Territory and Power in the United Kingdom: An Interpretation (Ecpr Press Classics) - Softcover

Territory and Power remains a satisfying read, partly because of the narrative, but mainly because of its clear conceptualisation, where its terms and concepts have subsequently entered conventional thinking in academic circles. The language that today's students of politics use to describe the United Kingdom and its messy asymmetrical structures derive in part from this book. Bulpitt anticipates much of the current debate about path dependence and the importance of history in the new institutionalism (Bradbury, 2006). The book is a statement of a particular culture and system of territorial politics that was prominent in the twentieth century at the time as being a theoretical treatise on the UK state. It provides a backdrop to evaluate the current state of territorial and devolved politics. Most of all, it provides a set of concepts and a subtle account of the exercise of power that can apply to any governing system. The reader is likely to be much wiser from reading or rereading this classic work. Peter John European Political Science (2009) 8, 428 - 442

Territory and Power in the United Kingdom is about the nature of the UK state, where it came from and where it is going. Bulpitt sought to summarise the political code and statecraft that has helped govern the territories of the United Kingdom for much of the twentieth century, though it had its antecedents many years before. He provides an account of its emergence, operation and decline, which summarises an important phase in the United Kingdom's history and marks out why the country stood out from its continental neighbours in terms of its territorial organisation and state tradition. This ECPR Classics edition includes a new introduction by Peter John placing this important, classic work in a current context. Born 1937, Jim Bulpitt studied Politics and History at the University of Exeter, followed by an MA in Politics at the University of Manchester. He helped found the Department of Politics at the University of Warwick, where he remained for thirty-four years, most of his academic career, becoming Professor of Politics in 1992. He died in 1999.