Lecture 2 - Westminster Model

8/8/2019 Lecture 2 - Westminster Model

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Gv101

Introduction to Political Science

Dr Tom Quinn

Room K202

Office hours: Mon 3-5pm; Tue 2-3pm

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Textbooks on British Politics

Tony Wright, The British Political Process (2000)

B. Coxall, L. Robins and R. Leach, Contemporary

British Politics, 4th Ed. (2003)

P. Dunleavy, A. Gamble, R. Heffernan and G. Peele

(eds),Developments in British Politics 7(2003)

Arend Lijphart,Patterns of Democracy: Government

Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries (1999)

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Lecture 2Majoritarian Politics in the UK

The Westminster Model

and its Demise?

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Majoritarian and Consensus

Democracy (ArendL

ijphart)

Majoritarian

Majority rule For homogenous

societies

Composition of

majorities changes overtime

Concentration of power

Strong government

Consensus

Plural societies -majority rule can lead to

majority tyranny

Power-sharing

Institutional dispersal ofpower

Majorities restrained

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Executive power: highly

concentrated - one-party and

bare-majority cabinets

Executive-legislative

relations: fusion ofpower -

cabinet dominance

Legislature: Unicameral or

asymmetric bicameralism

Party system: 2-party system

Ideological/social cleavages:

one-dimensional (usually class)

Electoral system:plurality

system (first past the post)

Distribution of power in state:

unitary and centralised govt

Constitution: Uncodified

constitution and parliamentary

sovereignty

Judicial review: no supreme

court to interpret/defend

constitution

Central bank: controlled by

government

The Westminster Model

Source: Lijphart (1999: Ch.2)T. Quinn. Gv101. 2003-04 5/17


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The Westminster Model in

Britain -T

he Constitution (1)

Absence of a codified constitution - no formal

document establishing relationship between state andcitizens, and among organs of the state

No formal distinction between constitutional and other laws

No special provisions for changing the constitution

If we [in Britain] have a constitution at all, it is a one-sentence

constitution stating that Parliament can make or repeal any law

whatsoever. (F.F. Ridley, 1988)

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Britain -T

he Constitution (2)Instead of a constitution, Britain has the doctrine of

parliamentary sovereignty:

The principle ofparliamentary sovereignty means

nothing more norless than this, namely, that Parliament

has, under the English constitution, the right to make or

unmake anylaw whatever; and, further, that no person orbody is recognised by the law as having a right to override

or set aside the legislation ofParliament. (A.V. Dicey,

Introduction to theStudyofthe Law ofthe Constitution)

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Britain -T

he Constitution (3)British constitution loosely understood to include:

Relevant constitutional statutes - e.g. Act of Union1707

Common law - judge-made law, legal precedents

Conventions - unwritten understandings, e.g.

individual ministerial responsibility

But do these really check the power of the executive?

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Britain -T

he Unitary State

Concentration of sovereignty (not always the same as

centralisation of power)

British state was unitary but not uniform

British local government has weakened since 1945

Devolution since 1997 - quasi-federalism?

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Britain -T

he Executive

Fusion of executive and legislative power

Single-party majority governments - coalitionsnow rare

Governing party controls House of Commons -

strong party cohesion Prime Minister and Cabinet are dominant

PM becoming presidential?

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Parliament is sovereign but the legislature

is weak

Difficult for legislature to pass no-

confidence motion in govt when governing

party has a majority

Asymmetric bicameralism - weak and less

legitimate upper chamber (House of Lords)


Britain -T

heL

egislature

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No formal power of judicial review (no

constitution to interpret) - courts cannot strike

down legislation

Administrative judicial review - courts can

check ministers and public bodies followed

proper procedures

European integration - EU laws trump British

laws

ECHR and Human Rights Act 1998


Britain -T

he Judiciary

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Single-member simple plurality system (first past the

post)

Instrumental in reproducing majoritarian politics in UK

Duvergers law - plurality systems tend (not always) to

produce two-party systems

Smaller parties are squeezed - e.g. Liberal Democrats Experiments in electoral reform - PR used in Scotland,

Wales

Jenkins Commission on electoral reform for Westminster


Britain -T

he Electoral System

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Two-party system in House of Commons - facilitates

adversarial politics (govt versus opposition) - cohesive parties

British voters are party voters (consequence of electoral

system) - few independent MPs

2 parties are broad coalitions of diverse interests

Dominant social cleavage - class

Partisan dealignment and/or realignment?


Britain -T

he Party System

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Demise of the Westminster

Model? NewL

abours Reforms

Labour scarred by experience of

Thatcherism (dominant executive)

Disperse power among organs of state

Could use the power of parliamentary

sovereignty to push through reforms

Dilemma for Labour - does it want to

reduce executive power now it is in govt?

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New Labours Constitutional

Reforms

Devolution - undercut Celtic nationalism

and shift away from unitary state - is this

quasi-federalism?

Human Rights Act - shift of power to

judges - de factojudicial review? House of Lords reform - stronger form of

bicameralism?

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The Limits of New Labours

Constitutional Radicalism

Electoral reform for Westminster!

This could end the adversarial two-party

basis of British politics but will the

Labour Party accept it?

The ultimate challenge to majoritarian

politics (carried through in New Zealand)

T. Quinn. Gv101. 2003-04 17/17

Documents

Lecture 2 - Westminster Model