Great britain ppt

EUROPE

• Europe is the world's second’s-smallest continent by surface area

• 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi)

2% of the Earth's surface and about 6.8% of its land area

• 50 states • Russia is the largest by both area and population

(although the country has territory in both Europe and Asia)

• Vatican City is the smallest

• Third-most populous continent after Asia and Africa

• Population of 733 million or about 11% of the world’s population

• Among the continents, Europe has a relatively high population density, second only to Asia. The most densely populated country in Europe is the Netherlands, ranking third in the world

• Europe, in particular Ancient Greece, is the birthplace of Western Culture.

• It played a predominant role in global affairs from the 16th century onwards, especially after the beginning of Colonialism

• the economy of Europe is currently the largest on Earth and it is the richest region as measured by assets under management with over $32.7 trillion.

• In 2009 Europe remained the wealthiest region. Its $37.1 trillion in assets under management represented one-third of the world’s wealth.

• Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European nations controlled at various times the Americas, most of Africa, Ocenia, and large portions of Asia.

Guide for Oral Presentation• At a glance – geography, demographics,

population, etc…• Recent History• Political System/Elections• Political Parties• Branches of Government: Executive,

Legislative and Judiciary• Current Issues and Trends

GREAT BRITAIN

OFFICIAL NAME:

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

(United Kingdom)

• UK’s four constituent countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

• England, Scotland and Wales together with the province of Northern Ireland, form the country officially known as "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" or simply the United Kingdom.

• Northern Ireland is a self-governing jurisdiction within the United Kingdom with its own parliament and prime minister.

• The Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland with the Acts of Union 1707 under Queen Anne.

• In 1801, under a new Act of Union, this kingdom merged with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

• After the Irish War of Independence, most of Ireland seceded from the Union, which then became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Geography• Location – North West Europe• Area - 229,848 km2(88,744.8 sq mi)• Area rank - 9th in the world• Largest in the European island• Capital - London• Population - 60,003,000 (mid-2009 est.)• 3rd most populous island in the world • Ethnic groups: British, Cornish, English,

Scottish, Welsh

Capital cities of Great Britain • England: London• Scotland: Edinburgh• Wales: CardiffOther largest cities by urban area population: Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

Government and Politics of the

United Kingdom

• The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London

• The Monarch is the head of state

• The Prime Minister is the head of government

The British (unwritten) Constitution: Its Main Principles

• 1. Constitutional Monarchy• 2. The Supremacy of

Parliament• 3. The Unitary State• 4. The Flexible Constitution

• The British Constitution is not written in any single document (“uncodified or unwritten constitution”)

• Sources: 1. written--statutes, court, judgments, treaties; 2. unwritten: parliamentary constitutional conventions, royal prerogatives

• The bedrock of the British constitution has traditionally been the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, according to which the statutes passed by Parliament are the UK's supreme and final source of law.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_conventions_of_the_United_Kingdom

The MONARCHY

The Monarchy in Britain: What Powers do they have???

•to be consulted, to encourage and to

warn the government

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

(reigned since 1953)

• The Queen is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms. • The elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth• Born in 1926 and became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned through

more than five decades of enormous social change and development. • The Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and has four

children and eight grandchildren.

-Had 8 PMs served under her-Head of the British state-Act as unifying national symbol

Pledge of Loyalty to the Queen

"I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according

to law. So help me God."

Government of UK• The UK has a parliamentary government

based on the Westminster system

The Houses of Parliament are situated within the Palace of Westminster, in London.

Legislative• Legislative Power is vested in both the government

and the two chambers (2-house system) of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:

1. House of Commons (elected)2. House of Lords (appointed)

Note: Any bill passed requires Royal Assent

to become law.

Parliament’s Role

• Examining and challenging the work of the government (scrutiny)• Debating and passing all laws (legislation)• Enabling the government to raise taxes

*************Note: The UK is one of 27 member states of the European Union and is subject to European Union (EU) legislation.

Law-making

• A bill (a proposal of a new law) must pass through the Houses and then is sent to the Queen for Royal Assent

What is Royal Assent?• the final step required for a parliamentary bill to become law.

• Once a bill is presented to the Sovereign or the Sovereign's representative, he or she has three formal options:

Firstly, the Sovereign may grant the Royal Assent, thereby making the bill an Act of Parliament.

Secondly, the Sovereign may withhold the Royal Assent, thereby vetoing the bill. Finally, the Sovereign may reserve the Royal Assent, that is to say, defer a decision

on the bill until a later time.

HOUSE OF COMMONS• Democratically elected house, makes laws and checks the work of Government • 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) Propose new laws, and scrutinize government policies by asking ministers questions about current issues either in the Commons Chamber or in Committees

HOUSE OF LORDS• Public do not elect the Lords.

Appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister or of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

• A forum of expertise, making laws and providing scrutiny of Government

• 830 Members, and there are three different types: life Peers, bishops and elected hereditary Peers.

Committee Work

• Much of the work of the House of Commons and the House of Lords takes place in committees, made up of around 10 to 50 MPs or Lords.

• These committees examine issues in detail, from government policy and proposed new laws, to wider topics like the economy.

Committee Calendar

• This calendar provides advance information about all public committee meetings, publication dates of reports and debates on select committee reports in Westminster Hall.

UK’s head of government:

PRIME MINISTER• How is he chosen?

-a member of parliament who can obtain the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons,

Executive power is exercised by the

prime minister and cabinet

Powers and Functions of the PM

• 1. Chairs the cabinet • 2. Acts as the national leader• 3. Acts as diplomat • 4. Speaking for the gov’t in the Parliament• 5. Party leader-it is the leadership of the party

that makes him/her the PM

POWERS OF PM

• 1. Appoint and dismiss cabinet members• 2. Dissolution of Parliament (terminate the

gov’t)—(upon recommendation to the monarch, then call for a general elections)

• 3. Summon, chair & summarize cabinet meetings

David CameronPrime Minister

since May 11, 2010

• David William Donald Cameron • Born 9 October 1966• Leader of the Conservative Party • Represents Witney as its MP• Studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford gaining

a first class honours degree

Youngest British PM

• In the 2010 general election held on 6 May, the Conservatives won 307 seats.

• After five days of intense negotiations, Cameron formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. (the first coalition government since WW2)

• The 43-year-old Cameron became the youngest British Prime Minister

UK Elections: HC vs. HL• General elections to

choose MP´s are held every five years. Voting is not compulsory and is from the age of 18.

• The House of Commons has 650 constituencies, elected and paid Members of Parliament.

The House of Lords is made up of hereditary and life peers, two archbishops and 24 bishops of the Church of England.

HC and HL: Compare and contrastedHouse of Commons-legislation-sustaining the government-controlled finance

House of Lords-the other “crown in the parliament”-may delay a bill passed by the HC (“power of amendment & delay”)-”the poodle of the Conservative party”

• General elections are called by the monarch when the prime minister so

advises. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 require

that a new election must be called within five years of the previous general

elections.

British Elections• Qualifications: age, citizenship, duly registered• British election campaigns are short (PM is

free choose to the date of elections w/n the 5 yr period)

• Britain is divided into 650 constituencies: 1 constituency=1 MP

• First-past-the-post majoritarian electoral system: the candidate with the most votes in the constituency wins

Features of the British Party System• 1. They are programmatic-platform-based;

policy oriented vs. personality• 2. They are disciplined-vote along party line• 3. They are centralized-decisions about a

party’s policies, election strategies & political tactics are decided at the center (HQ)

THE PARTY SYSTEM

• Major Political Parties:• Conservative Party• Labour Party• Liberal Democrats

The CONSERVATIVE and UNIONIST PARTY

• a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism.

• largest party in the United Kingdom: -being the largest single party in the House of Commons with 304

MPs, -the largest party in local government with 9,391 councilors, -the largest British party in the European Parliament with 25 MEPs.

It governs in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, with party leader David Cameron as Prime Minister.

Known Conservative PMs

Sir Winston Churchill, twice Prime Minister of theUnited Kingdom.

Margaret Thatcher,[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979–1990).

Known Conservative PMs

John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1990–1997

David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom(2010-present).

UK Labour Party • a centre-left political party• Having won 258 seats in the

2010 general election, the party currently forms the Official Opposition in theParliament of the United Kingdom.

• a member of the Socialist International and Party of European Socialists

• The current leader of the party is Ed Miliband MP.

Known Labour PMs

Ramsay MacDonald: First Labour Prime Minister, 1924 and 1929–31

Tony Blair: Labour Prime Minister, 1997–2007

Known Labour PMs

Gordon Brown: Labour Prime Minister, 2007–2010

Leader of the OPPOSITION

Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition.

Harriet Harman

Deputy Leader of the OppositionShadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

• a social liberal political party which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, environmentalism, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, European integration, banking reform and civil liberties

Nick Clegg: Leader from 2007 to present, and current Deputy Prime Minister

“SHADOW CABINET”

• a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the Cabinet.

• Members of a shadow cabinet are often but not always appointed to a Cabinet post if and when their party gets into government. It is the Shadow Cabinet's responsibility to pass criticism on the current government and its respective legislation, as well as offering alternative policies

• The Shadow Cabinet is made up of frontbench MPs and Members of the Lords from the second largest

party, or official Opposition party. • The Opposition party appoints an MP to 'shadow'

each of the members of the Cabinet. In this way the Opposition can make sure that it looks at every part

of the Government and can question them thoroughly.

• It also means that the Opposition has MPs and Lords that are ready to take specific jobs in the Cabinet if

they win at the next General Election. In the House of Lords the term "spokesperson" is used instead of

"shadow".

Judiciary• The Judiciary is independent (doctrine of separation of

powers) of the executive and the legislature, the highest national court being the Supreme Court of the UK

• The Judiciary is not a single body. Each of the separate legal systems in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have their own judiciary.

• The judges of the Supreme Court of the UK, the Special Immigration Appeals, Employment Tribunals, Employment Appeal Tribunal and the UK tribunals systems do have a UK-wide jurisdiction.

Role of the UK Supreme Court

• is the final court of appeal for all United Kingdom civil cases, and criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland

• hears appeals on arguable points of law of general public importance

• concentrates on cases of the greatest public and constitutional importance

• maintains and develops the role of the highest court in the United Kingdom as a leader in the common law world

• The Supreme Court hears appeals from the following courts in each jurisdiction:

England and Wales• The Court of Appeal, Civil Division• The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division• (in some limited cases) the High CourtScotland• The Court of SessionNorthern Ireland• The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland• (in some limited cases) the High Court

The Supreme Court and Europe• The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in the United Kingdom.

However, The Court must give effect to directly applicable European Union law, and interpret domestic law so far as possible consistently with European Union law. It must also give effect to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.

• Under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (article 267), The Court must refer to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg any question of European Union law, where the answer is not clear and is necessary for it to give judgment.

• In giving effect to rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights, The Court must take account of any decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. No national court should “without strong reason dilute or weaken the effect of the Strasbourg case law”

• An individual contending that his Convention rights have not been respected by a decision of a United Kingdom court (including The Supreme Court) against which he has no domestic recourse may bring a claim against the United Kingdom before the European Court of Human Rights.

Assignment for WednesdayPlease choose one current issue (this year 2012) confronting the UK and briefly discuss the salient points. Please write in a piece of recycled paper. To be submitted. • Poverty/Housing• Environment• Politics and Governance• Economics Sources: • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk/• http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian• http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/