Britain: Political Institutions AP Comparative Government

Linkage Institutions  UK Parties began to form in the 18 th century  Originally parties were just caucuses, or meetings of people with a like mind  The two most major parties in today’s government are the Labour Party and the Conservative Party (also known as a Tory)  A major third party is the Liberal-Democrats (Formally known as the Whigs)  The majority party dominates Parliament (known as a hung parliament), with the ability to pass legislation as they desire  Currently there is no majority party and the government is in the form of a coalition

The Labour Party  The Labour party most recently had control of Parliament between 1997 and 2010  The party began as an alliance of trade union and socialist groups and worked for the expansion of workers rights  Originally, the Labour Party pushed extremely socialist points of view through Clause 4  Clause 4 asked for the nationalization of the “commanding heights” of British industry  Neil Kinnock, who took control of the party in the early 1980s, shifted the party to a more moderate political stance which has continued

The Labour Party  After an electoral loss in 1992, Kinnock stepped down and John Smith took over as party leader  This was short lived as he suddenly died in 1994 and was replaced by Tony Blair  Blair continued the moderation of the Labour Party, but as his parties victory margins shrunk, he resigned party leadership in 2005  Gordon Brown took over as party leader but after a poor showing in the 2010 election where Labour only took 23% of the vote, he resigned  Currently Ed Miliband is the leader of the party

The Conservative Party  The Conservative Party dominated British politics from WWII to 1997  Under Thatcher, the Conservative party pushed for a market economy, large scale privatization, and fewer social welfare programs  After Thatcher left office, John Major moved the party closer to the center  This party is characterized by noblesse oblique, and its power is centered in London  The leader of the party must submit to yearly elections in order to be retained as leader

The Conservative Party  In 1997, the party was weakened by factional arguments  The traditional wing (one-nation Tories) wanted the country ruled by the elites who would rule in the best interests of everyone in the country  They support Britain’s membership in the EU  The Thatcherite wing wants to roll back government controls and move to a full free market  The members of this wing are often referred to as Europskeptics because they do not agree with EU membership  David Cameron is the current party leader, and has been Prime Minister since 2010  He is considered to be a one-nation Tory

The Liberal Democrats  The Liberal Democrats are a merge of the Liberal and Social Democratic parties  This merge took place in 1989  The Liberal Democrats are a victim of the plurality voting system, and despite descent results in popular votes, they continually have very low representation in Parliament  The Liberal Democrats have sought proportional representation  Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister) is the current leader of the party and is trying to help the middle of the road party to gain more support  In 2010 the Liberal Democrats won 23% of the popular vote but still came in third in terms of representation

Smaller Parties  There are many nationalistic parties throughout Britain  This parties include Plaid Cymru (Wales), the Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein (political arm of the IRA), and the Democratic Unionist Party (Protestant clergymen)  British National Party  This party formed in 1982 and has never been represented in Parliament  They are overtly anti-Semitic and anti Muslim  UK Independence Party  This party focuses on trying to remove the UK from the European Union

Elections  National elections are held to determine who members of Parliament will be  There is no election to determine who the prime minister will be  Elections are often held every five years, but they can be called earlier by the Prime Minister  The Prime Minister generally calls elections when the feel the have the best opportunity to win  Elections in Britain are winner take all with no runoff elections  The districts are single-member and are first-past-the-post, meaning whoever gets the highest number of votes, wins the race  The winner-take all system exaggerates the size of the victory of the largest party and reduces the influence of minor parties

Elections of Regional Governments  The Good Friday Agreement of April 1998, allowed Northern Ireland a regional government in which all parties would be represented on a proportional basis  Scotland and Wales were later given these rights as well

Interest Groups  Britain has well-established interest groups that demonstrate interest group pluralism  This means that a variety of groups are trying to influence the policymaking process, without one being able to completely dominate the process  There recently has been some evidence of neo-corporatism  This is when interest groups dominate the state in the process of developing policy  The groups with the greatest influence are known as quangos  These are policy advisory boards appointed by the government  These groups work with the government to develop public policy

Interest Groups  The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) represents a collation of unions and has a great deal of influence of the government  The Confederation of Business Industries (CBI) also has influence over the creation of policy

Media  Radio and television came into existence during the collective consensus era, so it was monopolized by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)  Despite competition from private companies, the government strictly regulates the media and prohibits the selling of advertisements to politicians, parties, or political causes