Download United Kingdom

United Kingdom
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
SCOTLAND
North
Sea
NORTHERN
IRELAND
IRELAND
UNITED
KINGDOM
Irish Sea
WALES
ENGLAND
London
English Channel
Economic Traits
Presidential or Parliamentary System?
■
■
■
■
■ Parliamentary, with weak monarch as head of
Economically developed country
Sizeable middle class
GDP/capita-PPP (2008 est.): $37,50010
Highly globalized economy, with the exception of
trade
Political Culture
■ More individualistic than much of continental
state
Chief Executive(s)
■ Head of government: Prime minister
❏ Gordon Brown, since June 2007
❏ Leader of Labor Party majority government in
the House of Commons
Europe; less individualistic than the United States
■ Combination of noblesse oblige and “working
class deference”
■ Head of state: Monarch
❏ Queen Elizabeth II, since 1952
Identity Traits
■ House of Commons
❏ The lower house
❏ Has significant powers
❏ Next election tentatively scheduled for
■ Population: Approx. 61 million
■ Ethnic groups
❏ English
❏ Northern Irish
❏ Scots
❏ Welsh
❏ Numerous immigrant minorities
■ Language: Primarily English
■ Religions
❏ Majority Christian (Church of England, Roman
Catholic), but many non-practicing
❏ Large number of atheists and agnostics
❏ Small, growing Muslim population
National Legislature
June 2010
■ House of Lords
❏ The upper house
❏ Has limited powers
Judiciary
■ Lords of Appeal in Ordinary
❏ “Law Lords”
❏ Chosen from the House of Lords
❏ Have historically served as the UK’s highest
court
Political System
■ A new high court, the Supreme Court of the
■ Democracy
United Kingdom, is scheduled to replace the Law
Lords in October 2009
■ No official (and very limited in practice) constitutional review authority
Federal or Unitary?
■ Unitary; but, through “devolution,” important
powers have been granted to Northern Ireland,
Scotland, and Wales
Interest Group System
■ Mix of corporatist and pluralist approaches
10
Source: International Monetary Fund World Economic
Outlook Database, April 2008
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National Legislative Electoral System
Other Important Features
■ First past the post (FPTP), single-member district
■ “Unwritten” Constitution
■ Magna Carta limited powers of the crown in
system
Political Party System
■ Two-and-a-half party system
1215
■ History of evolutionary rather than revolutionary
political change
Major Political Parties
■ Labour Party
■ Conservative Party
■ Liberal Democratic Party
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