The British Monarchy

They rule what they call a monarchy. The Monarchy In contrast to such republics as the United States and France, Britain has a hereditary ruler; so Great Britain is a monarchy. Its monarch bears the title of queen or king. While English monarchs once ruled with absolute power, their role has changed , and they are now little more than figureheads. Because her powers and duties are controlled by Britain's unwritten constitution, Elizabeth II, Britain's queen since 1952, is known as a constitutional monarch.

The head of state and theoretical source of executive and legislative power in the UK is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. In theory, the British sovereign can dissolve Parliament whenever they desire. They can in theory choose any British citizen to be Prime Minister, even if they are not a member of the House of Commons or House of Lords. Theoretically, the Sovereign possesses the ability to refrain from granting Royal Assent to a Bill from Parliament, in addition to being able to declare war and appoint ministers. In practice, the head of state is a largely ceremonial role, with powers restricted by convention.

Controlling the Parliament and the House of Commons 'The government controls parliament but it cannot always rely on getting its own way.' A tendency to ignore the protestations and activities of parliament in issuing central, top-down directives and 'memos' is a criticism often levied at Tony Blair's Labour administration. It is seen to signify a consolidation of executive power, often represented in the media as control-freakery on the part of the Prime Minister. Although any apparent increase in the power of the executive would be accentuated by the immense size of the 179 seat Labour majority, the present government is widely seen to have taken up a continuing trend towards centralised government, often revolving around Downing Street. It is perhaps largely the power of Blair's mandate in conjunction with the vice-like control of the party whips over MPs that has led to comments such as that of Lord Hailsham that we live under an "elective dictatorship."

Are we going to declare that we are a monarchy soon? Because the radical change that has been proposed, would be just as equally radical. From my findings of both Patrick Henry and Mary Otis, ratifying the constitution would give the central government too much power because it would allow them to take away our right that would

Something based on this belief may well be valid but with numerous pieces of evidence that suggest the traditional role of the British Prime Minister is becoming more presidential and modern society adhering less to written convention, it has become far less clear who wields the most domestic power outside of conventional parameters. Both the UK Prime Minister and US president are the key figures in their countries politics. The UK Prime Minister has no formal written role but is rather a product of convention and historical evolution. His main powers include those of patronage, the control of the cabinet and its agenda, and the overall direction of government policy, both of head of government and leader of the party in power. In contrast, the US president has an official outlined role.

Nowadays, the monarchy we know is constitutional monarchy. This means that the government is carried out in the name of the monarch, but the monarch is not above the law and does not have the free will to do as they please. Since the Prime Minister is considered the Head of Government, the Prime Minister and h...

An amendment to the constitution eradicating federal mandates would make lead the country to be more democratic by once again placing the majority of the say in the hands of the people and therefore, with the state legislatures. The federal government takes away the state 's right to decide for themselves on any matter when it uses underhanded tactics to ensure a desired outcome. It would be undemocratic to allow the federal government to continue doing so because it would further oppress the nation’s citizens. While some may say that giving the states more power is a false sense of democracy since it only entails transferring power from the federal to state government the state is more likely to have the vested interest of the people and hold true to it.

However, the fact that he believes that in order for government to work it needs to be huge makes me think of a monarchy right away. I believe the people should have the right to speak up for what they believe in as well as have the right to go against government if and when they feel the laws being imposed by government are not moral. However, if we were to subdue to Hobbes form of government we give up any right whatsoever to disagree with the sovereign. Therefore, Locke’s governmental proposal is a balance between that of Hobbes’s and Mill’s. After all, when a man steps out of the State of Nature it is not to create absolute monarchy, as Hobbes believe but to create o form of civil government.

Recent developments and modifications have meant that Parliament’s effectiveness in holding the executive to account, restraining the executive and scrutinising the... ... middle of paper ... ... in the process of legislation. The house of lords has the power to amend and reject bills and also the House of Lords are able to delay bills. The power of the executive has grown and the checks are in place to prevent abuse of this power. It is important for the legislature to keep a watch on the executive so the control is maintained and it does not slip into a dictatorship. These checks mean that Britain is not theoretically an “ Elective Dictatorship”, as rules still exist which means the executive can not have a dictatorial role.

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and The Crisis, No. 1 deal directly with the colonist’s rejection of British rule. According Paine, the British Crown had over stayed its welcome in the political and cultural development of the colonies. The introduction of Common Sense clearly states that the British monarchy has “a long and violent abuse of power,” and that the people of the colonies have the right to be involved and have meaningful representation to the king and Parliament (325) This is a core value of the colonists. Settlers of the English colonies saw the New World as a way to start a new government and new culture, especially when they were given no power in the Parliament.