英国是一个实行君主立宪制(constitutionalmonarchy）的国家，其政府体系，即所谓西敏制(Westminster model)，直接影响了现代许多其他国家的政治体制。西方现代政治制度的许多基本要素，如分权制、议会选举制、政府向议会负责制以及法治等原则，都是最早在英国形成的。

       英国国家元首及名义上最高权力者是英国君主(monarch)，目前为伊丽莎白二世。按宪法规定，女王是世袭的国家元首(Head ofState)，立法机关（即议会）的组成部分，法院首领，联合王国武装部队总司令，以及英国国教的世俗领袖。但实际上，女王只拥有象征性的地位，其权力行使受惯例与民意的约束。

       议会(Parliament)是英国政治的中心舞台，是世界上最早建立的代议制机构，被誉为世界“议会之母”。它是英国的最高立法机构，具有立法、废除或者修改任何现有法律的权力。政府就是从议会中产生的，并对其负责。英国的议会为两院制，分别为上议院(House of Lords)和下议院(House of Commons)。

       上议院曾经是一个世袭的贵族议院，是17世纪英国资产阶级革命后承袭下来的机构。但是近年来上议院已经作了重大改革，现在的上议院中部分议员还是世袭贵族，其他则是获任命的议员（所谓终身贵族，是指他们无法将贵族头衔传给后代）。上议院有权审查下议院通过的法案，并通过必要的修正案。但总体来说，上议院在立法上的权力远远小于下议院。此外，从在历史上讲，上议院也一直是英国的最高申诉司法机构，相当于最高法院。但这个职能在2009年已经被新成立的联合王国最高法院(Supreme Court)取代。

     下议院是英国政治体制中最有政治实权的机构。下议院议员由民选产生，目前有650名议员(Members of Parliament)。议员既是由所属选区的选民选举的，同时也代表着自己所属的政党。议员的任期为5年，任期届满，全部改选。下议院的职权主要为：立法、监督政府和监督财政。

       英国政府的正式名称是“女王陛下的政府”(Her Majesty’sGovernment)，负责英国的行政功能。首相(PrimeMinister)为政府首脑，名义上由女王任命，但实际上，议会大选中获得多数议席的政党领袖自然而然地出任首相。首相获任命后再挑选其他部长和行政首脑，组成政府。约20名最资深的政府部长和首相本人组成内阁(Cabinet), 内阁是英国政府的领导核心，是一切重要政策的制定机构。

 

学银课程（The Political System in the UK）

学银课程（Elections and Political Parties in the UK）

学习要点（Learning Objectives）

(1)  Know the general principles ofBritish government.

(2)  Have an idea of the meaning ofConstitutional Monarchy.

(3)  Understand the structure andfunction of the UK Parliament.

 

中心问题（Project）

       Whatis the Westminstermodel? How does it work and why has it become the mostly widely copiedpolitical system in the world?

 

生词与词组（New Words and Expressions）

accountable                                     有责任的，应作解释的

minister                                           大臣，部长

ceremonial                                      礼仪性的，象征性的

neutral                                             持中立态度的

archbishop                                       （基督教会的）大主教

bicameral                                        两院制的

legislation                                       立法，制定法律

Palace of Westminster                    威斯敏斯特宫

taxation                                           征税，税制

scrutinize                                         严格审查

administration                                 管理，（政府）行政机关

expenditure                                     花费，支出

chamber                                          议院；议事厅

constituency                                  （选举议会议员的）选区

initiate                                             开始，发起

authorize                                         授权，批准，委托

budget                                             预算，预算案

backbencher                                    后座议员，普通议员

frontbencher                                    前座议员

shadow cabinet                               影子内阁

counterpart                                      职能(或地位)相当的人;对应的事物

preside                                             主持，指挥；担任会议主席

Speaker                                           议长

suspend                                           使…暂时停职

unruly                                              不守规矩的

hereditary                                        承袭的，世袭的

aristocratic                                      贵族的

life peer                                         （爵位不能世袭的）终身贵族

supplementary                                 补充性的，额外的

executive                                         行政的，管理的

resign                                              辞职

unitary                                             中央集权制的

devolve                                           使(权力、职责等)下放

注释\解释（Notes and Explanations）

 

Lords Spiritual--The Lords Spiritual of theUnited Kingdom, also called Spiritual Peers, arethe 26 bishops of the established Church ofEnglandwho serve in the House ofLords along with the Lords Temporal. A Lord Spiritual serves for only as longas he holds his office.

Lord Chancellor-- Lord Chancellor, also called Lord HighChancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, is British officer of state who iscustodian of the great seal and a cabinet minister. The Lord Chancellortraditionally served as head of the judiciary and speaker of the House ofLords. In 2006, however, the post’s role was redefined following theimplementation of several constitutional reforms. Most of the Lord Chancellor’sjudicial functions were transferred to the lord chief justice, and the Lordsspeaker became an elected office. The changes allowed the Lord Chancellor toconcentrate on constitutional affairs.

Vote of no confidence--A vote of no confidence is alsocalled “a motion of no confidence”, “a censure motion”, “a no confidence motion”,or “a confidence motion”. It is a parliamentary motion which when passed woulddemonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer hasconfidence in (one or more members of) the appointed government. Typically,when a vote of no confidence passes parliament, the government official musteither resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution or general election.

Hung parliament-- A hung parliament is one in which noparty has an overall majority, which means no party has more than half of MPsin the House of Commons. It means that whichever party ends up in power willnot be able to win votes to pass laws without the support of members of otherparties. That support may come in the form of a formal coalition with smallerparties, or the governing party may have to negotiate with other parties to getlaws passed.

Coalition government--A coalition government is where two ormore political parties join together in parliament to run the government andagree on a policy program. The usual reason given for this arrangement is thatno party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament.

Principlesof Government

      Britainis the birthplace of the parliamentary system, which is also the most widelyadopted of the world’s different governing systems. Alsoknown as the Westminstermodel, there is a set of key principles of parliamentary government. The firstprinciple is Parliamentary sovereignty,which means only Parliament has the right to make or unmake laws, and its powersare not limited or constrained by any other authority. The second principle is representative democracy. Under thisprinciple, government is directly accountable to people in what it does. Thegovernment work is carried out by elected representatives, who stay in officeonly as long as they have the support of voters in their local districts. Thethird principle is called responsiblegovernment, which means that government ministers are responsible toParliament for running their departments. The fourth one is collective responsibility, meaning thatthe Cabinet is responsible as a group to the public and to the Prime Ministerfor its conduct and for its policies. Last but not least, the principle of constitutional monarchy ischaracteristic of the British government system. As the term implies,Britainhas a monarch, and government is carried out in the name of the monarch, but themonarch has little real power.

 

TheMonarchy

      Britainis a constitutional monarchy, which means that the powers of the King or Queenare limited by law. The present monarch ofBritainis Queen Elizabeth II, whois little more than a ceremonial head of state. She has no clear politicalrole, but is instead expected to be a neutral symbol of the state, the governmentand the people. It is often said that the British monarch reigns but does notrule.

       Atthe same time, however, the Queen does carry out a great many important taskson behalf of the nation. For example, as Head of State, the Queen goes on officialstate visits abroad. She also invites other world leaders to come to theUK. Sheis also the Head of the Armed Forces, meaning she is the only person who candeclare when the country is at war and when war is over, although she must takeadvice from her government first. Moreover, the Queen is Head of the Church ofEngland. She appoints archbishops and bishops on the advice of the PrimeMinister. In addition, the Queen has to fulfill many government duties, whichmainly involve reading and signing government documents. Alongside her otherduties the Queen spends a huge amount of time traveling around the country,visiting hospitals, schools, factories and other places and organizations.

 

Parliament

       IntheUnited Kingdom,Parliament is the centre of the political system. It is the supreme legislativebody in theUK,and the government is drawn from and answerable to it. UK Parliament is basedat the Palace of Westminster,also known as the Houses of Parliament, in London.

       Parliamentconsists of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Monarch. House ofCommons is also called the lower house in the parliament. Although it is thelower house, the Commons is the more powerful chamber of Parliament, and thereal focus of law-making. It is composed of 650 members who are directlyelected by British citizens to represent single-member constituencies. Theleader of a Party that wins the majority of the seats becomes the PrimeMinister. As the chamber with the real power in legislation, the House of Commonsinitiates legislation, authorizes the raising of taxes and votes the budget. Italso debates current issues.

       Thechamber of the House of Commons is small, with benches rather than seats. The governingparty sits on the left, with the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet onthe front bench, while MPs without government office or with only junior officesit behind the front bench and are known collectively as backbenchers. The nextbiggest party in Parliament sits across from the governing party. Its leadersits directly opposite the Prime Minister, beside a shadow Cabinet, which iscomposed of opposition MPs responsible for keeping up with—and challenging—theircounterparts in the Cabinet. The leader of the opposition and the shadow Cabinetare formally recognized and salaried positions. If the opposition wins amajority in an election and becomes the government, its leader typicallybecomes Prime Minister, and many members of the shadow Cabinet become the realCabinet. In other words, the shadow Cabinet is a government in waiting. Theperson who presides over the House is called the Speaker. He is elected by theMPs and is expected to be neutral. The Speaker keeps orders in the debates,maintains a balance between frontbenchers and backbenchers, and may suspend anunruly MP.

       Houseof Lords is the upper house of the parliament of theUnited Kingdom. The House of Lordswas previously a hereditary, aristocratic chamber. However, since the 1990s, majorreform has been partially completed and it is currently a mixture of hereditarymembers, bishops of the Church of England known as Lords Spiritual andappointed members (life peers, with no hereditary right for their descendantsto sit in the House). The Lord Chancellor, appointed by the PM, presides overthe House of Lords.

       Houseof Lords currently acts to review legislation formed by the House of Commons. Butit cannot scrutinize budget or taxation. Although seen as a supplementarychamber in legislation, the House of Lords plays the role of safeguarding againstthe increasing powers of government and the Prime Minister, as it is moreindependent from the parties than the Commons. The House of Lords had also beenthe final court of appeal within theUnited Kingdomuntil the opening ofthe Supreme Court in October 2009.

       Asa whole, the bicameral Parliament of theUKhas the following functions: topass laws; to provide, by voting for taxation, the means of carrying out thework of government; to scrutinize government policy and administration,including proposals for expenditure; and to debate the major issues of the day.

 

Government

       HerMajesty’s Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and NorthernIreland, commonly referred to as HM Government or the British Government, isthe central government of theUnited  Kingdom.

      The Government is led by the PrimeMinister, who selects all the remaining Ministers. The Prime Minister and theother most senior Ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee,known as the Cabinet. The Government Ministers are all members of Parliament,and are accountable to it.

      Under the British constitution, executiveauthority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by,or on the advice of, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The Cabinet membersadvise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise powerdirectly as leaders of the Government Departments. According to the principleof collective responsibility, ministers may disagree over policies within theCabinet, but if a minister cannot support the government line, he or she willeither be dismissed or be expected to resign. If the government loses a crucialvote in Parliament, or if there is a vote of no confidence in the government,the Cabinet as a whole is expected to resign.

      The current Prime Minister is DavidCameron, leader of the Conservative Party, who was appointed by Queen ElizabethII after the General Election of 2010. The election failed to provide a decisiveresult, with the Conservatives as the biggest party within a hung parliament. Acoalition government was formed, therefore, between the Conservatives and theLiberal Democrats. The Prime Minister is based at 10 Downing Street in Westminster,London. This isalso where Cabinet meetings take place. And most government departments havetheir headquarters nearby in Whitehall.

      Britainhas long been a unitary state, where political power has been focused at the nationallevel, and local government has had few significant political powers. However,since 1998, certain areas of central government have been devolved to localgovernments inScotland,WalesandNorthern Ireland. These are notpart of Her Majesty’s Government, and are accountable to their own democraticinstitutions, with their own authority under the Crown.