The Rise of Democracy in Britain
The dynamic course of the nineteenth century set off a revolution
within the realm of British politics. Foreign influence and domestic
transformation created a situation where individual interests were
forced into the public sphere for political reconciliation. The shift
towards democratic government was largely unscripted because Britain
had no written constitution to guide its path. Thus, Britain’s pursuit
of democracy was not prescribed by any rules or written precedents.
Instead, it was the outgrowth of an immediate national responsibility
to fulfill the demands of the disenfranchised. Britain’s journey
towards democracy cannot be explained without taking into account the
many factors that spurred its development. The forces responsible for
advancing democratic government in Great Britain were the diverse
products of a unique set of evolving social, economic, and political
structures.
To understand the forces that propelled Britain towards democracy in
the nineteenth century, one must first look back to the preconditions
that fostered contemporary social change. The development of
democratic government and the rise of capitalism are intrinsically
linked. Necessary to the ideology of capitalism was the notion that
the free individual was making a personal investment of labor or
service and receiving the means with which to purchase property in
return. Thus, a person of property was politically invested.
Industrialization, however, changed the economic climate that had
defined the way politics operated prior to the nineteenth century.
Suddenly, society contained groups of people who were worki...
... middle of paper ...
...tension that pushed forward the original reforms of 1832.
This spirit of public demand for political representation would be
essential in propelling the future advances of British democracy. As
the political demands of the middle and working class came into the
public sphere for the first time, the second track of political change
arose. Political organizations placed their goal at giving public
demands a parliamentary voice. The subsequent evolution of political
parties and interest groups shaped the composition of Parliament and
its attitude towards reform. In the final analysis, the influence of
the public and the interests of the parties that had developed to
represent their needs came together to push through the great
nineteenth century reforms that later stood as buttresses to the
structure of British democracy.