自学考试英美国家概况115132第七章.doc

自学考试英美国家概况115132第七章

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I
Chapter
'7
Govern
ent and A
ministration
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy:
the head of
State is a king or a queen. In practice, the Sovereign reigns, but
not rule: the United Kingdom is governed, in the name of the
.
d
Sovereign, 'by His or Her Majesty's Government - a body of Minis-
ters who are the leading members of whichever political party the
electorate has voted into office, and who are responsible to Parlia-
ment .
The system of parliamentary government is not based on a written
constitution. There is no written constitution in the United King-
• .
dom, that is , unlike the constiutions of most other countries, the
British constitution is not set out in any single document., It is made
up of statute law, common law -and conventions (Conventions are
rules and practices which are not legally enforceable but which are
regarded as indispensable to the working of government). The Judi-
ciary determines common law and interprets stat'utes.
I
.
The Monarchy
The monarchy is the oldest institution of government, going back
• .
to at least the 9th century. The continuity of the monarchy, which
has had only a few changes in the direct line of succession in the past
1, 000 years,
has been broken only once when, between 1649 and
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16609
a republic was established. Although the monarchy has sur-
vived, it seems that it has no real power today -
The present Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II,
was born on April
21, 1926- was married to the Prince Philip,
the Duke of Edin-
burgh, on November 20, 1947; came to the throne on February
I
6, 1952; and was crowned on June 2, 1953. Her title in the Unit-
ed Kingdom is: ''Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her
Other Realms and Territories,
Queen, Head of the Common-
wealth, Defender of the Faith".
In the Channel Islands and the
Isle of Man the Queen is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor.
Although the seat of the monarchy is in Britain, the Queen is also
head of state of a number of Commonwealth states such as Australia,
Canada, and New Zealand. In each such state the Queen is repre-
sented. by a Governor- General, appointed by her on the advice of the
ministers of the country concerned and completely independent of
the British Government . In British dependent territories the Queen
is usually represented by governors, who are responsible to the
British Government for the administration 'of the countries con-
cerned.
.
from common law rules of descent. Succession,is founded on the
The title to the Crown is derived partly from statute and partly
hereditary principle. Sons of the SDvereign have precedence over
daughters in succeeding to the throne. When a daughter succeeds,
she becomes Queen Regnant, and has the same powers as a king.
The consort of a king (i. e. the king's wife) takes her husband's
rank and style, becoming Queen. Under the Act of Settlement of
1700, which formed part of the Revolution Settlement following the
events of 1688, only Protestant descendants of a granddaughter of
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.
.
tress;of Hanover) are eligible to succeed. The order of succession
can be altered only by common consent of the countries of the Com-
monwealth.
The Sovereign succeeds to the throne as soon as his or her prede-
-
The ceremony takes place
cessor dies: there is no interregnurn . He or she is at once pro-
claimed at an Accession Council. The Sovereign's coronation follows
the accession after a convenient interval.
at Westminster Abbey in London.
The eldest son of Queen Elizabeth 11
-
Prince Charles, Prince of
Wales
-
is the heir to the thr6ne. But when Prince Charles and
I
Princess Diana were divorced, many people suggested that he should
stand aside from the succession in favour of his eldest son,
William.
Prince
.
The Queen is the symbol of the whole nation.
In law,
she is
head of the executive, an integral part of the legislature,
head of
the judiciary, the commander- in-chief of all the armed forces of the
"
Crown and the supreme governor" of the established Church of
England. As head of State, the Queen is informed and consulted on
every aspect of national life. On the advice. of her Ministers, she
performs certain important acts of government. These include sum-
.
momng, proroguing (discontiriuing until the next session without
dissolution) and dissolving Parliament, and giving Royal Assent to
Bills passed by Parliament. The Queen also formally appoints many
important office holders, including government ministers, judges,
officers in the armed forces, governors, diplomats, bishops and
some other senior clergy of the Church of England. She is also in-
volved in pardoning people convicted of crimes, and in conferring
peera
knighthood's and other honours. An important function
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is appointing the Prime Minister.
In international affairs the
Queen, as head of State, has the power to declare war and make
peace, to recognize foreign states and governments, to conclude
treaties and to annex or ~ede territory. As head of State, the
Queen must be informed and consulted on every aspect of national
life, and she must show complete impartiality.
The Queen is the centre of much of the nation's ceremonial and,
-
by ancient tradition, the leader of society.
Royal marriages and
royal funerals are marked by public ceremony,
and the Sovereign's
birthday is officially celebrated in June by Trooping the Colour on
Horse Guards Parade. State banquets take place when a foreign
monarch or head of State visits Britain; ceremonies are held at
.
bestow honours; and royal processions add significance to such occa-
Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland to
sions as the state opening of Parliament.
I
Each year the Queen and other members of the royal family visit
many parts of the United Kingdom to inaugurate scientific, indus-
trial, artistic and charitable works of national importance. The
Queen pays state visits to foreign governments, accompanied by the
Duke of Edinburgh. She also undertakes tours of other countries in
• .
the Commonwealth (of which the Queen is the head) .
The expenditure ansing from the public duties of the Queen is met
.
by the Civil List (an annual grant) and by goverment departments
(which meet the cost of, for example, the Royal Yacht Britannia
and the aircraft of the Queen's Flight). All such expenditure is ap-
proved by Parliament. In 1991 Civil List payments were fixed at
Z 7.8 million a year for ten years. About tbree-quarters of the
Queen's Civil List provision is required to cover the expenditure on
the salaries and expenses of the Royal Household. The Queen's pri-
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vate expenditure as Sovereign is met from the Privy Purse, which is
financed mainly from the revenue of the Duchy of Lancaster (which
comprises some 52,000 acres, mostly of farmland and moorland;
and is an inheritance which has always been enjoyed by the reigning
Sovereign since 1399)
.
9
her expenditure as a private individual is
met from her own personal resources.
Since April, 1993, the Queen has paid income tax on all her per-
sonal income and on that part of the Privy Purse income which is
used for private purposes. The Queen also pays tax on any realized
capital gains on her private investments and on the private propor-
tion of assets in the Privy Purse.
R - Parliament
.
The United Kingdom is a unitary, not a federal,
State. All four
countries of the kingdom are represented in the Parliament at West-
minster ( London).
The term
• 6
parliament
P9
originally meant a
meeting for parley
or discussion. Parliament consists of the
Sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The
three elements meet together only on occasions of symbolic signifi-
cance such as the state opening of Parliament, when the Commons
are summoned by the Queen to the House of Lords.
The main functions of Parliament are: (1) to pass laws; (2) to
provide, by voting for taxation, the means of carrying on the work
of government; (3) to examine government policy and administra-
tion, including proposals for expenditure; and (4) to debate the
major issues of the day.
.
A Parliament has a maximum duration of five years,
but in prac-
tice general elections are usually held before the end of this term.
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The life of a Parliament is divided into sessions. Each u~ually lasts
for one year-normally beginning and ending in October or Novern-
1.9
ber. There are adjournments'' at night, at weekends, at Christ-
mas, Easter and the late Spring Bank Holiday,
and during a long
sununer break usually starting in late July.
The Sovereign formally summons and dissolves Parliament and
generally opens each new annual session with a speech from the
throne.
I
The Houses of Parliament were rebuilt between 1835 and 1857 af-
I
ter having been destroyed by fire and were designed by Sir Charles
Barry on a classical plan with Gothic detailing by Augustus Welby
Pugin. The public are admitted to the Stranger's Galleries in the
House of Lords (2-30 pm Mon, Tues and Wed, 3 pm, Thur, 11
am Fri) and the House of Commons (4: 30 pm Mon - Thur, 9: 30
am Fri) -
1. The Hom of Lords
The House of Lords is made up of the Lords Spiritual and the
Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of Can-
.
terbury and York and 24 senior bishops of the Church of England.
The Lords Temporal consist of (1) all hereditary peers and peeress-
es of England, Scotland,
Great Britain and the United Kingdom
(but not peers of Ireland)
9
(2) life peers created to assist the
dA
House in its judicial duties (Lords of Appeal or law lord''); and
.
to bring the wide experience of its members into the process of - law-
(3 all other life peers. The main function of the House of Lords is
making. In other words, the non-elected House is to act as a cham-
• I
ber of revision, complementing but not rivalling the elected House.
The potential membership of the House of Lords is about 1, 200 .
In mid-1994 there were 1, 198 members of the House of Lords.
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A =rs Who attend the House (the average daily attendance is some
380) receive no salary for their parliamentary work, but can claim
• .
expenses. The ministers of the House of Lords are salaried mem-
for expenses incured in attending the House and certain travelling
• .
bers. Salaries range from L 38, 894 for junior ministers to
i 52,260 for Cabinet ministers. The House is presided over by the
-
Lord Chancellor, who takes his place on the woolsack (a seat in the
form of a large cushion, stuffed with wool from several Common-
wealth countries) as ex-officio Speaker of the House. The Clerk of
the Parliaments is responsible for the records of proceedings of the
House of Lords and for the text of Acts of Parliament. He is the ac-
counting officer for the cost of the House, and is in charge of the
administrative staff of the House, known as the Parliament Office.
The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, usually known as ''Black
Rod"
.
9 is responsible for security, accommodation' and services in
the House of Lords' part of the Palace of Westminster.
2 -The House of Co
ons
The House of Commons is elected by universal adult suffrage and
consists of 651 Members of Parliament (MPs). In mid-1994 there
were 60 women, three Asian and three black MPs. 0* the 651
seats, 524 are for England, 38 for-Wales, 72 for Scotland, and 17
for Northern Ireland. Each member represents an area (or con-
stituency)
, and holds his seat during the life of a Parliament. It is
in the House of Commons that the ultimate authority for law-making
resides.
(1) Parliamentary Electoral System
Members of the House of Commons are elected either at a General,
Election, when all the seats are contested, or at a by-election held
when an MP dies or resigns, or is given a peerage. A General Elec-
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tion must be held every five years and is often held at more frequent
intervals.
each
For electoral purposes Britain is divided into constituencies,
of which returns one member to the House of Commons. Elections
are by secret ballot. British citizens, together with citizens of other
Commonwealth countries and citizens of the Irish Republic resident
in Britain, may vote provided they are (A) aged 18 or over,
.
(B)
included in the annual register of electors for the constituency,
and
C.
(C) not subject to any disqualification.
I
Each elector may cast one vote,, normally in person at a polling
r
.
.
station. People entitled to an absent vote may vote by post or by
proxy, although postal ballot papers cannot be- sent to addresses out -
side Britain -
British citizens and citizens of other Commonwealth countries,
together with citizens of the Irish Republic, may stand for election
as MPs provided they are aged 21 or over and are not disqualified.
A candidate must deposit 1 500, which is returned if he or she re-
ceives 5 per cent or more of the vote cast.
(2) The Political Party System
For the last 150 years a predominantly two-party system has ex-
i
isted. Since 1945 either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party
has held power. A new party - the Social and Liberal Democratic
Party - was formed in 1988 when the Liberal Party merged with the
Social Democratic Party formed in 1981. Other parties include two
nationalist parties,
I
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Plaid Cymru (founded in Wales in 1925) and
the Scottish National Party (founded in - 1934 ). The Green Party
has had limited success. The Communist Party was founded by
some Marxist groups on July 21,
1920. It once had two seats in
the House of Commons in 1945.
In Northern Ireland there are a
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number of parties.
They include the Ulster Unionist Party, formed
in the early part of this century; the Democratic Unionist Party,
founded in 1971 by a group which broke away from the Ulster U-
9
nionists- and the Social Democratic and Labour Party,
founded in
1970.
Since 1945 eight general elections have been won by the Conser-
I
• .
vative Party and six by the Labour Party; the great majority of
-
members of the House of Commons have belonged to one of these
two parties. The results of the general election of April 1992 are as
follows:
Results of the April 1992 General Election
Party
Members elected
Number of
% of
votes cast
votes cast
Conservative
336
14,094,116
41.9
Labour
271
11,557,134
34.4
Liberal Democrats
20
5,998,446
17.8
Plaid Cyrnru(Welsh
4
Nationalist)
-
Scottish National
3
1
Ulster Unionist (Northern
9
1,960,703
5.9 *
Ireland)
Ulster Democratic Unionist
3
(Northern Ireland)
Ulster Popular Unio