Ideology, Power Orientation and Policy Drag: Explaining the Elite Politics of Britain’s Bill of Rights Debate

Pre-print of Government and Opposition, Vol. 44(1), pp. 20-41 (2009)

24 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2011 Last revised: 5 May 2020

See all articles by David Erdos

David Erdos

University of Cambridge - Faculty of Law; Trinity Hall

Date Written: December 31, 2008

Abstract

This paper argues that three factors have framed British elite political debate and outcomes on a Bill of Rights – the degree of commitment to an ideology of social liberalism, the Executive/non-Executive power orientation of key actors and the phenomenon of policy drag. These factors explain not only the overall historical contours of political debate but also (i) Labour’s ‘aversive’ conversion to the Bill of Rights agenda and passage of the Human Rights Act (1998) and (ii) the Conservatives’ more positive recent attitude to the Bill of Rights agenda.

Keywords: Bill of Rights, Human Rights, Constitutional Reform, United Kingdom, New Labour, Thatcher, Social Liberalism, Policy Drag, Aversive Constitutionalism, Human Rights Act, European Convention, Power Orientation

Suggested Citation

Erdos, David, Ideology, Power Orientation and Policy Drag: Explaining the Elite Politics of Britain’s Bill of Rights Debate (December 31, 2008). Pre-print of Government and Opposition, Vol. 44(1), pp. 20-41 (2009) , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1765998

David Erdos (Contact Author)

University of Cambridge - Faculty of Law ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.law.cam.ac.uk/people/academic/d-o-erdos/5972

Trinity Hall ( email )

University of Cambridge
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United Kingdom

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