Ivor Jennings – författare

The principles of British democracy and the institutions through which it works are described in non-technical language. The unique British combination of liberty and law, and its maintenance and expression in the monarchy, Parliament, the working of cabinet government and the executive, the political system behind them, and the bases and operation of law enforcement and the administration of justice, are all covered and summarized in this thought-provoking survey of the machinery of national and public life.

The British Constitution is accepted, in England at least, as the symbol for soundness and reliability: and yet its unwritten mysteries and its practical resilience are the despair of theorists. It is as unexpected as a person, and seems to be defined only by the fact that it lives and works. This 1966 book, then, might be described as a biography by one who has a first-hand knowledge of his subject. It offers ordinary British citizens a reasonable and detached introduction to the system in which they play so large a part; at the same time it provides, for friends and critics overseas, a simple and reliable account of its growth and functioning.

This 1963 text asks how far democratic institutions and attitudes should be accepted in the then newly independent states of the African continent. Sir Ivor Jennings writes with a clarity that results from much thought and scholarship. The book expresses many personal opinions; they are opinions based on wide experience and tested at many conference tables. The author was involved in the making of the constitutions for India, Pakistan, and Ceylon. He considers the problems of constitution-making for the new nations of Africa and the book discusses the wider relationship of Western culture and Africa with its ebullient nationalism and rapidly changing societies. The result is an essay of interest to students of government and African affairs.

First published in 1939 Parliament sought to analyse the parliamentary institutions of the United Kingdom as pieces of constitutional machinery. This reprint is from the revised version of the book.

Sir Ivor Jennings' classic account of the evolution of Cabinet government in England.

Originally published in 1960, this was the first of three volumes on 'Party Politics'. The whole work was the conclusion of Sir Ivor Jenning's standard survey of English constitutional and political practice begun with Cabinet Government (3rd edition, 1959) and continued in Parliament (2nd edition, 1957). Party Politics as a whole dealt with topics which must be seen as a continuous development since 1688. Like the companion volumes it benefited from Sir Ivor's unique combination of talents: knowledge of the law; knowledge of the history which produced the law, and personal knowledge of the way affairs of state are conducted. Volume I deals with elections in law and practice. Volume II, The Growth of Parties, deals with their composition and operation. Volume II, The Stuff of Politics dealt with leading political ideas.

Originally published in 1962, this is the final volume of Party Politics following Appeal to the People and The Growth of Parties, which appeared in 1960 and 1961. In it Sir Ivor Jennings analyses the nature of politics by discussing some of the political ideas such as Church and King, liberty, nationalism, imperialism, free trade and the welfare state, which were instrumental in shaping the British political system. The three volumes of Party Politics complete the survey of British political institutions which Sir Ivor Jennings began with Parliament and Cabinet Government. At the time of publication these volumes formed the standard twentieth century authority on British Constitutional history, law and practice.

This 1961 text is the second volume of Party Politics, following Appeal to the People which appeared in 1960. It is an historical analysis of the nature, growth and activity of organised political parties in England, from the parliamentary divisions of the Civil War to the general election of 1959. Sir Ivor Jennings shows that party conflict has roots going very far back in English history, though the decisive or formative stages were reached comparatively recently. But this ample and very readable history emphasises above all that English politics, in all their strangeness as well as their rationality, are an organic historical growth, forever developing.

During his lifetime, Sir Ivor Jennings (1903-1965) was well known as the author of several standard books on constitutional law. He acted as constitutional adviser to the governments of Ceylon and Pakistan and was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ceylon. This 1956 book followed in the tradition of his earlier The British Constitution and is a clear statement by an expert with a characteristically practical point of view. It is principally concerned with a practical problem: what constitution shall be given to a new country about to govern itself for the first time? Published at a time when colonial empires were moving more or less peaceably towards self-government, it was based on a series of broadcast talks originally commissioned by the BBC in the belief that the experiences gained in Asia were in principle applicable to other countries approaching self-government.