The Effectiveness of Parliament
- Created by: belle-madeleine
- Created on: 27-08-17 18:20
View mindmap
- The Effectiveness of Parliament
- Theories of Parliamentary Power
- The Westminster Model
- Parliament is vital
- Parliament is both representative and responsible government
- Mouthpiece of the people
- Hold the executive to account
- Parliament has significant policy influence
- The Whitehall Model
- Political and constitutional power have shifted firmly from Parliament to the executive
- Parliament has no meaningful policy influence
- The Transformative Model
- Parliament is no longer a policy-making body
- Parliament can transform policy but only by reacting to executive initiatives
- The Westminster Model
- Factor's Affecting Parliament's Relationship to Government
- Party Unity and its Decline
- Main lever used to control Parliament
- MPs have become more critical and independent
- Time and resources to take political issues seriously
- Size of Majority
- "First-past-the-post" creates a strong likelihood of a single party majority
- The larger the majority, the weaker the backbenchers
- Larger the majority the easier to pass legislation
- Implications of Coalition Government
- Alters the dynamics of executive-Parliament relations
- Forced to maintain unity across two or more parties
- Backbenchers' support is needed
- Can cause weak government
- Impact of the Lords
- More executive check on the executive
- Party unity is more relaxed
- Once appointed they are there for life
- No majority party
- Balance between Conservative and Labour representation
- Greater legitimacy
- Removal of hereditary peers
- The politics of the Parliament Acts
- Overruling the Lords is time-consuming and creates a back and forth for bills
- Party Unity and its Decline
- How Party Unity is Maintained
- Whipping system
- Whips maintain party discipline
- Make sure MPs know how their parties wish them to vote
- Whips
- Advise the leadership about party morale
- Reward loyalty
- Punish disloyalty
- Advise for promotion
- Promotion prospects
- Ideological unity
- Whipping system
- For or Against Coalition Government?
- For
- Effective coalitions
- Stable
- Cohesive
- Partnership
- Compromise
- Broad and popular government
- Represents a wider range of views
- Electoral support exceeds 50%
- Popular mandate
- End of adversarialism
- Form alliances
- Work together on concerns
- Wider pool of talent
- Expertise
- Experience
- Effective coalitions
- Against
- Weak government
- Energy mostly spent resolving tensions
- Paralysis
- Unstable government
- Fragile
- Democracy undermined
- Parties abandon certain policies
- No chance to accept or reject coalition programme
- Parties's influence doesn't reflect election results
- Confused ideological direction
- Unclear
- Inconsistent
- Two contrasting visions
- Weak government
- For
- Theories of Parliamentary Power
Comments
No comments have yet been made