Griffiths, Simon. 2016. Statecraft as a Straightjacket: A Reply to Gamble and Hayton. Parliamentary Affairs, 69(3), pp. 735-743. ISSN 0031-2290 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

‘Statecraft’ theory, with its focus on politicians' strategic, electoral choices, has undergone a revival in recent years. This is a reply to those authors who have used ‘Statecraft’ in their analysis of the Conservative Party under David Cameron [notably Hayton (2014) Parliamentary Affairs 67, 1; Gamble (2014) Parliamentary Affairs]. Statecraft theory raises various questions and contains implications—ontological, epistemic and methodological—that need to be dealt with by its contemporary advocates. I conclude that while the contributions discussed here are a valuable reminder that strategic thinking is an important part of what any politician does, strict adherence to the Statecraft model is a straitjacket to our understanding of British politics.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsv050
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Politics
Dates:	Date Event July 2016 Published September 2015 Published Online
Item ID:	18762
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2018 13:40
Last Modified:	29 Apr 2020 16:19
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/18762

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