the british govenment an politi

8/3/2019 The British Govenment an Politi

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Government and politicalregimof England


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PlanIntroduction

The Monarchy

The constitution

The parliamentary electoral system

The Parliament

Conclusion


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Introduction

Government and poltical regim


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Government

Government:Body of people that sets and administers public policy, andexercises executive, political, and sovereign power throughcustoms, institutions, and laws within a state.

The system of the British government:Britain is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutionalmonarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of the State. TheBritish constitution, unlike those of most countries, is not

set out in a single document. Instead it is made up of acombination of laws and practices which are not legallyenforceable, but which are regarded as vital to the workingof government.


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Political regime

A political regime is a set of political structures that make up

a state. A political regime may also be known as a form ofgovernment, a state system, or a political system. The term

political regime may also sometimes refer to a specific ruleror set of rulers within a political system.

British political system:The UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been theofficial title of the British state ever since 1922.The UK is constitutional monarchy. This means that theofficial head of state is the monarch, but his or her powers

are limited by the constitution. The British constitution is notwritten in any single document. Only some of these rules arewritten down in the form of ordinary laws passed byParliament at various times.


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The monarchy


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The stablility of the British government owes much to themonarchy. Its continuity has been interrupted only once (therepublic of 1649-60) in over a thousand years.Today the Queen is not only the head of State, but also animportant symbol of national unity. Her complete official royal

title is 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and ofHer other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of theCommonwealth, Defender of the Faith', but she is usuallyreferred to as Her Royal Highness or Queen Elizabeth.


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According to the law the Queen is head of the executivebranch of the government, an integral part of the legislature,head of the judiciary, the commander-in-chief of all thearmed forces of the Crown and the 'supreme governor' of theestablished Church of England. While that sounds like a lot of

responsibility, the real power of the monarchy has beensteadily reduced over the years to the point where the Queenis uninvolved in the day-to-day operation of the government.She is impartial and acts only on the advice of her ministers.The Queen, Prince Charles and the other members of the

royal family take part in traditional ceremonies, visit differentparts of Britain and many other countries and are closelyinvolved in the work of many charities.
http://www.coi.gov.uk/coi/depts/GQB/GQB.htmlhttp://www.coi.gov.uk/coi/depts/GQB/GQB.html


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The constitution of a state consists of those rules,deemed to beuniversally accepted by the members of the State,which determinethe relationships between the governed and the government .In general the constitution lays down the rules which organise the

government of a state .Each state has it's own constitution either written or unwritten.The written constitutions :In some states the rules which organise the government are writtendown , examples : The United States has a written constitution

setting out such prerogatives as the power of the President and ofCongress.In some Europien States, the consititutions are written down also ,example : France has had several constitutions , the latest one is theconstitution of the Fifth Republic was approuved by Referendum in

1958 and has undergone several amendments since then


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The British Consitution

As far as the British Constitution is concerned , it's divided intwoparts :

The written constitution :The written part of the constitution is contained in Acts of

Parliament , or statues,relating to constitutional matters .It consists in statue law or the written law of a legislative bodyand historic documents such as Magna Cartaa (1215) ,HabeasCopus (1679) , Act of Settlement (1701 , it regulated thesuccession to the throne ) , recorded decisions of judges onconstitutional matters to be found in The Year Book .


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The unwritten part of the constitution consists of the

Common law and the Conventions :

-Common law : unwritten law of Englanid administered bySovereigns' courts and derived from ancient and universalusage .

-The conventions : they have no legal sanction , but they areobserved because if they were not , the processes ofgovernment as we know them would break down , andParliament might be forced to pass laws to make the

conventions statutory .


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The Parliamentary ElectoralSystem


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For electoral purposes, the united kingdom is today dividedinto 659 constituencies (geographical areas of the contry,containing about 66,000 voters).Each one elects a Member ofParliament to sit in the House of Commons.

general elections are by secret ballot, but voting isnot compulsory.British, commonwealth and Irish republiccitizens may vote if they are resident in britain. Expatriatebritish persons may also vote under special conditions.

people not entitled to vote include members of the House ofLord, mentally ill patients, individuals who are detained inprisons, and persons who have been convicted of corrupt orillegal election practices.Each elector casts a vote at a polling station, set up on

election day in their constituency.Those who are unable to vote in person in theirlocale constituency can register postal or proxy votes.


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The candidate wiho wins most votes in a constituency is electedMP for that area. this system is known as the simple majority orthe "first past the post" system.

No candidate requires the backing of a political party in orderto stand for elections, but today no independent candidatesucceeds in being elected.The present party system is based upon the existence oforganised political parties, each laying rival policies before theelectorate.The party that wins most seats in the House of Commons at ageneral election usually forms the new government, eventhough it has not obtained a majority of the popular vote.

Indeed, the result of a general election may be a "hungparliament"where no one party has an overall majority.By tradition,the leader of the majority party is appointed asPrime Minister by the sovereign and asked to form agovernment.


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The Parliament


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Parliament, Britain's legislature, is made up of the House ofCommons, the House of Lords and the Queen in herconstitutional role.

The Commons has 651 elected Members of Parliament (MPs),who represent local constituencies. The House of Lords ismade up of 1,185 hereditary and life peers and peeresses, andthe two archbishops and the 24 most senior bishops of the

established Church of England.The center of parliamentary power is the House of Commons.Limitations on the power of the Lords (it rarely uses it powerto delay passage of most laws for a year) is based on theprinciple that the Lords, as a revising chamber, should

complement the Commons and not rival it. Once passedthrough both Houses, legislation requires the Royal Assent tobecome law.
http://www.open.gov.uk/commons/commons.htmhttp://www.open.gov.uk/commons/commons.htmhttp://www.open.gov.uk/commons/commons.htmhttp://www.britannia.com/gov/gov.html


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Parliament has a number of ways to exert control overthe executive branch. Parliamentary committeesquestion ministers and civil servants before preparing

reports on matters of public policy and issues can bedebated before decisions are reached. However,ultimate power rests in the ability of the House ofCommons to force the government to resign by passing aresolution of 'no confidence'. The government must alsoresign if the House rejects a proposal so vital to itspolicy that it has made it a matter of confidence. Theproceedings of both Houses of Parliament are broadcaston television and radio, sometimes live or more usually

in recorded and edited form.
http://www.britannia.com/gov/gov.html


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General elections to choose MPs must be held at least every

five years. Voting, which is not compulsory, is by secret ballotand is from the age of 18. The simple majority system ofvoting is used. Candidates are elected if they have more votesthan any of the other candidates, although not necessarily anabsolute majority over all candidates.


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Conclusion

the british govenment an politi

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