Christopher Kirkland – författare

This book seeks to understand and classify differences that exist between a variety of elections in Britain. It moves beyond first- and second-order classifications developed following the European Parliamentary Elections in 1979 to include elections of devolved administrations such as the Scottish Parliament, local mayors or the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections. Drawing upon a range of elections, the book develops a new classification based on the interactions that exist between voters, the media and political parties. In doing so, it argues that alongside voters, political parties and the media can, and do, prioritize certain elections. The author explores the role of each group within elections individually through case studies. The final chapter then offers an overall means of understanding the levels of salience attached to each election.

This book explores two recent crises in British political economy: the crisis of 1976–9, for which the trade unions were impugned, and the 2007 economic crisis, for which bankers were (at least initially) blamed. The author argues that the “crisis resolution” of the former – principally the Thatcherite reforms of the 1980s – led to the emergence of the banking crisis. Further, Kirkland demonstrates how narratives of blame have emerged and were used in both instances to promote specific agendas. Narrations of blame and crises were used to curb the trade union powers in the 1980s, whilst the 2007 crisis was quickly reframed as one of excessive government spending, which in turn has led to policies of austerity.