UK government Flashcards
United Kingdom
England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland
Magna Carta
said the king was not an absolute monarch, king has to consult nobles, first document limiting the king’s power
English Bill of Rights
document that states that Parliament officially has power, king can’t raise taxes or dissolve parliament
Great Reform Act
- corrects malapportionment in the rotten burrgouhs (districts with very little people) 2. expands suffrage
Parliament Act (1911)
House of lords agreed to giver up their absolute veto power
representation of the People Act (1948)
one person, one vote
Constitution reform act
- gets rid of the hereditary peers in the HOL 2. takes supreme ct. outside of the HOL, and makes it a separate branch 3. wants to make the HOl an elected body instead of a an appointed one
House of Commons- MP’s powers and how chosen
elected by the people; powers= 1. pass laws (through standing committees) 2. pass budget 3. oversight (ex: investigation) 4. choose prime minister hand approve his choice of cabinet 5. override veto by the HOL
first-past-the-post
(still a plurality election)-like a horse race-1st party to get the most votes; parties stick together because either they all survive or not
House of Lords-powers and how chosen
appted by the Prime minister; powers: 1. can delay a bill for 30 days 2. pass bills 3. suggest ammendments 4. oversight 5.veto 66. can initiation bills if prime minister asks them to
Parliamentary sovereignty
now law can be declared unconst. by the supreme ct. (parliament is supreme)
constitutional monarchy
monarch acts as head of state within the perimeters of a written const. (queen has no power, and has to do what parliament tells her to do)
role of prime minister
- commander-in-chief 2. chief diplomat (deals with foreign policy) 3. head of government 4. cheif economist (monetary policy and proposes budget) 5. appointment power (picks his cabinet and pieces of the beuracracy-not judges, but he is the cheif executive of the beuracrcy) 6. chief legislatior 7. party leader 8. liason to the queen and HOL-prime minister can ask HOL to start a bill (instead of HOC who usually starts it) 9. chief spokesman-Prime minister question time
Plural executive
Prime minister and his cabinet
collective responsibility
cabinet has to support the party, or it might lead to a vote of no confidence
uncodified constitution
Britain’s constitution not everything in one document; includes 1. every document in British history 2. conventions (traditions) 3. common laws (precedents) 4.statutory law-any law parliament passes
party whips
stand in division lobby and report back who isn’t loyal with the vote
three line whip
send out news letters before the time for the vote, and if there are 3 underlines, attendece at the HOC is mandatory, because there is going to be a vote
mp’s
members of parliament
division lobby
aye or nay lobby
frontbenchers
In HOC-leaders of the party sit here. (On government side: PM Gordon Brown and his cabinet) (on other side: shadow PM David Cameron and his shadow cabinet. and Nick Clegg of the liberal democratic party)
backbenchers
a member of parliament who does not hold a governmental office
crossbenchers
In the HOL- you can sit anywhere you want (b/c they have life trems, and don’t need to worry about reelections, so they do what’s best for the country)
policy committee
comm. that designs policy-consists of PM, a permanent secretary, a minister from cabinet, and TUC (for labor) or CBI (for conservatives)
standing committee
8 of them, not specialized, the one that isn’t busy gets the next bill, seats are proportional-based on # of seats party has in HOC. They can suggest changes to the bill- it is okay for party members to disagree with the PM here; have mark-up sessions
select committes
do investigations
white paper
when a bill is ready to be debated and voted on
borough (constituency)
district
shadow cabinet
cabinet of the opposition party
green paper
bill is just an idea/proposal
question time
people in the house of commons ask questions to the PM
whitehall
where the beuarcracy is
permanent secretary
head of the civil service, any beauracratic agency is head by a permanent secretary-heads of each dept. in the beuracracy and always brought in when making a law, because they are experts
quangos
Quasi autonomous non government organizations- idenpenent agencies that run schools, job training programs, public (council housing) and provide other regulatory and cultural functions
supreme court
(used to be inside the HOL, but now its an independent branch; 1. 12 judges 2. pres. of sup. ct. and deputy pres of ct. ct. 3. terms for good behavior (can remove a judge by joint resolution of the HOL and HOC) 4. mandatory retirement=75 years old 5. appellate commission includes pres. of sup. ct, deputy pres. of sup ct, and judges from UK; jobs of sup. ct: 1. apply the law 2. interpret the law
Berveridge Report
comes up with all the ideas for the collective consensus after WWII
Patron client relations (clientelism
patient is the client of the nurse, nurse= client of the doctor ***SEE CHART. Prime minister= head patron
by-election
when someone dies or resigns, there is a by-election to fill the vacancy
vote of no confidence
when the opposition party does not have confidence in the majority party
caretaker government
government can’t pass much legislation or spend a lot of money; not changing anything, just taking care of the government; (care
CBI
confederation of British Industry-the interest group that is a big supporter of the conservative party
TUC
Trades Unions congress-the interest group that is head of the unions; big part of the labor party
The City
the financial center of London (what we call wall street)
corporatism
You are only well-represented if you are part of a big interest group. (You are not well-represented by your MP)
labor party platform
1, want to join the EU, but want to wait and see about the Euro 2. Revision of the HOL (Constitutional Reform Act)-want HOL to be an elected body 3. want improvement of servies (ex: NHS)-want more attention to be paid to the permanent secretaries 4. welfare to work= (wi9ll give dole if you have a job) 6. supports working class/ unions (and supported by TUC)
Plaid Cymru Party
Welsh party-don’t want welsh language and culture to die
Scottish National Party (SNP)
want independence and environmental clean-up (because of the oil leakage), want England’s oil profits shared with Scotland
Ulster Unionist Party
mderate Protestant party of N. Ireland who want to stay in the UK (Protestants want to stay in the UK). This party also debated for the peace accords
democratic unionist party
radical Protestant party in N. Ireland
Sin Fein Party
radical Catholic party in N. Ireland, part of the IRA (Irish republic army)=Catholics; wants Britain to leave Ireland
Social Democrat and Labor Party
moderate Catholic Party in N. Ireland
Good Friday Agreement
SDLP (Catholic) and Ulster Unionists (Protestant) debated; 1. There will be a North/ South Council 2. paramilitaries lay down weapons 3. Prisoner’s sentences reviewed 4. Police force (RUC) gets made Protestants and Catholics (not just Protestants)- If they can do all of this, then they can get their own parliament
David Cameron
Shadow PM (of the conservative party)
Gordon Brown
PM (of the labor party)
Nick Clegg
leader of the liberal democratic party
mixed economy
little bit of economy owned by the government, and most of industry owned by private individuals
utilitarianism
(created by Jeremy Bentham)- government is only useful if it does good for the people (you measure the usefulness of the government by how much good it does for the people)
Keyanism
role of the government= to provide jobs and services. To improve the economy, the government needs to spend money, so deficit and interest rate adjustments are okay
Collectivist Consenus
The union of labor and conservative parties in effort to stimulate economy after WWII, use Keyanism, governement needs to spend money, even if it causes a defecit
nationalization
government buys a lot of industry
privatization
government sells a lot of industry
Thatcherism-monetarism
believed the collective consensus is wrong. (Thatcher’s view on Monetarism-government shouldn’t do anything) 1. Natural level of unemployment 2. no deficit spending, and no government intervention 3. privatization of industry 4. lower taxes 5. more defense spending (b/ Thatcher liked Reagan) 6. sold council housing 7. Ended the dole (welfare program) 8. cracks down on unions 9. ends the subsidies
communitarianism
(part of Tony Blair’s third way)-we all have to contribute to society and get a stake in the economy
Tony Blair’s third way
created the new labor party; 1, convinces the unionists that they cannot run the party (gives TUC less power) 2. takes out clause 4 about socialism 3. didi not privatize or nationalize anything else 4. improves the NHS and transit system 5. welfare-to-work program 6. devolution 7. Good Friday Accords
commonwealth
former colonies that choose to be part of the UK (ex: Canada); even though Britain doesn’t own them, they are still a common wealth of Britain (for history, trade advantages, tradition….)
The Maastricht Treat
- officially sets up the EU government 2. creates the European central bank 3. sets up the process for the Euro (European weight system) 4. creates social charter for workers
political culture in the UK
higher level of civic duty (b/c you know your party will make a difference); much more single-issue oriented, higher level of political efficacy
devolution on the UK
- subunits don’t have equal power (ex: Scotland has more power than N. Ireland and Whales, England has the most power of all) 2. Parliament can dismantle the other 3 parliaments 4. unitary sytem 5. the local governments can be dissolved by parliament 5. virtual representation instead of direct representation
Federalism in the US
- subunits of government has power (all equal in power) 2. state governments have constituional protection 3. one house of legislature represents the states
powers of the HOL
- can delaay bills for 30 days 2. suggest amendments 3. veto 4. oversight 5. can initiate legislation (bills)
Powers of the HOC
- pass laws 2. pass budget 3. oversight 4. choose prime minister and approve his choice of cabinet 5. override veto by HOL
PM powers
- liaison to the queen and HOL 2. appoints HOL 3. cannot veto 4. cannot appoint judges
Separation of powers/ checks and balances in UK
1) exec. branch is inside leg. branch 2) unequal power distribution (ex: queen has no power, and HOC has more power than HOL) 3) judicial branch-separate from others; and judges can be removed (which is a leg. check on the judicial) 4) a vote of no confidence can be called)
Party discipline in UK
1) tighter in UK than US 2)voting by division 3. want to avoid vote of no confidence 4. collective resp.-(once cabinet members reach consensus, you cannot change your opinion) 5. party centralization-leadership has influence
elections and campaigns in UK
cheaper, much more issue-oriented, shorter, more personal, higher level of political efficacy, more parties (b/c they have more countries), 1st past the post, higher level of civic duty, election can happen anytime, with vote of no confidence-entire HOC up for reelection
common law
any precedent set
statutory law
any law made by parliament
noblese oblige
nobles are obliagted to take care of everyone else
social deference
respect the people higher than you on the social ladder
Representation of the people Act of 1900
labor party forms
Representation of the people act of 1918
All men who owned property, age 21 and women age 30 could vote
Representation of the people act of 1928
men and women age 21 could vote
Rep. of the people act of 1948
each person gets one vote
Rep. of the people act of 1969
all 18 year olds could vote
Parliament act of 1911
HOL agreed to give up their absolute veto power
Life Peerages act
when you get appointed to the HOL, you are there until you die
Westminster
building where Parliament is
What provided stability for Britain?
Britain was a hegemonic power (had a lot of economic influence): 1. its an island, so they were isolated from Europe, and they had a huge navy; its an empire, also, religion was settled way back with Henry VIII
