Changing Perceptions of the British System
Since the development of their academic discipline over a century ago, American political scientists have treated British parliamentary democracy as a benchmark in evaluating the American system.1 For almost half of that century, it is distressing for me to realize, I have tried to contribute to that comparative enterprise. Now I hope only to refurbish previously stated views by taking into account recent political experience and selected scholarly interpretations of that experience. My perspective combines respect for the British political system with a disbelief in the suitability of its parliamentary institutions for the United States. As a corollary, I treat the separation of executive and legislative powers as workable, if not ideal. It is so central in the American system that its drastic transformation, as distinct from marginal changes in its practice, is inconceivable in circumstances short of a catastrophic breakdown of the system itself. These views are hardly unusual. They are at odds only with a scholarly minority that