The distinguishing features of British political system英国政治制度.doc

The distinguishing features of British political systemAbstract: The unique geographical environment, political culture and economic development make the unique political system. Britains political system is old and distinct and its main distinguishing features are parliament is supreme, the cabinet as power core, monarchy and democracy combine, monarch isnt own real power and political party organization is precise. And these characteristics can be showed by monarchy, parliamentary system, cabinet system and two-party system.The unique geographical environment, political culture and economic development make the unique political system which represents their own originality and adaptability. Britains conservative political culture results in the combination of monarchy and democracy and the combination of monarch and nobleman. And due to free tradition, royalty is disappearing gradually and parliament has highest power. Through the actual operation concept of political system and the analysis of historical conditions that formed from political system, we can see to its unique special adaptability designed by political system which contains the monarchy, parliamentary system, the cabinet system, political party system and so on. The political system of United Kingdom is old and distinct, which reflects from the combination of monarchy and democracy, the parliamentary system and cabinet system that according to parliament is supreme and the unique two-party system. And Britains political system is typical constitutional monarchy and its main distinguishing features are monarch isnt own real power, parliament is supreme, the cabinet as power core, monarchy and democracy combine, and political party organization is precise. And these characteristics can be showed by monarchy, parliamentary system, cabinet system and two-party system.The first distinguishing feature is monarch isnt own real power. The monarchy is a royalty system that monarch doesnt own real authority. Monarchs power has diverted to the prime ministers hands already as the representative democracy. The monarch is nominal head of state and royalty system become to be a pronoun of national systems symbol. In law, monarch is the head of the central governments administrative department and enforces the law when law enforcement needs any central government agencies participate. The behavior about power of government put into effect with the name of monarch, and the enforcement under the command and supervision of monarch, such as the contract, declaration of war and appointment of prime minister. Although the monarch monopolizes the main authority and is in the supreme position in law, in reality, the monarch is nominal national incarnation and the form of his power is restricted by tradition and public opinion. The monarch reigns but does not govern and he cannot participate in politics directly, the original political administrative power belongs to the monarch almost shifts to parliament and cabinet. The decision is not made and enforced by monarch alone, but by parliament and the cabinet. Monarch cannot involve in party politics and must be in the middle strictly as disinterested principle. Royalty system is a system arrangement that beyond class, rank, parties and the groups in form. Although the monarch has become to be decoration of system in real political power aspect, it doesnt mean royalty system is a dispensable arrangement in British political system. The monarch has some irreplaceable political functions in British political system. First of all, the monarch is the symbol of national unity. In particular, now the British generally regard monarch as national moral feeling and national symbol. Secondly, the monarch can reflect and guarantee the continuity and stability of the countrys political system from the historical perspective. And monarch can coordinate party system and social contradiction. Whats more, monarch is an indispensable link that connects each member of commonwealth closely. Lastly, the monarch basically can exercise three important rights: the right to be consulted, the right to provide opinions and the right to warn. A monarch can gain more rich experience and knowledge with reigning gradually. And his opinion will be more influencing for the cabinet and prime minister, and the communication between monarch and cabinet will take place in the secret weekly meeting.Secondly, the rule, parliament is supreme, is what I want to clarify. The parliamentary system is on the basis of the rule, parliament is supreme which is showed by Parliamentary democracy. In the United Kingdom, parliament is the centre of the political system. The parliament is the top legislative and authority in system of government in Britain. It is the supreme legislative body, and Government is drawn from and answerable to it. “Parliament is supreme”, namely, legislative power is core of powers, executive and judiciary are actually derived from the legislative, and three powers overlap each other. Parliament is a bicameral with House of Lords and House of Commons. And the House of Lords also is house of peers which is the sole political institution that is basic on aristocracy among major western countries. As the relationship of executive and judiciary, the House of Lords is highest court in Britain and appellate jurisdiction of civil and criminal case except criminal case of Scotland. The House of Commons is elected by the people, and The House of Commons and the House of Lords on behalf of the will of the people. The British believe that sovereignty belongs to the people by the influence of Lockes thought. Theoretically, the parliament that on behalf of the peoples will is the top legislature in a country and is the representative institutions of the main structure form that own final power of control. Parliament mainly has legislative, financial power, the power of supervision government, the partial diplomatic power and so on. Judicial power is relatively weak in Britain and belongs to parliament. As a member of grand justice in cabinet, its no substantial effect that the judge nominate and declare violate constitution.In the long feudal era, royal and noble struggled, and ultimately, royalty is in the lead. The struggle between parliament and the monarch had not stopped since the bourgeois revolution in the 17th century until parliament as the ultimate authority of the country. At the same time, the cabinet system that is responsible for the parliament and two-party system that gradually established slowly became two big system foundations which under the parliamentary system. However, since the 1970s, prime ministers power had begun to be above the power of monarch and parliament and prime minister had become the central governments power center. Especially after World War II occurred and prime minister Democracy formed, cabinet have considerable legislative and financial power, and the supervision and control of parliament for cabinet has weaken. Even so, in theory, the power of parliament in Britain is the highest, and the executive and the judiciary belong to parliament. The prime minister must get the support of the House of Commons as he is the leader of the party that with most supporters in the Commons forms the government. As the head of government, the prime minister is drawn from and answerable to it.The cabinet as the power core is the third distinguishing feature. The cabinet system is the cabinet as power core. The cabinet is the core of the British governments leadership and its leader is the prime minister. The members of the cabinet are appointed by prime minister and cabinet organization includes cabinet general office, cabinet committee and cabinet meeting. The cabinet is the combination of legislative and executive of government. It has the administrative power and the legislative. In the administrative respect, the cabinet is the governments leading institution which masters the countrys supreme administrative power and controls the whole countrys internal affairs and diplomacy. As for legislation, the cabinet has the legislative initiative and the power of proposal through the public bill .In fact, through the parliamentary groups controlled by the prime minister and the power of make decision that decide the meetings agenda and time of the parliament, the cabinet has always been able to dominate the parliament, rather than parliament supervise and control cabinet government. Although the cabinet has become the core of British central government, Privy Council is the lead agency of central government nominally. Cabinet minister generally is consultant officer of Privy Council firstly. However, Privy Council is a kind of symbolic significance and its issued announcement and command just are a kind of legal procedure. Cabinet led by the prime minister is the British governments highest executive essentiallyLastly, two-party system shows political party organization is precise. The two-party system is model of modern political party system. At present, the main British politics is controlled by the conservative party and Labor Party. The reasons that British modern two-party system establish are the perfect structure of two parties organization, the expansion of activity range and the impeccable development of parliament and cabinet system.As we all know, Britain carries out two-party system, which two main political parties take turns to organize the government to use power of country and manage international public affairs. Two parties are the number of the ruling party, and there are many other opposition parties. The function and the status of Britains ruling party and the opposition party are relative. The relationship between these two kinds of parties is flow and convertible. In other words, todays ruling party can become to be tomorrows opposition party, and todays opposition party may become to be tomorrows ruling party. The leader of the ruling party is summoned by the monarch and is appointed to the prime minister, which organize cabinet government. While the political function of opposition party mainly has two aspects: one is supervising the legitimacy and rationality of the ruling partys behavior. Another is maintaining the stability and continuity o f the political system.The British parliament and the cabinet are controlled by the majority of parties from general election. It doesnt have too many differences between Britain and other capitalist countries. However, the difference is the opposition party opposes the leader of party gain the salaries of country and they organize shadow cabinet which put forward the comment and opposition when ruling party legislates and participate in decision-making. Therefore, the opposition party is a political party within the government system. British opposition party has a special status.The functions of the British political parties are obvious. British two-party system is the important reason that domestic politics keeps the long-term stability. And it leads to a stable and effective government and makes the central government highly centralized power. Whats more, it is efficient for adjusting the contradiction of party, class and group. Each central or local political party has sound organization. And the real power is in the hand of central institution. Therefore, the ruling party can effectively hold power, and opposition parties can also exert their proper function. The policies and actions of two parties set store by practical effects. And there is no specific theory, but agility and adaptability. Thus, the two-party system can exist chronically and steadily. The British political system