Models of British politics

In the preceding chapter we considered some general theories of decision-making. These were concerned with the behaviour of decision-makers in the abstract. In this chapter we continue to examine some theoretical approaches to the decision-making process, but our emphasis is now upon the models which relate directly to decision-making in British politics. These theories attempt to shed light into the ‘black box’ of the decision process. Naturally, we are only able here to give somewhat simplified or truncated versions of the models. 1 Our aim is to delineate the variety of perspectives from which the British political system can be viewed rather than to examine the detailed debates which have taken place among the adherents of the various schools.