The Westminster Model: Adaptation or Erosion?

Abstract

From the outset of the 1980s the Westminster model of government in the
United Kingdom altered gradually. Many speak of a shift from government to
governance. This process included widening of the number of players active
in the political arena as well as overlapping of differences in the dichotomy
of domestic and international politics. The study presents an analysis of the
shift from government to governance – from a clear cut Westminster model
to a complex structure of networks, dependency paths, relationships, and
means of communication on different levels. The everyday working of those
structures led many to interpret this gradual process as the erosion or the
twilight of the traditional Westminster model. The paper attempts to
suggest a possible answer to the question of how to characterize and what
terminology to use in order to describe the changing reality of the British
model of governing. Shall we simply speak of an erosion of the system,
which would be a rather destructive conception, or shall we rather speak of
an adaptation, as adaptation is highly significant for the British political
system and carries in its roots the ability to accommodate changes as time
goes by?