Changing States, Changing Nations: Constitutional Reform and National Identity in the Late Twentieth Century

Changing States, Changing Nations: Constitutional Reform and National Identity in the Late Twentieth Century

Andrew McDonald

This book presents the remarkable constitutional reforms undertaken by the Blair and Brown governments in the UK. The reforms are remarkable in that they had the potential to change the way Britons understood the national identity of the UK. The book illuminates the ambitions of the key players in Whitehall and Westminster and is enriched through a study of comparable constitutional reforms in Canada and Australia: the Charter of Rights and Freedoms pioneered by Pierre Trudeau and the attempt by Paul Keating to make Australia aRepublic. The Canadian and Australian chapters are a contribution to the political history of those nations and a device for understanding the changes in Britain.

The author is an expert in the use of Freedom of Information and was a senior policy maker in Whitehall working primarily on constitutional reform. Readers will benefit from the author’s unrivalled access to interviewees and documentary sources in the three countries covered in the book.

Andrew McDonald was a Civil Servant until his retirement in 2014. He led the constitutional reform programme in the UK from 2003–05, developing and implementing the first ever constitutional strategy. He remained in the forefront of constitutional affairs, serving as the first CEO of IPSA, the body established to resolve the crisis over MPs’ expenses.

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