Great+Britain+Pd.+3+Government+Structure

__Constitutional Provisions__ __Constitution in Reality__ __Executive__ //liamatkins.co.uk// __Cabinet__ __Legislative__ __Police and Military__ //forums.sgclub.com// __Comparative Context__ __Level of Democracy__ __Legitimacy__ __Transparency__
 * Great Britain is unique in that it does not have one specific, written constitution, but rather many documents that serve as guidelines of the government. Three documents form the basis of the constitutional law including the Magna Carta, Common Law, and the Bill of Rights.
 * Bill of Rights refers to the rights of parliament over the monarch rather than the rights of the people.
 * Use of this Common Law system allows for flexibility and facilitates change as the civilization progresses.
 * Britain's government is classified as a constitutional monarchy.
 * Britain is a unitary state, meaning Parliament has power over the individual subunits; however devolution has been utilized in order to provide the subunits such as Scotland and Wales with a parliament of their own to sort out local affairs.
 * Executive Overview
 * They have a separate head of state (Queen or King) and head of government (Prime Minister).
 * The Prime Minister is the head of the government and is also a member of the legislature.
 * He or she is the leader of the political party who has the majority in Parliament.
 * Legislature Overview
 * Bicameral legislature made up of:
 * The House of Commons
 * elected by single-member plurality system
 * no fixed term
 * five year limit
 * powers to pass laws, provide finance, scrutinize public administration and government policy
 * The House of Lords
 * unelected - either hereditary or appointed
 * powers to delay legislature from passing and recommend revisions
 * law lords function as highest appeals court
 * 1999 - The House of Lords Act - elections held to determine 92 members of hereditary peers who would remain in House of Lords; elections held only when vacancies arise
 * Judiciary Overview
 * Independent of the Legislature but cannot determine constitutionality of laws or government conduct
 * Judges are appointed by the Crown at the recommendation of the Prime Minister or Lord Chancellor
 * Separation of Powers
 * Not directly defined in British constitution because it does not formally exist
 * The Prime Minister is an active member in Parliment and therefore can vote on legislation but he is also the leader of the executive branch.
 * Along with the Prime Minister, members of the cabinet also participate in legislation and the executive.
 * The House of Lords is a lawmaking body of Parliament but also contains the Law Lords who are an important branch of the judiciary.
 * The Lord Chancellor is part of the cabinet and therefore the executive, but also participates in the legislature and is head of the judiciary.
 * Because there is no written constitution, Britain goes off of a common law system meaning decisions and customs of the legal system are followed due to precedents rather than statues.
 * The legislature reviews and revises bills in order to determine their constitutionality.
 * The judicial branch does not have the power of judicial review.
 * The current head of government is David Cameron. He is a descendent of King William IV and is the leader of the Conservative Party. He attended Brase College and Eton College and eventually Oxford before entering the Conservative Party Research Department. He entered Parliament in 2001 and became a leading figure due to his charisma, youth, and moderate views. He sought to modernize the party and eliminate the right-wing image it had. In 2010, Cameron became the Prime Minister after Gordon Brown resigned.
 * Cameron has not been prime minister for even a year yet, but the paramount issue he has had to face as Prime Minister has been dragging Britain out of its downward spiral in the economic realm. Recently, he has cut the defense budget in order to compensate for a low ability to spend.
 * Some prominent British leaders have included:
 * Winston Churchill - Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, during World War II. He worked closely with Fanklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin in order to defeat the Nazi forces. He brilliant talent as an orator kept the British citizens inspired to make a greater effort in the war and supporting the war.
 * Margaret Thatcher - Thatcher, or "the Iron Lady", blamed socialist policies for a weakened economy post-WWII. Thus, Thatcher privatized industry, cut back on welfare projects, cracked down on labor unions, and strengthened national defense. She supported policies that were influenced by neoliberalism and many were convinced her policies mixed with her harsh character further dvivded the country and economy over her eleven years in power.
 * Tony Blair - Blair was the longest serving prime minister and attempted to bring the Labour Party to the middle rather than on the left.
 * The cabinet is the central decision making body in the British government.
 * The Prime Minister functions as a member of the cabinet, rather than as the leader of the group, but possesses the power to appoint and dismiss ministers.
 * Ministers in the cabinet are the highest ranking of the government and most ministries have one or more Cabinet members at their head.
 * The cabinet meets as a whole and in smaller groups in which the ministers can discuss relevant issues they share in common.
 * The Prime Minister arranges who will be on the committees.
 * The Prime Minister chairs the meetings, sets the agenda, decides who will speak, and sums up at the end of each meeting which allows the discussion to become government policy.
 * Passing Legislation
 * New laws are usually begin in the form of public bills.
 * Public bills are are introduced by government ministers and result in a change to the general law.
 * Public bills can originate in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords.
 * However, laws discussing new taxation policies as well as those of controversial political nature must be introduced in the House of Commons.
 * The bill must first undergo a first and second reading where the government minister presents the bill.
 * The views of the Opposition and party heads are then heard and then it is voted on and almost always passes on to the committee stage even though the oppostion usually votes against it.
 * Bills that have been passed are then referred to a standing committee in order to be examined further.
 * 16 to 20 members of parliament sit on a standing committee which is chaired by a member of the Chairmen's Panel who only votes in the event of a tie.
 * After the committee stage, that committee that has examined the bill must report its decisions to the whole House within two weeks in order for the remaining members of the House to be able to propse clauses or amendments.
 * During the third reading, the final draft is reviewed.
 * In the House of Commons the bill cannot be amended after the bill has reached the third reading, but in the House of Lords it can be amended.
 * After the third reading, the bill is sent to the other House, where the same procedure is repeated.
 * Bills can be amended at this stage, however, both Houses must agree on them.
 * The bill passing procedure can be lengthy and due to time limits some legislation is lost completely.
 * Role
 * House of Commons
 * powers to pass laws, provide finance, scrutinize public administration and government policy
 * House of Lords
 * powers to delay legislature from passing and recommend revisions
 * Relationship to the Executive
 * Due to the requirement that cabinet members and the prime minister must be members of Parliament, the executive overlaps with legislature.
 * The power of the prime minister is limited on whether or not he possesses a majority in Parliament, because he will lose support and the position.
 * A vote of no confidence can also rid the prime minister of his position.
 * Constitutional tradition allows police and military officers little possibly of being under political influence.
 * The role of the military has created little controversy.
 * Bristish military policy focuses mostly on NATO commitments.
 * Since the 1980s, the police have witnesses increased centralization, government control, and political use.
 * Police have been used to quell labor strikes.
 * Most questions focusing on police/community relationships, such as race relations, corruption, and interrogation and treatment of those in custody.
 * Britain is unique among the five other countries because:
 * It is the only one possessing a true parliamentary system.
 * It is the only one without a formal, written constitution.
 * It possesses a cabinet government.
 * It employs fusion of powers between its legislature, executive, and judicial branches.
 * Britain is similar because:
 * It possesses a single executive similar to Mexico and Nigeria, while Russia and China have dual executives.
 * It's bicameral legislature is comparable to Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia who all have two bodies in their legislature.
 * Britain is deemed a free state by Freedom House with a high level of democracy.
 * It has received a political rights rating of 1 and civil liberities rating of 1.
 * However, it lacks a truly independent judiciary, proper checks and balances, and few separation of powers.
 * There exists freedom of press, assembly, religion (even though there is an official state religion) & speech, universal suffrage, low corruption, and a new Supreme Court as of 2009.
 * Britain was founded on traditional legitimacy with the monarch being a hereditary leader.
 * Presently, Britain possesses rational-legal legitimacy.
 * The government functions under rule of law, consitutional precedent, and common law.
 * The Prime Minister is expected to call elections of parliament after five years and will resign if he or she becomes unpopular allowing citizens to trust the government.
 * Britain is ranked number 20 with a score of 7.6 on the CPI scale of Transparency International.
 * Among citizens, many believe corruption is on the rise in the U.K. within parties and Parliament.
 * It is evicent through a national poll through Transparency International that few know where to report corruption if uncovered.
 * However, despite the poll, there is a negligible level of bribe paying.
 * Many do not trust the government to fight corruption if it emerged.
 * The largest level of concern of corruption in the U.K. deals with important businessmen donating large sums of money to a party and receiving a seat in the House of Lords as a life peer.

__Great Britain Pd. 3 Table of Contents__