The development of modern democracy

The development of modern democracy

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political parties

Debate

Content

Historic background

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from an absolute monarchy to an unitary, parliamentary, constitutional monarchy

The Conservative Party

The Labour Party

• Britain’s main centre right party

• oldest party (17.th century: represented aristocrats and Church of England)

• today:
• party of business&free enterprise
• many members are anti-Europe

• Britain’s leading centre-left party

• founded in 1900

• worked with nearly-created trade unions to fight for the rights of working people

• today: closer to centre and less radical, but still believes in protecting poorer people

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The constitutional body

Voting System in UK

who is allowed to vote?

who is not allowed to vote?

• historic background

• constitutional body
• general information
• Parliament
• government

• political parties

• voting system

• debate

• sources

Sources

• members of the House of Lord

• condemned inmates

• idiots & madmen

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• all citizens are allowed to vote at the age of 18

• all citizens of the UK, or of the Commonwealth, or of the Republik

• all citizens that live in the equivalent constituency

Sandra

comparison:

• royal court from Middle ages evolved into parliament

• 1067: King William I. made arrangement for government during his absence

• 1215: King John was forced to sign Magna Carta

• 1649: King Charles I. was executed on order of parliament
• reasons: raising taxes, dissolving parliament for years and starting a civil war

• 1689: James II. removed from power by parliament because of tyrannical behavior

• 1689: Parliament invited Mary II. (daughter of James II.) and William of Orange (husband of Mary) to rule
• Parliament wanted to lead executive
• Mary and William agreed and signed the Bill of Rights

• 1721: final step to constitutional monarchy (under George I.)
• a single parliamentarian (Robert Walpole) became head of government

The Liberal Democratic Party

The Monarch

general information

House of Commons House of Lords

in general:

all hyperlinks opened last on: March 16th, 2015

who is selectable?

who is not

selectable?

• founded in 19th century

• until 1920: disappeared from British politics →re-born as liberal democratic party

• today:
• smallest of three major parties
• committed to liberal ideas
• only major party to be fully pro-Europe

• sovereign
• not the head of the government

• the power held by the monarch is largely ceremonial and formal

• Prime Minister has weekly meetings with the Queen, where she 'has a right and a duty to express her views on Government matters'

in order for a bill to become a law

• monarch assent is required
• has not been refused since 1707

• Parliament = legislative body

• made up of three elements: the monarch, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons

four primary duties:

• passing laws
• authorization of taxes and government budgets
• verification and investigation of government administration
• debates on current issues

• government = executive body

most important:

• the Prime Minister
• the Deputy Prime Minister
• the Cabinet

• UK is subdivided in different constituencies
• (England,Scotland,Wales & Northern Ireland)
• every 5 years, voters in each constituency elect their Members of Parliament (MP) in a general election

• every voter has one vote for one candidate in his/her constituency

• the candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins

• all elected MP's form the House of Commons

• most of them belong to a political party
• party with largest number of MP's forms government

Queen Elizabeth II.

[1]

• citizens of the UK, of the Commonwealth, or of Northern-Ireland, who are older than 21 years

• members of the Upper House
• madmen
• someone, who is imprisoned for more than one year
• traitors
• officials of the crown
• clerics of the church of England, Scotland or Ireland
• members of the Roman-Catholic-Church

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important reforms

1 http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/QueenandGovernment/QueeninParliament.aspx

• influential consideration
• before 1918: only 58% of the adult male

population was allowed to vote

• 1918: Women over the age of 30, who met certain requirements were allowed to vote
• 1928: Women over 21 were able to vote, equal rights (men&women)

• a candidate is able to participate in several constituencies
• if he/she wins in several constituencies he/she has to decide in which he/she wants to participate in future

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The Cabinet

Problems of the system

Who runs the government?

The Opposition

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Prime Minister

The Deputy Prime Minister

Current role holder: Nick Clegg (since May 2010)

Current role holder: David Cameron ( since May 2010)

• collective decision-making body of the government of the United Kingdom

• it is composed of the Prime Minister and about 20 senior members of Parliament

• Prime Minister appoints these members to become ministers in charge of departments

• they make the executive decisions

• head of government

• leader of political party in power

• responsible for all policy and decisions

• dutys:
• appoints members of Cabinet
• oversees operation of the Civil Service and government agencies
• is the principal government figure in the House of Commons

• can be changed if Members of Parliament in government party decide to do so
• usually: resigns when his/her party is defeated in general election

• deputy head of government

• leader of Liberal Democrats

• responsibilities:
• leading the government’s political and constitutional reform agenda
• building strategic relationships in Europe and across the world
• overseeing the government’s drive to rebalance the economy

• second largest party in House of Commons

• it is lead by the person who hopes to become Prime Minister through the next general election

• leads his/her party in pointing out government failures and weaknesses

• the Opposition also forms a Shadow Cabinet

• it is an alternative cabinet to the one of the government
• consists out of a senior group of opposition spokespeople

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The coalition

• Conservative/Liberal Democrat government

• formed in May 2010

• first coalition government in 70 years

• reason for coalition: no majority

text:

• Schwarz, Hellmut et. al. (ed.): Context 21 - Ausgabe Hessen. Cornelsen, Berlin 2010.
• http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role/parliament-government/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/18005165
• http://www.putneydebates.com/21st%20Century%20Parliament.html
• https://www.gov.uk/government/how-government-works
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8675848.stm
• http://www.wahlrecht.de/ausland/uk.html
• https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/deputy-prime-minister
• http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/government/constitutional_law/citizens_guide_to_government/8681.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_Kingdom
• http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/monarchy
• http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/QueenandGovernment/QueenandPrimeMinister.aspx
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/615371/unitary-system
• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/magna_carta.htm
• http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/themes/politics
• http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/thevote/
• http://www.freelifeintheuk.com/read/chapter4text/
• http://www.dw.de/britisches-wahlsystem-in-der-kritik/a-1567961

images:

• https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3162/2701203040_5212928a84.jpg
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/uk_parliament/2701153820/in/set-72157606360378346
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/uk_politics/10/parliaent_feature_include/img/commons_access786.gif
• http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/bam/live/content/zbfdxnb/small
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/Conservative_logo_2006.svg/1280px-Conservative_logo_2006.svg.png
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/thumb/1/1f/Liberal_Democrats_Logo.svg/200px-Liberal_Democrats_Logo.svg.png
• http://www.outbackrigging.com/assets/_managed/editor/image/Labour_Party.jpg
• http://cdn.cnwimg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1333686817_7581_queen-elizabeth-ii.jpg

video:

• www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsAa9VmwOaI

by Zoé and Sandra