Comparative Politics

1
Comparative Politics

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
  Ireland

• PoliSci Department
• SUNY _at_ Stony Brook
• POL 103 (Section 2)
• Spring 2005
• Instructor Udi Sommer

2
Geography

• Great Britain consists of
• Ulster (which is 6 counties in Northern Ireland)
• Scotland
• Wales (CYMRU)
• England (85 of the population)

3
History The Acts of Union

• Scotland (1707)
• Wales (1536)
• Ireland (1800)

4
Central Themes

• Maritime superpower in the 19th century
• Strength seriously depleted during first half of
  20th century due to WWI and WWII
• Rebuilding into a modern prosperous European
  nation in the 2nd half of 20th century
• National assemblies (e.g. Scotland in 1999)
• Republic Vs. Constitutional Monarchy

5
History of the Constitutional System

• Magna Carta
• House of Commons
• Opposition
• The Prime Minister
• Elections
• House of Lords
• The Crown

6
Magna Carta (1215)

• Article 39No free man shall be arrested, or
  imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or
  outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor
  shall we go against him or send against him,
  unless by legal judgement of his peers, or by the
  law of the land.
• Rule by the Law changes into Rule of the Law

7
Significance of the Magna Carta

• Political rights vis-à-vis the crown
• Setting the stage for British constitutional
  monarchy
• Precursor of many other constitutional forms of
  government

8
The House of Commons A Historical Perspective

• Starting in 1295
• Increasing power of the burgesses and the knights
• The issue of taxes
• The issue of royal expenditures
• By 18th century the king acts only on advice

9

• Opposition The king can do no wrong
• The Prime Minister position Walpole (1721)
• Elections
• The House of Lords
• The Crown

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The British Constitution

• Sources of the Constitution
• Challenges to the Constitution
• Basic Principles

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Sources of the Constitution

• Statutes (Law) Magna Carta, Bill of Rights
  (different from American counterpart), Acts of
  parliament
• Court decisions
• Conventions, habits and customs
• Challenges to the constitutional arrangement come
  from the Republican Movement

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Basic Principles of the British Constitution

• Parliamentary supremacy / Sovereignty and its
  effect on relations with the European Union
• Collective responsibility the Westminster
  Model, confidence from the parliament, unanimity
  in the government
• No ultimate rights more flexible in this sense
  than the American Constitution

13
The House of Commons

• Where politics takes place
• The Crown has little political power and
  influence
• House of Lords lost the power to veto, to pass
  legislation, and to make budgetary decisions

14
Physical structure of the Commons

15
The House of Commons

• 649 members but only 550 seats
• Increases the drama
• Reconstructed in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries
  and bombed during WWII
• The Executive is very powerful in the Commons
• A weak committee system

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Debate in the Commons

• Does not really allow the MPs to scrutinize the
  acts of the government
• It does serve
• 1) face-to-face confrontation
• 2) educational function
• 3) college of politics

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Discipline in the House of Commons

• The Whip System
• Day paper
• One/two/three underlines
• The role of party leadership

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Cabinet and PM

• Relations with the Queen
• Relations with the House of Lords
• 20-30 members
• Committees
• Relations with civil servants
• Offices Prime Minister Office and Cabinet Office
  serve different functions

19
The Party System

• Conservative Party
• Domestic policies
• welfare state
• laissez-faire
• National Health Service
• Foreign policy
• relations with the USA
• relations with the European Union
• Thatcher

20
The Party System

• Labour
• Trade Unions
• Clause IV
• collectivist consensus
• Keynesianism
• Blair
• the New Labour
• Foreign Policy