This work remains of interest to anyone concerned with Britain’s political institutions and how they might be reformed. Laski was strongly in favour of utilising Britain’s capacity for decisive government to drive through great social reforms. He was still confident that there was a majority will for such change and quite unable to imagine the kind of centralisation that was later to take place in the UK. If Laski is still important it is more for his pluralist views which counsel against such developments, but these lectures are still of interest in showing how a radical reformer could accept and defend established institutions like the House of Commons.
Harold J. Laski (1893-1950) was an esteemed British political scientist, economist, author, and lecturer. He taught at McGill and Harvard Universities. From 1926 until his death he was professor of political science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His works includeKarl Marx, Democracy in Crisis, The American Presidency, and The Rise of European Liberalism.