A publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries
A division of the American Library Association
Editorial Offices: 575 Main Street, Suite 300, Middletown, CT 06457-3445
Phone: (860) 347-6933
Fax: (860) 704-0465

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

Please do not link to this page.

November 2015 Vol. 53 No. 3

This book is a welcome addition to further understanding “what drives individual citizens’ beliefs about the ethics and behavior of those holding public office.”  Allen (Royal Holloway, Univ. of London, UK) and Birch (Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland) provide an empirically sophisticated readable study and readily address the “practical implications” of their study.  They write in a language accessible to a wide audience and offer a history of the thinking on political ethics in British society, including an explanation of how Westminster politicians have evolved from the Burkean trustee model to the delegate model of representation.  Chapters are methodologically rich (many focus groups and surveys over time with the same individuals) and provide comparisons of elites with the general public, who tend to view ethics in a wider sense of collective accountability and public discourse.  The authors explain how the residue of mistrust from political scandals has affected political participation and citizens’ perceptions.  This study is a reminder that an alienated public is poisonous for democracy.  Thus, let readers hope that this work will be replicated by scholars studying other countries.

--S. L. McMillan, Lander University

Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.