Glossary - W

Question 1

Warrant

Answer 1

Lawful authority given to an officer of the law to take action as part of an investigation or legal procedures. For example a judge or magistrate issues a warrant for the arrest of a suspect in a crime.

Question 2

Washminster Mutation

Answer 2

The melding of the Westminster system of responsible parliamentary government and a federal division of powers based on the model adopted by The United States. It is argued that elements of the two systems conflict especially at times of political crisis.

Question 3

Wasted Majority

Answer 3

The surplus votes achieved by the winning party in a particular electorate. These votes, above the 50% plus one required to win the seat, could have bolstered their vote in other closer seats. Tus it is possible for a party to win more than 50% of the total votes cast in an election but fail to gain a majority of seats as their votes were ‘wasted’ in large majorities in safe seats.

Question 4

Wedge Politics

Answer 4

Political tactic in which a party seeks political advantage by promoting division in the community. A typical example is to ferment resentment by a larger group against a minority and then tag political opponents with support for the minority group.

Question 5

Westminster Chain of Responsibility

Answer 5

Conventions that create accountability in a system of responsible parliamentary democracy. The chain specifies that parliament is accountable to the people through regular elections and that the executive government is accountable to the parliament which can ‘make and unmake governments’. The final link in the chain is the requirement that ministers take responsibility in parliament for the actions of public servants under their direction.

Question 6

Westminster Conventions

Answer 6

The conventions that underlie responsible parliamentary government. Examples are the requirement that a government or an individual minister must resign if they cannot maintain majority support in the lower house of parliament and that the Prime Minister must be a member of the lower house.

Question 7

Westminster System

Answer 7

Any political system based on the conventions followed by the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster in London. The Westminster system I the process o responsible parliamentary government where the executive government consists of the party or faction that has majority support in a democratically elected parliament. Such procedures are generally based on convention rather than explicit constitutional provision.

Question 8

Whip

Answer 8

A member of parliament who enforces party discipline on the politicians in his own party.

Question 9

Winner’s Bonus

Answer 9

Election results in which the winning party achieves a larger proportion of the seats in parliament than its proportion of the total votes cast. It is a feature of elections based on single member electorates.

Question 10

Witness

Answer 10

In a court a witness is a person who gives sworn evidence based on their direct experience of events or about areas where they have specialist knowledge. More generally a witness is asked to affirm the truth of something. For example a witness to signatures on a document is affirming the identity of the person who filled out the document.

Question 11

Writ

Answer 11

An order of a court requiring the performance of a specific act. In civil law a writ is sought by a plaintiff to require that a defendant redress a wrong, for example by paying damages, or to disprove the claim made.

Question 12

Wrongful Conviction

Answer 12

(miscarriage of justice) The conviction of someone who is innocent of an offence.