...Activity: True or False? 1) The British Constitution is not contained in a single legal document. ……… 2) The supremacy of Parliament implies that there can be legal opposit-ion to it. ………. 3) One constitutional safeguard is the separation of powers. ………. 4) The Queen has lost the support of the entire British population. ……….. 5) The title to the throne passes to the male line of the family in order o--f descent. ………. 6) The Queen has an active role in the political debate. ……….. 7) The Queen’s role as an element of the legislative authority is only formal. ……… 8) “Constituency” is the name given to each one of 650 electoral districts. ……… 9) “MP” is the abbreviation for “Prime Minister”. ……….. 10) A by-election is held when, for instance, an MP resigns. ……….. 11) Leaders of the Government or of the Opposition sit on the back benches. ,,,,,,,,,,, 12) Party members usually pass bills put before them by their party. ……… 13) The Lord Chancellor presides over the House of Commons. ………… 14) Citizen in Great Britain elect members to the House of Lords. ………… 15) Members of the high clergy sit in the House of Lords. …………. 16) The House of Lords can delay a Bill from becoming law for 12 months. ……….. 17) The Prime Minister is the leader of the party that obtains a majority of seats in a by-election. ……… 18) When a Cabinet Minister disagrees with a Government decision, he/she must resign. ……….. 19) The Shadow Cabinet is a group of relevant members of the...
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...Explain why the British government opposed the Italian invasion of Abyssinia? One reason for why the British government opposed the Italian invasion of Abyssinia was largely a result of British self interest. Britain had become increasingly worried over Mussolini’s ambitions to create an Italian empire, and feared that Abyssinia would become the epicentre for further expansion. Abyssinia shared borders with Uganda and Kenya both of which were British colonies, they felt that if Mussolini’s meet no resistance while attempting to take over Abyssinia, it would give Mussolini the confidence to further expand here and even into the Mare nostrum. More worrying for Britain was ensuring the protection of its strategic bases in Malta and Gibraltar which gave Britain access to the Suez Canal. Ensuring it protection was of the upmost importance to Britain as 2/3 of Britain oil came from the Suez Canal which also gave them direct access to India, the jewel of the British Empire. For these reasons the British government opposed the Italian invasion of Abyssinia as it acted in their self interest. Furthermore, perhaps the most important reason for why the British Government opposed the Italian invasion of Abyssinia was in response to the British Public opinion who at the time fully supported the League of Nations and with it the concept of collective Security. This was further proved through the results of the Peace ballot put forward by the League of Nations Union, of the 11,500,000 people...
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...extent, government investment is the most important factor in the revival of British industry as it simulates growth with the economy. Government intervention is required to ensure the UK has the infrastructure, skills and access to investment to allow manufacturing to thrive. Financially attractive environments provide incentives to locate manufacturing industries in the UK. Nissan has been provided a £9.3m grant for the Nissan note to be built in the UK, production would have been in India if not for this investment, jobs would have left the uk resulting in an increase in unemployment, Nissan currently provides 6000 jobs in the UK. The regional growth fund help to meet the educational policies set by the government. More teachers and young people will go behind the scenes, this gives people a first-hand view of modern manufacturing and the exciting careers that are available to inspire the next generation to go into engineering and manufacturing. This will assist with the skills shortage that the uk is currently facing. Airbus, the world’s leading aircraft company, received £1.4m in funding from the fund to help provide training to develop a £190m investment in the production of new low carbon diesel engines at its Dagenham, £8m of the investment coming from the Regional Growth fund, this investment will create 300 jobs in that area, further reducing unemployment and through the training scheme people will gain the necessary skills that they need to revive the British industry...
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...The Founding Fathers were justified in rebelling against the British government due to the fact that they could not represent themselves properly and were being governed by individuals that were an ocean away from them. The taxes being imposed on them were outrageous and hitting the colonists hard. British soldiers stationed in the colonies intruded in their homes and private lives without them being able to say anything. There were many things they could have done instead of outright rebellion of course, but it remains that they did have justification in what they did. First of all the colonists could not represent themselves properly and were being governed by individuals that were an ocean away from them. The Parliament of the British Empire would create taxes and laws that affected the colonists greatly, yet the people it affected had no say in what would happen. This made life on the colonists more difficult because they had taxes and laws that not only they disagreed with, but could scarcely afford as well. What made the matter more humiliating to the colonists was that they're so called, representatives, were on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. They argued the points that the Parliament did not have a clue as to what these laws were doing because they...
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...main source of conflict between the Irish and the British government? In 1870 a third of the land in Ireland was owned by less than 2 per cent of the land-owning gentry (302 people) and 25 per cent of the total number of landlords did not even live in Ireland. Nearly all of them were protestant and British whose families had been given the land during the Ulster planting, displacing the native Irish or allowing them to work the land but only if they paid rent to the land-owner which sowed the seeds of resentment that would last until the modern day. The problems caused by who owned the land was partly responsible for the terrible impact of the Great Famine or Irish Potato Famine from 1845 to 1847. William Gladstone attempted to resolve the land issue but by the end of the Nineteenth Century not a great deal had been done which specifically improved the lifestyle of those who worked on the land. The Irish potato famine was one of the worse famines in European history; close to one million people died of starvation and over fifty thousand evictions of land-workers took place. Many in Britain were sympathetic to the suffering of the Irish with the popular newspaper London Illustrated Times publishing accurate or over-dramatized pictures of the famine to encourage members of the public to lend support and even Queen Victoria donated large sums of money to voluntary organisations seeking to aid the Irish, however the Tory government of the time believed in a laissez faire approach...
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...What use is the Westminster Model of British Government? The Westminster model for centuries has always been the face of British politics. “Traditionally British political scientists tended to believe that the Westminster model provided democratic and effective government” and “was well suited to gradual and evolutionary change, capable of adapting where appropriate but conserving traditions and conventions that had proven themselves to be effective over a long period” (McAulla, 2006, p. 14). However, within recent decades the debate of whether the Westminster model is of use to the British government was created. This can largely be a result to the United Kingdom joining the European Union and aspects of devolution. To answer the question of what use is the Westminster model of British government, the Westminster model must firstly be understood. Thus, I will first explain the core features of the Westminster model and then assess its use of British government. The Westminster model is a unique one and parliamentary sovereignty exemplifies this. Under the Westminster system, power resides exclusively in a single national authority; parliament with no entrenched and autonomous powers being vested in any other body (Norton, 2004, p. 324). As such, no national body can question the legitimacy of its decisions, however, theoretically, the monarch holds the power to dissolve parliament. Other than that, parliament can pass any bill it wishes in theory and can remove any previously...
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...General Edward Braddock The war did not begin well for the British. The British Government sent General Edward Braddock to the colonies as commander in chief of British North American forces, but he alienated potential Indian allies and colonial leaders failed to cooperate with him. On July 13, 1755, Braddock died after being mortally wounded in an ambush on a failed expedition to capture Fort Duquesne in present-day Pittsburgh. The war in North America settled into a stalemate for the next several years, while in Europe the French scored an important naval victory and captured the British possession of Minorca in the Mediterranean in 1756. However, after 1757 the war began to turn in favor of Great Britain. British forces defeated French forces in India, and in 1759 British armies invaded and conquered Canada....
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...most important thing that they are still using the same governed structure stated by these documents even now 2. The US Constitution was established to create and change the governmental system by eliminating the monarchical society, and the Bill of Rights was a shield that helped people to prevent any downfall from the US Constitution. Both of them were the main factors to cut off the appearance of British government, reduce the overuse of power, and create the new and better governmental system....
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...and closer the pressure group is to the government the more successful they are” A. How far do you agree? Pressure groups are organizations, which attempt to influence the government from outside, this means that they do not put candidates up for election and instead act as a bridge between the people and government. The are many different types of pressure groups ranging from wealthy insider groups like the B.M.A. to less wealthy outsider groups like Amnesty International. The wealthier and closer the pressure group is to the government the more successful they are. The success of the British Medical Association (B.M.A.) suggests that the wealthier and closer the pressure group is to the government the more successful they are. The B.M.A. is a voluntary association that speaks up for the interests of doctors at home and abroad, provides a range of services for its members and engages in scientific research. These activities involve lobbying not only the British government but also the European Union as well. The B.M.A. is undoubtedly one of the most influential and effective pressure groups as they have great influence over the policies of the British government regarding the health care system in matters such as the pay and training of doctors, the work of GP’s and hospitals, and the quality and quantity of medical facilities. This supports the view that the wealthier and closer the pressure group is to the government the more successful they are. Due to the...
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...Research into Elections and Social Trends is an ESRC Research Centre based jointly at the National Centre for Social Research (formerly SCPR) and the Department of Sociology, University of Oxford http://www.crest.ox.ac.uk Is Britain Facing a Crisis of Democracy? by Catherine Bromley, John Curtice and Ben Seyd EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Britain is widely believed to be suffering a crisis of democracy. This briefing examines whether this perception is justified or not. Our findings - which are based on a four year research project funded by the ESRC - address four key issues: the legitimacy of governments, patterns of participation in politics, the impact of constitutional reform, and the explanation for any crisis. Legitimacy There has been a decline in levels of trust in government and confidence in the political system. Thirty years ago, four in ten people in Britain trusted government to put the needs of the nation above those of their political party; today, just one in five do so. But much of this decline set in during the early 1990s, although trust and confidence have fallen further since 1997. Participation Turnout at all elections has declined since 1997, most noticeably at the 2001 general election, when the participation rate was the lowest since 1918. At the same time, levels of non-electoral participation have increased somewhat. Meanwhile, it is not the case that people engage outside the ballot box as an alternative to voting; rather, most people use non-electoral...
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...Unit 2 Assignment 1 Task A 1. The aim is what an organisation is trying to achieve. The objective is the steps that are taken to achieve an aim. Examples of aims: * Increasing market share * Growth of profit * Survival 2. SMART objectives: * Specific: Clear objectives of what they want to achieve; * Measurable: The organisation has to measure whether they could achieve or not; * Achievable: the organisation sets up objectives so he could achieve it; * Relevant: To assess if what they are going to do it’s going to be as they forecasted; * Timed: it’s the deadline when they set to achieve it. 3. The purpose for setting aims and objectives is to have a clear view of what the organisation is going to do, so that every member of the organisation is going to easily follow it and all of them to work towards the same target. Another purpose would be to give the organisation focus, achieve efficiency, helps plan strategies, gives a basis for assessing performance and allows managers to monitor performance and make changes if necessary. 4. The first person that is interested in an organisation’s aims and objectives is the owner, and after the stakeholders: they could be investors and shareholders. Because they also have invested money in the business. Investors They are the people that put money in an organisation/business and expect that the profit will be high and the risk will be low. They are also concerned about the...
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...Backbench Mps are highly effective within the British Political system, as they‘re able to scrutinize government actions and hold them to account in numerous ways. Their role in Parliament in westminster ensures the democratic legitimacy of UK government and gives the government authority and a right to exercise political power. Backbench Mps also increase the overall representation of the UK through Parliament. However, with growing government powerl, often called exessive, there have been recent fears among politicians that as elective dictatorship has formed in the UK, and backbench MPs have little power in holding the government to account due to the party system, which ensures MPs are dictated by ministers and party whips, where persuasive ways reduce their effectiveness withing the political system. I will therefore outline the arguments both for and against how effective backbench MPs are in British Politics today. Firstly, backbench Mps are key in calling the govenrment of today to account, making them answerable for their actions and policies. This is achieved through questions to the Prime Minister and questions to ministers. Through Prime Ministers questions which takes place weekly for half an hour, backbench Mps from the governing party and the opposition are able to scrutinize the weekly actions of the govenrment. Backbench MPs also use this system to increase the representative function of Parliament, through raising specific issues of their constituents from...
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...population are entitled to a certain degree of primacy in the society. Such people are given the right to make decisions that affect the rest of the society. In the United Kingdom, the government is commonly referred to as a majoritarian due to its majoritarian electoral system. The United Kingdom electro system provides a majority seat to the party with a plurality of votes. This essay will discuss the majoritarian form of government in the United Kingdom and the reasons why the form of governance is referred to as majoritarian while as in the United States it is not recognized as majoritarian. The British system of government that is used in the United Kingdom mainly operates on the principle of straight majority rule. This system is geared towards quick and easy political decision making by the popular majority and elected representatives in the government. Here the action of voters is determined in a single national election with a high disciplined party in the legislature. However, the party in power cannot claim a majority of voters. This is because the party in leadership must have majority seats in the lower and upper houses of the national legislature. It is hard for a party to have majority seats in both houses making it unable to claim a majority voter influence (Immergut 37). In British elections the majority of voters elected majority House of Commons and Commons majority. In the United Kingdom there are other forces in the political arena that determine and exerts...
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...A pressure group is an organization that seeks to influence government decision makers (public policy) and or protect or advance a particular cause or interest. They often use websites and the media to educate people/spread propaganda. Groups campaign a specific issue and raise it up the political agenda. Campaigning raises funds for and inevitably resources for that cause. Outsider groups are those whose aims do not enjoy/ have the support of the Government. They tend to adopt media based, high profile campaigns to capture public attention. E.g. Animal Liberation Front. Insider groups have the support and attention of Government. Government will often approach them for advice. They will often have long standing and regular discussions with Government. A good example here is the work of Scottish members of the British Medical Association. Sectional groups represent and defend the interests of particular sections of society - often economic interests, but also consumer and professional interests. E.g. Trade union. Promotional groups are usually formed for a specific purpose - to promote a particular cause or campaign on a particular issue. In this sense, they have no other function apart from their role as pressure groups E.g. Green peace. Ad hoc groups are formed on temporary issues and tend to be on a temporary basis. The group disband once their cause has disappeared. Pressure groups often experience division amongst their members, and can therefore end up as merely temporary...
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...why, and how significant government policies are as a cause. Manufacturing plays a crucial role in the competitiveness of the UK economy. Despite this, for far too long government policy has neglected manufacturing. During this period of neglect British manufacturing firms have repositioned themselves away from price-based competition more towards forms of non-price based competitiveness. The recent re-shoring of manufacturing to the UK is the start of a much needed trend. The University of Birmingham is funding a two year research project entitled ‘Regeneration Economies: Transforming People, Places and Production’. This project is exploring new policy solutions that will support British manufacturing. There is a need to develop a much better understanding of regional and national economies. High value manufacturing firms no longer sell products, but many solutions combine manufactured products with embedded services. Thus, a manufacturing policy must be simultaneously a service policy. There is a need to encourage universities and colleges to provide courses that blend technical training with an understanding of services, this is where the government comes in, by making these changes to education The Regeneration Economies project is also exploring major developments in engineering that have the potential to transform the economics of regional economies. These new technologies have important implications for future skills and training needs. Government needs to support UK manufacturing...
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