The Coalition and the Constitution

Bogdanor's short and readable critique of proposals such as the alternative vote and fixed-term parliaments is to the high standard one has come to expect from him. -- Tim L. Oliver * International Affairs, Volume 88, No. 2 *
This is a book, which one hopes will be published in paperback so that many students of British politics can have it close at hand. It offers basic information about elections and coalitions to which one will want to turn to, time and again. -- T. P. Wolf * British Politics Group Quarterly *
... this book offers many interesting insights into the workings of the British constitution, how far the negotiations to create the coalition conform to expected constitutional norms, and how far the government has altered or seeks to alter the constitution. -- Dr Julie Smith * The Journal of Liberal History, Issue 72 *
Professor Bogdanor is an expert in constitutional history so it is no surprise to find that one of the strengths of the book is the depth of its historical comparisons. -- Roger Smith * JUSTICE Journal *
[Vernon Bogdanor] is undoubtedly a considerable authority on constitutions generally and the British one in particular...this is probably the best short introduction in the bookshops to our current constitutional debates. -- Jonathan Sumption * The Spectator *
Vernon Bogdanor is the leading academic authority on the strange jumble of customs, laws and myths known as the British constitution. To that role he brings formidable learning, a relentless appetite for sniffing out self-serving humbug and a quiet, but insistent radicalism. He deploys all of these to startling effect in this short book. In form it is an analytical study of the coalition's impact on the constitution; in fact, it is the literary equivalent of a mortar shell fired at the Cameron-Clegg command centre. -- David Marquand * The Guardian *
Picking his way delicately through this tangled web of constitutional traditions, unspoken arrangements, tacit agreements, political alliances, grudges and festering feuds is constitutional expert Professor Vernon Bogdanor. And there is no more skilled disentangle of a political cat's cradle than Bogdanor. His latest book sheds much-needed light, and a historical perspective, on the potential implications of the UK's first peace-time coalition since the 1930s. -- Alison Thomas * Public Servant *
This book tells students of British politics all that they need to know about the constitutional implications of the coalition government formed after the 2010 general election. -- Paul Whiteley * Times Higher Education *
The history, the politics and the future of coalition government, and the implications of AV and the rest of the programme for constitutional reform, are analysed with clarity and insight by Vernon Bogdanor in his indispensable new book, The Coalition and the Constitution -- David Pannick * The Times *
Bogdanor's excellent study focuses largely on the constitutional implications of the coalition government. -- Andrew Adonis * New Statesman *
…[Vernon Bogdanor's] political writings are admirably objective and scholarly, and a book he has just published, The Coalition and the Constitution, is no exception. -- Simon Heffer * The Daily Telegraph *
The country faces a string of tinkering changes. The unintended consequences will be many. This shrewd, short book explains why. * The Economist *