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Knowledge Base > UK government > Flashcards

UK government Flashcards

1
Q

United Kingdom

A

England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland

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2
Q

Magna Carta

A

said the king was not an absolute monarch, king has to consult nobles, first document limiting the king’s power

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3
Q

English Bill of Rights

A

document that states that Parliament officially has power, king can’t raise taxes or dissolve parliament

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4
Q

Great Reform Act

A
  1. corrects malapportionment in the rotten burrgouhs (districts with very little people) 2. expands suffrage
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5
Q

Parliament Act (1911)

A

House of lords agreed to giver up their absolute veto power

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6
Q

representation of the People Act (1948)

A

one person, one vote

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7
Q

Constitution reform act

A
  1. gets rid of the hereditary peers in the HOL 2. takes supreme ct. outside of the HOL, and makes it a separate branch 3. wants to make the HOl an elected body instead of a an appointed one
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8
Q

House of Commons- MP’s powers and how chosen

A

elected by the people; powers= 1. pass laws (through standing committees) 2. pass budget 3. oversight (ex: investigation) 4. choose prime minister hand approve his choice of cabinet 5. override veto by the HOL

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9
Q

first-past-the-post

A

(still a plurality election)-like a horse race-1st party to get the most votes; parties stick together because either they all survive or not

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10
Q

House of Lords-powers and how chosen

A

appted by the Prime minister; powers: 1. can delay a bill for 30 days 2. pass bills 3. suggest ammendments 4. oversight 5.veto 66. can initiation bills if prime minister asks them to

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11
Q

Parliamentary sovereignty

A

now law can be declared unconst. by the supreme ct. (parliament is supreme)

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12
Q

constitutional monarchy

A

monarch acts as head of state within the perimeters of a written const. (queen has no power, and has to do what parliament tells her to do)

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13
Q

role of prime minister

A
  1. commander-in-chief 2. chief diplomat (deals with foreign policy) 3. head of government 4. cheif economist (monetary policy and proposes budget) 5. appointment power (picks his cabinet and pieces of the beuracracy-not judges, but he is the cheif executive of the beuracrcy) 6. chief legislatior 7. party leader 8. liason to the queen and HOL-prime minister can ask HOL to start a bill (instead of HOC who usually starts it) 9. chief spokesman-Prime minister question time
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14
Q

Plural executive

A

Prime minister and his cabinet

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15
Q

collective responsibility

A

cabinet has to support the party, or it might lead to a vote of no confidence

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16
Q

uncodified constitution

A

Britain’s constitution not everything in one document; includes 1. every document in British history 2. conventions (traditions) 3. common laws (precedents) 4.statutory law-any law parliament passes

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17
Q

party whips

A

stand in division lobby and report back who isn’t loyal with the vote

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18
Q

three line whip

A

send out news letters before the time for the vote, and if there are 3 underlines, attendece at the HOC is mandatory, because there is going to be a vote

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19
Q

mp’s

A

members of parliament

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20
Q

division lobby

A

aye or nay lobby

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21
Q

frontbenchers

A

In HOC-leaders of the party sit here. (On government side: PM Gordon Brown and his cabinet) (on other side: shadow PM David Cameron and his shadow cabinet. and Nick Clegg of the liberal democratic party)

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22
Q

backbenchers

A

a member of parliament who does not hold a governmental office

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23
Q

crossbenchers

A

In the HOL- you can sit anywhere you want (b/c they have life trems, and don’t need to worry about reelections, so they do what’s best for the country)

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24
Q

policy committee

A

comm. that designs policy-consists of PM, a permanent secretary, a minister from cabinet, and TUC (for labor) or CBI (for conservatives)

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25
Q

standing committee

A

8 of them, not specialized, the one that isn’t busy gets the next bill, seats are proportional-based on # of seats party has in HOC. They can suggest changes to the bill- it is okay for party members to disagree with the PM here; have mark-up sessions

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26
Q

select committes

A

do investigations

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27
Q

white paper

A

when a bill is ready to be debated and voted on

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28
Q

borough (constituency)

A

district

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29
Q

shadow cabinet

A

cabinet of the opposition party

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30
Q

green paper

A

bill is just an idea/proposal

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31
Q

question time

A

people in the house of commons ask questions to the PM

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32
Q

whitehall

A

where the beuarcracy is

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33
Q

permanent secretary

A

head of the civil service, any beauracratic agency is head by a permanent secretary-heads of each dept. in the beuracracy and always brought in when making a law, because they are experts

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34
Q

quangos

A

Quasi autonomous non government organizations- idenpenent agencies that run schools, job training programs, public (council housing) and provide other regulatory and cultural functions

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35
Q

supreme court

A

(used to be inside the HOL, but now its an independent branch; 1. 12 judges 2. pres. of sup. ct. and deputy pres of ct. ct. 3. terms for good behavior (can remove a judge by joint resolution of the HOL and HOC) 4. mandatory retirement=75 years old 5. appellate commission includes pres. of sup. ct, deputy pres. of sup ct, and judges from UK; jobs of sup. ct: 1. apply the law 2. interpret the law

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36
Q

Berveridge Report

A

comes up with all the ideas for the collective consensus after WWII

37
Q

Patron client relations (clientelism

A

patient is the client of the nurse, nurse= client of the doctor ***SEE CHART. Prime minister= head patron

38
Q

by-election

A

when someone dies or resigns, there is a by-election to fill the vacancy

39
Q

vote of no confidence

A

when the opposition party does not have confidence in the majority party

40
Q

caretaker government

A

government can’t pass much legislation or spend a lot of money; not changing anything, just taking care of the government; (care

41
Q

CBI

A

confederation of British Industry-the interest group that is a big supporter of the conservative party

42
Q

TUC

A

Trades Unions congress-the interest group that is head of the unions; big part of the labor party

43
Q

The City

A

the financial center of London (what we call wall street)

44
Q

corporatism

A

You are only well-represented if you are part of a big interest group. (You are not well-represented by your MP)

45
Q

labor party platform

A

1, want to join the EU, but want to wait and see about the Euro 2. Revision of the HOL (Constitutional Reform Act)-want HOL to be an elected body 3. want improvement of servies (ex: NHS)-want more attention to be paid to the permanent secretaries 4. welfare to work= (wi9ll give dole if you have a job) 6. supports working class/ unions (and supported by TUC)

46
Q

Plaid Cymru Party

A

Welsh party-don’t want welsh language and culture to die

47
Q

Scottish National Party (SNP)

A

want independence and environmental clean-up (because of the oil leakage), want England’s oil profits shared with Scotland

48
Q

Ulster Unionist Party

A

mderate Protestant party of N. Ireland who want to stay in the UK (Protestants want to stay in the UK). This party also debated for the peace accords

49
Q

democratic unionist party

A

radical Protestant party in N. Ireland

50
Q

Sin Fein Party

A

radical Catholic party in N. Ireland, part of the IRA (Irish republic army)=Catholics; wants Britain to leave Ireland

51
Q

Social Democrat and Labor Party

A

moderate Catholic Party in N. Ireland

52
Q

Good Friday Agreement

A

SDLP (Catholic) and Ulster Unionists (Protestant) debated; 1. There will be a North/ South Council 2. paramilitaries lay down weapons 3. Prisoner’s sentences reviewed 4. Police force (RUC) gets made Protestants and Catholics (not just Protestants)- If they can do all of this, then they can get their own parliament

53
Q

David Cameron

A

Shadow PM (of the conservative party)

54
Q

Gordon Brown

A

PM (of the labor party)

55
Q

Nick Clegg

A

leader of the liberal democratic party

56
Q

mixed economy

A

little bit of economy owned by the government, and most of industry owned by private individuals

57
Q

utilitarianism

A

(created by Jeremy Bentham)- government is only useful if it does good for the people (you measure the usefulness of the government by how much good it does for the people)

58
Q

Keyanism

A

role of the government= to provide jobs and services. To improve the economy, the government needs to spend money, so deficit and interest rate adjustments are okay

59
Q

Collectivist Consenus

A

The union of labor and conservative parties in effort to stimulate economy after WWII, use Keyanism, governement needs to spend money, even if it causes a defecit

60
Q

nationalization

A

government buys a lot of industry

61
Q

privatization

A

government sells a lot of industry

62
Q

Thatcherism-monetarism

A

believed the collective consensus is wrong. (Thatcher’s view on Monetarism-government shouldn’t do anything) 1. Natural level of unemployment 2. no deficit spending, and no government intervention 3. privatization of industry 4. lower taxes 5. more defense spending (b/ Thatcher liked Reagan) 6. sold council housing 7. Ended the dole (welfare program) 8. cracks down on unions 9. ends the subsidies

63
Q

communitarianism

A

(part of Tony Blair’s third way)-we all have to contribute to society and get a stake in the economy

64
Q

Tony Blair’s third way

A

created the new labor party; 1, convinces the unionists that they cannot run the party (gives TUC less power) 2. takes out clause 4 about socialism 3. didi not privatize or nationalize anything else 4. improves the NHS and transit system 5. welfare-to-work program 6. devolution 7. Good Friday Accords

65
Q

commonwealth

A

former colonies that choose to be part of the UK (ex: Canada); even though Britain doesn’t own them, they are still a common wealth of Britain (for history, trade advantages, tradition….)

66
Q

The Maastricht Treat

A
  1. officially sets up the EU government 2. creates the European central bank 3. sets up the process for the Euro (European weight system) 4. creates social charter for workers
67
Q

political culture in the UK

A

higher level of civic duty (b/c you know your party will make a difference); much more single-issue oriented, higher level of political efficacy

68
Q

devolution on the UK

A
  1. subunits don’t have equal power (ex: Scotland has more power than N. Ireland and Whales, England has the most power of all) 2. Parliament can dismantle the other 3 parliaments 4. unitary sytem 5. the local governments can be dissolved by parliament 5. virtual representation instead of direct representation
69
Q

Federalism in the US

A
  1. subunits of government has power (all equal in power) 2. state governments have constituional protection 3. one house of legislature represents the states
70
Q

powers of the HOL

A
  1. can delaay bills for 30 days 2. suggest amendments 3. veto 4. oversight 5. can initiate legislation (bills)
71
Q

Powers of the HOC

A
  1. pass laws 2. pass budget 3. oversight 4. choose prime minister and approve his choice of cabinet 5. override veto by HOL
72
Q

PM powers

A
  1. liaison to the queen and HOL 2. appoints HOL 3. cannot veto 4. cannot appoint judges
73
Q

Separation of powers/ checks and balances in UK

A

1) exec. branch is inside leg. branch 2) unequal power distribution (ex: queen has no power, and HOC has more power than HOL) 3) judicial branch-separate from others; and judges can be removed (which is a leg. check on the judicial) 4) a vote of no confidence can be called)

74
Q

Party discipline in UK

A

1) tighter in UK than US 2)voting by division 3. want to avoid vote of no confidence 4. collective resp.-(once cabinet members reach consensus, you cannot change your opinion) 5. party centralization-leadership has influence

75
Q

elections and campaigns in UK

A

cheaper, much more issue-oriented, shorter, more personal, higher level of political efficacy, more parties (b/c they have more countries), 1st past the post, higher level of civic duty, election can happen anytime, with vote of no confidence-entire HOC up for reelection

76
Q

common law

A

any precedent set

77
Q

statutory law

A

any law made by parliament

78
Q

noblese oblige

A

nobles are obliagted to take care of everyone else

79
Q

social deference

A

respect the people higher than you on the social ladder

80
Q

Representation of the people Act of 1900

A

labor party forms

81
Q

Representation of the people act of 1918

A

All men who owned property, age 21 and women age 30 could vote

82
Q

Representation of the people act of 1928

A

men and women age 21 could vote

83
Q

Rep. of the people act of 1948

A

each person gets one vote

84
Q

Rep. of the people act of 1969

A

all 18 year olds could vote

85
Q

Parliament act of 1911

A

HOL agreed to give up their absolute veto power

86
Q

Life Peerages act

A

when you get appointed to the HOL, you are there until you die

87
Q

Westminster

A

building where Parliament is

88
Q

What provided stability for Britain?

A

Britain was a hegemonic power (had a lot of economic influence): 1. its an island, so they were isolated from Europe, and they had a huge navy; its an empire, also, religion was settled way back with Henry VIII

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