The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Ch. 4

A. Political Culture, Communication, and Socialization

Three different views about who should be involved when important political decisions are made:◦ 1. Trusteeship theory of government: assumes that leader

should take the initiative in deciding what is collectively in the public interest.

◦ 2. Interest group theory of government: sees government’s role as balancing the demands of competing groups and classes in society.

◦ 3. Individualist Theory: postulates that political parties should represent people rather than organized group interest (Margaret Thatcher)

I. Sovereignty, Authority, & Power

A. Political Culture, Communication, & Socialization

Citizens are usually not interested in politics. Tradition is key- THEY ARE OLD Socialization:

◦ Family: primary family loyalties. ◦ Gender: women are a majority.◦ Education: strongly related to participation in politics. ◦ Class: income and education◦ Mass media: reinforces differences that arise from class

and education.


B. Nation and States Four nations: England, Scotland, Wales,

and Northern Ireland One state: Constitutional monarchy and

unitary state C. Regional Organizations NATO EU: the euro problem


D. Sources of Power Fusion of the legislature and the executive, or head of

government, rather than in the monarch, a symbolic head of state.

E. Constitutions Flexible and unwritten constitution based on long

history of tradition but also defined by parliament’s laws or statute law.

Parliamentary sovereignty is one of the most important parts.


F. Regime Types Parliamentary democracy

◦ Prime Minister◦ House of Commons – Lower house; all the power◦ House of Lords – Upper house; no power◦ Votes of confidence

G. Types of Economic Systems Post WWII – 1970s collective consensus (mixed

economy with a welfare state) 1980s – 1990s Free-Markets (mostly emphasized

with Margaret Thatcher and John Major)


H. State Building, Legitimacy, and Stability IT’S OLD

I. Belief System as a Source of Legitimacy Religion: Protestant; most members of official church - Church

of England. Catholicism in Northern Ireland is a major conflict. Ideology: tradition

◦ Multi-party system: two major parties are Labour and Conservatives.

J. Government Accountability The legitimacy of government in the UK is proven by the

readiness of the people to comply with basic political rules


The UK is a unitary, parliamentary system, meaning the executive is born from the legislature - centered in London.

One STATE = the United Kingdom Four NATIONS=England, Scotland, Wales,

and Northern Ireland.

II. Political Institutions - UK

A. Executive ◦ Prime Minister-PM- (David Cameron) is head of government and is elected

solely by the legislature. He appoints the cabinet. ◦ King/Queen (Elizabeth II) =head of state. Role is symbolic, yet she is head of

the Church of England. Theoretically, elections are meant to be held every 5 years, though

an election can be called at any time if a vote of no confidence passes.

Vote of no confidence (by MPs) means PM must dissolve Parliament and call for new elections.

Bureaucracy of the executive consists of experts who do the actual policymaking in Westminster and White Hall-location of all government ministries-and then submit it to Downing Street-PM residency often used to refer to the entire cabinet.

Cabinet then edits, presents to House of Commons and voting occurs.


B. Legislature ◦ Its composed of all major parties, currently:

Conservatives-which is in power Labour-which forms the loyal opposition Liberal Democrats, who are losing ground quickly Minor parties exist but they are few


C. Elections ◦ House of Commons (lower house of the bicameral parliament): using SMDP

(single member district plurality).◦ House of Lords (upper house) is appointed by queen and important government

ministers. Regional Scottish and Welsh legislatures exist and are elected by

constituents within those territories. Northern Ireland is a special case due to the violence that occurs there. HIGH party discipline exists, because without it the PM cannot do much

and the ruling party loses office. Elite recruitment comes mainly from Oxbridge (University of Oxford

and Cambridge University) and other elite institutions, though accessibility has improved in recent years.

Parties have safe districts where they run their leaders to ensure they are in parliament. Labour =urban workers, Conservatives=rural and suburbia, Liberal Democrats=mix


D. Judiciary ◦ Formed by all of the courts of appeal in the land-regardless of the

level-and the highest authority rests with the Law Lords, who sit in the House of Lords and actually do quite little.

Common law is how things work, with history and precedent being essential to creating laws within the country.

The royal family technically heads the military but, again, the PM holds power.

Military consists of the air force, the navy and the army. Neo-corporatist

◦ Interest groups work with government, but government chooses which ones to listen to-makes a neo-corporatist system. Quasi-autonomous NGO’s (Quangos).


A. Cleavages and Politics Ethnicity/Race: Multinational state (4 regions) Multiracial state (jobseekers, immigration)

◦ 5-10% minority, the rest white Religion: Catholics in Northern Ireland have been striving to

separate from the United Kingdom and become part of the Republic of Ireland since 1968 (IRA = Irish Republican Army)

Class: Blue collar vs. White collar◦ Manual workers with Labour◦ Middle class and business people with Conservatives◦ Link between class and party is no longer as strong.

Gender gap is virtually none existent. Education gap has been reduced, but still 98% of MPs are college

graduates (Oxbridge.)

III. Citizens, Society, & State

B. Civil Society and Social Capital Flourished during the last centuries although still

INDIFFERENT to politics. Trades Union Congress- chief labor organization Union membership has decreased The goal of interest groups is to have new policy

implemented despite of who is in power. They concentrate on the PM, the cabinet, and senior civil servants of the bureaucracy.

Insider pressure groups and outsider pressure groups; insiders get more done.


C. Media Role Most newspapers lean towards a single party and

they support the views of their audience. Television broadcasting: BBC is a major agent of

political socialization. Law forbids selling to political causes and

government controls the renewal of broadcasting licenses.

Freedom of press exists.


D. Political Participation Tax paying and drawing benefits form public programs Election of members for the House of Commons is

direct participation. Every citizen age 18 or older is eligible.

2/5 of British have signed a petition on a public issue. Only one-tenth says they are very interested in

politics. Violence in Northern Ireland (IRA) an act of “political

participation.” ◦ In the name of seceding from the UK and joining the Republic of

Ireland


E. Social Movements Nationalist movements in Scotland and Wales pushed for

devolution and accomplished it. IRA in Northern Ireland struggles for their independence from

Protestant United Kingdom.

F. Citizenship and Representation The government encourages citizenship for immigrants and

an emphasis on tradition. All citizens of the United Kingdom receive benefits from public

programs. Class can determine who is heard and by who you are heard. Insider pressure groups are a from of neo-corporatism


A. Early Steps toward Democracy The Glorious Revolution in 1688 serves as the

real change in politics-under William and Mary. No bloodshed, monarchy loses power to

parliament. Trend began in 1215 with the Magna Carta,

where King John was forced to give up power to his subjects.

Essentially, democratization came about through documents, time, better education, more wealth and a general global trend.

IV. Political & Economic Change

B. The Crown & Its Limits Crown reserves symbolic power and unifies

the people-it is well liked. Originally, Crown and Aristocracy made

process difficult. Nowadays it is known as a constitutional

monarchy, though true power rests with the people.


C. Political Changes Devolution is characteristic of this change-

like regional assemblies in Scotland and Wales.

Even financial autonomy in Scotland. Northern Ireland stays with the UK by

choice, before it happened through protestant suppression.

The Church of England is now weaker, creating a separation of church and state.


D. Economic Changes Economically, Britain is a service oriented

economy-like most developed nations-with a rising standard of living.

One of few countries in Europe that stayed with its own currency (pound) after creation of the EU.

First to industrialize along with Belgium. Politically it is important because of economic

ties with nations in the common wealth-though its influence is diminishing.


D. Economic Change (cont) Power over the economy rests in the

Chancellor of the Exchequer or minister of finance.

Now acting more multilaterally-for 200 years it was separate from continental Europe.


E. UK in the 2nd half of the 20th Century England has always been the center of politics and

economics. World War II destroyed Europe; England was no different

so it created a mixed economy. The UK, like many other European countries, is very

much a welfare state. Thatcher killed off most welfare because it was too

costly. Labour Party has reconciled both systems but with the

global financial crisis, things look grim.◦ 2010 – Labour Party out, Conservative Party no majority


You say Good-bye… …and I say hello! Hello, hello!

F. UK Now Government has been main source of improvement, though

NGO’s have participated. Because of close ties to most former colonies, the UK’s

economy is intertwined. The U.S. is no exception, and as a democracy the ties have

only grown stronger. UK has always been dependent on food imports as well as

natural resource imports. Won’t change, but sells manufactured goods and now

services. Europe is the largest free trade zone in terms of number of

countries participating and the UK understands that without Europe, it would become obsolete.


A. Common Policy issues Economic performance:

◦ Per capita income has more than tripled since 1945 and its growth has been higher than the average of other advances industrial societies.

◦ The people are satisfied with their living standards, which have grown in the decades after WWII.

◦ Standard of living lower than US

V. Public Policy

A. Common Policy issues (cont) Social Welfare:

◦ Provides at least 3 significant welfare benefits: education, health care, and pension- Both Conservatives and Labour think it is the government’s job.

◦ Government spending: - the money from taxes (2/5 of GDP) Social Security Education Health Care

◦ Poverty: ALMOST INSIGNIFICANT. WHY? THEY ARE OLD 10% of population lives on less than half the average wage Less than 4% in long-term poverty. Health:

◦ Life Expectancy has seen raises up to 12 years in the past decades and mortality has decreased. National Health Service- started by Labour party

V. Public Policy

A. Common Policy issues (cont) Civil liberties, rights, and freedoms

◦ LIBERAL DEMOCRACY◦ Ability to criticize the government through the

media or through non-governmental groups that defend interests of the people.

◦ Freedom of speech and press etc.◦ Men and women have the right to vote for their

legislature and participate in politics.

V. Public Policy

A. Common Policy issues (cont) Population and migration

◦ Predominantly Protestant and strictly attached to tradition. ◦ Multinational: It consists of four different regions: England,

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Hot Spot: Northern Ireland: - IRA – Ethnicity/Religion

cleavage (Catholics)◦ Multiracial: It has received huge waves of job seekers from

around the world, especially people from its former colonies. How does the government respond?

They encourage newcomers to appeal to UK tradition and customs, as well as citizenship.

They want to discourage violent unrest such as coordinated attack.

V. Public Policy

B. Factors influencing public policymaking and implementation

Domestic◦ Four different regions: devolution, violence, nationalist parties etc. ◦ The government affects the economy through taxes and spending

policies, policies for growth, and unemployment. ◦ Confidence for the prime minister and the cabinet and expertise of

cabinet.◦ Party ideology.

International◦ European Union problem: the adoption of the euro as a national

currency◦ NATO: concerns public security

V. Public Policy

A. China◦ Both the UK and China are unitary systems. ◦ Power in the UK is concentrated in Whitehall

and power in China concentrates in the Communist Party.

◦ A difference is that UK has recently devolved power to Scotland, which even has taxing powers, and Wales.

VI. Comparative Method

B. Nigeria◦ Coinciding cleavages◦ Nigeria’s coinciding cleavages are ethnicity, region, and

religion (ER2)◦ In the UK ethnicity is a cleavage. For example, the

people of Ireland think of themselves as Irish and not British. There are also portions of people in Scotland and Wales that think of themselves as Scottish or Welsh.

◦ Region is also a cleavage. Four different regions. England has the advantage of having Whitehall within its boundaries.

◦ Class is another coinciding cleavage: Blue collar vs. White collar.

◦ Religion is another cleavage: Catholics vs. Protestant.


C. Russia ◦ Religious tradition◦ In both countries there is an old tradition of

connection with religion.◦ Britain is predominantly Protestant and Russia is

Russian Orthodox. ◦ Putin uses a close connection with the church to

his advantage.◦ In Britain tradition legitimizes.


D. Iran◦ Fusion of powers◦ Iran: The circles represent a fusion between

theocracy and government.◦ UK: Fusion of legislature and executive.


E. Mexico◦ Social class is seen as a huge cleavage in

society. ◦ In both countries it determines who participates

and whose interests are articulated.


The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Documents

Transcript of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland