Political Power in the United Kingdom: An Evaluation

Who has political power in the United Kingdom?

In this essay I will be evaluating who has political power in the UK. There are many organisations that have an impact on political power for example the state, citizens, media, big businesses and individual MPs. Economic power, military power and the power of media all influence the way in which the political system and those who operate it and how effective they can be in particular circumstances.
A state might be defined briefly as a political organization which possesses sovereign jurisdiction within a defined territory and exercises its power through a set of permanent institutions which in liberal democracies include Heads of State [Presidents or Monarchs], central governments and their bureaucracies, legislatures, judiciaries and the organizations of regional, state and or local government, the armed forces and the police. David Camron current British prime minister and leader of the British Labour Party.. There are limits to the powers of a Prime Minister despite what would appear to be their exulted position within British Politics. The Prime Minister does have many powers but probably the one great limit to these powers comes from the party he represents. If a Prime Minister loses the support from his party 's back-benchers, his position becomes very weak. This happened to both Margaret Thatcher and John Major. In one speech made in the House of Commons, Geoffrey Howe, a former Cabinet colleague of Thatcher 's, started the process that lead to an effective revolt against her style of leadership and her ultimate resignation as Prime Minister in 1990. The House of Lords can politically limit what the Prime Minister pushes through via the Commons. Though the Prime Minister has a great deal of political power, this power is also balanced by the fact that there are limitations to that power. While a Prime Minister has the backing of his party, his position is secure; if he loses that support, then his

Links: between political leaders and those who own the organs of mass communication are disquieting. In the UK, for example, Rupert Murdoch 's News Corporation owns 37 per cent of the daily newspapers. And in the US 75 per cent of newspapers are now owned by corporate chains. Gene Roberts noted in 1995 that four chief executives controlled more than one fifth of America 's dailies. Democracy is a form of government in which all people have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal (and more or less direct) participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law .An alternative view point would be to argue that in the democracy power must ultimately reside with the people, hence the common translation of the term people power. But majority of people are only called to make a decision at general election time every four years. Voters have very few opportunity’s to decide on little issues this may show that it is difficult to argue that individuals is armed with much actual power if we look at Egypt and many other Middle Eastern countries the citizens have started revolutions so that they can overturn the government, many have succeeded and others are still in the process. Without the support of citizens a state would never be able to survive. To conclude I have shown how the media, big businesses, state and citizen hold political power. Without the state the country would not be controlled. The state plays a very important role in the lives of every citizen in the country. This comes in many forms and could range from a state health care all the way down to state pension. Citizens would find it very hard to live alone without citizens as they may not receive benefits etc. the state passes laws which are of major importance so that citizens are able to live without troubles although not all laws do that.