-Rationalism and modern science

-The Industrial Revolution

-Capitalism and a Market Economy

-Marxism, Fascism, Socialism, and Nationalism

-Representative Democracy

-The Post-Industrial Economy

-The Welfare State 

-In the first half of the 20th century Western Europe was one of the most violent places in the history of the world

-Since then, it has been one of the most peaceful of the world's regions

-The Peace of Westphalia, 1648: Birth of the Modern State System

-The Treaty of Vienna, 1815: Europe reconstitutes after the Napoleonic Wars

-The Treaty of Versailles, 1919: Europe reconstitutes after WWI; the Turkish and Austro-Hungarian Empires Dissolve 

-WWII, 1939-1945: The Bloodies war in world history, fought mostly in Europe

-An uneasy peace:

--The Cold War, late 1940s-1990s

-NATO, 1949

-Breakup of colonial empires: late 1940s-1970s

-European Integration: The European Union, 1958

-Economic Crisis, 2008-Present 

-Western European COuntries have a great deal in common: on a world scale, they are all rich, peaceful democracies

-Despite the similarities, there is a good deal of diversity in a region that ranges from Northern Norway to Souther Spain, from Iceland to Greece

RAND REPORT FINDING

KEY CONCERN: Rising Inequality

-A trend in many developed countries

-Austerity since 2008 has exacerbated inequality

-Inequality is growing both within and between countries

-However, Europe is still much more egalitarian than the US

-Middle class is squeezed

-Skills gap

-Unemployment

-Debt crises in some countries, particularly in Southern Europe

-Immigration 

-Consumption, which fuels economic growth, is a related concern

-Keynes on the government's role in hard times: a major contemporary debate in Europe

-Consumptions, while generally positive, can have environmental consequences

-Europe is greately dependent on other parts of the world for its prosperity 

-The European Union population is growing slowly or not at all

-This has some benefits, but also some disadvantages, particularly an aging population

-However, the key is the dependency ratio, not the elderly share per se. This has not changed much

-Europe faces a challenge of empowerment associated with gender, ethnicity, region, education, etc.

-Europeans also face a political crisis: they increasingly don't trust their political leadership, regardless of ideology

-One longstanding manifestation is the "democratic deficit"

Political Culture: Broad public attitudes toward politics and its role within political systems

-In Western Europe most people favor participatory democracy

-Generous social benefits are also widely supported 

Three Levels of Political Culture

1. System Level

2. Process Level

3. Policy Level

1. System Level: How people view values and organizations that comprise the political system

2. Process Level: Expectations of how politics should function and individuals' relationship to political process

3. Policy Level: Public's policy expectations for government

Examples: Pride in nation

-National Identity

-Legitimacy of Government

Examples: Role of citizens

-Perceptions of political rights

Examples: Role of Government

-Government policy priorities

-Difficult for a political system to endure substantial lack of support by its citizens

-Legitimacy: a basic understanding between citizens and political officials: People obey laws; government meets obligations

-In systems with low legitimacy people often resort to violence to solve political disagreements

-Legitimacy is lacking when large numbers of people don't approve the political system as a whole (e.g., Weimer Germany) 

A second level of political cutlure involves what the public expects from the political process:

-Broad support for democratic principles: participatory process, majority rules, minority rights, political tolerance

-Nondemocratic forms of governance not an acceptable outcome

-Legitimacy is lacking on this dimension if people accept the political system as whole but not the specific way it goes about choosing leaders, making decisions and carrying them out.

Eg. Most italians accept the broad idea of a democratic Italy, but there is substantial disagreement on electoral systems 

-What is the appropriate role of government?

-Public or private sector management of economy?

-Government intervention in social or moral issues, e.g., poverty, marriage rules?

-A basic measure of a government's performance is its ability to meet the policy expectations of its citizens

--Does the government function in a transparent and efficient manner?

--Has it been successful in producing general social well-being and security

A Broader Picture: Consensual and Conflictual political Cultures

-A country deeply divided in its political values may develop distinctive political subcultures

--Sharply different points of view on critical political matters

--Different cultural trajectories based on historical or social factors (ethncity, religion, linguistics)

--It is widely believed that cultures are becoming more conflictual in some European countries (e.g., emergence of far right parties) 

1. Associational

2. Nonassociational

3. Institutional

4. Anomic

-The relationship between interest groups and government policymaking institutions is important feature of political process

-2 major systems in contemporary Europe

--Pluralist

--Democratic Corporatist

-Multiple groups, each representing single interest

-Group membership is voluntary, limited

-There is a clear separation between interest groups and the government

-Cleavages are cross-cutting, not cumulative  

-A single peak association represents each interest

-Membership is often compulsory. Groups are centrally organized and direct the actions of their members

-Groups are systematically involved in making, implementing policy

Example: wage bargaining between business, labor and government in many European countries 

Party families:

-Christian Democrats, center-right in many countries

-Conservatives, center-right in other countries

-Social Democrats, center-left

-Smaller Center Parties

-Far Right Parties

-Far Left parties, many more

-Regional/Ethnic Parties

--Note: The center right in many European countries is often less libertarian than the US republicans; the center left is often further to the left than US democrats 

Syllabus I.D. Institutions and Public Policy 

CHAPTER 4

-Establish basic rules of decision-making, rights, distribution of authority; the basic "rules of the game"

-Constitution Making is fundamental political act

--Creates or tranforms decision rules

--Often new constitutions arise with civil upheaval

-Of the three countries we are closely examining

---The UKs constitution is UNWRITTEN and developed gradually over centuries

---France's dates to 1958

---Germany's dates to 1949

-Constitutions vary along 3 dimensions

1. Separation of powers between branches of government: parliamentary v. Presidential

2. Geographic distribution of authority between central government and regions (e.g., states or provinces): Unitary v. Federal

3. Limitations on government authority: Rights and Liberties 

1. Presidential Systems

Advantage:

--Checks and balances: discourages too much concentration of power

--Disdadvantage:

---Gridlock: nothing gets done; any action can be blocked somewhere else

---Chief executives who have lost a great deal of support cannot easily be removed until the next election

--Presidential systems are uncommon in Western Europe 

-The alternative to separation of powers is fusion of powers

-Key Feature: executive and legislature are combined: the chief executive comes from the legislature

-The executive is called "the prime minister" (in Germany "chancellor")

-The Prime Minister is not separately elected; he or she is the head of the majority party or coalition in the legislature 

-If his/her majority is lost, there is a new election

-The specific mechanism is a vote of confidence 

-If the chief executive loses the support of his/her majority, his/her party or coalition may replace him/her; there does not need to be an election

-Prime ministers often call EARLY elections, since this permits them to choose the timing of the election to their advantage 

-Central Advantage: Parties not only make promises, but have the ability to carry them out.

-A standoff between the executive and the legislature (like in the US) is impossible.

-Disadvantage: Critics are uncomfortable with the concentration of power in the hands of the executive 

-A few countries have both presidents and prime ministers; they are sometimes called "semi-presidential"

-Often the presidency is a symbolic position, the equivalent of a constitutional monarch, e,g., Germany or Italy.

-Sometimes, however, the president is more powerful than the PM (e.g., France)

-The most important semi-presidential system in Western Europe is France 

Federal: US.,Germany, Belgium

Unitary: Britain, France, Italy

Federalism has several advantages:

--In divided societies it helps protect ethnic, linguistic, religious minorities

-It can allow subunits to experiment with policy programs such as (gay marriage and health care in the United States) 

-Civil rights protected: Bill of Rights

-Constitutional Courts enforce limitations on government power

-Judicial Review: The power of a constitutional court to invalidate acts of the legislature or executive that it considers inconsistent with the constitution

-Amending procedures vary widely: Usually require a supermajority (e.g., 2/3 vote) or referendum

-Of the three countries we are closely examining, France and Germany both have written constitutions and powerful constitutional courts; Britain does not have a written constitution and there is NO judicial review 

-Large Organizations in charge of implementing public policy

-Their size has increased in recent decades, although cutbacks in recent years

-Civil Service: Bureaucracies are professionalized 

Features of Bureaucracy

-Decision making is based on fixed jurisdictions, rules and regulations

-There are formal and specialised educational requirements

-Hierarchical command structure

-Decisions are made on basis of Standardized Operating Procedures: there are extensive written records

-Everyone complains about the bureaucracy, but the alternative (personalism) is worse 

Main Types

1. Single Member District Plurality (SMD-P) First past the post

2. Proportional Representation (PR)

-The country is divided into as many electoral districts as there are seats in the legislature 

-To win, you need to receive more votes than any other party

-Where there ar emore than two parties this often means that you can win without a majority 

There are multimember districts, either the whole country or large regions

-A party receives as many seats in the legislature as the percentage of votes it receives in the multimember district

-For example, if you receive 38.9% of the votes, you receive 38.9 % of the seats 

-Everyone has his/her own representative

-However, voting outcomes can be distorted

-For example, say three parties received 40,35 and 25 percent of the votes in every single district; the first party would receive all of the seats and the second and third none at all

-It is not usually as extreme as this, but translation of votes into seats is almost always distorted, usually to the advantage of larger parties 

In practice, there are many variations on these pure types

-For example, SMD systems may require that the winning candidate receive a majority; if not there is a runoff between the top two finishers.

-Also, many PR systems impose lower limits for parties make the "cut" typically 5 percent

-Still, the two broad types are quite distinct, and have a huge effect on elections and governance 

-Translation of votes into seats is much more exact than in SMD

-However, you don'thave your own representative

-Also there is little disincentive to samll parties and there may be many parties in the legislature-which may be good or bad, depending on your opinion on this subject 

-Multiple parties may make it difficult to achieve legislative majorities, since coalitions may have to large and unwieldy

-In all developed countries the two largest categories of spending are for pensions and health care

-Other major benefits include unemployment compensations, meanstested public assistance and child/family benefits 

-All developed countries have public health care systems

-however, the systems vary widely in anture:

--Government can own hospitals and employ medical personnel (UK's NHS)

-Government can pay bills (single payer) US Medicare

-Government can work through private insurers (AHC in the US) Affordable Healthcare Act 

The thing that is most distinctive about the US is not HOW healthcare is provided but how much it costs

-In the last several years health care spending in the US has stabilized, after a long period of very rapid growth.

-Whether this trend will continue is the most pressing question facing the US in this area 

Population: 61.8 million

Territory: 94,525 square miles

Year of Independence: from 12 th century

Uwritten constitution, partly statutes, partly common law and practice

Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II

Head of Government: Prime Minister David Cameron 

Language: English plus about 600,000 who regularly speak Welsh and about 60,000 who speak Gaelic plus immigrants

Religion: Nominal identification with the Church of England 

-Created in 1802 with the merging of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland

-Political Milestones

--1066 Norman Invasion

--1215 Magna Carta

--1688-89 Settlement

1832 Reform Bill (and subsequent)

1914-1919 WWI

1939-1945 WWII

1973 EU membership

-General Election of 2010: no party won a majority in the House of Commons

-Conservative Party: David Cameron 307 seats

-Labour Party: Gordon Brown 258 seats

Liberal Democratic Party: Nick Clegg 57 seats

-Conservatives and liberal democrats formed a coalition, first time in over 50 years

Scotland referendum in 2014

PM, 1979-1990 MARGARET THATCHER : Conservative 

PM 1997-2007: TONY BLAIR: Labour

PM, 2007-2010: GORDON BROWN: Labour 

PM, 2010-Present: DAVID CAMERON: Conservative

Deputy PM, 2010-Present--LDP NICK CLEGG

Shadow PM, 2010-Present: ED MILIBAND: Labour 

-One state but 4 nations

1. United Kingdom

1.a England

2. Wales, a quarter speak Welsh

3. Scotland: seperate legal, religious, educational institutions

4. Northern Ireland: Ireland became independent in 1921, but NI remained in the UK with a Protestant majority and Roman Catholic minority 

-Isle of Man

-Channel Islands

-Remnants of Empire

--British Virgin Islands

--Cayman Islands

--Gibraltar

-80% Protestant (Church of England, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, others)

-10% Roman Catholic

-10% Muslim, Hindu

Very low rates of religious practice

Regional Differences

-England, Scotland, Wales, N ireland

-North and South within England

--Class differences: very distinct class differences based on accent

-Unitary State: All power ultimately resides in Parliament

-however, the UK is a multinational state in some ways

--regional parliaments for Scotland and Wales in 1999

-Northern Ireland:

--Identity Questions: Catholics and Protestants

--Turmoil since 1968: IRA

"Good Friday" agreement stopped most of the violence 

-No written constitution; Very unusual

-Monarch is ceremonial head of state

-House of Commons

--Government with a capital G; in USA one calls it Admnisitration

PM Downing Street (WHITE HOUSE)

Cabinet

Junior Ministers

Backbenchers

Shadown Cabinet

Whitehall: Bureaucracy

Sources of Unwritten Constitution:

-Acts of parliament (most important)

-Judicial decisions

-Influential bookds; e.g., Bagehot

Conventiona of the Constitution (customs)

--Few Constraints CAN be changed by majority vote in Parliament

-British courts have no power of judicial review, not even the "supreme Court"

Chief Executive: Head of majoirty party or coalition in House of Commons

-Imperatives of the Prime Minister

--Winning Elections

--Serving as chief legislator and executive

--Represents country at home and abroad

--Must regularly face opposition in "Question Time"

-Cabinet includes heads of major executive agencies; appointed by prime minister

-Must be members of the House of Commons or Lords (Usually commons) 

-Like the US cabinet members except that they are also members of the legislature

-Junior ministers lead lesser agencies or are deputy directors of major ones: about 100 

-Principle division in Parliament is between party with majority of seats in House of Commons and opposition parties

-If bill or motion is identified as vote of confidence, the government will fall if it is defeated; there will have to be a new election

-MPs generally vote as party leadership instructs; bills almost always pass on a party-line vote

-A "Free vote" is sometimes held on matter of conscience, e.g., death penalty

-Parliament can also be dissolved by the PM for an early election

-The Opposition is officially recognized; it is headed by the Shadow Prime Minister 

-House of Lords

--Unique as second chamber because initially composed of hereditary peers

--1999: Labour abolished right of all but 92 hereditary peers to sit in House of Lords

-Government often introduces noncontroversial legislation in Lords if it deals with technical matters

-Uses Lords as revising chamber to ammend bills

-Lords cannot veto legislation, but can amend or delay passage of government bills 

The Civil Service

A professional civil service since 19th century

-Advise ministers, oversee work of their departments

-Implement policies of either party

-Supreme Court created as highest judicial authority, 2009

-Serves as final appeal on points of law

-No power of judicial review 

-Readiness of British people to comply with laws

-Habit and tradition are very important, especially the monarchy 

-Civil society institutions have flourished in Britain for centuries

-Confederation of British Industries

-Trades Union Congress: Labour Unions

-Voluntary/Charitable Associations 

-General election must occur at least once every 5 years

-Prime Minister is free to call election at any time

-SMD plurality electoral system

-2 and a half party system

-Distribution of seats in House of Commons different from distribution of share of votes

-Conservatives (tories): Center-Right

-Labour: Center left; social democrats

-Liberal Democrats: Center

-Scottish Nationalists

-Plaid Cymru: Welsh Nationalists

-None of the main parties operate in Northern Ireland; there are several parties mainly on sectarian lines 

-Political authority is centralized

--Decisions are binding on pubic agencies through acts of parliament and regulations 

--Treasury must authorize expenditures before bill can be put to Parliament

--Some devolution to elected officials:

---Scotland and Wales have representative assemblies 

-National Health Service (NHS)

-Quasi-Autonomous Nongovernmental Organizations (QANGOS)

Privatization in many areas, including airline, railroads, telecommunications

-Outputs of public policy play a significant part in everyda lives of Britons

-Benefits received are especially important for low-income families

-Important benefits include Health (NHS) and educatino (system is mainly public) 

-More extensive benefits than the  US but on the low end by European Standards