ABSTRACT
Although the devolution of power to democratic institutions within the United Kingdom forms the context for this book, it is not the main purpose of this volume to explore these systems in detail. Despite the youthful nature of these institutions, some good attempts at early analysis are provided by Burrows (2000) and Hazell (2000) amongst others. This short chapter cannot hope to emulate these texts. Instead it provides a brief outline of the various systems that operate in the United Kingdom from a comparative perspective. As such it acts both as a conclusion to this part of the volume and as a starting point for the comparative chapters that follow.
