...History of Voting | * Although we live in a democracy and have the right to vote, this is not always reflected in the turnout at elections. In the past people fought and protested to gain this right and your vote is the most direct way available to you to influence the way in which your country and your local council is run. * Voting in local elections decides who serves on the council and who controls it, as elected members are responsible for both the budget and the provision of services. * In early times two knights from each shire or county were elected by members of the local county courts to be sent to the Commons. In later years they were joined in the Commons by two representatives from each borough or town. * By 1430 only owners of freehold land generating an income of over forty shillings a year were eligible to vote in county elections. In the boroughs, qualification varied from each male head of household to those paying local taxes or to those who possessed property. * In 1800 you had to meet two criteria to be able to vote – you had to be male and you had to be wealthy. This meant that less than 3% of the adult population was eligible to vote. * Thankfully things have changed significantly since then and there have been some major changes to the regulations which govern our right to vote. * The 1832 Reform Act extended the right to vote to include certain leaseholders and householders. This gave 5% of adults a vote. * The 1867 Second Reform...
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...politics. They key factor in determining a Green party’s capacity to implement its policy aims is the context of the political system in which it operates. This is reflected in the relative electoral success of the German Greens, Alliance ’90/The Greens, as compared with the difficulties faced by the British Greens. Many analysts consider the German Greens “the strongest example of the impact of Green politics on Western European political systems” due to its impact within German government (Burchell, 2002, p. 52). The Green Party in the United Kingdom is considered a minor party—defined as “a party with no elected seats in Parliament” (Birch, 2009, p. 53). This represents the greatest challenge to the British Greens’ political efficacy. The German and British Green parties were established in extremely different political climates, and they gained different levels of influence within government as a result. The emergence of the German Greens in the twentieth century coincided with the rise of new social movement protests during the 1960s 1970s. This movement brought about a heightened awareness of social and environmental problems among new-left student populations, as well as citizen action groups, that helped set the stage for a “Green challenge within the electoral process” (Burchell, 2002, p. 53). The German Greens achieved their first electoral breakthrough at the federal level in October 1983, with 5.6 percent of the vote and the election of 27 Green deputies (Burchell...
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...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 political and independence influence. Among they...
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...Summary : I. The United Kingdom 1. The Make-Up of the UK 2. Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy 3. The Electoral System and Political Parties in the UK 4. The Current Political Situation 5. Devolved Administration in the UK II. The United States of America 1. The Make-Up of the USA 2. The Federal and Constitutional Republic of the USA 3. Political Parties in the USA 4. The Current Political Situation in the USA I. The United Kingdom 1. The Make-Up of the UK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy and unitary state. It is made up of four individual countries, which are England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It is governed by a parliamentary system and its seat of government is in London. There are also three devolved powers outside of the capital, located in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh (the three capital cities of Ireland, Wales and Scotland respectively). There are also a number of islands that are constitutionally tied to the United Kingdom constitution, but that are not part of the UK. They are the bailiwicks (headed by a bailiff, appointed by the crown to administer) of Jersey and Guernsey (to the south of the UK) and also the Isle of Man, which is off the north-east coast of the British mainland. However, it is true to say that the majority of British might even get confused as to the difference between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the British Isles...
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...The US Political system- principles, institutions, rules and performance * A Democratic Republic * Political power, authority and legitimacy resides in the ¨we the people¨ * Officeholders serve specified terms and face regularly schedule elections * Political office cannot be inherited or conferred (no monarch, no nobility) * A constitutional system * A single document defining government powers, institutions and their functions, electoral procedures * Short and difficult to amend * Flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances (¨living document¨) * Widely perceived as legitimate by ¨we the people¨ * A representative democracy * Elected representatives –not ¨we the people¨-- make national law and policy (no referenda, recall, or ballot initiative) * The rule of law * Power of government over citizens explicitly limited (bill of rights) * The judiciary (federal courts) is on independent brunch of government whose members are protected by interference * All the elected are subjected to the law * Appointed officials are accountable to elected officials and to the courts * Institutional characteristics * /Separation of power/ divides political power and governmental authority among three branches having distinctive powers * Checks and balances allows each branch to offset the powers of the others * A powerful bicameral legislature with a meaningful upper house * A presidential system with an (indirectly)...
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...Electoral College YOUR NAME HERE HIS/301 MONTH DAY, YEAR INSTRUCTOR NAME HERE Electoral College The president of the United States of America is elected by secret ballot under first-past-the-post, each constituent of a district- within a state, votes for the (usually) two Candidates standing for either the Republican or Democratic Party. The candidates win the popular vote in each state, and that states Electoral College votes accordingly. A Candidate that receives the most votes within the EC wins the Presidency. The EC is said to be an old relic of the Founding Father's fear of the electorate and in large states dominating the federal United States of America. There are many critics of the EC and several reforms have been proposed; 'The Maine System', 'EC votes in proportion to the popular vote’, ‘The Automatic plan' and the 'Direct election plan.' The Electoral College is the body, established in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers, formally elects the United States President after the public vote in November. The 50 states of America each have a set of Electoral College votes-based according to the population of that state. For example, Texas has 34 EC votes, although Vermont has three of the 538 EC votes available. This means that Texas could provide a large win for either party, it also creates problems. Texas is typically Republican because of its 34 ECV's the Democratic Party must win California (55 ECV and the largest state for ECV's) or...
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...1. Explore the significance of the British and American first-past-the-post election system with special reference to its effect on the party system in each country. How does it limit the development of third parties? Why have the Liberal Democrats been successful in joining the government despite the strong limits on representation that the electoral system provides? Britain and America are quite commonly known as first world countries (highly developed countries) and they are known to be the most powerful countries in the world. Britain and America practice the same type of electoral system that is first past the post. Their political system is large and intense mainly due to the size of the countries. As mention in the book Introduction to comparative politics: poltical challenges and changing agenda( fifth edition) ,Britain have a democratic parliamentary government headed by a Monarch and Prime minister and on the other hand the US (America) has a Presidential system and a Federal government with power share between the National government and fifty (50) states government. Both America and Britain have a bicameral system. In Britain, the Heads of state and Heads of Government are different in the role they play in that the monarch (which is the queen) and also the Head of state is responsible for mainly ceremonial duties, the Prime minister (Head of government) looks after the day to day affairs of the government. Any decision that is made needs the queen approval. In...
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...diversified of any region. Parties range from far left to far right, and party systems range from the two party system exhibited by the United States, and to a lesser degree the United Kingdom, to the multiparty systems of France and Germany. Both the two party systems of the United States and United Kingdom and the multiparty systems of France and Germany possess intrinsic strengths and fallibilities. The multiparty systems of France and Germany are more democratic than the two party systems of the United States and United Kingdom, as they offer greater choice and are more responsive to the wills of the people. However, a two party system is preferable to a multiparty system because it makes government more effective by filtering out extremists and following the majority as opposed to possible minority control over the majority. Characterizing the United Kingdom’s party system as a “two-party system” is somewhat deceiving. The idea of the British system as a two-party system stems from the fact that since 1922, when the Liberal party leader David Lloyd George served as prime minister from 1916-1922, only leaders of the Labour or Conservative parties have served as prime ministers. Furthermore, throughout the postwar period these two parties have routinely divided at least 85 percent of the seats in the House of Commons. However since the 1980s center parties assumed a greater role in British electoral politics. The Liberal Democrats emerged as a viable third party alternative...
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...the Vice President of the United States of America is the Electoral College – an indirect voting system and not a national popular vote. This system was implemented by the Founding Fathers about 200 years ago (Shea 2005, 4-6) In recent times the debate about whether the Electoral College is still an effective system considering the circumstances the United States has to face now, is arising more and more. “American society is highly polarized in its perception of the existing election system” (Belenky 2012, ix). This paper has the aim to contrast the arguments against and in favor of the Electoral College and to demonstrate possible alternatives. In the conclusion an answer to the question “Should the Electoral College be reformed?” will be given. 2. How it works The Electoral College, as it is outlined in the 12th Amendment, is a body of electors chosen to elect the President and Vice President of the United States. In Article II of the Constitution the electing procedure is written down. Each state delegates a specific number of electors to the Electoral College, dependent on its representation in Congress (House of Representatives & Senate). According to the fact that each state has two Senators and at least one Representative (dependent on the size of the population in the state), each state has three electors at the minimum (for example Alaska). With 55 electors, California has the largest number at the moment (see illustration 1) (Electoral-vote.com 2013). Figure...
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...including but not limited to the electoral system, the House of Lords, and open government. You must discuss why potential reform should take place, its observable implications and consider comparative examples where the changes already exist. Elections are an integral figure in any countries political system. Elections are also important symbolically in most competitive party systems, legitimizing a country’s political system in the eyes of it citizens. They offer a means of participating in politics, elections also give a feeling that they are exercising choices about who should represent them in the national parliament and about who should form the next government. One common debate of which Party System is best to run a Nation has long been argued by politicians and also which is the electoral system that governs the conduct of elections. With elections, change or reform can always be seen and in one case the United Kingdom is a perfect example, in May 2010 the first united coalition in the Britain since World War 2 and now currently there is an on-going debate for political reform in the UK regarding the current electoral system. Would new government bring closure to the drama of reform in The House of Lords? Or would the unelected house continue to cause up-set? The conservatives aimed to bring more transparency to the government of the UK in their manifesto while the Liberal Democrats promised to bring much needed changes to the electoral system .In which the current debate...
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...The Provisional Political Authority devised a proportional electoral system to guarantee that the opposition would be represented in the National Assembly. The new system retained the 80 seats of the Assembly elected, but added 40 seats to be provided. The elections were held under this new system in May 2002, and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) won again, gaining 54 percent of the vote. But, for the first time, opposition political parties won a significant number of seats and, despite some irregularities and threats of violence from Commander General Lekhanya, Lesotho experienced its first peaceful election. Nine opposition parties now have the 40 proportional seats, and the Basotho National Party (BNP) has the largest participation. The LCD screen has 79 of the 80 seats based on circumscriptions. Although its elected members participate in the National Assembly, the BNP has launched several legal challenges...
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...Calum Dale 6 Ruthin Grove Knypersley Stoke-On-Trent Staffordshire ST8 7XL United Kingdom |ASSESSMENT BRIEF | |Learner Name: |Data No: | |Assessor: |IV: | |Programme: L3 Public Services | |Assignment Title: Roles and Levels of Government | |Unit Number(s) & Title(s): Unit 1: Government, Policies and Public Services | |Hand out: 10/10/14 |Submission: 5/12/14 | |Criteria reference |To achieve the criteria the evidence must show that the learner is able to: | |Task no. | |UNIT: 1 ...
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...(1998), XLVI, 572±588 Parties, Party Systems, and Satisfaction with Democratic Performance in The New Europe CHRISTOPHER J. ANDERSON1 Introduction Political parties and the party systems they form constitute the major channels of interest aggregation and citizen input in contemporary democracies. They are the vehicles through which political elites supply policy alternatives, and they constitute the major route for citizens to organize the demand for such alternatives.2 Parties also play a crucial role in the nature of democratic governance because they help legitimize the state. After all, free and fair elections in which parties compete for oce are a prime criterion for whether a system should be considered a democracy in the ®rst place. Outside of elections, political parties also have long been the most important mediating institutions between citizens and the state, in particular as parties have taken on the roles as simultaneous agents both of the state and its citizens.3 While virtually all democracies have political parties that compete for oce, political systems dier in a number of important ways with regard to how they go about channeling inputs or providing policy alternatives, and with regard to the roles they assign parties in this process. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, the ways in which political institutions condition the formation, functioning, and development of political parties and party systems varies as well. While there is an...
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...Has constitutional reform in the UK gone too far since 1997? Due to the uncodified nature of the UK constitution it is organic and the lack of higher law enables constitutional reforms to occur far quicker and with greater ease than seen in other countries, such as the USA. A constitutional reform is a political change in the constitution. There are varying bodies of opinion on the extent of constitutional reforms that are currently required within the UK. Constitutional changes have been mainly seen since 1997, under Blair and Brown, such as the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly in 1999, a constitutional reform some argue to be unnecessary while others argue should be extended and developed. A key issue that has divided constitutional opinions since 1997 is the idea of the unelected House of Lords, which some say undermine the legitimacy of democracy within the UK. The Salisbury convention already exists and ensures that the House of Lords does not obstruct proposals, which are previously contained in the elected government’s most recent manifesto, which is argues as an example of the removal of undemocratic sovereignty held previously by the Lords. However the fact that it is unwritten has been opposed to as the Lords is not fully controlled by the Government. To counteract the opposition other reforms have been introduce to reduce the powers of the House of Lords, such as the 1999 reform reducing hereditary peers to 92 from 600, and also the loss of...
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...Marvin Ignacio Politics and Governance January 20, 2015 I. Title: Parliamentary: A Good Form of Government II. Abstract HYPOTHESIS 1. What is Parliamentary Government? 2. What are the types of Parliamentary Government? 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Parliamentary System? 4. What countries are implementing Parliamentary System? 5. What is the difference between Parliamentary System and Presidential System? OBJECTIVES * To point out the good sides of the Parliamentary system. * To discuss the process of legislation of the Parliamentary Government. * To tackle the important topic about Parliamentary system. * To form a good information to the readers about the essence of Parliamentary system. SIGNIFICANCE * This term paper gives information to the reader about the system of Parliamentary Government. * This paper will benefit the ones who search information about the essence of Parliamentary system. III. Introduction Parliament, (from Old French: parlement; Latin: parliamentum) the original legislative assembly of England, Scotland, or Ireland and successively of Great Britain and the United Kingdom; legislatures in some countries that were once British colonies are also known as parliaments. The British Parliament, often referred to as the “Mother of Parliaments,” consists of the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. Originally meaning a talk, the word was used in the 13th century...
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