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Book Review: Forging a Discipline: A Critical Assessment of Oxford’s Development of the Study of Politics and International Relations in Comparative Perspective

mechanisms and the extent to which parliament has the capacity, the will and resources to provide effective oversight. Analysis underlines the scrutiny by the Intelligence and Security Committee, select committees, all-party groups and individual parliamentarians. The approach and methodology is examination of parliamentary business alongside interviews with members of parliament (MPs), peers and senior officials in the Cabinet Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The topics are analysed in nine chapters, organised broadly chronologically: challenges for the legislative oversight of intelligence; parliament and the intelligence services; legislating for intelligence agency accountability; the Intelligence and Security Committee; issues of accountability and access by select committees; indicators of parliamentary interest through debates, questions, motions and groups; parliamentarians and the intelligence services; legislative oversight of intelligence beyond Westminster (Europe and devolved bodies); and the future of intelligence oversight. The book is aimed at citizens, academics and practitioners worldwide, especially those fascinated with evolving democratic political systems. This book is innovative for its theory, method and empirical discovery, widening our understanding of the legislative, scrutinising and representative role of the British parliament. In terms of empirical discovery, the authors present the historical evidence, noting the ongoing increase in experience and expertise of parliamentarians. With regard to the method, the investigations go straight to the heart of the contemporary political landscape, investigating both quantitative data and the attitudes of MPs, peers and officials towards their own roles and influence through interviews and primary written sources. The work is also original in theory because it examines the mechanisms of parliament as a whole, whereas existing studies of the parliamentary scrutiny of intelligence have focussed almost exclusively on the work of the Intelligence and Security Committee alone. The authors succeed in their goals because the factual evidence is indisputable, although their arguments of the effectiveness of parliamentary scrutiny are only as plausible as the system itself. Scrutiny of the intelligence services is constantly evolving in order to be more accountable and transparent, spurred by some parliamentary bodies and individual parliamentarians. However, progress is potentially inhibited by secrecy, lack of resources and narrow parliamentary understanding or interest. Given such constant evolution, the work will need subsequent editions. The book is wellwritten by academic authors familiar with writing for disparate audiences.