COMPARITIVE POLITICS
SEMINAR II A DESCRIPTION OF TWO WESTERN EUROPEAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS
FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN
INTRODUCTION
I chose these two systems, which interest me for different reasons. The British system is one that has evolved over many centuries, with both small and large adjustments along the way to keep in on course. In contrast to this, the French model has changed dramatically on several occasions, and can rarely have been described as stable. However, in 1958 Charles de Gaulle made some brave changes to the constitution, which after being approved by the French public, set the scene for the classic semi-presidential system that we see today.
Despite these opposing histories, there are many similarities between
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The House of Commons, on the other hand, is a democratically elected chamber. The House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament), in central London.
The British Parliament is often called the "Mother of Parliaments," as the legislative bodies of many nationsmost notably, those of the members of the Commonwealthare modelled on it. However, it is a misquotation of John Bright, who had actually remarked on 18 January 1865 that "England is the Mother of Parliaments", in the context of supporting demands for expanded voting rights in a country which had pioneered Parliamentary government.
The differences between the constituent members of the UK are interesting, England, despite being the most developed, populous and richest member, is the only one without its own devolved government.
House of Commons
The UK is divided into parliamentary constituencies of broadly equal population (decided by the Boundaries Commission), each of which elects a Member of Parliament to the House of Commons. The leader of the party with the largest number of MPs is invited by the monarch to form a government, and becomes the Prime Minister. The leader of the second largest party becomes the Leader of the Opposition.
There is usually a majority in Parliament, thanks to the First Past the Post electoral system so coalitions are rare. The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a government
Firstly, the House of Commons has the ultimate check on government power via a vote of no confidence, this last happened in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was able to be elected due to the Labour government's failure.
A political two party system is one where two parties have complete dominance over voting, in terms of seats and the general vote. The multi- party system however describes a system where more than two parties have the ability to win role as government. In this essay I will give a balanced argument on whether Britain is a two party, or multi- party system.
was founded and why the separation from Great Britain happened. This was written to give
How Britain was Affected by the French Wars When studying the effect of the French Wars on Britain one must not forget that 18th century warfare is not comparable in any degree to the 20th century world wars which as Tongue suggests "were fought with a ferocity and scale unknown in previous centuries". The French wars did not dominate British society during this period and therefore it is extremely hard to determine which changes in the economy, politics and society were induced by the war and which would have happened anyway. There were many changes in Britain's politics of the period and although they could have all happened if there had not been any French wars there are obvious links
Fundamentally the UK government does not have elective dictatorship. The government is still elected even though they have a large majority of seats in the House of Commons. However if a government does have a very large majority they are able to make big changes very quickly but all times they are
The global struggle between the French and the British empires influenced certain key events of American history. It all started on the 100 years’ War, this actually last one hundred and sixteen years since 1337 to 1453. The majority of this was due the determined goal to possess control of colonial territory. This war was between France and England, during this time the monarchy of France was not yet centralized, nor possessed a strong economy or organized army. England was less populated, but had a better organized economy their army was equipped with superior weaponry. The main reason of the war was the possession of the French territories. It was the last feudal war and most perfect example of this type of wars. At the beginning England took possession of French soil, but at the end of the war France was able to recover the territories occupied by the French, thanks to the intervention of Joan of Arc territories. In this paper I will explain important information regarding Britain and France influence on America such as, French and Indian War, Declaration of Independence, American Revolution, Quasi War, Louisiana Purchase, including important issues, ideas and events.
One of the many electoral systems is the First-Past-The-Post system (FPTP), the current system for electing MPs to the House of Commons. There are 659 separate constituencies across the UK each electing one single Member of Parliament. In order to vote you simply put an ‘X’ next to the name of the candidate you support. The candidate who gets the most votes wins, regardless of whether he or she has more than 50% support. Once members have been individually elected, the party with the most seats in Parliament, regardless of whether or not it has a majority, normally becomes the next government. FPTP tends to lead to a two-party system where two major political parties dominate politics
The House of Burgesses was the first representative legislative body in the colonies, which not only influenced other colonies to create their own government but also contributed to the development of a representative government in colonial America.
Parliament comprises a directly elected 41-member House of Assembly and a 16-member appointed senate. Both houses have five-year terms. Elections to the House of Assembly are from single-member constituencies and are held by popular vote using the first-past-the-post system. There is universal suffrage at age
Most European countries have a parliamentary political system. Britain has a parliamentary system. Britain’s system starts at the voters who vote for Parliament. Parliament then elects and can oust the executive branch, which is headed by a prime
The parliamentary system, unlike the American presidential system, is recognizable by a fusion of powers between the legislative and executive branches. The Prime Minister, who is the chief executive, may be elected to the legislature in the same way that all other members are elected. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party that wins the majority of votes to the legislature-either de facto, or in some cases through an election held by the legislature. The Prime Minister appoints Cabinet Ministers. However, unlike in the presidential system, these members are typically themselves legislature
It has a land area of 130,279 km2 (50,301 sq mi) with total population of 54,786,300 (2015 estimate). In fact England alone makes up for 80% of population in Europe. Major cities include London, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield out of which London being largest & the most populous city. Great Britain is the third most populous island in the world. It does has a wide variety of religion according to 2011 census out of which Christianity is the most widely practiced of all.
Advocates of the parliamentary form of government suggested a few competitive strengths of this system of government. Since it has gained a stable parliamentary majority, the government is able to smoothly process its legislative project. In addition, the government is adequately furnished that it could still choose to adopt measures designed to support the national interests while many strong sectional groups oppose such measures (Dyck, 2012). The prime minister is the leader of this type of government, who is obliged to be responsive to all its people’s demands. Also, the people have the right to vote and replace the prime minister due to any incompetency of governance that does not address and fulfill their desires. This is known as the non-confidence vote; the government may be removed when it has lost confidence in the parliament, and cause the head of state to resign a new government (Dyck, 2012). An example of such measure occurred in Britain on March 28th, 1979. When James Callaghan’s labour government was defeated in the House of Commons just by one vote, it was forced into an early election that was won by the opposition leader Margaret Thatcher (Dyck, 2012). In this case, it can avoid or at least reduce the period of legislative gridlock, because of its flexibility in elections and the power is centered in the country’s prime
At the present time, in the United Kingdom political system, there are 650 Members of Parliament that sit on the green benches, they are “The Commons”. It is their duty to vote on laws and to debate current political dealings. (Q&A, 2010) “The Lords” sit on the red benches and number around 820, because they are elected for life.