University Degree: UK Government & Parliamentary Studies

How revolutionary was Thatcherism?

Victorian politics, which is the judgement of one political scientist who claims that 'Thatcherism can be explained as a reassertion of nineteenth-century liberalism'3. By taking the party further to the right, the Victorian attitudes of laissez-faire and the distinction between deserving and undeserving poor were perhaps inevitably going to be reinstated, which is clear by the way that the idea that the state should provide from cradle to the grave was so readily rejected by Thatcher. This was a huge ideological change, arguably the greatest, to conservative principles in post-war politics as it heralded a reduced commitment to the welfare state and individualism was once again a major aspect of Tory ideals.

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Article review. The overall topic of the article Politics and the Media: A Crisis of Trust? is the crisis of trust that was created by misleading information, which came from both the media and Downing Street reports.

Recent controversial political communication, like the dossier published by UK government on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction led him to write this article. He is not the only one that treated this subject with grate attention, also James Humphreys treats this subject with great interest in his article 'The Iraqi Dossier and the Meaning of Spin'. The articles main points are related in a chronological fashion, starting before the Iraq with 'The Propaganda Battle' where author makes an argument based on polls, which emphasizes the fact that even though many efforts were made by the government to peruse the public

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The purpose of the study is to examine how electoral behavior is affected during elections based on one of the long term factors of voting: focusing on the voters party identification. In this case, it contributes to the study of turnout decline and re

and this can reflect what the electoral activity is like currently to us. In the proposal, I shall be suggesting a Theory Political identity in this research proposal focuses mostly on how results during elections are affected by that factor. In recent methods used for the studies of measuring party identification, they seem to lose the differentiation from those that are considered to be identifiers and non identifiers during surveys. The decline in turnout also raises the point in the decline in political identity thus shows correlation. In order for voters to catch up with events during election periods, Heath expresses that 'non identifiers are more strongly influenced by political context than strong

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How might the electoral system be restructured in order to reflect more accurately the views of UK citizens?

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UK Voting Behaviour

If the method of measuring voting behaviour of class has any credibility, the Conservatives would have been out of power for the whole of this time. In reality, time in government was evenly distributed between the Labour and Conservative Parties. Some records from this period did in fact show that more than a third of the working classes voted Conservative. It is the theory of embourgeoisement that attempts to explain the phenomenon of the working class Conservative. It is the idea that it is due to factors such as rising wage levels and living standards that the working classes started to employ more middle class behaviour, such as voting Conservative.

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Evaluate the responsibilities of the different levels of government in the UK and explain the electoral process.

There are few prohibitions on candidacy but a potential candidate must be at least twenty-one years old, a British citizen and have their name on the electoral register. Those who may not stand include members of the House of Lords, those with criminal convictions of a certain nature, those of unsound mind, and certain clergymen. These rules also apply to those eligible to vote. Each application must be accompanied by a deposit of �500 which is returnable if the candidate achieves five percent of the votes cast.

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What is a constitution? Does the UK have one?

Even Finer's aforesaid definition of constitutions shows that constitutions act to limit power, as the 'allocation of functions, powers and duties' is argued by Vernon Bogdanor to also mean "ipso facto, to limit powers."4 Thus, an important aspect of defining a constitution would be to include its basic purpose of limiting government power. Bogdanor further points out, however, that when the Founding Fathers developed the American constitution, they had not one but two aims. These aims included the structuring of government which would serve to limit government power, thus protecting the people from tyranny, as well as protecting the people

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Oats Reader Report

Burr was soon captured and brought to justice in Richmond, Virginia. Overall, the death of Hamilton left his creation of the National Bank and his Federalist Party to their slow destructions. 15 - The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion - By Stephen Oates In 1831, one of the most violent slave revolts was led by man named Nat Turner. This slave rebellion turned out to be the bloodiest slave revolt in American history, causing fear throughout the southern states. Turner created slave support for this rebellion by using his religious visions, religious signs, and speaking abilities.

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What are the advantages and disadvantages of different electoral systems?

The system also means that a party with country wide support, but no focused local support can miss out on seats (The "third party effect" (Heywood, 2007)). Countries which use FPTP usually end up as a two party state, for example the domination of the Republicans and Democrats in America, the Conservatives and Labour in the UK, etc. While many of these issues might seem trivial, they can have profound political and cultural effects, take for example the Northern Irish House of Commons, which from 1929 onwards, was elected using the First Past the Post system, giving the Ulster Unionist

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To what extent is social class important in understanding 'political choice in Britain'?

One political theorist notes: " (1) 'Two broad theoretical families have dominated the analysis of electoral behaviour: positional theories, which emphasise voters' social locations, long-term ideologies and loyalties; and valence theories, which explain the voting decision in terms of (usually) short-term judgements of government competence and performance' I would agree with this statement, and would back it up by saying that in terms of geography of voters, there are clearly-defined places where each political party recieves a majority of votes, and this is a reflection on social class rather than geography dictating who a person votes for.

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Is a written constitution more democratic then an unwritten constitution

argue that formal constitutions are extremely important because they entail all the 'procedural rules of a political system.'iii The constitution also acts as a reminder of political values and forms a limitation upon politicians and civil servants. The United States of America has a written, codified constitution and has done so since after the American Revolution. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law; it builds the structure for the United States Government and appoints power within it; it's the 'source of legitimate governmental authority.'iv The biggest advantage of having a codified constitution is its clarity.

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To what extent has the social and economic context of British politics changed since 1945?

Employment has always been an economic problem for governments in the UK. Between the 1940's and 1970's unemployment was at a low rate and this period has become known as the era of 'full employment' (B. Jones, et al. 2007. p.70). Following this however came period of high unemployment, which started to grow in the early 1970's until it reached a peak of 3.1 million in the mid eighties. Since then it has declined again and at the turn of the century we where back to a period of 'full employment'.

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Why is there less concern today about the influence of top civil servants in the policy process?

This was to happen to the extent that the two would be seen as almost one person or an 'organic unit' (Foster, C. D. (2000). This is where concern first came from because people started to question senior civil servants role as policy advisers. The worry was that top civil servants had so much influence they could potentially be making policy. This started the change in influence which top civil servants possessed. At the start of the seventies the relationship between top civil servants and minsters remained one of fusion but civil servants had the slight upper hand because of their permanence.

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Evaluate the role of the Monarchy in the UK, and outline, in turn, the arguments for the status quo, reform and abolition of the Monarchy

The state as in most countries today is ruled on the basis of a democracy. In a sense, Democracy gives people power. As highlighted in a phrase by Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government, "of the people, by the people, and for the people". Leach et al (2006:6) When Queen Elizabeth's great ancestors were Monarch they had a considerable amount of power in their hands. It was accepted that God had rightfully chosen the head of state to govern, so their authority could not be questioned.

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To what extent does social class continue to affect voting behaviour in Britain?

Examining the report written in 2000 about social class and voting trends produced by Robert Andersen and Anthony Heath, they put forward the view; "Despite debate over whether observed changes in class voting are generated by long-run social processes or by short-term political events, there is general agreement that class voting still persists to some degree in Britain."4 They went on to say, that "There is clear evidence of the familiar pattern of class voting in Britain where the working class favours the Labour Party and the salariat favour the Conservative Party"5.

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To what extent does social class continue to affect voting behaviour in Britain?

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Book Review on Sabine Wichert's "Northern Ireland since 1945"

It clearly comes out that the main reason for the disagreement was about the fact that people were unsettled about who should reign the state. Moreover people did less care about how they wanted to be ruled, although this was another issue influencing the disparity. Wichert's book is divided into three parts, dependent on a chronological order. It starts with an explanation of the origins of Northern Ireland's problem, getting to modernisation boundaries and finally to the uncovered problem. The main topic areas are also subdivided into eight chapters.

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A written constitution means 'rule by the dead'. Examine this with reference to Bunreacht na hEireann.

When Bunreacht na hEireann was written in 1937, it was a constitution which reflected the society of that time and their beliefs. For example, it placed a special emphasis on the role of the Catholic Church in the state, even granting it a 'special position' within the constitution. The national territory of the island, according to Article 2 was said to consist of "the whole island of Ireland, its islands and its territorial seas." It is now obvious to us that these Articles are not acceptable in today's society.

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Prevelance of smoking and the social approach to health

of 1 area of the group, which was the semi routine occupations group and again the remaining two sub categories both showed decreases. The group which shows the highest percentage of cigarette smokers throughout both time periods and both sexes and therefore stands out substantially is the routine and manual group. To exemplify this point further, for the period 2004/05, 97% of men and 89% of women were cigarette smokers as oppose to 57% men and 44% of women in the managerial and professional classification, and 51% of men and 42% of women in the intermediate classification.

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How democratis is britain?

An elected assembly in the House of Commons, which through the party system produces a prime minister. The parties range more than one giving citizens a choice3. Who are fee to air their views, in return, periodically the electorate can hold them to account. The press is free from state control and so are pressure and interest groups. Citizens have the right to protest, as well as to free speech will minimal constraints. Further recent reforms under Labour have strengthened her democratic zeal: such as the incorporation of the Human Rights Act into British law4, the abolishment of most hereditary peerages5, a de-centralisation of power through devolved assemblies where a proportional electoral system has been introduced, as well as inroads into a more deliberative democratic process6.

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Welfare and the state

To Chadwick's logical mind the solution was clear: simply reverse the syllogism.' (D. Fraser, 1984, p44) thus accruing the need for change. The 1834 Victorian poor law saw a change to which a vast majority of moral expectations disappear and the relief of poverty was regulated by law. Earl Grey was the prime minister in1883 and it was in this period that he set up the poor law commission in order for him to carefully study the working of the poor law system in Britain.

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Parliament - HRA, length of parliaments and treaties

Finally, the above legislation, practically, cannot be an entrenchment since it is not unchangeable. As mentioned no Parliament can bind its successors thus the Human Rights Act cannot be entrenched for ever. Furthermore, since the U.K has not a written constitution, it is impossible to entrench any Act. (b) In 1716, Parliament passed the Septelinian Act extending its own life from 3 to 7 years to avoid the effects of an election. Under the Parliament Act 1911, Parliament is to be elected for only five years and no Parliament can lawfully extend its life.

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Essay House of Lords

For example, the legislative passage of 150 conservative bills which successfully passed through the Commons on the basis of Thatcher's strong government majority where held up by the Lords. In fact, Thatcher called the Lords the 'real opposition'. This shows that the Lords can act as a powerful check on government, particularly in cases where the government have strong majorities and the Commons are unable to effectively scrutinise legislation due to party restraints on ministerial independence. In this sense the House of Lords has an important scrutinising role to play, particularly in an era where the executive is becoming more dominant.

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How valid is the view that "the reign of achieved nothing of significance for Russia"

This was impractical because many could not support themselves and their families on what they cultivated, let alone pay the government taxes. Ironically many were far worse off after emancipation than they had been before. Emancipation not only failed the peasants, it angered the nobility as it took their power away, leading to bitter criticism of the Tsar concerning injustice in land allocation and compensation for land owners. Further, it led to hostility towards the government on the part of intellectuals and philosophers.

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