...After the Labour party’s strong victory in the 1997 general election, winning 179 seats, they have made moves and provisions towards constitutional reform. Indeed, the two prime ministers; Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have done much for reform over the years, as illustrated by devolution and the human rights act. Indeed, they made provision for reform in 4 key areas, modernisation, and greater protection of rights, democratisation and decentralisation. However, it can be argued that their reform has been limited, and much more can be done for constitutional reform. Firstly, it is clear that the modernisation aspects of the reform have been severely limited. Indeed, this can be illustrated by the reform of the House of Lords. Over the past 10 years, only part 1 of the reform process has taken place. This has included the removal of over 600 hereditary peers to only 92. However, no reform for a partially or fully elected second chamber has taken place. Until this happens it is argued that the Lords is not democratically legitimate as all policy making institutions must have legitimacy. By merely appointing the members of the Lords means that whilst they may have expertise, they are not socially accountable. These include the likes of Alan Sugar and Sebastian Coe. Also, the Wright report, which includes provisions towards electing members of select committee chairs by secret ballot, and to end the Winterton rule on public bill committees is still stuck within the legislative process...
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...“Constitutional reform since 1997 has not gone far enough.” Discuss. I agree with the view that constitutional reform since 1997 has not gone far enough to a large extent. The House of Lords Act of 1999 has reformed the House of Lords, the Human Rights Act of 1998 was an important area of constitutional reform, as well as the Freedom of Information Act of 2000 and the devolution of powers. The electoral system used in the UK has also been subject to discussion over reform however all constitutional reform can be said to have not gone far enough. The House of Lords Act of 1999 removed all but 92 hereditary peers from the House of Lords. This meant that the House of Lords could be seen as more legitimate as both unelected and not appointed peers would be seen as undemocratic and illegitimate. The removal of hereditary peers means that the House of Lords are more confident in their role in scrutinising and blocking legislation as they feel more legitimate. An example of the House of Lords exerting this role is the blocking of NHS reform which led to the government rethinking and amending plans, as well as the Hunting Act 2004. However reform of the House of Lords could be said to have not gone far enough, 92 hereditary peers still remain in the House of Lords, and the Liberal Democrats call for a wholly elected upper chamber, to make Parliament fully accountable. The House of Lords are also limited in the fact that they can only delay legislation for up to a year and therefore...
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...Discuss the view that the constitutional reforms since 1997 have been of limited impact The British constitution has been changed many times since 1997 when new labour came to power. Some of these changes have included the devolution of powers were both the Scottish and Welsh governments were given more power. Arguments have also been made for other parliamentary reforms to take place such as a reform to the human rights act and the House of Lords. Many people argue that although significant changes have taken place in regards to the UK constitution that the reforms do not go far enough. One of the reforms to the British constitution has been the devolution of powers reform. In this reform act the power to govern was decentralised from London to allow wales and Scotland to partially self-govern. This can be argued as having impact as it allows these countries to have their own limited power, for example it gave Scotland the power to vary its tax levels. Therefore it can be argued that this constitutional change had an impact that was significant; however it can be argued that the reform did not go far enough. Some people such as Plaid Cymru and the Scottish national party believe that further reforms should take place to give the two countries more power and move it away from the UK parliament completely. These parties want a bigger impact by being given more powers to do things such as create their own laws and control their own finances. However an opinion poll into whether...
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...Commons b) With reference to the source, and your own knowledge, explain how the House of Commons can control the power of government c) To what extent is the House of Commons effective in carrying out its various functions? May 2011 a) With reference to the source, describe three proposals that seek to strengthen parliamentary representation by increasing popular participation b) With reference to the source, and your own knowledge, explain how three of these proposals seek to make government more accountable to Parliament c) To what extent will the coalition government’s proposals bring about an effective reform of Parliament? Jan 2012 a) With reference to the source, why are legislative committees needed? b) With reference to the source, and your own knowledge, explain the ways in which backbench MPs can call government to account c) To what extent has the formation of a coalition altered the relationship between Parliament and government? Jan 2013 a) With reference to the source, outline two criticisms of David Cameron’s appointments to the House of Lords b) With reference to the source and your own knowledge, explain three considerations that are taken into account when appointing Life Peers c) Assess the arguments in favour of a largely...
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...an end. I will restore the proper process of government. I want to be Prime Minister of this country not a President (Source: David Cameron, The Times, 5th October 2006) “The Cabinet is the committee at the centre of the British political system. Every Thursday during Parliament, Secretaries of State from all departments as well as other ministers meet in the Cabinet Room in Downing Street to discuss the big issues of the day. The Prime Minister chairs the meeting, selects its members and also recommends their appointment as ministers to the monarch. The present Cabinet has 23 members (21 MPs and two peers). The secretary of the Cabinet is responsible for preparing records of its discussions and decisions”. (Source: From a modern textbook) (a) What criticism is David Cameron making of Tony Blair’s style of decision making in source 1? [5] (b) Explain the main functions of the cabinet [10] (c) To what extent have UK Prime Ministers become “presidential”? [25] Or 2 QUESTION TWO THE JUDICIARY A powerful coalition of judges, senior lawyers and politicians has warned that the Government is undermining the civil liberties citizens...
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...Edexcel AS Politics Edexcel AS Politics ExamBuster 2009 Introduction to Unit 1- People and Politics Understanding the Examination and Exam Technique Choosing your questions In this unit you are presented with four questions. They are of equal value and each question covers one of the four sections of the specification. These are: Democracy and political participation Party policies and ideas Elections Pressure groups There is no significance to the order in which questions appear. Each question is divided into three sections (a), (b) and (c). When choosing which questions to do, the following principles are recommended: It is almost certain that you will be better off choosing your strongest question to do first. You should choose questions on the basis of how well you can answer the section (c) part. The (c) part carries 25 of the 40 marks available for the whole answer. Do not choose a question simply because you can do part (a) especially well. The (a) question is only worth 5 marks. It would be illogical to choose your strongest (a) part if you cannot do well on section (c). If you cannot decide between several (c) parts, i.e. you can do more than one equally well, make your choice on the basis of part (b) which carries 10 marks. But remember, it is the (c) parts that will determine most what your overall mark will be. So, when you first look at the exam paper, look at the (c) sections first. Assessment Objectives Each question is divided into three sections,...
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...ER E N U OP A E CON OMY E o o cP p r 3 1 Mac 2 0 c n mi a es 1 | rh 0 8 E o o c o en n ena e l gde r ae cn mig vra c i n na e uo ra r Ii B g a eg n E R P A C MMISO U OEN O S IN EMU@10 Research In May 2008, it will be ten years since the final decision to move to the third and final stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and the decision on which countries would be the first to introduce the euro. To mark this anniversary, the Commission is undertaking a strategic review of EMU. This paper constitutes part of the research that was either conducted or financed by the Commission as source material for the review. Economic Papers are written by the Staff of the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, or by experts working in association with them. The Papers are intended to increase awareness of the technical work being done by staff and to seek comments and suggestions for further analysis. The views expressed are the author’s alone and do not necessarily correspond to those of the European Commission. Comments and enquiries should be addressed to: European Commission Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs Publications B-1049 Brussels Belgium E-mail: Ecfin-Info@ec.europa.eu This paper exists in English only and can be downloaded from the website http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications A great deal of additional information is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu) ...
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...China The first one is the economy. China's economy has been typically the best-performing economy or among the best-performing economies in the world since 1979 when reforms began, averaging about 7 percent growth. One note of concern, though, is that those conditions that allowed that 7 percent growth are not likely to be prevalent in the years to come, because for over 30 years, China has relied extensively on lower wage rates and export-driven growth. But wage rates have been bid up, as happens; the Chinese are victims of their own success, you could say. And secondly, the rest of the countries in the world are not going through high rates of growth, and they’re not going to be importing the way they had been historically. So, that formula isn’t going to be as successful going forward as it has been. China needs to shift away from an export-driven economy to more of a consumption model. It needs to be mindful about funding its state-owned enterprises, about subsidizing state-owned companies. It needs to lessen its reliance on low-end manufacturing and move up the value chain. By the way, these aren’t my observations; these are observations by Chinese leadership. If you follow any Chinese leader’s speech on China’s economic transformation, these are the points he’ll make. We would call that market rationalism or just normal evolution as a country rises to middle-income status. But there are also some countervailing impulses. There’s a strong streak of economic nationalism;...
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...Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 16, Number 3—Summer 2002—Pages 67– 88 Economic Reforms in India Since 1991: Has Gradualism Worked? Montek S. Ahluwalia I ndia was a latecomer to economic reforms, embarking on the process in earnest only in 1991, in the wake of an exceptionally severe balance of payments crisis. The need for a policy shift had become evident much earlier, as many countries in east Asia achieved high growth and poverty reduction through policies that emphasized greater export orientation and encouragement of the private sector. India took some steps in this direction in the 1980s, but it was not until 1991 that the government signaled a systemic shift to a more open economy with greater reliance upon market forces, a larger role for the private sector including foreign investment, and a restructuring of the role of government. India’s economic performance in the postreform period has many positive features. The average growth rate in the ten-year period from 1992–1993 to 2001–2002 was around 6.0 percent, as shown in Table 1, which puts India among the fastest growing developing countries in the 1990s. This growth record is only slightly better than the annual average of 5.7 percent in the 1980s, but it can be argued that the 1980s growth was unsustainable, fuelled by a buildup of external debt that culminated in the crisis of 1991. In sharp contrast, growth in the 1990s was accompanied by remarkable external stability despite the east Asian crisis...
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... | | | |37 | |Unit A2 1: Option 3, Liberalism and Nationalism 1815–1914 | | |Unit A2 1: Option 4, Nationalism and Unionism in Ireland 1800–1900 |51 | |Unit A2 1: Option 5, The Clash of Ideologies in Europe 1900–2000 |67 | Introduction CCEA has developed new GCE specifications for first teaching from September 2008. This scheme of work has been designed to support you in introducing the new specification and was produced by practicing teachers who will be teaching the specification. This A2 Scheme of work provides suggestions for organising and supporting students’ learning activities. It is intended to assist you in developing your own schemes of work and should not be considered as being prescriptive or exhaustive. Please remember that this...
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...References 34 1. The Company - Introduction Picture 1 ICT Facilities Integrated Container Terminal (Thailand) Pte (ICT) was incorporated in 1st February 2011 with an authorized and paid up capital of Thai Baht 10 million. The company’s nature of business is container storage, maintenance and repair of containers. ICT (Thai) is a subsidiary of Integrated Container Terminal (M) Sdn Bhd, located in Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia. The company was established on the 6th February 2002 and currently is one of the main service providers for container storage in Malaysia’s port. 3 Picture 2 ICT Container Yard Based on good relationship, ICT (M) Sdn Bhd has secured contracts with 25 shipping lines in PTP. This relationship has been continuously done by ICT (Thai) with these reputable shipping companies and as a result, ICT(Thai) has entered into an agreement with 5 reputable shipping companies within less than a year in operation namely; Malaysian Shipping Corp Bhd (MISC),...
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...Economic Reforms in India since 1991: Has Gradualism Worked? by Montek S. Ahluwalia* India was a latecomer to economic reforms, embarking on the process in earnest only in 1991, in the wake of an exceptionally severe balance of payments crisis. The need for a policy shift had become evident much earlier, as many countries in east Asia achieved high growth and poverty reduction through policies which emphasized greater export orientation and encouragement of the private sector. India took some steps in this direction in the 1980s, but it was not until 1991 that the government signaled a systemic shift to a more open economy with greater reliance upon market forces, a larger role for the private sector including foreign investment, and a restructuring of the role of government. India’s economic performance in the post-reforms period has many positive features. The average growth rate in the ten year period from 1992-93 to 2001-02 was around 6.0 percent, as shown in Table 1, which puts India among the fastest growing developing countries in the 1990s. This growth record is only slightly better than the annual average of 5.7 percent in the 1980s, but it can be argued that the 1980s growth was unsustainable, fuelled by a buildup of external debt which culminated in the crisis of 1991. In sharp contrast, growth in the 1990s was accompanied by remarkable external stability despite the east Asian crisis. Poverty also declined significantly in the post-reform period, and at a...
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...Economic Reforms in India since 1991: Has Gradualism Worked? India was a latecomer to economic reforms, embarking on the process in earnest only in 1991, in the wake of an exceptionally severe balance of payments crisis. The need for a policy shift had become evident much earlier, as many countries in east Asia achieved high growth and poverty reduction through policies which emphasized greater export orientation and encouragement of the private sector. India took some steps in this direction in the 1980s, but it was not until 1991 that the government signaled a systemic shift to a more open economy with greater reliance upon market forces, a larger role for the private sector including foreign investment, and a restructuring of the role of government. India’s economic performance in the post-reforms period has many positive features. The average growth rate in the ten year period from 1992-93 to 2001-02 was around 6.0 percent, as shown in Table 1, which puts India among the fastest growing developing countries in the 1990s. This growth record is only slightly better than the annual average of 5.7 percent in the 1980s, but it can be argued that the 1980s growth was unsustainable, fuelled by a buildup of external debt which culminated in the crisis of 1991. In sharp contrast, growth in the 1990s was accompanied by remarkable external stability despite the east Asian crisis. Poverty also declined significantly in the post-reform period, and at a faster rate than in the 1980s...
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... 3.2 suggestions for women empowerment 25 3.3 Conclusion 25 References 27 Chapter-1 1. Introduction 1.1 Understanding Power At the core of the concept of empowerment is the idea of power. The possibility of empowerment depends on two things. First, empowerment requires that power can change. If power cannot change, if it is inherent in positions or people, then empowerment is not possible, nor is empowerment conceivable in any meaningful way. In other words, if power can change, then empowerment is possible. Second, the concept of empowerment depends upon the idea that power can expand. This second point reflects our common experiences of power rather than how we think about power. To clarify these points, we first discuss what we mean by power. Power is often related to our ability to make others do what we want, regardless of their own wishes or interests (Weber, 1946). Traditional social science emphasizes power as influence and control, often...
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...CRIME, PROCEDURE AND EVIDENCE IN A COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT This book aims to honour the work of Professor Mirjan Damaška, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School and a prominent authority for many years in the fields of comparative law, procedural law, evidence, international criminal law and Continental legal history. Professor Damaška’s work is renowned for providing new frameworks for understanding different legal traditions. To celebrate the depth and richness of his work and discuss its implications for the future, the editors have brought together an impressive range of leading scholars from different jurisdictions in the fields of comparative and international law, evidence and criminal law and procedure. Using Professor Damaška’s work as a backdrop, the essays make a substantial contribution to the development of comparative law, procedure and evidence. After an introduction by the editors and a tribute by Harold Koh, Dean of Yale Law School, the book is divided into four parts. The first part considers contemporary trends in national criminal procedure, examining cross-fertilisation and the extent to which these trends are resulting in converging practices across national jurisdictions. The second part explores the epistemological environment of rules of evidence and procedure. The third part analyses human rights standards and the phenomenon of hybridisation in transnational and international criminal law. The final part of the book assesses Professor...
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