christianity and its influence on the World.' 'Church History' in the common acceptation ofthe tenn, we would not encourage. Much of the history of the Church, with its theological dissensions and political sins, is far from edifying and quite as remote from modem religion as Gideon and Jehu. What we want taught is not so much the history of the Church as an institution, for as an institution it has seldom been Christian. We are thinking of Christianity as an idea, constantly asserting the mind of man throughout the ages and engendering in him as explosive and rebellious energy which has refashioned society here or there for the time. The
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
1'l1e Political Method
37
only experiment hitherto made in this direction of which we know was undertaken with The Evangelical Movement by G.R. Balleine as textbook. It was a great success. Here was a body of men, the early friends of Wisely, living in the cold daylight of Walpole' s England, who yet knew the spiritual glories and terrors of the disciples of the first century. But that is the least important part of the matter. Out of these ecstacies grew and broadened a movement that first created the modern conct:ption of the devoted parish parish; and finally, rising to national politics, abolished the Slave Trade and started Factory Reform. ll1is is clearly only one among many possible subjects. The Franciscan movement might be treated in the same way. But it is still more important that 'Divinity' should come down to the present day, and boldly grapple with the relations of Christianity to Capitalism, and Imperialism and War. Christian believers in the rightness of all three modem institutions would presumably have no fear of the results of such study. To take a concrete example, it seems to us absurd that school 'Divinity' has never made an attempt to state the case for and against the conscientious objector. Every ordinary boy despises the C.O., but is totally unable to answer the simplest and crudest statement of the C.O.'s case, except by the method of repudiating Christianity as a guide to conduct, a course he adopts with distressing lightheartedness. This should surely not be so. A common objection to suggestions of this sort is that they are dangerous; they will shake the boy's faith. And here we might quote a couplet from In Memoriam about 'half the creeds', were it not altogether too hackneyed. For the merits of the case tum on the question, what faith shall we be shaking? Is it a lively and an active faith, taking Christ as the pattern of mankind, and judging every problem of school life by the standard of His gospel? Such a faith need not fear any such teaching as is here suggested. It will not be shaken but confirmed. What will be shaken, and one hopes fatally shaken, is the lazy inconsistency of the conventional attitude of mind that pays a lip-service to Christianity and ignore it in every moment of life. But what outside persons hardly realise, perhaps, is that this convention is already shaken to its foundations. It is not for nothing that the National Mission cried aloud. The Church is a failure! ' That part at least of its message has not fa llen on deaf ears. Crude criticism of a sort is common among the abler boys themselves, and in so far as this criticism is undesirable, the cure for it is in honest teaching and not in the silence of hypocrisy. Copynqhled malcria
38
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
We have said little or nothing on the actual treatment of the Bible in those ' Divinity' lessons which are still retained for ' Bible teaching.' And here we must distinguish between the Testaments. The O ld Testament, wrongly treated, has in the past been the worst enemy of Christian ity. But it remains the greatest thing in our literature, greater than Shakespeare, not so much as pure achievement but as a popular heritage. The worst thing to do with the Old Testament is to put it on the shelf and substitute an 'Old Testament History' book in the dialect of the Daily Telgraph. The Old Testament should be treated as great literature, as the storehouse of our national folk-lore; for such it is. Alone among books it is for us what Ho~er was for the Athenians. Some of the best books Job, for instance, and a selection for Isaiah, can be made a success in school with a good deal of general comment. Others can be read in large stretches with very little comment indeed. We honour the Bible, presumably, above all other books, but we treat it much worse. What should we make of Shakespeare of Scott if we read them almost exclusively in fragments of a page or a paragraph? A form can easily read half a book of Samuel or Kings at a siting, and arise from the undertaking quite astonished by the interest of the narrative. When we approach the New Testament we are on more difficult ground. We would press only two points. In the first place, we would emphasise all that part of Christ's teaching which is most directly applicable to modem social problems; his attitude to wealth and poverty, his attitude to justice and revenge, his attitude to Pharisees and Pubfjcans. In the second place, we hold that the writers of the Epistles are not the only available commentators on the Gospels, nor, for middleform purposes, necessarily the best. A middle form will get less from the Epistle to the Romans than from Donald Hankey's little book, The Lord of all Good Life. Before leaving the subjects dealt with in this chapter, we would meet one general criticism. ' Much of what you suggest,' we can imagine a friendly reader saying, 'is sensible enough; but who will you get to teach these things? The schoolmaster, as we know him, could not do it, even if he wanted to,-even if he were ordered to.' Now, parts of what we describe above are already practiced, inadequately enough, no doubt. But much is still in the sphere of the ideal, and so the criticism must be met, and we would meet it as follows. The difficulties in the way of adequate teaching on the lines we suggest are admittedly great, but they are far from insuperable. They
Copynghlcd m lcria
The Political Method
39
are due to bad organisation of teaching, as much as to natural defects of individual schoolmasters. Of course, the schoolmaster as a rule is no genius. Geniuses are not common in any walk of life, not even where four and five-figure incomes prevail. It is no use crying to the moon for geniuses. But an immense amount could be done to raise the standard of the teaching of any existing staff, simply by organised co-operation. No profession is so insanely individualistic in its methods as ours. The young master comes, as a rule untrained: he is given his time-table and sets to work according to his lights. He gets no systematic inspection form the head of his department; he has no arranged opportunities for watching the teaching of his colleagues, and thus learning to avoid faults copy good points. and generally co-ordinate his methods with theirs; finally, there are no regular 'committees' of the masters teaching a particular subject, for the discussion of methods and aims. The very last thing a 'Masters' Meeting' of the whole staff discusses is teaching. With such a system or lack of system, efficiency could only be a glorious accident. It will only be after real co-operation has been tried that the possibilities of our despised profession can fairly be estimated.
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
Two Experiments in Teaching Political Science What follows is a plain history of nvo practical experiments which we have been permitted to make. We call them experiments, for the earlier of them is at the time of writing only just a year old. They are all thriving with tbe vigour of youth, and we like to th ink of them as permanent institutions. But they sill await the test of time, always a severe test in a school; for schoolboys, in spite of their traditional conservatism, are not unlike St Paul' s Athenians, and 'some new thing' provided it is not palpably absurd, has all the attractions of a new toy. The present chapter is placed third, for that seems its logical position; but as a matter of history it should no doubt have come first. In the practical business of life, things seldom arrange themselves according to the pattern of deductive logic. Had we been deductive machines, we should no doubt have begun by evolving from our inner consciousness the general theory of 'political education,' and then asked permission to put it into practice. As a matter of fact, it is largely the working of the following experiments, arising haphazard to suit the needs of the moment, that has led us to overhaul our educational ideas and find the theory that fitted our practice. Such a line of development is often described as ' typically English.' Probably it is typically human.
l. THE POLITICS CLASS Towards the end of the autumn term I 916, a demand arose for some systematic teaching on questions of the day. In the world at large, the indefinite prolongation of the war was bringing home to all thoughtful
Copynghlcd m lcria
Two Experiments in Teaching Political Science
4f
people the fact that ' reconstmction' was not a matter to be left till after the war was over, as seemed natural in the earlier hopeful days. Reconstmction, for good or for evil, tml y began with the beginning of August 1914; it began when the war itself rendered an o ld order obsolete. Reconstruction, in fact, was the problem of the world, and the war was itself but a part of Reconstmction, or so at least it was hoped. Just as the O.T.C. trained our members to fight for the creation of a ' new world,' so some institution was needed to train some of them at least to t.hink intelligently about that creation. Some masters, no doubt, had occasionally taken a holiday from Latin and Greek during school hours, and discussed a particularly interesting morning's newspaper. Such small beginnings created a demand for more both from master and boy. Other boys, who did not hear these th ings discussed in the class-room felt they were being defrauded of their rights. Th~: history of Natural Science shows by many examples how inevitable discoveries are simultaneously made by independent researchers. Such was the case in our own small society. The week in which we first approached the Headmaster with our plan brought a letter to the school magazine from a boy, urging ' the authorities' to do just what they were at that very moment considering. The first difficulty was to find a school hour that could be spared for the new subject, out of Classical Sixth time-table. Considering how completely that time-table was turned inside out only six months later, it seems ;trange in the retrospect that there should have been any difficulty. But it was well that it was so. Had the difficulty not arisen, the Politics Class as it now exists might never have come into being. repulsed from ordinary school hours by the claims of Classics, the Politics Class sought and found a space for itself on a half holiday evening. And therein lay its opportunity. All that we had thought of hitherto was the new use of a school hour for a particular form, the . Classical Sixth with the addition of the History Specialists. somewhat less than two dozen in all. But if the class was held on a half holiday evening, it might be open to all that our largest cla5s-room would hold. At the beginning of the Easter term 1917, a notice was sent round inviting volunteers to join th class. Once under-taken membership was to be compulsory for the term. The lectures were to last about an hour. Members were to bring note-books. No evening ' prep' was officiall y excused; members were left to make whatever arrangements, if any, their taskmasters would consent to. Such was the offer. About thirty-dght
Copyngh!ed rna ria
42
Modem Methods of Teaching Political Science
applied, of whom we rejected half a dozen on the score of youth. In the two following terms the membership was over forty, which was as many as the class-room would comfortably hold. The first lecture was devoted to a general survey of the problems, Domestic, Imperial, and Foreign, that would lie within the scope of the class. The second laid down fundamental principles, Freedom and Fellowship, on which, it was suggested, all reconstruction ought to proceed. Shortly after.vards the following quite unsolicited testimonial from a boy's pen appeared as an 'editorial' in the school magazine. "The positive purpose of tihe aristocratic educationists is to turn out gentlemen," says Mr. Chesterton; adding, with characteristic generosity, "and they do turn out gentlemen, even when they expel them." These somewhat cynical words are followed by a statement as to the supposed purpose of popu Jar educationists-nantely, to tum out citizens. There can be no doubt as to which of the two is the nobler ideal, and, unfortunately, there is hardly less doubt that the public schools do to a large extent Jay themselves open to this unenviable comparison. 'It is mainly the consideration of this defect in QUr public-school system which has led to the formation in this school of a voluntary "Politics Class." The main principles in the minds of those who are managing this class are that since, in our present system of democracy, virtually every man has a vote, each man ought to learn Politics as a part of his education, so that he may be competent to bear his share of responsibility as being an integral part of an Empire, the improvement of whose organisation becomes daily more imperative. ' With this end in view, a series of weekly lectures on the main problems-Home, Imperial, and lnternationa~f the day is attended by the class, the object of the. lectures being not so much to advocate any one particular remedy of any given problem as to lay before the class the problems themselves and the principal reforms which have been and are being suggested, so that our powers of thought and uiticism may have full scope for exercise.
' We hope that this new enterprise will prove as great a success as its first popularity would warrant. One general consideration.on the ,ubject suggests itself. It may be represented as the hope that members ol the class will exercise "the long view." and realise that the new ideas ;h.; y receive. so far from being a pleasant and ephemeral diversion from
Copynqhled malcria
Two Experimeflls in Teaching Political Science
43
the trivial round. do, in fact. constitute the genns of a permanent interest, which can must be acted. upon all through life, in the many difficulties, intensified or created by the War, that lie before the nation.' It is always difficult for masters to get really candid criticism from boys. As a rule they must proceed on the assumption that the test of the puddin~ is in the eating. We have not heard much useful criticism of the class. In the early days, some apparently expected rather more of a Club and less of a class. The desks were a little hard; the class-room atmosphere a little ungenial; note-books made it a little too like ordinary work. It will be remembered that the Easter term in which the class began was the coldest within the memory of the young, and our system of radiators may be adequate but is hardly festive. This type of criticism died down, apparently, when it was realised that if boys wanted to learn, they must be taught, and if they wanted to remember, they must make notes. Teaching, in fact, demands a class, and precludes a club. But a class need not be lifeless, and indeed the Politics Class was not. The best answer to the criticism was given by the critics themselves, when they rejoined the next term.
Lectures have been given on the followi ng subjects: Introductory (two lectures), Parliamentary Refomt (two lectures), Parliamentary Refonn (two lectures), the Position of Women (three lectures), the Future of the empire (three lectures), Trade Unions (one lecture), Individualism and Co-operation in Industry (four lectures), the Organisation of Peace and a League of Nations (three lectures), Conservatism (two lectures), Liberalism (one lecture), Modern Ireland (three lectures), AlsaceLorraine (one lecture), the Russian Revolution (four lectures). Most of them follow the same general plan. They start of on a basis of history, mostly very recent history, and end on the verge of the future with a note of interrogation. This teaching of 'Politics' should not be confused with what in one case at least has passed under the name of 'Civics.' This name wa in vogue at Clifton ten years ago. and is, of course, employed in many American schools. But so far as we know--and it is amazing how little Public Schools know about each other- Civics has always meant ·the study of institutions-cabinet government, parliamentary procedure, local government. revenue and taxation, administration and justice, elementary legal principles and the like. Such knowledge is very valuable, and the ordinary boy's ignorance of all these things is grotesque. It reflects discredit, not on him, but on the educational system
Copynghled malcria
44
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science>
of which he is the victim. But the Politics Class has hardly touched on these things, for at the moment, we believe, other matters are vastly more important, namely the great ideas, the great movements, which are battling for mastery in the world to-day- true and false conceptions of Empire; Militarism and the idea of a League of Nations; Capitalism, and Socialism; competition and co-operation. It is these to which we have devoted our attention, treating of them sometimes in the abstract and sometimes by the concrete examples furnished by contemporary politics. These are the real living interests, and it is by treating of them that one may hope to stir that enthusiasm for knowledge which, in the young, is even more important than knowledge itself. But contemporary politics, we have often been told, is dangerous stuff to handle, especially in these days when any departure from Northcliffian orthodoxy raises cries of ' Pacifism' and ' Bolo.' Well, there perhaps are worse things than a little over-excitement about politics. The alternat ive too often is not a generous tolerance but a stagnant prejudice, that only appears good-natured because it is so stupid as to th ink that nothing in the world can ever come to disturb it. The present writers differ on several subjects in politics, but they both belong to what can most easily described as the rad ical party. They have tried, however, to remember that their work is to teach rather than to preach, to raise questions rather than to solve them. Sometimes they have been fain to admire their own self-control, when they have put forward as ' alternative views,' side by side, what they hold to be truth and what they hold to be falsehood. Home influence and the Daily Mai/ may be fairly counted on to redress the balance against the private politics of the lecturers. Before leaving the subject of the Politics Class, it may be worth while indicating how far the work of the class is supported by work done in the ordinary Sixth Form curriculum. This is the more worth doing, in so far as many critics of Public Schools seem to base their criticisms on recollections, possibly in themselves somewhat hazy, of the school-work of a by-gone day. The Sixth Form time-table now includes, in addition to classics, Political Science and Economics (three hours), Modem History (two hours), Outlines of World History (one hour). General Principles of Science (one hour). These classes are not limited to the Classical Sixth and History Special Class, but contain members of th e Modern Sixth. and specialists in Science and Mathematics. The un ion of all the top classes of the school for the siUdy
Copynghlcd m lcria
7\n; J::xperiments in Teaching Political Science
45
of certain general subjects seems to us valuable as a practical reminder of the fact that, over and above all specialisation, these subjects are the common concern of all educated men. This is all to the good and we should ourselves be glad to see certain further changes in the same direction. At present the classical boy's work seems to fall too obviously into contrasted halves- modem subjects on modem lines, and classics on antiquarian lines,-and there is a real danger of interest in Classics being lost altogether. Now, it is part of our argument that eventually Classics will vanish !Tom the timetable of all older boys except a few specialists, but in the transitional period some Classics will vanish from the time-table of all older boys except a few specialists, but in the transitional period some Classics must rein, and it is in the general educational interest a that all subjects which are taught at all should be taught in a stimulating way. We should welcome, therefrom the setting aside two or three hours a week for the rapid reading of Classical literature with the help of 'cribs,' and also a greatly extended system of lectures on various aspects of Classical civilisation; the history of Greek religion, for example, the simplified metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle, and the system of government in the Roman Empire. 2. 'THE SCHOOL OBSERVER'
In the case of the Politics Class the initiative came from above. In the case of the strange periodical about to be described, the initiative came from a small group of boys. The School Observer can trace its origin to two distinct sources. On the one hand, it was an attempt on the part of boys to express in the form of an imitation of the best ' weekly' journalism, their new-found interest in politics. On the other hand, it was the heir of a very different paper, The Gadfly. The Gadfly was one of a tribe well-known in schools and universities, a journalistic freelance. Its writers were not particularly occupied in 'observing' the world: they observed each other,-and some of the masters. The keynote of its prose and verse alike was a cheery vigorous impudence. This paper met with the suppression it had long courted shortly before Easter 1917. Early in the summer term, a sixth form boy, hereinafter referred to as 'the Editor,' conceived the plan of utilising the energy that had gone to make The Gadfly, by turning it into the channels opened up by the Pol itics Class. A committee of six soon got to work on the idea, consisting of the Editor. who was the leading spirit throughout, our two
Copynqhled malcria
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
46
selves, and three boys, friends of the Editor. Of these, M. was an accomplished classical scholar and historian; L. was a dainty man of letters, whom compete indifference to the school curriculum had long detained in the Middle Fifth; J. must be called a dual personality,-Dr. Jekyll was a dreaming violinist, Mr. Hyde was the ex-editor of The Gadfly, a man thoroughly proficient in all the lowest arts of commercial journalism. His department was the advertisements, and it is the only department that no one has ever ventured to criticise. The paper was modelled on such weeklies as The Spectator and The Nation. with the difference that it comes out twice a term instead of once a week, and contains only about nine pages of print The tables of contents of the first four nul:'lbers will give a fair idea of its character. Vol., I. No. I
June, 1917. CONTENTS
Notes on Current Affairs. • The School Observer.' The Future of single Democracy. By J.D.H. • Armenia lrredenta. By Z.M. Prospects of Educational Reform. Education and the Future. By B.W.L. Voluntary Religion. A Plea for Talk. Poetry:The Reaping. By G.C. To an Unknown God. By Z. M. The Cinema. By X. Review ofBooks: Lollingdon Downs. By John Masefield. A Student in Arms. By Donald Hankey. Sonia. By Stephen McKenna. Vol. I. No.2
July, 1917 CONTENTS
Notes on Current Events. Revolution. By Z.M.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
47
Two Experiments in Teaching Political Science Public Schools after the War. By R.F.A. Psychology and Politics, By D.A.R. Sin. ByY. ' No annexations... ' By B.W.L. * Taste. By R.L.H. Oxford after the War. Poetry:Warwickshire. By A.E.M. Books Recommended for the Study of Contemporary Affairs:!. The Military Situation. II. The Internationa l Situation. III. Reconstruction. Reviews of Books:The Rhymes of a Red Cross Man. By Robert W. Service. The National Being. By A.E. Commemoration Sermon. By the Headmaster. Vol. I. No.3.
November, 1-917. CONTENTS
Notes on Current Events. * The Policy of 'State Your Terms.' By D.A.R. Patriotism. By J.R.D. Idealism and Education. By Z.M. * The Best Life. By D.A.R. The Church. The Question of Continuation. By G.A.F.B. Poetry:Dawn by the Sea. By A.E.M. Oxford, 19 14. By X. The Young Dead. By D. MeL. I Reviews ofbooks:The Making of Women. By Victor Gollancz. Reviewed by D.C.S. A Companion to Palgrave' s Golden Treasury. By David Somcrvell. Reviewed by V.SG. * God the Invisible king. By H. G. Wells. Reviewed by
Copynqhled malcria
48
Modern Methods ofTeaching Political Science D.A.R. Correspondence. Vol., I. No.4.
December, 1917. CONTENTS
Notes of Current Events. Editorial: the Paper and its Critics. • ' The Progress of Poesy.' By A.F.G.A. Land Nationalisation. By D.A.R. The British Army in the War: a Retrospect. By E.R.G.C. Poetry:Beauty. By A.E.M. Reviews of Books:The Loom of Youth. By Alec Waugh. I. By a boy. II. By an old boy. Ill. By two masters. A Short History of England. By G.K. Chesterton. Correspondence. The articles marked with an asterisk are reprinted in the Appendix.
The first number contained three articles by outsiders, and the boys at first viewed that line of development with great enthusiasm. Some of the leading men of letters of the day were about to be approached. Mr. H.G. Wells was actually invited to contribute, and in his kindly letter of refusal told us to 'go ahead and reform the world.' But the Headmaster very wisely discouraged this line, and since the first number all the articles but one, all the poems but one, most of the reviews, and one-third of the notes on current events, have been the work either of boys or old boys very recently left. It is sometimes assumed that the articles have been extensively doctored by us. As a matter of fact the best articles are virtually untouched. Some of those of less experienced hands contain an occasio,tal sentence where the master's pen has pruned or strengthened the style, or softened a crude expression of opinion. The actual views of the contributors we have never tampered with. The only case of such tampering was in a m~ter's contribution to the ' Notes on Current Events' which was retumcd to him by the editor because he
Copynghted materia
Two Experiments in Teaching Political Science
49
disapproved of its policy. The editor, in fact, was not a mar. to trifle with. After the appearance of the first two numbers, the editor left, and so did M. and J. A new generation have taken their places and carry on with the same enthusiasm. We are bound hy our contract with our advertisers (a generous community to whom all gratitude is due) to produce six issues. After that we hope to begin again with 'volume two.' The Headmaster has now arranged that for the fifth and future issues there are to be two editors and two editorials, presenting alternative views of questions of the day. This change may well increase the interest taken in the paper. The business-like reader may already have begun wondering about our finances. We sell at present something over three hundred copies of each issue, and that just about suffices to pay our way. At the beginning we were possessed with more glorious visions, and our fabulous profits were going to found an annual prize ' for an English essay on a subject of contemporary political importance.' The prize has been founded, but most of the money for it has come from subscriptions, the paper contributing a modest £3 17s. to make up a round sum. The educational value of such a paper seems to us to be threefold; for its readers, for its contributors, and for the body politic in which it exists. The first two headings require little comment. Its va:ue for its contributors is obvious an is clearly far greater than its value for its readers. Still, it is likely enough that some boys have been led to think seriously on some subject by an article written by a personal friend or the head of their study, when they would have paid no attention to a better article on the same subject emanating from Fleet Street. Its value for the school as a whole is as a symbol of intellectual life. Intellectual things suffer as compared with athletics owing to their lack of the dramatic. A victory in a school match, the winning of a House cup are dramatic events, and carry with them the legitimate pride of co-operative effort. School work as a rule is all competitive and individual, and the winning of a scholarship is a somewhat sordid·and mercenary triumph after all. In the success of a paper such as this those who care at all for the things of the mind can find a convenient symbol of a school's intellectual vigour.
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
Training for Teaching Political Science
I. Complaints are heard from all quarters of Lack of interest on the part ofteachers in the practical problems of citizenship... Furthermore they are everywhere found to be inadequately trained in this subject, which is r.ot yet part of the educational tradition. To obtain results of any kind from the teaching of civics it is necessary to get away from routine and find new methodr; in the countries of Europe, teachers are n<>t ready for this task. Thus did the Council for Cultural Co-operation of the Council of Europe draw attention in 1963 to the condition of the study of politics at the level of teacher training. It was salutary, moreover, that the council should have drawn attention to the obvious fact that an educational programme can only be as good as the teachers that service it; and that teachers are themselves the products of programmes of training. An understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the present teaching of Politics in schools and likely future developments must, consequently, rest in some measure on a knowledge of teacher-training courses. It is not easy, in fact, to find information about courses in the training institutions~olleges of education and university departments of education. A joint report was produced by the Association for Education in Citizenship and the Association of Teachers in Training Colleges and Departments of Education in 1948. However, although of historical interest, it is now quite obsolete in its infonnation and frames of reference. Printed syllabuses give an overall impression of what is being taught, but in the most skeletal fonn. Because of these difficulties,
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
Training for Teaching Political Science
51
the present writer undertook a partial survey in 1966-7 in order to discover the kind of facilities that exist for the would-be teacher of political topics, and the present chapter is based largely on the information thus gleaned. Before discussing the courses available at colleges and university departments of education it will be convenient to distinguish the various levels of work which these institutions provide. Courses of initial training for teachers are the responsibility of university institutes of education. Each university involved in this work has a university department of education (UDE) engaged in postgraduate professional training and educational research, and a group of colleges of education which are constituent members of the institute. The initial course of training provided by the UDEs, with few exceptions, of one-year duration and is designed for students who already possess a university degree. (A few college of education also run one-year postgraduate courses on the same pattern as the UDE courses). Colleges of education, on the other hand, combine both academic and professional education for their students in courses which last for three years, or, for the more able who proved to the BEd degree, for four years. Elements in the college of education curriculum that are relevant to our present discussion are of three main kinds. Firstly, some colleges mount courses of a general nature, analogous-to ~he Liberal Studies courses in colleges of further education. Secondly, there are the Main Subjects, the academic hard-core of a student's course: students read one or two such subjects. Finally, there are the Curriculum or Professional courses designed to equip the students with specific professional techniques and expertise. The institutional context of this survey is thus quite complex: in particular the UDEs and colleges are not presented with identical tasks. The work of the two kinds of institutions can be distinguished also by the age and ability levels of the children they are preparing their students to teach: colleges of education have agreed to concentrate on training primary-school teachers, and only the so-called 'shortage subjects' (like Mathematics and Religious Education) can be studied by those wishing particularly to specialize in secondary teaching. There is one final difficulty that needs to be expiained in these preliminary remarks. This relates not to the particular functions of the institutions we are studying, but rather to the nature and scope of Politics as a discipline or as teaching material. For the purposes of this chapter I should like to make a simple operational distinction between ' Political
Copynghled malcria
52
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Studies', strictly defined as the study of political theory, behaviour and institutions; and 'Political Subjects,' by which are meant History, especially contemporary History, Political Geography and Social Studies-subj
Since few graduates enter primary schools and only a limited number of those taking posts in institutions of further education in practice undertake professional training, it is fair to assume !hat the bulk of these 114 graduates-in-training were planning to .teach in secondary schools. A partial survey of a similar group of students undertaken by the present writer showed indeed that three quarters (76 per cent) had this intention. What facilities are available in the training institutions to prepare these specialists for school work? Courses of a specialist nature comparable with their undergraduate studies do not exist at all; whilst in 1966 only one lecturer in all the UDEs was sufficiently interested in politics as a discipline to be a member of the Political Studies Association. It is therefore necessary to look at the work in the various Political Subjects to find fragments of courses relevant to the present discussion.
Copynghlcd m lcria
Training for Teaching Political Science
53
Let us look first of all at courses in History- the subject trad itionally most closely associated with political education. Questionnaire retums from twenty-two tutors suggest that the teaching of political matters is consider as an incidental part of may History courses. 'A course of about 14 lectures on methods of teaching history includes something on the political and modem aspects- not a great deal,' was typical of the comments received. One tutor, however, showed more initiative than most in this field: he wrote, ' Local and central government have not as yet come within the scope of the course, but I propose to add these to our studies this session. ' Geography tutors in UDEs also introduce political material-but, as with History, such work is peripheral to the more general considerations of Geography teaching. The most positive attitude that emerged from the survey was revealed by the following comment: ' In the course on the teaching of geography a discussion on syllabus includes the suggestion that in selecting regions and topics for study those currently of imponance should be included. The students are also trained to funher one of the aims of geography teaching in school, that of helping to produce educated citizens. They are also encouraged to set up a current affairs board in the Geography room, relating items in the news to their geographical setting.' Such programmes of study are clearly of only minor value for promoting effective teaching of Politics. Even so, it is imponant to consider them, for courses in History and Geography are, at least, widely available. In contrast, few UDEs provide courses in Social Studies or similar cross-disciplinary approaches to teaching. One respondent revealed panicular enterprise in th!is field, running various seminarsin History, Social Sciences, and one very widely inter-disciplinary- all of which contain a cenain political element. Apan from this university, twelve other training institutions were listed by the Graduate Teacher Training registry as providing Social Studies courses in 1966-7. Not all these courses in fact operated. Those that did, appear to have given rather more attention to political matters than did most History and Geography courses, though still, inevitably, as minor segments of the course. As noted above, it was three of these Social Studies courses that at.racted such a large proponion of the Politics graduates pursuing professional training. Since 1966 a few more institutions have started courses in Social Studies, but there is no reason to believe that the basic
Copynghled malcria
54
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
picture has changed. Finally, in the specific field of International Affairs, one must notice that London University has established an important post in this field . Attitudes of tutors involved in postgraduate training to the question of the teaching of Politics appear to run the whole gamut from fears of partizanship in the classroom, through advocacy of the indirect approach via History and Geography, to concern for more effective and positive teaching. This lack of a firm sense of direction is a reflection of the complex school situation, and may go some way to explain the wastefulness whereby quite large· numbers of graduates in Politics are entering the teach:ng profession each year without the opportunity of thinking through the most effective ways of teaching their subject in the classroom. The not inconsiderable flow of Politics graduates into the secondary schools could well lead in the near future to the evolution of a corps of teachers capable of introducing important changes in this area of teaching; though their influence might be fairly narrowly confined since most are likely to be mainly concerned with GCE work. The great bulk of teachers are the products ofthe colleges of education; and it is to their courses that we must not tum our attention. Ill. The extensive use of History and Geography as media for political education already noticed in the programmes ofpostgraduate training is reflected also in college of education courses. The Table 5. I constructed from printed syllabuses and questionP.aire returns in 1966, is instructive. In 1960, the normal college course was extended from two to three years; and there is some evidence, both from the questionnaire survey and form investigations conducted by the International Committee ofthe Association ofTeachers in Colleges and Departments of Education and the Parliamentary Group for Government, that Political Subjects and Studies have benefited from this development. Courses in Recent World History particularly and in sociology have been started since 1960 in a number of colleges. In one college, admittedly an exception, courses in Sociology (with strong political elements), Political Geography, American Studies and recent World World History were all started in 1946-5. A handful of colleges now have courses in area studies (American of European) and they may l>ecome increasingly popular. One or two colleges are also introducing International relations.
Copynghlcd m lcria
55
Training for Teaching Political Science
Table 5.1 No. of References Political Topics
Foreign History since 1945 Geographical Background to World Affairs Political Theory Political Geography Education of Democratic and/or International Society British History since 1945 British Government Political Institutions Political Behaviour
Printed Syllabuses
Questionnaires
81
19
41 31 + 31
7 7 7
25 22 17 12 8
4 6 5 3 3
But in trying to provide an overall picture, the emphasis has been placed squarely on academic, Main Subject, courses. Before dealing with these in detail, it will be useful to survey other kinds of courses available at colleges of education. Firstly, the broad foundation or background courses: some of these are general courses with some political material for all students; others are operated on an optional basis; while a third kind are short current courses for all. One college is unique in that it operates a Contemporary Society programme for all its students throughout their course (including the fourth year for BEd students). The programme for the 1966-9 students has been divided into two parts. The first is entitled 'Communities in Contemporary Britain', which concludes ' with an examination of the organization of central government and aspects of the legal system. Visits will be arranged to a debate in the House of Commons and to the Royal Courts of Justice. Features of British democracy will be examined with particular reference to the position of the individual.' The second part is called Values in Contemporary Society,' and includes 'Political and economic theories' and ' An emerging world society: A study of movements towards integration. The United Nations including its functional agencies.' General courses such as these are for the students' own personal education and are not geared to the school classroom in either a
Copynghled malcria
56
Modern Method5 of Teaching Political Science
theoretical or practical way. Some colleges do. however, introduce political matters into their Theory of Education course, though the London Institute of Education is alone in specifically listing such su~ject matter for all its college in its 1egulations: "Education and democracyThe nature of democracy and the relation of the individual to democracy. An examination of such concepts as freedom , equality, authority and responsibility.' But, although col.lege education departments are involving themselves in political considerations of this kind, more attention is being focused on Education for International Understanding. One large Midland college that is course in the following way: (I) to extend the students' understanding of the nature and dynamics of prejudice; (2) to discuss some related wGrld problems; (3) to provide some actual intercultural experience; (4) to consider ways in which the school and its teachers of various subjects could develop in the pupils a sound international sentiment. finally, in this review of general, non-academic courses, we must consider those specifically designed for practical, professional training. These would appear to be fairly common: fifteen of the twenty-six colleges returning questionnaires reported such courses. One that is particularly well designed, with a fine range of inter-departmental cooperation. will be used as an example of what can be undertaken. It is designed for students who wish to teach in secondary schools and runs at two hours per week for two years. Eight different departments are involved, a History tutor acting as the co-ordinator. The course is organized within a framework of fifteen topics, five of which are of a political nature. These are: international organizations and agencies; political implications of social, economic and human problems; comparison of political structures and systems; relationship between local and central government; ideologies-political and religious. Some others have political aspects also. It is fairly clear that a very wide variety of courses involving some political study at a fairly modest level are available at colleges of education. But we must now look at the Main Subjects where the academic level of study is the prime consideration. As with the postgraduate courses it will be convenient to de tine the various possible contexts. Firstly, History: it is possible to distinguish four kinds of work
Copyngh!ed rna ria
57
Training for Teaching Political Science
in th is subject-<>utline courses: special periods and topics; advanced, including BEd, work; and special studies. Contemporary world problems and the history of political theory are frequent contexts through which political education is introduced into general History courses. More detailed study is undertaken e ither through the medium of optional special periods or by the minority of more able students. An interesting example of work in this latter category is provided by one lectu rer's description of his course:
Very detailed studies of political institutions of the undermentioned countries are made by Year /IIlii Advanced Main and Year II BEd students: USA; USSR; USSR; UK; France: Federal German Republic; one emergent nation-state-if current political situation permits an academic approach here! But perhaps the most interesting and demanding work of all are the special studies written by most college of education students-short dissertations of anything up to about 20,000 words. The best of these can be reall y original contributions to historical knowledge and understar ding. Examples of studies undertaken in one college w ill show the kind of work possible in th is form . Subjects range from aspects of the Sino-Soviet quarrel, the Suez crisis of 1956, the Irish Labour Party, and pressures against New Town developments. Source materials have included official records of debates (UNO, Dai/ Debates, Hansard. Council Minutes); newspapers of all kinds; and records of private organizations. i
Although, as we have seen, the Geographical Background of World Affairs and Political Geography are together almost as popular as Fore ign History since 1945, it is difficult to know in any of these categories how much emphasis is placed on this particular work. In Geography syllabus the two kinds of political courses are sometimes optional. One Geography department at least places vary heavy emphasis on political questions: they are discussed in courses on world population problems and in various regional courses on the Soviet Union, North America, Latin America and the EEC countries. Particularly interesting, however, is a one-term seminar on plural societies, the aim of wh ich is stated as being ' to improve the group' s understanding of the political situation in the area selected.' This is done by posing the fo llowing questions:
Copyngh!ed rna ria
58
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
HoiV does the plural nawre of society express itself in the political life ofth state? How numerous are the various groups? How powerful? Who are the 'second-class citizens;? What type of political organizations are involved? Does communalism dominate political life? Or do other groupings cut across communal loyalties? Do outside forces play any part in the situation? How far is communalism spontaneous. or created by individual personalities? How do you see the situation developing in the future? Amelioration or conflict? Assimilation, migration, partition? Both History and Geography are well-established subjects and they are available in almost every general college of education. We must turn our attention now to the less common subjects of the Social Sciences. A handful of general colleges offer courses in Economics, Commerce, Home Economics and Social Biology, all of which provide varying opportunities for introducing political material. Of all the Social Sciences taught in colleges of education, however, the most important is Sociology-because of its professional relevance to teachers and because of its increasing popularity as a Main Course subject. An analysis of syllabuses shows eight areas where political material is introduced. Firstly, Social Philosophy deals with principles, and their expression by classic writers, that inevitably overlap Political Theory: Concepts like liberty, equality, natural law and rights and the principles of the democratic state. Theorists like Hobbes, Rousseau, Tocqueville and Marx provide suitable texts. Social History and Policy courses include a study of t11e growth of democracy. Two connected subjectsSocial Structure of Modern Britain and Social Institutions-provide a number of opportunities for political study. Under these headings students are involved with such topics as voting behaviour, parties and pressure groups, bureaucracy, monarchy. Less common subjects of study are Political Institutions, either British or the comparative study of government; the interrelationship of societies, including international relations; Social Psychology, involving topics like prejudice; and the social function of education, dealing with the development of attitudes, the creation of political consensus and the provision of political leaders. But a survey of the range of work tells any part of the story: we also need to know the proportion of time allocated to such topics. ln many colleges it appears to be quite a minor part of the course- less than one tenth in one large Sociology department. A contrary emphasis can, however. be found in one college where all students pursuing Social Studies (as the course is called) take a 'Thread' course on the Social
Copynghlcd m lcria
Training for Teaching Political Science
59
Structure of Great Britain together with a basic course in Sociology, including some Political Sociology. Against this background various detailed topics are studied for a total of fifty-five one-and-a-half hour sessions. Of these, thirty are devoted to Government and Social and Political Theory. Up to this point the anonymity of the training institutions referred to has been preserved because the original survey was conducted on this condition. However, before leaving this section on course descriptions, it will be useful to indicate the range of political teaching undertaken at Didsbury College of Education- a college that has a particularly rich variety of contexts for political study. Five separate courses may be identified: International Relations, as an option in the History course (established in 1965); American Studies (established in 1967); Modem Studies (established as a subsidiary subject in 1967); Sociology (established in 1968); European Studies (being negotiated at the time of writing). Only certain elements of these courses are, of course, relevant to the present survey. However, the vast bulk of the syllabus on International Relations and Organizations since 1945 is directly relevant and worth describing. The course is conducted in six major parts, starting with an introduction to the theory of international relations. There are four fairly coherent areas of study, namely the Coldwar conflict, nationalism, intemati.onalism and supranationalism, and Britain in the post-war world. Finally, time is also devoted to the study of a medley of problems of the pO·St-war world, ranging from nuclear weapons to crime and delinquency. As might be expected from the wide varieties of course available, there is no really firm pattern to be discerned of attitude to the problem of political education among the principals and tutors. It would appear that few are particularly satisfied with the present situation, and most feel that traditional subjects like History are the most suitable media for teaching political materiaL Relegation of such study to student societies or reliance on the mass media, while superficially attractive, would appear to be ineffective: such methods neither involve the bulk of the students nor provide the necessary intellectual rigour for the few. It is necessary at this point to sum marize the present situation in training institutions before discussing the implication of our findings . The most obvious point must be made first, namely, that there is not available a single course in any training institution for the specialist teacher of politics. The bulk of teachers-in-training undertaking any
Copyngh!ed rna ria
60
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
detailed work in the political field are those studying History or, to a lesser extent, Geography. However, since about 1960 various facilities for political education in the training institutions have expanded. A variety of factors have had an influence in this direction. In the first place, one must take account of the steady development of interest in both Contemporary History and Sociology throughout the educational system from secondary school to university: the training institutions have inevitably been caught up in this movement. Secondly, in college s of education particularly we must note the change of personnel in recent years in two respects: namely, the increasing influx (although still in comparatively small numbers) into the ranks of the lecturing staff of graduates in the Social Sciences, including Politics, as a result of the expansion of these studies in the universities since 1945; and also the increasing proportion of men, both as staff and students, who tend to be more interested in political matters than their female counterparts. The fmal pair of influences again concern the colleges rather than the UDEs and are the result of the expansion of colleges. Of particular importance have been the extension of the normal training course from two to three years, and more recently the . establishment of degree courses for the more able. These changes have not only afforded the opportunity of extra time so that extra topics could be interpolated into the syllabuses, but they have meant that the students in the final stages of their course are more mature and therefore capable of handling more sophisticated material. But colleges have expanded beyond the immediate needs of absorbing the extra year of study; and as they have increased in size so that a diversification of teaching has become possible while still retaining viable teaching groups. Training institutions are placed in a peculiarly ambiva lent position, m idway between universities and schools. It is therefore instructive to compare the ir approaches to Politics. Although it is important not to exaggerate the differences of approach to political education by universities and schools, there is a tendency for university courses to become increasingly sociological and objective in their handling of the subject, while schools, particularly at the junior and secondary-modem levels, emphasize a little more the socialization of their pupils in the received political purposes and values of their society, namely democratic governm ent and internat ional understanding. Furthermore, it is common in schools for political education to be mediated through other subjects like History or Social Studies rather
Copynghled malcria
Training for Teaching Political Science
61
than by the direct teaching of Politics. If we use this approximate distinction, we see that the training institutions' courses relate more closely to the school than to the university programmes of Political Studies. In terms of actual courses being run, we have seen that with few exceptions they use the indirect school approach of teaching political material through the medium of other subjects. This closer relationship with the school than the university pattern of study is, perhaps, not surprising when one realizes that, although the training institutions should be generation new ideas, their products must never be too far removed from classroom realities. Moreover, most teachers of Politics in schools, colleges and university departments of education are still those who were initially trained in the traditional disciplines like Geography and particularly History. We have already noticed the popularity of contemporary History as a medium for political education in the colleges; we might also note here that many influential History teachers believe that their subjects is the proper medium for this kind of work. The questions remain whether such a condition is likely to continue in the immediately foreseeable future and whether it i~ right that it should. IV. Let us take the second question first. What are the objections to the indirect approach to political education. using History and Social Swdies. for example? One of the major reasons for the current revival of Social Studies is the popularity of the inter-disciplinary, 'topic ' approach to study. This development has certainly led to much livelier learning situations. Nevertheless, cogent criticisms ht.ll!e been levelled at teachers' attempts 'to return to a state of undifferentiated innocence', and clearly this teaching method needs skilful handling. It is important to train the pupils in the use of the disciplines and skills necessary for whatever particular task is confronting them-a combined operation that might well be most effectively undertaken on a team-teaching basis. Will the importance of political education be recognized in such a programme unless a specific teacher sees it as his responsibility? It is often assumed that the History teacher will play this role. Yet the research ofDr. D.C. Smith shows that one should not too readily assume this: [elver than a third of the secondary-school History teachers he interviewed (67 olll of 234) considered the aim of their subject to be either 'to give citizenship,' or 'to promote world understanding. There is uncertainty in the schools concerning the most appropriate mode of responsibility for political education, and a
Copyngh!ed rna ria
62
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
consequence might be that this area of work be given insufficient attention. Would it, therefore, be advantageous to have some specialisttrained Politics teachers in the schools? It is outside the scope of the present chapter to argue this case in detail. What must be done here is to look at the possibility of making such teachers available from the point-view of the training institutions. Firstly, let us look at the question of supply. Can the universities supply the UDEs with appropriately qualified graduates? Can the sixth forms supply the colleges with appropriately qualified student.s? The answer at both levels is 'yes.' We have already seen that a substantial number of graduates in Politics are entering teaching. Moreover, it is a subject increasing in popularity in the universities: there were sixteen Chairs in English and Welsh universities in 1960; these had increased to thirty-eight by 1966. At the level of college entrance, A-level entries in British Constitution of Government , although still nowhere approaching the popularity of History, reveal a significant upwards trend. For example, the Joint Matriculation Board had 1,089 entries in 1966 compared with thirty-nine in 1957. But, looking now specifically at the colleges of education-would Politics be an appropriate Main Course subject? The function of the Main Course is said to be the ' personal development' of the student: professional relevance for classroom application is only a secondary consideration. Subjects should therefore be either academically respectable (e.g. History, Mathematics) or effective in developing aesthetic judgment and skills (e.g. Art, Physical Education). At the same time they should not be too esoteri~. Politics has at last emerged as an acceptable university d iscipline and yet it is not narrowly 'academic', employing as it does a wide range of studies and demanding a variety of ways of thought-historical, philosophical and sociological. If the argument has been sound so far it would appear that Politics is a subject admirably suited or inclusion in a college of education curriculum. Yet, not a single college offers the SJ.Jbject. Why is this? It is possible, of course, that since the subject has only recently been firmly established at the university level, it will take time to be translated into the colleges. It is possible, therefore that developments will take place in the subject in the near future. And yet the experience of the parallel subject of Economics would suggest that time is not the only factor: Economics is a well-established university discipline, yet only a handful of colleges offer courses. More important, indeed, is the confusion over
Copynghlcd m lcria
Training for Teaching Political Science
63
the conceived purpose of Main Courses. In practice the professional, classroom value of the subject is a more powerful consideration with college authorities than the ' personal development' formula wou ld suggest. Thus, if a girl is training for primary-school work, it is acceptable that she should study Music, since th is is a subject with an important carry-over value for the infant or junior classroom. Now, by the Balance of Training Agreement of 1960, colleges of education undertook to concentrate their efforts on training primary-school teachers. It was hoped, indeed, that as many as 85 per cent of their students would teach, at least initially, in primary schools. It is, further, widely assumed (despite the evidence about the early establishment of political socialization panems) that programmes of political education are more appropriately introduced at the secondary than the primary age-level. And the strict operation of the Balance on·raining Agreement would mean that graduates will be undertaking almost all this secondary teaching. Is the graduate the right kind of teacher for this task? For GCE courses undoubtedly he is. But the Newsom Committee were 'unanimous in our opinion that an intending teacher whose personal and professional training are carried on together over a span of at least three years is much more likely to become a successful teacher of less able children than one who completes a degree,.course in a special subject and follows it with a year of training.' And if 'Half our future' should be taught by college-trained teachers, it must be remembered also that they would be teaching half our future electorate. It would appear, therefore, that the colleges of education have a heavy burden of responsibility if this count£¥ is to develop into a properly politically literate sor.iety. It is clear that the colleges of education ought to be doing more. And it comes as something of a shock to realize d1at a quarter of a century ago the McNair Committee made a perfectly practical, if rather modest, suggestion to meet this need when declared that,
we realize the value to a school or college of having on its staff some teachers who have made a special study of the social services and of the machinery of government, both central and local; and in each area there should be one or more training instillltions which include these matters in their curricula as an optional subject under the name of social studies. public administration or similar title. There is, moreover, recent evidence that the lecturing staff of the colleges of education are anxious to take up this challenge, now
Copynghled malcria
64
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
translated into 'Newsom' terms and given urgency by the forthcoming raising of the school-leaving age. Yet they are frustrated by the Balance of Training Agreement. It can be argued, of course, that under curricular arrangements at present in vogue specialists in Politics could not be given a full timetable teaching their own subject. Although this should not be true of the larger comprehensive schools, it would probably be frequently necessary for the Politics specialist to spend part of his time teaching his subsidiary subject, which might well be History. The teaching of Politics at the school level is at the same time the most difficult, challenging and vital for the profession to undertake. Yet at the moment neither responsibility nor method is clear. The training institutions are placed in a crucial position with opportunities to investigate the most appropriate methods and to train a body of teachers in these principles so that they wHl assume responsibility when they enter the schools. If even a single UDE and half-a-dozen colleges were to seize these opportunities, a sense of direction could develop to dispel the present confusion, and the way be opened up to the education of a politically literate citizenry. Duty, challenge and opportunity are all clear; only the response is awaited.
Cownghlcd m lcria
Organizations and Teaching of Political Science NALGO J ames Hanlay
The National and Local Government Officers Association, approximately 380,000 strong and with branch membership in every Count Council, County and Municipal Borough, Urban and Rural District and Parish Council Office, has been actively pursuing and encouraging the teaching of Civics in schools for many years through its Public relations and Education Committees. At its annual conferences this educational work has been established as national policy, and has been implemented by branches and districts throughout the length and breadth of the country at an ever-increasing pace. Through the complete co-operation of the separate employing authorities it has been made possible for individual NALGO branches to co-ordinate the supply of authoritative information, particularly on local affairs. Each officer knows that there is, at the moment, no set pattern for the teaching of Civics by the education authorities or schools; the style and method adopted is therefore entirely the prerogative of the individual teacher and officer. Nevertheless, valuable advances have been made through a policy of close co-operation between teachers' consultative groups and officers of the Association in many areas to develop a consistent approach. The natural evolution of the child of today into the adult citizen of tomorrow provides the justification for NALGO's desire to enter the
Copynqhled malcria
Organizations and Teaching of Political Science
66
field of education. The objective, already approved by the Association' s members, is to endeavour to create an understanding of the basic principles of government, British institutions, public and social services. NALGO thus assists in the development of the pupil's acceptance of his personal responsibilities towards the community at large, but also of his individual rights and privileges as a citizen. There is no doubt that 'Civics' is an uninspiring title which conjures up in the minds of the young (and the not-so-young) a Dickensian picture in which it is assumed that pomp and splendour go hand-in-hand with authority and restriction. Civics is a vast subject, involving the study of every facet of human existence, from 'cradle to grave,' and of civic institutions developing over the years from their inception 1in Saxon times. Each successive generation has added to or amended institutions and procedures as national and local circumstances demanded. Because the subject-matter is so complex, it is of the utmost importance for the teaching to be interesting in its impact as well as permanently instructive. In this context it is imperative for the officer to recognize and acknowledge the skilled profession of teaching; for him to ' show' and not to 'teach' will lead to the desirable fusion of the teacher's skill and the officer's skill and the officer's knowledge and experience. Preliminary investigations by NALGO about teaching methods over the entire country produced many surprising conclusions. For example, certain school using films as a medium of instruction preferred a straight-forward documentary in simple language, whereas many cast their vote for the amusing cartoon-type film, containing similar factual material but with alleged easier understanding and greater retention of subject-matter. In order to encourage easier learning, NALGO has gathered together a library of films, books, booklets, pictorial wallpanels, pamphlets and other associated literature which is easily accessible on loan from NALGO Headquarters in London, through the local branch secretary. Many local branches have themselves produced their own visual aids, film strips, colour transparencies, tape-recordings, flannel-boards, teaching charts, student ' hand-outs' and teachers' notes. The effective impact of each of these particular aids does vary according to areas and the individual teacher, but an approach through the local secretary for additional specified assistance from branch, district or Headquarters can prove very valuable.
Copynghlcd m lcria
Organizations and Teaching of Political Science
67
Explanatory leaflets have been published and issued by many of the larger local authorities, containi11g data which is not only of specific local interest but has a national relevance. Further valuable material is published by the Local Government Information Office (36, Old Queen Street, Westminster, London, SW I), describing the dut ies and respons ibilities of councillors (elected members) and the appointed specialist officers, together with useful information on the council and comminee systems. Instructional films have already been mentioned, but whereas many of those contained within the NALGO library are of professional standard, amateur film-making is fast becoming an accepted mode. At the present time there are at least three branches and schools cooperating in producing short colou r films of ten to twenty minutes' duration. In some instances the narration is ' dubbed,' in others the voices of the pupils form part of the sound-track. The realization that this type of film has been created by fellow students, and well within thei r own ambit, often acts as a spur to similar productions beings anempted. In many instances the finished article is extremely good, and
has not only aroused and maintained the pupils' interest but resulted in permanent learning. Costs vary, according to content and duration, but this factor should not restrict any genuine des ire to participate; education authorities, local government offices, together with NAGO branches and districts, are extremely approachable and prepared to advise, provide materials, services, and in certain genuine instances, financial assistance to the best of their ability. Experience has proved conclusively the permanent value of pupil participation and involvement, and th is trend may be seen in the majority of projects advocated by NALGO and accepted and adopted by members of the teaching profession. Many teachers have reinforct:d their theoretical teaching with the more practical approach of organized attendances at municipal offices, council meetings, sites and works. Likewise, visits during courses of lectures arranged for example by health departments, wou ld include da iries, bakeries and slaughterhouses. The pupil is also encouraged actively to participate not only in the duties and responsibil ities of techn ician and professional officer, but also, by being allocated special time at council meetings, in actual debates, by asking of the elected members pertinent and re levant questions on the local aspect of Civics.
Copynghled malcria
68
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
A familiar pattern, well established, is the willingness of chief and senior officers of local authorities to lecture to pupils on the duties and responsibilities concerned with thei.r profession, and the application of the former to the work of the council. Essay competitions have been instituted in junior schools, and several NALGO branches have accepted the responsibility of judging these entries and awarding prizes. The inclusion of Civics as a subject in the Certificate of Secondary Education was received with intense satisfaction by both the local Authorities Association and NALOG, who, in conjunction with the Local Government Employers, are available to offer advice in the formulation of any appropriate syllabus and in er.deavouring to meet the teachers' specific needs, including the obtaining of detailed information and the programming of series of lectures over agreed peri~ds. Furtht:.r developments include the provision of discussion groups in the context of •Newsom' work. Local government officers lead the debates at regu Jar seminars, extending over a twelve-month cycle. Depending upon the age-group of the pupil, the method and content of the teaching are varied. A viable alternative to the actual personal involvement of the local government, officer is the quiz, sponsored by NALGO branches on an extensive scale and being rapidly extended in its use. Specimen lists of questions and answers are available to the teacher, who uses these as background material in the overall study of the subject. The competitive element is introduced as a stimulus and is attained by the organization of matches between schools within the district. Such an event, culminating in a final competition for the overall winners, is normally accepted as a civic function, including the presence of the civic heads and the added attraction of a well-known personality as ' quiz-master.' NALGO branches, organizing these competitions on a voluntary basis, provide suitable prizes for the winners and consolation gifts for the runners-up. This expenditure is authorized and encouraged at district and national level of the Association. There is every reason to hope that this manner of examining the learning of factual material will eventually become of nationwide interest, with the attendance of television and radio, thus fulfilling by modem methods of publicity the urgent need for civic learning in all educational establishments. The election of a council with its mayor, or chairman, aldermen and councillors, and the appointments of chief officers of departments and their supponing staff, is quite often a complete mystery to many
Copynghlcd m lcria
Organizations and Teaching of Pol.itical Science
69
citizens, let alone the school child. A scheme, which has proved successful, to simplify the apparent intricacies of this age-old democratic structure, has been devised, proved and adopted in certain junior schools. Candidates are elected by their fellow pupils and fom1 t.'le junior council. This body of representatives, in tum, elect their civic head and specialist committees with chairmen; they formulate policy and appoin t supervisory chief officers of departments. The election, council meetings and committee procedures are therefore simply enacted by 'role playing' and the chief officer of each department is asked to submit his report at the appropriate meeting of the 'committee.' There are many different ways of allocating the precise duties of such a 'junior chief officer,' depending entirely on local circumstances, but it is common for the engineer and surveyor to list amongst his responsibilities the school playground, adjacent buildings, water supply to basins, etc., whilst the treasurer may be involved in the collection of monies for school milk or dinners or in the levying of a rate for the upkeep of the community sports equipment not provided by the school authorities. The clerk of the council is normally the teacher, proffering the advice expected of that officer. An appraisal of this scheme conducted by one school showed that the pupils gained in sense of responsibiiity through an obvious appreciation of their future place in the community and in greater understanding of that type of work carried out in their own neighbourhood and duplicated throughout the country. In a s imilar participatory vein, one-act plays have been written and are available to schools, thus combining the teaching of Civics with other accepted elements of the syllabus such as Spoken English, Social Studies and History. Close-circuit television and radio are also used. The value of radio has been broadened by the introduction of local sound broadcasting, through which NALGO is endeavouring to enlarge and improve the already existing programmes to schools by the inclusion of Civics material. Although NALGO has not as yet progressed in any depth into the realms of adult further education, some branches have interested their employing authorities in acknowledging the importance of the embryo citizen. The project ' Welcome to Citizenship' is a wellestablished activity in many towns and cities and caters for those inhabitants of the town who have attained the age of majority. A civic
Copynqhled malcria
70
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
reception , complete with regalia, a tour of local government establishments, brief but illuminating talks w!th elected members and officers, terminating in the presentation of a souvenir ' scroll of admittance' to citizenship and civic ball, ensures a suitable mixture of duty and social entertainment. Over the past decade, NALGO members and their officers, throughout the British ISles, have carried out extensive and searching investigations, some at national instigation, others at district and branch levels, into the knowledge of Civics possessed by the general public and students of all ages. The resultant summary of surveys has been scrutinized by teachers' consultative panels, education officer and the Association. Their findings are in complete agreement: the utter lack of any desire to Jearn the fundamentals of either central or local government in its most s imple form is depressingly widespread. This void must be filled and it is crus:ial that the forthcoming generation be well informed and acutely aware of the value of the democratic society in which they are such a vital component. Local government, in all its aspects, is more than anxious to play its part and this essential need, fully recognized by NALGO, warrants the high priority it has been accorded. HANSARD SOCIETY David Pring One day in 1940 Commander King-Hall, then the Independent Member for Ormskirk, saw the Prime Minister (Mr. Churchill) and the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Attlee) seated together on a sofa in the Members' Smoking Room. On an impulse he went over to ask their support for an enterprise in which he had recently tried to interest his fellow-members. His idea was to found an association, called the Friends of Hansard, designed to encourage the reading of Hansard at home and abroad; there was no better way, he argued, of showing that the British Parliament continued to control the executive and represent the people, even under the stresses of total war. The two men listened, and then Churchill asked how much was needed to start the association. ' One pound from each of you.' The money was handed over there and then.
Copynghlcd m lcria
Organizations and Teaching of Political Science
71
The anecdote tells us much about the character of the Friends of Hansard: its high patronage; its ideo logical basis; the zeal of its founder; and not least, its perennial lack of funds. The same attributes are still visible in the Hansard Society (into which the f riends of Hansard evolved) but the basis of the new Society was broadened considerably in 1944; it was no longer alone, but wherever it could be found ; it was henceforward to be international. The ex-President of the French Republic, the Speakers of the Bundestag and of the Lok Sabha. and an American Senator were among those who accepted vice-presidencies. The governments of the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland Commissioned the Society to publish books (in English) on their parliaments. A conference was held at Oxford on the problems of legislatures in West Africa. The Society began to organize lectures on the comparative study of British and American Government. In many of the multiform activities of the young Society one can discern the guiding hand of its founder . One of the last of the Independent MPs (and one of the very few at that time to rcp;esent a constituency), King-Hall was always alive to the need for parliaments to maintain their independence of governments. A director of a large insurance company, he was indefatigable in his attempts to raise money for the Society, to invest it shrewdly, and to spend it carefully. A successful playwright, he had an element of showmanship in him that publicized the Society' s work. As author and publisher of a news-letter which had a worldwide and devoted readership, he was an internationalist with an understanding of the different forms of government that different countries needed. Much of his considerable fame in Britain was founded on the regular broadcasts on current affairs which he made in the 'thirties, especially to children and many of those who grew up in that unsatisfactory decade remember him, his voice and his style. So it was predictable that the Hansard Society should from the start have concerned itself with the education of children. The large-scale purpose of the Society was to be the promotion and study of parliamentary government in all parts of the world; one of the principal means to this end, and the one that lay closest to had, was a direct and continuing contact with the schools. f or more than two decades the Society has held a series of public meetings in which audiences of up to 3,500 schoolchildren have listened to a panel of experienced and well-known parliamentary personalities answering the questions put to them,
Copyngh!ed rna ria
72
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
generally on constitutional matters of particular interest at the time. TI1is of course is a form of education or entertainment well-known on radio and television-a fact which is both a bonus and a burden to the organizers: a bonus because the young audience appreciates the chance of playing a part in a game which is so widely enjoyed; a burden, because they expect in the perfonnance the high standards which the broadcasting authorities can display. The Society's meetings require a considerable amount of participation by the audience, and impromptu votes are taken form time to time. The meetings are lively, even of occasion exciting. Of aU the educational activities of the Society, this is perhaps the most dramatic and the most satisfying. Much of course depends on the quality of the members of the panel. To attract well-known participants (and one of the attractions for the audience is to see and hear people whom they know ot) it is necessary to guarantee a big audience; there are in act never enough seats for those who wish to come, and admission has accordingly to be by ticket. The organizational problems and the expense are greater when the meetings are away from London, and it is very much harder to get Members of Parliament to agree to attend these (or, on some regrettable occasions, having got them to agree, to get them to tum up). There are many wounds in this business, and the provincial meetings have never achieved the success of those in London. The Society's lecture service has been one of its most essential activities right from the start, but the extent to which it has operated has been in direct relationship to its finances. In a good year-in 1965, for instance, when the government made the society a grant as part of the celebrations associated with the 700th anniversary of Simon de Montfort's Parliament-the Society has given more than 200 lectures, reaching an audience of over 14,000 schoolchildren, most of them in the senior forms. The experiences of the Society ' s practitioners in this unexciting medium are those well-known to itinerant lecturers everywhere: they will know of the nervous wait before the exposure to that host of captive children with their curiosity about the man on th.e platform, and their unforeseeable private jokes. The rewards are well-known, too: the magic moment when one senses that the audience is following an argument intently; the realization that the questions asked arise spontaneously from what has been said, and are not pre-planted; the strangely moving occasion when the thanker on the floor breaks away from his' rehearses notes to say something of genuine gratitude.
Copynghled malcria
Organizations and Teaching of Political Science
73
These are the common experiences of those who lecture. Perhaps the Society's lecturers have an advantage in that their subject-matter, Parliament, contains a certain amount of built-in mirth. No selfrespecting audience of children can listen to some of the things that happen in Parliament without experiencing a comfortable sense of superiority. There are the ceremonial costumes, the slamming oftl1e door in Black Rod's face, the ritual producing of a collapsible top hat if a point of order is to be raised during a division and so on. Why mention these trivia at all? Because children have beard of them, and want to know more; and because it is necessary that they should realize that the element of charade in Parliament is comparatively small, does no harm and is quite unimportant. The efforts of the Society in the lecture room can never hope to reach an audience of great size, unless radio or television time is ever made available to them. But it is a vital part of the Society's activities because, better than almost any other way, it enables the Society to know what young people think about Parliament; they, in a manner of speaking, educate the Society. The knowledge gained is valuable for the
planuing of many of the Society's subsidiary educational activities; these have inc'uded the annual essay competition, the occasional issue to members of wall-charts (related perhaps to a particular event- a general election, for example), and the periodical production of study boxes on Parliament. The Society is also able to help teachers. Parliamentary Affairs in particular gives them a great deal of information about parliaments throughout the world; an teachers who use the Information Service to answer questions they have been asked in class may not realize how many of their charges use it as a court of appeal from the answers their master have given them. When one turns to consider the principal; lessons that the Society has gained from its experience with schools, three stand out all negative in form. In the first place, the Society has not tried to draft a definitive ·blueprint for th ideal Parliament. How could it, when its outlook is international'? What is appropriate in one country at a given time will provide a lesson for other states, but not necessarily an example. One of the most difficult things to decide today is how far one should given support to parl!aments which negate one or other of the principles
Copynghled malcria
74
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
which, not long ago, would have been thought a sine qua non of a democratic parliamentary system. The one-party parliaments of Africa pose questions that have to be faced, however uncomfortable the process. Secondly, in its descriptions o f the working of the British Parliament, the Society has learned not to dogmatize. Indeed, the facility with which the commons change their procedure is a trap for us all; it is an unwary teacher who repeats unquestioningly the words of standard works on procedure--even those of only a few years ago. For example, the princ iple by which much of the House's financial procedure had to be initiated in a committee has been explained, w ith its historical basis, in many books on Parliament, often at great length; but the abrogation of this principle aroused so little opposition and made so little difference that, for some time after the dissolution of the Committees of Supply and of Ways and Means, their functions were still being considered in some classrooms. again, it is all to easy in describing the long-drawout legislative process to g ive the impression of a vigilant House of Commons where every Member is able to bring his constituents' points of view to bear. The truth may be somewhat different; it is now possible for a Bill to pass the Commons without any of its stages being taken on the floor of the House. Thirdly and finally, in its attitude to the British Parliament, the Society cannot allow itself the indulgence of uncritical affection; there is much that is admi.rable at Westminster, but the Society is not a preservation society, as its work in the recent move ment for parliamentary reform shows. In a country where Parliament is so firmly based, one of the chief works of the teacher must be it display its shortcomings-but to display them accurately, fairly and in proportion. •
CEWC Terence Lawson There would appear to be a good deal of evidence for believing that public interest in Britain in international affairs is greater in the 1960s than it has ever been. The exposure given to politics and politicians on television has become a feature of the decade-though whether this is an entirely healthy development in terms of the •
Since this was written Hansard Society has developed plans for the establishment of an association for teachers of Politics.
Copynghted rna ria
Organizations and Teaching ofPoUtica/ Science
75
democratic process and the place of parliamentary discussion is debatable; a positive industry has built up around race relations, and a similar activity centres upon the issue of world poverty and the relationship between the 'developed' and the 'developing' countries. Teachers are inundated by the flood of materials produced by organizations and societies, commercial publishers and newspapers, concerned with making a contribution in the field of education, and tend to become bewildered by the profusion of conferences, seminars and courses in the area of international affairs which compete for their attention and support. Yet, if one is to assess concern by statistical evidence of public support for org.anizations, it should be recognized that no single voluntary organization in Britain today comes any-where near the membership achieved by the League of Nations Union between the wars. There may well be a variety of sociological developments which determine that there will never again be in Britain a single organization, embracing the whole of the political spectrum, of such a size. The fact remains that the LNU existed and exercised a considerable influence throughout the whole of British society. The Education Committee of the League of Nations Union under the chairmanship of Professor Gilbert Murray-who was also one of the leaders and outstanding personalities of the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation-was an active and authoritative body which secured the affiliation and allegiance of an enormous number of schools in Britain. It reached out to the deep idealism of the teachers and educationists of that time, and secured from them a response which supported the concept of an international order and authority-embodied in the League of Nations-to an extent which has never been enjoyed by its successor, the United Nations. The history of the decline of the League does not need repetition. From the moment that its member states failed to make any positive reaction to Japan's conquest of Manchuria, through their havering and wavering over Italy's adventure in Abyssinia and the Spanish Civil War, the authority of the League of Nations and the concept of collective security upon wh ich it was based came into question. The League of Nations Union exerted itself to maintain in Britain strong and active support for the League and for the establishment of the aims and ideals of the Covenant as the keystone of Britain' s foreign policy. Jnevitably, political positions polarized, and the League of Nations Union became a focus of political dispute. In such an atmosphere, schools feh it
Copyngh!ed malcri,
76
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
necessary to reconsider their positions as active members of an organization which no longer commanded the unequivocal support of all political parties, and they resigned in their hundreds. By early in 1939 the likelihood of a major war was evident to Gilbert Murray and his fellow educationists in the Education Committee of the League of Nations Union; it was also clear to them that the political controversy su.rrounding the LNU placed an intolerable burden of decision upon their colleagues in schools in Britain. They took the decision to transform t he LN U Educations Committee into an educational organization which would function as well as it could during the war years-if such were to develop-and which would be in an established position, whenever the. war ended, to enlist the support of education for the form of international organization which would emerge to assume the former place of the League; but they conceived an organization which could not become embroiled in any future political differences and disputations. It was to function within the educational system and process, but would not express any official opinion upon an issue ofpolitfcal controversy. Its task would be to attempt to provide schools with information and facts, objectively and dispassionately. They decided to call this organization the Council for Education in World Citizenship, and it came into existence on I September 1939. In the beginning the concentration of effort by the CEWC was upon teachers. The uncertainties of the first year of the war, and the dispersal of pupils by evacuation, made large gatherings for conferences both difficul t and undesirable; though as the nation adjusted to the problems of wartime existence, even these were attempted, and it was during the war that the now world-famous Christmas Holisay Lecture (refe.rred to in more detail later) commenced. The CEWC gained particular support from the major educational associations through the idealism and efforts of the many distinguished personalities in education who were identified with its purpose and activities. It was partly as a result of the consequently prominent position it attained that the CEWC played a leading part in the development of what came to be known as • 'the London Assembly. During the war, the ministers of education of Allied governments met with the ir United Kingdom colleagues to plan the intellectual reconstruction of their countries and lay the foundations for future co-ope ration. It was this Assembly that drew up the Constitution upon which the Un ited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was eventuaily based.
Copynqhled malcria
Organizatiuns and Teaching ofPolitical Science
77
When the war ended, the United Nations Association was formed in britain to influence public opinion towards the support of the successor to the League of Nations-the United Nations. The Council for Education in World Citizenship was by then an established and recognized body of educationists and became 'an Organization of the United Nations Association' subscribing to all those aims and purposes of the parent body which could be described as educational, but eschewing participation in any activities or pronouncements by UNA which entered the arena of political disputation. This is the relationship to the UNA which continues today. The Council is an autonomous body within the family of the United Nations Association-UNA 's 'specialized agency' in the field of education. The services offered by the CEWC to its member schools are various, but the most widely used are its provision of speakers to individual schools and the organization of inter-school conferences. The subjects upon which schools request speakers tend to follow the main developments in world affairs and the attention paid to these in the columns and headlines of the newspapers. A school when it makes its request may stipulate that it requires a speaker who will present a particular view-point, e.g., one who will express an Arab-<>r Israeliposition on the Middle-East events, or the Rhodesian Nationalist angle as opposed to the Smith-Rhodesian attitude. Presented with such requests, the CEWC will do its best to comply; but when the demand is of a general nature, expressing a wish for a general survey of the issue or problem, them the role of the CEWC is to find a speaker who can deal with the subject objectively and set out the positions of all the contending sides. Increasingly, however, the interest of the pupils is in active contention and argument, with a major part of the time available being devoted to questions and discussion which involve the audience in clops participation. Those in the audience who have already formed views appear to be concerned, in the main, with advocating or substantiating these; the uncommitted majority seems to be more interested in the flow of adrenal in than the· process of resounded argument; and educationists are beginning to speculate about the influence upon pupils of television's presentation of political discussion and the attitudes adopted towards politicians by the interviewers and interrogators. The closer an interview gets to a ' punch-up' the more compulsive viewing it provides. By the same token, the success of a school meeting or an inter-school conference begins to be judged by the extent of the energy or violence of the participants.
Copynghled malcria
78
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
There are, of course, still exceptions to the foregoing, and the single event for which the CEWC is best known-its annual Christmas Holiday Lectures-provides one of these exceptions. The Lectures bring to London some 3,000 senior pupils from secondary schools in all parts of the United Kingdom. They combine to form what bas been described by one man who has taken part in these Lectures on a number of occasions-Professor Lord Ritchie-Calder- as 'the finest audience in the world.' Over the years, men and women eminent in various sections of society feel privileged to meet this exciting and demanding gathering of young.people to speak to them and to respond to their questioning, which is searching, exacting and-with very, very few exceptioncourteous. The Christman Holiday Lectures last for four days and are built around a central theme. Naturally, the more controversial themes prove to be more popular. Race and race relations, for example, provided a greater emotional temperature than the sober examinations of the problem of illiteracy. Illiteracy is like sin-everyone 'is agio it'; but there were still a very great many young people who found it valuable to have spent four days in examining the nature and implications of literacy and its antonym, and the relations of these to social, economic and political developments, even though the subject d id not have the immediate relevance to political issues present in such subjects as race, or co-existence, or neo-colonialism. The Christmas Holiday Lectures have, on a number of occasions, dealt with themes which were of concern to UNESCO. Literacy was one of these, as was the major project on arid-zone research, and the very considerable attention given by UNESCO to the mutual appreciation of oriental and occidental cultural values. This close connection between the CEWC and IMESCO followed naturally from the part played by the CEWC in the events which led to the inception of the Specialized Agency, and has been reflected in other activities. The CEWC acts as the agent for UNESCO in the United Kingdowm for the operation of the Gift Coupon Programme-a description of which is not really relevant to a book concerned with the teaching of politics. But UNESCO's Associated Schools, Project represents the largest single activity in the world in the field of education for international understating, and the CEWC has been closely concerned in this since its beginning in 1953. The objectives of education for international understanding were summed up by the Director-General of UNESCO in a report to the
Copynghled malcria
Organizations and Teaching of Pofitical Science
79
General Conference of UNESCO irn 1962. His statement was:
The objectives ar to increase among youth a knowledge of the world and its peoples; to engender sympathetic attitudes which will enable young people to view other cultures without prejudice and to react to differe nces with friendship ra.ther than hostility; to develop understanding of the need for international co-operation in solution of world problems; and to encourage respect for human rights, a sense of moral and social responsibility for others, and a desire to act in the common good. Some fifty nations have nomin ated some of their secondary schools and teacher-training institutions for participation in the Associated Schools Project. A school so nominated agrees to carry out a project, or conduct a course of teaching, concerned with one of three themes: teaching about the United Nat ions; teaching·about Human Rights; or a study of another country. The project should have the conscious aims of increasing the knowledge and influencing favourably the attitudes of pupils taking part. In association with the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO, the CEWC has been closely involved in the development and progress of the Associated School Project in Britain, where particular emphasis has been laid upon work with fourteen-and fifteen-year-old pupils. In nearly all cases attempts were made to evaluate the results of the projects in terms of changes in knowledge and attitude. At the request of participating schools, UNESCO commissioned the production of a series of tests by an international group of educational psychologists, and these were widely used, though with the reservations with which many educationists approach such tests. The results of these in British schools were correlated at Birmingham University and a valuable report was produced for UNESCO. The CEWC has continued to act as a centre for the distribution of information and materials about the Associated Schools Project, and in 1966 co-ordinated the first work within the Project carried out in five primary schools in Britain. This followed an interesting pilot project conducted in the primary schools of four European countries under the auspices of the International Federation of Teachers 'acted' for IFTA, in the planning and operation of the pilot project in Britain. For a variety of reasons, increasing attention to the problems of ' development' and world poverty has been evident in Britain during
Copynghled malcria
80
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
the last three or four years, and there has been an marked increase in the production of materials and services for schools concerned with this subject. The CEWC has, in consequence, tended to devote increasing attention to the political background to development, and to the political aspects of the work of the United Nations and its family. In doing so it enters into an area where objectivity becomes increasingly important, but more and more difficult, and where its long-standing reputation and experience are strenuously tested.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
An awareness of the problems raised by the teaching of politics in schools, involving a3 it does the exposure of immature minds to ideas which are as controversial as they are important, is not confined to philosophers and educationists. The problem of bias appears first and
perhaps most tellingly at the level of commonsense. Fore most parents, whilst agreeing that children should know something about politics or, more broadly, current affairs, wou ld shrink from the notion of this political initiation being placed in the hands of a teacher known to be of opposing political convictions. The more far-sighted might be equally wary of political instruction placed deliberately in the hands of persons of similar political outlook, in case this should lead to an assumption that what is called for is political indoctrination rather than information. And, assuming for a moment an understanding of some tem1s which clearly need analysis. political indoctrination in schools is one of the aspects of Communist societies which stands in most contrast to the freedom of ideas and opinion which is a prime value of our own society. But at a philosophical level. the problem presents further and possibly more serious complications; for from the point of view of linguistic analysis, to talk about politics in neutral tenns is almost an impossibility. The very terminology of politics, the concepts in which !t deals, arc used by philosophers to demonstrate how words which nHl~querade as as fact-stating and descriptive are actually devoid of factual content but charged with emotional appeal. Such words as · fre~::dom .' 'equality.' democracy', which are the very stuff of politics,
Copynghled malcria
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
82
are also the raw material of the kind of philosophical analysis which is aimed at establishing a contrast between the descriptive and the emotive. What is involved here is the distinction between words like ' green', 'sparkling', metallic', which describe without prompting any emotional response on the part of the hearer, or giving expression to any emotional feelings on the part of the speaker, and words like ' frightening', marvellous', astonishing', which convey or conjure up emotions, but communicate little or nothing in the way of information or description. Political terms like 'freedom ' or 'equality' are often taken to belong to the former category, on the assumption that they describe some factual aspect of the society to which they are applied, but in fact they function purely as va.lue-terms unless further qualified. To call a society •free •, in almost any part of the world, is to make it clear that you approve of it. Whether anything else at all is conveyed is problematical, for an undefined notion of freedom is compatible with practically any organization of society; there is in fact nothing that can be deduced about the way a society runs it affairs simply from its being described by someone as free . This is not to deny that it is possible to suggest a rigorous definition of freedom so that it may convey some factual information is addition to its emotional effect. Indeed, this is part of the task of political theory. But the difficulties involved become apparent if one considers, for instance, a typi.cal liberal interpretation of freedom in terms of freedom of speech, of publication, of association and of assembly, and contrasts this with a typical Communist interpretation emphasizing economic and material freedom and viewing life under a capitalist system as 'economic slavery.'
It follows, then, that if some of the basic concepts of politics necessarily involve evaluation, then it may be impossible to talk about politics in neutral language. If, therefore, to teach politics without bias means to talk about politics in tenus which are wholly neutral, factual rather than emotive, then it wou.ld appear that the common-sense difficulties merely reflect a more radical difficulty-a root contradiction in the very notion of unbiased political discussion. I want at this point to distinguish the teaching of politics in schools from the associated pursuit, usually confined to university level, of political science. In this field, it is arguable that discussion can and should be value-free, although even hl!re th e neutmlity ma y b.: more apparent than real. There is, of cou rse. no reaso n. apart f.' tJ lll its difficu lty, why some elements of political science should not be :I'• •)lvcd
Copynghled rna ria
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
83
in the more general programme of teaching politics. In fact comparative studies of governments and constitutions, sociological studies of voting behaviour or elitism, and even the making of political models after the pattern of mathematical and economic models, are all useful candidates for inclusion in the curriculum; and where they are included, provided covert valuation is avoided, the problem of bias does not arise in relation to them. The problem arises only in connection with the wider aims likely to be pursued in schools, where an ultimate objective of the undertaking is the production of politically-educated and politicallyaware citizens; people capable of making a rational assessment of the declared objectives and policies of politicians and parties, and of understanding to some extent the tasks and problems of government, as well as the particular issues and events, national and international, of their contemporary political scene. It is in relation to this much wider task that the problem of bias arises, as it is here that controversial topics are touched upon and the language of politics (equality, freedom, democracy) is virtually unavoidable. A solution which may be suggested at this point, is that of replacing the ideal of neutrality of terminology with an alternative ideal: that of the presentation by the teacher of all the conflicting viewpoints, without his revealing which it is that he supports himself, or striving to secure from the pupil a llegiance to any one of the conflicting viewpoints. But such a Programme is easier to propose than to carry out. It is unl ikely that a teacher could for long keep his political allegiances a secret, and it is equally unlikely that the pupils' attitude to him as a teacher could fail to be reflected in their deliberate acceptance or rejection of his known point of view. But more important still is the question of whether it is possible for an individual impartially to present conflicting points of view, with all except one of which he may strongly disagree. Can a sworn enemy of welfare provision, for distance, be expected to explain the rise of the welfare state in a way which would be acceptable also to its supporters? This problem is one which arises in a similar way in relation to religious education, where it has a solution in the form of the Agreed Syllabus, reached after centuries of bitter controversy. It arises, too, in connection with ethics and moral education, and the issues involved in the teaching of morals have received considerable discussion recent ly. Broadly, the object of this d iscussion has been to establish a criterion for distinguishing between instruction (legitimate teaching, education) and indoctrination.
Copynghled malcria
84
Modern Merhods of Teaching Political Science
The problem is perhaps more urgent in ethics, in that, whereas children may and do grow up without any kind of political education, and the effects of this on society if bad are long-term and generalized, they receive instruction in morality from their earliest years, and it seems unlikely that a society which fielded to inculcate any kind of code of behaviour in its young could survive the experiment. Moreover, everyone, simply by virtue of being an individual in society, is obliged to have a moral life (in a broad sense), whereas political participation can be limited to quinquennial voting, or even less than this. However, since bias and indoctrination are here being taken as associated terms, an since the general question of the definition of indoctrination can be given a particular application within the limited field of the teaching of politics, it is important to consider what suggestions have already been advanced, although with particular reference to moral education. Broadly, suggested criteria fall into two categories: those which depend upon the content of the teaching making subject-matter definitory of indoctrination; and those which stress instead the intention of the teacher/indoctrinator, or the methods which he uses. ln an article called 'Education and Indoctrination,'* John Wilson argued in favour of a criterion of the first kind, suggesting that there was a readily recognizable gradation from total neglect of a person's mind, through education proper, to indoctrination; and that whereas indoctrination was clearly recognizable in certain model cases such as Communist brain-washing techniques, the methods of the Spanish Inquisition, and the ranking of society in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World it became problematical in border-line cases such as sleepteaching. Wilson argued that in all. these cases it is not the methods that are employed, but the content or subject-matter of what is taught that marks the presence of indoctrination, the crucial subject-matter being politics, religion and morals. The distinguishing mark of indoctrinatory subject-matter is, Wilson suggested in this article, its uncertainty; and ' uncertain' is itself defined as: ' not true that any sane and sensible person, when presented with the relevant facts and arguments, would necessarily hold the beliefs;** i.e. there is no ' publicly-accepted' evidence for them. •
"*
J. Wilson, 'Education and Indoctrination', in THB Hollins. ed.. Alms in Education (Manchester University Press, 1964). Ibid .. pp. 27-8
Copynghted matcri,
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
8S
This led Wilson to propose thJat we should only teach ' rational' beliefs, for which there is publicly-accepted evidence, as opposed to, for instance, beliefs which are held by the majority of any society, or which are 'good' for children, or trnditional, or socially cohesive. He added that, wherever possible, a presentation of the evidence for beliefs is preferable to the presentation of the beliefs themselves, always bearing in mind that this excludes metaphysical and moral beliefs, for which evidence is not even a possibility. For these, he suggested, rational discussion in an agnostic sprit is the alternative to teaching or indoctrination. As indication of the trend such discuss ion might take appears towards the end of Wilson's article, where he asserted that the 'pseudoliberal' 'doctrine of adjustment to society, and a ' mature" acceptance of social responsibility' is more pernicious than the authoritarianism which it replaces. Wilson had, in fact, at the time of writing this article, in spite of his stress on 'agnosticism,' a very particular and pronounced moral point of view. This becomes clear when he claims that the education must be sociologically a ware that western societies are
'power-seeking and status-seeking societies largely incapable of spontaneous enjoyment, guilt-ridden in matters of sex and sensual enjoyment generally, lacking in communication and co-operative effort, neurotically isolated, tense and lonely, obsessed by the symbols of prestige and to a great extent incapable of honesty.' * Quite apart from the question of tile truth or the truth or accuracy so this as a p icture of western society, it is clear that such an anticonformist position is by no means ethically neutral; and it is doubtful whether a person holding it could generate the mood of moral neutrality which Wilson has suggested is the proper basis for the rational discussion which constitutes moral education. However, this in itse lf does not refute the definition of indoctrinatory teaching in terms of content which it was Wilson's main purpose to establish. And a further argument for this point of view was put forward by R.F. Atkinson in an interesting and carefully argued article called ' Instruction and Indoctrination.'** Like Wilson, Atkinson argues that the distinction between instruction and indoctrination depends on certain characteristics of what • Ibid .. p. 40. •• In R.D. Archambault cd . Plrilosophica/Analysis and £ducati01r (London Routledge & K,·gnn l'aul , 19651.
Copynghled malcria
86
Modern Me thods of Teaching Political Science
is taught rather than on the way in which any particular subject is taught. In particular, he thinks that indoctrinatory or non-rational methods of teaching may be both necessary and justifiable in some cases, such as with very young children, and that this in itself makes it important to establish a distinction between thing.s which it is proper to teach by these methods and those which it is not. The criterion he suggests is one of rationality. In the case of instruction, he argues, the person instructed is brought to accept what he is taught on rational grounds, and he is given the reasons. This means that he will be able to go on beyond the limit of his actual teaching to take steps on his own. Moreover, being shown the reasons, or the criteria for the truth of what he is being taught, will be an essential part of the teaching process. In the case of indoctrination, on the other hand, the subject is brought to accept what he is being taught, whether it can be rationally justified or not, and the question of its justification does not arise as part of the teaching. Atkinson compares this to the distinction between training and drilling, where in a similar fashion the distinction may be established on grounds of whether or not the reasons for the actions are part of the process of eliciting the actions. This has, on Atkinson's view, as far as moral education is concerned, a panicular and important consequent consequence. This is that 't)lere can be moral teaching, instruction in, as opposed to instruction about, morality, only if there are criteria of truth, cogency, correctness, in the field.* And Atkinson holds that there are in fact no such criteria for moral truth, since morality is essentially open-ended, one 'whole way of life 'being on a par with another 'whole way of life.' This is a conclusion with which most contemporary moral philosophers would agree, and if such skepticism applies within morals, how much more does it apply within politics. Although Atkinons's definition of rational content in terms of the possibility of a criterion of criterion of truth is very different from Wilson's definition in terms of what is accepted by 'sane and sensible people,' his conclusion is somewhat similar; in that he implies that, although he has argued strongly against moral education in the sense of feeding children moral conclusions, moral education may yet be permissible if it takes the form of guidance in dealing with moral problems for om•self. •
In R.D Archambault ed .. Philo!ophical Analysts and Education (london: Routledge /J; 1-.egau l'
Copyngh!ed matcri,
The Prohlt!m
r~( Bias
in Teaching Political Science
87
Although this is a very reasonable conclusion, and one which may in the end be accepted as a programme for action, the proposition that there are some subjects which exclusively lend themselves to the possibility of bias and indoctrination, wh ilst others are free from this defect is one which deserves close examination. in effect, the controversial subjects are held to be morals, religion and politics, and often there is a tacit assumption that the traditional school subjects, History, Geography, Mathematics, etc., are free from complications as to values. This assumption is not always made, however. In an article called ' Pawns against the Devil',* D.H. Monro describes the position of those who oppose the introduc tion of any va lue-element into the school, curnculum suggesting that only the most straight-for.vard type of history is suitable for teaching in schools, and that criticism in literature should be reserved until the critic has sufficient taste and maturity. He envisages them arguing: 'It is repulsive a to think of cocky little schoolboys being encouraged to find flaws in Shakespeare or to sneer at the dreams (however unpractical they may have been) of Shelley. Similarly, the traditions and values on wh ich our own community has be~n built should be approached as a precious inheritance which it would be tragic to lose, and which it is essential to understand, not as kind of Aunt Sally at which the immature may be allowed to hurl their intellectual ammunition in the hope that their aim will gradually improve** . But Monro himself is unable to accept this argument. Following John Stuart Mill, he agues instead that to understand anything fully is to understand the arguments against it. What becomes clear from this discussion, however, is that there is in fact a range of subjects which only on a very simple level can be considered value-free. And even 0111 this very simple level it is doubtful whether thy are after all as value-free as they appear. It is a well-known and unfortunate fact of life that history textbooks vary from country to country throughout the world, with for instance defeats and victories differently viewed and interpreted by victor~ and vanquished. Geography, again, is non-controversial when it is dealing. with the position of rivers or the shape of coast-lines, but not when describing national boundaries, where a particular political viewpoint tends to be taken for granted (consider, fur example, the different local geography taught in Arab and •
In E. L. French, cd , .He/bourne SIUdies in f:duca
1964). •• Ibid .. pp. 36-7
Copynghted rna ria
88
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Israeli schools), or in describing the way of life of the inhabitants of different countries. (There is a biased and an unbiased way of describing life in South Afric~ for instance.) Again, the study of literature deals with life, and the teacher's outlook on life will shop his comments to an extent of which he may be unaware. But, it may be argued, even if these subjects do form a marginal category not as blatantly non-factual and evaluative as politics, morals and religion, but sharing some of these features, there is still a further area of traditional school subjects which is completely value-free. In particular, mention might be made of Science, Languages, Mathematics and Art. However, even the teaching so Science offends some susceptibilities; as an example one could cite the teaching of Darwinism and evolutionary theory, which fundamentalist Christians see, not as the imparting of facts, but rather as the taking up of a position which is not merely controversial but actually false. Languages and Mathematics, again, are not usually used for indoctrinatory teaching in our society, but this by no means shows that they cannot be. In prewar Germany, for instance, textbooks for the teaching of these subjects were used as particularly insidious propaganda vehicles for accustoming the minds of the young to certain political programmes. Peterson quotes from Education and Society in Modern Germalf)' on the inclusion in arithmetic books of 'a table giving the sum of money paid annually by the State for elementary and secondary school children and for lunatics in order to proye that a lunatic is an expensive liability; the child is then told that there are 200,000 lunatics in Germany, and he is required to estimate how much they cost the State each year and how many marriage loans could be made with the money thus used. Other problems to be worked out deal with the Jews and military events.' • As far as Art is concerned, it is sufficient to say that what children are encouraged to do under this name in Russia is very different from what they are encouraged to do io the West: and that Art is not, in Communist countries, considered to be something that has nothing at all to do with politics and values generally. It follows, then, that there is no real case for excluding certain subjects altogether from the school curriculum as being uniquely liable to evoke bias: since, if the precedi111g argument is accepted, it will be • A.D.C. Pererson. A Htmdred Years oj£ducalion (london: Ouckwonh. 2nd ed., 1960) p. 52.
Copynghled malcria
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
89
seen that bias is something to be first understood and defined, and then avoided, if it is though undesirable, in the context of every teaching subject. Instead of a definition of indoctrination, then, in tern1s of content, it becomes necessary to consider the alternative suggestion of a definition which makes no reference to the subject-matter of the teaching, but only to either its manner or its intention. In an article called ' Adolescents into Adults', • R.M. Hare criticized the point of view put forward by Wilson in his article, arguing that in place of a definition in terms of content, what is required is a definition in terms of aim or intention. Wilson, Hare argues, having posed the false dilemma-method or content--went on to make the mistake of opting for content on fallacious grounds. His grounds depended- as has already been stated-on accepting a definition of what is rational in terms of what is accepted by 'sane and sensible people.' Hare points out that almost everybody would consider himself to belong to this category; in particular he mentions Roman Catholics wl1.1. to many outsiders, would seem most definitely to be indoctrinators. ar:d whose views, again to outsiders, do not seem to be of a type which mus; be accepted by all sane and sensible people, and who yet Wt•u ld neverthel ·ss certainly claim that their views were of this nature. On grounds such as these, Hare suggests, one cou ld never arrive at agreement over a ' right' content, or a ' right' doctrine. In the light of these criticisms, it is of interest to consider what John Wilson has added to his views on the nature of indoctrination in the recent publication by the Farmington Trust, An Introduction to Moral Education ... His emphasis here has ~hifted from content to method; although as far as content is concerned. he does hold that belief is an essential aspect of indoctrination. Simply t!l get people to do things. or to feel in a certain way, is not, he suggests, indoctrination. since this necessarily involves at least some element of getting people to believe things. The stress, however, is upon how these beliefs are inculcated. and Wilson ' s suggestion now it that the question of whether indoctrination has taken place or not turns upon the question of whether or not non-rational methods have been used to inculcate the belief. He • In THB Hollin>. UJI . cit. •• J Wil son. N . Williams and B. Su2arrnan . /ntro:wctt0/1 to .llol'lll f. d t•clllton tl '• " '"'"d'"onh: Penguin. 1967).
Copyrogh!ed rna ria
90
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
says: ' Indoctrination implies that a person is implanting certain types Jf beliefs by non-rational or illegitimate methods.• It will be seen that :n the phrase 'certain types of beliefs' a covert reference to content is :;till retained , without being further amplified, although the new definition is principally in terms of method. Unlike Atkinson, Wilson does not agree that the use of nonrational methods is an essential feature of the education and training of young children, since he considers that almost always this can be a\•oided. He suggests that in avo iding it (i.e, the use of non-rational methods of instruction) the factual question is raised of ' Does this way of seeing this, this sort of language, increase or diminish the child's rationality, in the sense of his appreciation of and control over reality?• • But since the problem of indoctrination is fundamentally a conceptual m·.her than a factual question, and Wilson implicitly recognizes this, he suggests also a further double criterion of a less facn1al kind: if we are to say that indoctrination has not taken place, then the beliefs which a child or a person entertains at the end of the teaching programme must, (a) be arrived at by methods w hich are not non-rational met hods, and (b) be susceptible to adaptation or change with changes in the real world situation. Since Hare in his art icle also assumed that th e use of indocrr'natory or non-rational methods was inevitable in the upbringing of young children, it is important to consider why Wilson denies th is, and what it IS that he means in making his den ial. It turns, it would seem, on his use of the phrase ' non-rational methods. ' When Atkinson or Hare use this term, they are using it in its broad sense to apply to all those aspects of children's education where authority. or even pure power, rather than persuasion by appeal to reason, is used to secure cu tain ends. These ends will almost always be modes of behaviour rather than beliefs, and the younger the child, the more likely this is to be the case. Wilson, on the other hand, although he ln.; on occasion used the notion of non-rational methods in this way,**" With reference to the eliciting of behaviour, has here deliberately restricted the use of the tenn to cases where what is aimed at is the establishment of a belief. Since what children believe is of less pressing importance for adulls •
Ibid .. I'· 172.
Ibid., p. I 73 . ... E.g. in ·f'.tucatiun and Indoctrination ·, in conneel ion \\ith stoppinj! a child onakinf: a 1 :'1is~. p. _t; u
Copynghted materia
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
91
than how they behave, what was impossible becomes by this new definition perfectly possible. However, the phrase 'non-rational methods', which was readily comprehensible in its broad sense, demands a much more explicit definition in its new sense than Wilson cares to give it. Brain-washing techniques and physical or physiological control are plainly ruled out, but so, Wilson appears to think, are all cases of telling somebody something without explaining the reasons why you thin k it to be true. But can it be indoctrination simply to tell a child that Stockholm is the capital of Sweden? If so, then the possibility of avoiding indoctrination becomes once again doubtful. But there is in any case an air of circularity in defining indoctrination in terms of the use of non-rational methods, particularly in conj unction with the reinforcing worked ' illegitimate.' It is clear that both these terms are to be understood as synonymous with ' indoctrinatory,' but a criterion for distinguishing what is indoctrinatory from what is not, is no nearer to having been established. The second criterion suggested by Wilson- that of readiness to change one's beliefs with changes in t!he world- which, because it is n:ore specific, would at first sight appear more valuable, is unfortunatfiiY not appropriate for this task. For. particularly in connection with political beliefs. there are people who hold their beliefs in lively appreciation of external developments which have a bearing on their beliefs. people who will adapt and revise their original beliefs in the light of these developments: there are at the same time people who will cling to their beliefs in the face of total change, ignoring any appeal for ratil)nal reconsideration. But that these two classes of people owe their characteristics to the people from whom they originally obtained their beliefs seems in the highest degree unlikely. It would in any case be an unfortunate situation if one could never recognize indoctrination when it was taking place, but had always to await the future, and the observations of pupils' behaviour that changes in the ' real world' situation might or might not make possible. If it is agreed, then, that the search for a criterion must centre on the teacher rather than the taught, we may return to Hare's article, and his suggestion that the crucial factor is the aim of the educator. In til~ case of small children, he says, the methods used may be the satw· .ts indoctrinatory ones, i.e., they may be authoritarian, but if thei r ultimate aim is to enable the children to think for themselves later in life. then this is not indoctrination. And her he makes the point which giv.:s his
Copynghted rna ria
92
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
article its title: that the educator is trying to tum children into adults; the indoctrinator wants to keep them perpetual children. The educator watches for signs of thought with approval; the indoctrinator watches f0r such signs, too. but because he is alert to suppress them. And Hare sums up: ' Indoctrination only begins when we are trying to stop the growth in our children of the cr.pacity to think for themselves about moral questions.' • J.P. White also offers a criterion of this kind, but in more specific terms. He says: ' Indoctrinating someone is trying to get him to believe that a proposition "p" is true, in such a way that nothing will shake that belief.'** In this case, whilst the definition is wholly in terms of intention, White makes a clear distinction between the real and the avowed intention, in order to overcome the objection to this type of criterion. that many people who would be considered indoctrinators could dissociate themselves from the charge simply by claiming that their intention was not 'to establish! belief in proposition "p" in such a way that nothing would shake that belief, but rather to explore with th~ir pupils its rational grounds. White argues thal if they are genuinely prepare:d to do this, then in fact they should not be called indoctrinators. whatever the nature of the beliefs they are instilling. He considers, too, the suggestion that his definition needs to be supplemented by the stipulation that the beliefs to be implanted must be doctrinal beliefs, beliefs which form part of a religious, scientific or political system; and he rejects this on the grounds that many other things are indoctrination too, such as instilling in one's pupils the notion that they are born for a particular and lowly function in life. In support of his argument he cites a hypothetical case of a teacher trying to indoctrinate his pupil with regard to a single false but neutral fact, such as that Melbourne is the capital of Australia; and suggests that if the teacher goes about instilling this belief in a particular way, suppressing all counter-evidence, for instance, not permitting argument, and endeavouring to induce a sense of guilt with regard to questioning the belief, then the fact that the belief does not belong to a doctrinal category is not in itself enough to prevent this being considered a case of indoctrination.
•
Op. cit.. 5: .
•• J. P. Wlulc. ·tndoctrinalillJl'. m R S. l'etcrs. cd.. Tit~ Concept
Copynqhled malcria
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
93
If it is accepted, then, that in the notion of aim or intention, with real as opposed to stated aim established independently with reference to a variety of criteria such as reaction to questioning, attitude to contrary viewpoints, etc., a clear understanding of the notion of indoctrinate becomes possible; and if it is also accepted that bias and indoctrination are two sides of the same coin-bias being indoctrination looked at from the point of view of the teacher and his material, whilst indoctrination is bias looked at form the point of view of the teacher/pupil relationship; then one further question must be c.onsidered. So far the discussion has tended to be conducted from the assumption that bias and indoctrination are things to be avoided, with their counterpart, impartiality, being taken for granted as a desirable al1ernative. This is not, however, by any means a necessary or an inevitable assumption. When the subject for indoctrination appears desirable enough, then there witt always be people to recommer.d the procedure, and to condemn neutrality in respect of it. For instance, the committed Christian may ask, but only rhetorically: 'Am I not to bring up my child as a Christian?' The American local politician may enquire: 'Are we not to bring up our children to love freedom and our democratic values?' The general public after major wars have tended to lo'lk first at the education system and blame the s~hools for the failings of the adult population, demanding that childrei1 be moulded in the image that has come to seem necessary. (It is no accident that major educational refonn in both Britain and France has for a century come in the immediate post-war years.) Similarly, a psychoanalyst may possess a clear view of the type of child needed or adjustment to modern society, and may see no objection to any method being used to obtain that type, with the good of the child himself as a justification. Perhaps the most powerful and persuasive argument for the putting of a particular point of view in relation to, in its broadest sense, politics, is that advanced by Sri Richard Acland in his book, Curriculum or Life?• Acland argues that it is essential that all children should grow up with a particular historical awareness, which it is his purpose in this book to present and describe. But valuable though such an insight may be, it is unfortunately the case that once the principle has been accepted that children in schools are fair targets for the implantation of excellent ideas, or good •
R. Acland, Curriculum or Life? (London: Gollancz. 1966).
Copyngh!ed rna ria
94
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
and valuable ways of looking at life, then the claimants press in from all sides. Training for life, training for citizensh ip, training for Christianity-how is one to divide between their conilicting claims? But rather than attempt to do this, I should like to contrast this view of education-the view that education consists in turning out products carefully molded to someone's ideal- with a rather more austere view. This is the v1ew that task conscious impartiality as its model, with respect for the pupil's own latent powers of discrimination and ultimate choice as its basis. Impartiality here becomes merely a reflection of the teacher's belief in the equality of persons, with his own viewpoint accorded no special status over that of others, or indeed over that of his pupils at a later date. In other words, he will not try to over-ride their future adult status by feeding them ready-made ideas. Instead, he will concentrate on equipping them with the skills they will need to make their own de;cisions. On this subject, Monro says: 'Education is not merely or even mainly the imparting of infonnation. It is much more a training in the techniques by which the pupil can obtain infonnation for himself... The whole curriculum should be designed to bring out the fact that human knowledge is fallible, and continually being C'>rrected, and that there are recognized techniques of gaining knowledge, for weighing evidence and testing hypotheses.' • Any teacher who subscribes to this view of education can safely accept the task of teaching politics, confident that bias is no more likely to mar the quality of his teaching in this than in any other field. To add to this our earlier concluding, he may also feel secure that bias is not something into which he may slip in an unwary n•oment, but that it is rather a matter of conscious intent. It is not an inevitable accompaniment of certain types of subjectmatter, and although there do exist indoctrinatory methods, the only methods which are indubitably indoctrinatory are of such a gross kind that they are both easily avoidable and also unlikely ever to be attempted in our schools. If we agree, then, that only the intention to indoctrinate counts, this need not be a vague and unspecific criterion. Instead it can be supplemented with a number of clear practical tests. The teacher of bias, the teacher who, whatever his protestations, is concerned to indoctri nate, can be identified whenever one of a number of points of '
D. H !\.lonro. op. cit .. pp. 28-9
Copynghled malcria
The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science
9S
view is presented as though it were the only one possible; whenever questions are suppressed rather than answered; whenever certain areas of questioning are taboo: and whenever the education is psychologicall ~ unable to tolerate the expressing of dissenting views.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Political Parties and Elections
POLITICAL PARTIES Introduction The literature concerning political parties is almost as diverse as the parties themselves, and as the old two-party political system becomes more complicated by the rise of new parties. it becomes increasingly necessary to have some framework within which to organize the field. Definitions are not easy to formulate, but there are certain features which are generally acce pted as a minimum statement of what constitutes a political party: (I) It must have an organization. (2) It must compete for positions of political power within the political system (i.e. contest elections) as one of its primary aims. (3) II must have a distinctive label that distinguishes it from other political groups. It is worth noting that you do not have to belong to a political party in order to stand as a candidate in UK elections, and in recent years there has been proliferation. of candidates, particularly at byelections, who describe themselves on the ballot paper usi ng curious party names. Concern over such 'freak' candidatures during the First W;>rld War led to the introduction of the deposit at parliamentary elections. but its present level is now widely regarded as being too low t" have ?ny deterrent value. Indeed, the Home Afl'airs Select Committee n:port (I' I the Reoresrmtntinn nfthe People Acts (HC 32. Session 1982-
Copynghled materia
Political Parties and Elections
97
1983) recommended that the deposit should be increased to £1000 and periodically reviewed. The publicity surrounding by-elections and the 1969 change in the law which allowed candidates' descriptions on the ballot paper to include their political activities may have encouraged this trend, but eccentric independents do not fulfil l the first requirement of having an organization. Even Independent Members standing for reelection must be disqualified on this count, and it could be argued that a party must seek (at least in theory) to fi ll more than one position of political power if it is to be taken seriously. Parties are generally regarded, by their activists at least, as being useful because they 'organize the vote.' In pluralist societies a number or parties compete for support amongst the electorate by putting forward a distinct programme of policies, thus enabling people to choose between them. In single-party states the party machine is difficult to distinguish from the organs of executi ve power, so its functions differ substantially from the parties we are considering here. This underlines the fact that the literature of parties, and to some extent elections as well, is very closely bound up with the political ideas and the political system in which they operate.
Primary Sources The literature relating to political parties is dom inated by the publications of the parties themselves. Only by studying these primary sources can the ideology and to som e extent the organizational strategy of each party be accurately discovered. The party manifestoes are the most important sources of the part' s ideology. They may be published at any time, but they are always produced at the time of general election, and can be found collected together in the Times Guide to the House of Commons for the Parliament retumcd at each election. F. W.S. Craig has also published a histo rica l C()Jie ction entitled British General Election Manifestos 1900- 1974 (Macmillan, rev. edn, 1975), which is mainly confined to Conservative, Labour and Liberal manifestos. The Conservative Research Department a lso publishes from time to time The Campaign Guide, which sets out detailed policy statements and criticizes the stance of the other parties on the major issues of the day. A similar publication was produced by the Labour Party before the 1979 General Election, called Labour Party Campaign Handbooks. which appeared in twenty-three parts, each covering a major policy area, but this was not repeated in 1983.
Copynghted matcri,
98
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Annual reports of each party's conference not only show the major issues of debate for the party but its organizational and personnel details as well. Labour Party Conference Reports go back to 1900, although the name Labour Party dates, strictly speaking, from 1906. The earliest reports can be found in a reprinted volume. The Labour Party Foundation Conference and Annual Conference Report 1900-1905 (Labour Representation Committee 1900-1905; Hammersmith Bookshop reprint, 1967). From 1906 the series is simply called Labour Party Conference Reports. Conservative Party conference reports date from 1867, but since 1978 they no longer publish a full report, although they do release the text of speeches by Ministers. This is much less satisfactory from an archival point of view, but it does perhaps reflect the different place of the party conference in Conservative Party Politics. Once again, F. W.S. Craig has compiled and published a very useful work of reference: Conser vative and Labour Party Conference Decisions 1945-1981 (Parliamentary Research Services 1982), which is arranged in broad subject areas. The Liberal Party has never published verbatim reports of its annua l conferences (which it p refers to call Assemblies), although texts of the resolutions debated at each Assembly are available since 1976. The part> was established as the National Liberal Federation in 1877, but the party conference onl.y really became a forum for policy discussion in the mid-1960s. A subject index to Assembly resolutions since 1967 can be found in the Gladstone Club's Directory ofLibera1 Party Resolutions 1967-1978. with is annual supplements. The party also produces an annual report giving details of work and organization of the party during the previous year. The newest party of all, the Social Democratic Party, continuing its conscious attempts to break out of the old party system, does not hold a party conference in the traditional sense. The party's representative policy-making body. the Council for Social Democracy, meets three times a year to formulate policy. There is no report of proceedings although major policy papers are published. Once a year there are also Consultative Assemblies, at which rank-andfile party members can discuss party policy, but no publications will res ult from th ese. Most parties also publish weekly or monthl y periodicals for th eir members which provide up-to-date statements of the party's position on current even ts as well as news of internal party developments. Labour Weekly ( 1971 -) and Liberal News ( 1936-) appear weekly; Conservative News line (September 1982-) is monthly and the
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Political Parties and Elections
99
Conservative Research Department's Politics Today ( 1975-) appears fortnight ly. Con fu singly, th e Labour Research Department, which publishes the monthly Labour Research ( 191 7-), has no connection with the Labour Party. On a particular issue it is always advisable to check whether the party has published a pamphlet on the subject. The bigger parties aim to cover all major issues in their pamphlet series, smaller ones such as Plaid Cymru or the Communist Party may only publish one or two items al year, so their manifesto would be a better source of general policy. Sometimes smaller parties produce usefu.l pamphlets about themselves and their history. A recent example is Ian Birchall's The Smallest Mass Party in the World (Socialist Workers Party, 1981 ). References can often be found in the bibliographies of secondary sources. Some interest groups and factions within the larger parties also produce newsletters and pamphlets to publicize their po int of view, such as YL Newsletter (Young Liberals), whic h can provide useful additional detail on particular policy stances or on differences of opinion within the party. One of the most influential groups is Conservative Action for Electoral
Reform, which represents a sizable section of Conservative Party opinion in favour of proport ional rep resentation, and regu larly publishes pamphlets on the subject. Equally significant to the Labour movement, and of much greater antiquity and prestige, is the Fabian Society, wh ich was founded in 1884 and 'exists to further socialist education and research.' It is affiliate to affiliated to the Labour Party, and publishes Fabian News (1891-) as we ll as the Fabian Tracts (1884-), Fabian Research Series ( 1932-) and Young Fabian series of pamphlets ( 1961-). Their archives are in Nuffield College, Oxford. The Row Group, although not connected with the Conservative Party, is open only to those with Conservative views and serves as the Conservative equivalent of the Fabian Society in publishing a major series of policy pamphlets. Turning from ideology to organization, each party's constitution and rules for constituency branches are pr inted either as part of the annu al conference record or as separate pamphlets. The constitutions of the major parties are reproduced in J.D. Lees and R. Kimber, Political Parties in Modern Britain (Routledge and Kcgan Paul, 1972); but since the party conferences usually have the power to amend the constitution, a new one tends to be pri nted after any changes have been made. Detailed party procedures on such matters as the selection of parliamentary candidates, may also be fou nd in the party's ru les for
Copyngh!ed rna ria
100
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
constituency branches. The Conservative Party, for example, has Model Rules for Constituency and Branch (rev, edn, Conservative C~ntral Office, 1982) and the Labour Party publishes Rules for Constituency Labour Parties & Branches ( 1981 ). References to the constitution and rules of regional parties can be found in United Kingdom Facts, by R. Rose and I. McAllister (Macmillan. 1982). Both the Labour and Conservative Parties have libraries at their London headquarters where researchers can consult their publications on request. Most of the Conservative Party archives have been deposited at the Bodleian Library, but the archives of the Labour Party can be consulted in London by appointment, subject to a fiften-year closure rule on sensitive material. The other parties, suffering from a lack of resources, do not operate their own libraries as such. Secondary Sources Works about political parties can best be considered under three main headings. They tend to focus on either the party system, party organization and finance or on studies of individual parties. Tile Party System
A major theme of recent writings is the future of the system. Does the proliferation of parties means the end of the two-party system? H.M. Drucker explores this theme in his Multi-party Britain (Macmillan, 1979), which includes chapters by contributors on major and minor parties, as well as a very useful section on extra-parliamentary parties which are not otherwise well documented. A more analytical approach is used by S.E. Finer in The Changing British Party System, 1945-1979 (American Enterprise Institute, 1980), which also discusses party organization and the impact of the electoral system. Another study of the likely effects of the rise of 'minor' parties in David Butler's Governing Without a Majority (Collins, 1983), which discusses various types of possible future 'hung parliaments'. A thorough up-to-date survey is provided by Alan R. Ball's British Political Parties: the Emergence of a Modern Party System (Macmillan, 1981), which includes a good bibliography. Further historical detail can be found in the standard works: The Growth of the British Party System, Ivor Bulmer-Thomas (2nd edn, John Baker, 1967) and Party Politics: the Growth of Parties, by Sir Jvor Jennings (Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1961 ). For many years accepted as the standard explanation of
Copynghled malcria
Political Parties and Elections
101
the rise of parties, Democracy and the Organisation ofPolitical Parties, by M.l. Ostrogorski (2 vols, Quartet Books, 1964) is still a classic work of reference in the field . S. H. Beer has just reprinted his Modem British Politics (Faber, new edn, 1982) in which he takes a historical view of the links between ideology and policy making, concentrating mainly on the Conservative and Labour pa.nies. Party Organization and Finance
' The best modem study of pomitical parties in Richard Rose's The Problem of Party Government (Macmillan, 1974). An important comparison of tile internal policies of the Labour and Conservative parties in to be found in British Political Parties by R.T. Mckenzie (Heinemann, 2nd edn, 1963). Party organization is well analysed in Less and Kimber's Political Parties in Modem Britain (Macmillan, 1972), and a detailed examination of the regional structure of the Labour and Conservative parties can be found in David J. Wilson, Power and Party Bureaucracy in Britain (Saxon House, 1975). An excellent historical study of the growth of party organization after the Reform Act of 1867 at both national and local level is H.J, Hanham, Elections and Party Management: Politics in the Time of Disraeli and Gladstone (Harvester Press, 2nd edn, 1978). It includes a useful bibliography. Studies of local constitue ncy parties tend to focus on election campaigns, but constituency Labour Parties in Britain, by E. G. Janosik (Pall Mall Press. 1968), is a good example of a study of constituency party leaders and activists. A more detailed analysis of poli4fal sociology and party membership is D. Berry's survey of attitudes in Liverpool: The Sociology of Grass Roots Politics (Macmillan, 1970). The subject of candidate selection is dealt with by two classic studies: A. Ranney. Pathways to Parliament (Macmillan, 1965) and M. Rush, The Selection of Parliamentary Candidates (Nelson, 1969). It is a tribute to their efforts that nobody has h:td much to say on the subject since their publication. The study of party finance should be much easier since the publication of Michael Pinto-Duschinsky's British Political Finance 1830-/980 (American Enterprise Institute, 1981 ). Consideration of the arguments for state aid to political parties outside Parliament can also be found in one of the few official publications in this field, namely the Report of the Commillee on Financial Aid to Political Parties (Chairman, Lord Houghton; Cmnd. 6601 HMSO, 1976). which recommended state aid at both central and local levels by a system of partial reimbursement of candidates' election expenses. This has never been implemented. The
Copynqhled malcria
102
Mvdem Methods of Teaching Political Science
highly respected Hansard society for Parliamentary Government published a report on the subject in July 1981 entitled Paying for Politics, in which they recommended a system of state aid dependent upon matching contribut ions to party funds . This provoked little comment. Analysis of company dona tions (principally to the Conservative Party). appear every year in the August issue of Labour Research and in more detail in the Labour Party Research Department's regular lnfonnation Paper. Company Donations to the Tory Party and other Political Orga11i.mtions, which is usually published in August of September. Since 1975, state aid has been given to opposition parties in Parliament on the basis of the number of seats won and votes gained at the previous general election. It is designed to finance secretarial and research support manly for opposition front-bench spokesmen. The role of the party conference is thoroughly discussed by Lewis Minkin in his book The Labour Party Conference (Manchester University Press, 2nd edn, 1980). Unfortunately, there is nothing similar for the other parities. Individual Parties It is noticeable that more is being written about elections and voting behaviour than about parties as entities. There are very few studies of individual parties, apart from the minor parties whose increasing ele..:toral success has brought them widespread attention; whereas many books concentrate on the party in power by discussing a particular administration, for example Labour in Power? A Study of the Labour Government 1974-79, by D. Coates (Longman, 1980): or on a short historical period, for example, P. Adelman, The Decline of the Liberal Party 1910-1931 (Longman, 1918); or on one aspect of the party such a~; The Making of Conservative Party Policy: the Conser vative Research Department since 1929, by John Ramsden (Longman 1980). Biographies of Ministers or prominent politicians should not be overlooked as they can provide valuable insights into particular incidents or periods.
Tile Conservatwe Party An early bibliography of Conservatism is G.D.M. Block, A Source Book of Conservatism (Conservative Political Centre, 1964). There are many books discussing the history of the party at various periods. but among the be~t are The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill, by
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Political Parties and Elections
103
Robert Blake (Eyre and SpottiswoO
TI1e early history is well set out in The Emergence of the Labour Party 1880-1924. by Roger Moore (Hodder and Stoughton, 1978). Details of the developing party organization are to the found in A History ofthe Labour Party from 191-1. by G.D.H. Cole (Routledge and Kl!gan Paul, 1948). A good introduction which also studies the more recent period is A Short .History ofthe Labo ur Party, by H. Pel ling (Macmillan, 6th edn, 1978). Dennis Kavanagh has edited a useful collection of papers which discuss various aspects of current controversy within the party: The Po/itk·s of the Labour Party (Allen and Unwin, 1982). One of the best studies of ideology remains Parliamentary Socialism. by R. Miliband (Merlin Press, 2nd edn, 1972), although Anthony Crosland's Crosland's thinking in The Future of Socialism (Jonathan Cape, 1956) and Socialism Now, essays editted by Dick Leonard (Jonathan Cape, 1974) is still considered a formative influence in socialist philosophy. A more recent account of ideological division in the party isS. Haseler's The Tragedy of Labour (Biackwll, 1980), and The Battle for tbe Labour Party. by David and Maurick Kogan (Kogan Page, 2nd edn, 1983), charts the recent power struggle s within the party in a clear and structured way. TI1e Liberal Party
The Liheral Party is not so well documemed as it might be, in spite of many discussions of its rise and fall at various periods. The most useful works are The Formation ofthe British Liberal Party 185768, by J. Vincent (Constable, 1966); HistOI)' ofthe Liberal Party 18951970, by R. Douglas (Sidgwick and Jackslln 1971): and Chris Cook' s
Copyngh!ed rna ria
104
Modern Methods of Teaching Poliiical Science
more recent Short History ofthe Liberal Party 1900-1 976 (Macmillan, 1976) , which includes a very useful bibliographic note. A more sociological study is The Liberal Party, by J.S. Rasmussen (Constable, 1965). A thorough historical study of ideology is P. Clarke's Liberals and Social Democrats (Cambridg,e University Press, 1978), now a source of certain renewed interest. Clarke's arguments also appear in a book edited by V. Bogdanor, Liberal Party Politics (Oxford University Press, 1983), which surveys Liberal Party fortunes since 1931. It is a similar work to Layton-Henry's Conservative Party Politics and Kavanagh's The Politics of the Labour Party (see 1bove), which also resulted from conferences sponsored by lhe Social Science Research Council (now lhe Economic and Social Research Council).
Tlte Social Democratic Party Although a recent phenomenon, the formation and development oflhe SOP has attracted considerable attention. Jan Bradley's Breaking the Mould? (Martin Robertson, 1981) traces its emergence from the Labour Party, while Hugh Stephenson's Claret and Chips (Michael Joseph, 1982) focuses on the leading personalities and the central organization. The latter reprints as appendices some useful documents such as the Limehouse Declaration. Minor Parties The best starting point is Minor Parties at British Parliamentary Elections 1885-1974, by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan, 1975), which lists which parties have stood, lheir candidates and results, and gives a short list of sources on each. This should be supplemented by United Kingdom Facts (see above), Chapter 3: Political Parties, which covers parties in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the latter being excluded from Craig. A short bibliography is given in each case. An early study of small parties and pressure groups is G. Thayer, The British Political Fringe (Anthony Blond, 1965). Some of the material has been superseded by later works, but it is still a useful survey of groupings who were then outside the two-party system. Other studies of minor panics have concentrated on those of the Right, the Left or the various nationalist viewpoints. One of the most useful is Left, right: the March vf Political Extremism in Britain, by J. Tomlinson (John Calder. 1981 ). Blake Raker's recent 'expose' of the extreme Left in Britain '. The Fitr L,;ji ( Wcidenfeld and Nicolson, 198 1). also contains some helpful information not available elsewhere. Rightwing movements were not
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Political Parties and Elections
105
previously very well covered, but The British Right, edited by N. Nugent and R. King (Saxon House. 1977) and Harvester Press' occasional seri.:s of limited but useful bibliographical guides entitled The Radical Right and Patriotic Movements in Britain (during 1975, published in 1978; and during 1978, published in 1982) have helped to fill the gap. They have also produced a similar publication dealing with left-wing political movements entitled The Left in Britain: a Checklist and Guide (Harvester Press, 1976) which covers groups that were active between 1904 and 1972. Single studies of individual small parties are too numerous to list here, and there is certainly room for a comprehensive bibliography in this area. ELECTIONS
Introduction The major purpose of any political party must be to cont:::st election. It is inevitable, therefore, that much of the literature relati ng to parties in also important to the understanding of elections. However. the electoral system within which paretics have to operate, the election process itself and the political implications of both of these have each been stu~ied separately and have generated a vast body of literature. Primary Reference Sources It is something of a curiosity that, unlike many other European countries, we do not have a handy volume which sets out the body of our electoral law. The nearest source is the current edition of Halsbury 's Laws of England, whose volume on elections covers most electoral law, although other relevant provisions are scattered under different headings. Rules for the conduct of a parliamentary election arc set out in the standard work Parker 's Conduct of PAr/iamemary Elections (Charles Knight, new edn, 1983), which is. now in a loose-leaf format. More procedural detail can be found in Chapter II of Erskine May's Parliamentary Practice (Butterworths, 20th cdn, 1983). Local election rules differ slightly, and here Little 's Local Government Elections (shaw and Sons, 8th edn, 1979) can help.
Detai ls of which areas are included in each constituency are contained in the schedules to the schedules to the Act implementing the latest redistribution of seats. These are usually called Rcprcsentatillll of the people Acts, and they put into effect the agreed reports of the
Copyngh!ed rna ria
106
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Parlbmentary Boundary Commissions, Since 1944 the four Boundary Commissions (for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) have been required to report at ten to fifteen-year intervals. Previous reports were in 1947, 1969. The latest reports are:
Boundary Commissionfor England(2 vols, Cmnd 8797, 1983); Boundary Commission for Wales (Cmnd, 8798, 1983); Boundary Commission for Scotland (2 vols, Cmnd. 8794, 1983) an d Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland (cmnd. 8753, 1982). The best source for maps of each constituency is the appropriate Boundary Commission report. The tracing of boundary changes over the years is a complex task, and although much can be done by comparing maps and the Boundary Commission recommendations over the years, the non-specialist is better advised to use F. W.S. Crag's helpful summ ary, Boundaries of Parliamentary Constit11encies 1885-1972 (Political Reference Publications, 1972). It is important to distinguish hece the Parliamentary (PBC) from the Local Government Boundarf Commissions (LGBC). There are four LGCBs matching the four PBCs. Their function is to draw local government boundaries as the PBC's is to draw parliamentary constituency boundaries, but they operate under S{' parate legislation and separate rules. This section considers only the Parliamentary Commissions. Works concerned with election results are a basic source for any further investigation. Parliamentary election results are fairly easy to discover, largely thanks to the efforts of Fred Craig, who has produced a number of. indispensable works of reference in this field. His series of British Parliamentary Election Results covers the period 1832 to 1973: {1832- 1885 : Macmillan, 1977. 1885-1918: Macmillan, 1974 . 19181'.>49: Macmillan, new edn, 1977. 1950- 1973 : Political Reference Publications, 1983). Thereafter Britain Votes 2 (Parliamentary Research Services, 2nd edn, 1980: Britain Votes 3 (1984) cover parliamentary election results from 1974 to 1983. For detailed analyses of different a~rects of elections and by-elections, his British Electoral Facts Facts IS32-1 980 ( Parliamentary Research Services, 1918) will answer most q4estions. Further discussions of by-elections since 191 8 are contained in By Elections in British Politics. edited by C. Cook and J. Ram sden (Mac millan, 1973), which lists in an appendix the results of all contested by ·~ kct ions from 1919 to March i 973 (with a few exceptions). Election
Copynqhled malcria
Political Parties and Elections
107
resu lts before 1832 arc less easy to obtain, but Fred Craig has edited an edition of Henry Stooks Smithy's Parliaments of England (Political Reference Publications, 2nd edn, 1973), which gives the results from 17 15 to 1847. Before 1715 there is no comparable reference book, apart from the original Official Return of Members of Parliament (HC 69, session 1877-1 878) which lists the Members elected to each Parliament as far back as 1213 , in chronological order of Parliament with an alphabetical index of names. This publication is not without errors and omissions, but it is the most comprehensive work available and always worth consulting. As far as Irish seats at Westminster are concerned, F. W.S. Craig does not include details of any before the creati ng of the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1921. They can, however, be found in Parliamentary Election Resuits in Ireland, 1801 -1922, edited by B.M. Walker(Royallrish Academy, Dublin, 1978). The various parliamentary bodie£ in Northern Ireland are well covered. Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results 1921-1972, by Sydney Elliott (Political Reference Publication. 1973) gives the results for all general elect ions and by-elections during t he Stormont Parliament. Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973 are summarized in The Northern Ireland General Elections of 1973 (Cmnd. 5851, HMSO, 1975), and the results of the elections to the 1975 Convention are rcund in most detail in The 1975 Northern Ireland Convention Election, by Ian McAllister (University of Strathclyde Survey Research Centre, Occasional, Paper No. 14, 1975). The first elections to the present Assembly are listed and discussed in The 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly Election, by S. El liott and A. Wilford (University of Strathclyde, I 983). Local elections results are much more d ifficult to find, especially at ward level. The only local election results which have been compiled for elections before 1973 concern the GLC: Greater London Votes I : The Greater London Council 1964-1970, by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications, 1971 ). No. fu rther works were published in this series. Since then, they are better d ocumented for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland than they are for England-an unusual and difficult situation. As far as Scotland is concerned, since 1973 J.D. Bochel and D.T.Denver have been compiling tl1e results after each election. Their two most recent publications are The Scouish Regional Elections 1978: Results and Statistics (with B.J. McHardy: Uni versities of Dundee and Lancaster, 1978) and The Scottish District Elections 1980: Results and
Copyngh!ed rna ria
108
Modem Methods of Teaching Political Science
Statistics (University of Dundee, 1980). For Wales some data are available in A Political and Electoral Handbook for Wales, by D. Balsom and M. Burch (Gower, 1980), although, unlike Bochel and denver, individual results are not given. Local election results for Northern Ireland are, like Scotland, contained in a variety of sources. This time the main contributor is Sydney Elliott. He was co-author of the Command Paper on the Northern Ireland elections of 1973 (see above) which includes a section on the local elections in that year. Unfortunately the detailed results are not included. He has also compiled jointly with F.J. Smith, Northern Ireland Local; Government Elections of 1977 (Queen's University of Belfast, 1977) and Northern Ireland, the District Council Elections of 1918 (Queen's University of Belfast, 1981), both of which show individual transfers of votes at each stage of the count as well as the final figures. The only results which are readily available for areas in England are those for the GLC. Fred Craig has compiled the results for GLC elections from 1964 to 1970 (see above), but since then the GLC itself taken on the task of compiling and publishing results for both the GLC elections and the London Borough Council elections. The results for each election are published in separate voiumes, the latest ones being Greater London Council Election 7 May 1981 and London Borough Council Elections 6 May 1982. The detailed election results for any other area can only be found in local newspaper reports at the time or by contacting each local Returning Officer. The results of national and regional referenda are important to the study of the political and electoral system, and are all included in British Electoral Facts /832-/980 (see above), where the references to the official publications containing the results of each can be found. The main sources of statistics relating to elections which go further than the resu lts themselves are Electoral Statistics, pub-lished annually by the Office of Population. Censuses and Surveys and supplemented periodically by the OPCS Monitor; and the Annual Abstract a/Statistics. which also contains data on numbers of electors, votes cast, etc., for the last eleven elections. After each general election an official return of election expenses is published wh ich includes details of polling stations, postal votes and spoilt ball to papers together with the expenses of each candidate. The return relating to the 1983 general election is Election Expenses (HC 130, Session 1983-1984: HMSO, 1983).
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Political Parties and Elections
109
Secondary Sources There have been countless studies of different aspects of elections over the years, and to the student of electoral history contemporary accounts of the system and its operation at various periods are always valuable. Nevertheless some organization of the field is essential to avoid confusing readers unfamiliar with the complexities of the subject matter.
Tile Electoral System Although it is now slightly out of date, R.L. Leonard's Elections in Britain (Van Nostrand, 1968) gives one of the clearest accounts of the technicalities of the system as well as describing in detail what actually happens during an election. The best analysis of the workings of the electoral system remains D.E. Butler's The Electoral System in Britain since 1918 (The C larendon Press, 2nd edn, 1963) which discusses how the present system developed as well as how it operates. The extension of the franchise has always been a popular subject of study, and there are a number of useful sources which could be used to supplement Part I of Butler' s book if more details were needed. The passage of the major electoral refonns of the nineteenth century can be traced in various works on each of the Acts. TI1e 1832 Act is the subject of Michael Brock' s The Great Reform Act (Hutchinson University Library, 1973) and J.R.M. Butler' s The Passing of the Great Reform Bill (Frank Cass, 1964), which recounts the political controversy of the time through the accounts of the m ain participants. The consequences of these early reforms are dealt with in Politics in the Age of Peel: a Study in the Technique of Parliamentary Representation 1830-50 by Norman Gash (Harvester Press, 2 nd edn, 1977). The next attempts at rcfonn arc charted in f.W . Smith's The Marking of the Second Reform Bill (Cambridge University Press, 1966). A more detailed account of the effects of these reforms and those of the mind-1880s is contained in Charles Seymour's very th oroug h Electoral Reform in England and Wales: the Development and Operation ofthe Parliamentary Franchise 1832-1885 (Oxford University Press, 1915; reprint, David and Charles, 1970). Another good account of the refonn s of the second half of the century is Comelisu O' Leary' s The Elimination of Corrupt Practices in British Elections 1868-191 / (The Clarendon Press, 1962). Moving on to d iscussions of twentieth-century developments, H.L. Morris' Parliamentary Franchise Reform 1885-1918 (Columbia Univers ity Press, 192 1) is less analytical than Seymour or Butler, although he does
Copyngh!ed rna ria
110
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
discuss the campaign for women's suffrage in some detail, a top ic surprisingly poorly treated many sources. The best work devoted to this subject is Constance Rover's Women's Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain, 1866-19.14 (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967), which includes a useful appendix showing Private Members' Bills attempting to in\roduce the enfranchisement of women. Roger Fulford's Votes for Wiimen (Faber, 1957), is a good readable study of the suffragette m~wement and its eventual success. Fulford converts the period up to 19~ 8, and a chapter in J.F.S. Ross' Elections and Elector (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1955) deals with the extension of the franchise from 1918 to 195 I (Chapter 16, Women in Parliament, pp. 252-268). A more detailed account of the passage of the 1918 Representation of the People Act is in Martin Pugh, Electoral Reform in War and Peace /906-18 (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978), which, despite its irritating typescript appearance, gives more of the flavour of the events than Morris' rather dry style. The parliamentary franchise has unfortunately never been identical with the franchise for local elections. One of the very few sources on this subject is The English Local Government Franchise by B. KeityLucas (Blackwell, 1952), which concentrates large ly on nineteenthcentu ry developments. A brief discussion of the twentieth century position is found in Chapter 2 of A History of Local Government in the Twentieth Century, by B. Ke ith-Lucas and P.G. Richard (Allen and Unwin, 1978, pp. 18-23).
111e Election in Pratice Sources range fron~ relatively straightforward accounts of the conduct of the campaign nationally or locally to thoroughly researched post-mortems on the outcome and investigations into th e behaviour of the electorate. Into the first category come the ' instant' guides to the next general election. A good example is the series of Guardian/ Quartet Election G uides, wh ich not only examine th e performance of the incumbent adm inistration, but give considerable background detail on the various issues to figure in the campaign. In 1983 a trio of books appeared, written by Members of Parliament, arguing the case for each of the three main parties by explaining their policy and ideology. Chris Patten put The Tory Case. Austin Mitchell The Case for Labour and Alan Seith argued The Case for the Liberal Party and the Alliance (all: Longman, 1983). They were published so near the 1983 general election that it is dou btful whether they swayed an y voters, but they will be
Copynghled malcria
Political Parties and Elections
Ill
referred to as classic statements of each party's current philosophy for many years. Into the category of post-mortems come studies of single general elections, an interesting gender which deserves more attention. Since 1945 Nuffield College, Oxford has sponsored a series of these, in which the biggest single contribution has been made by David Butler, who has been author or co-author of each on:e since 1951. His last three works have been written jointly with Dennis Kavanagh: The British General Election of February 1974 (Macmillan, 1974); The British General Election of October 1974 Macmillan, 1975); and The British General Election of 1979 (Macmillan, 1980). Each of these goes far beyond a summary of the events of the election concerned. The 1979 study, for instance, includes a survey of the record ofthe previous administration, the performance of the opposition, major political events, re-selection struggles and the effect of media coverage. An American initiative has led to a series entitled Britain at the Polls, under the editorship of H.R. Penniman. Two studies have appeared so far- Britain at the Polls: the Parliamentary Elections of 1974 (American Enterprise Institute. Washington, 1975) and Britan at the Polls, 1979: Study ofthe General Election (American Enterprise Institute, Washington, 1981). Using a mixture of British and non-British contributors, Penniman gives an interesting comparative perspective on our own processes. There arc number of studies of earlier elections, such as A.K. Russell's Liberal Landslide: the General Election of 1906 (David and Charles, 1973) and Baldwin Thwarts the Opposition: The British General Election of 1935, by T. Stann age (Croom Helm, 1980). A list of the major studies of this type is given in the bibliography to The British Voter: em Atlas and Survey since I 885, by M. Kinnear (Bats ford, 2nd edn, 1981 ) . Kinnear surveys the results of each eleciion since 1885 and illustrates the voting with maps. He also has useful analyses of swings, turnout and voting behaviour. A further type of election study focuses on a single constituency and analyses grass-roots political activity and organization, which usefully supplements the national perspective. Anyone interested in the history of a particular constituency might find useful a longitudinal study such as The Parliamentary History of G/amorgan 1542- I976, by R. Grant (Christopher Davies, 1978). There is as yet no bibli
· Copynghled malcria
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Sci£'11Ce
112
An increasingly popular aspect of election studies is the analysis of voting behaviour. Arguments about the extension of the franchise often turned on the dangers of entrusting the vote to the mass electorate, and although we now have universal education, the question of voter rationality is still an important issue. The parties themselves want to know which factors will encourage people to vote for them-policies, personalities, image or tradition- and academic studies have begun to concentrate on voting behaviour as an indicator of th e success of the electoral system in producing the results that voters intend. The most comprehensive study in the field is Political Change in Britain, by D. Butler and D. Stokes (Macmillan, 2nd edn, 1974). Besides attempting to explain the factors influencing an ·individual voter's choice, including the impact of major issues. Butler and Stokes also examine in detail the concept of party identification, which in turn helps to explain shifts in party support over the years. More recent work by lvor Crewe has shown that the once-popular notion that there were ' floating voters' who regularly switched their allegiance from one party to another on longer describes voting behaviour. His theory of ' partisan dealignment' is that traditional party allegiances are breaking down, partly as a result of the rise of new parties. His Decade of Dea/ignmem, written jointly with Bo Sarlvik (Cambridge University Press, 1983), analyses these trends in the 1970s. A more detailed social psychological study can be found in How Voters Decide, H.T. Himmelweit and others (Academic Press, 1981), which re-analyses some of Butler and Stokes' data. Sadly, the ' swingometer' only worked when there were two main parties. A much more sensitive device is needed to portray the complexities of electoral choices when so many more candidates are involved. One interesting attempt to analysed the interaction between politicians and voters is Jan (McLean's Dealing in Votes (Martin Robertson, 1982). McLean discusses voting behaviour in the context of the influences that may be exerted on an individual's choice, and links it to the attitudes of elected politicians. He includes comparisons with American experience. Another comparative study is Richard Rose's Electoral Participation (Sage, 1980), a collection of papers relations to different electoral systems, with attention focused on the analysis of voting tumout.
Electoral Reform Pressures for reform of the electoral system are usually in three extension of the franchise. the operation of electoral
Jirection~-the
Copynghled malcria
Political Parties and Elections
113
procedures and the effect of the sys1em itself. Since the achievement of universal suffrage there have only been minor alterations to the franchise, such as the recent enfranchisement of patients in mental hospitals. There is some pressure for Irish nationals living in the UK to be disfranchised, but this is unlikely to become a reality. On the question of electoral procedures, the level of the deposit and the provision of postal votes for people on holiday on polling day are two topics of current concern. By far the most persistent calls for reform, however, relate to the operation of the electoral system itself, Studies of how votes are translated into seats and comparison's with other voting systems have come to prominence mainly since the Second World War. This is due partly to the results of particular general elections in which parties obtained a majority of votes but a minority of seats, and partly to the consistent underrepresentation of smaller parties in Parliament in proportion to their support amongst the electorate. The concept of representation has always been fundamental to the study of democratic systems, and one of the clearest presentations of the subject is A. H. Birch's Representation (Pall Mall Press, 1971), which includes an extensive bibliography. A thorough critique of the voting system, its effects and altemalives is J.F.S. Ross' Elections and Elect01y (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1955. It also contains a useful section on the Speaker's Conferences on Electoral Refonn. In spite of being written before many disparities between voting strength and seats had become obvious, this book is still a very valuable comprehensive survey. A more recent work which is a standard textbook for politics students is Political Representation and Elections in Britain, by P. G. J. Pulzer (Allen and Unwin, 3rd edn, 1975). Pulzer has a section on representation in theory, as well as discussions ol the system in practice, including the place of political parties in the electoral process. It is readable and has useful footnotes and a good classified bibliography. Another wellwritten analysis of our electoral system is lain Mclean's Elections (Longman, 2nd edn, 1980). which also deals purely with Britain. The works mentioned above are primarily critiques of the present system, but there is a sizeable body of literature which not only analyses what is said to be wrong with our 'e lectoral system, but advocates that some form of proportional representation should take its place. The classic work on the subject is by Britain's foremost campaigner for proportional representat ion (PR)-Enid Lakeman . It is H ow Democracies Vote: a Study of £/ect.oral Systems (Faber, 4th edn, 1974).
Copynqhled malcria
114
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
It is the most thoro11gh and comprehensive account of not only our own voting methods, but those in other voting systems, and contains strong cogent arguments in favour of PR. The Electoral Reform, Society, of which she was a director for many years, has library with a good collection of books, pamphlets and newspaper cu ttings which can be consulted by appointment. The n ext useful work to published was Adversary Politics and Electoral Reform (Anthony Wigram, 1975), a collection of essays elite by S.E. Finer. These in clude pieces about the experience of European electoral systems the effect of our electoral system on our economic life and the effect of electoral reform on :he local Member of Parliament. This book is particularly interesting, because Professor Finer admits to having revised his former anti-PR opinions due to concern about the ' malfunctioning' of the political system, as demonstrated by the break-up of the two-party system. In 1975 the Hansard Soviet for Parliamentary Government set up a Commission to study the case for and against electoral reform and its possible impact on the British political system. Its report, published in 1976, is a masterly summary of the present system, alternative systems and the pros and cons of electoraJ reform. That were unanimous in recommending that there should be electoral reform (Report of the Hansard Society Commission on Electoral Reform Hansard Society, 1976). A more technical discussion ,o f the form ulae involved the various voti ng systems can be found in The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws by D.W. Rae (Yale Un iversity Press, rev. edn, 1971). His fi nal · chapter contains a rather complex statistical refutation of some of the criticisms of PR, such as that it leads to a multiplicity of parties, or causes government instability. Verv different styles are evident in two of the best pleas in favour ofPR: Joe Rogaly's Parliament for the People (Temple Smid1, 1976) is in simple language and is easy to read, whereas Enid Lakeman 's latest book PQwer to Elect (Heinemann, 1982) is a sober, serious statement of the case for the adoption of PR by the single transferable vote method. Both are valuable, even if they appeal to different audiences. Finally, Vernon Bogdanor has produced a very useful book called The People and the Party System (Cambridge Un iversity Press, 1981 ). The first part argues for the extension of the use of the referendum, but the second advocates the introd uction of the single transferable vote type of PR, and contains a very good historical su rvey of the attempts to introduce PR since 1831.
Copynghled malcria
Political Parties and Elections
115
It is in these discussions of electoral reform that the two themes of parties and elections are combined. Analyses of how votes an: translate into seats and whether we elect the govemmenrwe deserve inevitably involve the political parties as intennediaries in this process. The two aspects are complementary, and should be studied together to ac hieve a full understanding of our electoral system.
Copynghted matcri,
Parliament and Ministers
Parliament Unlike the broad subjects covered by many of the chapters in this book, this one is concerned with one specific institution, Parliament, the sharp focus of our national politics. Frorn the majority party in the House of Commons. seldom more than so me 400 persons, our Government is fonned and this chapter concludes with mention of the
modest literature conceming this aspect of Parliament's role. The wider issues of politics and constitutional history have been excluded. Political part ies and elect ions, which generate the membership of the House of commons, are treated in Chapter 8. Bibliography Considering the age and pr.e stige of Parliament as a national institution, it is surprising how inadequate is the bibliography of the subject For instance, it might be though that the standard Bibliography ofBritish History Published by the Oxford University Press would offer sound support, but, as the fo llowing detai!s show, comparatively short entries are offered:
A Bibliography of English History to 1485. edited by Edgar Graves, pp. 503-524 (Oxford University Press, 1975) Bibliography of British Hist.ory 141$5-1 603, edited by Conyers Read, 2nd edn. pp.88-96 (Oxford University Press, 1959) Bibliography of British History 1603-1714, edited by Mary Keeler, 2nd edn, pp. 111-130 (Oxford Uni versity Press. 1970)
Bibliography of British Hist ory 17 14-1789. edit ed by Stanley I
I
I. I
Copynghted matcri,
Parliament and Ministers
117
Pergellis and D.J. Medley, pp. 55-65 (Oxford University Press, 1955) Bib/iographJ• of British History 1789-1851 , edited by Lucy Brown and Jan Chrisue, pp. 62-70 (Oxford University Press, 1977) Bibliography of British History 1851-1914, compiled and edited by H.J. Hanham, pp. 50-60 (Oxford University Press, 1976).
In total then, a mere 70 pages including many duplicate entries, in a bibliography running to 5500 pages. And what is more important, a Libliography on Parliament that is decidedly patchy.
It is fortunate, therefore, that we can consult the entries under the heading ENGLAND-PARLIAMENT... which are to be round in vol. 63 of the British Museum General Catalogue of Printed Books: photolithographic edition to 1955 (263 vols, British Museum 19601966). The entry runs to 562 colllmns and to this must be added the entries in the Supplements covering 1956-65 (50 vols, 1968 (see vol. 7); 1966-70 (26 vols, 1971-2 (see vol. 4); 1971-75 (13 vols. 1978-79 (sec vol. 4)). Together these offer a good start, although it takes time to get used to the arrangement of the subjections of the main entry ENGLAND-PARLIAMENT. The second important. source of bibliographical information on Parliament and one more clearly organized than the British Museum Catalogue is the American National Union Catalogue: pre 1956 imprints (754 vols, Mansell, 1968-1981 ). Here, under the beading GREAT BRITAIN Parliament, in vols, 214, pp. 44 1-697 and 215, pp. 1-40, together with vol. 730, pp. 361-387, will be found a list of the great collections on the subject Parliament in this massive work. Most of the material is arranged chronologically session-by-session and many of the entries have useful notes. The main catalogue continues with Supplements where additional entries are to be found under the same heading covering 1953-57 (26 vols, 1958): 1958-62 (50 vols, 1963); 1963-67 (59 vols, 1969); 1968-72 (104 vols, 1973); 1973-77 (135 vols, 1978) and the further annual vol umes will be cumulated thereafter. While the British Museum Catalogue uses as its author subject heading England-Parliament and the NUC use Great Britain-Parliament the catalogue of the Bodleian Library at Oxford uses just Parliament. The main pre-1922 catalogue has, unti l recently, been on slips in boxesabout four large boxes covered the subject. It is currently being thoroughly revised and transferred to a computer from which volumes are printed for use by students at the Library at Oxford. The volumes
Copynqhled malcria
118
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
covering Parliament should be printed by the end of 1983 and it is to be hoped that in time they will be made available to others-possibly on microfiche. Also important is A London Bibliography of the Social Science (4 vols, British Library of Political and Economic Science, 19311932), together with Supplements every few years since, where, just to add variety, the heading chosen is United Kingdom Parliament. In 1980 the heading was changed to Great Britain Parliament. This collection is especially strong in modem pamphlet material while the other major catalogues are strong on history. Finally, there is the standard work, Writings on British History 1901-66 (In progress, Royal Historical Society and University of London), Parliament of Great Britain: Bibliography by R.V. Goehlert and F.S. Martin (Gower, 1983) is a pioneer work Clearly a lot of systematic examination of the more obvious periodicals has been undertaken and many of the most obvious secondary sources listed. But it does reflect the problems of undertaking the bibliography of a complicated institution from the outside, the most major gaps being the extensive bibliography of Parliament to be found in its own reports. Articles on Parliament have to be sought in the obvious published indexes to periodicals, especially those covering history, law and the social sciences, but we are fortunate in having a duplicated memorandum A Handlist of Articles in' Periodicals and other Serial Publications Relating to the History of Parliament, compiled by H.S. Cobb (House of Lords Record Office, I 973 ). A supplement to this memorandum updating it to 1980 is in preparation. Records ln 1497 the then Clerk of the Parliaments, whose successor is still responsible for the records of the House of Lords (and of the Commons, on behalf of the authorities of that House), decided to keep thereafter the original Acts of Parliament at Westminster to which other records were subsequently added. This means that the records of Parliament prior to that date (and a few, such as the Rolls of Parliament, thereafter) are to be found in the Public Record Office, while most post- I 497 records are to be found at the House of Lords Record Office in the purpose-built and recently renovated Victoria Tower. For the pre-1497 period, therefore, reference must be made to Guide to the Contents of the Public Record Office (3 vols, HMSO, 1963-1968), especially the first two volumes. For the post 1497 records there is the Guide to the
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Parliament and lHinisters
J
119
Records of Parliament by Mauri<:e Bond (HMSO. 1971 ). It is an excellent account both of the very large collection of documents at Westminster and of the context within which they were prepared. Calendars of some of these manuscripts up until 1678 were included in the Reports of tire Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, vols 1-9 (HMSO, 1874-1884) and for the period 1678-1693 in the appendices ofVols 11-14 (HMSO, 1887-1894). Volumes 1-9 have been reprinted by the publisher Karus and the separately available volume A Companion to the Klaus Reprint Edition (K TO Press Nendeln, Liechtenstein, 1977) should be consulted. This work has been continued more fully in the Calendar of the Manuscripts of the House of Lords 1696-1718 (12 vols, HMSO, 1964- 1977). This series has now ceased. However, the Annual Rep ort of the House of Lords Record Office, published as one of their series of Memoranda, updates Bond's Guide by listing each year the Parliamentary records transferred by the various departments of the two Houses to the archive in the Record Office, together with other accessions from outside Parliament.
House of Commons Proceedings (Excluding debates) Parliament, and especially the House of Commons, has for many generations ensured that many of its proceedings have been printed, partly for its own use and partly for general information. A certain number of proceedings and indeed papers were published during the period 1641 - 1660 and, apart from the catalogues already mentioned, reference should also be made to the heading England in A short title catalogue ... 1641-1700, compiled by Donald Wing, Vol t , pp. 567-621 (2nd edn , 3 vols, Index Committee of the Modern Languages Association of America, 1972). The whole question of this midseventeenth-century Parliamentary printing has been examined the The Beginning of Printing for the House of Commons /640-42 by Sheila Lambert (In The Library: Transaction of the Bibliographical Society, 6th Series, vol, 3 No, I., March 1981 ). . Regular printing of proceedings did not start until 1680, when Mr. Speaker was instructed by tllte House to print their Votes and Proceedings on a daily basis. The early history of this venture is covered in Votes and Standing Orders of the House ofCommons: The Beginning, by Betty Kemp, (HMSO, House of Commons Library Document No. 8, 1971), and The Printing of the Votes of the House of Commons 17301781 , by K. Maslen in (The Library, 5th Series, XXV, 1970). The
Copynqhled malcria
120
Modem Methods of Teaching Political Science
Printing of the Votes and Proceedings has continued until the present day, and these are the papers required to understand and conduct the work of the House of Commons. Over the centuries. as procedures have altered, extra sections have been added, Division lists since 1836, for instance. and occasionally sections have been withdrawn. Today the 'Vote Bundle,' as it is colloquially called, runs to eight main sections which are unindexed. They are available from HMSO but only on subscription: (I) Votes and Proceedings (2) Pri vat.e Business (3) Private Bill Lists (4) Public Petitions (5) Public Bill Lists (6) Division Lists (7) Notices of Motion (8) Supplement to the Votes and Proceedings Section I of this series later forn1s the Journal of the House of Commons. Recently some of these have been published on microfiche. namely Division Lists 1836-1909, Appendices to the Votes and Proceedings 1817-1890 and also Reports of the Select Committee on Public Petitions 183:3-1900, all edited by F. W. Torrington (ChadwyckHealey, 1982). The next important date in Parliamentary printing is 1742, when the first printing of the House of Commons Journal was authorized. 1l1is edition is rare, and it is more usual to have access to Journals of the House of Commons from November the 8th 1547... reprinted by order of the House ( 1803). This is not just a reprint, more a new edition, and vols 56 ( 1801) to vol, 89 ( 1834) include important Appendices of accounts and papers for each session. The history of the Journal and, most importantly, its indexing is described in Journal of the House of Commons: a Bibliographical Guide by D. Menhennet (HMSO, House of Commons Library, Document No.7, 1971). The current Journal is to be found in com paratively few libraries, although it is the one official record of both the work of the House of Commons and the information. i.e. papers laid before it, Individual volumes are indexed and eight volumes of index cover 1547- 1878/1879. Since 1880 there are decennial inde)(es. The Minutes of Proceedings of Houst: of Commons Standing and Select r omm ittees are publishrd as House of Commons papers.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Parliament and Ministers
121
House of Commons Papers The early printed papers of the House of Commons occasionally appeared as ' separates' and some of them, reports of Committees, were first collected together in the eighteenth century as Reports from Committees of the House of Commons Printed by Order of the House (4 vo ls, 1772-1773). A second updated collection appeared as Reports from Commiuees of the House of Commons which have been Primed by Order of the House 1715-1801 (16 vols, 1803-1806). The final vo lume is a very deta iled index to the whole set and includes a list of reports which had been printed in the Journals 1696-1800 and therefore excluded from the Reports of Committees ... Another collection made at the beginning of the nineteenth century and known as th e Abbot Collection covers 1731-1800, and includes Bills, Reports, and Accounts and Papers. It runs to 110 volum es. There are four nearly complete sets, includ ing one in the British Library, one in the University of London Libmry and two at the Houses of Parliament and also one or two part sets; so they are very mre. The indexes to both these sets of papers have been reprinted as Hansard Catalogue and Breviate of Parliamentary Papers 1696-1834 (reprinted, Blackwell, 1953) and Catalogue of Papers Printed by Order of the House of Commons 1731-1800 (repri nted, Blackwell, 1954). In recent years there has appeared House of Commons Sessional Papers ofthe Eighteenth Century, edited by Sheila Lambert (Scholarly Resources Inc., 145 vols, 1975- 1976). The collection, which consists of facsimi les o f Public Bills, Reports of Committees and Accounts and Papers, opens with Volume I Introduction and List, 1715-1 760 and Volume II List. 1761-1800. This introduction includes the most exhaustive and scholarly account of Parliamentary printing not only for the eighteenth century but also through until the mid-nineteenth century. As a collection it is the most complete and best-organized set of pre1800 House of Commons Sessional Papers. From 1800 onwards the Ho use of Commons, Sessional Papers have been regularly printed session by session, including Bills and House of Commons Papers and, from the 1830s, Command Papers. In 18061807 printed title pages were introduced and the arrangement of the series quickly stabilized into groups of Bills. Papers of Committees, Reports of Commissioners and Accounts and Reports. A list of these volum es is avai lable in A Checklist of the British ParliamentaJ:1· Pupers (bound set) 180 1-1 950. compiled by K.C. Parsons (Privately printed.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
122
;Hodern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Cambridge, 1958). It might be m ore accurately called a checklist of volumes of House of Commons Papers ... There are official indexes to these papers, namely the General Index to the Reports of Select Committees 1801-1852; General Index to the Bills 1801-1852; and General Index to the Accounts and Papers, Reports of Commissioners. Estimates. etc 1801-1852. Less well known is an important and very comprehensive set of Indexes to Reports ofthe House ofCommons 1801I 834 ( 1837 HC paper 626; 1834 HC Paper 498). For later papers there are the General Alphabetical Index to the Bills, Reports, Estimates, Accowus and Papers...and to Command Papers 1852-1899; General Index 10 the Bills, Reports and Papers... /900 to /948--19 and those are fo llowed by General Alphabetical Index to the Bilis. Reports and Papen... /950 to 1958-59 and a similar volume covering 1959to 196869. These are based on individual Sessional indexes which since 19791980 have been indexed using the House of Commons Library POLIS thesaurus (sec Domestic Matters). These are all HMSO publications. Throughout the period 1800-1968/ 1969 the arrangement of papers did not change, but there was change in 1969-1970 and from 1979-1 980 onwards a further change, as now the papers are simply arranged by number of Bill or House of Commons Paper with in the session and Command Papers by runni ng number. The post-1800 papers are included in three r ecent m ajor republishing projects. First, the Irish Universities Press selected 1000 volumes of reports from the period 1801 - 1899 and brought them out as handsomely produced and bound facsimiles in broad subject groups. Details are to be found in the Checklist of British Parliamemary Papers in the Irish Unh·ersity Press 1,000 Volume Series by P. Ford (Irish University Press, 1972). Second, the firm of Chadwyck-Healey is well advanced with its project of bring ing out a microfiche edition of the complete House of Commons papers 180 1-192 1, and in the future this is likely to be the most usual source. The title is given as House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1801-1900 and House of Commons Parliamentary Papers / 90/ - 1921 (64500 microfiche, ChadwyckHealey, 1980- 1984). This set is more complete than any collection in a library. Third, from the same source microfiche copies of the Irish University Press volumes mentioned above may be obtained, including the indexes already ment ioned. When these projects are completed a bibliographical guide will be published listing documents added to the edition which are not recorded on the contents pages or in the older inde x~:~ of the bound Li brary sets. The Parliamentary Papers 1922-1972
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Parliament and Ministers
123
are available in microfilm under the title Controller's Library Collection of Her Majesty's Stationary Office Publications. 1922-1972 in 1700 ree ls (Historical Documents Inst itute, Inverness. 1976- 1978). ln con nection with this is the sportily published Cumulative Index to HMSO Annual Catalogues, 1922- 1972 (2 vols, Historical Documents Institute 1976). Apart from the official sessional indexes already mentioned there are a number of guides, lists, brevities, etc., prepared by or under Professor and Mrs. Ford of the University of Southampton. First, there is thei r standard short work A Guide to Parliamentary Papers: Where they are. How to find Them. How to use Them by p. and G. Ford (3rd edn, Irish University Press, 1972). Then the papers of the nineteenth century are covered by their Select list of British Par/iamenwry Papers 1833-99 (reprinted Irish University Press, 1970). Also useful as a guide and summary of twentieth-century papers are the following volumes; P. and G. Ford A Breviate ofparliamentary papers 1900-1916 (Blackwell, 1957); 1917- 1939 (Blackwell, 1951}these two volumes were reprinted by the Irish University Press in 1969; 1940- 1954 (Blackwell, 196 1). After 1954 this work changed to a classified list with Select list of British Parliamentary Papers 1955-64 (Irish University Press, 1970) and D. Marshallsay and J. Smith, Ford List of British Parliamentary Papers 1965-74 (KTO Press, 1979). Thes~ lists, wh ich will be continued, seek to select the papers concerned with policy rather than routine administration. Finally, there is a useful finding list for Parliamentary Papers and Proceedings Access to Parliamentary Resources and Information in London Libraries, APRILL (House of Commons Library, Public Information Office, 1982).
House of Proceedings (Excluding Debates) The daily Minutes of Proceedings of the House ofLords (HMSO) are available by subscription and how appear in two parts covering past busi ness and future business. They have been printed since 1825. From 1836 they have been included in th.e main series of the House of Lords papers (see below). The Minutes, like the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons are unindexed. The Journal of the House of Lords reports proceedings, starting in 15 I 0. It was first ordered to be printed in 1767, and unti l 1980 included the text of Select Committee reports. They are served by an index for each volume, six volumes of cumulated
Copyngh!ed rna ria
124
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
indexes covering 1510- 1853 and decennial indexes thereafter. From the beginning n• session 1981-1982 the relationship between the Minutes and the Jot:r-·.aJ has been simplified, so the latter is now revised Minutes furnished wi th an Attendance Register and Index. The Proceedings of Select Com minces are published as House of Lords Papers. A recent publication Divisions in the House of Lords ... 1685 to 1857 complied by J.C. Sainty and D. Dewar (HMSO, 1976) illuminates this aspect to House of Lords Proceedings. Of importance on this subject generally is The Journals. Minutes and Committee Books of the House of Lords (rev. edn, House of Lords Record Office Memorandum No. 13, 1957). House of Lords Papers As with the House of Commons, the early printed papers of the House of Lords first appeared as rare 'separates,' but recently, surviving papers were collected together and a facsimile was published as House of Lords Sessional Paper 1714-1805, edited by F.W. Torrington (60 vols, Oceana Publications, 1972-1978). The volumes include all the Bills and Reports available and this is the only significant collection of pre1800 House of Lords papers outside the holdings of the House of Lords Library. The same editor and publisher continued this series in microfilm from 1806 to 1859 as House uf Lords Sessional Paper (Trans-Media Publishing Company Inc., 1976) and Mr. Torrington was able to add a number of papers to this series ( 13 volumes) which are listed in an addendum to A General Index to Sessional Papers.... of the House of Lords 1801-1859 Session/ (reprinted. 2 vols, Oceana Publications Inc., 1976). The reprint includes a checklist of House of Lords Sessional Papers, 1801-1859. The original House of Lords printed Sessional Papers started in 1801 with volumes I-XV covering E801-1805 and volumes 1-CCCXXJX covering 1806-1834. Session 1835 has its own numbering and from 1836 the House 01 '~ords Sessional Papers include the Minutes as volume I of each session ar. • IJave printed ti tic-pages. ln 1900 Command Papers were dropped from the collection to avoid duplication with the House of Commons sets. The main indexes cover 1801-1859 Session I, reprinted in 1976 as mentioned above, 1859 Session 11- 1870, 187 1· 188411885 and sessionally 1886-1921. Since 192 1 there has been no
Copyroghted matcri,
Parliament and Ministers
125
published index to the House of Lords Sessional Papers. Reference should be made to a short but important article 'House of Lords Session a l Papers 1641 -1859 ' by K. Mallaber (in Journal of Librarianship. 4. No. 2, April/976). Debates Before 1800, debates had been reported very selectively in early newsletters, then after the event in the commercial journals, and finally reports were collected together into pu blishers' sets. Another source for reports on debates was Members ' published Diaries. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Brilain (HMSO House of Commons Library, Document No.2, 1956) (a new edition would be welcome) sets out to list these pre- 1800 printed debates and diaries. There are a number of articles on pre-1800 deba tes, including. T he Beginn ing of Parliamentary Reporting in Newspapers 1768-1774 ' by P. Thomas {English Historical Review, LXXIV ( 1959); Sources for Debates ofthe House ofCommons 1768-1774 by P. Thomas (Athlone Press, 1959); and 'The Reliability of Contemporary Reporting of the Debates of the House of Commons, 1727-41' by M. Ransome (Bulletin of ln~titllle of Historical Research. XIX (1942-1 943)). Also important is the introduction to Samuel Johnson's Parliamelllary Reporting by B.B Hoover (C.,mbridge University Press, 1953).
I
l
I I I
We start, at the beginning of the nineteenth century. with the Parliamentary History by Cobbett. Th is work purports to report debates going back to the earliest history of Parliament and is itself heavily dependent on the reports in the eighteenth century commercial journals listed in A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debares of Great Britain (Previously cited). This was soon taken over by T.C. Hansard, and we reach the early series of Hansard These fall into the 1st Series, 18031804 to 1819-1 820, 4 1 vols; 2nd Series, 1820 to 1830, 25 vols; 3rd Series, 1830-183 1 to 1890-1891 , 356 vols; 4th Series, 1892 to 1908, 199 vols. By the late nineteenth century a Treasury Subsidy was needed to publish these debates and in 1909 the Official Report (Hansard) was finally taken over by HMSO acting as an agent for Parliament. There then started the 5th Series with different sequences of volumes for the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It is only since the beginni ng of the 5th Series that reports have been compiled by Parliamentary staff and have been verbatim. A 6th Series began in March 1980. Fortnightly, vol ume and sessional indexes are prepared
Copynghted matcri,
126
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
and from 1984 this indexing has been undertaken in the House of Commons Library and based on POLIS (See Domestic Matters). Standing Committee debates of the House of Commons have been published since 19 19 (HMSO). They have no indexes. Procedure The two Houses regularly publish official documents on their procedure. The House of Lords has Standing Orders for Public Business (HMSO), Standing Orders for Private Business (HMSO), Companion to Standing Orders (HMSO) and House of Lords Form of Appeal (Criminal) (HMSO) and Form ofAppeal (Civil) (HMSO) to cover their judicial work. The House of Commons publishes Standing Orders Private Business (HMSO), Standing Orders Public Business (HMSO) and Manual of Procedure (HMSO). The last major review of procedure was the First Report from the Select Committee on Procedure 19771978 HC 588 1-111 (HMSO, 1978) which 'considers the practice and procedure of the House in relation to public business. Since its first edition in 1844, th e standard work on procedure has been T.E. May's A Treatise Oil the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament (Buttcrworths, 20th edn, 1983). The first edition of May has been reprinted (Irish University Press, 1971) and includes a collection of the prefaces from the fi rst eighteen editions. Today Erskine May is prepared under the May Memorial Fund and is edited by the Clerk of the House of Commons with support from the Clerk of the Parliaments for House of Lords matters. It is a mine of information on the working of Parliament and is revised every five years. But to keep up to date with procedural matters it is also essential to read the reports of any published evidence given to !he Select Committees on Procedure. These appear as House of Lords or House of Commons papers. An occasional summary of changes is to be found in the journal Parliamentary Affairs. As its title suggests, The House of Commons at work by Eric Taylor (Macmillan, 9th edn, 1979) is a monograph which contains a lot of infomtation on procedure. There are a number of important historic works, including Precedents of Proceedings in the House of Commons by J. 1-latsell (new edn, 5 vols, 1818: reprinted Irish University Press, 1971). Also important is The Procedure ofthe Hm~ve ofCommons, by J. Redlich (3 vols. 1908) and for a short historical survey An Introduction to the Procedure of the House of Commons by Lord Camp ion remains of inte rest
Copynghled malcria
Par/iament and Ministers
127
(Macmillan, 3rd edn, 1958). In Parliament at Work a Case-hook of Parliamentary Procedure by A. H. Hanson and H.V. Wiseman (reprinted, Greenwood Press, 1975) the authors have set out 'to provide a casebook which will illustrate the use to which the House of Commons puts its various procedures,' and under headings such as Questions, Financial Procedure, Select Committees. It wor'ks well, though as it was originally published in 1962 and so rapid is change in some of these areas, it is already rather dated. Domestic Matters
Since the mid-sixteenth century Parliament has met in the Palace of Westm inster. In recent years growing interest has been shown by historians in Parliament's actual physical surroundings and their effect on its work. The dividing line is, of course, I 834, when the old Palace, with the imponant exception of Westminster Hall, burnt down. The old Palace has been fully described in History of the King's Work, edited by H.M. Colvin, Vols. I and II. The Middle Ages (liMSO, 1963), Vols Ill and IV, 1485-1660 (liMSO, 1975), Vol. V 1660-1782, pp. 385-43 1 (HMSO 1976) and Vol. VI, 1782-1851. pp. 496-537 (HMSO, 1973). There is also Views of the Old Palace of Westminster. edited by H.M. Colvin (Society of Architectural li istorians of Great Britain, 1966), Westminster Hall by Hilary StGeorge Saunders (Michael Joseph, 1951) and Maurice Hastings, St. Stephen's House (Architectural Press, 1950). Essential is the standard pre- 1834 Palace work. The History of the Ancient Palace and Late Houses of Parliament, by E.W. Brayley and J. Brittan ( 1836). When we come to the new Palace of Westminster, so familiar to us all, apan from the numerous Select Committee reports during the many years during which it was being built, there is the History of the King's Work, edited by H.M. Colvin, Vol. VI (HMSO. 1973): Houses of Parliament. edited by M.H. Port (Yale University Press, 1976), the standard work; Works ofAn in the House of Lords, edited by Maurice Bond (HMSO, 1980); and two special articles, 'The Pa lace of Westminster after the Fire of 1834' by R.J.B. Walker (Walpole Society, 44 (1972- 1974, 1974 )) and 'Decoration of the New Pa lace of Westminster by T.S.R. Boase (Journal of the IVarburg and Cour:au/d Institutes, XVII, Numbers 3-4 ( 1954). The essential older work with its fine illustrations is Wright and Smith, Par/iame/11: Past and f'resefll (Hutchinson. c. 1902).
Copynghled malcria
128
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
There has been a great deal off frustrated speculation and planning about future accommodation for the House of Commons, the current plan being set down in New Parliamentary Building Bridge Street; Feasibility Study (Casson Conder and Partners, I 979). Special attention should also be given to the flow of reports on acc{)mmodation from the House of Commons (Services) Committee. Outside the Journals of both Houses wh ich can occasionally be important sources for domestic matters, and obviously the relevant Select Committee Reports of both Houses, there is little monograph material. The Clerical Organisation of the House of Commons 1661-1850, by 0. Williams (Oxford University Press, .I954) is a distinguished account of tbe Clerk's Department, and it is to be hoped that the last century will be covered. A brief general account of House of Commons Officials is to be found in The Officers ofthe Commons /363-1978 by P. Marsden (HMSO, 1979) and there is also a list, Officers of the House of Lords 1485 to 1971 (House of Lords Record Office Memorandum No. 45, 1971). Since 1966, domestic matters in the House of Commons have been the concern of the House of Commons (Services) Committee, chaired nonnally by the Leader of the House, with its four Sub-Committees covering Accommodation, Catering., Computer Matters and the Library. It meets in private but sometimes prints its evidence, and its reports always appear as House of Commons papers. Broadcasting is the responsibility of the Select Committee on Sound Broadcasting. Since the House ofCommons Administration Act /978, cap 36 (HMSO, 1978) the staff of the house has been employed by the House of Commons Commission, and this group of Members, chaired by Mr. Speaker, publish an Annual Report ofthe House ofCommons Commission, again as a House of Commons Paper (HMSO). In the House of Lords it is the Officers Committee wh ich plays the role of the Services Committee and with similar Sub-Committees takes evidence and publishes Reports on domestic matters as House of Lords Papers (HMSO). There is only one general survey of facilities, etc., The House of Commons: Services and Facilities, edited ~y M. Rush and M. Shaw (Allen and Unwin, 1974). updated by The House ofCommons: Services and Facilities 1972- 1982, edited by M. Rush (Policy Studies Institute. 1983). It contains a full list of Select Ccmmittee Reports on the subject. A recent survey of the Library and its research and infonnation services in l'arliament and Information: the Westminster Scene. by D. Englefie ld
Copynghled malcria
Parliament and Ministers
129
(Library Association. 1981 ). which describes facilities in both Houses and also infomtation on Westmins•er which is available to the public. As a postscript to this section on domestic matters mention must be made of POLIS, standing for Parliamentary One Line Information System, a computer-based subject index to Parliament's proceedings since 1980-1981 and papers since 1979-1980, which the House of Commons Library compiles daily and which is available to outside subscribers. The system is described in ' How the Parliamentary on Line Information System at Westminster was Planned by D. Englefield (lnspel, Official Organ of the IFLA Division of Special Libraries, 16, No. 3 ( 1982)) and ·POLIS in Parliament .. .' by D. Menhennet and J. Wainwright (Joumul of Documentation, 38, No. 2 ( 1982)). General Works In a chapter as shon as this one, it is not possible to cover the long history of Parliament. For this, reference should be made to the bibliographies and lists already mentioned. This section is confined to the twentieth century. The Study of Parliament, by Peter Richards (University of Southampton, 1972), and 'The British House of Commons as a Focus for Political Research.' by S.C. Patterson (British Journal of Political Science, 3 ( 1973)), are useful staning points for Parliamentary studies. An elementary but very useful survey is the COl pamphlet The British Parliament (HMSO), which is regularly updated. Parliament by Sir lvor Jennings (2nd edn, Cambridge University Press, 1957; reprinted 1970), although dated in arrangement and facts, remains a substantial work of historical interest. More recent i11 its focus, and concerned just with the House of Commons, R. Butt's The Power of Parliament (Constable, 2nd edn, I969) is pan of the mid-1960s movement for reform which was aniculated in The Reform of Parliament., by B. Crick (Weidenfeld anc Nicholson, rev. 2nd edn, 1970). Parliamentaty Reform; a Survey of Recent Proposals for the House of Commons (Cassell, 2nd rev. edn, for the Hansard Society, 1967) is a summary of facts and gives the subject perspective. A recent political textbook is Parliamentary Gol'ernme/11 in Britain, by M. Rush (Pitman, 1981 ). The last two authors are members of the Study of Parliament Group formed in 1963, which is made up of academic and ParHamentary officials, some of whom contributed to The House of Commons in the Twentieth Centwy, edited by S.A. Walkland (The Clarendon Press, 1979), which covers the whole
Copyngh!ed rna ria
130
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
century, and The Commons Today, edited by S.A. Walkland and M. Ryle (Fontana, 1981 ), really concerned with the last ten years. (The earlier two editions of this work Commo11r in Tramition. edited by A.H. Hanson and B. Crick (Fontana, 1970) and the Commons in the 70s edited by S. A. Walkland and M. Ryle (Fontana, 1977) make interesting comparative reading with The Commons Today.) Both The House ofCommons in the Twentieth Century and The Commons Today are focused on the workings of the House of Commons, while The Commons in Perspective by P. Norton (Matri Robertson, 1981) is a useful 'overview'. An important comparative study of both Chambers of the UK and the US is Parliament and Congress, by K. Bradshaw and D. Pring (Constable, 1972), with an updating chapter (Quartet, 1981). The House of Lords has two roles, as a judiciary and a legislature. Literature on the House of Lords as part of the judiciary is in Chapter 12. As a legislature a number of the works mentioned in this chapter cover both Houses. However, a useful short bibliography is Select List of Published J'.laterial on the House of Lords in the T-wentieth Century, House of Lords Fact Sheet No. 7 (House of Lords lnfom1ation Office, 1980). It is especially strong in periodical articles and official papers. The House of Lords and Contemporary Politics 191/-1957, by P. Bromhead (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958) and The House of Lords and the Labour Government 19'64-1970, by J. Morgan (Oxford University Press, 1975), are general studies of the Upper House. An interesting insider's view is The Lords, by Viscount Masserene and ferrard (Leslie Frewin, 1973). Refonn of the House of Lords has been a subject of interest for a number of years, and a handy starting point which lists most of the material. available and contains a useful introduction is House of Lords Reform: 1850-1970, House of Lords Factsheet No. I (2nd edn, House of Lords Information Office, 1979). Between the First World War and 1945, Select Committees were of small importance, except for the Public Accounts Comr.1ittee and the Estimates Committee, surveyed in The Control of Public Expendilllre: Financial Committees of the House of Commons, by B. Chubb (Oxford University Press, 1952). In Parliament and Administration, by B. Johnson (AII!!n and Unwin, 1966), the Estimates Committee 1945-1965 is fu rther considered and The Member vf Parliam ent and the Administration, D. Coombes (A lien and Unwin, 1966), examines the first ten years of the work of the important Nationalised Industries Committee established in 1956. Parliament and Public Ownership. A
Copynghled malcria
Parliament and Ministers
131
Hanson (Cassell., 1961 ), also considered the subject. A new stage arrived in the mid-1960s with the ' Crossman Reforms' and the establishment of some ' Departmental' and some 'Subject' Select Committees, examined in The Growth of Parliamentary Scrutiny by Committees, by A. Morris (Pergamon, 1970), and in 1970 the Estimates Committee was replaced by the Expenditure Committee, which had wider terms of reference and which is the subject of Parliament and Public Spending, by A. Robinson (Heinemann, 197:8). Her book is also an interesting study of the Select committee system in general, Called to Account. The Public Accounts Committee ... 1965-66 to 1977-78, by V. Flegmann (Gower, 1980). is a disappointing supplement to the earlier work of B. Chubb. Following th e First Report from the Select Committee on Procedure 1977-78 HC 588 (HMSO, 1979), the new Departmental Select Committee System was established in late 1979. So far, preliminary consideration of this move has been made in Reformed Select Committees, by A. Davies (Outer Circle Policy Unit, 1980), and the First Report for the House of Commons Liaison Committee: The select Committee System, 1982-1983, HC 92 (HMSO, 1983) together with Dilys M. Hill (ed.) Parliamentary Select Committees in Action: a Symposi/um (University of Strathclyde Discussion papers in Politics, 1983). Commons Select Committees-Catalyste for Progress?, edited by D. Englefield, (Longmans, 1984) is a series of papers by Member and wimesses with full details of the Committees work; a further srudy edited by G. Drewry is to be published by Oxford University Press in 1985. Despite these important changes, many believe the problems of Parliamentary oversight, examined in Parliament and Foreign Affairs by P. Richards (Allen and Unwin, 1967) and Parliament and Economic Affairs, edited by D. Coombes and S.A. Walkland, Part II (Heinemann, 1980), remain. Over the decades the process of legislative scrutiny has changed less then Committee work, so the Parliamentary Scrllfiny a,(Government Bills, by J.A.G. Griffith (Allen and Unwin, 1974), though based on the period 1967-1968 to 1970-197 1, remains important. A more recent important study is Legislation and Public Policy: Public Bills in the 1979-74 Parliament. by I. Burton and G. Drewry (Macmillan, 1981). It is not always the Government which introduces Public Bills, and Private Members· Bills in the British Parliament, by P. Bromhead (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1956), covers the subject during the first half of the cenrury. The first Committee on legislation for a long time published The Preparatio11 of Legislation, Sir D. Renton, Chairman,
Copyngh!ed rna ria
132
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Cmnd . 6053 (HMSO, 1975), which is an authoritative and lucid description of Public Bill Procedure. An unusual insight into the passing of a Bill is to be found in The State of the Nation: Parliamem (Granada Television Ltd., 1973). For private bills there are two distinguished historical works, F. Clifford's History of Private Bill Legislation (2 vols. reprinted, Cass, 1968), a reprint of the 1885-1887 edition, and 0. Williams, The Historical Development of Private Bill Procedure and Standing Orders in the House ofCommons (2 vols, HMSO, 1948-1949). Completed in 1945, this is the work of a distinguushed parliamentary official. Also of interest in this context is D.L. Ry·dz, The Parliamentary Agents: A History (Royal Historical Society, 1979). A further method of scrut iny is covered in Questions in Parliament, by D.N. Chester and N. Bowring (Oxford University Press, 1962), and also important for this subject is the report of the Select Committee on Parliamentary Questions 1971-1972, HC 393 (Hmso, 1972). Finally on the subject of scrutiny there is the latest service for Members and their electorate- the Ombudsman. The reports of the Select Committee on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration are clearly essentia'l reading, as are the Ombudsman's Annual Reports (HMSO) and his quarterly reports of Selected Cases (HMSO). As Health Service Commissioner the same official provides the same service for Members regarding the administrative aspects of the National Health Service. Also important are The Parliamentary Ombudsman. by R. Gregory and P. Hutchesson (Royal Institute of Public Administration, 1975), and The British Ombudsman, by F. Stacey (The Clarendon Press, 1971 ), which inclu:les the legislative h istory of the establishment of the Parliamentary Commissioner in 1967. Maladministration and its Remedies (25th Hamylin lecture) (Stevens, 1973 ), by K.C. Wheare, includes an important chapter on Ombudsmen and F. Stacey, in Ombudsmen Compared (The Clarendon Press, 1978), includes a number of chapters on the UK Ombudsman which update his earlier book. A preliminary review of the fJTSt few years of the system working is to be found in Our Fettered Ombudsman (Justice, 1977). The Job of being a Member has been exami ned in The Backhenchers. by P. Richards (Faber, 1972), and various aspects in an anthology of printed pieces. The Backbencher and Parliament. edited by D. Leonard and V. Herman (Macmillan. 1972). British Members of
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Parliament and Ministers
133
Parliament: a Self-portrait. by A. King (in association with Granada Television, 1974). is mostly Members talking about their role and Backbench Specialisation in the House of Commons. by D. Judge (Heinemann, 1981 ), considers their work in the face of growing specialization. Parliament and the Public. by E. Marshall (Macmillan, 1982), is a Member's own view of his job both inside and outside the House. So also is A. Mitchell, Westminster Man (Methuen, 1982), and Member of Parliament, by J. Grant (Michael Joseph, 1974), which gives a diary of a year's work, Using Computers to Analyse the Activities of Members of Parliament, by M.N. Franklin (University of Strathclyde. 1971 ), is a more scientific approach to the same subject. Their influence is examined in The Influence ofthe Ba,·kbencher... by J.P. Mackintosh (Manchester Statistical Society, 197 1). Women were first elected to the House in 1918 and Women at Westminster... 1918-1966, by Brookes (Peter Davies, 1967), and Wome in the House, by E. Vallance (Athlone Press, 1979), a more academic study, cover the subject. Women and Parliamem 1918-70, by B. Stobaugh (Exposition Press. Hicksville, 1978), and The Divided House, by M. Phillips (Sidgwick and Jackson, 1980), are more up-to-date studies, while Women in National Legislatures, by Walter Kohn (Praeger, 1980) puts the Westminster women MPs in the context of five other legislatures. A pioneering pamphlet covers women in the House of Lords. The Impact of Women in the House of Lords, by G. Drewry and J. Brock, Studies in Public Policy No. 112 (Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University ofStrathclyde, 1983). Within the House, voting is a key aspect of Members work and Dissension in the House ofCommons 1945-1974, compiled and edited by P. Norton (Macmillan, 1975), and 1914-1979, by P. Norton {The Clarendon Press, 1980), are reference books of sources. Other works in this area are Rebels and Whip...since /945, by R. Jackson (Macmillan, 1968); Baclcbench Opinion in the House ofCommons /945-55, by H. Berrington (Pergamon, 1978); and Backbench Opinion... /955-59, by S.E. Finer eta/. (Pergamon, 196 1). The careers of Members of the House of Commons is examined in Amateurs and Professionals in British Politics 1918-1959, by P.W. Buck (University of Chicago Press, 1963).
Reference Works and Periodicals There is a short list of reference works and periodicals on Parliament but it is a pity that some of the Fonner are growing a little
Copyngh!ed rna ria
134
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
out of date. An Encyclopedia of Parliament, by P. Laundy (Cassell, 4th edn, 1972) gathers a lot o f information togethe r on the world Parliamentary scene, wh ile Parliamentary Dictionary, by S. Hawtrey and H.M. Barclay (Butterworths, 3rd edn, 1970), concerned with Westminster, is accurate technically but dated. A lucid and up-to-date assembly of information on Parliament is.to be found in Halsbury's Laws of England (Butterworths, 4th edn, Vol. 34, 1980). This was prepared by the Clerks of each House and is updated periodically. Annually there appears The Table, Being the Journal of the Society of Clerks-at-the-Table.... ( 1933-), and this is especially strong in articles in the minutiae of Par liament's working. While edited at Westminster, it covers all Commonwealth Parliaments. Also edited at Westminster is The Parliamentarian ( 1920-,Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, quarterly). Lively and authoritative articles are contributed and the editorial policy takes very seriously the dispersal of both technical an d bibliographical information of Parliaments. Parliamentary Affairs ( 1947-, Hansard Society, quarterly) is also central to the subject and is strong on book reviews and articles. But, of course, much information on Parliament is to be found in reference and, to some extent, politics. We mention two periodicals on current Parliamentary matters, namely the House of Commons Weekly Information Bulletin (1980-, HMSO, weekly during the Session), which covers the work of the current and previous week in Parliament, and keeps, the reader up to date with the session's legislation, membership of committees, etc., and the House Magazine (1976-, Parliamentary Communications Ltd., weekly during the Session), which carries current information, analysis of important Reports, Bills, etc. and interesting articles on Parliamentary matter written by specialists. There is a new annual Parliamentary History Yearbook (1982-, Alan Sutton Ltd.) which appeared with articles covering British Parliamentary history and includes commentaries on parliamentary electoral hist9ry as well as book reviews.
'
Until recent years the standard authority for membership of the House of Commons were lists prepared in response to a motion for a ' Return of the names of every member of the lower house of parliaments of England ... ' made in 1876 and 1877. These ronsclidated lists, which cover the ground from the year 1213, began to appear in (1878) i-IC 69, 69-1, 69-11, and continued untiJ (1929-30) HC 56. more recently, The History of Parliament Trust is setting out to compile a biographical d ictionary of the House of Commons 1386 to 1832, and has so far
Copyngh!ed rna ria
/'arliament and Ministers
135
published History of Parliament: Biographies of Members ofthe JJouse ofCommons 1439-1509, by J.C. Wedgwood (HMSO, 1936), The House ofCommons 1509-1558, by S.T. Bindoff (3 vols, Seeker and Warburg, 1982); The House of Commons 1558-1603. by P.W. Hasler (3 Vols. HMSO, 1918); The House of Commons 1660-1690, by B.D. Henning (3 vols, Seeker and Warburg, 1983): The House ofCommons 1715-1 75./, by R. Sedgwick (3 vols, HMSO, 1970); and The House of Commons 1754-1790. by L. Namier and J. Brooke (3 vols. HMSO, 1964). Other volumes to fill gaps are in preparalion. and it should be noted that each set contains an important introduction. Today there arc a number of important reference works covering the biography of Members, Who's Who of British Members of Parliament 1832-1979, compiled by M. Stenton ( 4 vols, Harvester Press, 1976-1981) has for biographies superseded the great runs of Dod's Parliamentary Companion (1832-). The Times Guide to the House ofCommons, published after each election since the 1880s (Times Publishing Company), is also important. Finally, Sources in British Political History, /900-195/, compiled by C. Cook (5 vols, Macmillan, 1977), covers the private papers of Members of Parliament in Vols 2, A-K, and 4, L-Z. Members of Parliament frequently appear in standard reference works such as the DictionaiJ' of National Biography, school and university registers, Boase, etc. Mention has already been made of a certain number of Committee reports, and it must be emphasized that central to the bibliography of Parliament and its work are the reports and published evidence of its Select Committees. For the House of Lords these include the Special Reports of the Committee on European Communities concerning their work, the reports, etc. of House of Lords Offices Commiuee, Privileges Committee. Procedure Committee and also the Sound Broadcasting Committee. In addition there may be ad hoc Select Committees on domestic matters. For the House of Commons there are the Special Reports of the European Legislation etc. Committee, concerning their work, the Reports, etc. of the House ofCommons (Services) Committee, Members Interests Committee, Special Reports of The Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration Committee and the Reports of the Privileges Committee, Procedure Committee and the Sound Broadcasting Committee. There are also Special Reports of the Liaison Committee. which is made up of the Chairmen of Select Committees.
In addition to these regular comm ittees, the House of Commons also may set up ad hoc Select Committees on domestic matters.
CowrtQhlcd m lcria
136
Modern Me thods of Teaching Political Science
Also published by the House of Commons arc a number of Returns of information about its work covering Public Bulls, Select Committees and Standing Committees, together with the Register of Members ' Interests. In addition to these papers, all published by HMSO, there are also Returns not ordered to be printed for which recourse should be made to the House of Lords Record Office. Ministers
One of Parliament's roles is to provide a majority group whose leader is invited by the Crown to forn1 a Government, i.e. to appoint a Ministerinal team. About one Member in eight of the House of Commons is a Minister and of these about one in six is in the Cabinet. Books on individual posts and departments are not included. It was only in 1916 that a Secretariat for the Cabinet was formed. For this reason, for the earlier period The Prime Ministers ' Papers 180/1902. Historical Manuscript Commission (HMSO, 1968) and Papers of British Cabinet Ministers 1782-1900 Historical Manuscript Commission Guide... No. I (HMSO, 1981 ), which gives a comprehensive list of relevant family pears whe:re many Cabinet papers still rest, together with their locations, are both vital. A continuation volume, Guide to the Papers ofBritis/1 Cabinet Ministers, 1900-1951. compiled by C. Hazlehurst and C. Woodland (Royal Historical Society, 1974), is <'lso essential. The Public Record Office, which keeps later papers, has published List of Cabinet Papers 1880-1914 Handbook No.4 (HMSO, 1964), List of Cabinet Papers 1915 and 1916 Handbook No.9 (HMSO, 1966) and Reports of the Cabinet Office to 1922 Handbook No. I/ (HMSO, 1966). No further volumes are planned but here is also an important monograph The Cabinet Office to 1945 Handbook No. 17 (HMSO, 1975), which sets out tht< context of the records as well as lists of Cabinet documentation. The first Secretary to the Cabinet was Lord Hankey, Secretary from 1916 to 19'38, and the distinguished biography Hankey, Man of Secrets, by S. Roskill (3 vols, Collins, 1970-1974), is important for understanding Cabinet matters, as is Whitehall Diary (of Thomas Jones), edited by K. Middlemass (3 vols, Oxford University Press, 1969-1971 ). All this material has been published much later than earlier monographs such as The British Cabinet System, 1830-1938, by A.B. Keith (Stevens, 1939) and Cabiner Government, by Sir lvor Jennings (Cambridge University Press, 3rd edn. 1959). This latter is a textbook
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Parliament and Ministers
137
which ranges far wider than the Cabinet itself. Two slim volumes add perspective to the subject, namely Cabinet Government and War 18901940, the Lees Knowles lectures of 1957, by J. Ehrman (Cambridge University Press, 1958) and his distillation, Reflections on the Constitution, by H. Laski (Manchester University Press, 195 I), which covers both Parliament and Cabinet. A modem survey, revised since Cabinet papers of only thirty years ago might be consulted, is The British Cabinet by J.P Mackintosh (3rd edn, Stevens, 1977) and there is a useful collection of essays, Cabinet Studies: A Reader, edited by V. Herman and the Lobby' (also worth consulting on this is The Westminster Lobby Correspondents, by J. Tunstall (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970) to ' Resignations,' also treated in The Tactics of Resignatiq_n: A Study in British Cabinet Government R. Alderman and J. Cross (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967). TI1e job itself is examined in British Cabinet Ministers: the Roles of Politicians in Executive Office, by B. Headey (Allen and Unwin, 1974), and one aspect of their Job, namely Ministerial patronage, is critically examined in Patronag. · in British Government, by P. Richards (Allen and Un\vin, 1963). A more general survey of the institution is Cabinet Reform in Britain 1914-1963. by H. Daalder (Stanford University Press 1964). There are a number of inside views of a Minister' s role, including his relationship with Parliament, and of these, Government and Parliament by H. Morrison (Oxford University Press, 3rd edn, 1964), which grew out of a fireside chat to Oxford dons, still remains the most important. Another view is The Cabinet by P. Gordon Walker (Cape, rev. edn. 1972), there is an insider's introductory work. The Governance of Britain by Sir Harold Wilson (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1978). After the excitement of keeping his diaries. R. Crossman delivered a reflective Inside view... on Prime Ministerial Government, Godkin lectures 1970 (Jonathan Cape, 1972), which revealed worried distinctions between Presidential and Cabinet Government. An interesting first attempt to unveil the relationship between Mi nister and Civil Servant, with a sideglance at Parliament, is H. Young and A. Sloman, No, Minister {BBC, 1982). The subject is treated broadly and authoritatively in four lectures Parliament and the £tecutive (Royallnstitute of Public Administration. 1982). The perspective on the Cabinet has been changed by two events in recent years. First, under Public Records Act, 1967 (HMSO) the
Copyngh!ed malcri,
138
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
period for documents to be held before being opened to the public was reduced from fifty years to thirty years. Overnight, half a generation of Cabinet papers were revealed. A description of the method of passing Departmental papers to the Public Record Office is to be found in Modern Public Records: Selection and Access, Report of a Committee appointed by the Lord Chancellor, Chairman Sir D. Wilson, Cmnd. 8204 (HMSO, 1981). Second, The Crossman Diaries 1964-70 (3 vols, Collins, 1975-1977) gave the most detai led account of the works of ministers and the Cabinet yet available. A description of what happened concerning its publication and the implications is to be found in The Crossman Affair by H. Young (Hamish Hamilton ·and Jonathan Cape, 1976). Further detail on the working of the Cabinet and of a Minister's role is to be found in The Castle Diaries 1974-76 (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1980) and Sir Harold Wilson himself worked detailed account o f the recent past in The Labour Government 1964-1970 (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1971) and Final Term of the Labour Government 1974-76 (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1979). Cross-referring between these several works must illumi nate uniquely these years of
Ministerial life. finally , there are two lighter works designed to take us behind the scenes, The Secret Constillltion. by B. Sedgemore (Hodder and Stoughton, 1980) and How to be a Minister, by G, Kaufman (Sidgwick anri Jackson, 1980). To conclude th is survey we would mention two books, one, third of the text of each of which is devoted to lists and other data subjects. These are British Historical Facts /830-1900, edited by C. Cook and B. Keith (Macmillan, 1975), and the frequentiy updated British Political Facts 1900-1979, edited by D. Butler and A. Sloman (Macmillan, 5th edn 1980). The latter especially has been honed to a h igh level of accuracy and both can save the gra teful many hours of devilling.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Local Government
Introduction C.H. Wilson, writing in 1948, believed that although J.S. Mill had said 'almost everything that was fundamentally important' about the institution of local government, it was vital to restate its value if it were to survive: a point whose relevance has re-emerged in the 1980s with a vengeance. Over the past quarter of a century critiques of democratic viability, functions and boundaries have been tempered with reasse rtions of the value of local government. The research preoccupations of the 1960s have now given way, however, to a radical recasting in which there are four main themes: urban historical studies; a comparative analysis which has moved away from 'community power' to a broader approach reflecting European, as well as American, ideas; an interdiscipliary debate about the nature and role of theory (see D.M. Hill. review article, Political Studies, 32, 2 June 1984); and a substantial body of British institutional and policy studies. These developments have had two revolutionary effects. First, 'local government' does not describe the area of study adequately, in that publications are infonned by broader and more sophisticated concepts. Second, work aimed at the undergraduate or 'layman' level is now much more difficult to achieve satisfactorily: there is a long way to go before there is a working consensus about analysis at this synthesized, introductory level. What has been encouraging about the structuralist/pluralist, neo-Maxist/neo-Weberian debate, however, is the interdisciplinary way in which it has been conducted. This is due to the relatively small academic world of local studies and the opportunities which have existed for collaboration between European and American
Copyngh!ed rna ria
140
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
scholars. Sadly, reduced research facilities now threaten the ecletic nature of this work, though some projects continue to attract welcome support. Theories and Definitions ' Local government' only became common usage after 1836 when the tenn appeared in a Times leading article. Both theory and practice then attracted increasing attention, in works such as: Joset Redich, Local Government in England, edited by F. W. Hirst (2 vols, Macmillan, 1903: Vol. 1 was reissued, edited by B. Keith-Lucas, as The History of Local Government in England (Macmillan, 1958); W. Hardy Wickwar, The Political Theory of Local Government (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1970); W. Thornhi.ll (ed.) The Growth and Reform of English Local Government(Weidenteld and Nicholson, 1971 ); and D.M. Hill, Democratic Theory and Local Government (Allen and Unwin, 1974). After 1945, concern for democratic local government was a strong theme: 'Administrator', ' the Democratic Content of Local Government': P. Self and 'Administrator', ' Local Government and the
Community', Fabian Quarterly, 47 (1945) and 53 (1947); C.H. Wilson (ed.), Essays on Local GovernmenJ (Black-well, 1948); G.D.H. Cole, Local and Regional Government (Cassell, 1947); W.A. Robson, Local Government in Crisis (Allen and Unwin, 1966)--a revised version of the Prologue of The Development of Local Government (G. Allen, 1931 ); W.J. Mackenzie, 'Theories of Local Government, ' Greater London Papers No. 2 (London School of Economics and Political Science, 1961); J.P. Mackintosh, The Devolution of Power (Penguin, 1968); and L.J. Sharpe, 'Theories and Values of Local Government,' Political Studies. 18 (1970). In the 1960s research increased and American work became influential. a defence and re-evaluation of this work is N. W. Polsby, Community Power and Political Theory (London, Yale University Press, 1980). For a critique, there is K. Newton, 'Community Politics and Decision-Making: The American Experience,' inK. Young (ed.), Essays on the Study of Urban Politics (Macmillan, 1975). In the 1970s research moved in a number of directions-sociological critiques, policy studies, interdisciplinary approaches (including political geography and political economy). Urban sociology, associated with the work of Marguerite Stacey, R. Pahl, C. Bel!, H.Newby and others, cu rrently emphasizes social theory and a radical critique: M.P. Smith, The City and Social
Copynghted matcri,
Local Government
141
Theory (Blackwell, 1980); B. Elliott and D. McCrone, The City (Machillan, 1982); P. Saunders, Urban Politics (Hutchinson, 1979); and his Social Theory and the Urban Question (Hutchinson, 1981 ). The distribution al concerns of both political scientists and political geographers are analysed inK. Newton and L.J. Sharpe, ' Local Outputs Research: Some Reflections and Proposals,' Policy and Politics, 5 ( 1977); R.J. Johnston, Political. Electoral and Spatial Systems: An Essay in Political Geography (The Clarendon Press, 1979); and K.R. Cox Location and Public Problems: A Political Geography of the Contemporary World (Blackwell, 1980). The expansion ofresearch brought a radical attack on the location of local government stud ies primarily within public administration. The theoretical Perspectives of Castells and others were made available to English-speaking readers first in C.G. Pickvance (ed.) Urban Sociology: Critical Essays (Methuen, 1976) and then in M. Casteils, The Uraban Question: A Marxist Approach (Edward Arnold. 1977) and his City, Class and Power (Macmillan, 1978). for an appraisal of the ideas of Castells and others, seeM. Harloe (ed.), Captive Cities (Wiley, 1977).
A trenchant criticism of existing local government perspectives in C. Cockburn, the Local State (Pluto Press, 1977). The concept of the ' local state' has been widely debated, for instance, in M. Boddy and C. Fudge (eds), ' The Local State,' Working Paper 20 (School of Advanced Urban Stud ies (SAUS), Universiry of Bristol, 1981 ). Critical reviews of the nco-Marxist and radical perspectives are M . Har loe (ed.), New Perspectives on Urban Change and Conflict (Heinemann, 1981); M. Goldsmith, Politics, Planning and the City (Hutchinson 1980) ; P. Dunleavy, Urban Political Analysis (Macmillan, 1980); and his The Politics of Mass Housing in Britain 1945-1975 (The Clarendon Press, 1981).
Historical Works and Texts The twentieth-century history of local government stands on the works of the Webbs, Cole, Laski, Hennan Finer and Robson. In recent years, however, there has been a great expansion in the study of urban history. As we ll as specialized jou rnals, a number of publishers now produce urban history series, notably those by the Leicester University Press. Edward Arnold and Basil Blackwell. Particular local government services also have their own histories. Bibliographies can be found in, for example, M. Bruce, The Coming of
Copynghled malcria
142
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
the Welfare State (Batsford, 4th edn, 1968) and G.E. Cherry, The Evolution of British Town Planning (Leonard Hill, 1974). J.B. Cullingworth's official history of environmental Planning includes: the wartime history up to 1947; National Parks; New Towns; and Land Values, Compensation and Betterment (Environmental Planning /9391969, Vols 1-11~ Hmso, 1975-1980). The history of local government has its genesis in the writings of Chartwick aod Simon and the official publications of the nineteenth century and in the monumental writings of Sidney and Beatrice Webb: under th e title English Local Government from the Revolwion to the Municipal Corporations Act, published by Longmans, Green & Co. TI1e work consists of three studies: The Parish and the County (1906); The Manor and the Borough, Parts l and II (2 vols, 1980); and Statutory Authorities for Special Purposes (1922). Other works include Redlich and Hirst (work cited); V.D. Lipman. Local Government Areas 1834/ 945 (Blackwell, 1949); H.J. Laski, W.l. Jennings and W. A. Robson (eds), A Century of Municipal Progress (Allen and Unwin, 1935); B. Keith-Lucas, The English Local Governmellf Franchise (Blackwell, 1952); and his The Unreformed Local Government System (Croom Helms, 1979). For this century there is B. Keith-Lucas' and P,G. Richards. A History of Local Gover:nmenr in the 20th Century (Allen and Unwin, 1978,), a successor to Redlich and Hirst. A major text of the of the inter-war period was Sir Ivor Jennings, Principles of Local Government Law (University of London Press, 193 I). This went into many editions, latterly revised by J.A.G. Griffith. The current text on the law relating to local government is C.A. Cross, Principles of Local Government Law (Sweet and Maxwell, 6th edn. 1980). After 1945 the Allen and Unwin New Town and county Hall series, edited by J.H. Warren, published a wide range of studies including Warren's own The English Local Government System (1946). This work established a tradition of frequent revis ions, subsequently carried out by P.G. Richards (in 1968 under the amended title of The New Local Government System}, who became Editor of the series. The tradition has continued P.G. Richard's The Reformed Local Government System is regularly revised and gives a comprehensive description of the functions, powers and progress of local government. Other texts include: R.J. Buxton, Local Government (Penguin, 2nd edn, 1975); J. Stanyer, Understanding Local Government (Fontana, 1976); J. Gyford Local Politics in Britain (Croom Helm, '1976); W.H. Cox, Cities: The Public
Copynghled malcria
Local Government
143
Dimension (Penguin, 1976); and H. Elcock (with a chapter by M. Wheaton), Local Government (Methuen, 1982). For School 'A' -level purposes there is M. Cross' and D.. Mallen' s Local Government and Politics (Longman, /978). Books for the general reader include: T. Byrne, Local Government in Britain (Penguin, 1981) and M. Minogue (ed.) The Consumers' Guide to Local Government, with a valuable gazetteer (Macmillan, 1977). Lexington Books (D.C. Heath, Lexington, Mass.) produce a series of comparative texts on local government including the UK. For a view from the centre there is Dame Evelyn Sharp, The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (Allen and Unwin, 1969); R. Crossman, The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, Vol. 1, Minister of Housing, 1964-66 (Hamish Hamilton and Jonathan Cape, 1975); and C. Mellors, ' Local Government in Parliament: Twenty Years Later,' Public Administration, 52 ( 1975).
Area Studies, Including London In the past Wales and Scotland have tended to be neglected or, in the case of Wales, subsurr.ed in general texts of English institutions. Now, work in this area is expanding. For Wales, there is D. Balsom and M. Burch, A Political and Electoral Handbook for Wales (Gower, 1980); and P. J. Madgwick with N. Griffith and V. Wallker, The Politics of Rural Wales (Hutchinson, 1973). For Scotland, there is J.P. Mackintosh, in On Scotland, edited by H. Drucker (Longman, 1982) and Keating and A. Midwinter, The Government of Scotland (Mainstream Publishing, 1983). Official publications include: the Royal Commission on Local Government is Scotland 1966-1969 (the Wheatley Commission) Report, Comnd. 4150 (HMSO, 1969); the Royal Commission on the Constitution 1969, 1973 (The Kilbrandon Report), Vol. i. Report, Cmnd. 5460, and Vol. If. Memorandum of Dissent (HMSO, I 973); and Our Changing Democracy: Devolution to Scotland and Wales, Cmnd. 6348 (HMSO, 1975), J. M. Bochel and D.T. Denver produced a series on elections since reform in the 1970s, The Scottish Local Government Elections, 1974 (Scottish Academic Press, 1974) and three volumes pub lished by the University of Dundee, The Scottish District Elections ( 1977). The Scottish Regional Elections ( 1978) and the Scottish District Elections (1980). A local study of pre-1975 Peterhead is F. Sealey and J. Sewel, The Politics of Independence (Aberdeen University Press, 1981). An earlier study of Glasgow in the 1960s is I. Budge et a/. , Political Stratification and Democracy (Macmillan, 1972). A. Midwinter and E. Page examined the effects of
Copynghled malcria
144
Modern Me1hods of Teaching Political Science
refonn in ' Remote Bureaucracy or Administrative Efficiency: Scotland's New Local Government System', Studies in Public Policy No. 38 (Glasgow, Centre for the Study of Pub lic Policy, University of Strathclyde, 1981); and A. Midwinter, Management Reform in Scottish Local Government (Department of Adm inistration, University of Strathclyde, 1982). Materical relating to Northern Ireland can be found in P. Arthur, The Government and Politics of Northern Ireland (Longman, 1980). A guide to local government in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic is D. Roche, Local Government in Ireland (Dublin Institute of Public Administration, 1982) and on the Irish Republic see Basil Chubb, The Government. and Politics of Ireland (Oxford University Press, 1971 ), and T.J. Barringtron, From Big Government of Local Government (Dublin, Institute of Public Administration, n.d., c. 1976). For London, B. Donaghue and G.W. Jones, Herbert Morrison (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1973) contains an invaluable bibliography. A critical analysis is contained in W.A. Robson, The Government and Misgovernment of London (Allen and Unwin, 1939; 2nd edn, 1948). The Greater London Group at the London School of Economics and Political Science published the Grealer London Papers. On the refonned system of London Government the fundamental publication is The Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London, 1957-1960 (The Herbert Report), Cmnd. 1164 (HMSO, 1961). Academic studies include G. Rhodes, The Government of Greater London: The Struggle for New Government of London (LSE/Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1972); and S. Ruck and G. Rhodes. The Government a/Greater London (Allen and Unwin, 1970). More recently, the enquiry into the GLC, commissioned by the then-contro lling Conservative group, chaired by Sri Frank Marshall, is The Marshall Inquiry on Greater London, Report to the Greater London Council (GLC, 1978). Planning, Housing and other :services have generated specialized London studies, including D.V. Donnison and D. Eversley (eds} London: Urban Patterns, Problems and Policies (Heinemann, 1974); M. Harloe et al., The Organization of Housing (Heinemann/centre for Environmental Studies, 1974); and K. Young and J. Kramer, Strategy and conflict in Metropolitan Housing (Heinemann, 1978). Political parties and election s are treated in: L.J. Sharpe, • A Metropolis Votes,' Greater London Paper No. 8 (LSE, 1962); K. Young, Local Politics and the Rise of Party (Leicester University Press. 1975);
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Local Government
145
P. Cousin, 'Council Leaders-London's 33 Prime Ministers', Local Government Studies, 5 (1979): A.D. Glassberg, Representation and the Urban Community (Macmillan, 1981); J.Bartley, ' London at the Polls; A Review of the 198 1 GLC Election Results', London Journal (1982); and I. Gordon. 'London at the Polls', London Journal (1982). A historical evaluation is K. Young and P.L. Garside, Metropolitan London: Politics and Urban Change 1837-1981 (Edward Arnold, 1982). Comparative Studies
American literature on community power and more recently on distributional analysis has influenced British studies (see above). Recent Contributions include : W.O. Hawley et al. (eds), Theoretical Perspectives on Urban Politics (Prentice Hall, 1976); D.S. Wright, Understanding Intergovernmental Relations (Duxbury Press, North Situate, Mass,; 1978); and L.L Sharpe. American Democracy Reconsidered,' Parts I and II, British Journal of Political Science, 3, 1-28 and 129- 167 (1973). An encompassing description of reorganized local government is D.C. Rowat (ed.), International Handbook of Local Government Reorganization (Aldwych Press, 1980). For the problems of Comparative urbanism there is: U.K. Hicks, The Large City (Macmillan, 1974); W.A. Robson and D.E. Regan (eds), Great Cities of the World (3rd, 2 vols, Allen and Unwin, 1972); and B. Roberts, Cities of Peasants (Edward Arnold, 1978). The Institute of Commonwealth Studies has published a work on new states: W.R. Morris-Jones and S.K. Panter-Brick (eds), A Revival of Local government and Administration? An Assessment of Recent Developments is Several New States (Athlone Press/Institute of
Commonwealth Studies, 1980). Of increasing interest are those comparative studies with a West European (including Scandinavian) focus: these include D.E.Ashford. British Dogmatism and French Pragmatism (Allen and Unwin, 1982); J. Lagroye and V. Wright (eds), Local Government in Britain and France (Allen and Unwin, 1979); N. Johnson and A.Cochrane, Economic Policy-Making by Local Authorities in Britain and Western Germany (A llen and Unwin, 198 1); and A.B. Gunlicks (ed.), Local Government Reform and Reorganization (Kennikat Press, P.Jrt
Washington, 1981 ). An important area is that of central-local rel;.tions treated in C. Hull and R.A.W. Rhodes, Intergovernmental Relations in the European Community (Saxon House. 1977).
Copyngh!ed malcri,
146
Modern Methods ofTeaching Political Science
K. Newton and L.J. Sharpe's comparative series (some published under the aegis of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) included K. Newton (ed.) Balancing the Books: Financial Problems of Local Government in Western Europe (Sage, 1980); L. J. Sharpe (ed.), The Local Fiscal Crisis in Western Europe (Sage, 1981); L. J. Sharpe (ed.), Decentralist Trends in Western Democracies (Sage, 1979); and K. Newton (ed.(, Urban Political Economy (Frances Pinter, 1981). Representation and Participation The study of local politics h as been dominatea by a pluralist framework- but one which has been challenged by neo-Marxists, radical sociologists and political economists. The Pluralist approach focuses on community, on pressure groups and participation and on party politic$. A selection of writing wou ld include A.H. Birch, Small Town Politics (Oxford University Press, 1959); W. Hampton Democracy and community (Oxford University Press, 1970); and K. Newton, Second City Politics (Oxford University Press, 1976). One participation, there is 'People and Planning' , Report or the Committee on Public Participation in Planning', (The Skeffington Report}, HMSO, 1969), D.M. Hill, Participating in Local Affairs (Penguin, 1970); S. Humble and J. Talbot, Neighbourhood Councils in England (Inlogov. University of Birmingham , 1977); R. Darke and R. Walller (eds), Local Government and the Public (Leonard Hill, 1977); and A. Barker, Public Participation in Britain: A Classified Bibliography (Bedford Square Press, 1979). The work ofN. Boaden, M. Goldsmith, W. Hampton and P. Stringer on participation in structure planning (their Interim Research Papers can now be obtained only from the Department of the Environment) has culminated in a more general study; Public Participation in Local Services (Longman, 1982). One the role of the local press and broadcasting, there is D.M. Hill ( 1970, work cited); I. Jackson, The Provincial Press and the Community (Manchester University Press, 1971 ); W.H. Cox and D. Morgan, City Politics and the Press (Cambridge University Press, 1973); D. Murphy, The Silent Watchdog (Constable, 1976); and A. Writh, ' Local broadcasting and the Local Authority, Pvblic Administration, 60 ( 1982). The case for the citizen's redress agai nst his local council was argued in The Citizen and his Council: Ombudsmen for Local Government?, Report by Justic (Chairman, J.F. Gamer) (Stevens, 1969).
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Local Government
147
Evaluations of the system are: The Loco/ Ombudm~an: a Review of the first Five years, Report by Justice (Chainnen. Y. Moore and H. Sales) (Justice, 1980); N. Lewis and B. Gateshill, The Commission for Local Administration (RJPA, 1978); and P. Cook's autobiography, Ombudsman (BKT Publications 1981 ). Work in the field of electoral studies is still sparse. Reference should be made to J.M. Bochel and D. T. Denver, '1976 District Council Election Data for England and WaJes', which is lodged with the SSRC Survey Archive (Data Set /498 (A), 1981; D.M. Clarke, Battle for the Counties (Redrose Publications, Newcastle 1977); F.W.S. Craig's material on London election (see below); and that of the GLC Research and Intelligence Unit (see below); M. Stead's annual electoral review in the Economist; S. Bristow's analyses of results in the Municipal Review; and also for the 1960s, L.J. Sharpe (ed.) Voting in Cities (Macmillan, 1967). For political parties themselves there is J.G. Bulpitt, Party Politics in English Local Government (Longman, 1967); W.P. Grant, independent; Local Politics in England and Wales (Saxon House, 1977); D.G. Green, Power and Party in an English City (Allen and Un iwn, 1980); and J. Gyford, work cited; Ripa, Party Politics in Local Government (1980) which includes B. Wood's survey of member/officer relations. The issues of representation raised by L. I . Sharpe, 'Elected Representatives in Local Government', British Journal ofSociology, 13 ( 1962) and ' Leadership and Representation in Local Government', Political Quarterly, 37 ( 1966), have continued to exercise researchers. Such work includes A.M. Rees and T. Smith, Town Councillors: a Study of Barking (Acton Society Trust, 1964 ); J.P: Hennock, Fit and Proper Persons (Edward Arnold, 197). G.W. Jones Borough Politics (Macmillan, 1969); and R. V. Clements, Local Notables and the City Council (Macmillan, 1969). The maud and Robinson Committees looked at councillors' characteristics in tl1e 1960s and again ten years later. Also important are th Committee on the Management of Local Government (The Mr.ud Committee), Vol. I, Report (5 vols, HMSO, 1967): the Committee of Inquiry into the System of Remuneration of Members of Local Authorities (The Robinson Committee), Vol, /. Report, Cmnd. 70 10 (2 Vols, HMSO, 1977); and the Prime Minister's Committee on Local Government Rules of Conduct (The Lord RedeliffeMaud Committee) Vol.l, Report, Cmnd. 5636 (HMSO, 1974). The Maud
Copynghled malcria
148
Modern Methods ofTeaching Political Science
Committee's work has been criticed, and J. Stanyer warned of the difficulties of collecting and analysing such data in 'Electors, Candidates and Councillors: some Technical Problems in the Study of Political Recruitment Processes in Local Government' , Policy and Politics, 6 (1917). S. Bristow pioneered research on women councillors: 'Women · Councillors- An Explanation of tlte Under-Representation of Women in Local Government' , Local Gavernment Studies, 6 (1980). Also of interest is J. Hills, 'Women Local CouncillorS: A Reply to Bristow', Local Government Studies, 8 ( 1982). A number of studies deal with aspects of leadership. These include G.W. Jones (Work cited); R.V. Clements (work cited); J.M. Lee, Social Leaders and Public Persons (The Clarendon Press, 1963); and its successor, J.M. Lee, B. Wood, B.W. Solomon and P. Watts. The Scope of Local Initiative (Marten Robertson, 1974). There is also G.W. Jones and A. Norton (eds), Political Leadership in Local Authorities (lnlogov, University ofBinningham, 1978); C.Game, ' Review Essay ' One Local Political Leadership', Policy and Politics, (1979); and D.E. Regan, A Headless State: The Unaccountable Executive in British Local Government (University of Nottingham, 1980). Functions The main coverage of functions appears in the journals and general texts. In Planning, a standard work is J.B. Cullingworth, Town and Country Planning in England Wales (Allen and Unwin, 8th edn, 1982). A book with a wide sweep, beyond questions of law itself, is M. Grant, Graf!t, Urban Planning Law (Sweet and Maxwell, 1982). Criticisms of planning have multiplied: for example, J.M. Simmie, CitizefiS in Conflict (Hutchinson, 1974), and critics have also developed wide policy interest, as in A. Blowers, The Limits ofPower: The Politics ofLocal Planning Policy (Pergamon, 1980). The proliferation of works on Housing is even greater. Bribliographies can be found in P. Dunleavy, The Politics of Mass Housing 1945-1975 (The Clarendon Press, 1981) and S. Merrett, State Housing in Britain (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979). For the Police, a standard text is G. Marshall; Police and Government (Methuen, 2nd edn, 1967) while for a history there is T.A. Critchley, A Hist01y of Police in England and Wales (Constable, rev, edn, 1978).
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Local Government
149
Urban Policy and Policy making now ranges widely, beyond questions of land-use planning, with works such as M.P. Boaden. Urban Policy-Making (Cambridge University Press, 1971) and J.Dearlove, The Politics of Policy in Local Government (Cambridge University Press, 1973).Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the problems of the innt;r city: J. Edward and R. Batley, The Politics of Positive Discrimination (Tavistock, 1978); J. Underwood, 'Policy for the Inner Cities-A Review Anicle', Policy and Politics, 8 ( 1980); P. Lawless, Britain 's inner Cities (Harper and Row, 1981); and M. Loney and M. Allen (eds), The Crisis of the Inner City (Macmillan, 1979). The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Working Party, chaired by Peter Hall Published its final Report, The Inner City in Context (Heinemann/SSRC, 1981) together with a series of eleven specialist reviews. The SSRC has now commissioned the next phas of the programme (SSRC Newsletter 48 (March 1983)). Recent work on economic regeneration includes: R. Minns and J. Thomley, State Shareholding (Macmillan, 1978): C. Miller's review article, Local Authority Involvement in Economic lnitiati_ves', Local Government Studies, 7 (1981); and K. Young and C. Mason (eds), Urban Economic Development (Macmillan, 1982). A different aspt:ct of inner-city issues has been in the area of race relations (see biblography section). The Scarrnan Report is now available: The Scarman Report (Penguin, 1982). The Policy Studies Institute has also carried our research in this area: KYoung and N. Connelly, Policy and Pracice in the Multi-Racial City (PSI, 1981 ). Finance Leading publications on fmance include the Committee of Enquiry into Local Government Finance (The Layfield Committee), Report, Cmnd, 6453 (HMSO. 1976); and C.D. Foster, R. Jackman and M. Perlman, with the assistance of B. Lynch, Local Government Finance in a Unitary State (Allen and Unwin, 1980). The major textbook is N.P. Hepworth, The Finance of Local Government {Allen and Unwin, 6th edn, 1980). Current interest in financial constraints is reflected in R. Rose and E.Page (eds), Fiscal Stress in Cities (Cambridge University Press, 1982). A work of specific Criticism is T. Burgess and T. Travers, Ten Billion Pounds: Whitehall's Takeover of the Town Halls (Grant Mcintyre, 1980).
Copynqhled malcria
ISO
lv/odern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Management Studies of officers and of officer-councillor relations remain scarce but there is T.E. Headrick, The Town Clerk in English Local Government (Allen and Unwin, 1962); A Alexander, Local Government in Britain since Reorganisation (Allen and Unwin, 1982); C.A. Collins, C.R. Hinings and K. Walsh. ' The Officer and the Councillor in Local Government', PAC Bulletin (December 1978); B. Wood in RJPA (1979, work cited); The Committee on the Staffing of Local Government, Report (The Mallaby Report), (HMSO, 1967). The standard text is K.P. Poole, The Local Government Service in England and Wales (Allen and Unwin 1978). The 1970s saw a notable change of direction. A seminal work was J.K. Friend and W.N. Jessop, Local Goverment and Strategic Choice (Tavistock, 1969). Management concerns are reflected in: DOE! Local Authority Associations Study Group Report, ' The New Local Authorities: Management and Structure' (Tbe Bais Report) (HMSO, 1972), J. Bourn, Management in Central and Local Govermment (Pitman, 1979); R. Greenwood. K. Walsh, C.R. Hinnings and S.Ranson, Patterns of Management of Local Government (Martin Robertson, 1980); R. Hambleton, Policy Planning in Local Government (Hutchinson, 1978) S. Leach and J.Stewart (eds), Approaches in Public Policy (Allen and Unwin, for Inlogov, 1982); R.J. Haynes, Organisation Theory and Local Government (Allen and Unwin, 1980); and S. Barratt and C.Fudge (eds), Policy and Action: Essays on the Implementation of Public Policy ( 1981). Central-Local Relations The thinking behind the SSRC's central-local panel and the theoretical approaches are desc ribed in G. W. Jones (ed.) New Approaches to the Study of Central-L ocal Government Relations (Gower, 1980); R.A.W. Rhodes. Control and Power in Central-Local Government Relations (Gower, 1981 ); and E. Page. ' Why should Central-Local Relations in Scotland be any Different from Those in England?', Studies in Public Policy, 21 (University of Strathclyde, Centre for the Study of Public Policy, 1978). For an alternative view; ther is P. Saunders. ' Why Study Central-Local Relations? Local Government Swdies. 8 ( 1982). Concern over this issue has a long history; for example: D.N. Chester, Central and Local Government
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Local Government
lSI
(Macmillan, 1951 ); J.A.G. Griffith, Central Departments and Local Authorities (Allen and Unwin, 1966).' Relations between Central Government and Local Authorities', Report by the Central Policy Review Staff (HMSO. 1977). Two innovatory areas in this reas research are in law: M. Elliott, The Role of Law in Central-Local Relations (SSRC. 1981), and in the 'National Local Government Community: see the work by J. Gyford and M. James (SSRC Newsletter and journal articles); R.A.W. Rhodes, B.Hardy and K.Pudney's, work on the Local Authority Associations in Discussion Papers (University of Essex, Department of Government, 1982). Reform The reforms of the 1970s generated a number of studies: J.Brand, Local Government Reform in England. 1888-1974 (Croom Helm, 1979); and C.J. Pearce. The Machinery ofChange in Local Government 18881974: A Study of Central Involvement (Allen and Unwin for lnlogov.
1980). Lord Redcliffe-Maud, Chairman of the Royal Commission on Local Government in England (Cmnd. 4040, Vol. I Report; Vol II. Memorandum of Dissent' (D. Senior); Vol. Ill. 'Research Appendices' (HMSO, 1969)) was responsible, with B. Wood, for English Local Govrnment Reformed (Oxforct University Press, 1974) and B. Wood published 111e Process of Local Government Reform /966- I 97 4 (Allen and Unwin, 1976). See also L.J. Sharpe, '"Reforming" the Grass Roots: An Alternative Analysis', in D.E. Butler and A.H. Halsey (eds), Policy and Politics (Macmillan, 1978); and P.G . Richards, The Local Government Act, 1972: Problems of Implementation (Allen and Unwin/ PEP, 1975). Lord Redcliffe-Maud, in his autobiography Experiences of an Optimist (Hamish Hamilton, 1981 ), describes the evolution of ideas in the Royal Commission. John Dearlove challenges these views in The Reorganisation of British Local Government (Cambridge University Press, 1979), Alan Alexander's work on reorganization has been referred to above; his book The Politics of Local Government in the United Kingdom (Longman, 1982) describes the movements of change since 1945. The question of reform is still an open one; the future of the LGC and the other metropolitan authorities in uncertain (see above, The Marshall Report on Greater London) and the general debate continues, as R. McAllister and D.Hunter's Local Government: Death or Devolution (work cited) and journal articles reveal.
Copynqhled malcria
152
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Offcial Material and Bibliography Local authorities have a statutory duty to publish some kinds of information (see, the Local Government, Planning and Land Act, HMSO, 1980 and the Local Government Act, HMSO, 1972). Local newspapers, political parties and interest groups carry some records. Nationally, the Local Authority Associations maintain records and publish dltta. The Commission for Local Administration, established in 1974, produces and Annual Reporl. Since 1967 the British Library Lending Division has maintained a comprehensive collection of social science publications, and the Ofl'cial Publications Section of the British Library is the deposit of British Government publications. HMSO publishes a Consolidated Index to Government Publications. The Departments of the Environment and Transport publishes a monthly Library Bulletin (which includes the Scottish and Welsh Offices). The DOE/DT sub-library produces an Annual List of Publications of their non-HMSO material. The SSRC Newsletter reports on research probjects, and theses are reported in the SSRC annual register Political Science Theses. and in the annual Vol. III Social Science ofthe Scientific Research in British Universities and Colleges, published by the Department of Education and Science. The European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Workgroup on Local Government and Politics reports ort research and on publications in its Newsletter. The Political Studies Association Urban Politics Group publishes a bian nual Newsletter and in October 1982 published a Research Register. Statistical data are published annually in the DOE/Welsh Office Local Government Financial Statistics for England and Wales and Rates and Ratebale Values in England and Wales. The Scottish Office publishes Local Government Financial Statistics (I st edn for 1975-1976 to 1977-1978 published December 1981 ; 2nd edn for 1978-1979 Published 1982). The Welsh Office published Welsh Local Government Financial Statisitcs annually from. 1977 onwars; No. 4 (1980) covers 1978-1979. Between 1974 and 1979 the Office of Population, Censuse and Surveys Series EL (Elctoral Statistics) (HMSO) published an analysis of local elections for English Metropolitan and nonMetropolitan counties, and Welsh ·counties and districts. The data were discontinued after the analysis of local elections of 1979 as part of the government's cutback of the statistical services. For previous years there
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Local Government
153
are the Registrar General's Statistical Review of England and Wales. Part II (HMSO); for Scotland: the Annual Report of the Registrar General for Scotland (HMSO); for Northern Ireland: The Analysis of the Register of Electors, issued by the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland (HMSO). The Chartered Institute of Public finance and Accountancy (formerly the Institute of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants) publishes Local Government Trends; Financial, General and Ratings Statistic (both annually); and the journal Public Finance and Accountancy. The GLC's Urban Abstracts publishes eight issues a year, in two series, on local government services. Urbandoc News (Capital Planning Information, 44 Main Street, Empingham, Oakham, and also in Edinburgh) publishes a monthly Digest of Documents and Developments. A London Bibliography ofthe Social Sciences. published by the British Library of Political and Economic Science, includes a local government section. The GLC Research and Intelligence Unit publishes details ofGLC and Borough Elections; additional additional material is F. W.S. Craig, Greater London Votes, 1: The Greater London Council 1964-1970' ( 1971) and 2 , ' The Grater London Council 1964-1971 ' ( 1972) (Chichester, Political Reference Publications). Two journals containing London material are London Joumal and the London Review of Public Administration. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs publishes data on urbanization and local government. The International Union of Local Authorities, IULA (The Hague), published Studies in Comparative Local Government from 1967 to 1974 and from that data planning and Administration. The British Sections of both 1ULA and of the Council of European Municipalities publish IULA!CEM News, and the monthly European Information Service. The former Journal of Admnistration Overseas is now published by the R1PA as Public Administration and Development. 'The public administration institutes of different countries publish journals (for example, Public Administration Review (USA), Canadian Public Administration (Canada) and Administration (Eire). American and imperative material can also be found in the monograph series of Sage: Urban Affairs Annual Review: The major local government joumals include Local Government Studies. and the Local Authority Associations publications-Municipal
Copyngh!ed rna ria
154
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Review. County Councils Gazette. District Council Revie w. Local council Review. Curren t wo rk can also be foun d in Public Administration. Public Adm inistration Bulletin, British Journal of Political Science. Political Studies, Policy and Politics, Policy Swdies, and in the discussion paper series Studies in Public Policy (Centre for the Study of Public Policy. University of Strathclyde). Related journals are Public Law, Urban Law and Policy. Houma/ of Urban and Regional Research. Political Geography Quarterly CES Review (Published between 1977 and 1980). Information on current research is in Register of Research Projects (lnlogov: see also the lnlogov reports and papers) and M. Goldsmith. Register of Research on Central-Local Relations in Britain (SSRC, 1982), an updating of the 1979 (A. Barker) register. See also the discussion and working papers of the School of Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol. Publication ofthe Race Elations Institute include the journal Race and Class, while the SSRC Research Unit on Ethni c Rel ations, University of Aston, publishes the information and research brochure Racial and Ethnic Relations in Britain.
Copynghted matcri,
Judiciary and Government in Great Britain
Partial Revival of a Lost Tradition?
A century ago the jurist Sir Frederick Pollock aptly observed that
'law is to political institutions as the !bones to the body': the observation appears in an interesting essay (originally a lecture) with the portentous title. 'The History of Engl ish Law as a Branch of Politics' reproduced in his book, Essays in Jurisprudence and Ethics (Macmillan, 1882). It is not hard to find modem echoes of this view. It was recently suggested, for example, in a political science journal that the study of courts and judicial dec isions lies 'at the very heart of political science': L. Johnston, 'A Defence of Public Law', Political Studies, 16, 384-392 ( 1968). But tl!e fact remains that, somewhat along the line, the study of politics in Britain became detached from the study of law. A careful perusal of current British political science journals reveals a dearth of items with a recognizably legal or j uridicial flavour. The wide physical separation between ' law ' and ' politics' sections in most iibraries symbolizes the breadth of the chasm between two disparate fields of study. This is in stark contrast to the situation in the US, with its written Constitution and its overtly ' political' Supreme Court, where the operation of courts and the behaviour of judges are matters of major concern to students of politics; and to the situation in many other countries of Europe, where politics amd (even more emphatically) public administration are taught, practiced and written about very largely as facets of public law.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
156
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Appearances may be slightly deceptive, however. Many major figures in the history of political thought, as taught to British Politic students , are also familiar figures in the literature and teaching of theoretical jurisprudence: Bentham, Mill and Marx are discussed by theotist of both Jaw and politics, An article on aspects of the relationship between the judiciary and British politics- ' Judges and the Political Order', by Howard Elcock (Political Studies, XVII, 294-312 (1969))notes the prevalence of legal concepts in political science, instancing the discussion of justices in Plato "s Republic, as well as the classical (and legally derived) concept of'social contract', associated notably with the writings of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. The brilliant essay, Legalism, by Judith Shkla( (Harvard University Press, 1964), is one modem instance of the theoretical cross-fertilization that can, and sometimes does, take place across the boundaries of legal and political theory. The truth is that the boundary is, in the nature of the subject, an artificial, one, endowed with reality only by academic convention.
It is the case, too, that some of the major authors of works on British Government have themselves had a legal training. Thus the late William Robson. Professor of Public Admir.istration at the London School of economics and author of the pioneering work, Justice and Administrative Law (see below,) was a barrister; so, too, was Sir lvor Jennings (he became a bencher of Gray's Inn), the author of so many standard texts on institutional and constitutional subjects in the years spanning the Second World War. Two leading contemporary figures whose published works demonstrate eloquently the value of interpreting government and politics from legal perspectives are Geoffrey Marshall and J.A. G. Griffith, both of whom we will encounter later in this chapter. One reason for the apparent gulf between law and political science is that many post-war political scientists (on both sides of the Atlantic) have sought to develop their subject through devising sophisticated techniques for evaluating political behaviour and quantifying political phenomena. This has been accompanied by rejection of institutional and constitutional approaches to the subject as being old-fashioned and atheoretical. Adjectives like 'formalistic' and 'descriptive' are sometimes used, pejoratively, to describe such work. But whereas American political scientists have harnessed their behavioural mythology, for better or for worse, to the study of judicial behaviour (hence the branch of the subject known as ' Jurimetrics'-see below), their British counterparts have
Copyngh!ed malcri,
Judiciary and Government in Greal Britain
157
chose largely to ignore the judges as part of their subject matter. This is, in part, because law is seen as 'fonnalistic and its study as antithetical to the quest for a 'science' of politics; it also stems from the undoubted fact that British judges, have traditionally been regarded as far more detached from the world of politics and government than are American judges. But, whatever the explanation, it is this writer's belief that neglecting legal and constitutional dimensions of the subject has deprived political science of a source of potential enrichment: this does not, of course, imply that ' law' is the Holy Grail of political science, merely that the latter is necessarily eclectic and needs to draw upon as many kinds of approach as possible. There has in fact been something of a backlash against this neglect, and some forceful advocacy of the need to re-emph asize constitutional and institutional approaches; see, for example, In Search of the Constitution, by Nevil Johnson (Methuen, t977) and The Study ofGovernment, by F.F. Ridley (Allen and Unwin 1975), both of which make telling comparisons between the legal and constitutional awareness of academic students of government in countries like France and West Gennany, and the lack of interest in such matt.ers in Britain. The work, Constitutional Theory, by Geoffrey Marshall (The Cla.rendon Press, 1971 ), underlines how much the stl!ldy of government can benefit from a constitutional approach ; some years earlier the same author had expressed his own concern about the need for political science to draw upon the resources of public law-see his article, ' Political Science and the Judicial Process', Public Law, 139-152 (1957). Some Problems of the constitution, by Geoffrey Marshall and Graeme C.Moodie (Hutchinson, 4th edn, 1967) is a good instance of 'constitutional' writing which is stimulating and lucid. It is encouraging, too, to note faint signs of a possible revival of interest in constitutiona.l issue among a younger generation of writers: see, for instance, a basic textbook, The Constitution in Flux by Philip Norton (Martin Robertson, 1982). Such a revival (if it is one) may simply be a product of the random ebb and flow of academic fashion. But it may also be connected with various recent events and developments-such as an apparent increase in the political significance of judicial decisions, revival of the debate about enacting a new Bil of Rights, the debate about devolution of government and the constitutional and legal impact of Britain' s membership of the European Communities. We will consider aspects of such phenomena in due course.
Copyngh!ed malcri,
158
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Were this chapter to confine itself strictly to the political science literature concerning the relationship between government and the judiciary in Britain then it would be embarrassingly brief. On the other hand, it would be possible to go to the opposite extreme by digging out the legal elements that exist in almost every corner of political and administrative life. Clearly, some compromise is necessary. The remaining sections of this chapter discuss the necessary. The remaining sections of this chapter discuss the literature on the judicial process, on judicial institutions and machinery of justice and on administrative law. It then considers some of the contemporary issues which have intensified the degree of interplay between law and government. The chapter concludes with some remarks about legal journals and Jaw reports. The Judicial Process An informative review article by an American academic (Research on the English Judicial Process' by Lawrence Baum (British Journal of Politics Science, 7, 511-527 (1.977) notes, as we have done, that 'political scientists thus far have virtually ignored the English courts as an object of study'. This, he says, 'reflects a belief that the courts' political roles are too limited to demand study'-a view from which he vigorously dissents. The article does, however, provide a useful survey of what literature was in existence at that time, and includes references to American material- mainly to illustrate the kinds of research that he considers Briti~h political scientists ought to be doing.
Some of the sources cited by Baum are more in the category of ' machinery of justice' than in that of 'judicial process' . These expressions are used in this chapter to denote a significant difference of emphasis between, on the one hand, works concerning the institutional structure within which judges transact their business and, on the other, the nature and the determinantes of juclicial behaviour itself. It must be admitted, however, that the distinction is somewhat arbitrary-as can be illustrated by reference to the doctrine of precedent, which needs to be considered as a :major factor determining the formal relationships between different courts (e.g. the rules which render the decisions of 'superior courts bicling upon 'inferior' tribunals) and as a major factor underlying patterns of judicial decision making. Behavioural methodology has, in the US. spawned a large literature on 'jurimetrics', based upon various kinds of quantitative analysis applied to juclicial decisions. Little of this has been attempted
Copyngh!ed malcri,
Judiciary and Government in Great Britain
159
in Britain: one interesting exception can be found in an article, Judicial Ideology in the House of Lords: A Jurimetrics Analysis' by David Roberston (British Journal of Political Science 12, 1-25 (1982), which contains references to other source material in this area. Unlike the case of the US Supreme Court, only intermittent attention has been paid to the operation of particular British courts from a political science or policy studies standpoint. A lonely pioneer was The Restrictive Practices Court: A Study in Judicial Process and Economic Policy, by R.B. Stevens and B.S. Varney (Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 1965). The House of Lords, that constitutional oddity that sits at the top of the hierarchy of courts, in Britain, is one obvious target for research (e.g. David Robertson's anicle. work cited), though it does not, of course, have the explicit political relevance of a Supermen Court which is custodian of a written Constitution. One of its former members observed, rather unkindly, in a review article(' Judges, Government and Politics' by Lord Devlin, Modern Law Review, 41 , 501-511 (1978)) that ' compared with the Supreme Court, the House is a disorganised rabble.' Nevertheless, the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords has attracted increased notice on the part of political scientists in recent years, partly because a number of politically significant causes celebres have compelled such attention. One of several instances of commentaries upon recent appellate judicial decisions appearing in politics journals (they appear as a matter of course in legal journals, see below) is 'The Law Lords and the Needs of contemporary Society', by David Pannick (Political Quarterly, 53, 318-328 ( 1982)). The title is overambitious, but this i~ a workman-like critical essay on the political/policy implications of the London Transport fares case and the Harriet Harman contempt case, both decided by the House of Lords in 1982. Apart from such welcome, but essentially patchy, evidence of interest in the political aspects of particular cases, this area of the subject has been put onto a more secure scholarly footing by the publication of three substantial studies of the judicial functions of the House of Lords (two ofthem having appeared since Baum's survey). Quite different in their respective approaches, they may be regarded as usefully mutually complementary to one another. Final Appeal: A Study of the House of Lords in its Judicial Capacity, by Louis Blom-Cooper and Gavin Drewry (The Clarendon
Press, 1972), is a non-behavioural (but, in part, quantitative) study of
Copyngh!ed rna ria
160
Modern Methods a/Teaching Political Science
the role of the House of Lords, based mainly upon an examination of procedures, personnel and the substance of decisions in the period 195268. Law and Politics: The House of Lords as a Judicial Body, /8001976 by Robert Stevens (Heinemann, 1979) is an attempt, over a broad time frame, 'to describe and evaluate in policy tenns the legal doctrines that the House developed. Drawing upon a wealth of documentation (which makes it a valuable quarry for legal and political historians), it traces the impact and significance of judicial decisions in various areas, and arrives at some trenchant conclusions about the patchy quality of judicial decision making. The last member of the trio is The Law Lords, by Alan Paterson (Macmillan, 1982), which uses role analysis to examine the dynamics of judicial decision making in the Lords, with special reference to the period 1957-1973. The main feature of this study is its use of material gleaned from interviews with 28 judges, 26 QCs and seven junior counsel. British judges have not been as eager as some of their American coumerparts to encourage social scientists to examine their inner-most thoughts, but Paterson managed to persuade nine of the 15 serving Law Lords not only to be interviewed but also to be tape recorded. If some of his findings are a little less than startling, Paterson deserves credit none the less for his success in breaking down the barriers of judic ial inscrutability. A much broader perspective on t~e judicial process, and a more controversial one, can be found in The Politics of the Judiciary, by J.A.G. Griffith (Fontana, 2nd edn, 1981). The author's examination of selected items of case law, under chapter headings of Industrial Relations, Personal Rights, Property Rights and the Control of Ministerial Discretion, the Uses of Conspiracy and Students and Trade Union Members, leads him to some disquieting conclusions about the pervasiveness of a conservative judicial ideology, and hence to refute simplistic assumptions about the ' political neutrality' of British judges. Griffith absolves the judges of making 'a conscious and deliberate attempt to pursue their own interests or those of their class', but he suggests that our most senior judges have 'a strikingly homogeneous collection of attitudes, beliefs and principles, which to them represents the public interest.' The radical critique is founded upon its author's fonnidable legal scholarship and thus deserves to be taken more seriously than some critics have suggested; but it needs perhaps to be read in conjunction with more conservative interpretations, such as that of Lord Devlin (considered below).
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Judiciary and Government in Great Britain
161
In exploring the sociological and ideological undercurrents of the judicial process, Griffith considers. but quickly abandons, classical Marxism as a possible explanatory framework. This reminds us, however, that the body of literature on law and government contains a lot of items written from Marxiam perspective. This is particularly the case with studies that emphasize aspects of the legal process as an instrument of social control. This material has been of somewhat variable quality. Images of Law, by Zenon Bankowski and Geoff Mungham (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976), Paul, 1976), is perhaps as good an instance as any for readers to tum to in order to discover both the strengths and the weaknesses of such an approach. It is often forgotten that judges arc sometimes used to serve the ends of government, not just by acting as courtroom adjudicators but also by serving as members and chairmen of official inquiries into issues of current concern and controversy. Some of the most prestigious of such exercises are those held under the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921 , and to origins and usage of this and comparable machinery are considered in Trial by Tribunal, by G.W. Keeton (Museum Press, 1960). There may indeed be public benefits in using the reputation for political neutrality (Pace Griffith) and the interrogative and analytical skills of judges in such ways, but arguably there are also dangers of tainting the credibility of the judicial process if the practice is overdone-see 'Judges and Political Jnquiries: Harnessing a Myth', by Gavift Drewry (Political 'Studies, XXIII, 49-6 1 ( 1975)).
What manner of men (use of the masculine gender is deliberate, for only a derisory number of professional judges in Britain are women) are British Judges? Apart from some useful material to be found in some of the works already cited (e.g. Griffith, Stevens), the evidence is patchy, largely because judges prefer and are encou raged to eschew public exposure. Early work on the political backgrounds of the j~diciary can be found in Studies in Law and Politics, by Harold Laski (Allen and Unwin, 1932). More up-to-date studies include 'Judges: A Political Elite', by Alan Paterson (British Journal of Law and Society, I, 118135 ( 1975)); and there is usefu l material in the work by Fred Morrison (cited below). A very useful general sourcebook on the judiciary (though it is written in ponderous style, and suffers from rather slack editing) is Judges Of' Trial, by Shimon Shetreet (North-Holland, 1976). Courts and Judges in France, Germany and England. by R.C.K. Ensor (Oxford Uni versity Press, 193 3), still retains some of the freshness of a pioneering and classical comparative essay, despite its antiquity. Copyngh!ed rna ria
162
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
One judge who certainly did not hide behind a cloak of anonymity was Lord Denning, whose retirement as Master of the Rolls in 1982, at the age of eighty-three, marked the end an era: it was, however, a turbulent era, since Lord Denning's idiosyncratic views and his advocacy of an explicitly ' creative' approach to the judicial process did not meet with unqualified approval, particularly among some of his fellow judges, who saw in his efforts to ' repair' the legislative products of Parliament an unacceptable usurpation of parliamentary functions and danger of introducing uncertainty into the lives of citizens seeking to order their legal affairs. Lord Denning himself has written a number of books about his judicial philosophy, one of which, What 's Next in the Law (Butterworths, 1982)--the absence of a question mark sums up his selfconfidence in his own views- played material part in accelerating his long-delayed retirement, since it was found in its original form (which was hurriedly withdrawn) to contain libellous and racially offensive remarks, for which Lord Denning had publicly to apologize. Almost everyone who has written in recent years about the British
courts has found himself obliged to single out Lord Denning for special attention, if only as an exception who underlines various rules about the judicial process. A group of young legal academics has produced a radical critique of Lord Denning's contribution to various areas of law: Justice, Lord Denning and the Constitution, edited by P. Robson and P. Watchman (Gower, 181). But perhaps the most eloquent (though implicit) riposte to Lord Denning is to be found in an anthology of lectures by one of his fom1er colleagues, The Judge by Patrick [Lord) Devlin (Oxford University Press, 1979). Lord Devlin broadly approves of judges being 'activists' by which he means ' the business of keeping pace with changes in the consensus', but is hostile towards judges being ' creative' or ' dynamic' lawmakers, using their position to ' generate change in the consensus': in his view, ' the keepers of the boundaries [between rulers and ruled] cannot also be the outriders.' He strongly favours t~e jury system, and is against training judges in penology in the hope of making them into more effective sentencers. His view that judges are 'an epitome of the ordinary Englishman' and thus endowed with insight into the nature of the 'consensus' will be take with a pinch of salt by many readers; but this book, like his other writings, has much intellectual merit, clothed in fine literary style.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Judiciary and Government in Great Britain
163
Lord Devlin argues that judges simply are not qualified to take important decision about issues of public policy. Th is argument is developed, in much greater detail, in The Courts and Social Policy, by Donald L. Horowitz (The Brookings Institution, 1977); although the book is concerned primarily with the US, the arguments deployed have much relevance elsewhere. The lawyers' literature on j udicial approaches to statutory interpretation and 'judicial law making' is vast, and really deserves a separate chapter: a taste of it, and indication of further sources, can usefully be obtained from a sourcebook, the Lawmaking Process, by Michael Zander (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1980). Judicial Institutions and the Machinery of Justice Many competent books on the machinery of British justice (some of which also contain outlines of areas of substantive Jaw- crime, contract, tort, family Jaw, etc.) have been published to meet the needs of law students, but few have any special claims upon the attentions of those studying government and politics. It was discovered that an introductory book on aspects of law that he had written for pre-university politics students-Law, .Justice and Politics (Longman, 2nd edn, 1981 )--was also being used at university level, something that clearly underlines the shortage of cross-disciplinary literature in this area. One useful, but still quite elementary, book which tackles the subject from a recognizable political science perspective, using a ' systems' framework, was written (perhaps inevitably) by an American Courts and the Political Process in England, by Fred L. Morrison (Sage, 1973). A new edition is overdue. Those seeking a comprehensive and lucid text on the legal system need go no further than The Machinery ofJustice in England by R.M. Jackson (Cambridge University Press, 7th edn, 1977). This covers the civil and criminal courts (includi ng magistrates' courts) and their procedures, the personnel of the law (includ ing jurist and such matters as legal education), administrative tribunals and the cost of the law (includi ng legal aid). ft nicely balances description with criticism and prescription, and includes valuable references to other sourcesincluding an index of the numerous official publications cited in the text. The later point is important, Continuing efforts to reform, update and consolidate law and legal institutions have, over the years, produced numerous standing and ad hoc official inquiries (whose role and
Copynqhled malcria
164
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
workings are themselves of potential interest to students of government, as is the part played in this and other contexts by the legal professions acting as lobbyists). The English and Scottish Law Commissions have produced a steady flow of working papers, reports and draft Bills since they were set up in 1965: the ir Report on Remedies in Administrative Law (Cmnd.) 6407, 1976) is one example that is of interest to students of public administration (see next section). Other noteworthy official reports of recent years have included The Report ofthe (Beaching) Royal Commission on Assizes and Quarter Sessions (Cmnd. 4 153, 1969); Report of the (James) Committee on the Distribution of Criminal Business between the Crown Court and magistrates Courts (Cmnd, 1975); Report of the (Benson) Royal Commission on Legal Services (Cmnd. 7648, 1979); and Report of the (Philips) Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure (Cmnd. 8092, 1981 ). Those studying the machinery of justice should refer to such reports and, in particular, to the usefu l volumes of evidence that often accompany them. The subject has generated a large historical literature. Rather than plunging into the 'heavyweight' material (such as Sir William Holdsworth's epic, multi-volume work, A History of English Law}, a good place to start is Lawyers and the Courts by Brian Abel-Smith and Robert Stevens (Heinemann, 1967). Two specialized studies that are of relevance to students of government are The Law Officers of the Crown, by J.LI.J. Edwards (Sweet and Maxwell, 1964); and R. F. V. Houston, The Lives of the Lord Chancellors, 1885-1940 (The Clarendon Press, 1964). All these works contain useful bibliographical references. Administrative Law
The present writer has discussed elsewhere the under-exploitation of public law aspects of the study of public administration: ' Public Law: ' What's in it for Us?' by Gavin Drewry (Public Administration Bulletin, 27, 2-19 (1978). The reasons for the tardy and still incomplete evolution of public law in Britain, in sharp contrast to the rest of Europe, make a fascinating story in their own right. The story begins with the distinguished constitutional lawyer, A.V. Dicey, telling his readers and students at the turn of the century that any movement in Britain towards the French system of a droit administratif would threaten the ' rule of law' . His views, in the absence
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Judiciary and Government in Great Britain
165
of any significant counter-arguments, and despite Dicey's own pa11ial recantation of some of his earlier, more dogmatic assertions about Continental systems of administrative law, became the conventional wisdom on the subject for several generations. Dicey's major work on the subject is still worth consulting: Introduction to the Study of the law oftire Constitution by A. V. Dicey (Macmillan, 1885; lOth edn, with introduction by E.C.S. Wade, 1959). Those seeking to follow this story further might usefully begin with the excellent biography, The Rule of Law: Albert Venn Dicey. Victorian Jurist. by Richard C.Cosgrove (Macmillan, 1980); but see the critical review of this work, by D. Sugarman (Modern Law Review. 4·6, I02- 11 1 (1983). An article, 'The Donoughmore Report in Retrospect ' by D.G. T. Williams (Public Administration. 60, 273-292)), usefully examines the impact ofDiceyan dogma on subsequent events. Looking more broadly at the history of public law, there is a well-documented account of the divergent patterns of early development in the US. Britain and the continent of Europe: ' Public Administration and Administrative Law' by John A. Fairlie, in Essays on the Law and Practice ofGovernmental Administration,edited by Charleys G.Haines and Marshall E.Dimock (Johns Hopkins Press. 1935). A much more recent comparison between Britain and the US in this area can be found in Legal Control of Government, by Bernard Schwartz and H. W.R. Wade (The Clarendon Press, 1972); and the state of French droit administratif a century after Dicey first misinterpreted it is usefully. outlined in French Administrative Law, by L. Neville Brown and J.F. Gamer (Bunerworths, 3rd edn. 1983). So far as the literary history of the subject in Britain is concerned, suffice it to say that despite the appearance of two pioneering works in the late 1920s administrative law found hardly any authors to advance its cause until the 1950s. Those works still repay some attention even today. They are Justice and Administrative Law, by W.A. Robson (Macmllan, 1928), and Administrative Law, by F.J. Port (Longman, 1929). Robson's book was subsequently updated (Stevens, 3rd edn, 1951), but the later editions lost more than they gained from the author's inclusion of understandable but over-lengthy complaints about his treatment at the hands of the Donoughmore Committee on Ministers' Powers. a body strongly moved by the spirit of A. V. Dicey (see Williams's article, work cited). Another early work that still merits study is a collection of lectures, delivered in the US by Sir Cecil Carr. Conceming English Administrative Law (Oxford University Press,
Copynqhled malcria
166
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
1941). Titere are several reasons for the post-war resurgence of interest (mainly among layers) in administrative law, and they are outlined in the first chapter of The British Ombudsman, by Frank Stacey (The Clarendon Press, 1971 ). The I 950s were the era of the Crichel Down case, of the Franks Report on Administrative Tribunals and Enquiries (Cmnd, 218, 1957) and of the first stages in a debate leading up to the establishment of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration in 1967. The academic journal Public Law (see below) was founded in 1956, and the earliest editions of what !JOOn became well-established textbooks on adm inistrative (and usually constitutional) law also appeared at around this time. An early Ham lyn lecture (see below), Executive Discretion and Judicial Control by C.J. Hamson (Stevens, I 954), a cogent comparison between the forms of jud icial review provided by the French Conseil d'Et at and those available in the English courts (a good deal of reform has taken place since then), helped to dispel the wilder images of Diceyan mythology. Over a decade or so, administrative law became 'respectable' even fashionable. In due course the ultimate accolade was bestowed, in the shape of a separate entry on the subject in the third ed ition of the multi-volume encyclopedia of conventional legal wisdom, Hatsbury's Laws of England (Bunerworths, 1973). However, respectable or not, and despite a number of important reforms, English administrati ve law still retains a fragmented and unsystematic quality which has been the despair of many critics, some of whom have urged the establishment of a fully fledged administrative court, perhaps on the pattern of the French Conseil d.Etate. Prominent among such critics was the late. J.D.B. Mitchell, whose essays on the subject include ' The Causes and Effects of the Absence of a System of Public Law in the United Kingdom' Public Law 95- 11 8, (1965) and •Administrative Law and Policy Effectiveness' in From Policy to Administration, edited by J.A. Gri ffith (Allen and Unwin, 1976). See also Administration Under Law, by a Committee of ' Justice' chairman, Keith Goodfellow, QC (Stevens, 1971), and ' Thoughts on a British Conseil d'Etat', by Maurice H. Smith (Public Administration, 45, 2342 ( 1967). There is now almost an embarrassment of choice among textbooks of administrative law, together with a good range of more specialized works in the field. So far as textbooks are concerned, variety is largely
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Judiciary and Government in Great Britain
167
a matter of style, presentation and emphasis and choice is therefore a matter of personal tastes and requirements. As with all books on law, it is important to use an up-to-date edition, though all books in this area will have been ovenaken by signi ficant events even on the say they are published. Panicularly useful and well-established texts include Government and Law, by T.C. Hanley and J.A.G. Griffith (Weidenfelf and Nicolson, 2nd edn, 1981) Constitutional and Administrative Law, by S.A. de Smith (Penguin, 4th edn, edited by Harry Street and Rodney Brazier, 198 1); Administrative Law, by David Foulkes (Butterwonhs, 5th edn, 1982); and Administrative Law By H.W.R. Wade (The Clarend on Press, 5th edn, 1982). Casebooks, which usefully bring together disparate source material (not just case law), include A Casebook of Administrative Law, by J .A .G. Griffith and H. Street (Pitman, 1964)- wonh reading, if only for its material on the epic saga of the Chalkpit case; and Cases and Materials on Constitutional and Administrative Law, by Geoffrey P. Wilson (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn, 1976). A readable monograph by an admin istrative lawyer, which manages to break out of the stereotypical 'textbook' mould is Administrative Procedures, by Gabrielle Ganz (Sweet and Maxwell, 1974). The standard text on judi cial review has long been the monumental Judicial Review of Administrative Action, S.A. de Smith (Stevens, 4th edn, rev, by J.M. Evans, 1980). The latest edition takes account of a major procedural overhaul that occurred in the wake of a review by the Law Commission (see previous section). This is funher discussed in 'The New Face of Judicial Review: Administrative Changes in Order 53' by Louis Blom-Cooper (Public Law, 250-26 1 (1982)). But procedural ru les provide only the framework of judicial review; the substance develops increme:ttal.ly through the accumu lat ion of precedents, reflecting the prevailing outlook of the judiciary and the eagerness of litigants to bring their grievances before the couns. Anyone seriously intending to study this area must keep up with recent trends by examining law repons and case notes in legal journals (see below). One imponant facet of the subject is covered in Natural Justice, by Paul Jackson (Sweet and Maxwell, 1979). A glance at the contents of any of the general textbooks one administrative law cited earl ier makes it clear that the subject goes far wider than 'judiciary and government '-which is the title of this chapter. It is generally regarded as includ ing quasi-judicial bodies,
Copyngh!ed rna ria
168
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
administrative tribunals, set up mainly because the courts are regarded as unsuitable (too forma l and e:xpensive) to resolve disputes in specialized areas; public planning inquiries, which are not 'judicial' in any real sense; and ombudsmen, who belong more in the realms of 'executive responsibility' than of ' judicial control'. Rather than attempting to provide a mass of references on these important subjects, the writer would suggest consulting the foot-notes and bibliographies of the major textbooks already cite
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Judiciary and Govemment in Great Britain
Griffith, 1960)-- now badly out of date; Hal'/ 's Introduction to the I, HI ' of Local Government, by Sir William 0. Hart and J.F. Garner (Butterworths, 9th edn, 1973); and Principles (!f Local Governmem Lhifts in academic fashion; and the larter has in tum rc(kc ~.:d changes itt the level of salience of 'legal' issues in the processes of polir.ics and government. One obvious instance has been the incn:asing 'activism' of the courts in tackling issues of public law. This has gi ...en rise to discussion about the meri ts of entrusting adjudication upon matters of public policy to judges who are not democratically accountabl.: for their actions and who may not be professionally equipped to tackle complex issues, presented to them in isolation, in a competent and rational way: the debate about Lord Denning's judicial philosophy h :J~. brought such arguments into sharper focus in recent years. Related to this has been some disquiet about features of constitutional arrangements and assumptions, prompted by suet· developments as Britain's membership of the European Conununitic~.. the debate about devolution of power to Scotland and Wale~ and tiH: prospective disintegration of the two-party system. Some of th..: stresst ; engendered by constitutional uncertainty are discussed iu C o llstitllliOJI
Copynqhled malcria
170
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
in matters of public policy) is ihe debate about a Bill of Rights. The radical idea of legislating to ·entrench' human rights in a formal constitutional document, and making the judges custodians of such a document, with a power to declare even the legislative products of a hitherto 'sovereign' Parliament invalid as being in breach of fundamental rights. has been floating around for many years. It received a sharp revival in yet another Hamlyn Lecture-- English Law- The New Dimension. by Lord Scarman (Stevens, 1974)-and has inspired a considerable body of literature. Two items (both of which contain useful references to further sources) may be singled out: A Bill of Rights, by Michael Zander (Barry Rose, 2nd edn, 1980); and Enacting a Bill of Rights, by Joseph Haconelli (The C larendon Press, 1980). The latter is a technical guide to legal problems of enacting such a measure; the former is a useful and balanced sum,nary of the many conflicting arguments about the merits in principle of so doing. A second area is Britain's membership of the European Communities which has had the important effect of importing into British law the legislative products of an extra-territorial and supranational body, and has assigned final powers of adjudication in matters of European Communities Law to an international court. The relevant literature is vast. Students of politics might usefully begin with broad statements of jurisprudential principle before venturing into the daunting morass of technicality. Inevitably, there is another Hamlyn Lecture. They European Communities and the Rule of Law, by Lord Mackenzie Stuart (Stevens, 1977); and a useful article ' Bri tain and the European Economic Community', by David Sugarman (Texas International Law Journal, 10. 279-320 ( 1975). Almost every issue of every mainstream law journal contains at least one articled or ca~e note on some ispect of European Communities Law, and a specialist series of law reports, The Common Market Law Reports ( 1962 to date) caters for those seeking to keep abreast of judicial decisions in this area. Law Reports and Lawyers' Journals
Lawlis a mobile commodity, and anyone trying to keep pace with it must use: some of the basic tools of the lawyer's trade. Those intending w make significant use of legal materials, and law libraries might u>l' fully invest a day or so's work at the outset reading a lucid introuuctory guidebook, Learning the Law, by Glanville Will iams (Stev..:ns. lith edn. 1982).
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Judiciary and Government in Great Britain
171
Judicial decisions and pronouncements regarded as having some innovative content worth recording as precedents (and this applies to virtually every appeal heard by the House of Lords, to a substantial minority of cases in the intermediate appeal courts and to hardly anything decided in courts of first instance) arc published in one or more of the many se~ies of law reports. Glanville Williams succinctly describes the nature and use of these and other materials of his book (above). The non-lawyer will probably obtain much of what he needs buy following the daily law reports in The Times. Public law decisions will in due course appear. along with a lot of other things, in the two main 'general' series of reports: the semi-official Low Reports, divided into various subseries (published since m 865 by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting); and the All England Law Reports (Butterworths, 1936 to date). There is no specialized public law series, but students of local government may usefully consult Knight 's Local Government Reports ( 1903 to date). Lawyers' journals contain a significant proportion of articles, case notes and reviews which are of potential interest to students of British Government; Perusal of the cumulative indexes of the major journals such as Law Quarter~v Review (Stevens, quarterly, 1885 to date) and Modern Law Review (Sweet and Maxwell, is issues a year, 1937 to date) can yield unexpected dividends. Probably the most useful of th ~ academic journals in this context is Public Law (Stevens, quarterly, 1956 to date); while a newer publication, the .Journal of Law and Society (fonnerly British .Journal of Law and Society) (Martin Robertson, twiceyearly, I 973 to date), is a social science journal rather than strictly a ' legal' one, and and usefully bridge an interdisciplinary gap. Examples of articles published in both these journals can be found elsewhere in this chapter. The weekly New Law Journal (Butterworths, I965 to date) and the more explicitly radical LAG Bulletin (the monthly bulletin of the Legal Action Group) are valuable sources of quick reference (spiced with critical commentary) on current issues.
Copynqhled malcria
Public Administration and Policy Studies
Introduction Public administration is traditionally regarded as a subdivision of political science. Almost without exception, the founding fathers of the subject in the US were political scientists, including Woodrow Wilson, whose famous essay on 'The Study of adm inistration' (Political Science Quarterly. 2 ( 1887)) is generally regarded as the symbolic beginning of public administration as a self-conscious subject. The academic subject of public administration in Britain also has its roots in the study of politics. But while the subject grew up under the wing of political science, the study of public administration today draws many of its theories and concepts from other social science disciplines, including sociology, psychology and economics. Such is the movement of public administration away from its mother discipline, especially in the LIS, that F.F. Ridley maintains that it has become a true 'crossroads' science, so interdisciplinary that its links with political science are now outweighed by the range of its links with other disciplines ('Public Administration: Cause for Discontent' , Public Administration, 50 ( 1972)). fo r some American scholars the problem of identifying th e subject's disciplinary core is so intractable that its academic study is said to be sufferi ng from what Dwight Waldo has termed a 'crisis of identity' (Scope oft he Theory of Public Administration·. in The01·y and Practice of Publtc Administration, edited by J.C. Chariesworth. The American Academy of Political and Stv:ial Science, 1968). and there
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Public Administration and Policy Studies
173
has been an extensive literature of self-examination. a notable example being Toward a New Public Administration. edited by Frank Marini (Chandler, 1971). The American debate has been matched by a similar self-examination in Britain, of which Ridley (1972, work cited) and L.A. Gunn, ' Public Administration as Management' {PAC Bulletin, II ( 1971 )) are examples. Ridley's views on the nature of public administration are developed in The Study of Government (Allen and Unwin, 1975). Public administration's identity problem ha:, undoubtedly been compounded by the debate on the purposes of the subject. Should public administration teaching provide a general education in the liberal arts tradition, with an emphasis on what Ridley has described as a concern with researching the how and theorizing about the why, or should it be primarily concrned with training, practitioners and would-beadministrators, with an emphasis on the how to- the techniques of administration? Unlike the US, where the study of public administration has long been recognized as a formal body of knowledge accepted as the basis for a profession, British universities have traditionally aimed to offer 'education for public administration', with public administration being taught as part of wider courses on politics and government (see Teaching Public Administration, by R.A. Chapman, Joint University Council for Social and Public Administration, 1973). L.A. Gunn (work cited), however, emphasizes public administration as 'administrative studies' for future and practicing administrators, arguing that any coherence that public administration possesses as an area of study derives from a notion of an identifiable clientele. Despite these identity problem, for some writers the variety of approaches to the subject is one of public administration' s main attractions. Thus R.A.W. Rhodes, in his review of developments in Britain and The US (Public Administration and Policy Analysis, Saxon House, 1979), concludes that the search for the ' holy grail' of disciplinary status will, in all probability, fail, defeated by the range and complexity of the subject matter. In Rhodes' view, the diversity of the subject should be regarded as its main defining characteristic rather than treated as a problem. For Ridley, however, public administration is growing in so many directions and has become involved with so many other disciplines at its periphety that it is in danger of disappearing as a recognizable focus of study, with the risk of overlooking the very aspect of public administration of which earlier political scientists were so
Copynqhled malcria
174
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
aware' the importance of ' forma l institutions and formal procedures' ( 1975, work cited). Approaches to the Study of Public Administration There is much truth in R idley's conclusion that public administration has advanced in so many directions ' that it is almost impossible to pattern the current literature' (1975, work cited, p. 178). Thus R.G.S. Brown's outline of approaches to the study of the subject in The Management of Welfare (Fontana, 1975) deals successively with the formal structure of administration, the perspective of political sociology, organization theory, the sociology of professions quantitative analysis and policy analysis. A recent Open University course on the subject was organized around the forma l structural approach, the administrative process as a decision-making and goal-attaining process, incrementalism, history and law (Social Sciences: A Third Level Course: Public Administration, Open University Press, 1974). A distinction can be made between the traditional institutional and descriptive approaches which still characterize much of the study of the subject in Britain, and the organizational analysis and policy-oriented approaches primarily associated with the subject in the US. Traditional Approaches One way of approaching the study of public administration is to concentrate on the formal machinery and processes of government. Historically, much of the work in this tradition has consisted of descriptions of the history, structure, powers and relationships of public bodies, and the methods of controlling them. Representative examples of this tradition are A Primer of Public Administration, by S.E. Finer (Frederick Muller, 1950), and the works of E.N. Gladden, which include An Introduction to Public Administration (Staples Press, 1961). This institutional/descriptive approach still colours much of the writing on British Public administration, and has rather unfairly earned the subject a reputation as the Cinderella of the political science family. But although this approach is largely descript ive. many studies in this tradition do have a prescriptive ·o rientation, and the institutional/ descriptive approach is often associated with what Rhodes (work cited) calls the approach of the 'social critic' : i.e.a concern to descri be institutions and/or policies with a v iew to affecting change in them. as
Copynghled malcria
Public Administration and Policy Studies
175
represented in W.A. Robson' s work on local govern ment (see for example. Local Government in Crisis Allen and Unwin, 1966). Public Administration as the Study of Organizations Another approach to the study of public administration is to treat its problem as ones of organizations and to relate them to the ideas of organization theory. There is a good general discuss ion of the subject, which is mainly American, in The Theory of Organisations. by David Silverman (Heinemann, 1970), Administration: the Word and the Science, by Andrew Dunsire (Martin Robertson 1973), provides a useful overview of the literature in the context of a wider discussion of the development of ' administrative science', while the utility of this body of knowledge to the study of public administration is discussed by R.G.S. Brown, ' Public Administrat ion and the Study of Adm inistrative Organisations' (PAC Bulletin, 11 ( 1971 )). One way of studying organizations is to see them as hierarchies of formal and well-defined positions. This is the approach of the classical school of organization theory, which attempted to show that there are certain principles of administratio n to guide the structuring of organizations. Drawing much of its inspiration fonn F. W. Taylor's work on industrial management (The Principles of Scientific Management. Harper, 1911 ), the classical school is best represented in the Papers on the Science ofAdministration, edited by Luther Gulick and Lyndall F. Urwick (Institute of Public Administration, New York, 1937). The student of British Public administration will find an excellent example of this approach in the Haldane Report ofthe Machinery of Govemment Commiuee Cd. 9230, HMSO, 191g). Many of the ideas of the classical school are similar to the prepositions advanced by Max Weber in his work on bureaucrac.y (The Theory ofSocial and Economic Organisation, translated and edited by A.M. Henderson and T. Parsons, Free Press, 1947).ln contrast to his ideal type bureaucracy, modern sociologists have concentrated attention on the unanticipated consequences of this form of organization. Particularly influential is R.K. Merton's 'Bureaucratic Structure and Personality' in Reader in Bureaucracy, edited by R.K. Merton et al. (Free Press, 1952), which declared that Weber's ide;,) bureaucracy had irnponant dysfunctional consequences, a theme echoed by later sociological studies, notably TVA and the 0rasJ No()Js hy 1'. Selznick (UniversiW ofCalifornia Press. 1949) and Patterns uj !llllu~triaf
Copynghled malcria
I '7(,
Modem Meilwds ofTeaching Political Scie1n-e
Buro::cw cracy. by A. W. Goldener (Free Press, 1954). Another infl uential is that of the French sociologist, Michel, Crozier, The Bureaucratic Phenomenon (Tavistock Publications, 1964).
~:ontribution
The importance of informal patterns of group behaviour in organizations has been the subject of attention by writers in the human rel:ltions school, which examines organizations as social institutions. The beginni ngs of this school are usually identified as the ' Hawthorne' experiments of the late 1920s and early 1930s, reported in Management and the Worker, by F.J. Roetl1lisberger and W.J. Dickson (Harvard Uniw rsiiy Press, 1939). Although the term 'human relations' is now much less commonly used, research and literature continues to be focu sed upon the ' needs' of organizational members, in particular the worl; of such American organizational psychologists as C. Argyris (Personality and Organisation, Harper and Row, 1957), D. McGregor (Thc Human Side of £1/lerprise, McGraw-Hill, 1960 and R. Likert (New Pau.:rns of Management, McGraw-Hill. 196 1), who arc much more sophisticated about the complexity of individuals' Psychological needs.' Other writers look at organizations as ' systems' which are continually interacting with their environment, one important application being, that which describes organizations as 'socio-technical systems', stressing the interrelationships of technology, environment, the sentiments of part icipants and organizational form. Of particular importance are the works of three leading British Organizational theorist: Industrial Organisation: Theory and Practice, by Joan Woodward (Oxford University Press, 1965), and The Management of Innovation, by T. Bums and G.M. Stalker (tavistock Publications, 196 I), which introduces the famous distinction between ' mechanistic' and 'organic' management systems. More recently, several writers have developed the study of the internal characteristics and environment of organizations into 'contingency theory', British work in this field can be found in the Aston studies: Organisational Structure in its Context, edi ted by D.S. Pugh and D.J. Hickson (Saxon House, 1976,) and Organisational Structure: Extensions and Replications. edited by D.S. Pugh and C.R. Hinings (Saxon House, 1976). Another important branch of organization th~ory is that wh ich discusses organizations as decision-making structures. Decision making is primarily associated with H.A. Simon, who, in an argument begun in Administrative Behaviour (Free Press, 3rd edn. 1976), which has
Copynghled malcria
Public Administration and Policy SJudies
177
become a classic. argues that while the pursuit of rationality is a desirable aitr. in decision mak:ng, decision makers will always be subject to ' bounded rationality', and obl.iged to ' satisfies· and search for solutions that are satisfactory or 'good enough.' Simon's work has inspired a whole generation of writing on decision making, notably that of C. E. Lindblom, who argues that for complex policy problems no-one can approximate to Simon's synoptic ideal, and formulates the very important concept of 'incrementalism' to describe decision makers' reactions to complex problems. The origins of this work can be found in 'The Science of "Muddying Through"; Public Administration Review, 19 (1959), but the most complete statement of his ideas is The Intelligence of Democracy (Free Press, 1965). Other important contributions to the literature include A.T. Etzioni, who sees Simon and Lindblom's approaches as complementary ('Mixed Scanning: a "Third" Approach to Decision-making', Public Admil?istration Re vie w, 27 (2967)), and an important British Contribution is The Art ofJudgment. by Sir Geoffrey Vickers (Chapman and Hall, 1965). which, acknowledging a great debt to Simon, depicts policy making as being concerned with the regulation of systems through governing ' norms' or relations, and not in terms of the setting of goals. Policy Studies Vickers' book is recognized as one of foundations for a relatively new app roach in public administration: the study of public policy, emphasis upon which has brought the subject of public administration much closer to political science. Tite origins of polic)' studies can be traced back at least as far as the writings of Harold Lasswell in the 1950s (The Policy Sciences, edited by D.. Lerner and H. Lasswell, Stanford University Press, 1951 ), but the interest in policy as a central organizing concept only really began to emerge in the 1960s partly as a reaction against what was seen as an excessive conc::ern by political scientists with the inputs of the political system, and partly as an at-empt to provide political science with an applied function (W.I. Jenkins and G.K. Roberts. ' Policy Analysis: a Wider Perspective on Public Administration' . PAC Bulletin, II (197 1)). The growing c::oncern with policy studies has not. however, been accompanied by agreement on how such studies should be conducted, and there are many different
Copyngh!ed rna ria
178
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
approaches to the study of public policy, ranging from essentially descri ptive and explanatory studies (such as studies of policy content, studies of the policy process and studies of policy outputs) to studies which are essentially prescriptive, such as the work of Y. Dror (see, for example, Public Policymaking Re-examined, Chandler, 1968). The distinction is discussed further by .I Gordon et al. 'Perspectives on Policy Analysis' (Public Administration Bulletin, 25 (1977}). A useful tour d' horizon of the literature on policy studies will be found in Policy Analysis, by W.l. Jenkins (Martin-Robertson, 1978). For many writers the central focus of the study of public policy is the policy process. Writers examine the policy process in terms of a systems framework derived from the writings of David Easton, a perspective favoured by Thomas Dye Understanding Public Policy . (Prentice-Hall, 1972). Another commonly presented framework suggests a number of stages through which issues proved: agenda setting, problem definition, policy fonnation , policy implementation and so on. Typical of this approach is Public Policy-Making. by J.E. Anderson (Newlson, 1975). Analysis of the policy process draws heavily on the literature of decision making discussed in the previous section, especially Lindblom's discussion of incrementalism. There are also important links with the literature on power, a particularly important concept being that of ' nondectisons: It being necessary, as P. Bachrach and M. Baratz point out in a famouse article, not only to look at decisior.s, but also at how potential issues are kept of the policy agenda by those in political power ('Two Faces of Power', American Political Science Review, 56 ( 1962). Although the literature on the policy process has traditionally emphasized the policy-formation stage, and there are a vast number of what H. Heclo, in his discussion of the case study approach (' Policy Analysis', Britt:fh Journal ofPolitical Science. 2. 1972)). calls 'who did what' accounts, the policy process is being increasingly studied from a broader perspective. Following the publication of J.L. Pressman and A. Wildavsky's classic lmplemelllaiivn (University of California Pre~s. 1973), there has been a developing interest in the implementation stage. the literature of which is reviewed by M.J Hill et al., ' Implementation and the Central-Local Relationship' (Appendix II in Cemrai-Locaf Government Relationships. SSRC. 1979). and in Implementation in a Bureaucracy, by A. Dunsire (Marti n Robertson, 1978). Studies of policy implementation need to be distinguished from policy impact studies, which attempt to evaluate policies by measuring the amount of change
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Public Administration and Policy Studies
179
brought about by them. The literature on policy impact is reviewed by A. King. 'On Studying the Impacts of Public Pol icies' , in What Governmelll Does. edited by M. Holden and D.L. Dreasang (Sage, 1975). There has also developed a literature on th e termination of policies following evaluation, an overview of which is provided by Peter de Leon. ' A Theory of Policy Termination' , in The Policy Cycle, edited by J.V. May and A. Wildavsky (Sage, 1978). The Concept of policy succession, whereby existing policies are replaced by ' news' is discussed in Policy Dynamics, by Brain Hogwood and B. Guy Peters (Wheatsheaf, 1983). A d ifferent perspective on the policy process is provi ded by Theodore Lowi, who suggests that we shou ld examine the outputs of policy making and then relate them back to policy processes. In a famous article, ' American Business, Public Policy, Case Studies and Political Theory' (World Politics 16 (1964), Lowi argues that each of three categori es of typo logy of policy outputs indicates a different kind of policy process. While accepting that all policies are not handled in the same way, others have suggested that it is equally true to say policies are not so distinctive as to prevent them being accommodated in a basic simp le typology of ' policy styles'. This is the theme of Policy Styles in Western Europe, edited by Jeremy Richardson (Allen and Unwin, 1982); which defines policy style as the interaction between the government's approach to problem-solving and its relationship with the other actors in the policy process. Such a defin ition ena b les soc ieties to be categorized into four basic policy styles, the book concluding, on the basis of case studies of several Western European systems, that th ere appears to be a drift towards ' a consensus relationship between government and other actors combined with a reactive, rather than an anticipatory, approach to problem-solving'. Ru chardson' s book exemplifies the increasing awareness of the importance of comparative studies of public administration and public policy in broadening the critical appraisal of one' s own system. An assessment of the state of the comparative study of public admin istmtion, together with bibliographical details of the literature, will be found in Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective by Ferrel Heady (Marcel Dekker, 2nd edn, 1979), and references to the literature of vari ous overseas adm inistrati ve systems will be found in the chapters in Part 4 of this book.
Copynghled malcria
180
Modern Methods ofTeaching Political Science
British Public Administration Traditionally, the study and literature of public administration in Britain has been characterized by tile inst itutional/descriptine approach, an emphasis which has been the subject of much criticism. Thus Ridley (1972, work cited,) writing in the early 1970s referred to ' a missing literature' , and expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of theoretical contributions to the subject by British scholars, Increasingly, however, the study of public administration in Britain has begun to incorporate broader approaches, notably the organizational and policy perspectives discussed in the previous section. The Literature has also seen the addition of several important theoretical contributions. Ridley himself refers to R.G.S. Brown's pioneering The Administrative Process in Britain (Meth uen, 1970), which attempted to more away from a 'commonsense' approach to pub lic admi nis tration to see whether organization theory could provide a more satisfying perspective, and this was soon followed by Administrative Theories and Politics, by Peter Self (Allen and Unwin, 1972}, relating theories of the administrati ve process to the actual functioning of governmental systems. Other significant contributions include R.J.S. Baker's attempt to develop a theory of pubic administration in Britain in Administrative Theory and Public Administration (Hutchinson University Library, 1972), and The Sociology of Public Administration, by Michael Hill (Weidenfelf and Nicholson, 1972). Suggesting ways in which modem developments in sociology can be applied to the study of British public administration. An important contribution by a serving civil servant is Management in Government by Desmond Keel ing (Allen and Unwin, 1972), wh ich, although mainly about the use of resources in public administration, develops an interesting discussion of the characteristic features of adm inistration. Although the literature on British public administration now compares more favourably with the US in respect of theoretical contributions, unlike the US, there are few British textbooks which serve as an introduction to the whole subject. There are several introductory textbooks which are aimed at the level of professional courses and fi rstyear undergraduates, but the only comprehensive account of the system is Administering Britain, by B.C. Smith and J. Stanyer (Marting Robertson, 1976), whic h attempts, inter alia, to discuss the interrelationships between the separate parts of the British administrative system . It is to the literature on the separate parts that we now tum .
Copynqhled materia
Public Administration and Policy Studies
181
Central Administration A major problem in discussing the British central administrative system is the absence of an up-to-date survey of the field. The standard work is The Organization of BRitish Central Government: 19/4-1964, by D.N. Chest.er and F.M.G. Willson (Allen and Unwin, 2nd edn, 1968), but this deals only with changes in departmental structure and functions up to 1964. As Christopher Hood an Andrew Dunsire point out in Bureaumentrics (Gower. 1981 ), Chester and willwn also belongs to an era when machinery of government problems were studied almost entirely historically and descriptively, and before the development of techniques of large-scale systematic comparison of organizations. Bureaumetrics pioneers the use of such methods in the examination of central administration, and argues for a well-developed set of analytical and measuring techniques for assessing and characterizing the organizational stallls quo. Although Hood and Dunsire' took breaks new ground in the study of what they tenn the ' meso' level of central government, most of the literature on the 'micro' level is embedded tinnly in the descriptive t~adition , with the emphasis upon constitutional relationships, and saying little about the internal structure and functioning of government departments. A few authors ha.ve written about the working of departments from experience within them, including H.E. Dale's classic pre-war study, The Higher Civil' Service of Great Britain (Oxford University Press, 1941), but this is now of historical interest only, and there are no comparable modern-day accounts. The New Whitehall Series, published under the auspices of the Royal Institute of Public Administration, and a successor to the inter-war Whitehall Series, covers (to date) some sixteen departments, including The Treasury, by Lord Bridges (Allen and Unwin, 1964), but the books in this series are essentially descriptions of the departments concerned and, inevitably, they are in many cases seriously outdated. One book that does move away from fonnal description is Government Departments, by D.C. Pitt and B.C. Smith (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981 ), which attempts to show how departments took when concepts of organizational analysis are applied to such issues a.s organizational environment, goals, structure and management. Whilst Chester and Willson found it possible in the late 1960s to define 'central administration' as 'the government departments whose spiritual if not physical headquarters are to be found in whitehall'. the
Copynghled malcria
182
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
position today is much more complicated. Of particular importance has been the growth of central non-departmental bodies outside the traditional departmental structure. Various terms have been used to describe such bodies, but the word which has entered most popular usage is ' quango'. originally an acronym for ' q uasi-non-governmental organizations. Non-departmental bodies, in their various guises, have been part of the Brit ish administ rative system since the nineteenth century, but their importance has grown dramatically since the end of the Second World War, as reflected in the substantial literature on the public corporation (see, for example, The Nationalized Industries since /960, edited by L. Tivey, Allen and Unwin, 1973). This traditional area of study has broadened to include quangos, and several publications have followed on from the Anglo-American Carnegie Accountability Project, 1968-1972. Including Public policy and Private Interests, edited by D.C. Hague and others (Macmillan, 1975), and several papers by Christopher Hood, includ ing 'Keeping the Centre Small. Explanations of Agency Type' (Political Studies, 26 (1978)). Hood is also a contributor to a collection of valuable essays edited by A. Barker, Quangos in Britain (Macmillan, 1982), which also contains a substantial bibliography. The ' functional decentralization of central govl!rnment funct ions to non-departmental bodies is only one aspect of a .wider process of decentra lization. Geographical decentralization is also an important feature of the British administrative system. but although there is a vast literature on local government, and regionalism has been recurring theme in the literature of British Government (see for instance, The Case for Regional Reform, edited by W. Thornhill, Nelson, 1972), there have been few detailed descriptions of how government operates at the regional level, a gap which has now been partly filled by a collection of essays on the main regional arms of central government: Regional Government in England, edited by Brian Hogwood and Michael Keating (The Clarendon Press, 1982). Regional administration in Scotland and Wales is discussed in J .G. Keillas and P. Madgwick, 'Terri torial Ministries: the Scottish and We lsh Offices', in Peter Madgwick and Richard Rose (eds), The Territorial Dimension in United Kingdom Politics (Macmillan, 1982), while the 'Stormont' experience, together with the succeeding phase of direct rule, is d iscussed in Policy and Government in Northern Ireland, D. Birrell and A. Murie (Gill and Macmillan, 1980). Useful inforntation on regional adm inistration in all four countries of the UK can be found in the evidence to, and reports
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Public Administration and Policy Studies
183
of, th e Kilbrandon Commission: Royal Commission on the Constillltion. 1969-1973 (Vols 1-11, Cmnd. 5460 HMSO 1973). The growing complex ity of the central administrative system underlines the need for coordinat ion. The British Cab inet, by J .P. Mackintosh (Stevens, 3rd edn, 1977), remains the classic study o f the major instrument of coordination at the centre of British Govemmcnt, whilst a useful ' insider' account is The Cabinet. by P. Gordon Walker (Jonathan Cape, rev. edn, 1972). Another ' insider' account, The Diaries ofa Cabinet MinLvter, by Richard Crossman (Vols 1-11, Hamish Han1ilton and Jonathan Cape, 1975, 1976 and 1977), confirms the longstanding criticism that policy at the centre of British Government is made th rough a process of departmental pluralism rather than through the im position of consistent priorities by the Cabinet. Material on the most recent attempt to improve the strategic capacity at the centre, the Central Policy Review Staff (abolished in 1983), is sparse, but William Plowden, ' The Brit ish Central Policy Review Staff, in Policy Analysis and Policy Innovation, edited by P.R. Baehr and B. Wittrock (Sage, 1981), is an interesting overview by a former member. One area where is an expanding literature on the processes as opposed to the structu re, of coordination is that of public expenditure planning and control. Detailed discussion on the origins, mechanisms and problems of the PESC cycle introduced after the important Plowden Report (Report of the Commillee on the Control of Public Expenditure, Cmnd. 1432, HMSO, 1961) can be found in C.Pollitt, ' The Public Expenditure Survey 1961-72', and Maurice Wright, ' Public Expenditure in Britain: the Crisis of Control ' ( both in Public Administration, 55 ( 1977)). Wright develops his study of PESC and the application of cash limit in 'From Planning to Control: PESC in the 1970' s', in Public Spending Decisions, edited by Maurie Wright (Allen and Unwin, 1980). A mandarin's-eye view of the process can be found in Gelling and Spending: Public Expenditure, Employment and Inflation, by Leo Pliatzky (Blackwell, 1982), while Jnsiae the Treasury, Joel Barnett (Andre Deutsch, 1982), is an account by an ex-Chief Secretary to the Treasury. But it takes two Americans, H. Heclo and A. Wildawsky, in one of the most important books on British public administration of the last decade, The Private Government of Public Money (Macmillan, 2nd edn. 1981 ), to tell us how Treasury officials, spending departments and Cabinet ministers actually interact with each other in th e public expenditure 'community' to produce the pattern of pubic spending.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
184
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
The Civil Service At present no book provides a comprehensive introduction to the British civil service. Central Administration in Britain, by W.J.M. Mackenzie and J.W. Grove (Longaman, 1957), describes in detail the structure of the service, its recrui tmeni and tra ining procedures, its conditions of employment, its tasks, its history and its relationship to other parts of British Government, but is now mainly of historical intere st . The on ly book that begins to cover the ground is The Administrative Process in Britain, by R.G.S. Brown and D. R. Steel (Methuen, 3nd edn, 1979), which contains chapters outl ining the main features of the civil service as it was at the beginning of 1977. An upto-date statistical profile can be obtained by reference to the latest volumes of Civil Service, Statistics and Annual Reports of the Civil
Service Commission. There are several good surveys of the historical development of the modern civil service. The development of the service in the nineteenth century is discussed in Constiflltional Bureaucracy, by H. Parris (Allen and Unwin, 1969), and Treasury Control of the Civil Service 1854-1874, by Maurice Wright (The Clarendon Press, 1969). The nineteenth-century civil service classic, the Northcote-Trevelyan Report on the Organi~ation of the Permanent Civil Service (C. 1713, 1854), which had such an impact on the ' generalist' philosophy, is reprinted as an appendix to the Fulton Report (Report of the Committee on the Civil Service, 1966-68, Cmnd. 3638, HMSO, 1968). Statesmen in disguise, by G .K. Fry Cmnd. 3638, HMSO, 1968). Statesmen in Disguise, by G.K. Fry (Macmillan, 1969), discusses the changing role of the Administrative Class up to Fulton. As Parris reminds us, for many years the literature was almost unanimous in extoling the virtues of the civil service. Typical was Herman Finer's view in The British Civil Service (Allen and Unwin, 1937), that the service was ' rightly the envy of the world.' There were occasional criticisms, notably H.J. Laski's questioning of the political neutrality of the service in Parliamentary Government in England (Allen and Unwin, 1938), but it was ' almost always possible to show that the critics were either misinformed or that they had an axe to grind' (Parris, work cited, p .285). By the m id- 1960s, however, the literature had become increasingly characterized by criticisms that the service was amateurish and incapable of deal:ng with the jiroblems of a modern
Copynghted matcri,
Public Administration and Policy Studies
185
state, the classic indictment of the service's 'generalist' philosophy being provided by Thomas Balogh, who argued in ' The Apotheosis of the Dilettante', in The Establishment, edited by Hugh Thomas (Anthony Blond, 1959), that 'in a planned economy, the cross-word puzzle mind, reared on mathematics at Cambridge or Greats at Oxford, has only a limited outlets'. Although an elegant insider' defence of the role of the 'geru~ral ist' was provided in The Spirit of British Administration, by C. H. Sisson (Faber, 1959), Balogh's theme was taken up by others, notably the polemical British Government Observed. by Brian Chapman (Allen and Unwin, 1963). These, and other, attacks were given official recognition in the report of the Fulton Committee (work cited). Attacks on the service have not subsided with the publication of Fulton. In The Civil Sen•ants (Macdonald Futura, 1980), Peter Kellner and Lord Crowther-Hunt (the latter a member of the Fulton Committee) continue the attack on the 'generalist' philosophy. The book's subtitle, ' An Inquiry into Britain's Ruling Class', indicates its general approach, which argues that the power of the civil service is substantial and that, like ruling classes in the past, it has constructed an elaborate system of
defenses to protect that power from erosion, as evidenced by the blocking of the Fulton reforms. Another account of what has (or rather what has not) happt:ned since Fulton is Managing the Civil Service, by John Garret (Heinemann, 1980). Garrett's earlier book. The Management of Government (Penguin, 1972), discusses ' the managerial revolution' in central government of the 1960s and early 1970s. In addition to being a member of the Management Consultancy Group which advised the Fulton Committee, Garrett later became a member of the House of Commons Select Committee which produced a critical report on developments in the civil service since Fulton (The Eleventh Report from the Expenditure Committee, 1976-77 HC 535 HMSO, 1977). The Minutes of Evidence and Appendices to this Report contain a wealth of information on the civil service. The alleged sabotaging ofthe Fulton proposals by the civil service has been seen by Kelber and Crowther-Hunt as 'the insidious operation of civil service power at its most triumphant', and there has been much discussion as to whether it is ministers or their officials who control policy making. According to constitutional convention the position is clear: ministers decide policies and take responsibility for them; civil servants. who are anonymous, advise their ministers and execute their decisions. These traditional assumptions are being increasingly
Copyngh!ed rna ria
186
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
questioned. The validity of the traditional convention of ministerial responsibility has been challenged by several writers, notably S.E. Finer in his classic anicle 'The Individual Responsibility of Ministers' (Public Administration, 34 ( 1956), and there are also signs that the related convention of civil service anonymity is being attenuated. A fuller discussion of the assumptions underlying the minister-civil service relationship is Maurice Wright, 'Ministers and Civil Servants: Relations and Responsibilities' (Parliamentary Affairs, 30 (1977)). In recent years, various writers have questioned the view that ministers decide policies, maintaining that civil servants can actually obstruct policies, of which they disapprove and push ministers into adopting policies that the depanments want to adopt. Laski's misgivings about the political neutrality of the civil service have given way to the more sophisticated view of Tony Benn that the civil service ' sees itself as being above the party battle with a political position of its own to defend against all- comers, including incoming governments' ('Manifestoes and Mandarins', in Policy and Practice, Royal Institute of Public Administration, 1980). Similar criticisms have been made by other former Labour ministers, notably Richard Crossman (work cited). The arguments about civil service power are not, of course, onesided. Former ministerial colleagues of Mr. Benn question his thesis, with Shrilly William rejecting both the traditional constitutional doctrine and the alternative thesis that the bureaucracy rules, concluding that 'power consist of intersecting rings: it resides in areas where people are able to come together between the civil service, ministers, and to some extent...pressure groups' ('The Decision-makers', in Policy and Practice. work cited). Other antidotes of the 'bureaucracy rules' thesis can be found in the discussions by ministers, ex-ministers and civil servants in No Minister, edited by Hugo Young and Anne Sloman (BBC, 1982). The view that civil servants actually prefer a decisive minister is one of the many valuable points to emerge from Bruce Headey's appraisal of ministerial roles in British Cabinet Ministers (Allen and Unwin 1974). Control of the Administration The control of the administration is an imponant and familiar pan of the literature of British public administration. The main control of public administration in Britain is political, as enshr ined in the constitutional convention of ministerial responsibility (see S.E. Finer,
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Public Administration and Policy Studies
187
1956, work cited), and enforced through the operation of various parliamentary procedures. Ministerial responsibility is complemented by legal responsibility enforced by the the courts. There is a substantial literature on both these aspects of control, and detailed discussions can be found in Chapters 9 and II. Increasingly, however, many disputes between the citizen and the administration are heard and decided outside the traditional arenas of Parliament and the courts, b)' what H.J. Elcok terms ' the machinery of administrative justice'-administrative tribunals and public inquiries (Administrative Justice, Longmans, 1969). The procedures of tribunals have been the concern of lawyers since the publication in the late 1920s of W. A. Robson's classic Justice and Administrative Law (Macmillan, 1928; Stevens, 3rd edn, 1951) and the more dramatic The New Despotism, by Lord Heart (Benn, 1929), which denounced tribunals as ' administrative lawlessness.' Although Robson' s book remained the standard work for many years. The last edition was overtaken by the publication of the Franks Report (Reports of the Committee on .Administrative Tribunals, and Enquiries, Cmnd. 218, HMSO, 1957), and Administrative Tribunals. by R.E. Wraith and P.G. Hutchession (Allen and Unwin, 1973) is now the most comprehensive study. Although many of the most fruitful contributions in this area continue to be made by lawyers (for instance, H. Street's Justice in the Welfare State, Stevens, 2nd edn, 1975), there have been a number of important research-based studies by social policy specialists on the major (in tenns of cases heard) social security tribunal, including the Research Study on Supplementary Benefit Appeal Tribunals, by Kathleen Bell (HMSO, 1975), which prompted important changes in the rules concerning these tribanals. The major place of work on public inquiries in Public Inquiries as an Instrument of Government, by R.E. Wraith and G.K. Lamb (Allen and Unwin, 1971 ). Although constitutionally separated from the courts and administrative tribunals, and operating as an extension of the apparatus of parliamentary scrutiny of the administrative process, the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration is generally recognized as falling within the ambit of administrative justice. The Parliamentary Commissioner has been the subject of a burgeoning literature since the establishment of the office in 1967, the major work being The Parliamentary Ombudsman by Roy Gregory and Peter Hutchesson (Allen and Unwin, 1975), now, sadly, out of print. Two books by the
CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
188
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
late Frank Stacey are also major contributions: The British Ombudsman (The Clarendon Press,· 1971 ), which describes in detail the campaign for an Ombudsman in Britain and the drafting and passage of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration Bill, and Ombudsmen. Compared (The Clarendon Press, 1978), which compares the operation of the British system with systems in Scandinavia, the Canadian provinces, and France. Both books are examples of the survival of the 'social critic' approach to the study of British public administration, making clear Stacey's commitment to the Ombudsman concept and to , the changes which he though necessary in the terms of reference and organization of the British version. The Parliamentary Commissioner's two major Causes celebres are discussed by G .K. Fry. ' The Sachesnhauses Concentration Camp Case and the Convention of Ministerial Responsibility' (Public Law (1970)), and R. Gregory, 'Court Line, Mr Benn and the Ombudsman' (Parliamentary Affairs, 30 (977)).The shortcomings of the Parliamentary Commissioner system have been thoroughly surveyed by a Committee of 'Justice' in the aptly entitled Our Fettered Ombudsman (Justice, 1977). The published reports of the Parliamentary Commissioner contain a wealth of material on the processes of administration and policy making in government departments. The original exclusion from the Parliamentary Commissioner's jurisdiction have been partially corrected by the extension of the Ombudsman model to local government and the National Health Service. Apart from a chapter in Stacey's Ombudsmen Compared (work cited), there is no substantial account of the Health Service Commissioner, although there is a growing literature on the Local Commissioners for Administration, notably the evaluation by ' Justice', The Local Ombudsmen; A Review ofthe First Five Years (Justice, 1980). The office of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Complaints is the subject of K.P., Poole's 'The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Complaints' (Public Law (1972)). Polley Studies in Britain One of the most exciting and significant developments in the study of British public administration in recent years has been the discovery of policy studies, and several useful books have appeared in this area. An introductory text is Policy Making in British Government, by Brian Smith (Martin Robertson, 1976), which employs the two dimensions
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Public Administration and Policy Studies
189
of power and rationality in an attempt to relate political and administrative processed to the making of public policy. More ambitious in its conception is Policy and Politics in Britain, by Dough las Ashford (Blackwell, 1981), which analyses six major policy areas in an attempt to see how established political constraints have affected policy making in Britain. In an earlier section we referred to the attempt by Jeremy Richardson et al. (work cited) to develop the concept of ' policy style'. An important book which attempts to describe the dominant style of policy making in Britain is Governing undr Pressure, by J.J. Richardson and A.G. Jordan (Martin Robertson, 1979), which, heavily influenced by Lindblom's model of decision making, characterizes the British policy process as essentially incremental, with policy making reflecting arrangements between groups and government departments which are intended to minimize conflict. Throughout their book, Richardson and Jordan examine the policy process as not one process, but as a series of subprocessed which are closely linked: issue emergence, processing of issues, decision and implementation, and there is growing British literature on each of these subprocesses. Richardson's own article, ' Managing the Political Agenda: Problem Definition and Policy-making in Britain ', Co-written with Joan Stringer (Parliamentary Affairs, 33 ( 1980)), provides an overview of agenda management in Britain, while W. Solesbury, 'The Environmental Agended (Public Administration, 54, ( 1976)), although specifically concerned with the emergence of environmental issues, is a valuable analysis of the tests which nascent issues must pass in order to invoke action. As Solesbury' s analysis rem inds us, issues are often helped on· to the policy agenda by commissions and comm ittees of inquiry, and there is a wide literature on this traditional area of British public administration. The classic discussion remains Government by Committee, by K.C. Wheare (Oxford University Press, 1955), now nearly thirty years old, but still full of insights. Some of Wheare's ideas are drawn upon in Committees of Inquiry, by Gerald Rhodes (Allen and Unwin, 1975), which is a general survey of the field, whilst Social Research and Royal Commissions, edited by M. Bulmer (Allen and Unwin, 19800, is a useful set of case studies. Although as Richardson and Jordan remind us, political scientists have tended to neglect the study of policy implementation and policy delivery because they have been almost totally absorbed in the study of
Copynghlcd m lcria
190
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
the legislative process, there is a widening literature on policy implementation in Britain. Two major theoretical contributions are The Limits of Administration. by C. Hood (Wiley, 1976), which examines the factors which prevent the achievement of the 'perfect administration' required to produce perfect policy implementation, and A. King's discussion of the relationship between non-compliance and the popular thesis that central government is 'overloaded' in ' Overload: Problems of Governing in the 1970s' (Political Studies, 23 (1975)). A useful ' insider' case study by a serving civil servant is Dorothy Johnstone 's study of the introduction of VAT, A Tax Shall be Charged (Civil Service College Studies, No. I , HMSO, 1975). tess has been written on the impact of public policy. One Wellknown study is The Politics ofLegislation, by M.J. Barnett (Weidenfelf and Nicholson, 1969), which goes beyond the origins and passage of the 1957 Rent Act to examine the political. economic and social consequences, but, as King points out (in M. Holden and D.L. Dresang (eds), work cited), Barnett's account is largely vitiated by the failure to ' factor-out those observed changes which are government-specific. One study which does attempt to do this is H.A. Scarrow, 'The Impact of British Domestic Air Pollution Legislation' (British Journal ofPolitical Science, 2 (1972)). Our understanding of the nature of the policy process in Britain has also been enriched by the availability of large number of case studies covering particular policy issues ,o r legislative enactments (see, for example, Barnett, work cited). A good bibliography of case study material published in article form can be found in British Government and Politics, by R.M. Punnett (Heinemann, 4th edn, 1980, pp. 477-480), and references to the literature on pressure groups and policy making will be found. Despite Hecla's pessimistic conclusion that the inheritance from the majority of case-studies ' is a series of isolated, episodic descriptions ... which are apparently though to be of intrisic interest' (work cited, p.90), there are a growing number or case studies with a rigorous theoretical framework, which contribute to our understanding of policy-making in genera l. Two important books, both in the area of social policy-making, are Change, Choice and Conflict in Social Policy, P. Hall et al. (Heinemann, 1975), and Poverty, Politics and Policy. by Ke ith Banting (Macmillan, 1979). Hall et al. apply a systems model based on the work of David Easton to six case studies of policy change in an attempt to formulate middle-range propositions about how and
Copyngh!ed rna ria
Public Administration and Policy Studies
191
in what particular circumstances certain issues attain predominance over others and become the source of new policy,' while Banting advances a general interpretation of the politics of social policy-making on the basis of th ree case studied arguing that policy making is 'both an intellectual activity and an institutional process'.
Other Literature and Information Sources Current trends in academic research can best be traced through journals. The principal British journals are Public Administration {1923-), Public Administration Bulletin (1972-) (formerly the PAC Bulletin, 1964-1972), Policy and Politics (1972-) and the Journal of Public Policy (198 1-), the latter two j ournals being particularly concerned with the development of public policy studies. Other journals which sometimes carry articles dealing with public administration include Public Law ( 1956-), Political Quarterly {1930-) and Parliamentary Affairs (1948-). The American perspective is provided by Public Administration Review {1940-) Administrative Science Quarterly ( 1965-) and Policy Studies Journal ( 1972-). Articles on various countries are published in International Review of Administrative Sciences (1957-). Abstracts of these and other journals, together with newspapers and their indexs are discussed in Chapter I. Abstracts of many books and articles are provided in Sage Public Administration Abstracts. and the International Political Science Abstracts contain a section on governmental and administrative institutions. Policy and Politics also contains and abstracts section. It is also possible to identify articles on public administrati<m which have appeared in other j ournals by referring to the British Humanities Index (Library Association), which is published quarterly, and the American Public Affairs Information Service Bulletin (PAIS), which includes a selective list of the latest literature relating to public administration in English throughout the world. Valuable infonnation about and the ' feel' of, administration and policy making can also be acquired through reading political biographies and memoirs. A useful bibliography so such works is provided by Jeremy Moon, ' Post-war British Political Memoirs: a Discussion and Bibliography' Parliamentary Affairs. 35 (1982). Although many such works claim to reveal the secrets of how administration and policy making really works (see instance, Richard Crossman, work cited), as
Copyngh!ed rna ria
192
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
Moon warns us, it should always be remembered that this kind of literature inevitably sees events and personalities from one particular point of view, and that the subjectivity of such works is different from that of a conventional political scientist or historian. Although ministerial memoirs and biographies ' must remain the servants of analysis and not substitutes for it' this kind of literature does provide information and insights not normally available to academic researchers, who have found it notoriously difficult to surmount the barriers imposed by the 'closed' system of British central government. A fuller discussion of government secrecy' in Britain, and the movement to 'open up' British Government, is The Politics of Secrecy. by James Michael (Penguin, 1982). The relaxation in 1967 of the rule whereby public documents were closed to inspection for a period of fifty years to one of thirty years makes comparatively little difference to students of contemporary and recent history, although access to documents within th..: closed period is sometimes given to scholars. The circumstances and conditions of such access are contained in a Civil Service Department Memborandum of 1970 (reproduced in PAC Bulletin, 8 1970)). Many
governments departments also have Academi.: Liaison, Officers who can put researchers in touch with the appropriate sections of their department when researching unpublished information. Current details can be found in Public Administration Buffetin, 37 (1981)). Offic ial publications are, of course, readily avaibble, and constitute the most important class of primary material available to students of public administration.
Copynghted matcri,
The Future of Teaching Political Science
It has been our main object, in writing this book, to put forward a certain theory of Public School Education, and to place on record two or three pieces of work by which that the
Copyngh!ed rna ria
194
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
The weekly essay obviously provides the first point of attack. Tea Parties, and Speech Day, and The Happiest Thing You Did Last Holidays-ail these tedious subjects must be abolished once and for all, and their place taken by more vital stuff. Of what possible value can such compositions be? They inevitably bore the boy who is compelled to write them; they stir no joy, no though, no first questionings about right or wrong. From the point of view of mere style they are fatal; evoked by no need of self-expressi on, they are as likely to result in a capacity for writing nervous English as is a perpetuity of grammar papers. It is not through such trivialities as these that the minds l)f master and boy can achieve that intellectual sympathy without which teaching is impossible. To put yourself in a boy's position as he establishes his first slight contact with awful issues; to force your brain, brought down to the level of his, through the narrow and mud-clogged passage that leads from darkness to light; to keep your eyes behind you, so that you may be sure that he is following (and if he is not, to go back and try another path- ) this is an agony from which many may justifiably shrink. But if they do so, they should choose an easier profession than that of the schoolmaster. Boys themselves seem, for the most part, to have a quite definite preference for the solid and even the 'moral' type of subject, provided they are assured that their essays will be treated as confidential documents. A boy will express himself to his form-master, unless, of course, he regards him as a fool, much more frankly than he will express himself to a chance collection of his school fellows. One of the present writers takes the essays of the Modern Middle Fifth. The present form is a very ordinary collection of boys from the intellectual point of view. There is not a single boy in it who by any stretch of terms could be called brilliant and not a few might uncharitably be described as the reverse. llte master had occasion to talk of Hinduism and found himself hampered by the vagueness of his form 's ideas about Christianity (which brings us back to the subject of Divinity teaching again). So without attempting to expound Christianity to begin with, he set as the next essay, to be done out of school. ' Faith, Hope, and Love: their application in ordinary life.' The batch of essays returned was extremely interesting. Many of the jdeas were crude in the extreme, but there was much honest puzzling out of things, much extremely candid writing, and-an interesting point- there quarters of. the essays went well beyond the statutory minimum of 500 words. Such a set of essays,
Copynghted matcri,
The Future of Teaching Political Science
195
twenty in number, are exhausting work to correct, and one would like fifteen minutes with each boy alone for 'giving back.' A literary subject from Shakespeare, set the following week, fell very flat by comparison, so the form were asked to send in their own suggestions as to essay subjects. The following list is boiled down from the sixty odd suggestions received: I. The best treaty for ending the war (Several). 2. Peace by victory, peace by strike, or peace by agreement. 3. A forecast of three years afterthe war. 4. The future of the British Empire 5. The Russian crisis. 6. Merits and defects of Lloyd George and his secret treaties. 7. The value of America in the war. 8. Gild Socialism. 9. The advantages and disadvantages of modem machinery. 10. Religion and Patriotism. II. Conscientious objectors (several). 12. The public school system, or spirit (several). 13. The 'play the gante' morality. 14. Compulsory chapel. 15. Poetry and Art (various ambitious suggestions). 16. Truth. 17. The Human Face. 18. Fads and Fancies. 19. 'The Joy of Life, or, Why not commit suicide? It is not pretended that all these suggestions were suitable, but what is clo.~imed is that they were all very creditable to their authors. Not more than five came from any one boy. All the form contributed. It might be supposed that the form-master himself had ranged over most of this ground in advance. Not at all: the inspiration, when not original, came no doubt from sixth form boys and members of the Politics Class. One of the great values of politics in education is that boys become so vitally interested that the process of education is transferred firm classroom to study, and the prefect, unconsciously in some cases. consciously in others, teaches his own fags. Several of the best suggestions we can
Copyngh!ed rna ri, ,t.
196
Modern Methods ofTeaching Political Science
trace to the influence of one particularly enlightened prefect on the boys in his house. But the suggestion, be it understood, was indirect; the form was asked to propose essay subjects at the beginning of an hour in which private reading and easy-returning was in progress, and the suggestions were collected at the end of the same hour. For boys in the lowest forms some of the despised essentials of Christian ethics might well be chosen as the subject-matter for essays. Not many men in this or any country love their enemies; never thinking about the matter, they grow up into a careless habit of hatred, and for the most part find in the wisdom of Chirst only the delusions of an ' idealist.' But in the character of a very young boy there is a vast store of floating and ' unfounded' good, and not much evil; and if the vague goodness of his mind and soul can be directed, before it is dissipated, towards the good as fixed and crystallised in a definite attitude of spirit and a definite code of conduct, it will greet the kinsman it recognises, and a firm foundation will have been laid on which much building may be done. It the Kingdom of Heaven is ever established in this sick world, it will be by men who have not been allowed to lose what they possessed as little children. Soon the question of Liberty (the starting point for all political speculation) can be raised; and the boy led on the consider why his own freedom is being restricted in so many ways. And before long the first faint stirrings may be given to the social conscience, by asking, ' Is there anything you have noticed in the world about you, that offends your sense of what is right and good? It is essential, of course, that these essays should be given back to each boy individually, and some time sent in the discussion of them. At least four hours each week should be set aside-one for general remarks (and perhaps a debate) and three for ' looking over.' The spear time thus made available for the class as a whole, while each boy was having his work discussed, would give valuable opportunity for private reading. Few boys acquire any real delight in literature at a Public School; the deadly dullness of the Shakespeare play, read in snippets and largely unintelligible, makes 'English' appear a subject as detestably mechanical as Latin grammar, and sometime even more boring. If boys are to enjoy their reading, they must have a number of hours for it, sufficient to allow of continuous and sustained interest; and they must feel, not like children compelled to do something distasteful, but like a grown man as he sits down with a pipe before a roaring fire to open a new and eagerly-awaited volume.
..
Copynghted matcri,
The Future of Teaching Political Science
197
There is hard ly a boy in whom such a love of literature cannot be fostered, if the attempt is not deferred until it is too late; and the best method of fostering it is to give him three or four hours in school every week in which he can read more or less what he likes. It does not greatly matter whether he starts with Stevenson or Mr Arthur B. Reeve; it does not greatly matter even if, when he is introduced to the former, he finds that the latter has been more to his taste. Once cultivate a love of reading for its own sake-a love of the very appearance of a printed page for what it recalls and what it promises-and in the great majority .of cases the boy who began by reading trash will end as a worshipper of Meredith or Dostoievsky. And even if he doesn' t-well, it is better to be thrilled by M. Pathe than to be bored by Shakespeare, better to frequent the cinemas than never to have known the joy of a single hour's makebelieve. One of the present writers has already experimented in this direction with the Modem Middle Fifth, and, though the form is rather above than below the middle of the school it may be interesting to give some idea of the books the boys prefer to read. The form-master exercises no suasion in the matter beyond forbidding absolute rubbish (since the form is not strictly a low one) and showing interest in an intelligent or unusual choice. Kipling seems the favourite author, and popular warbooks are widely read; Dickens and Scott are not uncommon; but more interesting is the appearance of Browning, Georgian poetry, Adam Bede, and John lnglesant. If the public Eng lish Literature hour is to be retained at all probably the best way of utilising it is for the master to read lyric poetry to his form. The appeal here is to the musical sense; and the music of words often makes the first appeal. to a still dormant sense of beauty. Some time ago a colleagues tried reading a certain amount of Keats every week to the Middle Fourth. It was completely successful. The opening passage of Endymion, in particular, has lingered in their memory; and one of the class confided to me a week or so ago that, though he has read a lot of poetry s ince the Middle Fourth days (1 fear that, in spite of a goodly lapse of time, he has not yet got higher than the Lower Fifth) his favourite lines are still An endless fountain of immortal drink Pouring unto us from the Heaven's brink. Of course, he may be pulling my leg, and be making a veiled reference to ginger beer; but I don' t think so.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
198
Modern Methods of Teaching Political Science
But we are wandering from the subject. Can formal lectures be given to lower forms on Political Science and Economics? Abstract principles must undoubtedly be allowed to emerge from the discussion of essays; a logical exposition of the nature of Rights would be as tedious for the boy of fourteen as it is interesting to a member of the Upper Sixth. But the same objection cannot be urged against a plain description of constitutional and legal facts. How is England ruled? Who really selects the Prime Minister? Is the German system similar to ours? What was meant by Russian bureaucracy? The answer to such questions is as fascinating to young boys as their ignorance of them is abysmal. A similar method may be applied to Economics. One the one hand, there are the Bagdad Railway, Persian Oilfields. Mesopotamian Wheat; on the other, the simplified n iceties of hulling and bearing. In the interest aroused by actualities such as these, geography begins to lose its tediousness, and mathematics become a thing almost of splendour and romance. There remain History and Divinity, encrusted to-day with old pedagogic traditions, and not least by the awful tradition that any one can teach them to small boys, provided he prepare a text-book lesson in advance of his pupils. Such Historians as the staff contains usually have their work cut out to cater for the upper forms; and as for Divinity, we live under the law of Moses, and since the teaching of the subject is limited for all forms to certain sacred hours, there can be no specialists at all. But History teaching is nothing unless it creates a sense of the solid rea lity of the past, and Divinity is nothing unless it creates a sense of the solid reality of God, and a teacher cannot impart a sense of realities he does not himself possess. As regard History teaching, the skeleton outline is probably a necessity, just like any other skeleton. But a skeleton unclothed with flesh is a sorry object: it seems almost superfluous to say that it is not alive. Side by side with the skeleton outline, the lowest and humblest forms must be studying a period, or better still, a subject. Let it be the Crusades, the medieval manor, the Elizabethan seamen, the Puritan rebels, the East Indian pioneers, or what you will; the one thing needed is that the subject should live and that the form should live in it. Accuracy of detail is quite unessential; a good historical novel will tell more than much dry analysis; all that is needed is that the boys should catch some of the spirit of an age, and feel all unconsciously the unity of human nature in the variety of human experience.
Copyngh!ed malcri,
The Future o,(Teaching Political Science
199
We have left till last the most important subject of all. So to describe Divinity is the platitude of the priest, but it is the wild paradox of the public schoolmaster, who knows what Divinity teaching is to· day For in truth Divinity is the most difficult of subjects. The easiest part of it is that which belongs to history. The Bible is a progressive revelation of God, and the forces of religion and formalism, light and darkness. can be traced from the th inly disguised rivalry of Moses and Aaron to the final conflict of Christ and the Pharisees. But something more than that is required. Either Divinity teaching is a mockery, or else it will strike a note deeper than that struck by any other subject. It will go beyond the political instinct, beyond the artistic instinct: it will touch 'the human individuality- that is, the human soul imprisoned in the human body; the shivering human soul with its own awful problems. its own august destiny, lonelier in its house of clay than any prisoner in any Bastille in the world. The true teacher will recognise in each of his pupils and individual human soul distinct and different from every other human soul that has ever been fashioned by God, miles and miles apart from the soul that is nearest and most akin to it, corvine, indeed, comradeship and sympathy and pity, needing also, it may be, discipline and guidance and a restraining hand. but imperiously demanding to be allowed to live i'ls own life, to be allowed to bring itself to its own perfection.' We quote the words of one who must have been a great school· master, for he won the reverent love of his pupils.
Copyngh!ed rna ria
In the modern scientific and technological, industrial world the teaching of political science has acquired a very important discussion. Besides theoretical background, lessons in practical politics through student pOlitics, seminars, workshops and elections, can be given.
These topics have been discussed very lucidly in this book. The book has following chapters in it 1. 2. 3. 4.
Teaching of Political Science The Political Principle The Political Methods Two Experiments in Teaching Political Science 5. Training for Teaching Political Science 6. Organizatioos and Teaching of Political Science 7. The Problem of Bias in Teaching Political Science 8. Political Parties and Elections 9. Parliament and Ministers 10. Local Government 11. Judiciary and Government in Great Britain 12. Public Administratioo and Policy Studies 13. The Future ofTeaclring Political Science
Rs.32S CopyrtQhlcd m lcria
($) Sarup &Sons PUBLISHERS '- - - - I 4740/23, ANSARI ROAD, DARYA GANJ, NEW OELH1· 110002