BRITISH CIVILIZATION.

COURSE

BRITISH POLITICAL SYSTEM AND GOVERNMENT

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. The monarch, however, has very little power and can only reign with the support of Parliament. Parliament consists of two chambers, known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of the country, and they only meet on symbolic occasions, such as the coronation of a new monarch or the opening of Parliament. In reality, the House of Commons is the only one of the three that has true power. Here, the new bills are introduced and debated. If the majority of the members are in favour of a bill, it goes to the House of Lords to be debated and finally to the monarch to be signed. Only then does it become law. The British Parliament is also known as Westminster because it is housed in the Palace of Westminster in London, and it is the supreme legislative authority in Britain. Since it is not controlled by a written constitution, it has legal sovereignty in all matters, subject only to some European Union law. European Union law exists side by side with domestic law in Britain, and the former takes precedence over the latter in certain areas. Parliament is the sovereign power in the state. This means that it can create, abolish or amend laws for all parts of Britain on any topic. A Parliament has a maximum duration of five years, but it can sometimes be dissolved and a general election called before the end of this term. Regarding the contemporary integration of the British parliamentary policy in the procedure of the European Union, John Oakland comments, Challenges to traditional notions of parliamentary sovereignty have arisen, however, and the Westminster Parliament is no longer the sole legislative body in Britain. British membership of the European Union (1973) means that EU law is now superior to British national law in certain areas, and British courts must give it precedence in cases of conflict between the two systems. EU law has thus been added to, and coexists with, Acts of Parliament as part of the British constitution. In future, a Scottish Parliament will have power to legislate for devolved matters in Scotland in which Westminster has no say. But the London Parliament still has the constitutional right to abolish the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly and to withdraw from the EU.1 This interesting remark alludes to the inherent conservatism of the British parliamentary system, which is largely dependent upon conventions and observing the rules of the game. British parliament is famed for being able to combine stability and adaptability, so that a balance of authority and toleration was achieved.

The House of Commons and the electoral system

The House of Commons is made up of 659 elected members, known as Members of Parliament (abbreviated to MPs), each of whom represents an area (or constituency) of the United Kingdom. Only 117 of the MPs are women. They are elected either at a general election, or at a by-election following the death or retirement of an MP. There are 540 parliamentary seats for England, 40 for Wales, 61 for Scotland and 18 for Northern Ireland. The election campaign usually lasts about three weeks. Everyone over the age of 18 can vote in an election, which is decided on a simple majority the candidate with the most votes wins. Under this system, an MP who wins by a small number of votes may have more votes against him (that is, for the other candidates) than for him. This is a very simple system, but many people think it is unfair because the wishes of those who voted for the unsuccessful candidates are not represented at all. Parliamentary elections

John Oakland, British Civilization. An Introduction. 4th edition (London: Routledge, 1996), 78. 1

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must be held every five years at the latest, but the Prime Minister can decide on the exact date within those five years.

The party system

The British democratic system depends on political parties, and there has been a party system of some kind since the seventeenth century. Political parties present their policies in the form of manifestos to the electorate for consideration during the intensive weeks of campaigning before General Election Day. The political parties choose candidates in elections (there are sometimes independent candidates, but they are rarely elected). The party that wins the majority of seats forms the Government and its leader usually becomes Prime Minister. The largest minority party becomes the Opposition. In doing so, it accepts the right of the majority party to run the country, while the majority party accepts the right of the minority party to criticise it. Without this agreement between the political parties, the British parliamentary system would break down.

The parliamentary parties

The Conservative and Liberal parties are the oldest and, until the last years of the nineteenth century they were the only parties elected to the House of Commons. Once working-class men were given the vote, however, Socialist MPs were elected, but it was not until 1945 that Britain had its first Labour Government. At this election, the number of Liberal MPs was greatly reduced and since then, Governments have been formed by either the Labour or the Conservative Party. Usually they have had clear majorities that is, one party had more MPs than all the others combined. The Conservative Party can broadly be described as the party of the middle and upper classes, although it does receive some working-class support. Most of its voters live in rural areas, small towns and the suburbs of large cities. Much of its financial support comes from large industrial companies. The Labour Party, on the other hand, has always had strong links with the trade unions and receives financial support from them. While many Labour voters are middle-class or intellectuals, the traditional Labour Party support is still strongest in industrial areas. In 1981, some MPs left the Labour Party to form a new left-of-centre party the Social Democratic Party (SDP) which they hoped would win enough support to break the two-party system of the previous forty years. They fought the 1983 election in an alliance with the Liberals, but only a small number of their MPs were elected. In 1988, the majority of SDP and Liberal MPs and party members decided to form a permanent single party, to be called the Social, Democratic and Liberal Party or The Social and Liberal Democrats. However, some SDP MPs and party members disagreed with the idea, and so the SDP still exists as a separate party. They (and other small minority parties in the Commons) would like to change the electoral system; they want MPs to be elected by proportional representation. Under this system, the number of MPs from each party would correspond to the total number of votes each party receives by election.2

The House of Lords

The House of Lords has more than 1,000 members, although only about 250 take an active part in the work of the House. There are 26 Anglican bishops, called the Lords Spiritual, formed by the Archbishop of York and Canterbury and 24 bishops of the Church of England. The Lords Temporal section of the House of Lords consists of some 950 hereditary peers, 11 judges and 185 life peers. Unlike MPs, they do not receive a salary. The Lord Chancellor presides over the House, being responsible to control the procedure and meetings of the House. They debate a bill after the House of Commons have passed it. Changes may be recommended, and agreement between the two houses is reached by negotiation. The Lords main power consists of being able to delay non-financial bills for a period of a year, but they can also introduce certain types of bills. The House of Lords is the only non-elected second chamber among all the democracies in the world, and some people in Britain would like to abolish it.

See Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, and Gillian White, Spotlight on Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), 5-7. 2

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The monarchy
The English monarchy is the oldest secular institution in Britain and there is automatic hereditary succession to the throne, but only for Protestants. The eldest son of a monarch has priority over older daughters. The monarchys continuity has been interrupted only by Cromwells rule (1649-60), although there have been different lines of descent, such as the Tudors and Stuarts. Royal absolute power has disappeared, but the monarch still has formal constitutional roles and serves as head of state, head of the executive, judiciary and legislature, head of the Church of England and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In holding these positions, the monarch personifies the British State and is a symbol of national unity. The powers of the monarchy, however, are not defined precisely. Theoretically, every act of government is done in the Queens name every letter sent out by a government department is marked On Her Majestys Service and she appoints all the ministers, including the Prime Minister. In reality, everything is done on the advice of the elected Government, and the monarch takes no part in the decision-making process. The monarch is expected to be politically neutral and is supposed to reign but not rule.

The government
The British government is mainly centred on Whitehall in London, where its ministers and the Prime Ministers official residence (10 Downing Street) are located. It consists of about 100 ministers and other officials, who can be chosen from both Houses of Parliament and who are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister. The members of the government belong to the party that forms the majority in the Commons, from which they derive their authority and are collectively responsible for the administration of national affairs. The Cabinet is a small executive body within the government and usually comprises 21 senior ministers, who are chosen and presided over by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister chooses the twenty MPs from his or her own party to become Cabinet Ministers. Each minister is responsible for a particular area of government, and for a Civil Service department. For example, the Minister of Defence is responsible for defence policy and the armed forces, the Chancellor of the Exchequer for financial policy, and the Home Secretary for, among other things, law and order, and immigration. Their Civil Service departments are called the Ministry of Defence, the Treasury, and the Home Office respectively. They are staffed by civil servants, who are politically neutral and who therefore do not change if the Government changes. The leader of the Opposition also chooses MPs to take responsibility for opposing the Government in these areas. They are known as the Shadow Cabinet. All ministers, but mainly those in the Cabinet, share the responsibility for government actions and policy. All must support government decisions in public, even if some may oppose it during private deliberations. If a minister cannot do this, he or she may feel obliged to resign. Some Cabinet ministers have resigned in recent years because they could not accept government policies. A minister also has an individual responsibility for the work of his or her government department. This means that the minister is answerable for all the mistakes or bad administration that may occur, whether personally responsible for them or not. In such cases, the minister may resign. Government departments are staffed by the Civil Service, which consists of career administrators. Civil servants are employed by the central government in London and throughout the country and are involved in a wide range of government activities. They are responsible to the minister in whose department they work for the implementation of government policies. Civil servants are expected to be politically neutral and to serve the government impartially, and they do not change when the government changes. In order to ensure their neutrality, they are under some restrictions regarding political activities and publication.3 There are some 50,000 civil servants in Britain today, and nearly half of these are women. However, there have been frequent accusations about the efficiency of the Civil Service, and civil servants do not have a good public image. The most important responsibilities of government in Britain can be summarised as:
3

On 16 February 2004, the civil servants in Britain went on strike, protesting against the low income and the government policies in the social domain. Conf. dr. Monica Matei-Chesnoiu 3

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(a) government helps to protect life and property by the establishment of law and order (b) government can organise armed forces to protect its citizens from attack by foreign countries (c) government can regulate the financial and economic affairs of society (d) government can provide for the welfare of citizens through education and social services In Figure 1 the responsibilities of the government are listed in greater detail. Britain has a democratic government, where citizens have at least some influence in the way the country is run. Democratic governments obtain power through being freely elected by their citizens. A democratic government will resign peacefully if elections show that the voters would prefer to be governed by another party.
FIGURE 1. The responsibilities of government in Britain
Law and Order Education and social services

Defence

External Relations

Government

Environment

Trade

Industry and Employment

Finance and Taxation

Source: Lynton Robins, Tom Brennan and John Sutton, People and Politics in Britain (London: Macmillan Education, 1985), 9.

Local government
Parliament in London is responsible for deciding national policy, but many public services are provided by local government. The United Kingdom is divided into administrative areas known as counties and each county has a county town where the offices of the local government are located. Counties, districts, and unitary authorities have their own councils, which are elected by the adult population of the area. The number of councillors elected depends on population size. However, public interest in local elections is small, with less than 30 per cent of the electorate voting in many areas. Councillors are not paid for their council work, thus continuing the amateur, part-time tradition of local government. Local government is responsible for organising such services as education, libraries, police and fire services, road building and many others. In Britain there is no income tax paid directly by local people to their councils. Local government finance comes directly from central government grants (80 per cent) and the council tax (20 per cent) is determined by the local council. This tax, payable by every homeowner in the area, is based on the value of domestic property. Rebates from the tax are given to low-income groups and single-occupancy properties. Despite their dependence on central government grants, there is a demand for a more genuine autonomy of local governments.

The British State

The state consists of that set of centralized social institutions concerned with passing laws, implementing and administering those laws, and providing the legal machinery to enforce compliance with them. In Britain, the state comprises a large diversity of social institutions: Prime Minister, Cabinet Parliament, political parties, civil service, judiciary, police, army, local government, schools, colleges, universities, National Health Service, Post Office, British Coal, BBC, and so on. By contrast with most countries, the powers of many of these different social institutions are not formally specified in a written constitution. Rather, in Britain, the constitution of the country is substantially unwritten but, nevertheless, binding. As Nicholas Abercrombie and Alan Warde observe,
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The partly unwritten character of the constitution means that changes can more easily occur in many of the institutions that make up the state. For example, the power of the civil service had increased in recent years and that of the Parliament had declined. In other words, there had been a restructuring of the state made possible by the substantially unwritten constitution.4 Therefore, the power of the government in Britain is extremely far-reaching because there is no limiting written constitution that might serve to protect individual rights. If the government has appropriate authority to make and enforce certain rights, the judiciary will generally sustain them.

Figure 2: The powers of the state

To make and enforce laws

To raise taxes

To employ people

To control land

To regulate economy

STATE POWER

Source: Nicholas Abercrombie and Alan Warde, with Keith Soothill, John Urry, and Sylvia Walby, Contemporary British Society: A New Introduction to Sociology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), 542.

The first power of the state is the almost unlimited ability to make and enforce laws. People in Britain generally obey the directives of the state, not because these directives are particularly popular or just, but because they are the law. The second major power of the state is its ability to raise very large sums of money through taxation and
4

Nicholas Abercrombie and Alan Warde, with Keith Soothill, John Urry, and Sylvia Walby, Contemporary British Society: A New Introduction to Sociology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), 540. Conf. dr. Monica Matei-Chesnoiu 5

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contributions to social security. The third power of the state is the ability to employ large numbers of people. About one-third of the labour force is employed by the state, particularly in providing services in education and the health service and producing goods and services in the nationalized industries (formerly railways, coal and formerly gas, electricity, etc.). The fourth power of the state consists of its control over land, because the state is a major landowner and can acquire land through compulsory purchase on favourable terms. Finally, the state controls various instruments of economic policy. The state exercises some control over the exchange rate between sterling and other major currencies and, hence, affects the relative price of exports and imports. Therefore, the British state is a particularly powerful set of independent social institutions.

TALKING POINTS
Examine the ways in which politics affect our everyday lives. Give reasons for the growth in the responsibilities of government. Do you agree that Britain is becoming harder to govern? Give reasons for the view you hold. Many people dislike or distrust politicians. Why do you think it is so? Some people think that the monarchy should be abolished because it has no power and it costs the State a lot of money to maintain. How useful do you think the monarchy is in Britain today? Polls reveal that British politicians, political parties, and Parliament rate very low in peoples esteem. After recent allegations of corruption and unethical behaviour, there are now stricter controls on politicians and their interests outside their political jobs. Politicians are regularly criticised and heavily satirised in the press and on radio and television. What is your opinion of British politicians? Compare them to Romanian politicians. Polls reveal that local government and its services (particularly the council tax, housing, schools and their social services) are a source of concern for British people. However, while some seem dissatisfied with their local councillors, others seem to be reasonably content and feel that officials are not as faceless as they are sometimes assumed to be. What is your experience of British local government officials? Compare it to your experience of Romanian local administration officials.

BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

Foreign policy
Britains international position today is that of a medium-sized country, not comparable to what it had been in the nineteenth century, for example, when it was the greatest world power. Nowadays, Britain is excelled economically by Germany, the US, and Japan. However, some of its leaders still believe that it can influence international decision-making, especially when in alliance with another great power, as in the case, for example, of the British-US coalition in the war against Iraq in 2003. The Labour government in this period is developing a form of moral foreign policy, with human rights at its basis. In Britains dealings with other countries, the issues of human rights and the avoidance of conflicts through negotiation is of great importance. Britains contemporary foreign policy reflects its traditional position as a major trading nation. In order to promote a healthy environment for trading, Britain is self-interestedly concerned to maintain stable economic and political conditions through global co-operation. Therefore, Britains foreign policy and the foundation of the membership of international organisations is based on the notion that general objectives can be best attained by co-operation with other nations on a regional and global basis. However, there is a special alliance relationship between Britain and the US, but some opinion polls reveal that people feel this connection to be decreasing in importance, and Britain is moving towards more unified policies with the EU. Britains major defence alliance is with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). This comprises Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Britain, the USA, Greece, Turkey and Germany, expanded to include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in 1997, with Russia having a representative role. In 2004, NATO has expanded to comprise Romania and Bulgaria as
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well. The original justification for NATO was that it provided its members with a greater security than any country could achieve individually, and the coalition was constructed as a deterrent against the aggression of the now-defunct Warsaw Pact. Changes in Eastern Europe since 1989, and especially the recent threat of terrorism, have contributed to transform NATO into a more flexible military association, but Britain is taking these developments cautiously.

The Commonwealth
The Commonwealth is a worldwide organisation of former and present British colonies and the United Kingdom. They accept the British monarch as the head of the Commonwealth, but have no central governing body or common laws. The Commonwealth Secretariat in London promotes consultation and co-operation between the member states and administers assistance programmes to developing countries. The British Empire was built over several centuries and it developed into the British Empire and Commonwealth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa became self-governing dominions and achieved independence. In the mid-twentieth century, the British Empire and Commonwealth became the British Commonwealth, as British governments granted independence to other colonies, India and Pakistan. The British Commonwealth then developed into the Commonwealth of Nations, as most of the remaining colonies became independent. Most of the former colonies decided to stay in the Commonwealth. The present Commonwealth is a voluntary and flexible association of 53 independent states (including Britain); it represents nearly a quarter of the worlds population, and comprises peoples of different religions, races, and nationalities. The Commonwealth is sometimes described as a family of nations. The British monarch is a nonpolitical head and is a focal point of identification, with a unifying and symbolic function. However, doubts are raised as to whether the Commonwealth has an effective and influential voice in world affairs, now that international relations are so volatile and fragmented.

The European Union

The foundations of a more integrated Europe were established in 1957, when six countries (West Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy) formed the European Economic Community (EEC). Britain did not join then, and only later, on 1 January 1973 it became formally a member of the EEC, together with Denmark and the Irish Republic. In 1986, the member states formed an internal or Single European Market, in which goods, services, people and capital could move freely across national frontiers within what was, at that time, called the European Community. Today, 60 per cent of British exports go to the EU, and Britain receives 57 per cent of its imports from EU countries. Following the Maastricht Treaty (1992), the European Community became the European Union (EU). The Treaty provided for the introduction of a common European currency (the Euro), a European Bank, and common defence, foreign, and social policies. The British Conservative government of that time, however, opted out of Maastrichts monetary provisions, and until today, in 2004, Britain has not joined the Euro zone. There are now 27 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) with a total population of approximately 502 million people. The institutions involved in running the EU are the European Council, Council of Ministers, European Commission, European Parliament and European Court of Justice. Critics argue that Britains sovereignty and independence are threatened by EU developments. However, all the major political parties are pro-European, although there are opposition groups (Eurosceptics) in the Labour and particularly the Conservative parties. Britain is now closely tied to Europe in economic and institutional ways, and withdrawal, though possible constitutionally, would be very difficult in practical terms. Moreover, the British have always thought of themselves as rather set aside from the rest of Europe, at least in a geographical
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sense. The British still refer to the rest of Europe as the Continent, thus implying Britains insularity, but also highlighting a sense of separateness and rather aloof status.

TALKING POINTS

Comment on the integration of Britain in the newly refined policy of NATO nowadays. Discuss the consequences of the extension of NATO towards Eastern Europe, including Romania and Bulgaria in the military treaty. Some people believe that the Commonwealth is an obsolete and ineffectual association of states, with no relevance in contemporary international politics. Does the Commonwealth still have a role to play today? Discuss the possible future developments of the European Union.

Conf. dr. Monica Matei-Chesnoiu