United Kingdon Flashcards
Rule of law
Provides for equal treatment of citizens and due process.
Civil liberties
Freedom of belief, speech, assembly.
Neutrality of the judiciary
Other checks on the abuse of power.
Open civil society
Allows citizens to lead private lives and mass media to operate independently from government.
Civilian control of the military
Restricts the likelihood of the military seizing control of the government.
Post modernism
The values that form the political culture of advanced democracies.
Modernism
Set of values that comes along with industrialization.
Post industrialism
In which the majority of people are employed.
Service sector
Includes industries like technology, health care, business and legal services, finance, and education.
Industrial sector
Employs people to create tangible goods, such as cars, clothing or machinery.
Agricultural sector
Very small since mechanized farming means that only a few farmers can produce enough food to feed all the workers in the industry and service sectors.
Rational legal authority
A system of well established laws and procedures.
Ex: Britain, at the end of the 17th century, had this kind of political system.
Magna Carta
In 1215 king john signed this document, agreeing to consult nobles before he made important political decisions, especially those regarding taxes. Limited power of monarchs.
Bill of rights
This document lists rights retained by parliament, not by individual citizens. This gave important policy making power to parliament, including power of the purse.
Common law
This legal system is based on local customs and precedent rather than formal legal codes.
Common law allows the decisions that public officials and courts make to set precedents for later actions and decisions, eventually forming a comprehensive set of principles for governance.
Noblesse oblige
The duty of the upper classes to take responsibility for the welfare of the lower classes.
Welfare state
Government’s responsibility to provide public benefits such as education, health care, and transportation.
Insularity
The feeling of separation from the continent of Europe.
Labor party
Party created in 1906 to represent the rights of the newly enfranchised working man.
Conservatives aka Tories
Most members come from middle class merchants and businessmen.
Trade union council
A coalition of trade unions that has been a major force in British politics since.
Collective consensus
When both parties come to an agreement.
Beveridge report
Provided for a social insurance program that made all citizens eligible for health, unemployment, pension, and other benefits.
National health service
Created by the labor party:
Mixed economy
With government directing the economy and nationalizing major industries without giving up basic principles of capitalism, such as private ownership of property.
OPEC
Stands for Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries. It was one of the biggest disasters, the quadrupling of oil prices and oil embargo by oil producing countries caused recession, high unemployment rates, a drop on the GNP and inflation.
Neoliberalism
Revival of class liberal values, that support low levels of government regulation, taxation, and social expenditures and the protection of individual property rights.
Politics of protest
The tendency to disagree openly and sometimes violently with the government.
Parliamentary
This means the prime minister and cabinet ministers are actually members of the legislature.
Caucuses
Meetings of people from the same area or of like mind.
