英 国 文 化英 国 文 化英 国 文 化英 国 文 化 British Culture and Education 主讲教师：田祥斌 Lecture 3

British Culture and Education -- Contemporary UK (Chapter 14,15) -- British Political System (Chapter 16) -- British Political Parties (Chapter 17)

1. British History: UK in World War II (See the textbook,PP ) The UK, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, defeated Germany’s attempt to destroy its air force and air defenses in the Battle of Britain and escape invasion. In July 1945, The United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union met at Potsdam to formulate an occupation policy and set up a program for the future of Germany after the end of the World War II.

Contemporary British History (PP ) Nationalization 国有化 After the Second World War, the UK was bankrupt and had to face the fact that it was no longer a major power and need American help. The wartime Prime Minister, Churchill (Conservative) was voted out in the 1945 general election. The Labor Party returned to power.

Contemporary British History Nationalization The Labor government struggled to improve the standards of living, and the “Welfare State” had begun. UK has adopted the principle that the welfare of every individual is the collective responsibility of the country. The second is to control industry and public utilities.

British History: The Thatcher Era (pp ) Margaret Thatcher (1925-) 玛格丽特 · 撒切尔 (conservative, ) She is the only female Prime Minister in UK and she is called “the iron lady”. She emphasizes “self-help” to encourage private enterprise.

-- 英国保守党这块被视作 “ 男人领地 ” 里的第一位 女领袖； -- 英国历史上的第一位女首相； -- 创了英国政治历 史的先例， 三次蝉联首相； -- 英国历史上第一个将其所 推行的政策冠以自己名字 “ 撒切尔主义 ” 和 “ 撒切尔革命 ” 的首相。

Tony Blair (1953-) (Labor, ), Led by Tony Blair, labor won the May 1997 election and the new government gave independence to the Bank of England to set interest rates and announce the new initiatives in health, education and training.

British History: Northern Ireland Problems (See the textbook, pp ) One problem is its ownership. Some people think Northern Ireland is a part of Ireland and will belong to Ireland sooner or later. The second is which religious group is to hold power within Northern Ireland: The Roman Catholic Church or the Protestant Church.

Background: Oliver Cromwell invaded the island and this started the immigration of the English protestant settlers. The Irish people stood up to fight for their independence. Their successful struggle finally led to the establishing of the Republic of Ireland in As most of the English protestant settlers refused to separate themselves from their home country, they occupied the northeast corner of the island and kept it within the British Kingdom. Capital: Belfast

2. British Political System (See the textbook, pp ) Government Type: constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm ( 君主立宪制度） Head of Government: Prime Minister (David Cameron) Head of State: Monarch (Queen Elizabeth II)

Legislative power: the House of Commons and the House of Lords; the Scottish parliament; Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies Voting Age: 18 years of age; universal The Government of the United Kingdom Britain is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch.

The political system is stable because of history, the three arms of the state, and the UK Parliament. History: not invaded and occupied for almost 1000 years since Three arms of the state: The executive — the Ministers who run the country and propose new laws, the legislature body that passes new laws, and the judiciary— the judges and the courts who ensure that everyone obeys the laws.

The British Parliament (See the textbook, pp ) British Parliament represents the ordinary people and is responsible for the common people. All Ministers in the government are members of the legislature. The British Parliament is often called Westminster because it is housed in a distinguishing building in central London called the Palace of Westminster.

: What is the structure of the British political system? ---They have two houses of Parliament, the house of commons ( 下议院 ) and the house of lords ( 上议院 ). How did the British political party system affect on most people? -- because parliament limited the power of the king and granted more power to the hands of the people and thus created a more happy nation overall.

British Monarchy : Elizabeth the Second The King or the Queen is the head of state, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the head of the Judicature in the UK and the temporal head of the Established Church of England. The Crown is used as a symbol and is described as the representative of the people.

The Queen reigns but she does not rule. The UK is governed in the name of the Queen. Other former colonies are governed according to the principles of British parliamentary democracy, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and India. All but India recognize the Queen as their head of state

House of Commons The House of Commons has the real power. The members of the House of Commons are not appointed but elected. The Commons consists of 651 members who are elected from the 651 electoral districts of the UK called constituencies or seats. Unlike the Lords, the members of Commons receive a salary of about 31,000 pounds a year.

House of Lords The House of Lords is the oldest part of the British Parliament. In 1215, King John signed the Magna Carta and gave some of his powers to the nobles. Theoretically they have equal power, but the House of Lords could not prevent a bill from passing into law in one year by a further Act. Therefore, the House of Lords has no power to prevent the passing of legislation approved by the House of Commons.

Shadow Cabinet （影子内阁） The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition in UK government who form an alternative cabinet under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition. Members of a shadow cabinet are often but not always appointed to a Cabinet post if and when their party gets into government. It is the Shadow Cabinet's responsibility to pass criticism on the current government and its respective legislation, as well as offering alternative policies.

The Opposition criticizes government policy, suggests alternative policy, exposes its weak points, suggests amendments and points out other matters which the government may ignore. Their work is based on the agreement that the minority agrees that the majority must govern, and therefore accepts its decisions; and the majority agrees that the minority should criticize, and therefore sets time aside for that criticism to be heard (debate).

Debate Both Houses of Parliament hold debates in which Members discuss government policy, proposed new laws and current issues. Debates are designed to assist the government to reach an informed decision on a subject. Votes are often held to conclude a debate.

3. British Political Parties (See the textbook, pp ) The UK political system is a multi-party system. There are three major national parties. Conservative Party 保守党 Labour Party 工党 Social and Liberal Democrats 社会民主党 （下院最大的反对党可建立影子内阁）

British Political Parties Politics was dominated by the Troy (or Conservative) Party and the Whig (or Liberal) Party until Later the new Labor Party took the place of the Liberal Party. Since the end of the Second World War the Conservative and the Labor parties have been in power by turns.

British Political Parties There are three major national parties: The Conservative party and the Labor party are the two biggest. But there is a third important party, the Social and Liberal Democrats, who usually receive up to about 20% of the votes, not enough to form a government, but enough to have a big impact on which of the other two parties does so.

British Political Parties The stronger party forms the Government and the weaker the Opposition, that is, the Government governs and the Opposition opposes. Therefore there is some co-operation between the Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition.