Great Britain
From Free Talk Live
The official title of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Technically the term "Great Britain" refers to the island which England, Scotland and Wales incorporate.
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History
It is a constitutional monarchy and was formed by unions between England, Scotland, Wales, and (originally) Ireland. The south of Ireland gained independence in 1922 and is now the Republic of Ireland.
Geography
The UK is an island nation. The majority of the country is made up of the island of Great Britain. Northern Ireland is located on the island of Ireland. The UK only shares a land boundary with the Republic of Ireland. It is linked via the Channel Tunnel to France. The English Channel, North Sea, Celtic Sea, Irish Sea and North Atlantic Ocean surround the country.
Politics
Constitution
Britain has an uncodified constitution, meaning that it has not been codified into a single document such as the Constitution of the United States. It is comprised of statute law, common law, constitutional conventions, and authoritative works.
The Sovereign
The Sovereign is currently Queen Elizabeth II, who is head of state. She is the theoretical source of executive power in the country and in practice is a ceremonial figurehead. Executive decisions are made in the name of and on behalf of the Sovereign. These powers are called the Royal Prerogative and were powers that were historically held solely by the Sovereign. As a constitutional monarch, the Sovereign always acts upon the advice of her ministers.
The Executive Branch
The UK has a parliamentary system of government, which means that the executive is dependent upon the support of the legislature, resulting in little to no seperation of powers between executive and legislative branches. In accordance with constitutional convention, the Sovereign appoints the Prime Minister (the head of government), who in turn is the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons and hence can command the support of the House. In theory, the Sovereign can appoint ANY British citizen as PM. The PM then chooses his ministers from amongst the members of the House of Commons and House of Lords (this is the upper house of the British Parliament). There are about 100 ministers in total in the government and the 20 or so most senior ones make up the Cabinet. The PM and his Cabinet collectively comprise the executive branch of the British government.
Gordon Brown is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His party (the Labour Party) have been in power since 1997. His predecessor was a douche bag though, since he lied about invading Iraq. Where were the weapons?!
By convention, the PM is supposed to regularly meet with his Cabinet. The purpose of the Cabinet is to determine and co-ordinate government policy. All Cabinet ministers are required to publicly support the decisions made by the Cabinet, even if they privately disagree. This is called collective cabinet responsibility. Douche bag Tony Blair didn't like to collectively make decisions with his Cabinet though, which is why some people call him "presidential". He was acting like a US President, because US Presidents aren't bound by the same traditions of Cabinet government.
British Prime Ministers don't have term limits, like US Presidents do; although, the maximum length of time a parliament can sit is five years at which point parliament must be dissolved and a general election called. A British Prime Minister can stop being so in a number of ways. These include dying in office, resigning, losing a general election to a rival party or losing a motion of no confidence in the House of Commons. Motions of no confidence are passed when the House of Commons loses confidence in the PM and his government. If a motion is passed, then a PM can resign or ask the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament in readiness for a general election.
Economy
The UK today has the fifth largest GDP in the world. It is a member of the EU and the G8. It was also the first country to industrialise and in the 19th century was the primary industrial power. However, in the 20th century, the British economy experienced a relative decline in comparison with other leading economies in the world. After WWII, the Labour government of Clement Attlee (he was the PM at the time) nationalised industries, created a welfare state and implemented Keynesian econmics. Such an economic status quo existed under the Conservative governments of Churchill, Eden, McMillan, Sir Douglas-Home and Edward Heath and the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. This was called the post-war consensus. In the 1970's, the consensus was seen by many as the primary cause of the UK's relative economic decline, in addition to excessive trade union militancy and activity. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became the PM and hence ended the consensus. Thatcher's governments privatised state industries, allowed people to buy state-owned council houses, implemented a monetarist macroeconomic policy and placed curbs on trade union activity. All British governments since Thatcher have largely instituted the same economic policies.
Currently the British economy is in a relatively healthy state, since unemployment and inflation remain low. Since 1992, there has been over 50 consecutive quarters of GDP growth. It has also been one of the most successful G8 nations over the past decade. Only the US and Canada have experienced higher average rates of GDP growth.
Libertarianism in the UK
The UK doesn't have a libertarian political party at present. There is a libertarian think tank called the Libertarian Alliance. Britain doesn't have a libertarian political party because the leaders of the Libertarian Alliance are opposed to the idea. This is because they feel libertarianism is too distant from the electorate's thinking for a viable political party to be established. The Libertarian Alliance prefer to spread liberty by appealing to the political/ruling class, who in turn would implement libertarian values. However, some people are seeking to create outreach organisations, which will aid in spreading libertarian ideals and help secure the next generation of libertarians.
As well as the Libertarian Alliance, there are several other libertarian orientated think tanks such as the Adam Smith Institute, and the Institute of Economic Affairs. Both the IEA and the Adam Smith Institute were particularly influential during the Thatcher years, and masterminded many of the government's pro-market policies in this period.
While Libertarian ideals have fallen out of favour in modern Britain (although they enjoyed a strong revival throughout the 1980s), it has its roots in classical liberalism with many of the world's foremost classical liberal/libertarian thinkers hailing from Britain, including John Stuart Mill, John Locke, Adam Smith, etc.
