United Kingdom

Question 1

Celtic fringe

Answer 1

Refers to Scotland and Wales, which were not conquered by the Angles and Saxons

Question 2

collective responsibility

Answer 2

Tradition that requires all members of the cabi- net either to support government policy or to resign

Question 3

collectivist consensus

Answer 3

Postwar consensus between the UK’s major parties to build and sustain a welfare state

Question 4

common law

Answer 4

Legal system based on custom and precedent rather than formal legal codes

Question 5

Commonwealth

Answer 5

Organization that includes the UK and most of its former colonies

Question 6

Confederation of British Industry (CBI)

Answer 6

The UK’s most important group representing the private sector

Question 7

English Civil War

Answer 7

Seventeenth-century conflict between parliament and the monarch that temporarily eliminated and permanently weakened the
monarchy

Question 8

Good Friday Agreement

Answer 8

Historic 1998 accord between Protestants and

Catholics in Northern Ireland that ended decades of violence

Question 9

hereditary peers

Answer 9

Seats in the House of Lords that were granted to aristocratic families in perpetuity but largely eliminated by recent legislation

Question 10

House of Commons

Answer 10

Lower house of the UK legislature

Question 11

House of Lords

Answer 11

Upper house of the UK legislature (without significant legislative power)

Question 12

life peers

Answer 12

Distinguished members of the society who are given lifetime appointments to the House of Lords

Question 13

Liberals (Whigs)

Answer 13

The UK’s historic first opposition party, and one of the

UK’s two major political parties until the early twentieth century (replaced by Labour)

Question 14

Magna Carta

Answer 14

The 1215 document signed by King John that set the precedent for limited monarchical powers

Question 15

majoritarian

Answer 15

Term describing the virtually unchecked power of a parliamentary majority in the UK political system

Question 16

prime minister

Answer 16

Head of government in the UK

Question 17

quangos

Answer 17

Quasi-autonomous nongovernmental organizations that assist the government in making policy

Question 18

Trades Union Congress (TUC)

Answer 18

The UK’s largest trade union confederation

Question 19

vote of no confidence

Answer 19

Legislative check on government whereby a government deems a measure to be of high importance, and if that measure fails to pass the legislation, either the government must resign in favor of another leader or new parliamentary elections must be called