The Impact of Ideology on the Coalition Government - Essay Example

? Assessment of the Impact of Ideology on the Coalition Government Elected In May Assessment of the Impact of Ideology on the (United Kingdom) Coalition Government Elected In May 2010 Political parties have been known to operate under a set of ideology on whose basis policies and manifestos are drawn for governance and to woo the potential electorate. These ideologies have been known to shape the political landscape of any state or nation and in some cases they affect global politics. At national level as the case of the UK, the multiparty system has brought into play political competition as the parties seek to control national governance when empowered by the electorate through the electoral process. To understand how the ideologies of political parties in the UK affect the present coalition governance it will be necessary to define political ideology based on the UK situation, their development over the years and therefore how they affect people, societies and governance in the land. Political ideology like any other form of ideology will have as part of its components a definition of the cognitive values (expression of knowledge and doctrines), intended effects on the subjects’ feelings, the definition of norms and system of judgment through its valuation criteria, plans and action points and lastly its social base. These are what the main political parties in the UK strive to monitor in order to achieve the support of groups and collectivities. For a government to run smoothly there has to be agreement among the members in the government to a common ideology. However in cases where parties are forced to come together in form of coalitions to form government then compromises are sought in the ideologies (Ball, 1987 p 1-3). This is quite a challenge in a case where the ideological differences are sharp and incompatible. In assessment of the state of the UK coalition government formed following the may 2010 general election, political ideologies of the constituent parties are found to have a major contribution on governance of the country. In this paper we seek to give an assessment of the effects of ideology of the constituents of the coalition on governance by first assessing the ideologies of individual major in the UK namely the Conservatives, the Labor Party and the Liberal Democrats. The paper will further consider how the ideologies affect governance in the coalition through analysis of opinions. The role of political parties in the UK Political parties in the UK are charged by the electorate and members with the important role of governance through direct formation of government as the ruling party or as a check to the government as backbenchers or the opposition party. In cases where no particular winner is obtained as the case in the 2010 general elections, the parties agree to form a coalition government. Other functions of political parties in the UK can be summarized as: 1. Development of particular party ideological positions. 2. Facilitation of political education while encouraging participation by party members and the electorate in political processes. 3. Formulation of individual policies that are combined to form a coherent political program implemented in case the party forms government. 4. Oversee political elections at all levels (local, national and regional) 5. Represent political, social, economic and cultural interests of supporters though ensuring they are elected to the Legislature as the ruling party 6. Institutionalization of conflict by providing mechanisms of peaceful conflict resolution in the political system From this checklist it can be understood why party ideals are an important element in the UK political systems because of their deterministic role in the success of governance. An overview of political ideology of political parties in the UK For the purpose of this assessment we shall consider the three major parties namely: the Conservative, the Labor party, and the Liberal Democrats whose political role in the coalition government is quite significant. The Conservative Party The ideology of the party is based on conservatism and what can be described as British unionism. The party seeks to preserve traditional systems with almost negligible change in the society but lay strong emphasis on stability and system continuity. Although a thing of the past but it may be noticed that conservatism is opposed to modernism best described under Toryism. It may not be immediately explained but it is on the basis of these ideologies that the party won the 2010 general elections although failed to get the majority seats to form their own government (Lee and Beech, 2009 Pp 143-146). The party has severally survived with coalitions with other political parties whose ideals were similar such the Ulster Unionist Party on international politics scene. The Labor Party As indicated in an account by Plant et al (2004 Pp 4-9) this is the second largest political party in the UK which is criticized as advocating for left wing politics with the second earliest political history. However the party is mainly socialist although occasionally criticized for being capitalistic and neo-colonialists in some of their actions which are opposed to socialist ideals. They are strong proponents of public ownership especially in national resources, wealth redistribution, and social welfare, increased expenditure of public funds in supporting basic services like education and health and advocacy of workers’ rights (Foote, 1985 p3). In the latest move the party has adopted the policies of free market which are usually held by democrats. The Liberal Democratic Party The party has its ideals founded on democratic principles of liberalism in which they support liberalism in economic policies, open market systems, and free trade (Dutton, 2004 Pp3-7). Based on these, the party has two factions of social liberals who support welfare state, higher national spending and also taxation, and government indulgence in consumer protection. The other faction is made of market liberals who are proponents of negative freedoms (political and civil) but are opposed to government indulgence in market regulation. It is notable that the party ideology in the UK has very sharp contrasts which may make formation and running of a coalition system challenging. As the Tocqueville Society (1979 p56) says “Liberals and Conservatives typically do not take alternative positions on issues of equality and freedom. Instead, each side appeals to one or the other core value, as liberals stress egalitarianism’s primacy and the social justice” p56 Assessment of the effects of ideology on the coalition The challenges in the coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have been brought to light because of the different approaches to economic and financial issues which the government technically inherited from the previous regime. The outcome of the polls in May therefore brought in governance issues in which the tight options forced redical and to some extend ‘unpopular’ decisions being made by the party leaders. In the fear of forming a weak minority government, Cameron was forced to compromise some party ideals to form a coalition with the Lib Dem party which was the only willing party to partner with him (Firth, 2010).Howeber the partner had to also forego important party ideologies like high tax imposition and increased public spending characteristic of the democrats to accommodate the campaign pledges of the conservatives. There is no doubt that compromise by the coalition parties has impacted negatively on their public image with their supporters. As in any coalition, sacrifice of policy is the order of the day which reduces the parties from the pledges they made to the electorate to party negotiations whose outcome is not dependable. The existing mistrust and party insecurity may be imapcting negatively on the coalition with party policies being changed frequently to suit the collaboration. Such a government can therefore be seen as a weak and unstable one with low public support. While looking at the effects of the ideological differences between the coalition poartners it is also good to cosider that the compromise gave room for transfor, national politics of which both parties are not party to. The full manifestation of mordern liberalism and the shift from tough anti-social stance by the conservatives is sufficient evidence of a new political dispensation in which political parties have to learn first, the need to formulate policies that can be bridged between political parties in collaborative way (Norton, Pp 144-149). Secondly and as exemplified by the liberals the parties must learn to anticipate different outcomes of polls and have in place alternative policies that can accommodate different poll outcomes with necessary policy changes to accommodate the possible outcomes (Shaw, 1996 Pp34-46). The new political dispensation which can be related to many other global nations indicate the need to have provision within party policies to accommodate coalition (hung) governments that can be as strong as majority governments as proposed by Scruton (1984 Pp56-8). Conclusion In redeeming political strength in a formidable political land like the UK requires preparedness in the party policies and ideoloy that is remotely able to synchronise with other ideologies. This is the reason why compromised policies like those by the Labor Party may be in part better placed. With the increase in the number of independent candidates in the UK parliament it may not be possible to amass enough seats to form majority governments as in the past. Therefore to avoid ideological crisis as the one experienced in the present coalition it is our recommendation that political parties in the UK should be prepared to form hung governments in time just as the Liberals did in 2010. References Ball, A. R. 1987. British Political Parties: The Emergence of a Modern Party System. Basingstoke: Macmillan Dutton, D. 2004. A History of the Liberal Party in the Twentieth Century. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Firth, N. May 2010. Cameron and Clegg risk grassroots fury by ditching key manifesto pledges (but they ARE going to hold 27 'reviews'). MailOnline. Viewed from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279880/Coalition-target-benefits-cheats-bad-teachers-health--safety-killjoys.html Foote, G. 1997. The Labour Party’s Political Thought: A History. Basingstoke: Macmillan Lee, S. and Beech, M. 2009. The Conservatives under David Cameron: Built to Last? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Norton, P. 1996. The Conservative Party. (ed.) Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall Plant, R., Beech, M. and Hickson, K. (eds.) 2004. The Struggle for Labour’s Soul: Understanding Labour’s Political Thought Since 1945. London: Routledge Scruton, R. 1984. The Meaning of Conservatism, Basingstoke: Macmillan Shaw, E. 1996. The Labour Party Since 1945. Oxford: Blackwell Tocqueville Society. 1979. The Tocqueville review: La revue Tocqueville. Vol 1-2. Tocqueville Society Read More