Westminster Legacies

Westminster Legacies examines the ways in which the Westminster system has influenced the shaping of responsible government and democracy across Asia, Australasia and the Pacific. The book includes chapters on each of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the smaller Pacific island nations, and considers how Westminster remains important for understanding political institutions and practices in these countries. It also examines the ways the Westminster system has been adapted in these different countries in the light of local practices and traditions. ""Westminster Legacies"" explores the way Westminster understandings of the executive, bureaucracy, parliament and responsible government have been influential in these countries with diverse histories, cultures and traditions. It also looks at the conditions under which Westminster legacies have taken root and endured, and those conditions that have eroded or significantly changed its influence. Some of the Westminster-derived states in this survey have teetered on the brink of becoming 'failed states' (especially in terms of legitimate democracies), while others remain robust adversarial democracies. This is the first comparative analysis of the transplanted Westminster systems throughout Asia and the Pacific - even though the region is littered with diverse Westminster-derived systems.