British Politics and Change in Governance - Essay Example

BRITISH POLITICS AND CHANGE IN GOVERNANCE Student’s Name Date of Submission The Great Britain is made up of England, Wales and Scotland. Referring to Darlington (2016), the British state had evolved over time since the day in 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded England successfully defeating King Harold of England. However, the Norman dynasty did not conqueror Scotland but managed to conqueror Wales and Ireland. This is the only successful invasion of England. In 1603, the Monarchical England ruled by Queen Elizabeth was succeeded by James King of Scots after the demise of Queen Elizabeth. He moved to Edinburgh as King James I of England. However, he still managed to control most of the happenings in Scotland. Later Scottish elites ran bankrupt therefore made a scheme to a Union with England and Scotland to make one sovereign state known as the Great Britain with its base in London. Ireland abolished its parliament in 1801 to join the new political entity which was now known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This was however not without rebellions; Southern Irish never recognized this English rule and rebelled in 1916 before gaining independence in 1922. Darlington (2016) state that the British political system has basically been a struggle to shift power and accountability from an all-powerful king (monarchy) to a national parliament. Over the years, there has been need to have leaders who represent the ordinary people and are accountable to the people, a huge contrast to Kings who considered themselves to have been appointed to power by God and the power is his/her birth right therefore not accountable to ordinary people. Conferring to National Archives (2016), The United Kingdom is now a parliament democracy with a constitutional monarch, with the Queen/King as Head of State while an elected Prime Minister is head of the government. Darlington (2016) in a short guide to British Political System, state that the most important date in the evolution was in 1215 when King John documented Magna Carta which was to ensure power sharing with the barons. A model parliament summoned by King Edward I which is considered to be the first representative assembly occurred in 1295. This parliament unlike others which were Monarchical had people each representing a given territory or interest. With this parliament the King had no absolute powers as before, for instance, the King of England before implementation of any new tax had to get the approval from the parliament (Darlington, 2016). The subsequent phase was the introduction of the bicameral parliament which emerged in 1341. Agreeing to United Kingdom Parliament (2016), this type of governance ensures checks and balance in every house. The house of Commons is responsible for granting money by approval of bills that are aimed at raising taxes then this decision has to be approved by the other House of Lords and vice versa. In the 19th Century the urge to limit the monarch had increased, politically the war between Whigs and Tories was because of these issues (Darlington, 2016). According to About Britain (2014), the author noted that before these two parties came into being, the monarchical parliament was made up of parliament which was composed of aristocrats and very rich men who formed alliances based on their own loyalties and other factors. The difference between the Whigs and Tories was that the Whigs party was for liberal minded individuals mostly aristocrats and attracted individuals who felt that democracy was the way to go. As early as 1832 they started calls for modernization of the British parliament. In 1850, the party took the name Liberal Party, a name which they used until 1988 when it joined with Social Democratic Party to form the now known Liberal Democrats. On the other hand the party known as Tory at its inception was made up of people who supported the royals and the crown. They were traditionalists who wanted things to remain as it was with the crown being the undisputed ruler of all the land (About Britain, 2014). With reference to Trueman (2016), between 1750 to 1832 only men who were considered to be rich in that they had property and money were allowed to vote and all women were not allowed to vote. At this time France had had a very violent revolution; many rich families who had control in the country were executed on a guillotine resulting into chaos. Britain was trying to avoid going this way by all means. At the heart of English Industrial Revolution were cities considered rotten boroughs and they were underrepresented in the House of Commons, for instance, the village of Gatton returned one MP with only one man in the town allowed to vote. In 1819, Orator Hunt was speaking before a mass meeting at St Peter’s field in Manchester when halfway the meeting was declared illegal, and a cavalry was sent to break it up resulting in death of eleven people. The pressure continued until 1830 when William IV became King and introduced the first political change, known as the Great Reform Act. According to Trueman (2016), the Great Reform Act removed the 56 rotten boroughs were as constituencies, small constituencies which returned two MP’s were only allowed one; the middle class was given rights to vote. In general, this reform resulted in more voters and increased representation however women could not vote, secret ballot was not yet introduced, and only one in seven men could vote which meant people were still underrepresented. However, it must be noted that it was a start at democracy and general change of governance. In 1837, Queen Victoria came into power. At this time, a group known as Chartists advocated for change in political system so as to enable working class to be represented. At this time, workers started mobilizing themselves to sabotage machines because they had no political right that was their only option to press the government. By 1851, there were New Model Unions developed for all workers skilled or not skilled with great political power giving birth to Labour Party. Currently, due to pressure from the Labour Party, the aristocrats had lesser powers unlike before. For instance two politicians Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone muscled huge crowds and were completely different from people such as the Duke of Wellington. By 1972 the Secret Ballot Act was passed, a huge accomplishment for democracy. Initially, people voted in the open which was prone to abuse especially if the voter was close to any of the contestants (Trueman, 2016). In 1884, there was the third reform. It further increased the number of working class men who were allowed by law to vote. However no women were still allowed to vote. This gradual loss in power resulting in a change in governance is supported by another author who goes ahead to simplify the changes into five events (Robert, 2016). The first was the political pressure that resulted into King John of England signing the Magna Carta, latter during the Restoration period when King Charles II’s powers were limited by parliament on constitutional grounds. The last phase was in the 90s when the extension of voting legibility was to 18 years to 21 years old. The author also notes that most of these reforms were made possible because of political parties at that time which advocated for change towards democracy. For instance, The Great Reform Act of 1832 was promoted by the Whigs; a party which is now known as Liberals (Darlington, 2016). In recent times the monarch has become more of a ceremonial position, according to Dicey and Michener (1982), the crown cannot raise or spend public funds without first getting the consent of the house, and the judiciary can assert its power by judging whether royal actions are indeed lawful. In the present day the roles between the crown and the government are well defined. Britain is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy. The government’s accountability lies with the parliament. The parliament is sovereign in that it has absolute power, supremacy to all other government institutions (Britannia, 2016). In conclusion, the journey towards democracy in Britain has had many milestones along the way. At the center of this is political pressure, it was present during the signing of the Magna Carta until reforms which continue being made today. The aim of such reforms are not to do away with culture but as a way of ensuring representation and equity for all people. The crown is currently seen as a common figure which brings together people especially during hard times, for instance according to Britannia (2016), the stability of British government is owed to the monarchy which offers stability because its continuity was only broken once for over a thousand years. Today’s Queen is not just head of state but also a symbol of national unity. However, the recent development in British politics have not had a major impact in change of governance, as seen from this study most reforms were made possible in the not so recent past. Especially the period between wars, during this period which was between 1918 and 1939 majority of social and political pressure led to changes which increased representation in parliament before dramatically leading to most powers of the crown being exercised by the parliament, therefore, changing the system of governance. BIBLIOGRAPHY About Britain. (2014). A short History of Political Parties In Britain. Retrieved from http://about-britain.com/institutions/political-parties.htm (Accessed: 11 May 2016) Britannia. (2016). The British Government: A Brief Overview. Retrieved from http://www.britannia.com/gov/gov4.html (Accessed: 11 May 2016) Darlington, R. (2016). A short Guide To The British Political System. Retrieved from http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html (Accessed: 11 May 2016) Dicey, A., Michener, R. (1982). Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution. Liberty Fund Inc. National Archives. (2012). Overview of the UK System of government. Retrieved from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121015000000/http:/www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/UKgovernment/Centralgovernmentandthemonarchy/DG_073438 (Accessed: 11 May 2016) Robert, L. (2016). When and How did the British Monarchy Start Losing its Power. Retrieved from http://www.quora.com/When-and-how-did-the-British-monarchy-start-losing-its-power (Accessed: 11 May 2016) Trueman, C. (2016). Political Changes. Retrieved from http://www.historylearningsite.com.uk/britain-1700-to-1900/political-changes/ (Accessed: 11 May 2016) United Kingdom Parliament. (2016). The Two-House System. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role/system/ (Accessed: 11 May 2016) Read More