European Government and Politics Essay

The semipolitical system in Britain has seen the dominance of devil parties and hence customally, Britain has a bi- troupe system. The materialistic fellowship, in any case known as the Tories has existed since the 17th atomic number 6 while the present grate Party has existed since the 20th century. Earlier, the principal opposition to the Conservatives was the prominent Party, which later unified with the Social elective Party, forming the Liberal Democrats.Although Britain has a bi-party system, there are a number of other parties and the Liberal Democrats form the third largest party. The Conservative Party has been extreme rightist in political terms, in party favor of complete privatization. This was particularly prominent during the Prime Minister-ship of Margaret Thatcher who came to power defeating the wear Party in 1979. Under the Conservative leadership of Thatcher and subsequently John Major, the establishment followed policies of privatization and monetarism . The two policies were together known as Thatcherism.The craunch Party on the other hand belongs to the leftist orientation. In recent historic period however, it is adopting a more centre-left approach. Although the Labour has functioned since 1906, it came into prominence in the post World War II scenario with electoral elevate in 1945. however, the Labour went into opposition during 1951-1964 and 1979-1997. the Social Democratic Party was formed as a break away party by right- vaporize Labour MPs. under the leadership of Tony Blair, the policies of the Labour Party were changed considerably.Political parties originalborn appeared in Britain during the English Civil Wars of 1640 and 1650. among the first political parties in Britain were the Royalists and Parliamentarians, after that came the Tories (who were the patriotic party) and the Whigs (who wanted to inflict monarchical powers). The Conservative Party holds the claim to being the largest political party in the world . Apart from the two dominant parties and the third largest party, there are a number of other parties that function within the political milieu of Britain.These parties are the UK Independence party, the Green Party, the Plaid Cymru (belonging to Wales) the Socialist Nationalist Party, the Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party. However, it is the Labour and the Conservatives who are taken into account broadly, during the elections. The party which secures a majority of the votes polled is called upon to form the g overnment and the leader of the lovable party becomes the extremum minister of Britain.Since the parliamentary form of government prevails in the UK, there is one truly executive, the prime minister and the one nominal executive, the monarch. Also, the executive works in close collaboration with the legislative, with the prime ministers Cabinet being formed by people who are members of the legislature. The grounds on which the major parties share similar views a re a free market economy, rule of law, nationalized health go and regarding Britains membership of the European Union and the NATO.However, the factors on which these parties are divided are taxation laws, dealing with poverty, the terminus of state intervention in the economy and how to strike a balance between one-on-one and collective rights. Although the authorities and electoral process of the UK appears to be simple and straight forward, there has been one or two occasions when things were not as simple.For instance, in the 1951 and 1974 elections, the party with the fewer votes secured more seats in the polls. It shows that administration is unpredictable even in an apparently straight-jacketed political system having a political tradition that goes back hundreds of years. Germany Politics in Germany or the political system in Germany is very different from that lively in both Britain. While there is a bi-party system in Britain, Germany is largely a multi-party syst em.However, strange the multi-party political systems existing in other countries of the world, the German one is a dominant multi-party system, that is, politics is dominated to a great extent by two parties despite greater representation provided by other parties. Also, where as the political system in Britain has been in existence for centuries with minor changes over the years, the German political system is rather recent. The political system in Germany has been through two major swops.Firstly, since its opening in its present form in 1949, German politics was dominated by the communist forces in the area under Russian control and the non-communist forces in the area jointly held by Britain, France and the US. The second shift occurred in 1990 when Britain, France, US and Russia withdrew from the country. Despite the second shift, the dominance of the Socialist Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union often in alliance with the Christian Socialist Union, both in e xistence since 1949, is there still.Nevertheless, since there are other parties and fragmented or multi-party representation, it has never been possible for either the SDP or the CDU/CSU to win a complete majority in the elections. It is at this juncture that the role of the other parties assumes importance because the endorse of these parties to either the SDP or the CDU helps form the coalition government. Germany therefore, is an example of perpetual coalition politics. The other parties include the quit Democratic Party, the leave Party and the Alliance 90 or The jet.The centre-right is represented by the CDU/CSU and the centre-left by the SDP. The SDP and the Greens were in a coalition government from 1998-2005, after a sixteen year long government of Helmut Kohl, which was toppled by the grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SDP since 2005. SDP registered its lowest results since World War II in the conflagrate of sweeping labour reforms that were announced in Agend a 2010. One important characteristic of German politics is the fact that funds for elections are essentially drawn from the public purse.The current Chancellor of Germany is Angela Merkel who had become the first female chancellor after winning the 2005 elections. France The French political system is probably one of the intimately colourful political systems in the world in that it has a vibrant history. The left wing in France has gone through several phases starting with the Anarchists, Revolutionaries and Reformists of the early 19th century giving way to get along splits in the post World War I period.Three broad divisions of the Old Left, the New Left and the Centre-left can be drawn today. The New Anticapitalist Party has been the culmination of the fragmented left in France and seeks to bewilder about a unity between the various bifurcations of the French left. The right wing can also be classified into three broad clusters of the Legitimists, the Orleanists and the Bona partists. The dominant issue in French politics is that of the extent of government intervention in the economy.Naturally, the liberals are in favour of free market while the socialists select a limited governmental intervention and a welfare society. The political sphere comprises two move the left wing represented mainly by the French Socialist Party and the right wing represented previously by the Rassemblement pour la Republique (RPR) and presently by the Union for a universal Movement (UMP) which is neo-Gaullist in approach.The constitution of the Fifth Republic has transformed to a great deal over the years with further institutional reforms on the cards. The people claim been influenced by the left wing for years but following trends of globalization, the left has found it difficult to hold its ground. Like in Germany, coalition governments have more often than not been the order of the day.In the end, one can conclude that while multi-party systems pop the question mor e representation, bi-party systems are more stable. Also, ideological differences are in most cases not rigid as has been demonstrated over time and can become accommodative according to the demands of the day. References Curtis, Michael & Ammendola, Guiseppe. (2002) Western European judicature and Politics. Longman.