2015-05-26
385
План.
1. British political culture.
2. The leading parties: The Labour and the Conservatives. Strong and weak points of the two-party system. Other parties.
3. The electoral system.
4. Non-governmental organisations.
Cultural and institutional terms.
1.British political culture.The key role of precedent, custom and common sense as factors that have shaped Britain’s political culture. A move away from consensus politics, typical of the post-war period, to a more confrontational style in the late 1970s and 1980s. Changes in the electorate in the 1990s: the decline of traditional allegiances and the growing importance of those who are concerned with their own personal development and of ‘single-issue’ voters.
2.The leading parties: The Labour and the Conservatives. Strong and weak points of the two-party system. Other parties. The Labour Party as the traditional party of the Left, its role in the post-war reforms (the creation of the welfare state, including the NHS, etc.). The party’s crisis in the 1970s and 1980s. The “New Labour”, its policies since 1997 as the governing party. The Conservative Party as the traditional party of the Right. Its free-market reforms of the 1980s. Its divisions over European integration and the electoral debacle of 1997. Strong points of the two-party system: strong one-party government (a guarantee against coalition crises); rigid party discipline and a sense of responsibility. Weak points: a narrow political spectrum in the country; lack of choice for ambitious young politicians who do not share some of the basic principles of the two parties. Other parties: the Liberal Democratic Party – the only serious part of the centre; Sinn Fein (the political wing of the IRA – the Irish Republican Army) – the Catholic Irish nationalist party; the Ulster Unionist Party – the Protestant party in Northern Ireland; Plaid Cymru – the Welsh nationalists; the Scottish National Party; the Green Party.
3.The electoral system. Based on the first-past-the post (FPTP, or simple majority) principle, which usually ensures a clear parliamentary majority (reducing the risk of the so-called ‘hung parliament’, i.e. one in which no party has an overall majority), but may and often does distort the proportion between the overall electoral support for a particular party and the number of the seats it gets in the House of Commons. The country is divided into constituencies with roughly equal numbers of voters, usually about 66,000 voters, each constituency sending one MP to the House of Commons. General elections are held every five years (but the governing party may decide ‘to go to the country’ before the expiry of their term in office). Voting is not compulsory, the right to vote is given to British citizens (together with some other categories of residents) of at least 18 years of age. If an MP dies, resigns or is made a peer during the life-time of a Parliament, a by-election is held.
4.Non-governmental organisations. They are usually set up to further the interests of a particular group of people or to address some problem that the citizens feel is not getting adequate attention from the government.
Cultural and institutional terms. The Labour Party, the ‘New Labour’, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionist Party; the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, an MP, a constituency.
Questions:
1. What are the weak and the strong points of the FPTP?
2. Compare the Labour Party in the 1970s and 1980s with the ‘New Labour’.
3. What are the reasons for the relative weakness of the parties other than Labour and Conservative?
4. Which of the minor parties are nationalist in their political philosophy?
References:
Левашова В. А. Современная Британия. М.: Высшая школа, 2007.
McDowall D. Britain in Close-Up. Longman Ltd., 2005.
