M. Westlake – författare

A ''non-election'' in terms of popular perception, the 2004 European elections in the United Kingdom nevertheless provided a fascinating snapshot of the new, far more fluid electoral trends that have been emerging since the end of the Thatcher era, with Green, Eurosceptical, regional and single issue parties all jostling for electoral space with the bigger three. Like its predecessors, this book documents the background, framework and party preparations; recounts how the campaign unfolded; analyses the results and explores the consequences of the elections in both the British and the European context.

The authors present an authoritative account of the background to the elections, the preparations by the political parties, the unfolding campaign and the results, as well as of their short-term effects and their long-term implications. The fact that 1999 saw the first nation-wide contest involving proportional representation presented a special challenge to participants and observers alike.

Having struggled to the top of the greasy pole of politics, the six leaders considered in this volume Mikhail Gorbachev, F.W. de Klerk, General Jaruzelski, Adolfo Suarez, Achille Occhetto, and Neil Kinnock set about introducing far reaching changes to their parties or their states. Veritable leaders of transition, they can lay claim to have changed the course of history and yet, ironically, all are now forgotten or vilified and were never able to benefit from the changes they introduced. Why, then, did they do what they did? This book sets out to explore their achievements and their motives.

This work presents an account of the background to the 1999 European elections. It examines the preparations by the political parties, the unfolding campaign and the results, as well as their short term effects and their long term implications. The fact that 1999 saw the first nation wide contest involving proportional representation presented a special challenge to participants and observers alike.

A 'non-election' in terms of popular perception, the 2004 European elections in the United Kingdom nevertheless provided a fascinating snapshot of the new, far more fluid electoral trends that have been emerging since the end of the Thatcher era, with Green, Eurosceptical, regional and single issue parties all jostling for electoral space with the bigger three. Like its predecessors, this book documents the background, framework and party preparations; recounts how the campaign unfolded; analyses the results and explores the consequences of the elections in both the British and the European context.