英语国家概况学习论文.doc

The Development of British DemocracyAbstractAs we all know, the full name of Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which through a long history. Britain, one of the most influential countries in the world history, went through four major periods, including Romans Landing, The Anglos-Saxons, The Viking and Danish, and The Norman Conquest; and finally established a real powerful country. With the development of history, there are many developments in Britain that indeed change the world; for instance, the English language, the industrial revolution, especially the parliamentary system of government. It has one of the oldest continuously functional political systems in the world, though the character of that system has been altered in response to philosophical and popular pressures. To be sure, the development of British democracy has been the model and the inspiration for many national governments worldwide.Key Words: feudal; Magna Carta; Representative; the Bill of Rights; Constitutional Monarchy; Responsibility Cabinet System; parliamentary democracy; constitutional monarchy; Chinese democratic constructionContent1. BackgroundBefore and after hundreds years of Anglo-Saxons day was generated and unified by Britain, and its the important period of the feudal lords being laid. 1066, this year is an important and special year to Britain; William the Conqueror who finally conquered England, took the English throne, and became William the First of England. In order to consolidate his power, the new king, William the Conqueror, strengthened and enlarged the system of feudal relations. Put it briefly, abound peasantry was subject to the rule of land lords and the upper class which was loyal and responsible to a king or lord in exchange for land. Then feudalism became a way of life in Medieval England.During Medieval England, King John suffered the loss of Normandy and numerous other French territories through mistreatment of his vassal lords. When John returned to the England in 1215, he antagonized the feudal nobility and the leading Church figures; so they forced him to sign the Magna Carta to impose legal limits on the kings personal powers in raising money from his subjects. The Magna Carta that means “Great Charter” was one of the most important documents of Medieval England. The document was a series of written promises between the king and hid subjects that the king would govern England and deal with its people, according to the customs of federal law. In addition, Magna Carta also promised laws that were good and fair; it states that everyone shall have access to court and that costs and money should not be an issue if someone wanted to take a problem to the law courts; it states as well that no freeman will be imprisoned or punished without first going through the proper legal system.From 1337 to 1453, both England and France had developed into strong nation states which were engaged in wars, called the Hundred Years War. After the ending of the Hundred Years War, a series of dynastic civil war for the English nobility in check, enabling them to assert autonomy and independence for themselves. With Herry Tudors accession as Herry , the central authority of Crown was soon to be resumed, ushering in a new age. During that age, with the sprouting and the developing of capitalism, England not only became increasingly active in export trade, but also developed its navy for explorations in the New World. On the whole, the Tudor period was a decisive one in English history in the sense that it further broke feudal strength and raised the modern English nation state, which was bound together by a common language, a powerful central government, and a strong church. On the other hand, the Tudor period posed some important questions, particularly the relative power of the monarch and Parliament (During Herry VIIIs reign, Simonde Montfort summoned the first elected Parliament in 1265. The franchise in parliamentary elections set the scene for the so-called “Model parliament” of 1295, adopted by Edwod I) and to what extent one should control the other, which would have to be solved in the next century and during the English Civil War.After 1625, Charles I who succeed to the throne, believed in Divine Right kingship and demanded outright loyalty in return for “just rule”, but Parliament sought to limit the powers of the prerogative and to guarantee civil liberties through the Petition of Right (1628). This led to a serious break between them, and eventually to a war. In the Civil War, the royalist armies were defeated and king Charles I was executed in 1649, but by 1660, Charles I s son was restored to the throne as Charles , which we call Restoration period. Essentially, the Civil War was a constitutional issue between a king who claimed to rule by divine right and represented the federal nobility, and a Parliament representing country gentry, merchants and artisans, who claimed real sovereignty.2. Establishment of the Representative - Constitutional MonarchyIn June 1688, some leading politicians and church authorities invited James son-in-law William, to come and take the throne. Jame was deposed and William and his wife Mary were recognized as joint-sovereigns. This quick change of rulers in 1688 is called “the Glorious Revolution” because it was bloodless and successful.In 1689 Parliament passed the Bill of Rights that gave political supremacy to Parliament and severely limited the Crowns power, which marked the beginning of the constitutional monarchy in England. The Bill of Rights clearly over-rode the hereditary right which formed the basic of the restored constitution of 1660 and replaced it with the will of the nation expressed through Parliament.Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the guidelines of a constitution. Britain has a monarch, and government is carried out in the name of the monarch whose permission is exclusively needed for most key political decision, but the monarch has little real power. In theory, the people rule while the work of government is carried out by their elected representatives, who stay in office only as long as they have the support of voters in their local districts. Government is directly accountable to the people in what it does. All in all the establishment of a constitutional monarchy ended the absolute monarchy rule in Britain, and made it gradually convert into a modern democratic state, meanwhile it became a role model to other countries.3. Formation of the Representative - Responsibility Cabinet SystemThe British cabinet was the first envolved by the late medieval diplomatic committee of the Privy Council. At that time, there was a cabinet, but which was the monarchy consulting institutions. With the improvement of its functions, the responsibility cabinet system finally was formed until the middle of nineteen centuries.Responsibility cabinet, accountable to Parliament, is a form of national political organization for Britain to dominate the state administrative authority and is the central of government. After the general elections (provides opportunities for people to influence future government polity and to replace those incompetent political leaders), the king or the queen appoint the leader of the party which holds a majority of those “seats” in parliament as the Prime Minister, then the Prime Minister makes a list of members to ask the kings or the queens permission; which is the process of cabinets becoming.There are three main functions of it; firstly, it is responsible to the Parliament; secondly, it can not govern without the support of the majority of Parliament; thirdly, it is responsible for any action the government takes. While, the Prime Minister not only is the leader of his party in the House of Commons, but also is the head and the chief spokesman of the government; he or she has the right to select his or her cabinet, hand out departmental positions, decide the agenda for cabinet meetings which he also chairs; and he directs and controls policy for the government.The cabinet control parliamentary legislation through the ruling party, so it requires both the king or the queen and the Houses to follow the majority principle, insisting that all cabinet members have the collective responsibility on the laws and policies, which is conducive to the extend of the ruling partys rights, and also contributes to the relative stability of political situation.4. The British Government TodayIt is generally known that British government today is profoundly influenced by its long past. Britain is both a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. The official head of state is the Queen Elizabeth , and her powers are largely traditional and symbolic; while the government at national and the local levels is elected by the people and governs according to British constitutional principles.Britain doesnt have a constitution written down in a single document, but British governance today is basic on the terms and the conditions of the constitution. The constitution flows from six sources: The Royal Prerogatives, Statute Laws, Common Laws, Conventions, Authoritative Opinions, and the European Union Laws; those laws are nevertheless regarded as vital to Britain today.Strictly speaking, the Parliament today consists of the Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, among them must all agree to pass any given legislation. Nowadays Parliament is supreme in British state because it is the highest legislative, and it has a number of different functions; such as making all the British laws, scrutinizing government policy, administration and expenditure, hearing appeals in the highest Court of Appeal in Britain, debating the major issues of the day, etc.The role of monarchy today is primarily to symbolize the tradition and the unity of Britain. Under the terms of the Constitution the Queens other roles are as follow: she is legally head of the executive, and integral part of the legislature, head of the judiciary, commander in chief of the armed forces and “supreme governor” of the Church of England. It is now believed that the monarchy will not be abolished anytime soon, and will continue to wield important emotional and persuasive powers.Known as the Lower House, the House of Common consists of about 651 Members of Parliament (MPs) who are elected by people of their constituencies in a general election. The House of Common is the real centre of British political life because it is the place where elected representatives make and debate policy and its role is discussed in greater detail in the unit on British Politics. And known as the Upper House, the House of Lords today is more a place of discussion and debate than one of substantial power, and it forms only a very moderate check in legislation on the House of Commons. At present, the members of the House of Lords are made up of: 92 hereditary peers, 587 life peers, 19 law lords and 26 Lords Spiritual, but only about 408 of them could attend the sittings.5. ConclusionThe British people show up a kind of original spirit to the world when they constructed their political systems. When the European appeared religious crisis widely, they had established a unique judicial jury system and local management system; When the European feudal autocracy was strengthened, they launched a bourgeois revolution, destroying the feudalism foundation and founded the capitalist constitutional monarchy; When European countries also carried out the bourgeois revolution, they had extensive reform in political field, founded the capitalist responsibility cabinet system and the two-party system. Many facts show that, Britis