Policy-making in a bounded democracy

Abstract

The British doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty is set in a closed political system. A general election gives the government of the day the power to take whatever decision it wants as long as it is supported by the majority party in Parliament. The rhetoric of prime ministers from Churchill to Blair saw foreign policy as a process in which the British government could get what it wanted by drawing on the country’s traditional standing and superior diplomatic skills to ‘punch above its weight’ in dealing with other countries.