Has Devolution Changed the British System of Government - Essay Example

HAS DEVOLUTION FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED THE BRITISH SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT? Has Devolution Fundamentally Changed The British System Of Government? Introduction The government of the United Kingdom has fundamentally changed and will continue to change. This is because its systems are now administered by various administrations and in a non-consistency way. Understanding the political nature of British structure is essential because of the crucial changes that have taken place. The British government structure does not have anything similar to the revolution of both American and French. They have never been colonized, but instead they have been the greatest colonizers of history. This reveals as to why the political system of British government is not clear or logical and it is always full of democracy. However, decentralization has contributed to gradual changes and it has created pragmatic consensus. The political history theory reveals that the British government has made a great effort s of shifting the supremacy from the powerful kingdom. This monarch claims and wants to remain in power arguing that they acquired power from God to rule the state. The British political system has been for a long time headed by a monarchy, but devolution has contributed to varied changes in the government system. Therefore, the paper will argue on the way devolution has fundamentally changed the British political and government system. Devolution in the British Government System Devolution is a constitutional body that grants supremacy from the federal administration of a monarch state to the administration at the local levels. 1Devolution has changed the British government system, and it will keep changing because of the way the UK government is administered. The UK government system in not uniformed; thus devolution is now an integral part of the way the constitution can structure the government system. Devolution in UK is asymmetric revealing different administrative bodies and aspirations of varied parts of the United Kingdom. Although many democratic countries across the globe have asymmetric constitutions, the protections required for minorities are not similar to those of the majorities. This structural system contributes to a greater capacity for the neighborhood government to make decisions and guidelines at a localized level; thus creating discrepancy in guiding principles in the UK. Therefore, the UK administration has secured decentralization in England in diverse ways including the confined community empowerments, responsibility of the new structure and the executive delegation in diverse ways. Almost every region across the globe has a written constitution, which is the declaration of the supreme law of the nation. Other laws and institutions across the globe have a written constitution, which have fundamental principles for guiding the state. The British constitution has a body of rules or principles that govern the political and government system; thus exercising the public authority and their relation between citizens and the state. The fact that the British constitution has their rules that are set in a single structure, it does not mean that the formal document makes some difficulties in describing the British constitution. The formal constitution can be at times misleading, and the distinction is not straightforward. There are always political disagreements about the significant issues in the constitution. There are transformations and new conceptions of justice to amend the constitution. However, significant changes in the society and politics of the past century have created problems in the historical constitution of Britain. Therefore, the British government has significantly made some changes in the political system by reforming the constitution. This is through addressing the significant of the constitutional reform, things that should be reformed and implement the fundamental values of creating a powerful constitutional reform in the contemporary society. 2Bogdanor (1999, p. 185) argues that the establishment of the Scottish Parliament after nearly 300 hundred years implies the beginning of political and government system transformation. The new Scottish Assembly does not aim to be the governing body or a self-governing state like their antecedents. The Scottish Parliament is a devolved body with power being delegated from Westminster. The devolution in the political or government structure aims to conserve the autonomy of the Westminster legislative body. The research indicates that the United Kingdom Parliament is and will continue to remain autonomous in all matters. However, section 28 of the Scotland Act reveals that this section will not affect the authority of the UK government. The Scottish legislative body will remain to be the subsidiary body constitutionally. However, unlike other political, statutory bodies such as the local legislature or public corporations, the constitution will be nothing but rather a subordinate. This is because the Scotland Act creates a novel way of maintaining political powers. Therefore, devolution will create change and this change will include the separation of the political powers in Scotland. These changes may contribute to difficulties in bringing into play the constitutional restraints in the Scotland Act. Ways in Which Devolution Have Changed the British System of Government The two opposing trends of political integration and disintegration across the globe seem to have contributed significantly to the political changes in the British government system. These trends appear to have breaking off the establishment of the current state structure from various sides. Both trends involve the relocation of decision making process of the government; a change that creates differences in the monarchy. The state has been delegating adequate responsibilities over decision making upwards to supernatural institutions at both the regional and global levels. The political integration in Europe has been more pervasive for the past years than the current years. However, the British administration has a strong treaty of political delegation within the states and a tendency towards the decentralization of decision-making control in a descending movement. One demonstration of this delegation is the current disintegration of the previous Soviet Union, which led to the formation of new states in the central region and Eastern region of Europe. There are plausible arguments for believing that the changes in the British government and political system could have been accelerated by globalization. Globalization refers to the international integration process; thus creating new economic ideas because of increased technological advancement. Globalization is one of the causes that accounts for devolution; thus contributing to increased economic integration in the international system. According to 3McAnulla (2006, p. 122), the economies of the world have been interwoven in a way that makes it difficult for the British government to pursue their key policy goals. This may include goals like dealing with issues of financial, environmental and economic issues without coordinating their actions with other supernatural levels. Therefore, globalization has been substantially led to increased demand for political integration of governance. Another scholar reveals that globalization has contributed to changes in the British government system because of trade unions. The economic trades between nations and the internal market have shaped the policies of the state. The argument behind this is that globalization encourages new demand for political devolution and disintegration of the British government. Globalization can generate a greater support for political degeneration and amalgamation by transforming the national income distribution. One should understand that, for the trade theory, globalization can create a profound effect on national income and different policies in the local economies. Globalization has heterogeneous effects on the political system, and it can raise redistributive stake, which are linked with political devolution. Therefore, it can persuade political degeneration demands or weaken the support for political union. The foremost issue surrounded by the British political structure is the constitutional transformation. This includes the Lord Reform, devolution or decentralization and possible, printed constitution. Among these reforms, devolution had been one of the significant issues since the 1997 election when the Labour Party made a pledge on devolution. The Labor Party introduced a devolution government form in regions including Scotland and Wales and other parts of the Northern Ireland. The elected party held referendums in both counties, which led to extent of creating a mayor of London as a devolutionary process of reforming the political system. During the assembly, the Labour Party came up with some parliamentary rights and created unique powers in the religion, which they presented. Although the reform was achieved with some problems affecting the government, the Labor Party managed to create some reform in the political structure. The constitutional devolution of the UK has gone intense revolution. For instance, one can note the 4New Labour Government that took place in 1997, in Britain has profoundly changed. The government adopted new Labour Party whose traditional hostility to a Bill of Rights was founded on a fear that, a conservative judiciary would use its provisions to defeat socialist legislation. The government established other new polices, most of which had been for a long time advocated by pressure from the political system. The new changes of the British legal orders affected much legislation such as Crime and Disorder Act of 1998, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act of 2000 and many others. The British constitutions were not uniform or dogmatically conservative during the regime of the conservative government of Prime Minister Edward Health, John Major and Margret Thatcher. However, intense constitutional transformations took place during the conservative government period. For instance, under the regime of Edward Health, the UK acceded to the Treaties by establishing the European Communities Act of 1972. Additionally, despite the significant measures that took place in the 5British constitution, the constitution reforms that took place since 1997 are far more dramatic than anything that took place in the quarter-century following the entry of Britain to the European communities. Even so, the reforms are inconsistent because of the main reasons. One of the reasons being the constitutional reform aspects seem to remain in the constitutional agenda of the government. For instance, the kingdom restructuring and the electoral arrangement of the House of Commons remain off the constitutional transformation schedule. Secondly, the reforms are patchy because of difficulties to discern an overall constitutional vision that connects the constitutional reform. Lastly, the government has made attempts to reform many aspects since 1997, but they have now worked effectively. Devolution has created many profound changes in the political system of UK because of constitutional reform. The 1999 election of Scotland Parliament legislation powers and Congress of Wales with their secondary legislation powers have created significant effect on the UK government system. For instance, Northern Ireland has complex power sharing, but this can create issues in the political system unless the British government reached a consensus agreement. It is only England that has been left out of the decentralization framework. The Great London Congress and Mayor represent the England rather than the provincial supremacy. The England administration remains federalized under the supervision of the UK legislative body and government. Although there are no clear ideas on what should be changed in England, the main political parties have raised the issue of revolutionizing the area. The devolution is a process that will continue to evolve in the coming years; thus creating change in the British government structure. This will be achieved through the devolved government by pressing additional powers on the government system in order to achieve success. The conventional theory of British political affairs emphasizes on the distinctive behaviors of the British political civilization and interrelationships of the institutions. The three main elements of the British politics lie behind the constitutional doctrines, state theory and historical theory. The new political theories and perspectives, which are often influenced by the European and American political science, have significantly challenged the Westminster model6. This is because the model is not apparent and it explains slightly about the British political affairs. The separated political model has substituted the Westminster model as a foremost model of British affairs of state. This Model recognizes the sustained, significant roles of the hierarchy, disparity and prevailing political convention in the British government. 7Adams and Robinson (2002, p. 124) examines the implications surrounding the policy divergences and concludes that devolution in UK has changed because of pressure from interested political groups. These political groups are the ones pressing force behind the political transformation, and Scotland has many of them than Wales. The UK is a universal defense region, common marketplace and a distinct welfare nation. Therefore, these groups impose constraints upon political divergence in practice. There is a concerning issue of maintaining co-operation in law matters and maintaining a common market can contribute to devolved government body. The intention of devolution was intended to create innovation of new political administrations and the possibility of policy divergence. This is essential because devaluation can create equality. In conclusion, devolution has fundamentally changed the British political and government system. The two opposing trends of political integration and disintegration across the globe seem to have contributed significantly to the political changes in the British government system. Globalization is one of the causes that accounts for devolution; thus contributing to increased economic integration in the international system. Another scholar reveals that globalization has contributed to changes in the British government system because of trade unions. Devolution has created many profound changes in the political system of UK because of constitutional reform; thus contributing to diverse changes in the British political structure. Bibliography Adams, John, and Peter Robinson. 2002. Devolution in practice: public policy differences within the UK. London: Institute for Public Policy Research. Bogdanor, Vernon. 1999. "Devolution: Decentralisation or Disintegration?" The Political Quarterly. 70 (2): 185-194. Bromley, Catherine. 2006. Has devolution delivered? Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Laffin, M. and Shaw Erick. 2007. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 9 (1), Pp. 55-72. Blackwell Publishing. McAnulla, Stuart. 2006. British politics: a critical introduction. London: Continuum. ONeill, Michael. 2004. Devolution and British politics. Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman. Turpin, Colin, and Adam Tomkins. 2011. British government and the constitution: text and materials. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Watts, Duncan. 2012. British government and politics: a comparative guide. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Read More