The Heritage of the UK since the English Bill of Rights till Today - Research Paper Example

Decline and fall of English Monarchism since 1952 Gone are the days when British monarchy was an absolute monarchy where it was the sole source of political power in the state and not legally bound by any constitution. However, since the English Bill of Rights in 1689, United Kingdom and its overseas territories have become part of constitutional monarchy, which employ principle of Parliamentary sovereignty. The present monarch, Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties. As a constitutional monarch, the Queen is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honors. Though the ultimate executive authority over the government of the United Kingdom is still by and through the monarch's royal prerogative, in practice these powers are only used according to laws enacted in Parliament or within the constraints of convention and precedent. Over her life, Elizabeth witnessed the ongoing transformation of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations. By the time of Elizabeth's accession in 1952, her role as nominal head of multiple independent states was already established. At present, 15 other independent Commonwealth countries share with the United Kingdom the same person as their monarch. The denial to France’s for joining the commonwealth in 1956, who the following year signed the Treaty of Rome, the Suez crisis, where in November 1956 Britain and France invaded Egypt in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to capture the Suez canal, and then consequently the choice of Eden's (British prime minister) successor in 1957 were the decisions which faced first real personal criticism of the Queen. In 1965, the Conservatives adopted a formal mechanism for choosing a leader, thus relieving her of the duty, and stripping the Monarchy of what little power it had left. The 1960s and 1970s saw acceleration in the decolonization of Africa and the Caribbean. In 1975, at the height of Australian constitutional crisis, Elizabeth declined in helping out Gordon Scholes, stating that it was not appropriate for her to intervene in affairs that are reserved for the Governor-General alone by the Constitution of Australia. This fuelled Australian republicanism. The impotency of the monarchy was evident when President Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada, one of monarchy’s Caribbean realms, this angered the monarchy a lot but they couldn’t do anything about it. During Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 1980s, her economic policies fostered social divisions, UK faced high unemployment, series of riots, the violence of a miners' strike etc, and Thatcher's refusal to apply sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa greatly reduced monarchy’s popularity. In the 1980s public criticism of the royal family increased, as the personal and working lives of Elizabeth's children came under media scrutiny. Elizabeth's popularity sank to a low point in the 1990s; under pressure from public opinion she began to pay income tax for the first time, and Buckingham Palace was opened to the public. In the ensuing years, public revelations on the state of Charles and Diana's marriage continued which was a much cause for embarrassment. A year after the divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, at this time; Discontent with the monarchy reached its peak. The British monarchy, an institution that epitomizes the heritage and long history of its country, has come under increasing criticism in the past decade as an archaic relic badly in need of an overhaul if it is to earn its place in the 21st century. England in the New World Order After the Suez crises in 1956, England set on a new path of economic and political stability, and accelerated its efforts in the implementation of the New World order. New World order is a concept to unite the world, to put it under one flag, have a financial system which is same for everyone, to create a welfare state where there would be a uniform legal system and everyone will be treated equally, to have an amalgamated military which would be a united front against any aggressor and to provide merchants and manufacturers constancy in the ever changing world. This concept has taken shape with the birth of United Nations and its subsidiaries. The Royal family of England, specifically Queen Elizabeth II after her coronation has played an important role in unifying nations, since she also had a strong support of her commonwealth states. Part of the plan to implement New World Order is to make a European Union which is already completed. At first it was designed only as a “free trade” agreement to make Europe more competitive with the larger markets of the United States and China. Since its original formation they have grown to include a political system to govern monetary affairs. They adopted a new currency, a court system, imposed taxes, created a police force, and also a military. It seems like they have all the makings of a United European States government, which would be a dream come true for the proponents of New World Order, but it would be only half true, because the concept of New World Order is not to just have United European States government, but to have United World government. Bank of England has also followed in the reigns of New World Order. We know that the roots of Bank of England, owned by the Rothchilds, lie deep in time. The story of the Bank of England is the story of the British Empire. The British Empire was a political empire and a monetary financial empire, striving to do trade and business with the rest of the world, collecting raw materials from poverty stricken nations and investing in their development, and also trying to unify all the colonies and create a free trade environment where people are not inhibited through regional boundaries. The concept of New World order, of world unification, has started ever since. So to give New World Order meaning, efforts have been put in to strengthen Bank of England so that world catastrophes don’t hamper on economy as economy is the back bone of stability. Bank of England is a nationally owned institution which has the monopoly in the production of the national currency, and has independent control of the country’s monetary policy in the hands of a Court of Directors who serve the private banking system as they have since the Bank was established and have complete independence with regard to monetary policy. This has been strengthened when Government enacted the 1998 Bank of England Act. Moreover, Gordon Brown announced the new financial infrastructure at the G20. He announced the new global currency - to be issued and managed by the newly reinvigorated IMF. The New World Order concept can also be termed as neoliberal order, a concept of new international economic order, which was also put forward in 1970s by the United Nations conference on Trade and development (UNCTAD). These economic rules are the rules of International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Thomas Friedman is a leading economist and he greatly supports and extols these rules and concepts. The countries who have implemented these policies have benefitted a lot, like India, which dazzles Thomas Friedman, who have developed a very strong software program. The leaders of all the major industrial countries fully cooperate and support New World Order, and it is not without the consent of all that this plan can propagate. England in International Socio-Cultural change The culture of England refers to the idiosyncratic cultural norms of England and the English people. Because of England's dominant position within the United Kingdom in terms of population, English culture is often difficult to differentiate from the culture of the United Kingdom as a whole. However, there are some cultural practices that are associated specifically with England. The last time the Olympics were held in Britain, in 1948, the world travelled to London to compete. Sixty years later the world, in all its diversity, is already here. United Kingdom’s generation of 21st century which of course includes England, will have cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic backgrounds which span the globe, and are symbolic of England’s cosmopolitan status at the start of the 21st Century as it holds a dominant position in UK. Generally what the culture of a nation refers to is the patterns of human activity and symbolism associated with the state and the people. In case of England, its culture is defined through UK’s history as being a developed island country, being a major power, its composition of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, each of which have distinct customs, cultures and symbolism. As a direct result of the British Empire, English cultural influence can be observed in the language and culture of different countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, the United States, and the British overseas territories, at the same time, these nations have influenced English culture in many ways. Innovations and movements within the wider-culture of Europe have also changed the English thought process and have inspired them where Humanism, Protestantism, and representative democracy are borrowed from broader Western culture. The Industrial Revolution in England also had a profound effect on the socio-economic and cultural conditions of the world, as well as the Britain social structure. More recently, popular culture of the United Kingdom in the form of the British invasion, Britpop and British television broadcasting, and British cinema, British literature and British poetry is respected across the world. The world has had a great effect on English cuisine as well. Modern English cuisine is difficult to differentiate from British cuisine as a whole. However, there are some forms of cuisine considered distinctively English. The full English breakfast is a variant of the traditional British fried breakfast. Roast beef is a food traditionally associated with the English. English law, due to the British Empire, has been exported across the world: it is the basis of jurisprudence of most Commonwealth countries. English law prior to the American Revolution is still part of the law of the United States, and provides the basis for many American legal traditions and policies. Due to the expansion of English into a world language during the British Empire, literature is now written in English across the world. Writers often associated with England or for expressing Englishness include Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Arnold Bennett, and Rupert Brooke. Writers associated with specific regions of England include Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and A. E. Housman. In the 20th century, Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett emerged as internationally-recognized opera composers, and in 1962, The Beatles became the most popular musicians of their time, who popularized the concept of the self-contained music act. The English have played a significant role in the development of the sciences. Prominent individuals have included Isaac Newton, Francis Crick, Michael Faraday, and Joseph Swan. Read More