Preview

Parliamentary Controversy: The Westminster Model And Parliamentary Democracy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
65 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Parliamentary Controversy: The Westminster Model And Parliamentary Democracy
The Westminster model and parliamentary democracy are effective because society is free to show whether they disapprove of policies or elements of parliaments and they can protest against them. There is also a lot of political diversity and many different ways to get involved and engage in politics, for example, pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and/or policy.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Westminster is the location of the Houses of Parliament, where the majority of political decisions (other than those for devolved states) are made for the nation. The current Westminster electoral system is First Past the Post (FPTP) which is used for general elections every 5 years (due to the new fixed-term parliaments brought in by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.) The FPTP system is constituency based, each person votes for a representative for their constituency and whichever party wins the most constituencies gains governmental power. First Past the Post works on the basis of a plurality of votes, that is, that the winning party need only gain the most votes out of all parties to gain power, they do not need an overall majority (50%+.) The need for a strong and stable government is through the need for a government to easily be able to pass legislation and for them to be able to withstand a full term in office.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Power in theory in this system should lie with the commons and the chamber as they should be able to voice their opinions, and fight the policies of government properly but obviously parliamentary control does limit this a huge amount as how can this be true if a party does control power the opposition will be outnumbered and effectively be a lame duck and completely pointless. It means that parliament and the mps who are not inn government or the majority party have to literally sit there and can no longer really help their constituents on the issues that matter to them this certainly limits parliaments main function especially in opposition parties in particular. Secondly there is the argument that in politics and the majority party in particular there is a certain do as your told attitude, there is no more free thinking in parliament on a large scale anymore, mps are merely there to toe the party line as they cannot really step out of line as they may be deselected at the next election. This is a huge threat to there jobs basically but is very effective on behalf of the large party as it means that party whips will have to be used less, as most people in the party know that if they want to go far into the executive then they basically must…

    • 1009 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Parliament is designed to hold the executive accountable; therefore it goes about this by various means of government scrutiny, such as Prime Minister’s Question Time. In addition, Parliament is expected to perform a legislative function, creating the process of a bill becoming a law after undergoing many stages between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Finally, Parliament is also required to be representative of the nation, with constituencies creating a strong local link between the electorate and their MP.…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The debate on which form of democracy, representative versus parliamentary, can best manage a global energy crisis is a matter of much concern. The study addresses the following question: which form of democracy, U.S. representative versus British parliamentary can best manage a global oil crisis between 2009-2011? The question is important to address because understanding which form of democracy, U.S. representative versus British parliamentary can best manage a global oil crisis between 2009-2011 is critical in assessing the efficiencies of democratic energy decision making.…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Before evaluating whether or not Parliament is sovereign, it’s important to define what sovereignty means. Sovereignty can be split into two; political and legal. Legal sovereignty is the ultimate power to make laws which will be enforced within the state. Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister have ultimate legal power because they propose and enforce legislation. Citizens have no legal sovereignty because they don’t play a role in the legislative function even though pressure group activity may influence decisions. Political sovereignty is where real political power lies, and depending on the situation political sovereignty doesn’t always lie within Parliament. Critics have argued that due to recent changes, Parliament is no longer truly sovereign. This essay will assess the arguments for and against.…

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the moment we have a mixed use of democratic systems in the UK, however we are mainly based on a representative democracy, and a participatory democracy. This is because like a representative democracy, we do elect people to represent us and to be held accountable for their decisions. Also, like a participatory democracy, there are many pressure groups and ways in which people can get involved in politics, without directly voting like in a direct democracy. The UK does hold some features from the direct democracy system. For example, there are referendums and initiatives which enable’s everyone to vote on matters, just like in a direct democracy.…

    • 600 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Government in the UK is a representative body elected for and by the people. The UK uses the parliamentary system as its model of representation; this means the different areas of government which are the legislative, judiciary and executive branches work in and through each other as opposed to the Presidential model which separates the powers. Westminster Parliament is the acting microcosm for the UK society; it is a small group of 365 MPs who are chosen to represent their constituencies. Each MP is given power through trusteeship when voted in, this meaning that they will try to carry out what is best for their constituency. They are also once voted in known as a mandate, the authority granted by a constituency to an MP to act as its representative.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    How democratic is the UK?

    • 2136 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Democracy is a very general term used to describe various political systems that are organised on the basis that the government should serve the interests of the people. It is expected in a democracy that citizens should influence decisions, make decisions themselves and that the government is accountable to the people. It is also expected that the freedoms of citizen’s are protected, minorities are protected, governmental power is controlled and dispersed more widely. This indeed is the model of democracy many countries try to emulate today. If we are to consider the UK’s own version of democracy, it is important to see how exactly it has developed. We should start on the 15th of June 1215; King John is forced to sign the Magna Carta, a document establishing that the King would not rule with absolute power. Then on the 1st of January 1295 Edward I becomes the first Monarch to call Parliament where two representatives, along with nobles and clergy, from each area are called to air grievances against the crown. The foundations of Britain’s Parliamentary democracy have been laid. What follows are several significant events: the Peasants revolt of 1381, Acts of Union in 1536 and later in 1709 joining Scotland, Wales and England into a United Kingdom, the English Civil War of 1651 where the Parliamentarians defeat the royalists and Oliver Cromwell forever establishes that the monarch cannot rule without Parliament’s consent and finally the Representation of the People Act of 1969, making all British Citizens at the age of 18 and above eligible to vote. These are the main events that have each contributed to the development of British democracy from the old Feudal system to the modern representative, parliamentary democracy that the UK is governed by today. If we are to look at Britain’s political system now, it can be argued that the UK is democratic in the aspects of representation and accountability, however undemocratic in the aspect…

    • 2136 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since 1997 with the labour government in charge, the UK have adopted various electoral systems. However, there are a number of problems with each systems and some systems are more proportional than others, for example the List System has a higher degree of proportional representation than the First Past The Post system which is used in UK general elections. In spite of this, there are good systems in Northern Ireland, like AMS which is very proportional and provides a simple outcome.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Direct democracy should be used more widely in the UK because it avoids decisions made by representatives in their own interest. This is because the people are making the decisions. This will be beneficial because people’s voices will be heard and represented as a society. This makes it that decisions are made through societies interest. However this can be critiqued because some societies may make very stupid and unfair decisions also this ruins the purpose of having a government and other type of politicians.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Predominately and most obviously parliaments “main function” is legislation and passing bills, and in all fairness that’s what parliament does, far more bills are efficiently passed through parliament and become law compared to the US who struggle to pass anything with such a variation of opinions. The majority government that Britain almost always has, despite labour government in 1974-79 which was weak and short lived, always been able to provide stability and efficient law-making; a core function of parliament. Counter-arguing this it could be suggested that such a strong majority government who does not have to debate or compromise in laws could eventually result in an elective dictatorship, meaning that we are effectively controlled by the government on a vote that was made for 4/5…

    • 1616 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Parliamentary sovereignty is a constitutional relic. It has been rendered obsolete, in particular, by the supremacy of EU law and the UK’s statutory recognition of human rights. We should no longer talk about this irrelevant doctrine.’…

    • 793 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The House of Commons can be seen to be effective in the cases where it has defied the government. Although this happens infrequently there have been cases where Commons has voted against government. A Good example of this is when Blair’s plans to extend the detention of terrorist suspects to 90 days were blocked.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of parliament as a law-maker. Illustrate your answer with a comparison of law-making by courts. (12 marks)…

    • 1863 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Great Britain operates under a system of “fusion of power,” in which the executive branch exists with in the legislative branch. As a result the party which controls Parliament has complete control over the government till the next election. Single party control, without the existence of committees, practically negates any sort of impact an interest group could have. Leaving those who look to push their own political agenda alienated and instead opting to participate via local government. In France and Germany the Constitution advocates a strong executive branch and expressively limits the powers of legislature and individuals. This presents a major problem for interest groups, as they often look to directly impact legislators. Instead, in order to be heard citizens must voice their disproval via referendums, which have come to take on the role of interest…

    • 2162 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays