Chapter 7: The United Kingdom of Great Britian and Northern Ireland

is a “country of countries,” comprising the nations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

is a unitary state, with political power firmly concentrated in London in a single political institution, the House of Commons, which is elected by British voters every five years (or less often in certain circumstances).

has a substantial impact on the historical development of the political culture of a nation of people.

is behavior and ideas that support established customs and beliefs, rather than modern ones.

a policy of gradual reform rather than sudden change or revolution.

can be defined as the doctrine that governs the legitimacy of government action, and it implies something far more important than the idea of legality that requires official conduct

was created in the fourteenth century in response to the emergence of a growing commercial class as towns in England developed.

(1642–1651), in which King Charles I attempted to govern and raise revenue without Parliament until he could no longer do so.

James II fled the country, and the bloodless coup organized by Parliament

which ensured the role that Parliament would be guaranteed to play in the British state, and further identified rights that could not be violated against British citizens by the monarch.

was formed in 1906 to represent the interests of the newly enfranchised working classes, and emerged as the chief challenger to the Tories by the end of World War I.

which recommended sweeping changes to guarantee at least a subsistence income to all British citizens no matter what.

which provided all British citizens with the guarantee of medical care free of charge.

recast the Labour Party as a center

used violence to agitate for secession from Britain, in the hopes of uniting Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.

had promised a referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union, referred to colloquially as Brexit, to appease the Euro Skeptical elements of the Conservative Party.

is alive and well in Britain, almost completely unrestricted in its formation.

in Britain are generally regarded as completely free and fair, consistent with expectations of a liberal democracy, and British history has consistently progressed to expand access and participation for the average citizen.

is not necessarily a majority, since a majority is more than 50 percent.

vary from nation to nation, but in Britain they were all conducted in a proportional representation (PR) format rather than through an SMD.

elect their members with a hybrid of SMD and PR party list systems, while the Northern Irish system uses a single transferrable vote, allowing voters to rank two preferred candidates.

(nicknamed the “Tories”) is the more right

which is the idea that the upper classes have a responsibility for the care and welfare of those in lower classes.

which adheres to the economic philosophy of Margaret Thatcher, believing in the rolling back of the welfare state, reducing government controls and regulation, and expanding the role of markets.

began in 1906 as a means for members of the working class to advance workers’ rights in the political sphere.

are regularly the biggest victim electorally of the single

which refers to publicly funded bodies that operate as integrated parts of the private sector.

in Britain are open and free in their ability to investigate and report on the activities of the government at every level.

were created by the state for the purpose of providing information to citizens.

she does not hold any policymaking authority.

is the dominant political institution in Britain.

where the opposition party, backbenchers, and minor party MPs can submit questions to be answered by the prime minister on a live television broadcast.

is known as the “upper house” of Parliament, but it certainly does not play the greater role in modern policymaking.

meaning they acquired their place due to their ecclesiastical role in the Church of England.

meaning they inherited their title due to family lineage.

as they are appointed by the prime minister (with the official appointment performed by the monarch) to serve for life, without passing the title to their heirs, usually as recognition of lifetime achievement and contribution to the United Kingdom.

are generally subject to heavy influence from the bureaucrats they are supposed to oversee.

such as Britain’s place a tremendous importance on precedent and consistency in the interpretation of law, giving judges more interpretive power.

place more emphasis on the specific text of the legal code.

the idea that final authority should rest with decisions in the democratically elected House of Commons, rather than unelected officials in the judiciary.

who previously acted as the highest appellate court.

which centralized all health care provision into a single payer system with the government providing access to all citizens free of charge.

requires freedom of movement across state borders for European citizens to live, work, travel, and retire wherever they so please, but Britain was allowed to restrict immigration and travel into itself.

negotiated by Tony Blair, which led to the cessation of hostilities and the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly, in addition to other devolved regional parliaments.