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Book reviews: The Politics of Coalition

20 June 2012

Progress Online (15/08/2012)

With due respect to its authors, the chances of a book published by UCL's Constitution Unit is unlikely to prove a racy page-turner. But that is precisely the appeal of this book, edited by the unit's director Robert Hazell and researcher Ben Yong: to reach a considered view of the behaviour and actions of the coalition, looking beyond the ephemera of the daily news cycle of coalition exposés and the constant chatter of armchair commentators.

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Liberal Democrat Voice (16/07/2012)

[The book's] real strength is in being an effective summary of the knowledge so far, capturing many of the administrative lessons for future coalitions, such as the need to properly resource the smaller partner(s) so that they can cope with the workload involved in trying to have a view across all government policies.

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Irish Times (16/06/2012)

The story behind ministerial doors is told by a remarkable book, The Politics of Coalition: How the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government Works, published this week by University College London's highly respected Constitution Unit.

Since shortly after the coalition's formation, its researchers have been allowed extraordinary access inside the corridors of power to observe the internal workings of Britain's first coalition government for 65 years.

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Alex Stevenson on politics.co.uk (13/06/2012)

Today is supposed to be an example of Liberal Democrat strategists turning a difficult situation into an opportunity. Two events are combining which give the Lib Dems something very rare: the chance to distinguish themselves from the Conservatives.

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