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8/8/2019 Britain Ultimate Review
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The Ultimate Review y Political culture: attitude and beliefs that affects political behavior
y Legitimacy: belief by the citizens that the government is acting in their best interest
y Distributional politics: the government determines who gets what, and when
y Democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in
the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. (via
dictionary.com) y Seville, 2002: Tony Blair went to Seville to talk about toughening up immigration laws due to the fact
that so many people from the Middle East were getting in illegally y History of religious conflict
o Henry VIII forms the Anglican Church
o Mary (Catholic)
o Elizabeth I starts Plantation
o James I continues Plantation
y James II is a Catholic Glorious Revolution in 1688
y Catholics and Jews couldnt vote until 1802o There are still Catholic/Protestant tensions in Northern Ireland
y Devolution: transferring power from a central government to a local government
y Margaret Thatchers victory in 1979: She wins the general election from the Conservative Party,
becomes first female PM y Thatcherism
o Monetarism: the only control the government is the amount of money in circulation
o Laissez-faire: low government intervention
o Cutting taxes
o Cut in social services
y Thatchers most successful program : council housing/rent-to-buy/tenant
o Basically allows people who rent housing from the state to eventually buy their house
o The price of the house you buy will be reduced based on how long youve lived there
y Britain in the European Community
o 1973: Britain joins the European Community
o Conditions
Had to follow the rules of the European Community
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Have to submit to the European court y Prime Minister appoints his cabinet
o Minister MUST be a MP
y Prime Minister must gain the support of a majority of cabinet members
o Their method of checks and balances
y Keynesianism
o the government nationalizes some industries, and assumes direct ownership (basically the
government runs a company) and in return has the responsibility of economic stability
and growth (This is the one formed by John Maynard Keynes) y Industrial Revolution: transition into wage labor, cash and market-based transactions replace barter and
production for local need, machinery replaces skilled craft workers y Collectivism
o Expanded role of the government
o Welfare state, narrow the gap of the rich and poor through public services
o State responsibility for economic growth and full employment
y Ethnic minorities in Britain
o Characterized by poverty and diminished job opportunities
o Poorer treatment by the police
o Women get limited employment opportunities
o Overrepresented in low-income households y Organizing principles of the British political system (just look at the notes for this)
y During the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
o the sun never sets on the British empire
o extensive informal empire in which Britain ruled as a hegemonic power
y Policies of Tony Blair
o Third way
o Iraq war
o Higher Education Bill y How British look at their history: gradual series of changes
y True of the cabinet
o Basically just know what the cabinet does, etc
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y Britain fell behind its competitors after the Industrial period: because it relied on its area of overseas
control, Britain fell behind as a result of decolonization y Explain why the British government has had the record of parliamentary success: because of the vote of
no confidence and collective responsibility
o Vote of no confidence: when Parliament votes after a bill fails to pass whether they want to
keep the PM or not
o Collective responsibility: refer to notes later down on the page
y Commonly associated with proportional representation electoral systems?
o Proportional representation: the people vote for the party, and then the party gets that
percent of the seats; allows the party to move members around (beneficial for smaller
parties)
o No, for each area, it is winner takes all and the losers get nothing
If a candidate gets 50%+1 vote in the first round of elections, then the winner is
automatically chosen, and there is no second round of elections
If a candidate loses, they are out, and they have no role in Parliament y Blairs largest challenges to power
o Iraq War
o Higher education bill
y Quangos: Government provides funding, fuction and appointment of staff, but ministers are not directly
involved, combination of private and government y Political party system of Great Britain: two-and-a-half party system; Labour and Conservatives are the
main parties, with the Liberal Democrats on the side; creates a stable, one-party government y Obstacles for new political parties
o Elections are first-past-the-post so it is hard to get a hold in parliament
o There is no proportional representation
y Labour party tensions: activists/parliamentarians
o Some want to change, others dont
o Some want to keep the third way, others dont o Some are just concerned with keeping their seat in Parliament
y Parliamentary elections: parliamentary elections are based on the first-past-the-post principle; elections
occur at the longest every five years (within five years of election, the PM must dissolve parliament) y Small number of women in Parliament
y Duties of cabinet ministers?
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o Advising PM
o forms policy which will be placed before parliament
o Controlling and directing body for executive branch
y Liberal democracies (Look at the section 4 notes: liberal democrats)
y Losing the confidence of Parliament: Im assuming it means losing the vote of no confidence, which
y Conservative government accomplishments
o Increased competition in private sector
o Council housing bill
y Role if bureaucracies in modern nation-states
o Bureaucracies = civil service
o Help with the creation of bills
y Collective responsibility: if the Cabinet makes a decision, the party will support it; basically following
along party lines y Unitary state: there are no subdivisions of government, there is only the government at the national level
y Fusion of powers: Parliament acts as the executive,
y Whitehall: where Parliament is, the heart of London, talking about the civil service
y Britains civil servants: 600,000 people (1%) of the population, help assist the Parliament as a channel
from the public to their MP, helps with the creation of bills y Margaret Thatchers poll tax: this is what brought Thatcher down, she wanted to do something similar to
an income tax y The creation of legislation: see notes
y Functions of the House of Commons
o Pass laws
o Give the state finances but authorizing taxes
o Review government policy and public administration
y Reforming the House of Lords
o 1999
number of hereditary lords was cut down to 92
Hereditary lords can no longer speak nor vote
o 2003: Blair proposed several different ways of reforming the HOL, all were rejected
y The Major government was weakened considerably by: wrangling amount Conservatives about the
European Union
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y Select committees: their function is to examine specific policies or aspects of administration