Chapter 4: Great Britain

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Chapter 4Great Britain
the incubator of liberal democracy
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• gradualism
• collectivist consensus
• mixed economy
• welfare state

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Time Line of Political Development
1215 King John forced to sign Magna Carta
1295 first representative Parliament convened
1529 Henry VIII convened Reformation Parliament, began process of cutting ties to Roman Catholic church
1628 Charles I forced to accept Petition of Right, Parliaments statement of civil rights
1642-48 English Civil War Royalists vs. Parliamentarians
1649 Charles I tried and executed
1689 Parliament issues bill of rights establishing constitutional monarchy
1707 Act of Union united kingdoms of England and Scotland
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Time Line of Political Development
1721 Sir Robert Walpole Britains first PM
1832-67 Reform Act passed, extending vote to all urban males
1900 Labour Party founded
1916-22 Anglo-Irish War establishment of Republic of Ireland
1973 UK made a member of European Economic Community (now the EU)
1979-90 Margaret Thatcher PM
1982 Falklands War
1997 Tony Blair PM
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Essential Political Features

• Legislative-executive system parliamentary
• Legislature Parliament
• Lower House House of Commons
• Upper House House of Lords
• Unitary power system
• geographic subunits England, Scotland, Wales,
  Northern Ireland
• electoral system for lower house plurality
• chief Judicial body House of Lords

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• Great Britain one of the worlds great powers
  for five centuries
• permanent seat on UN Security Council
• its world position has been in decline for more
  than a century
• important historical role how democracies develop

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4 themes that set UK apart from other democracies

• gradualism
• 20th century economic decline
• conservative redefinition
• New Labour redefinition

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• United Kingdom Great Britain and Northern
  Ireland
• crowded, urban
• regional and religious differences
• racial diversity

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the welfare state

• guarantees basic health care, education, pension
• highest rate of economic growth
• unemployment rate among lowest
• lower standard of living
• remnants of social class distinctions

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Evolution of the British State

• Great Britain emerged from 4 great
  transformations with rough consensus
• Compare France and Germany
• one divisive issue class
• maintained legitimacy with no written constitution

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British History Highlights

• 1215 Magna Carta
• over next 4 centuries, England coalesced in a
  very loose, decentralized state
• by 16th-17th century, broad contours of state and
  concept of government in place
• Reformation, Restoration and revolutions less
  traumatic than on continent
• Royal prerogatives gradually disappeared

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• 19th century
• rise of capitalism
• Industrial Revolution
• exploitation of workers, political power
  monopolized by elite
• Great Reform Act, 1832 ? Second Reform Act 1867
  expansion of electorate

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• first modern political parties parliamentary
  leaders who needed support from newly
  enfranchised voters
• Conservative National Union
• National Liberal Foundation
• 1911 House of Lords lost remaining power final
  step in evolution of British Parliamentary
  democracy

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• lasting party challenge for Great Britain
  division of support for Labour and Conservative
  parties along class lines
• 1926 Trades Union Congress (TUC) general strike
• 20s- 30s Labour Party became main competition
  for Conservatives
• no party had clear majority in Parliament
• liberal (free market) wing of Conservative Party
  discredited
• rise of Tory politicians greater willingness to
  consider government as solution

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The Collectivist Consensus the golden era of
British politics

• 1945 mid 1970s
• both parties agreed on policy goals
• full employment
• guarantee of at least subsistence-level living
  conditions
• cooperation with labor unions
• government intervention to promote/secure
  economic growth

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• World War II catalyst for collectivist consensus
• Winston Churchill became PM
• headed all-party coalition
• Beveridge Report proposed overhaul of social
  service system

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effect of Cold War

• reform surge over by 49
• Socialist parties lost momentum
• recovery underway
• popular support for Labour began to wane
• Conservatives returned to office
• retained the welfare state
• continuing electoral division along class lines
  but without great ideological conflict

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• height of collectivist consensus 1959
• came to an end because the two conditions that
  made it possible ceased to exist
• steady economic growth
• absence of deeply divisive issues

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British Political Culture

• civic culture virtually unanimous agreement that
  the political system, based on parliamentary
  sovereignty and cabinet rule, is legitimate
• political efficacy
• patriotic but not jingoistic

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the politics of protest

• 1970s- more reservations about the collectivist
  consensus
• dissatisfaction, confrontation
• Northern Ireland
• racism
• unions
• anti-nuclear, anti-war

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• effects of protest on British political culture
• created far more polarized political system
• Left capitalists were exploiting the working
  class
• Right socialists, unionists, feminists and
  minorities
• were undermining traditional values
• led eventually to confrontation fatigue

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• resolution
• Thatcher government met strikers head on
• Economic recovery in 90s
• PMs strong stand against the left

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will there always be a Britain?

• decline of identification with Britain
• regional parliaments
• monarch important but tainted symbol
• involvement in EU undermines British national
  identity
• euroskepticism

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political participation

• in past century, participation mostly through
  moderate parties and interest groups
• 1970s economic crisis ? change in parties
• deep divisions in both Labour and Conservatives ?
  drift in both toward ideological extremes
• extremism was a passing phenomenon
• now, prevalence of catch-all parties

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The Conservatives Tories

• seen as natural party of government
• in office for 2/3 of time since World War II
• defeated in three most recent elections
• inability to chart new course ? consigned to
  extended period in opposition
• Labours proposal to introduce proportional
  representation would make it even more difficult
  for Tories to regain majority

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• reasons for success
• (1) most leaders were pragmatic politicians
• (2) roots in noblility, embodied values of
  noblesse oblige
• (3) effective top-down organization

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• what went wrong?
• Margaret Thatcher
• selected in 70s by MPs who were hostile to
  welfare state
• Thatcher forced moderates to sidelines
• pro-market, anti-welfare state

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• future of conservatism
• European Integration
• Tory right viewed EU and adoption of euro as
  serious threats to British sovereignty
• leadership and organization
• shrinking conservative base within party

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Labour

• formed at beginning of 20th century
• alliance of trade unions, independent socialist
  movements, and cooperative associations
• originally dominated by Unions
• later, alternated between moderation, left wing
  activism and moderation

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• after multiple electoral defeats and ideological
  drift to left, found new unity in common desire
  to defeat the Tories
• Blair repudiated all vestiges of the old Labour
  left but kept many of Thatcher-era reforms
• Union influence, connections to working class
  reduced
• peace initiatives
• healthier economy
• Iraq

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End of the Blair decade

• success and popularity of the first term did not
  last
• dissatisfaction with the Labour party in general
• key issue unpopularity of Iraq War
• June, 2007 Gordon Brown became PM

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The Liberal Democrats

• newest major party
• merger of Liberals (one of the countrys original
  political parties) and Social Democrats (SDP)
• in 1960s, Liberals tried for position between
  increasingly ideological Labour and Conservatives
• provide a haven for growing number of
  dissatisfied voters

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• Labour leaders left party to form SDP
• unable to win on its own, formed Alliance with
  Liberals to run a single candidate in each
  district
• but, Britain follows first past the post no
  need to win majority
• tends to shut third parties out
• Alliance disbanded