Monarchy and the Government in the UK today

Dissertation

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………… 3

Monarchy and the Government in the UK today ………………………………………….. 4

Positives and the reasons for existence: ……………………………………………………. 5

Stability …………………………………………………………………………….. 6

Economically good …………………………………………………………………. 7

Historical features ………………………………………………………………….. 7

Negatives and the reasons for elimination …………………………………………………. 8

Undemocratic system ………………………………………………………………. 8

Economically ineffective ………………………………………………………….... 9

Out of touch ………………………………………………………………………... . 9

The myth about neutrality and morality ……………………………………………. 10

Expensive …………………………………………………………………………. 11

National attitude …………………………………………………………………………… 13

Primary research …………………………………………………………………………….16

Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………. 20

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………… 23

Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………. 26

Evaluation …………………………………………………………………………………. 29

Appendices

PPF………………………………………………………………………………………… 34

Plan ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 40

Activity log ……………………………………………………………………………… 41

Evaluations of sources …………………………………………………………………… 47

Presentation……………………………………………………………………………… 93

Introduction

According to history-timelines.org (2013)the system of monarchy has existed in the UK since XVII century. The monarchy was the only way of governing at that time, and only the monarch had the ability and power to make political and judicial decisions. However, over a period of time major political changes in Britain have affected monarchy in the sense of importance and effectiveness. Hence, mentioned by Politics.co.uk (2013) there have been a plenty of discussions and debates about that the monarch is a supreme political body only in theory.Indeed, the constitutional principle which is called Royal Prerogative has changed the mechanism of governing. The executive have taken the main powers of a monarch, thus in practice the monarch does not hold the significance and the authority as in the past. As a result, the question of the necessity of the monarchy has become one of the most emergent questions regarding the UK political system. In this essay by assessing the roles of British monarchy today and evaluating all the possible advantages and disadvantages of having it in the UK I will try to determinewhether Britain still needs a monarchy.

Monarchy and the Government in the UK today

As explained by McLean and McMillan (2009) monarchy originally meant ‘the rule of one’ but now it comes to be attached to the constitution of kingship (or queenship) that is usually conceived as hereditary. Monarchism is a belief of necessity or desirability of monarchy. At the time of its formation, the monarch had an absolute ultimate political power over the State. After a period of time,according to Socialist Worker (2011),England abolished the absolute power of the monarch when King Charles I was sentenced to death in 1649. After the death of the king, English Civil War began between monarch supporters and parliamentary loyal people. As a result, the monarchy system was restored, but with some limitations. In 1660, when King Charles II came to the throne, monarchy was much weaker and a monarch had less power and influence. After this, according to the BBC (2008) when the parliament was firstly formed, it represented the national interests of the public, whereas the monarchy acted as the Head of the State. Over the last three centuries the British monarchy has lost its executive power and today remains in its constitutional form and,as Socialist Worker (2011) states,the monarch does not hold an absolute political power as held many years ago.

According to Smith(2012) today the United Kingdom is a unitary state and includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Apart from England, each of the states has its own Parliament. These Parliaments are controlled by Britain's Central Government which is located in London at The Houses of Parliament. Here the current government, which is headed by the current Prime minister, collectively runsthe country. Hence, as the existing constitutional monarchy requires, the Sovereign is The Head of State, but making and passing the legislation is decided by the Parliament, as explained by the Royal Household at Buckingham Palace (2009). Meanwhile, as the BBC (2008) reported, the Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the State, whereas the Prime Minister acts as the Head of Government. The queen is also the Chief Commander of the Armed Forces of the UK, which means that she is able to declare war or peace, but such decisions need to be reviewed by the Parliament. Also according to the Education Service (2013) the queen is not involved in running the government and never says what she thinks about political issues, so monarchs can be seen as “above politics”.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 568