Is Westminster dead in Westminster (and why should we care)?

Inaugural lecture in the ANZSOG-ANU Public Lecture series, The Shine Dome, Academy of Science, Canberra, 23 February 2005.

Rod Rhodes discusses whether Westminster is past its sell-buy date. Everyone agrees that Australia and Britain are changing - but from what to what? This lecture looks at such changes in Britain as membership of the European Union and devolution to ask whether British government is being hollowed out from above and below. What are the emerging patterns of governance? What are the results of the new governance? Can we learn any lessons from these changes that are relevant to parliamentary government elsewhere?