‘The efficient secret of the English Constitution may be described as the close union, the nearly complete fusion, of the executive and legislative powers. No doubt by the traditional theory, as it exists in all the books, the goodness of our constitution consists in the entire separation of the legislative and executive authorities, but in truth its merit consists in their singular approximation. The connecting link is the cabinet.’
Walter Bagehot’s The English Constitution is a classic study on the inner workings of the British government. For Bagehot, the supposed checks and balances and division of powers that exist in constitutional theories do not actually exist in reality. Instead, there is a “dignified” part of government and an “efficient” part of government. The dignified part of government is used to “impress the many” and sustain the loyalty of the people while the efficient part is the centralized power structures that “govern the many” and get things done. For Bagehot, these two sets of institutions are what truly maintain the governance of Britain. Bagehot’s analysis remains as relevant as ever and to understand British politics one must understand Bagehot’s classic work.
Walter Bagehot was an English journalist, policy analyst, and editor of the The Economist.