Redesigning Democracy: The Making of the Welsh Assembly

Abstract

Redesigning Democracy weaves together two important political stories. The first charts the long and often divisive campaign for a Welsh Assembly. The second tells the previously untold story of the devolution battle inside the Labour Party, from the ignominy of the 1979 referendum to the forced resignation of Alun Michael. Far more complex than a collision between Old and New Labour, this battle signalled the coming of age of Welsh Labour. Redesigning Democracy is also a book about twenty-first century British politics, as seen through the prism of Wales, showing the value of viewing the whole through the part, the centre from the periphery. In the new era of democratic devolution we need more diverse perspectives on the evolving UK if we are to transcend the metropolitan parochialism which infects the Westminster view of the world. In telling these stories the authors have carried out extensive interviews with key figures in Welsh political life, as well as drawing upon a wide range of published and unpublished materials on the making of the Welsh Assembly.

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