ABSTRACT
Political activity does not take place in a vacuum. Politics is only one aspect of any society – albeit an important aspect – and is set within a broader context. Indeed, we have used the plural ‘contexts’ in the title of this chapter to emphasise that the background to politics includes a number of different elements. We can identify distinct historical, social, economic, international and cultural contexts, each of which impinge importantly on current British politics and the debates which form the substance of this book. As is made clear in the other introductory chapter, these debates also involve enduring theoretical and practical questions about politics, but the way in which contemporary political issues are framed, interpreted and assessed is in large part a consequence of recent changes in the contexts of politics. Moreover, as we shall see, the social, economic, international and cultural contexts have been characterised by very rapid change in recent years.
