STUDENT NOTES 5

1
STUDENT NOTES 5

• Ch. 2 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
  Northern Ireland

2
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS POLITICAL
PARTIES

• The Labour Party Loyal Opposition
• The largest party on the left
• Controlled the British government from 1997-2010
• Key Figures
• Tony Blair (PM 1997-2007)
• Won Elections of 1997, 2001, 2005
• Gordon Brown (PM 2007-2010)
• Created in 1906 to represent rights of working
  class
• Move toward center allowed it to win back
  Parliament in 1997 on centrist platform and
  Blairs New Labour platform

3
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS POLITICAL PARTIES

• Largest leftist party
• 1900 - Alliance of trade unions and socialist
  groups working class
• Public ownership of industries
• Gov. intervention in economy
• Redistribution of wealth
• Welfare state
• Publicly funded healthcare and education

4
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS POLITICAL PARTIES

• Early history of the party was defined by
  controversial Clause 4 that called for
  nationalization of the commanding heights of
  British industry
• Trade Union Council (TUC) a coalition of trade
  unions generally associated with the Labour
  Party, has traditionally been a force in British
  politics
• Growing moderation of the Labour Party was
  reflected by removal of Clause 4 in early 1990s

5

• The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party.
  It believes that by the strength of our common
  endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone,
  so as to create for each of us the means to
  realise our true potential and for all of us a
  community in which power, wealth and opportunity
  are in the hands of the many, not the few, where
  the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe,
  and where we live together, freely, in a spirit
  of solidarity, tolerance and respect.

6
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS POLITICAL PARTIES

• New Labour - Modernized and centered by PM Tony
  Blair from 1997-2010
• Rebranding accept market economy
• Third Way
• Right wing economic policy with left wing social
  policy

7
BLAIRS LEGACY

• Created New Labour
• Tied UK with US foreign affairs in Iraq
• Led to demise under Brown
• Reduced House of Lords hereditary positions
• Devolved power
• Created government in London (mayor)
• Attracted more women to party

8
Tony Blair New Labour

• Reforms
• Devolution to Scotland and Wales
• Elected Mayor and council for London
• Removal of voting rights of hereditary peers in
  House of Lords
• Incorporates Convention on Human Rights into
  British law
• Eliminates part of Clause IV of partys
  constitution which committed party to seek the
  common ownership of the means of production,
  distribution, and exchange
• Freedom of Information Act (passed in 2000)
• Downfall Iraq War seen as George W. Bushs
  puppy

9
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS 2010 ELECTION

• LABOUR
• 255 (2010)
• Urban
• Unionized
• Working class
• progressive

• CONSERVATIVES
• 303 (2010)(326 makes a majority, awk)
• Upper class
• Suburban middle class
• Traditionalists

10
(No Transcript)
11
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS POLITICAL PARTIES

• The Liberal Democrats
• Two partiesthe Liberals and the Social
  Democrats-formed an alliance in the 1983 and 1987
  elections
• Parties formally merged in 1989.
• Goal of party was to establish a strong party in
  the middle as a compromise to the politics of the
  two major parties.
• Key Figures
• Nick Cleg Current Party Leader
• Paddy Ashdown Party Leader 1992-1999
• Power declined in 1990s as both major parties
  moved toward center.
• In 2005, Liberal Democrats won 62 seats in
  Parliament, even though they won 22 of the vote.

12
THAT JUST HAPPENED!

• 2010 elections created coalition majority in
  Parliament
• Conservative-Liberal Democrat
• Conservative David Cameron (PM)
• Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg (Dep. PM)

13
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS COALITION
GOVERNMENT

• Coalition core principles
• Two parties together for partnership government
• Attempted to blend Conservative commitment to the
  dynamism of free markets with the Liberal
  Democrat commitment to decentralization

14
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS INTEREST GROUPS

• Lobby leaders and bureaucrats NOT MPs
• Sway public opinion
• STANDOUTS
• Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
• Associated with Tories
• Trade Union Congress (TUC)
• Associated with Labour

15
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS POLITICAL CULTURE

• Nationalism
• Multi-nationalism English dialects Catholic v.
  Protestant
• Insularity - Euroskepticism
• Geography island, small, limited land, no major
  barriers
• Individual rights
• Representative government deference to
  Parliament
• Rule of law
• Political traditions

16
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS CLEAVAGES

• Cross-cutting
• Wealth and income
• Social class
• Race and ethnicity
• Religion
• National identity

17
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS VOTING

• Electoral Register
• 18, citizen, no criminal record or mental
  incapability
• Partisan alignment and/or class alignment
• Voter turnout 55-65
• Lower turnout
• PP centralized
• Polling indicates conclusion
• Low efficacy/ignorance

18
IV. SOCIETY, STATE AND CITIZENS ELECTIONS

• Max every 5 years
• 1/legislative district (over 650)/95,000
  constituents
• No residency requirements or primary elections
• Plurality (First Past the Post)
• Campaigns 4-6 weeks/first Thursday in May

19
U.S. vs British Elections
United States Britain
Parties are less powerful
Members must live in districts
Party leaders run in their respective districts
Individual votes for four officials on the national level
Between 30 and 60 of eligible voters actually vote (more in recent elections)
Elections are by firs-past-the-post single-member districts almost no minor parties get representation
20
Ethnic Minorities

• Make up about 8 of the British population come
  from Commonwealth
• Indian (23)
• Pakistani (16)
• Afro-Caribbean (13)
• Black African (11)
• Public opinion - limit number of immigrants
• White backlash British National Party
• Increase terrorists presence
• Solution sense of Britishness
• BUT minority ethnic population grew by 53
  between 1991 2001
• Also, immigrants from Eastern European countries
  (EU) has increased
• 2nd most spoken language in UK Polish!

21

• National Identity
• Decolonization has created a multiethnic Britain.
• Ethnic minority communities have experienced
  police insensitivity, problems in access to the
  best public housing, hate crimes, criticism
  directed at immigrants and asylum seekers.

22
Social Cleavages Treatment of Minorities

• Minorities have experience some discrimination
• Ethnic minorities disproportionately suffer
  diminished opportunities
• Unequal treatment by police (esp young men)
• Physical harassment by citizens
• Marginalization in education, job training,
  housing labor
• But some have also been very successful
• Among men of African, Asian, Chinese Indian
  descent, the proportional representation in
  managerial/professional ranks is actually higher
  than that for white men
• British South Asians (esp Indians) have high rate
  of entrepreneurship

23
THE MEDIA

• Britains television and radio networks and
  printed media are far more centralized.
• Newspapers broadsheets
• The Guardian, the Times, the Independent, the
  Telegraph
• BBC more widely listened to than equivalents
• Most political information comes from national
  newspapers and television and radio stations.
• There is very little local news on television.
• The five networks carry their national news
  programs at different ?times.

24
Political Economy

• World Wars, Industrial Strife, and the Depression
  (19141945)
• State involvement in economy increased during
  World War I (19141918)
• Nationalization of industries
• Price setting
• Restricted capital flow abroad
• Production aimed at war effort
• Limited trade union and worker movements
• Free market versus intervention conflict
  continued through Great Depression (1929 through
  much of the 1930s) and World War II (19391945).

25
Political Economy

• Collective Consensus (19451979)
• Post war shared victory, common misery, dreams
  of new prosperity and security
• Collectivism majority agreement to expansion of
  state economic responsibility and broad social
  welfare
• Government should enact policies of welfare
  state.
• Welfare stateset of policies designed to provide
  health care, pensions, unemployment benefits, and
  assistance to the poor. Also responsible for
  economic growth, full employment.
• Consensus unraveled by economic downturn and
  political stagnation

26
(No Transcript)
27
POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT

• The Consensus Era
• After World War II, collectivist consensus
  crystallized.
• Followed Keynesian economics
• Keynesianismnamed after British economist John
  Maynard Keynes, state economic policies used to
  regulate economy to achieve stable economic
  growth.
• Became unpopular during 1970s with increased
  labor unrest
• Thatcherite Policy Orientation
• Rejected Keynesianism for monetarism
• Monetarisman approach to economic policy that
  assumes a natural rate of unemployment,
  determined by the labor market, and rejects the
  instrument of government spending to run
  budgetary deficits for stimulating the economy
  and creating jobs.

28
POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT

• New Labours Economic Policy Approach
• Gordon Brown as chancellor, then primate minister
  established platform of stability
• Low debt, low deficit, low inflation
• New Growth Theory
• Improve quality of labor
• through education and
• training
• Maintain labor market
• flexibility
• Attract investment

29
POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT

• The Coalition Governments Economic Policy
  Approach
• Key cuts in spending
• Government subsidies for public housing
• Increased age for pensions
• Reduction in child benefits for middle-class
  families
• Reduction by 10 in social protection, welfare
  benefits
• Reduction by 20 public spending across the
  board
• Social Policy
• National Health Service (NHS)
• Provides comprehensive and universal medical care
• Low cost medical care to all British citizens as
  matter of right.
• Shake-up in January 2011
• Health care budgets turned over to general
  practitioners