Class Notes: 2/4/09

Fall 1998, while Blair was in power, he established a new idea in higher education. Colleges charged fees for the first time in Britain. The students went crazy as protests ensued.
-The students had "quiet protests" @ Cambridge U.
-fees were $1700 orignally (wouldn't that be nice)
-lower income families paid less
-30% still went for free based on this though
-Tuition was raised to $2100 per year and again to $5200 in 2006
In 2005, the House of Commons banned fox hunting which angered the rural upper class

Political Party System

* England has a multi-party system
-Only 2 parties (Conserv. and Labor) have held the gov. since 1945
*The system is competitve
-Major parties are the Conservatives, Labor, and Liberal Democrats
-Small regional parties, these were boosted when Tony Blair devolved power
(Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland get parliament assemblies)
-Wales has the Plain Cymru
-The Scottish National Party in Scotland
- The Democratic Unionist and Sinn Fein parties are in N. Ireland
*3/4 of electorate @ or near political center

Conservative

*Current leader: David Cameron (helping to revive the Conserv. party after Blair won in 97, 01, and 05)
*Tend to be middle class
*Right of the center
*Oldest party (majority of wins since 1880's)
*Roots in the British Nobility
*Noblesse Oblige: a sense to help others below them

Labor Party

*Working class
*Towards left not as far from center as Conservative Party
*More divided and diverse
*Unions dominate the party (providing funding and members) until Thatcher broke them down
*Known as the irresponsible reform party
*They ended their 77 year commitment to nationalized industry

Liberal Democrats

*@ one time b/w the Labor and Conserv.
-formed from dropouts from L and C due to fallout of the Collectivist Consensus
*Left of the Labor Party (farthest left) today
*Formed from an alliance of Liberal Party and Social Democrats
*1983, won 26% of the vote, only 2% less than the Labor Party
*2001, won 18% of the vote
*Victim of Britains "winner take all" system
-Single member districts
-Most votes wins
*Vote is spread out in favor of them and thus they win no seats
*1983, vote spread evenly, they win 3% of the seats but had 26% of the vote
*Set themselves up to be left of Labor Party w/ stronger enviornmental policies, income taxes hike for health and education uses
*1997, double representation from 20-45 seats have 62 seats today, out of 630 seats total

Regional Parties

*Parties made of those who resent English domination of House of Commons
*2005, regional parties won 18 seats in total


Constitution

*Britain has NO WRITTEN CONSTITUTION
*Unwritten British constitution
*Made up treaties, acts of Parliament, and judicial rules, and customs etc. of political game in Britain
*Vagueness makes things flexible
-pass an act, or make a ruling
*Few iron guarentees to British citizens
-Civil liberties protected by strong tradition
-Authority to change Constitution w/ acts from Parliament
-May take executive acts to est. new precedents
*England is unitary, no geographic separation of authority
-Blair takes steps to change this with devolution
-May 1999, Scottish and Welsh Parliaments held elections and rivals to Blair's party rose
-Commons can disestablish these @ anytime, nothing concrete
*Parliamentary system of government
*Powers of executive and legislative branches overlap
*Rival parties are the only check on maj. parties power
*Independant courts, no power of judicial review though
*Parliament totally soverign in UK, unlimited power. No court can call an act of Parliament unconstitutional also since there is no Constitution

Wednesday 2/4

1. Labor Party (LP) formed around the 1900s as an alliance of trade unions, independent socialist groups, and worker cooperatives.

• More divided and diverse than the Conservative (CON) Party
• Unions dominated party and provide the most members and funding
• During Collective Consensus LP was a moderate party, but after its breakdown, LP moved to the left and was identified as a party of irresponsible reform and disruption
• Became more moderate during the 90s ("New Labor" Party) and won control of parliament in 1997 election
• In April 1996, LP rejected appeals from old-line trade union leaders and rejected 77 year-old commitment to nationalize industries
• Common ownership replaced with equality of opportunity within the marketplace; reinstated competition
• Under Blair, LP stayed in center of spectrum and won majority again in 2001 and 2005

2. Liberal Democratic Party (LD)

• alliance of 2 old parties; moderate on spectrum
• gained LP and CON members after collective consensus when parties became more extreme
• won have used public dissatisfaction with CON to gain voters
• look for issues to place themselves to the left of Labor (environment is one such issue)
• ask for income tax increase to fund health and education

3. Regional Parties (Outside of England)

• resent English domination of government
• in 2005 Regional Parties won 18 seats in the House of Commons

4. Constitution

• No written constitution--it's unwritten: made of acts of parliament, treaties, judicial decisions, customs, and conventions
• vagueness makes it flexible/easy to change, but gives few concrete guarantees to citizens like our bill of rights does
• civil liberties are protected by tradition with some legislation
• parliament changes the constitution by adding new acts/bills
• standing government can change the constitution to a lesser extent by taking executive action with new precedents
• historically unitary government, not federalist
• central govt has all political power, may devolve power to subnational units
• executive branch leadership selected from legislature
• no clear separation of powers
• executive and legislative branches more overlapping, opposition parties serve as the only check in power
• independent courts, but courts don't have judicial review
• parliament has unlimited legislative power
• no court can declare an act of parliament unconstitutional
• courts determine whether laws conflict with treaties
• the Law Lords serve as Britain's highest court of appeals (9 Lords)
• parliamentary elections must be at least once every 5 years, Prime minister decides when

5. Executive Branch

• Queen/King/monarch is head of executive branch and part of the crown-in-parliament, commander-in-chief of armed forces, and temporal of the Church of England
• most functions have gone to the Prime Minister (PM)
• Monarch has to give royal assent to bills in parliament (since 1707, the queen has never said no)
• queen may also refuse PM's request to dissolve parliament
• PM names his cabinet and writes the queen's "speech from the throne" (like state of the union address)
• PM is the head of govt and majority party in the House of Commons, political party manager, and must retain confidence of his party
• uses patronage to assign members of parliament to 20 cabinet ministries and 100 other front bench positions
• PM speaks in debates in parliament
• appears for house questioning once a week, chairs cabinet meetings, spokesperson for cabinet, deals with other foreign leaders and policy
  

feb 4th notes

Multi party system
1. Only 2 major one- conservatives and labor- since 1945
2. Some regional parties
3. Resilt of Blair
4. Plaid, Cyrus- Wales, Scottish Nati. Party,
5. Near Political center
Conserv.-middle class
Labor- working class
Liberal Democrats- in middle
Unions push labor party far left
Conservative goes far right
Labor party far lefy
Ppl. meet in the middle with Liberal Dem.
Go left, father than labor party now
Conserv- Toris
1. Oldest pol. party
2. 1880s- won most elect. since
3. Roots in nobility (connected to old history)
4. Traditionally has sympathy for less well off. Shows responsibility for them
5. Didn't champion Laiz Fair economy
-supports welfare state
current leader-David Cameron- 39-year-old
-chosen by over 300,000 members (dec 2005)
-68% of partys vote
-task- to get back up after beating by Tony Blair and the labor party
no election since Brown

Labor
turn of century
mostly labor unions
more divided/diverse than conservatives
dominated by unions- members/funds
moderate party in collective consensus until 1970's- then went left, IDed no irresponsible reform
-electoral disaster since 1980s
win control of Parl. in 1980s
similar to Clinton's New Democrats
-voted to eliminate 77 year committments to nationalize industry
-promise "equality of opportunity" (competition, etc)
reduced i.d. with socialism
-climax of campaign to modernize
-2001 & 2005 elections- won majority

Liberal Democrats
alliance of 2 old parties, ppl who left the other two parties
1983- won 26% of the vote, only 2 points less than labor party shortly after formation
2005- 18% of vote, victims of 'first past the post' system Brit adopted like U.S.
single member district, minor parties usually got shut out
-Use dissat. w/ conser. to build base in local gov.
-set oinions on ussies to show they'll farther left
-tax - health/education benefits
-1997- double rep. in gov. up to 45 seats
today has 62, probably wont get much higher than that
Regional (scotland, ireland, wales)
-ppl who resnent english domination of british politics
2005- won total of 18 seats

Constitution
-England has none (or so they say)
not totally accurate, it is "unwritten" or defined by treaties, acts of parliament, customs, etc.
some aspects are hundreds of years old
flexibility- easy to change, but also didn't have many guarantees for citizens
standing gov. can take exec. action, establish new precedents
Unitary gov. form- no geographic separation of authority
-Tony Blair took steps to change
-Devolution- create loh. in Scottland, wales, n. Ire.
Central gov. has all authority, can take powers back if devolved
-sliding from uinitary toward federalism
-May 1999, elections to Scot/Welsh parli; first held, created reg. parties
-rival labor party - take a few seats
Parliamentary form- no clear seperation of powers, are only put in check by opposing parties
powes of exec/leg branches overlap
indp. courts- don't have judicial review
-soverign in U.K. for parliment, unrestricted
-no unconstitutionality rulings
-Brit courts check to see if laws go against other obligations
House of Lords- law Lords
Brits highest court of Appeals, still in judicial review
-Parliament have final say, can decide in they want to change law or not
Parliamentary elections must be held at least every 5 years, can be called sooner

Executive Branch
Queen- royalty
Head of executive branch, commander in chief, integral part of "crown in parliament", temperal head of Church of England
-royal "yes" necessary for parliament's law to pass
-since late 1700s all have passed, still necessary though
-can refuse request by PM to dissolve parliament, but hasn't since late 1800s
only might disagree if no party had clear majority, Queen might then use personal discretion
has role similar to State of Union address

2/3 notes- 3rd period

AVERAGE CITIZENS
Every citizen 18 or older is eligible to vote- 77% voter turnout
Only 7% of electorate are real activists
61% of population belongs to at least one interest group

POLITICAL ELITES
1. Prime minister
Leader of majority party
Elected member of House of Commons
2. Cabinet ministers
Nominated by a local party selection committee for a seat in the House of Commons
Win seat
Make a name for themselves in Parliament (either by being good in debate or becoming an expert in a subject)
Probably has no prior experience in executive branch so is helped by the third political elite person
3. Senior or higher career civil servant
Enter civil service after leaving university and passing a competitive entrance exam
Government actively recruits the best and the brightest
Takes a number of years to go through the bureaucracy and those at the top earn the job

GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS
1. End of WWII to Early 1960’s
Pluralist system
2. Early ‘60’s to later ‘70’s
Neocorporatist system
Quango’s- non government organization that work with the government
3. 1980’s to Present
Conflictual- pluralist system
Some other elements remain

INFLUENCES ON PARTIES
1. Trades Union Congress (TUC)
Speaks for workers
About 90% of unionized workers affiliated
More singular than CBI
2. Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
Business sector
Membership of more than 250 thousand companies

DECISION MAKERS
Cabinet Ministers
political party leaders
senior civil service leaders
main way to reach policy makers is to go through political parties, the bureaucracy of the media

WORKERS STRIKES
form of political participation
strong limits on labor strikes
hard to find an example of a big strike
2002- 24 hour strike
1998- demonstration against money for college

Notes from Tues 2/3

7TH PERIOD


-THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF INTEREST GROUPS; ALL OF WHICH SEEMED TO APPEAR IN STAGES.

pLURALIST INTEREST GROUP- WWII TO THE EARLY 1960S

LATE 60S TO LATE 70S- NEO CORPORATIST SYSTEM
--POLICY ADVISOR BOARDS: QUANGO (QUAZI AUTONOMOUS NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION)

80S- GOVT DISTANCING STRATEGY --> PLURALIST SYSTEM

LATE 70S LABOR UNIONS ARE STRONG
-PUSHED LABOR GOVTS AROUND
-EVENTUALLY BROUGHT DOWN GOVT WITH STRIKES

MID 90S- LABOR UNIONS LOST ALOT OF THEIR POWER
-NOBODY FEARED THEM
-LIMITS ARE PUT ON THE UNIONS BY THE LATE 90S
-STILL ATTEMPT TO GET SUPPORT FROM THE LABOR WORKING PARTY

OVER 300 TRADE UNIONS:
ABOUT 38% OF EMPLOYEES
PERCENTAGE DOWN DRASTICALLY SINCE 1979

TRADE UNION CONGRESS:ALLIGNED WITH LABOR PARTY

CONFEDERATION OF BRITISH INDUSTRY: CONSERVATIVE PARTY

ABOUT 90% OF ALL UNIONIZED WORKERS AFFILIATED WITH TUC

BBI WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT BUT LESS DOMINANT THEN TUC
--OVER 250 COMPANIES AND TRADE ASSOCIATIONS

VOTES IN HOUSE OF COMMONS USUALLY ORDAINED CONCLUSIONS:
-INTEREST GROUP MEMBERS TRY TO STAY CLOSE WITH PARLAIMENT AND FOCUS ATTENTION ON DECISION MAKERS (CABINET MINISTERS, POL PARTY LEADERS, SENIOR CIVIL SERVANTS

SMALL NUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES
-CLOSE INFORMAL NETWORK


WORKER STRIKES WERE SOMETIMES USED AS A FORM OF PARTICIPATION BUT WERE EXTREMELY RARE IN ENGLAND

N. IRELAND-IRA EMPLOYED VIOLENCE/ TERRORIST TACTICS

98-BLAIR INTRODUCES NEW IDEA FOR HIGHER EDUACTION (TUITION)
--STUDENTS PROTEST
-HIGHER INCOME FAMILIES PAY MORE FOR TUITION : $1700 A YEAR
IN 2006 THAT NUMBER INCREASED TO $5600 A YEAR

2005-BAN ON FOX HUNTING
--WEALTHY RURAL PEOPLE PROTESTED
--BAN STILL IN EFFECT



POL PARTY SYSTEM
MULTI PARTY BUT ONLY CONSERVATIVE AND LABOR HAVE HELD GOVT MAJORITY SINCE 1945.

CONSERVATIVE, LABOR, LIBERAL DEMOCRATS, AND REGIONAL PARTIES ARE PRESENT.

WHALES:PLAID AND SYMRU
sCOTTLAND:NATIONAL PARTY
N. IRELAND: SINTEIN AND DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY

3/4 OF ELECTORATE ARE NEAR POLITCAL CENTER

CONSERVATIVE-RIGHT
LABOR- SLIGHTLY LEFT
LIB DEM-ORIGINALL MIDDLE, BUT HAS MOVED LEFT PAST LABOR

CONSERVATIVE PARTY- TORIS: BRITAIN'S OLDEST PARTY; WON MAJORITY OF ELECTIONS SINCE 1880S.
-HISTORICALLY WITH UPPER CLASS NOBILITY ROOTS
-SENSE OF OBLIGATION TO LESS FORTUNATE
-CURRENT LEADER dAVID CAMERON CHOSEN IN DEC 2005
HE RECEIVED 68% OF THE PARTY VOTE

--YOUNG, 39 OR 40; HIS JOB WAS TO SCRAPE THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OFF THE FLOOR

4th Period 2/2/09

Tony Blair's government would revitalize the Democratic process in the United Kingdom. The government began to transfer political power from central government to regional governments in Ireland, England, Scotland, etc. around Britian's Constitution to carry out goals. He used the Constitution to set up regional assemblies (legislation) in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In addition, London gained authority to directly elect mayor. In the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland got their own parliment but shared power with Britain and Ireland. Chosen/Elected by Representative proportion. Blair also takes seats in House of Lords from most heridatry members (those who inherited seats) (about 400) and the remaining 92 had their vote stripped from them. On June 17, 2007, Tony Blair steps down as leader of Labor Party because of strong opposition in Britian against participation Iraq War. His successor is Gordon Brown, who is the current Prime Minister. Brown is in favor of changing law to get rid of power of royal declaration of war (royalty declaring war without approval of anyone) and should have Parliment have to approve of war first. Brown thought Parliment should have more power. Britian should institute a US confirmation style hearnings for posts. In a few months, Conservative Party steps up attacks on Labor Pary. English law dictates that once a week, the Prime Minister must be questioned by the House of Commons. Electorates soon began to agree with the Conservative's view. In 2008 local and city elections, Conservatives won 44% of the offices, Liberal Democrats won 25%, and Labor got 24%. In October of 2008, 10's of billions of pounds were planned to be injected into banks to get parts of bank and shares in banks. Brown also created a new cabinet, the National Economic Counsel to have responsibility for markets and fix rising costs of feed and fuel. In November, Britian announced 30,000,000,000 dollar stimulus package to jumpastart economy. Calls for Financial relief by cutting sales tax from 17% to 15% increase tax rate from 40% to 45% for the top 1% rich people, 1.5 billion for highways, schools, and roads. Brown offered help for people's mortgages. They can dely mortgage payments for 2 years. England maintains close friendship with United States, membership in NATO, UN, an is capable of nuclear power. It has a "special relationship" with US. Great Britian in often a quick ally with US. Permanent member of UN Security Counsel but outsider of EU & often plays "second fiddle" to US. Joining in EU has caused a prolonged debate but still helped create the Maastricht treaty (set up EU). Britian ratifes treaty but does not have Euro yet still in European Union.

Direct Socialization Agents
1. Families: Political party identification as well as religious affiliation. Followers of Church of England tend to vote Conservative and other Protestants tend to vote Labor (very weak trend).
2. Schools and Education: Strongly related to level of participation, with increase in education, increase in participation.
3. Until early 70's, social class was most important with the middle and upper class being Conservatives and Labor was lower, working class. Since then, it has lost historical value but is still largest ceavage of political socialization. In October '07, a poll stated 89% of respondants said that they were still judged by class. In '06, 55% considered themselves workers, which continued to slip to 53%. 41% thought of themselves as middle class, which stayed the same during the next poll. In the '80's, substantial number of workers and voters joined the Conservative party. Labor has worked to get manual labor votes but a number of those workers are decreasing so they have to get lots of different groups from the socioeconomic spectrum.
4. Women tend to vote for the Labor Pary.
5. Peers and Media play small role in political socialization. In political culture, legitimacy of British government is super high. Citizens actively participate in competitive elections. Everywhere in Great Britian is like this, except Northern Ireland. British tend to place themselves in middle of political spectrum and agree on problems. We would call their government Democracy, with elements such as the House of Commons, but the Prime Minister and House of Lords do not gain their positions through democratic ways.

Great Britain 2/2/09

1997: Parliament held elections for the House of Commons
-Labor Party wins control and Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister
-more women and minority were elected into the House of Commons in this election than ever before.
-Blair called the Labor party the "New Labor Party" and tried to change the Labor Party's image of only being supported by labor workers.
-He broadened the various types of people that supported the Labor Party across the socioeconomic spectrum.
-One of Blair's big success' was the use of Devolution by constitutional reforms(amends).
1. created regional legislative assemblies in Whales, Scotland and Ireland
2. City of London was allowed to elect a Mayor
3. Northern Ireland was allowed a government of it's own that would still be apart of the British government.
-all legislative bodies created by the constitutional reforms are elected using proportional representation.
-another constitutional reform changed the House of Lords dramatically. 400 seats were taken away and the remaining 92 lost the right to vote.
...ten years later...
June 17 2007: Blair steps down as head of the majority party, therefore is no longer Prime Minister. He stepped down due to growing opposition to his support and invlovement in the Iraq war.
his replacement: Gordon Brown(Labor Party)
-slow policymaking, however seemed to have weakend the opposition to the invlovement in the war.
-thinks the head of state should not be solely responsible for deciding/declaring war; thinks Parliament must have to declare war regardless.
-by mid 2008 conservative party started attacking Brown.
-many Labor Party supporters started losing faith in Brown.
-May 2008 held local electons & conservatives held 44% Labor only 24% third party held the rest of the vote.

Global Financial Crisis
Oct 2008 Brown said money would be put in banks and invested.
-created a National Economic Council and gave it cabinet level standing. the council was created to coordinate Britain's response to credit market/housing market/rising fuel prices.
-Nov 2008: announced a 30 billion dollar economic stimulus package for economic relief
1. cutting sales tax from 17.5 to 15 percent
2. raised taxes on the 1% wealthiest people from 40 to 45 percent.
3. 4.5 billion was spent for highways, housing, and schools.
-Early Dec. Brown helped with people who were suffering on the mortages and made a plan to where they could defer their mortage interest payments for two years.

random blurbs:
-Britain and the U.S are close. Britain claims to have a 'special relationship' with United States.
-Britain is a member of NATO and has a permanent seat in United Nations security council.
-Considered an outsider to the European Union and does not have the standard currency (euro) of Europe.
-trades with U.S, markets in Europe and common markets.

Direct Socialization:
-social class is an agent of direct socialization.
-families are the main factor of party identification and religious identification
trends show that followers of the church of england tend to vote conservative and protestants tend to vote labor.
-School and education are a strong basis for political activism in later years.
up until the 1970s..
-occupation/social class was a strong factor that determined political party.
Laborers/factory workers would be seen as Labor Party supporters
White Collar/business workers would be seen as Conservative Party supporters.
-class distinction have lost some historical value but it still apparent (recognized) throughout Britain

political culture:
legitimacy of gov't is very high, British take pride in their governments and institutions (except for N. Ireland.)
most Brits place themselves in the center of the political spectrum, and is a democratic system.
-Citizens directly elect their leaders in the House of Commons but do not elect the Prime Minister or the members of the House of Lords.
-every average citizen participates in the government by paying taxes.
-minimun voting age is 18 and Brit has a voter turnout of 77%.