Why might local government in Britain be described as 'something of a mess'?
Why might local government in Britain might be described as 'something of a mess'? In 1997 election Labours manifesto promised that local decision-making would be 'less constrained by central government' then it had been under the conservatives. Labour also stated local government would have more room for manoeuvre that it had done in the past. But did this allow local government to become more organised, and to better run there constituencies? I will be finding out if Labours policies such as the beacon councils reward program and the 1998 white paper have made the local government more or less of 'a mess'. In 1997 Labour won government by a landslide, one of their manifesto pledges was that not only would Labour cut a lot of the red tape between central and local government, meaning it would have more in the way of decision making, but also to have more room for manoeuvre then it had under the conservatives. This was emphasised by the then minister for local government Hillary Armstrong in June of 1997. However no earlier then this was said Tony Blair gave a stark warning to local governments saying that 'The government will not hesitate to intervene directly' and 'If necessary, it will look at other authorities and agencies to take on duties. The government as part of its White paper on modern local government released in July 1998, setup a new rewards program for local
The Beveridge Report was merely a re-working of old ideas. How far do you agree with this view considering the changing treatment of the poor 1834-1948?
The Beveridge Report was merely a re-working of old ideas. How far do you agree with this view considering the changing treatment of the poor 1834-1948? In June 1941 William Beveridge was appointed to the chair of a special committee convened to assess existing social insurance schemes and make recommendations for improvements that could be implemented after the war. Beveridge, in fact, eventually exceeded his brief and produced a comprehensive national programme for social reform. Within his report Beveridge identified want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness as five 'giants' which obstructed social progress and then proposed an interlocking matrix of strategies through which these could be overcome. Despite its great length his report was an immediate best seller and was received by the public 'as a new gospel.' This essay will trace the development of the concepts that the Beverage Report encapsulated and assess whether the proposals of his report were genuinely revolutionary or simply existing ideas that his committee had restructured. The foremost giant identified in the Beveridge Report was 'want'. He maintained that no British citizen should ever again find themselves in a position of serious need. In 1834 the dominant attitude was that everyone, no matter how humble, could lift themselves and their families to a position of prosperity and that any help
The Labour Party's success following their election
The Labour Party's success following their election One can see that support for the Liberal party in industrial areas collapsed. Mining districts provided 39 of the 86 London gains for Labour in the 1922 General Election, while 28 more came from Glasgow, Greater London, Tyneside, the Clyde and Sheffield. Glasgow returns provided the most remarkable result, with labour taking ten of the seats it contested, usually on large swings. Mining areas certainly helped the overall growth of the party's popularity in the polls - the Labour vote rose from 22.2 per cent in the 1918 'coupon' election to 29.4 per cent in 1922. Yet, the seats where Labour lost heavily in 1922 came in two main categories: agricultural seats, especially in the South Midlands, together with the textile districts of East Lancashire and West Yorkshire. This demonstrates the fact that the party still had a way to go before it appealed to all sections of the population, but this weakness was overshadowed by the dramatic gains made in industrial regions in 1922. It was no longer a relatively ineffective and insecurely based force - the votes gained meant that Labour now held the position of a vigorous and determined opposition. The Labour Party was also able to gradually replace the Liberals as a major party through to their own changing measures as an institution. There was the gradual disassociation of
Finance & Public Expenditure - A case study
Introduction Devolution is a constitutional change that allows the organisation of independent government in regions where they consider themselves to have a national identity in the absence of transferring legal sovereignty. In the case of the United Kingdom, the establishment of the Scottish Parliament as well as the National Assembly in Wales has lead to the creation of English identity at the expense of the British identity. (Condor, 2006) In the process, the English and British citizenship were established in order to identify the social inclusion of each society. As an after effect of the constitutional change in the UK, the distribution of revenue throughout the regional and territorial government in relation to its corresponding public expenditure was greatly affected. (McLean, 2003) In order to minimise and prevent an unfair distribution of UK revenue among the English and British territories such as the Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the need to examine the Barnett and the traditional Goschen formula used in the allocation of money to its corresponding territories arises. In line with the increasing concern over the use of Barnett and Goschen formulae in the UK, the researcher will first conduct an in-depth analytical study on the budgetary, financial arrangements, and public expenditure of Scotland including the impact of devolution over its finances. In
Account for the decline of communism in Italy and France since the 1970s
Account for the decline of communism in Italy and France since the 1970s Communist parties in Western Europe have gone through a period of steep decline since the 1970s. The most obvious area of this decline has been in electoral support. It is here that the communist parties of France and Italy stand out from their fellow parties in Europe. The communist parties in these two countries were exceptions to the rule that the communist parties had not been significant electorally. It has been since the 1970s that their political relevance has been severely threatened. The reduction of support in all areas has been the cause of some communist parties too collapse and others too look to coalitions for any form of political sway. In this essay I intend to investigate into how and why the communist parties of France and Italy that had, had so much political significance in comparison to other communist parties in Europe entered into such long period of decline. Communism in France and Italy has been faced with very similar challenges and both their success and failings have been remarkably similar. The Italian Communist party (PCI) and the French Communist Party (PCF) began to decline at the same time as they both experienced a decrease in electoral support. This can be said to be the fault of the social changes that the two countries were going through in
Russian March Revolution.
March Revolution Causes:- Long Term o The Tzar's deliberate flouting of his 1905 promises o Stolypin's Reforms - increases awareness among the people and made them demand for more freedom. o Increasing influence of Rasputin o Oppositional parties critical to the Tzar were increasing & reviving. * Offered the Peasants something better. o Autocracy - nearby Europe transformed into liberalism & republicanism. o The Tzar was a weak man * Easily influenced by his officers * Did not actually witness the People's Hardships (Only read it on paper) Short Term o The Tzar expected World War 1 to be a quick and resounding victory for the Russians which would restore the people's faith in the government o Series of Defeats o Mass Desertions o Tzar made a mistake in appointing himself Commander in Chief. * Not a good military leader * People could now blame the Tzar personally * Left control to Alexandra, his wife * Under the influence of Rasputin * Rumored to have supported Germany. * Unpopular o War lasted till 1918 - 9 million People Died o The war was straining a badly integrated economy, exposing the weak spots of agriculture, industry & transport system o Food and fuel shortages * Lack of trains * The cold caused trains boilers bursting. o The winter of 1917 was exceptionally cold o No supports from the Army & police (Cossacks open fire) o No support
Winston Churchill: A British Statesman.
Winston Churchill: A British Statesman Bobby Sullivan POLS 4000 Dr. Conradt 30 July 2004 Winston Churchill: A British Statesman Political scientists have always been extremely fascinated with the inner workings and sources of political drive within world leaders. Dr. James Barber departed from the psychoanalytic approach and devised a framework of his own. Barber uses a different approach to classify a leader; he begins with the person in office and works backward. Barber places utmost importance on the leader's personal effort and his/her attitude towards that effort. The relationship between the two aspects is what Barber relies on to make his classification. According to Barber, there are four types of leaders active-positive, active-negative, passive-positive, and passive-negative. Barber Framework The four different classifications in Barber's framework are based on the personality and attitude of the leader. The active-positive group is well balanced and achievement oriented. They are extremely active in the everyday functions of the office and have an optimistic world view. The second group, active-negative leaders, is similar to the active-positive leaders in that they are active and goal oriented but they have a second agenda. They are working for the people, but they do so in order to fill a void in themselves, not in the service of man. The
Prevelance of smoking and the social approach to health
Part (a) Summarise what the information in Table 1 tells us about the prevalence of cigarette smoking amongst different parts of the population of Great Britain. The evidence from Table 1 illustrates that for all people, regardless of socio-economic groupings, cigarette smoking is prevalent in men rather than women and this was the case for both time periods in question, however the differences are very small. For example just 2% more men smoked than women in 2001/02 and in 2004/05 the difference was 3%; however it should also be noted that over these time periods cigarette smoking for both men and women decreased from the figures shown in 2001/02 to those in 2004\05. This pattern was the same for 4 out of 6 of the socio-economic groups; they all showed decreased rates of between 4% and 10%. The managerial and professional group for men stayed at 57% at both time stages, although when this group is broken down further the increase is only true in 1 of the 3 areas covered by the overall group which was large employers and higher managerial occupations group, the other 2 areas both showed decreases. The second socio-economic group that showed an overall increase in 2004/04 from 2001/02 was the routine and manual group, which rose by 3%, but again when broken down the increase was only true of 1 area of the group, which was the semi routine occupations group and again the
What happens when a state becomes totalitarian?
What happens when a state becomes totalitarian? To discuss this in a rounded way we must first identify and understand what it means to take a state from one element of power such as a democracy or a monarchy and transform the way in which ideas are implemented. This is done through the passing of laws, campaigns of oppression and crimes against the people of the state to form a totalitarian society where fear and oppression is the key. The most concise example of this form of government has to be the National Socialism (Nazism) doctrines of the 20th century under Adolf Hitler. The way in which he distorted the way people thought and lived and the absolute power he exulted resulted in the genocide of millions of Jews and formed the first part of his view that the Jews were to blame for the problems of the country. This ideology forms part of the totalitarian viewpoint with a scapegoat being to blame for the problems caused by poor government. With the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, it effectively deprived Jews of German Citizenship, denied the rights of basic human nature and the denied right to associate or marry 'Aryan' citizens. Their personal liberty was restricted and their personal safety wholly unstable. Jews were blamed for the poor state of the German economy, with the rise of Nazism coming as it did during the Depression and as it did after German defeat in the Great War
How can we understand the rise of the SNP in Scotland? This essay is focused on proving that rational choice theory is the approach that best explains the rise of the Scottish Nationalist Party in Scotland.
Abstract This essay is focused on proving that rational choice theory is the approach that best explains the rise of the Scottish Nationalist Party in Scotland. In order to prove this claim this essay divides the rise of Scottish Nationalism into three distinct periods and then assesses how comprehensively rational choice theory, structuralism, and culturalism explain each period. The essay goes on to conclude that whilst a synthesis of the three approaches is most appropriate for understand the rise of the SNP in Scotland, the sole approach that most extensively explains the rise of the SNP is the rational choice theory. Student number - 110118471 Which of the three explanations of nationalism best explains the rise of the Scottish Nationalist Party in Scotland? With the competing explanations of nationalism we see on one hand approaches which are methodologically holistic, focusing on structures and cultures, marginalizing the actions of individuals. On the other hand we have methodologically idealistic approaches, centering their theses on the ability of rational individuals to mould their future. Whilst there is much overlapping between a number of theories on the topic of nationalism, the three approaches that shall be assessed are rational choice theory, culturalism, and structuralism. In order to assess the value of the three schools of thought, I will firstly
