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An overview of the United Kingdom’s constitution and defense policy.

Defense and security policy lies at the heart of the British state but can appear entirely untrammeled by the constitution. In fact, when political and military leaders exercise their executive powers, the UK Parliament and the judiciary have limited oversight, let alone control, over their actions. Defence and the UK Constitution introduces key constitutional issues to a general audience and pinpoints the differences between the “legal constitution” and the “political constitution,” with reference to the lack of accountability within modern British security structures. Nigel White traces this imbalance back to the 1680 Bill of Rights and examines the evolution of war and emergency powers, placing them within the context of international law.

Advocating for a rebalancing of the efficient and democratic, as well as the legal and political, elements of the constitution, this short work aims to address the inherent “defense paradox” in the UK constitution and to indicate which constitutional changes are needed to safeguard Britain’s democratic principles and limit excessive uses of discretionary power.
 

In Democracy in the Headwinds, Andreas Busch examines the growing threats to democracy worldwide and outlines the principles needed to safeguard it.

A mob storms the United States Capitol. A Hungarian strongman hollows out courts, media, and civil society for sixteen years, then is voted out in a landslide. Brexit exposes the fragility of a constitution built on unwritten conventions. In Germany, one in five voters chooses a party classified by the state’s own security apparatus as a suspected threat to the democratic order. What is going on—and should it concern us?

Drawing on evidence from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the wider democratic world, Andreas Busch tells the story of liberal democracy’s rise, its erosion by elected leaders who dismantle institutions from within, and the defenses that hold it together. He traces how economic dislocation, digital disruption, and the polarization of political life have converged to put mature democracies under pressure they were assumed to have outgrown.

At the heart of the book lies a deceptively simple argument: the procedural core of democracy—free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power—is the foundation on which everything else rests. Protect the mechanics, and everything else can be rebuilt. Lose them, and nothing can.