UN IT 2 Key Terms

UN IT 2 Key Terms

You must know these terms for this unit

Constitution	A constitution is a set of rules which describes the structure and powers of government, the relationship between different parts of government and the relationship between government and citizen.
Sources of the UK constitution	There are six sources of the UK constitution: statute law, common law, royal prerogative, conventions, works of authority, the treaties and laws of the EU.
Codified and uncodified constitutions	A codified constitution contains explicit political rules normally contained in a specific document (it is a ‘written constitution’). An uncodified constitution lacks these characteristics (it is an ‘unwritten constitution’).
Executive, legislature and judiciary	The executive, legislature and judiciary are the three branches of government. The executive is the branch which makes and implements policy. The legislature is the branch which approves laws. The judiciary is the branch which interprets and applies the law.
The separation of the powers	The separation of the powers is the principle that power in a state should not be concentrated in the hands of one person or institution, but should be distributed in a way which minimises the risk of tyranny. Ideally, positions in the executive, legislature and judiciary should be held by different people. If someone is a member of all three branches of government, for example, there is a danger that power might become concentrated and be abused.
Parliamentary government	A form of government in which the executive is chosen from the legislature. As a result, government is accountable to the legislature.
Presidential government	Presidential government is a system of government in which the executive branch is constitutionally separate from the legislature and in which power is concentrated in the hands of a single person - a President. The Cabinet and individual ministers are simply advisers to the President.
Representative government	Representative government is government which genuinely represents the needs and interests of the people it serves. A representative government would be representative in terms of its make-up (for example if there were 50% women in the population, there would be roughly 50% women in government). It would also be representative in terms of the policies it adopted. It would devise policy that the majority of people wanted, but would also be mindful of minority interests and needs.
Liberal democracy	The UK is often described as a ‘liberal democracy’. In a liberal democracy, the role of government is limited, the market is as free as possible and there is universal franchise. Although the state intervenes as little as possible in people’s lives, people are protected because they have civil liberties (see below). Parliamentary sovereignty According to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament is the only body that can make law in the UK. No other authority can overrule or change the laws which Parliament has made. Parliament is legally supreme.
Rule of law	The rule of law has three main elements. nobody can be punished unless convicted of an offence by a court of law the law applies equally to everyone people’s rights do not stem from decisions made in Parliament – rather, they arise out of decisions made in individual cases by an independent judiciary. In short, the law is supreme and nobody – not an individual nor the government – is above the law
Responsible government	Responsible government is government which acts in accordance with the principle that government should be trustworthy, responsive and, above all, accountable
A unitary state	A unitary state is a state whose powers are held by a central authority. Local or regional authorities may exist, but any powers they possess have been granted by the central authority and could, in theory at least, be taken away by that central authority.
A federal state	A federal state differs from a unitary state in that its constitution guarantees certain powers to regional or local governments. Central government cannot remove these powers without changing the constitution (which is usually a very difficult procedure).
Devolution	Devolution means the transfer of power from central government to regional or local government. It involves the transfer of power on a geographical basis and it involves the transfer of functions which, until then, were performed by Parliament.
Collective responsibility	Collective ministerial responsibility (CMR) has two features, both of which are connected to providing unity for the government and accepting or apportioning blame. First, ministers or members of the government who cannot agree on a decision or policy supported by government have two choices. Either they must voice their agreement, if asked, even though, personally, they don’t support the decision or policy or they must resign. For example, Robin Cook and Claire Short resigned over the issue of UK involvement in Iraq because they could not agree with the collective government line. Second, the whole government is collectively responsible for its actions and, if it loses a major vote in Parliament, it is expected to resign and a general election to be held. This happened to the Callaghan government in 1979.
Individual ministerial responsibility	Individual ministerial responsibility is the convention that ministers, and not their departmental officials, are responsible for the actions of their department, whether something happens with their knowledge and consent or not. Ministers are also responsible for maintaining high personal standards while in office.
Cabinet government	Cabinet government is a system of government in which the Cabinet collectively decides what the government’s programme should be. Under such a system, Cabinet decides all important issues and it coordinates and controls government policy as a whole.
Prime Ministerial government	Prime Ministerial government is a system of government in which the powers and personal authority of the Prime Minister are so great that the Cabinet becomes an advisory body through which the Prime Minister governs. The Cabinet still remains collectively responsible for government policies, but it is no more than a rubber stamp
Prime Ministerial style	The leadership style a Prime Minister adopts helps to shape the way in which the government works. Norton divides Prime Ministers into four categories: innovators (who seek to achieve their own ideological goals), reformers (who seek to achieve their party’s ideological goals), egoists (who seek power for the sake of it) and balancers (who seek power to try to ensure that peace and stability are maintained).
Accountability	Elected officials are chosen by the electorate and are responsible for doing what the electorate elected them to do. In some sense, therefore, the electorate exercises control over representatives. Unless representatives act in a way that meets with the approval of the majority of the electorate, they (or their party) will not be re-elected. Elected representatives, therefore, have to account for their actions – they have to be able to justify how they have acted to the satisfaction of those who elected them.
Civil service neutrality	Civil servants are servants of the Crown, not the government of the day. They are also permanent (they do not necessarily leave their post when the government changes). As a result, they must remain neutral even if they personally disagree with a particular government policy. Senior civil servants who wish to stand for office or participate in national politics must resign. Also senior civil servants must not express their opinions in the media.
Closed government	Closed government is secretive government. Closed governments argue that secrecy is a crucial means of defending the state. Since defending the state is in the interest of all citizens, then state secrecy is in the national interest.
Open government	Open government minimises areas of secrecy and maximises the availability of information. Open government is more participatory and more democratic than closed government since government is more transparent and people have the information with which to make informed criticism.
Judicial independence	According to the principle of the separation of powers, the judicial task of deciding whether laws have been broken and, if so, imposing punishment is quite separate from the executive and legislative tasks of devising and making law. In theory at least, therefore, the judiciary is quite independent of the executive. Its judgements, for example, are not subject to ministerial direction or control.
Judicial neutrality	As well as being independent, judges are supposed to be neutral. They are supposed to be able to stand back and make judgements which do not favour any group, party, class or interest regardless of their own personal views about the particular group, party, class or interest.
Civil liberties	Civil liberties are rights that people have as a matter of course – for example, the right to free speech, the freedom of assembly and the freedom to dissent. Civil liberties are protected by the rule of law and the separation of powers (see below). The rule of law guarantees equality before the law and ensures that the powers of rulers can be curtailed by laws enforceable in courts. The separation of powers ensures that judicial independence is maintained and power is fragmented.