Identify the important features of the policymaking system and explain how pubic policies are the choices that government makes – and declines to make-in response to political issues. 4. Understand the nature of democratic government and traditional democratic theory, and the key questions concerning democracy. 5. Distinguish between the three contemporary theories of American democracy and politics (pluralist, elite and class, and hyperpluralist) and identify some of their strengths and weaknesses.
It has discussed the different types and styles of assemblies and the chief functions such as to enact legislation, act as a representative body and oversee and scrutinise the executive. It has shown how the role of parliaments is changing and the reality is that legislatures do not initiate many policies, more usually they influence or are executive-dominated. The emergence of disciplined political parties, the growth in the role of government and the increasing strength of interest groups and the mass media has changed the way parliaments and assemblies carry out their roles. However, parliaments possess a unique authority to force politicians and civil servants to account for their actions before a body which still represents the nation and remains an essential element in the architecture of democracy. Bibliography Axford, B., Browning, G.K., Huggings, R., Rosamond, B., (2002), Politics an introduction, 2nd ed.
However, this reform of the judiciary had formed conflicts between the government ministers and the judiciary due to several reasons. These included the risk of citizens’ rights as a result of the increasing political role of the judiciary. Some even suggest that judicial power has become controversial due to its increasing political importance. However, the main reason for this conflict between the executive and judiciary can be said to be the Constitutional Reform Act (2005) and the Human Rights Act (2000). The Constitutional Reform Act was intended to represent a separation from the traditional “fusion” model of the UK Constitution and towards a “more explicit separation of powers”, The Relations between the executive and judiciary would therefore be governed by the Act itself.
The most senior members are the prime minister, secretaries of state, Ministers of state and parliamentary under-secretaries. The Prime minister has the duty of being in charge and selects the other members of government. There are many important departments in central government and they all are crucial but are different roles in controlling the country. The departments include home office and department of health, but also involve sport and media and the department of culture. These departments are ruled by Secretaries state that has complete liability and are staffed by impartial civil servants who get their income from money provided by parliament.
APGAP Midterm Review Guide Chapter 1: Introducing Government in America * Describe the contemporary theories of democracy: * Elitism-A government and politics theory that states that societies are divided by classes and the upper-class elite rules by influencing government, regardless of a government organization created to prevent this. * Hyper-pluralism-A government and politics theory that states that groups are so strong that they weaken the government and cripple its ability to make policies. This is an extreme version of pluralism. * Pluralism-A government and politics theory that states that politics is influenced by competing groups who press for their preferred public policies through organized efforts. * Define
In addition to that, Parliament also has the function of scrutinising and challenging the government on its legislative proposals as well as on a broader, more general level. It has been argued that this is Parliament’s most important function, rather than maintaining it in office. With regards to this point of view, an analysis of the present mechanisms of scrutiny and challenge used by Parliament and their effectiveness offers an insight into its validity. To begin with, Parliament, as the state legislature, plays a role in scrutinising government legislative proposals. Each bill has to go through First reading, Second reading, Committee stage, Report stage and Third reading in both the Commons and Lords.
But all leaders need some kind of limitation, which is where the Separation of Powers comes in. The Separation of Powers creates the three branches of government: Legislative, Executive and Judicial, each with their own system of powers and regulations. The Legislative branch has the powers to create, amend, and change laws. The Executive branch carries out the laws created by the legislature, and is where the president resides. And the Judicial branch explains the laws as well as checking to make sure all laws are constitutional.
Today, the United States features separation of powers (in which all three branches are separate), while the United Kingdom and other parliamentary governments feature fusion of powers (in which the judicial branch is separate, but the executive and legislative branches are combined). To define the system in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either formally written or uncodified, to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the social contract. The purpose of a constitution is often seen as a limit on the authority of the
Moreover, source 1 also explains that there may be a ‘future struggle’, therefore implying that there maybe a form of rebellion that could occur in response to the act being implemented. As a result, the source also admits that there could be the likelihood of conflict occurring from the changes brought about by the act, with the lower class possibly becoming unhappy and losing respect for the Source 3 further corroborates with source 1 as the act could ‘root up the feelings of respect, reverence and loyalty, which are the only sure foundations of government.’ Peel therefore suggests that there could be drastic change to the character of the constitution, where the traditional political hierarchy could be destabilised and in effect, agrees with source 1 as they support the view that the act could lead to increased factions and disputes. Taken at face value Sources 1 and 2 clearly conflict with Peel’s claims in Source 3. Both emphasise the limited nature of the proposed reforms and emphasise that the intention is to strengthen the existing system by getting rid of ‘blemishes’ and adding new voters of the most respectable and reliable kind. Palmerston asserts that the changes
Assess the strenghts of the British constitution?- Marked essay with teacher feedback (25 Marks) A constitution is a set of rules relating to how a state is to be governed and organised. The primary function of a constitution is to provide legitimacy to those in power; however it also defines the limits of government power, protects freedom and distributes power within the political system. As such it could be said that due to the UK having an uncodified constitution there are many strengths and weaknesses, such as flexibility and adaptability, conservative pragmatism, executive power and domination and many more which will be further spoken about below. Some of these help to make the UK constitution a better one than other countries like the USA who have to stick to their constitution. A strength of Britain having an uncodified constitution is that its unentrenched nature is flexible and adaptable therefore easy to amend, meaning that the government is not limited with their ability to change governing arrangements by having to go through a lengthy and complex and procedure.