Lecture Overview
•
•
•
•
What is Western Europe?
Impressions
Why Study it?
Themes and Challenges
•
•
•
•
Country vs. Comparative
Conflict vs. Cooperation
Parliamentary vs. Presidential
Integration vs. Disintegration
What is Western Europe?
• now many former Soviet satellite states have accession
agreements with the European Union
• Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and
Slovenia are set to join on 1st May 2004
What is Western Europe?
• Traditional definition
• all countries - about 2 dozen to 30 states that were
located west of the “iron curtain”
• all countries of the ‘first world’ - that is, advanced
industrial and often liberal democracies
• Since 1990
• fall of Berlin wall, decomposition of the former Soviet
empire diminished the importance of the traditional
distinction b/w East and West Europe
Defining Western Europe
• For now, though, it makes some sense to
adhere to the traditional definition of
Western Europe
• the common experience with capitalist development
• in most cases, the longer experience with liberal
democratic institutions
What is Western Europe?
• - two dozen countries
and city states
• counting Andorra,
Lichenstein, Vatican
City, San Marino
• some ‘outside’ the
geography of Western
Europe
• (egs Cyprus,
Iceland, Finland,
Greece)
Democracies, but…
• those states in Europe
which did not come
under Soviet
control/influence
• first world states
• some dictatorships until
very recently (Portugal
until 1974; Spain until
1975-77; Greece until
1975)
Why Study Western Europe?
• Three broad reasons:
• cultural/philosophical significance
of the region over history
• geopolitics - esp. during Cold War
• Europe a battleground for
Superpower confrontation
• comparative political laboratory
• despite shared heritage,
geography
• wide variations in political
conditions and institutional
structures
Main variations in Political Regimes
• Countries fall into three broad types based on role of
political authority in the economy:
– a) pluralist
– e.g., UK and the EU
– State involvement primarily via regulation
– b) étatist (‘statist’)
– More interventionist – industrial policy; state ownership &
control
– e.g., France and to a much lesser extent Italy
– c) democratic corporatist
– e.g., Sweden and to a more limited extent Germany
Themes and Challenges
• Country versus Comparative approach
• integral nature of the components of the political
systems
• appreciate the evolution of political life and
institutions, and the historical rootedness of
contemporary practices
• common framework of text facilitates comparison
across systems
Themes and Challenges
• Conflict versus Cooperation in West
Europe
• a troubled continent
• two world wars in the past 100 years
• battleground during Cold War
A Common Future?
• Emergent supranationalism in EU
• broadening from original 6 states (BENELUX, Italy,
France, West Germany) in 1957 to 15 member states in
1995
• 13 more states lined up for membership, with prospects
of more to come!
Themes and Challenges
• Parliamentary versus Presidential Systems
• most European states are parliamentary democracies
– A fusion of executive & legislative power
• France, however, an interesting ‘hybrid’ system
• encourage you to make comparisons with the more
familiar Presidential model as epitomized by the US
– Powers separated w/ checks & balances
• do different configurations of executive/legislative
relations matter?
Themes and Challenges
• Integrationversus Disintegration
• some see it as paradoxical that West European state sovereignty
being simultaneously eroded from above (EU) and below
(regional autonomist movements)
• UK
• Scottish and Welsh parliaments; Northern Ireland’s
Assembly
• France
• Breton, Basque, Corsican separatist movements
• Italy
• Lombardy League, etc.
• Spain
• Catalan & Basque nationalism
Hancock et al. (2003)
Third edition
Country – by – country organization
(and EU)
Only materials on countries covered
included on exams
You are not responsible for materials on
Sweden & Russia in the text
Second Lecture Overview
• Themes and Challenges in Study of Western Europe
•
•
•
•
Country vs. Comparative
Conflict vs. Cooperation
Parliamentary vs. Presidential
Integration vs. Disintegration
• State-Building in Western Europe
• The United Kingdom
• State-building
• The Unwritten Constitution
– Sources of constitution
– Parliamentary supremacy
Main variations in Political Regimes
• Countries fall into three broad types based on role of
political authority in the economy:
– a) pluralist
– e.g., UK and the EU
– State involvement primarily via regulation
– b) étatist (‘statist’)
– More interventionist – industrial policy; state ownership &
control
– e.g., France and to a much lesser extent Italy
– “dirigisme” – “state led” development
– c) democratic corporatist
– e.g., Sweden and to a more limited extent Germany
Themes and Challenges
• Conflict versus
Cooperation in West
Europe
• a troubled continent
• two world wars in
the past 100 years
• battleground
during Cold War
A Common Future?
• Emergent supra-nationalism in EU
• broadening from original 6 states (BENELUX, Italy,
France, West Germany) in 1957 to 15 member states in
1995
• 13 more states lined up for membership, with prospects
of more to come!
Themes and Challenges
• Parliamentary versus Presidential
Systems
• most European states are parliamentary
democracies
– A fusion of executive & legislative power
• France, however, an interesting ‘hybrid’
system
• encourage you to make comparisons with
the more familiar Presidential model as
epitomized by the US
– Powers separated w/ checks & balances
• do different configurations of
executive/legislative relations matter?
Themes and Challenges
• Integration versus Disintegration
• some see it as paradoxical that West European state sovereignty
being simultaneously eroded from above (EU) and below
(regional autonomist movements)
• UK
• Scottish and Welsh parliaments; Northern Ireland’s
Assembly
• France
• Breton, Basque, Corsican separatist movements
• Italy
• Lombardy League, etc.
• Spain
• Catalan & Basque nationalism
Emergence of States in Europe
• Geopolitical map of Europe made and
remade continuously over past 2000 years
– Empires
– Egs., Rome; Austria-Hungary; Napoleon
– Mini-states/principalities
– “Modern” sovereign territorial state normally
dated from Treaty of Westphalia, 1648
The State-building Process
• State-building essentially involves consolidation of control
over territory by a political force/system
– Extraction of resources by political authorities (taxation)
– Establishment of legitimacy against rivals (e.g., Church)
– ‘successfully claim a monopoly of the legitimate use of force’
(Weber)
• “War makes the state, and states make war.” (Charles Tilly)
• Establish uniform legal codes, measurement systems that
make transactions and exchange easier
– In some cases, cultural penetration/standardization (France)
– conducive to market-based capitalist development
Emergence of States in Europe
– Establish uniform legal codes, measurement
systems that make transactions and exchange
easier
• conducive to market-based capitalist development
– 1700-1800s emergence of nationalism to
legitimize the new state formations
– political ideology in which nations should govern
themselves; the boundaries of the nation should be
congruent with the boundaries of the state
The ‘Mother of Parliaments’ –
The United Kingdom
– first country to industrialize
• Coal mining, iron & steel, railways & canals, weaving, all ushered in
the Industrial Revolution
• by early 1800s, Britain the ‘workshop of the world’
– A “pattern state” (Hans Daalder)
• Gradual democratization over centuries
• Naval versus army bases of state power
– expanded as world’s leading imperial power
• by 1900, 25% of all world’s population lived under the British
empire
The British Empire
British State-building
• England ‘unified’ under Roman occupation
– Julius Caesar invades 55 BC
• "All the Britons paint themselves with woad, which
gives their skin a bluish color and makes them look very
dreadful in battle."
Roman Britain (55BC ~ 400AD)
• A lasting legacy
– Cities/Forts
– Roads
Anglo-Saxon/Norman
England
• After Romans left, return to regional kingdoms
• Core expansion out of Wessex (Hampshire)
• Norman invasion (1066)
• William the Conqueror

Patterns in State-Building
• United Kingdom comprised of four components
• England & the “Celtic Fringe”
– Each has its own history of independent statehood
– Each has its own distinctive form of integration
within the UK state
Component Parts of the UK
• Core/Center
– forms by gradual
expansion of this core,
eventually to
encompass entire UK
– Prior advantages in
economy – fertile
ground
Constituent Parts of the UK
– Wales
– Unified in 950; developed an elaborate
governmental/legal system
– Centuries of conflict w/ kings of England
• 1301 – English king made eldest son
“Prince of Wales”
• Tradition continues today
– 1536 - conquest & institutional (though not
cultural) assimilation
– First “act of union” in 1536 announced the
English intention "[henceforth] . . .to utterly
extirpate all and singular the sinister usage
and customs differing from the same nglish
laws]."
Scotland
• Wars of independence – 13th-14th centuries
• “Declaration of Arbroath”- 1320 - one of the earliest
expressions of nationalism
• "It is not for honour nor riches, nor glory that we fight
but for liberty alone, which no true man lays down except
with his life."
• Scotland
–
–
–
–
1603 – “Union of Crowns”
1707 -- “Act of Union”
elite accommodation and considerable Scottish autonomy
separate Church; Bank (currency); educational system; and
legal system
Ireland
– English armies invaded Ireland for centuries
– Elizabeth I – Protestants sent to colonize
Ulster – 1600s
– Union -1801-1921 – integrated into UK
• Ireland given 100 seats in Commons and 32
in Lords
– Protestant minority, with British backing,
discriminated against Catholics; spawned
Irish nationalism
– Easter 1916 uprising
– Partition (1921)
– Eventually 26 counties in south given
independence in 1922; 6 counties in north
(Ulster) remain with UK as “Northern
Ireland”
Regional Differences 1980s –
(UK = 100)
England
Scotland
Wales
Urbanization
Northern
Ireland
102
93
92
72
GDP (per
capita)
Home
ownership
Population born
in region
Middle class
102
97
90
78
104
61
112
96
100
102
91
101
107
87
89
101
96
120
111
141
Public
expenditure
(per capita)
Third Lecture Overview
• British Constitutionalism
• The Unwritten Constitution
– Sources of constitution
– Parliamentary supremacy
The Unwritten UK Constitution
• “In England (sic) the Parliament has an
acknowledged right to modify the
constitution; as, therefore, the constitution
may undergo perpetual changes, it does
not, in reality, exist. The Parliament is at
once a legislative and a constituent
assembly.”
• Alexis de Toqueville (1805)
Sources of UK Constitution
• Four main ones:
• Statutory law
• passed by Parliament in normal legislative process
• e.g., 1679 - Act of Habeus Corpus
• Common law
• judicial interpretations of laws become precedents
• ‘stare decisis’ -”let the decision stand”
• Convention/tradition
• e.g., that Monarchs give consent to laws
• last royal veto in 1707
• Works of Authority
• academic commentaries on constitution (e.g., Wheare, Jennings)
Constitutional Principles- 1
• Bicameral parliament
• House of Commons
• House of Lords
• Bills need to be approved by both
houses
• Development of “asymmetrical
bicameralism”
• House of Commons ascends; House of
Lords descends in importance.
Parliamentary supremacy
• Parliamentary sovereignty (or parliamentary
supremacy)
• A.V. Dicey - 19th Century constitutional lawyer and
author of several ‘works of authority’
• “…the right to make or unmake any law whatever; and,
further, that no person or body is recognized by the law
of England as having a right to override or set aside
legislation of Parliament.”
• NO meaningful JUDICIAL REVIEW!
• In reality, however, there are some checks on
parliamentary power
Constraints on
Parliamentary Supremacy
•
•
•
•
Norms, traditions, liberal democratic values
Party organizations (esp. traditional Labour Party)
Bureaucratic power
European Union law / institutions
• emergence of ‘qualified majority voting’ (QMV) in Council
of Ministers
• European law takes precedence over domestic for all
member states
• Referenda
• European Union membership in 1975“
• “Devolution” in 1979 and again in 1997
Pro Welsh devolution poster, 1997
Constitutional Principles- 2
• Constitutionalism
• ‘rule of law’
– judicial independence
• government not
arbitrary but follows
rules
• respect for civil rights
– (but no written ‘Bill
of Rights’)
Charter 88 (excerpt)
•
•
•
•
•
•
“You don’t have the right to a fair trial.
“You don’t have the right to be treated equally
whatever your race, religion, or sexuality. You
don’t have the right to privacy, the right to protest,
or the right to an education.
“We’re talking about Britain.
“Your rights have no protection.
“We have no positive legal rights in this country.
We only have the permission to do what the law
doesn’t expressly forbid. So any government can
pass laws that whittle away at fundamental rights
we thought were secure.”
Source:
http://www.gn.apc.org/charter88/politics/bill.html
Fourth Lecture Overview
• British Constitutionalism
• Democratization in Britain
• Institutions of Parliamentary Government
– The Westminster Model
– Dual Executive
– House of Lords
19th Century Democratic Transitions
– 2 routes for gradual
democratization
• Democratizing the
Commons
• Reform of the House of
Lords
Democratizing the Commons
- Electoral Reform
• Entered the 19th century dominated by wealthy
individuals from rural England
• by 1830, large cities created by the Industrial Revolution
(lLeeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham,
etc.) had NO representatives in H of C
• “rotten boroughs” - seats in Commons for places with next
to no population
• “Old Sarum” – near Stonehenge, 2 MPs and no
population!
Extending the Franchise
• Seven acts that each expanded the rights to
vote and participate in political life
• 1832 - “The Great Reform Act”
• increased electorate’s size by about 50% by
granting middle class land owners (£10 property
owners) right to vote
• 1867 & 1884 Reform Acts
• gradual removals of property restrictions
• each act roughly doubled the size of the electorate
Extending the Franchise
• 1918 - universal suffrage for males over 21
yrs. and females over 28 yrs.
• 1928 - eliminated the gender differential
• 1948 - eliminated ‘university constituencies
that gave graduates 2 votes, one in
constituency of residence and one in
university
• 1969 - lowered voting age to 18
The Westminster Model
Dual Executive
• Head of State - The Monarchy
• The “Dignified” Part of the British Constitution
according to Walter Bagehot (The English
Constitution, 1867)
• Symbolic role
• non-partisanship at the top
• continuity/tradition
• no real “power”
• Bagehot argued in 1867 that Britain had
become a ‘disguised republic’ and that power
had passed - almost unnoticed by the public - to
the efficient parts of the constitution, which in
the case of the political executive means Prime
Minister and Cabinet
Bicameral Parliament
• House of Lords - “upper house”
• power declines as Britain democratizes
– in Bagehot’s terms, moved from the efficient to the
dignified parts of the British constitution
• Recently reformed - Fall 1999
• attempt to increase its legitimacy and efficacy, and reduce
the role of ‘hereditary peers’
• reduce partisan advantage to Conservative party an
important motivation
• pre-2000 had been about 1,200 peers - most hereditary
and large majority Conservative
Reforming the Lords
• House of Lords
• until 1911 the Lords could veto any legislation
passed by the Commons
• as age of democracy progressed, the body’s
(legitimacy declined
• Parliament Act 1911)
• limited Lords’ veto power
– could now only delay financial matters for 30 days
and normal non-financial legislation for 2 years
– further limited powers in 1949
• Recent Reforms (1999->)
• Abolition the objective of Blair Government
• Agreed to allow 92 seats to remain for ‘hereditary
peers’ to gain Conservative support for rapid
passage of reform
http://www.parliament.uk/panoramas/hlords.htm
Wakeham Commission
Recommendations (1999)
• 550 members,
– a minority of them elected from the regions
– most of the rest chosen by a powerful Appointments Commission
which would have massive powers to determine the make-up of the
second chamber.
• Commission would be responsible for ensuring that around 20
per cent of the new House are independent crossbenchers and
that the second chamber, of which the clear majority would be
unelected, should proportionately reflect votes cast at the
previous general election.
• Otherwise, let the institution evolve!
Composition of Lords (1/2000)
Party
Conservatives
Life
Peers
180
Hereditary
Peers
52
Labour
177
4
181
Liberal
Democrats
Cross
Benchers
Bishops etc
49
5
54
131
31
162
T0TAL
537
92
Bishops/
Others
Total
232
33
33
33
662
Sixth Lecture Overview
• Institutions of Parliamentary Government
– The Westminster Model
– House of Commons
– Passage of Legislation
– MPs Roles
House of Commons –
Composition
– 659 Members of Parliament (MPs)
– each elected from electoral districts
using the Single Member Plurality
(SMP) electoral system
• one member from each district
• elected by a ‘plurality’ formula
• winner has more votes than any
other candidate
• well-known distortion associated with
SMP systems
• more shortly on this
MPs
• Must win local party association’s nomination (and be acceptable
to party leader)
– Not necessary to live in your constituency (or “riding”)
• Paid £56,358 per year (4/2003)
– Up to a maximum of £120,000 in expenses for staff support &
office, London living expenses, plus travel allowance
– Enough for 2-3 full-time assistants, in constituency and/or London
• Average constituency served has about 67,000 electors
• MPs overwhelmingly “WASP”
– Since 1918, 4,531 individuals have served as MPs
– 252 have been women (6% of all MPs)
• 64% of women MPs have been Labour members
– 118 women elected in 2001 (18% of 659)
Commons as of July 2002
(2001 election)
Labour
410
Conservative
164
Liberal Democrat
53
Scottish National Party/
Plaid Cymru
9 (SNP 5/PC 4)
Ulster Unionist
6
Democratic Unionist
5
Sinn Fein
4 (Have not taken their seats)
Social Democratic & Labour 3
Independent
1
Speaker & 3 Deputies
4 (Do not normally vote)
Total
659
Government majority
165
330 MPs needed to form a majority government
Four Primary Functions
of House of Commons
• Educating the public
• ‘mobilizing consent’
• legitimation
• Improve legislation
• ‘policy refinement’ if not policy making
• Recruitment of executive
• Executive accountability
• Question period
• Select committees
Passing Laws
– To become law, bill must pass
House of Commons, House of
Lords*, and receive Royal
Assent
– Party Cohesion / Party
Discipline
– Not “government by
parliament” but “government
through parliament”
Legislation
• Government Bills –
– introduced by Prime Minister or Cabinet Minister
– about 90% pass each session!
– Relatively few
• average of Thatcher/Major under 50 per session
– Very few actually ‘defeated’
– about 10% are withdrawn by the government
• Private Members’ Bills
– lottery to select among all proposed
• 20 drawn from about 400 proposed
– debated only on about a dozen Fridays
– very few pass
• total of 256 passed of more than 2,000 introduced b/w
1983-2002
The Commons’
Legislative Process
– First reading - normally by a Cabinet Minister;
– no debate permitted; published in Hansard
– Second reading
– major debate on principles of proposed legislation 2-3 wks. after first
reading
– Committee stage - Standing & Select
– all committees mirror the House in partisan composition, so government
majority is assured
– prior to 1979, a different committee established for each piece of
legislation called standing committees
– May be referred to a select committee, and if so, it will report on the bill
– still responsible for the detailed, clause-by-clause scrutiny today
• Amendments possible
– under reasonably tight gov’t party control
– new members for each committee/piece of legislation
Seventh Lecture Overview
• Institutions of Parliamentary Government
– The Westminster Model
– Passage of Legislation
– Adversarial Politics
– MPs Roles
The Commons’
Legislative Process
– First reading - normally by a Cabinet Minister;
– no debate permitted; published in Hansard
– Second reading
– major debate on principles of proposed legislation 2-3 wks. after first
reading
– Committee stage - Standing & Select
– all committees mirror the House in partisan composition, so government
majority is assured
– prior to 1979, a different committee established for each piece of
legislation called standing committees
– May be referred to a select committee, and if so, it will report on the bill
– still responsible for the detailed, clause-by-clause scrutiny today
• Amendments possible
– under reasonably tight gov’t party control
– new members for each committee/piece of legislation
House of Commons
- Legislative Stages (cont.)
• Report stage – back to the House, further amendments considered
• Third reading (no amendments, short debate) and vote
– Normally, voice vote sufficient
– Divisions – MPs file out to the lobby and are counted as they re-enter
through doors marked “Aye” or “Nay”
Budget procedures
– Chancellor of the Exchequer presents budget
• An annual appraisal of the economy
• Outline the government’s economic plan
– Describe tax implications and changes
• Normally, Finance Bill introduced the same day
– Since 1968, most controversial matters in the Finance Bill
taken up by a ‘committee of the whole’ (i.e., the entire H of
C, with no speaker in the chair)
– Rest sent to a (slightly larger than normal) standing
committee
Adversarial Politics
• The operative principle of parliamentary
systems is the ‘fusion of executive and
legislative power’
– Government leader (Prime Minister) and Executive
(cabinet) sit in House of Commons
– effective government by a majority party or coalition
(Her Majesty’s Government)
– continually opposed by a vigorous, vigilant
opposition (Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition)
– Worth noting that this is also the basis of the
British legal system that we inherited
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/
http://www.parliament.uk/panoramas/hcomms.htm
The Speaker
– The ‘referee’ for parliamentary procedure & debates
– An MP
• After 2001, will be elected by MPs
– Successive ballots until one person has a majority
• Impartial
– Resign from party upon selection
– Normally do not vote in divisions of the House, but occupant of the
chair can cast the decisive ballot in the event of a tie
– Normally runs unopposed in elections
• Salary same as a cabinet member (£128,000 – 4/2003)
Party Discipline
– MPs actually told how to vote by their parties
on everything
• party whips
– one, two, and three line ‘whips’ on the order paper
• but ‘free votes’ or “early day motions” (EDMS)
• have more freedom to contribute to legislation in
Committee work
• but, the Commons cannot be seen as a particularly
important policy-making body
• so, what is its role?
http://www.stats.bris.ac.uk/%7Eguy/Research/Politics/Welcome.html
Eighth Lecture Overview
• Institutions of Parliamentary Government
– The Westminster Model
– Adversarial Politics
– MPs Roles
Parliamentary Questions
• 40,000 on average each year
– About 3,000 answered
• 2 types
– Oral –
• Drawn randomly from those submitted each morning
• One hour, Mondays through Thursdays
• MP submitting question reads it, allowed one supplemental
• Minister answers both orally
• Roster of departments established
• Normally one major one and 3-4 minor ones per day
– Prime Minister’s Questions normally at noon-12:30 Wednesdays
• Practice began in 1961 – growth of prime ministerial power
• Attempt to embarrass the PM in the supplementaries
– Written
http://www.britainusa.com/PMQs/
Select Committees
– 1979 reforms created 14 committees, by broad subject
area
•
•
•
•
now 18 in number
Eg, Agriculture, Scottish Affairs, Social Security
Science & Technology; Health; Foreign Affairs; etc
3-6 staff members
– they offer MPs a broader forum for overseeing the
executive
• May debate particular pieces of legislation, but not the bulk
of their work
• can call witnesses/ask for evidence
• Organize their own inquiries
Select Committees
– Limited effectiveness
• understaffed;
• government control remains;
• relatively few committee reports (about 5%) get
debated in Commons
– 3 days given over to this on the Commons’ schedule
– no formal means of ensuring their recommendations
considered or acted upon
– but Members can specialize in subject areas
– often good for careers after the Commons
Ninth Lecture Outline
• MP Roles
• Prime Minister – An Elected Dictator or ‘primus inter
pares?’
• Powers of the Prime Minister
• Prime Ministerial Styles
• Limits on Prime Ministerial Power
• The Cabinet
MPs’ Perceived Roles
• Donald Searing,
Westminster’s World, Harvard
University Press, 1994
• based on interviews with 338
backbench MPs, 1972-73
• not all MPs see themselves as
doing the same kinds of things
- Four principle self-identified
role specializations
MP Role Specializations
–
–
–
–
Constituency Service
“Ministerial aspirant”
Supporting/Attacking Executive
“Good Parliamentarian”
25%
25%
40%
9%
– SOURCE: Searing, Westminster’s World,
Harvard Univ. Press, 1994
What do British voters want
from their MP?
• Survey asking people to pick most impt. MP
role:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Ombudsman
Protect constituency
Executive oversight
Information
Law-making (debates & votes)
All roles equally important
19%
26%
5%
24%
11%
10%
Prime Minister: ‘primus
inter pares’?
– Sir Robert Walpole – 1721 – first prime minister
• Had won confidence of both King & Parliament
– ‘first among equals’ the traditional depiction
– PM is still an MP
– Extensive formal and informal powers
– some argue that these have increased and the
office has been ‘presidentialized’
• Richard Crossman’s ‘introduction’ to Bagehot’s
The English Constitution (1963)
Prime Ministerial Powers
– leader of the party
• large staff of personal advisers at Downing
Street
– selector of cabinet ministers and party leadership
positions (about 80-90 parliamentary posts)
• chairs & ‘takes the sense of’ cabinet meetings
– provider of patronage
• peerages; QUANGOS; etc
– leader in parliament
• can DISSOLVE parliament
– International negotiator/European Council
– highly visible public figure
• media (esp. television) personalizes politics
• chief campaigner during elections
PM statement on reshuffle - 18 June 2003
http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/page19.asp
R.H. Crossman - Prime Ministerial
Government
•
“The post-war epoch has seen the final transformation of
Cabinet Government into Prime Ministerial Government…Even
in Bagehot’s time it was probably a misnomer to describe the
Premier as chairman and primus inter pares. His right to select
his own Cabinet and dismiss them at will; his power to decide
the Cabinet’s agenda and announce the decisions reached
without taking a vote; his control, through the Chief Whip, over
patronage - all this had already before 1867 given him nearPresidential powers. Since then, his powers have been steadily
increased, first by the centralisation of the party machine under
his personal rule, and secondly by the growth of a centralised
bureaucracy, so vast that it could no longer be managed by a
Cabinet behaving like the board of directors of an old-fashioned
company.” (pp. 51-52)
Tenth Lecture Outline
• Prime Minister – An Elected Dictator or ‘primus inter
pares?’
• Prime Ministerial Styles
• Limits on Prime Ministerial Power
• The Cabinet
Margaret Thatcher on
Selecting a Cabinet
• “One way is to have in it people who represent all the
different viewpoints within the party, within the broad
[i.e. conservative) philosophy. The other way is to have
in it only the people who want to go in the direction in
which the PM wants to go.”
• her choice?
– “It must be a conviction government.”
• (from an interview with Thatcher prior to the 1979
election)
The Road to Downing Street:
The Rt Hon Tony Blair, MP
•
•
born on 6 May 1953 in Edinburgh;
entered Parliament in June 1983 at the age of 30
as MP for Sedgefield (Durham, in NE of England)
– Promoted to the Treasury front bench team (1985);
Spokesman on Trade and Industry;
– Elected to Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary
of State for Energy (1988); Shadow Secretary of
State for Employment (1989); Shadow Home
Secretary (1992);
•
•
elected Leader of the Labour Party on 21 July 1994;
became Prime Minister on 2 May 1997 when the Labour
Government was elected with a majority of 179. Reelected June 2001.
Blair on the Prime Minister’s Role
• “You’re either a weak Prime Minister, in which case
they’ll knock you for that, or if you appear to have a
clear sense of direction, and know what you want to do,
then you are a quasi-dictator. And all this President Blair
rubbish, it’s absolute rubbish.”
– Tony Blair, The Observer, 5 Sept. 1999
• “They have got to know I’m running the show.”
– Tony Blair, quoted in The Sunday Times, 26 April, 1988
Limits on PM Power?
• Some journalists have likened the PM to an ‘elected
dictator’
• some respects, a popular PM can resemble this
• but,
– can be defeated
• in a general election
• or by their own party (e.g., Margaret Thatcher in
1990)
• limited by their limited amount of time
The British CabinetOrigins
• Arose centuries ago as advisors (Ministers) to
the Crown (monarch)
– Appointed by the Queen as “Privy
Councillors”
• Membership in Privy Council includes all
members of the Cabinet, past and present, the
Speaker, the leaders of all major political
parties, Archbishops and various senior judges
as well as other senior public figures.
– During debates in the Commons MPs who are
Privy Councillors are referred to by their
colleagues as `The Right Honourable'.
– 1832 – Reform Act emphasized that it needed
to have the confidence of the House of
Commons as well as the Crown
Lord Irvine,Blair’s
Lord Chancellor
until June 2003
The British Cabinet- Basics
• about 20 members of “cabinet” proper
– most senior advisers to the PM
– most have title of ‘Secretary of State’ and represent the
largest and/or most prestigious departments
(‘portfolios’) of the civil service
– also includes ‘parliamentary secretary to the Treasury
(better known as the ‘chief whip’) and the Lord
Chancellor (chief adviser for law matters; a Lord); and
Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasury)
• serve at the PM’s pleasure
– may be ‘shuffled’ to another ‘portfolio’
Cabinet Meetings
• Normally held Thursday
mornings
• meet in private
• no minutes recorded; PM
chairs meetings
• decision by consensus - not
by voting;
– PM ‘takes the sense of the
meeting’
• meetings supported by
Cabinet Office (secretariat)
• sub-cabinet committees
– coordinate cabinet
activities; set priorities
The Cabinet Room,
No. 10 Downing Street
The British Cabinet
• “…a hyphen which joins, a buckle which
fastens, the legislative part of the State to
the executive part of the state”
– Bagehot, The English Constitution, 1867, p. 68
Blair’s Cabinet (9/2003)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
me Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil
Service
The Rt Hon Tony Blair MP
Deputy Prime Minister
The Rt Hon John Prescott MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department
The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP
Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary
of State for Scotland
The Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP
Secretary of State for Health
The Rt Hon Dr John Reid MP
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP
Secretary of State for Defence
The Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP
Leader of the House of Lords
The Rt Hon The Lord Williams of Mostyn QC
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Minister for Women
The Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP
Parliamentary Secretary, Treasury and Chief Whip
The Rt Hon Hilary Armstrong MP
Secretary of State for Education and Skills
The Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Rt Hon Paul Boateng MP
Leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal and Secretary of
State for Wales
The Rt Hon Peter Hain MP
Minister without Portfolio and Party Chair
The Rt Hon Ian McCartney MP
Secretary of State for International Development
The Rt Hon Baroness Amos
Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor for the
transitional period
The Rt Hon Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC
Sub-Cabinet Members of
Government
• Ministers
• occasionally some ‘without portfolio’
• Ministers of State
• - lower rank, not in cabinet, less important or
prestigious civil service departments
• junior ministers
• assistants to a Minister
• parliamentary secretaries
• liason b/w executive and House of Commons
• in all, PM makes b/w 80-90 governmental
appointments
Roles of a Cabinet Minister
• Head of Civil Service Department
• often large organizations
• about 500,000 employed in ‘central administration’ in
Britain
– not including teachers or military personnel
– since 1979 about 260,000 civil servants transferred to
agencies, ‘quangos’, local authorities, or privatized
• Member of Parliament
• Constituency & party pressures
• Member of Cabinet
Operating Principles of Cabinet
Government
• Collective Responsibility
• cabinet solidarity in public
– underpins the cohesion of the party in the House of
Commons, necessary for party discipline
• entire cabinet resigns if the government falls
• Individual Ministerial Responsibility
• minister must resign if there is serious maladministration
or other difficulty in her/his civil service department
• no longer seriously applied, but minister must ‘answer’
for her/his department’s actions
Eleventh Lecture Outline
• The “SMP” Electoral System
– Chief Characteristics
– Strengths and Weaknesses
– Electoral Reform?
• The Jenkins Commission
• Alternative Vote (plus) system
”
The Electoral System
– Electoral systems have 2 defining features
• District Magnitude (DM)
• Allocation Formula (AF)
– “Single Member (DM) Plurality (AF)”
• “first past the post”
• SMP
Advantages of SMP System
• Delivers ‘strong majority governments’
• by manufacturing majorities of seats from less than
majorities of votes
• discourages minor parties - avoid splintering the legislature
• Simple - Quick
• most votes wins; winner known generally on election night
• Encourages personal ties b/w MP and electorate
Dysfunctions of SMP
• Perverse results
• on 2 occasions since 1945 (of 15 elections) party winning
majority of seats won fewer votes than main rival (1951 and Feb.
1974)
• Wasted votes
• disincentives for minority preference holders to vote
• Safe seat apathy
• Sometimes disincentives for majority preference holders to vote
• Disproportionality
• 1997 - Labour wins 64% of seats on 43% vote
• 2001 – Labour wins 413 seats (62.7%) on 40.7% of vote
• (or, taking turnout rate in 2001 of 59.4% into account, only
24.1% of the eligible electorate supported Blair’s party)
Liberals/Liberal Democrats
ELECTION
1974 (O)
1979
1983
1987
1992
1997
2001
% Vote
18.3
13.8
25.4
22.6
17.9
16.8
18.3
% Seats
2.1
1.7
3.5
3.4
3.1
7.0
7.9
Duverger’s “law”
– electoral system & party system
• SMP
– = two party system
• Strong majority governments; penalties for (most)
minor parties
• Proportional Representation
– = multiparty system
Jenkins Commission Proposals
- Labour committed to referendum on electoral reform in 1993
-
After coming to power in 1997, appointed Right Honorable Roy
Jenkins – former Labour cabinet minister and co-founder of the
Social Democratic Party in the early 1980s – to an “independent
commission on election reform
- Reported in 1998
-recommended a mixed system –
• Alternative Vote (+) system
– 80-85% elected by Alternative Vote in individual constituencies
– 15-20% ‘top up’ Members from party lists
– voters given 2 ballots, one for constituency and containing preference
ordering of parties/candidates, one for party lists top-up candidates assigned
by region
Alternative Vote systems
• a majoritarian system.
– Winning candidates secure the support of over half the voters in
constituency.
• Voters record preferences for all candidates on the ballot paper.
• If no candidate receives more than half of the votes cast on the first
count of first preference votes, the candidate who received the
fewest first preference votes is eliminated and his/her second
preferences are distributed between the other candidates.
• This process continues until one candidate has achieved an overall
majority.
PSC 340 Essay Writing Tips
Essay Tips – Finding a Good Topic
– Often the most difficult part!
– Best to work from what you know
• i.e., your own interests
– What would you write on if you had to do a paper on some aspect of US
politics?
• “How effective is gun control at reducing violent crime in
Europe?”
– What country/area of Europe is of most interest?
– Can compare political systems if you wish
• E.g., “how threatening is the extreme right in Western Europe?”
– “where and why is the environmental movement strongest in Western
Europe?”
– or focus on a sub-region of one or more countries
– Or focus on one country in particular that is of particular interest
ESSAY TIPS
• Organization
– Work from an outline
– I will review an outline, but not read a draft of a paper
• Clarity of writing/exposition
– Proofreading essential
• Quality of argument
– Pose your question in the title; answer it by the time you
conclude
• Appropriateness of evidence
– Quality/diversity of sources consulted
• Internet alone NOT sufficient
– Must consult scholarly journals (many available online)
Scholarly Journals dealing with Europe in Lockwood
Library
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Political Studies (UK PSA)
British Journal of Political Science
European Journal of Political Research
Scandinavian Journal of Political Studies
West European Politics
Journal of Common Market Studies
Online access to MANY more
– INGENTA - http://www.ingenta.com/
– Article First http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/WebZ/FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=
true:screensize=large:sessionid=sp03sw13-38918-dkyfxxq22fxtp4:entitypagenum=1:0
– JSTOR - http://www.jstor.org/
– Lexis/Nexis - http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/
Twelfth Lecture Outline
• The British Party System
– Responsible Party Government model
– The British Party System
• Labour Party
Responsible Party Government
– Four basic components
– Parties pursue different programmatic goals
• Voters offered clear policy alternatives at elections
– Party support is related to these programs (voting behavior)
• Not patronage; personal loyalty; charisma
– Parties have strong grassroots presence as campaign
organizations in constituencies and a core of active grassroots
members
• Opportunities for individuals to become involved in the life
of the party (including policy formation)
– Elections provide the accountability mechanism
• Within the party  renew (or not) the mandates of leaders
• In the party system as a whole, voters can renew mandates
for popular governments, or ‘throw the rascals out’
Responsible Party Government
• Strengths
• Clear alternatives for voters
• Strong governments with “policy mandates”
• Weaknesses
• Strong governments can be wrong
– Can do a lot of damage in five years
• Discontinuities in policies
– Alternation in government can inhibit smooth
and progressive evolution in policy
– E.g.,“stop-go” pattern in economic policy in
1960s
Attitudes to Parties
• “Some people say that political parties are necessary to make
our political system work in Britain. Others say that political
parties are not needed in Britain. Using this scale where
would you place yourself?”
– Necessary 1
•
•
•
– Not necessary
– Dk/DNA
43%
2
3
4
5
33%
18%
3%
2%
1%
From: 1997 British Election Survey
The British Party System
– For much of the past 100 years, essentially a 2 party system
– in the 1960s for example, the Labour and Conservative Parties combined
to win over 95% of the vote at elections
– Ideological blurring behind the post-war consensus
• like many ‘left’ parties, Labour moved toward the center in its
policies over the decades
• Conservatives also learned to live with the ‘welfare state’ and
Keynesianism (state intervention in the market)
– by the 1950s, broad consensus on the ‘welfare state’ in Britain
– “Butskillism” – similarities b/w Chancellors for the Exchequers for
Conservatives & Labour (Butler + Gaitskill)
– budgets of successive Labour & Conservative administrations virtually
identical
– But…
Polarization in the Party System
1979-1990
• “We want a society where people are free to make choices, to make
mistakes, to be generous and compassionate. This is what we mean by a
moral society; not a society where the state is responsible for everything,
and no one is responsible for the state.” Margaret Thatcher
– Conservative party came to power in 1979 under Thatcher, stayed in power
until 1997
• Conservatives moved to the ideological ‘right’
– Labour, in turn, moved to the ideological left after 1979
– This creates some space in the center of the ideological spectrum
• Traditional home of the Liberal Party
• Social Democratic Party formed by former Labour moderates in early
1980s, came close to “breaking the mould” of British party politics in
the 1983 election
• Labour
• LEFT
Liberals/SDP
CENTRE
Conservatives
RIGHT
The Labour Party
– Founded early in 1900s as the ‘Labour
Representation Committee’
– not a socialist party; rather, aimed at getting working class
individuals elected as MPs
– an outgrowth of the trade union movement
– breakthrough in 1918 and early 1920s
– replaced the Liberal party as the main alternative to the
Conservatives
– the “Fabian movement” in the post-First WW period
gave the party its ‘socialist’ flavor
– Clause 4 - ‘nationalization of the means of production,
communication, etc.)’
Labour’s Origins- Duverger
– Labour is:
• an ‘extraparliamentary party’
– its origins are in the trade union movement and its attempts to enter
the legislature from outside
• a “mass party”
– formal membership in the party, not just voters supporting it
– two types of members
• individual members (join through local party association)
• members through affiliated unions
• this combines to give Labour a strong extra-parliamentary
organization
Labour’s Organization
– Traditionally, four main components:
• Annual conference (to be held in Bournemouth, Sept.
28-Oct. 2nd, 2003)
– formally the ‘supreme’ policy body
– this leads Robert McKenzie to argue that Labour’s party
constitution is unconstitutional!
– In reality, its decisions have NOT been regarded as
binding on Labour’s MPs
• Parliamentary Labour Party
– elected MPs and leaders
– the dominant decision-making unit of the party
Labour’s Organization (2)
• Constituency Labour Parties
– traditional party activists
– often ‘radical socialists’
• National Executive Council (NEC)
– attend to the supervision of routine party functions,
coordinate various sections
Labour’s “organizational dilemma”
•
“Since it could not afford, like its opponents, to maintain a large army of
party workers, the Labour Party required militants - politically active
socialists to do the work of organizing the constituencies. But since these
militants tended to be ‘extremists’, a constitution was needed which
maintained their enthusiasm by apparently creating a full party democracy
while excluding them from effective power. Hence the concession in
principle of sovereign power to delegates at the Annual Conference and
the removal in practice of most of this sovereignty through the trade union
block vote on the other hand and the complete independence of the
parliamentary Labour Party on the other.”
• Richard Crossman, quoted in Robert McKenzie, British Political Parties, 1964, p.
641
Thirteenth Lecture Outline
• The British Party System
• Labour Party
• Conservative Party
• Liberals / Social Democratics  Liberal Democrats
Paving the Way for Tony Blair
– 1979-1997 period difficult for Labour
• Thatcher’s agenda through the 1980s seemed triumphant
• following 1979 defeat of Labour, under leadership of Michael
Foot the party lurched to the far left
– Thatcher derides ‘the loony left’
• a succession of disasterous elections
– 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992
– early 1990s, Neil Kinnock and John Smith tried to
return the party to the center
– Blair continues and perfects this!
Making ‘New Labour’
– With selection of Tony Blair to
Labour Party leadership in 1994,
the push to the right intensified
• some liken Blair to Bill Clinton
in terms of his impact in moderating
a ‘left’ party
– most visible manifestation
decision to change “clause four”
Clause Four
• 'To secure for the producers by hand or by
brain the full fruits of their industry, and the
most equitable distribution thereof that may
be possible, upon the basis of the common
ownership of the means of production and
the best obtainable system of popular
administration and control of each industry
and service.'
• Original ‘clause four’ – adopted 1918
Revised Clause 4
•
‘The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It
believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we
achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for
each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all
of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity
are in the hands of the many, not the few. Where the rights
we enjoy reflect the duties we owe. And where we live
together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and
respect.’
• Labour Party constitution, revised 1995
Labour’s Grassroots Membership
–
–
–
–
–
–
1953
1960
1974
1983
1992
1998
1,005,000
790,192
691,889
295,344
279,344
387,776
Whiteley & Seyd, High-Intensity
Participation, 2002: 10
Labour’s New Decision Process
•
From Patrick Seyd, “New Labour,
New Party, New Politics?” (1998)
“Blairism” - Central principles
– Economic growth
–
–
–
–
global competitiveness
government/private sector partnership
balanced budgets
Education
– Social inclusion
– Individual responsibility and ending welfare
dependency
• ‘tough on crime; tough on the causes of crime’
– European involvement
– but not in Eurozone (yet)
– Constitutional reform
“The Third Way” A Progress Report
– Royal Commission on Electoral Reform (Jenkins)
• reported 1998
• (stalled)
– Devolution to Scotland & Wales – 1998 –
• (done)
• English regional assemblies?
– Lords reform - Fall 1999
• Royal Commission on Lords Reform - (Wakeham Report, 2000)
• (In second phase)
– Supreme Court – 2003/04
• (in progress)
– Reestablishment of Northern Irish self-government
• (in progress)
– Labour Party
• (reformed and more in progress)
Conservative Party
– A parliamentary party in Duverger’s terms
• emerged, rather than born
• around the 1830s as group of MPs formed regularly to support Sir
Robert Peel
• weak extra-parliamentary organization
• leader dominated
– traditionally supported landed (agricultural) interests, the
Anglican (Church of England), and the role of tradition
– Britain’s oldest & most successful party
– since 1918, it has been in power alone or in coalition for 75% of the
time
Conservative Ideology (Burkean)
• Nationalism
• society an ‘organism’
• needs to be nurtured, to grow & mature
• radical reforms that do not respect the need for continuity and
integration are dangerous
• inequalities natural
• different endowments should give rise to different roles for
individuals
• paternalistic state
• state should protect weakest elements of society
Fourteenth Lecture Outline
• The British Party System
• Conservative Party
• Liberals / Social Democrats  Liberal Democrats
• Patterns of Party Choice
• Class Voting
Organization
– Weaker organization than Labour; party
leader dominates
•
•
•
•
prior to 1965, Leader not elected
the ‘old boy’ network
since 1965, elected by the caucus members
Current leader – Ian Duncan Smith
– Annual conference
• “1922 Committee” - Backbench
opinion
• when Conservative gov’t in power, ministers
attend meetings by invitation only
Conservative Membership
–
–
–
–
–
1953
1974
1983
1992
1998
- 2,805,000
- 1,500,000
- 1,200,000
- 500,000
- 204,000
• (Whiteley & Seyd, High Intensity Participation,
2002: 10
Contemporary Conservative Party
• Modern conservative principles
– Freedom
• Lower taxes (economic freedom)
• Minimize ‘state interference’ (classical
liberalism)
– Responsibility
• Limit welfare entitlements
– Enterprise
• Privatization; low taxes
– Nation
• Strong defense
• Anti-Europe (for many)
1997 Campaign Poster
Liberal Party
• The ‘half party’ in the 2 & 1/2 party system
• Liberal Party formed in 19th century- a
‘parliamentary party’ in Duverger’s terms
• weak organization; leader dominated
• until ≈ 1918, along with Conservatives, a
dominant party
• almost disappeared in 1960s, but reborn in
1970s and 1980s
Traditional Liberal
Themes
• Individual freedom and protection of privacy
• small government
• ‘the state which governs best is that which governs
least’
• federalism
• early support of Irish home rule; devolution to Scotland
& Wales
• stand against the adversarial politics of class
associated with Labour/Conservatives
Social Democratic Party
• Formed in March, 1981 by 4 disgruntled
former Labour cabinet ministers
– alarmed at the leftward drift of Labour
following the 1979 election defeat
– by end of 1981, had 27 MPs and 70,000
members
• wanted to create a centrist alternative
SDP+ Liberals 
Liberal Democrats
– Wanted to ‘break the mould’ of class politics
– won about 1/4 of all votes in 1983, but only got
a handful of parliamentary seats.
• Penalized by SMP electoral system
• great supporters of electoral reform
– Eventually joined with the Liberals to create
“the “Alliance” in 1987
• two parties formally joined to form the Liberal
Democratic Party in 1988
– Current leader – Charles Kennedy (since 1999)
Liberal/Liberal Democrat
Membership
•
•
•
•
1960
1974
1983
1992
- 243,000
- 190,000
- 145,258
- 100,000
– (Whiteley & Seyd, High Intensity Participation, (2002): p.
10
Voting Behavior
– Social Class the traditional cleavage
• Labour - ‘working class’
• blue collar workers
• Conservatives - ‘middle class’
• white collar workers
– “…class is the basis of British party politics; all else is
embellishment & detail”
– Peter Pulzer, 1966
– Two-party system reflected the dual class nature of British
society
The Class Alignment – 1950-70
• Around 90% of voters aligned themselves with a party,
mostly (around 80% with Labour or Conservatives)
• 'Millions of British electors remain anchored to one of the
parties for very long periods of time. Indeed, many electors
have had the same party loyalties from the dawn of their
political consciousness'
• (D. Butler & D. Stokes, 1969, Political Change in Britain)
• Around 65% of working class voted Labour and 80% of
the middle class voted Conservative.