英国概况第二章提纲

Chapter 2 The Monarchy, Politics, and Government

Three branches Queen / King

1. The legislative branch: the parliament House of Lords—upper

House of Commons – lower

The central government

2. The Executive branch government departments

Local governments

3. The Judicial branch: independent of the legislative and executive branch

1.The Monarchy ( Constitutional Monarchy君主立宪制)

●The monarchy in Britain can be traced back to the days before the Norman

Conquest in 1066.

●Religious controversy between James II and the Parliament led to the 1688 palace

coup –the Glorious Revolution, which marked the establishment of the limited constitutional monarchy.

●Towards the end of the 18th century, the king’s power began to dwindle sharply.

●There is no written law to define exactly the power of the English Monarch.

Theoretically, the monarch embodied supremacy as the head of state.

●The British government is called Her (His) Majesty’s Government. The word Royal

is used in place of national

●The Queen summons and dissolves Parliament.

●When a new Parliament opens, the Queen gives the opening speech in which she

out lines the Government’s major polices.

●Bills passed by the Parliament must win the Royal Assent before going into effect.

●She appoints minister and other important officials (On the advice of the prime

minister).

●She is commander-in-Chief of the armed services.

●She concludes treaties with foreign countries and declares war.

●She confers noble titles and honours.

●She is Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

●The Queen seems very powerful, but in reality she is only a figure-head.

●The succession to the throne is not decided by the royal family alone. Only the

Protestant descendants of the royal family are eligible.

●Why do the English choose to maintain the monarchy? To many Englishmen, the

monarch is the symbol of English nation. It embodies the development of English

history and its continuity. English monarch is a live state emblem.

2.The Nobility and House of Lords(the upper house)

●Their noble titles and estates were hereditary. The five titles of nobility in Britain

are Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. All the people with noble titles are certain members of the House of Lords. They are generally referred to as ―Lords‖.

●Apart from these hereditary titles of nobility, there are a number of other titles of

honour whose bearers are not nobles. The best known of them is knighthood. A knight is called Sir. The title is not heritable. Another title is baronet which can be passed down to the next generation. But baronet is not a noble.

●All the noble title bearers are certain member of the Upper House.

●Many Lords are experts in different fields, their opinion and criticism are important

for the government. Their debates and discussions are usually of a higher level than those in Lower House. Sometimes the can get a bill amended through their influence.

●The president of the Upper House is called the Lord Chancellor who was once the

king’s chief advisor and right-hand man.

3. The House of Commons (the lower house)

* Why it is called ―House of Commons?

* The house of commons is made up of 650 Members of Parliament (MPs).

* Members hold their seats for 5 years.

* The party which wins sufficient seats at a general election to command a majority of supporters in the House of Commons is asked to form the government by the Queen. As a result, the party itself becomes known as the Government (Party). The party which wins the second largest number of seats becomes known as the Opposition (Party).

* The main function of the House of Commons is law-making and the process is characterized by heated debates between the Government and the Opposition.

* The life of Parliament is divided into periods called ―sessions.‖ A session normally lasts about a year, from October of one year to about the same date of the next year.

* How are laws passed?

1) In Britain, a bill is usually written by government or a member of parliament. It takes quite a time to prepare the bill with a lot of consultations and discussions with the civil servants in different departments. After the bill is written, it is handed to the parliament. It starts its travel in wither house, usually, it starts in the House of Commons.