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To what extent is “adversarial politics” an accurate description of British inter-party conflict since 1945?
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To what extent is "adversarial politics" an accurate description of British inter-party conflict since 1945? Finer coined the term 'adversary politics' to describe the British parliamentary system, which he saw as "a stand-up fight between two adversaries for the favour of the lookers-on" (McLean, 1996, p3). He saw the two-party system as having become polarised and with government change came repeated, massive and detrimental reversals of policy (Kavanagh and Morris, 1989, p18). However, not all have seen British Politics in this way. Indeed, many political historians have taken for granted the existence of a broad political consensus during the period between 1945 and 1975, often seeing this in a positive light. Only recently has this been brought into question (Jones in Brivatti, 1996, p47). This analysis seeks to evaluate arguments surrounding the issue of whether this was a period characterised by adversarial conflict or consensus between the...
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