Politics and Parliament - What's it all about?

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Neel Joshi        Tutorial Politics Assignment

Politics and Parliament – What’s it all about?

Introduction

Parliament, legislative or deliberative assembly. The original idea of parliament was of a place where talking took place. The name derives from the French verb parler—to talk. In practice, talking is only one, and now not necessarily the most important, of the functions which parliaments perform. The terms used to describe parliament also vary: congress, legislature, and assembly being among the more common.

Origins

The roots of parliaments are many and diverse. The oldest surviving parliament is generally regarded as being the Althing in Iceland, but a break in its function in the 19th century means that the longest continuous parliament is the Tynwald of the Isle of Man. Among the oldest is the British Parliament, which has probably been the most influential in developing the traditions of parliamentary government. Its roots lie with the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot and the advisory council of the Norman kings, the Curia Regis. As a recognizable parliament, however, it goes back at least to the mid-13th century.

Development

Parliaments in England were called originally because monarchs needed help with raising money. The tradition quickly developed that before any taxation was agreed, grievances would be presented; not surprisingly, monarchs tried to manage without parliaments when they could. By the early 17th century the English Parliament had embarked on a struggle for supremacy with the Crown. The English Civil War was the result. A further struggle between Crown and Parliament was required later in the century to resolve the dispute fully. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689 it became clear that monarchs ruled with the assent of Parliament, and power gradually passed from the monarch to ministers responsible to Parliament, though in an age of limited franchise and with no secret ballot the monarch was able to have a substantial influence on the outcome of elections. In the course of the 18th and 19th centuries the power of the monarch waned and Parliament became accepted as the sovereign body.

Types

Parliaments in the modern world fall into a variety of categories. Some are involved in policy-making, as with the Congress of the United States; others are policy-influencing bodies, as with the parliaments in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. In some countries the parliament may be essentially decorative, a rubber-stamping body with no independent existence. This was commonly the role performed by parliaments in communist systems, as with the Supreme Soviet in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics prior to the collapse of that state, and is currently the case with the world's largest parliament, the National People's Congress in China (though that body has recently been exhibiting greater autonomy).

Functions

Modern parliaments perform a variety of roles. Apart from the original idea of talking, it is usual for parliaments to be involved in law-making, in controlling the raising and spending of money, in representing in some sense the population of the country concerned, and possibly in influencing the composition of the government. In many parliamentary systems, the government is formed by elections to the legislature. Normally ministers sit in the parliament but in some cases, such as France under the Fifth Republic, they are debarred from doing so.

Spread of Parliamentary Government

The great majority of the countries of the world have a parliament. One of the by-products of Western influence in other parts of the world has been the spread of the idea of parliamentary government, though some non-Western states had their own assemblies in pre-colonial times. This was particularly true of the British Commonwealth. One of the legacies of British rule was a belief in the value of parliamentary government. Many parts of the Commonwealth proved fertile ground for these ideas. Countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have long operated parliamentary government in the traditional style. India has also shown itself capable of operating a parliamentary system and can lay claim to being the world's largest parliamentary democracy; its lower house, the Lok Sabha, having the largest electorate for a genuine parliament. Next door in Pakistan, however, the experience with parliaments has been less happy and more frequently disrupted. This suggests that for developing countries there are difficulties in operating parliamentary government in the face of one-party rule or military dictatorship. The tradition of debate and disagreement which is central to full-blown parliamentary democracy may prove difficult in some countries and in some cultures.

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The British Parliament

Having established its superiority over the monarch, Parliament found its position threatened in the 19th century from another quarter. The growth of the idea of democracy led to the development of disciplined parties in Parliament, particularly in the House of Commons, which seemed to threaten the idealized notion of parliaments as assemblies of free and independent members. Growth of parties allied to the expansion of government activity and the increased complexity of business has meant that the 20th century has seen power in the United Kingdom and in many other political systems pass to the executive ...

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