Comparative Politics page

Great Britain

POLS xxx: Comparative Politics
College of Your Choice
Fall 2006
Instructor: Dr. Andrew Clem

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British flag Britain map
 
Key facts:
FORM OF GOVERNMENT & STATE:Parliamentary monarchy
NATIONAL LEADER:Prime Minister Tony Blair (since 1997)
ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE:Unitary
FOUNDING OF CURRENT REGIME:1688
STATUS OF DEMOCRACY:Established
POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEM:Institutionalized, 2 major parties
POPULATION:59 million
LEVEL OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:Post-industrial (Services = 66% of GDP)
PER CAPITA GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT:$20,520
 
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Political parties:
Name Labour Liberal Democratic Other Conservative
Leader Tony Blair
Seats in
lower house		 419 46 28 165
Pre-World War II chronology:
  1200- 1300- 1400- 1500- 1600- 1700- 1800- 1900-
KEY LEADERS John     Henry VIII, Elizabeth Cromwell, William & Mary George III Palmerston, Disraeli, Gladstone Churchill
MAJOR
EVENTS		 Magna Carta     Spanish Armada, Reformation Civil War, Glorious Revolution Enclosure movement, American Revolution Global Empire, Industrial Revolution Depression, World Wars I & II
Post-World War II chronology:
  1945 1950- 1955- 1960- 1965- 1970- 1975- 1980- 1985- 1990- 1995- 2000-
PRIME
MINISTER		 Attlee Churchill # MacMillan # Wilson Heath # Callaghan Thatcher Major Blair
MAJOR
EVENTS		 Nationalization Suez Beatles N.Ireland Privatization Maastricht (EU)  
NOTES: "#" = Interim leader of short duration (name omitted). Leader's terms are "rounded" to the nearest half-decade.

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Subject details
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Culture:

Economy:

Government:

Representation:

  • Religion: Anglican 43.5%, Catholic 9.8%
  • Ethnicity: 84.5% Anglo-Saxon; 9.6% Scots*, 1.9% Welsh*, 2.4% Irish* (*=Celts); 2.8% immigrants.
  • Heritage of free "yeomen" farmers encouraged democracy.
  • "Money-grubbing" middle class gained power from nobility.
  • Literature: Shakespeare, William Blake, Lord Byron, Jane Austen, Rudyard Kipling
  • Industrialization: textiles and machinery exports
  • Adam Smith & David Ricardo: Classical economic liberals
  • Trade unionism, Fabian socialism
  • Keynesian state intervention to cure boom & bust "disease"
  • Nationalization vs. privatization tug of war
  • "Parliamentary sovereignty" -- Westminster regime evolved gradually.
  • Unitary structure of state vs. regionalism
  • Cabinet government depends on party discipline; "no confidence?"
  • Strong role of Parliamentary committees; MPs specialize
  • Professional bureaucracy, servants of the Crown
  • Prime Minister is chosen by MPs, not by individual voters.
  • House of Commons (659 MPs): elected from single-member districts
  • Loyalty of young "backbenchers" is no longer assured.
  • House of Lords (~1,200 "peers," bishops, etc.) is weak.
CHALLENGE: Identify which other countries are similar to Britain in terms of each of the above categories.

Current issues:

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