- Join over 1.2 million students every month
- Accelerate your learning by 29%
- Unlimited access for just £4.99 per month
If social class no longer determines party allegiance in the UK, what does?
The first 200 words of this essay...
If social class no longer determines party allegiance in the UK, what does?
In the 1950s and 1960s the British electorate was described as aligned. The two most significant types of alignment were partisan and class alignment. As a result, the electorate in those two decades was seen as a stable two-party system. The Conservatives and Labour controlled the government and electoral changes in the United Kingdom were small and slow. However, since the 1970s we could observe a serious change. The electorate was not stable any more and changes were much faster and more sudden. The Conservatives and Labour did not dominate the party system any more. At first the Liberals began to get stronger, then the Liberal and Social Democratic Party alliance, and finally the Liberal Democrats. Besides, in Scotland and Wales nationalist parties started being important players. Since then single-party government has not always been possible to be achieved and parties have sometimes had to form coalitions (e.g. a Labour and Liberal coalition in the late 1970s or the Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition now). This whole trend that has been happening since the 1970s is called dealignment, which is weakening of previous alignment, e.g.
Found what you're looking for?
- Start learning 29% faster today
- Over 150,000 essays available
- Just £4.99 a month
Not the one? We have 100's more
UK Government & Parliamentary Studies (view all)
- The Beveridge report and the formation of the Welfare State.
- The main achievements of the new Labour Government.
- Is it true to say that the British parliament is no longer t...
- Evaluate the development of social policy in the area of Hou...
- “What are the sources of bureaucratic power?...
- The Beveridge report and the formation of the Welfare State.
- Does the Media have too much political power in Britain?
- Does Northern Ireland need some kind of truth recovery proce...
- British European Security Essay. COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE D...
- What factors determine the influence of promotional interest...