ABSTRACT
The theoretical significance of the British model was due in part to the apparent stability of British democracy and in part to the peaceful character of the transition; British democracy had been created without the bloody misery of revolutions such as the French. In so far as theorizing about democratization was intended to serve a practical purpose by guiding politicians in democratizing nations, the British case was useless, an unrepeatable and highly specific historical experience. The British model constitutes an extreme case of untrammelled majoritarianism even in the class of Westminster model countries. British governments are less hedged in by judicial review, federalism, and a written constitution than are American administrations. The responsibility of British institutions for the comparative economic decline of Britain is highly contested and uncertain. The reason why British democracy is so constituted is of course that it happened that way; British democracy was grafted onto preexisting institutions.
