...The Labour party election victory in 1945 was due to changes in social attitudes during the Second World War more than other factors. It produced different political views to that of those before WW2 such as equality and the level of state intervention. This benefitted the Labour party’s electoral victory greatly and outweighs the other reasons that contributed to the victory. Firstly, the social attitudes changed in regard to the significant leftward shift in public opinion and the amount of state intervention that the public wanted. The success of total war showed the public that state involvement was a positive thing and could actually benefit the public. The massive extension of State control, regulation and planning seemed to have led to full employment and a sense of working together for a common goal. Many of the poor population was benefitting from the wartime rationing systems and demand for materials and soldiers as it gave them a substantial meal than what they were used to and they were also able to have a secure income in the household instead of scraping by. The rationing system, along with the conscription of both men and women and the raising of taxes created a feeling of equal involvement and fairness in society, which reflected Labour’s socialist characteristics. The public felt that if these methods were so successful and produced so much positivity in Britain at wartime then they should also be applied in times of peace. Labour’s nationalisation plan...
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...participation. It shows that 62% of people had given money to an organization in the previous 12 months. Also, 50% of people had signed a petition. This suggests individuals choose their involvement in politics in their own way and generalizing that if general election turnout is low, political participation is low is incorrect. This is supported by the POWER report in 2006 that suggested there is not a political participation crisis as there is still involvement on a local level. This suggests that political participation should not just be judged on turnout for general elections but also other acts of political participation. Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, consider why some commentators have spoken of a ‘participation crisis’ in recent years. In recent general elections, declining levels of turnout have led some to believe Britain is having a participation crisis. Meaning, political participation is so low it threatens to undermine Britain’s democracy. In the 2005 general election just 60% of registered voters cast a ballot and this increased slightly in 2010 to 65%. Low levels of turnout cause numerous problems. If not enough of those able to vote do, it calls into question the legitimacy of the result and any decisions made by the winning party. For example, the Conservative party...
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...companies are lightly regulated so they are free to go about their business without minimum interference from the government, which is sometimes referred to as “the state”. The Conservatives are a prime example of a “right-wing” party; the Labour party also adopted “right wing” ideas and began changes ways under the era of “blairism”, from being a “left wing-party” they adopted right wing ideas from the conservatives and were more or less similar to them. “Left-wingers” on the other hand generally have optimistic ideas about human nature and favour social change, left wingers tend to support liberty, equality and state intervention. The labour party is a “left-wing” party and has swifted back to its original ethos and ideas under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn who is a far-left wing socialist. Furthermore left-wingers are keen to reduce the gaps between the rich and poor. They believe that society should work together to help everyone, which is why schemes like the NHS and benefits were introduced, But they argue that the rich should pay taxes thus reducing the gap between the rich and poor. To what extent are the major parties internally divided over policies and ideas The major contending parties are the Conservatives and Labour party, although they seem to be strong and stable parties, they have divisions internally over policies and ideas. The conservatives have had ongoing divisions starting from “one nation”...
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..."How far were conservative scandals the most important reason for their defeat in 1964"! Intro: * The conservative government had involvement in a number of scandals * They also faced social and economic problems * The labour party had its own strengths * The failure of Home as prime minister * Brief intro discussing the above and what is going to be argued for and against Conservative Scandals: * The conservative scandals included: The Profumo affair (briefly say what it was) and issues were raised to national security * Vassal Affair: (briefly say what it was) This led to mistrust and the government was seen as out of control of its departments * Philby Case: (briefly say what it was) The conservative government were held responsible for this international affair with the Soviets. * Argyll Divorce Case: (briefly say what it was) rumors including government ministers and the Duke of Argyll’s wife. * Link back to the question suggesting how these were more or less important than the other factors. Reasons which are possibly more important for the conservative defeat (other reasons) * Strengths of the Labour party- Harold Wilson was succeeding, Labour focused on what was needed to solve the problems the conservatives had brought, this was done by policies and satisfying the public and its opinion. * The failures of Douglas-Home- He wasn’t voted in as Prime minister and he was simply outperformed by Wilson when it came to Parliament...
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...of parliament. Secondly, it will evaluate drawbacks and benefits of election systems and the devolution. Thirdly, it will illustrate the roles of political parties and low results of participation in elections. Possibilities for and trends of becoming participated in the political process by people is political participation. Generally, political participation contains a number of points such as awareness of current issues, supporting online forums, taking part in all kinds of elections, standing for political office, joining and becoming active in pressure group and political party and participating in physical and e-petitions (McNaughton: 2012). Vlassopoulos (2009:29) mentions that direct popular participation in making decisions is the vital aspect in definition of democracy. One of the main functions of Parliament is representation. This means that elected MPs should represent and defend the interests of their voters. However, in real life citizens have no significant impact on the activities of legislators. Another important function is that it is the origin of political authority and exercising of power is impossible without Parliament’s sanction. Furthermore, the UK government membership depends on it: the members have to be from the House of Lords or House of Commons. McNaughton (2012:65) says the Blair government created variety of reforms for House of Lords and House of Commons after election in 1997. It included changes in organization of Prime Minister’s Question...
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...economies. One of the most important is the peoples’ general satisfaction of government stability, or lack of significant dissatisfaction. Another example demonstrates that European countries automatically register its citizens at the age of eighteen to vote while American youth must personally appear and register before elections. Generally most of the youth eligible to vote tend to feel less concerned or drawn in by politics due to the lack of serious income, property, and consequently taxes. Along with this goes the income and education level of eligible voters, which either aids in the involvement and general attention, or in supports indifference and unimportance relating to policy. Throughout US history the elements of gender, race, and location have also shown to be major factors involving voter turnout. The factors of why Americans vote the way they do begin with the element of party identification, which can often be inherited and mainly influenced by and through our family and its personal ideologies reflected towards certain party. Another important factor is that of the social class of the voters, which is reflected through work, general income, education, and are often influenced by traditions or picked up liberal or conservative views. On occasions class voting overlaps, in a sense that some people who fall inside the brackets of either liberal or conservative tendencies, vote for converse parties due to their own, personal...
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...against political parties as follows: The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention, which in different ages & countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders & miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security & repose in the absolute power of an Individual: and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty (J.E. Quidam, 2008). This ideology seems to have evolved and held truth for the past 227 years as now Americans are even more divided by political parties than any other stature. According to Edward S. Greenberg and Benjamin I. Page’s “The Struggle for Democracy”, political ideology is defined as a system of interrelated and coherently organized political beliefs and attitudes, which include conservatives, liberals, populists, and libertarians (145). Greenburg and Page further describe that the “two dimensions” that Americans generally divide along are government’s roles in economy and society (147). Conservatism can be defined as the disposition to preserve or restore what is established and traditional and to limit change (2013). There two different types of conservatives, economic and...
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...Social policies are the actions of governments, such as legal laws. They have a direct impact on citizens, for e.g. may provide them with services or income. Social policies are created after Sociology research identifies social problems of society, for e.g. policies put in place to help vulnerable children (adopted/abused), as they are highly likely to end up in gangs, as drug addicts or prostitutes. These policies tackle social problems e.g. increasing payment for foster/ adoptive careers to reduce vulnerable children getting involved with crime. There are several factors which influence whether something will became a social policy. The type of political party in power effects social policies, as different parties have different agendas and concerns, for e.g. Labour wanted to help teenagers who weren’t going into further education by providing them with practical apprentices. The state of economy and how much social policy will cost taxpayers is another factor, for e.g. education monthly allowance for college students was abolished after the recession. Political parties also create policies due to an upcoming election to win over voters, for e.g. in the next general election the Conservative party who raised university fees up to £9000 per year, may lower the price. If the sociologist’s findings are in line with the Europe Union, that policy is likely to be implanted as the EU has a big influence over its members, for e.g. the EU ruled that British car insurance firms...
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...political participation as less people are willing to actively participate or engage in any political activities whatsoever. This can be problematic as participation in politics is crucial because it will allow the government to be held responsible. There are several reasons suggesting a ‘political participation’ which can be evident from the current turnout at general elections because they have been considerably lower than average between the years of 1945-1997. In the election year 1992 the turnout was 77.7% which gradually declined to 59.5% in 2001 which highlights the significant difference of election participation decline as the years went by. This perhaps could be due to the number of the population disagreeing with the ideologies of the political parties and have perhaps different strong ideas thus resulting in them in not turning up to the elections. Also, the fall in turnout levels could be because of people progressing in the industrial sectors as society is modernising so this occupies people and doesn’t allow them to make the time to actually go vote. Moreover, another contributing factor to the ‘participation crisis’ is that party membership has been declining drastically over the last thirty years as during 1980 the membership of all parties was a staggering 1,693,156 as well as 4.12% membership of total electorates. This is highly contrasting to the figures of 2008 where there were was a huge decrease to 476,000 membership of all parties, with 0.95% membership...
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...by Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer warning the nation that Obama was going to use his speech to the children to spread his “socialist ideology” and “liberal lies.” The issue was then exaggerated even more by conservative bloggers, radio commentators and Fox News to add to the “fear mongering” started by Greer as stated by USA Today. The controversy started by Jim Greer did not stop there. The Department of Education had suggested to the Obama administration to include a lesson plan along with the speech urging the students to write letters to themselves about, how they would help the president. This did not sit well with many parents and therefore the suggested lesson plan was taken out of the speech format. The change in the format along with the White House posting the transcript of the speech on its’ website helped alleviate the concerns of many, even Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer. According to The News- Gazette.com “After they got a look at the text many critics, including Greer, backed off, and some schools agreed to show the speech after all.” Even though the release of the transcript proved that the speech did not have political undertones to the message there were still parents that did not want their kids to listen to the discourse. One father argued that “they (the children) don’t need to be told by the president what their responsibilities are. It’s the parents’ responsibility to teach them that, not the governments,” said Ryan Christensen...
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...German Big Buisness The Aryanization of the German businesses was discussed through Pater Hayes’s article “Profits and Persucution: Corporate Involvement in the Holocaust”. Hayes looked into why German businessmen were initially skeptical of Hitler and what factors played into the role of overcoming these suspicions. Hayes also looked into why German the initial attitude of the German business community changed toward the anti-Sematic campaigns. Neil Gregor through his article, “Big Business and Racial Barbarism: Labour at Daimler-Benz 1939-1945”, explored the exploitation of slave labor through the Daimler-Benz corporation. Gregor specifically went into how Daimler-Benz was able to get around the Jewish forced labor clash against the Final Solution. Gregor also looked heavily into Daimler-Benz’s treatment of Jewish workers reflect their acceptance of Nazi Ideology. Aryanization was the forced expulsion of “non-Aryans”, mostly Jews, from business life in Nazi Germany and the areas Nazi Germany controlled. German businessmen were initially skeptical of this plan from Hitler for many reasons. Less than 1 percent of the Jewish businesses were big enough to attract the money of the big firms. A lot of these Germans actually served with the Jews in previous wars with. Some of the business men hanged out with Jews in their personal life. Intermarriage was not uncommon between these groups. Hitler himself avoided talking anti-Semitism when addressing corporate issues. Many of the...
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...Political participation are actions of private citizens seeking to influence to support government and politics. Participation involves voting, involvement in campaigning (canvassing), party membership and pressure group membership. Participation is sad to be in decline due to the low turnout since the 1950’s. There are trends of low turnout in the General elections for UK. In 1951 the turnout for the UK general elections was 82%, however this fell to 66% in the 2015 general elections. Voter apathy is one reason for his; members of the electorate feel as though their opinions aren’t represented in Parliament, especially voters in support of smaller parties which are spread thinly across constituencies. Furthermore, parties now have become idealised so people are apathetic towards voting as they feel it wouldn’t really make a difference what party came into power. Party memberships also decreased since the 1950’s. For example n 1951, there were 2900 conservative supporters; however this decreased to 170 members in 2011, highlighting that there is a participation crisis in the UK. Additionally, the modern era and new generation new have now is distinctly different to previous years. In earlier years, politics was a min topic of discussion within households, leading children to become more informed about certain parties and be incline to vote for one- usually the same party as there parents support. However nowadays it isn’t as common for families to even spend dinner or...
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...thing." The word "republic" has come to mean a system of representational government similar to the Romans'. But for me it's the term that comes to mind when I think of the public, as opposed to the private, side of life. Conservatives, seeing it as a necessary evil, want the public thing to be as small as possible. Many of my fellow citizens share this point of view because, for them, government is just a bundle of services requiring a mandatory subscription fee in the form of taxes. They just want more services for less money, and, above all, a choice about what services to buy, and from whom. "Why should I pay taxes for public education when I can buy a better education for less money from a private school?" This is a sleight of hand, focusing our attention on the services aspect of government while conservatives and their big-business cronies manipulate rules and policies to further their own interests. Corporate interests benefit when citizens are uninvolved in their government. There are some functions that must be performed by government, for example, foreign affairs, national defense, maintaining a framework of laws. How much more than the minimum should government do? The decision could be based on: whether the government can perform a needed function more efficiently or effectively than private parties; whether we can achieve a more just and equitable result when government performs the function; whether we, collectively, want to undertake a project...
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...power of Congress first appears in Article 1, Section 1, ‘all legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States’. This suggests that congress has huge amounts of power Congress in creating legislature, scrutinizing the executive and playing a huge role when it comes to the checks and balances of the three branches of government. However, in recent times, many people argue that congress is ‘broken’. One of the biggest examples of this is the increasingly poor legislative record. Although there is going to be a big bias within congress, especially with the Republicans now controlling both chambers, this essay will look at both sides of the argument and help me decide on whether Congress is, in fact, broken. Time magazine recently stated that congress is now less popular than the Internal Revenue Service and, even more startlingly, Donald Trump! In 2013, congress only had a 6% polling, the lowest it had ever been, and the only other group of people to have a lower approval rating was the Kardashian family, quite disgraceful. Congress is supposed to be the most important branch of Government. It creates legislation, scrutinizes the executive and sets out the budget along doing many other important things. The fact that the approval rating now stands at 13% is very shocking. Mark Twain once said ‘Suppose you were a member of congress and an idiot, but I repeat myself’. I think this quote completely sums up congress. Not only does it shows its...
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...CONSERVATISM Key concepts 1) Hierarchy and organic society * The term ‘organic society’ refers to a belief, which became entrenched in traditional conservative thought in the latter part of the 19th century. * It was a reaction against the rise of liberal individualism. * It proposes that society is more than merely a collection of individuals, but it is a single entity. * We are connected to each other through our humanity and common membership of community. * Organic society is seen as a reality, which is superior to our own, individual interests. * The ideal organic society – where goals and aspirations of individuals coincide with the goals of the whole society. 1980s – Margaret Thatcher famously challenged this remarking that there “is no such thing as society”, implying that the goals of individuals are superior to those of society as a whole. * Traditional conservatives believe that there is a ‘natural’ order into which each individual fits. * It is normal and natural that society should be divided by a number of strata. * The very rigid feudal system had long since disappeared, but there remained a belief that some kind of class system was inevitable. * Hierarchy like this supports organic society in that it creates an order and stability, which the individualistic society lacks. * Different parts of the hierarchy have different roles that complement each other. * This implies inequality, but an ordered inequality, and one in which...
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