the core executive

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  • Created by: 11rsims
  • Created on: 06-06-17 17:15
What is the core executive?
the core executive is the heart of the machine, refers to all those organisations and procedures which cordinate central gov policies
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What are the origins of the office of PM?
placed upon covention. First lord of tresury (PM) began chairing meetings after King George 1 stopped attending, Robert Walpole is regarded to as the first PM (1921-42), Robert Peel first modern PM (1841-46)
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What are the sources of primeministerial power?
powers once assigned to the monarch under the royal prerogative but now excercised by the PM, powers that have emerged through convention,powers based upon the PM's role as leader of the majority party in the HOC
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What are the roles of a PM?
chief executive, chief legislator, chief diplomat, public relations chief, party chief
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What are the powers of patronage?
the power to: appoint and dismiss ministers at cabinet level, apoint civil servents, appoint bishops in the church of England, create peers, appoint senior judges, nominate individuals for the honours list
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What are the powers over cabinet?
PM controls=number, timing and duration of cabinet meetings, cabinet agenda and minutes, conduct of meetings and who speaks when, structure and composition of cabinet meetings, make up and organisation of the gov in a broader sense,high civil service
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What are PM's power over parliament?
controls parliamentry timetable and can impose the gov's agenda, control key appoinments, PM can threaten to ask the queen to dissolve parliament and call an election to get party members in to line (John major on maastricht treaty)
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What is a PM's power over the agenda and on a world stage?
they have a key role in agenda setting and policy making, PM's position as a world leader is rooted in the perrogative powers to make war and conclude treaties
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How is a PM limited by the cabinet?
cabinet provides a meaningful check on PM power,if a PM forces out key figures they can become dangerous enemies on the backbenches (Michael Heseltine), PM who pursue policies with fierce opposition with face difficulties if these policies fail
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How is a PM limited by parliament and party?
Parliament=commons can force the gov to back down (Gordons removal of 10% tax rate in 2008), party= Michael heseltines 1990 leadership challenge caused thatcher to resign, backbench backlash to Blair caused him to leave office
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How is a PM limited by public opinions and their own abilities?
public opinion=unpopularPM faces leadership challenges, bad opinion polls and local election results pose a challenge, Abilities= size of the majority and "eventss,dear boy.events" (macmillian)
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What are the origins of the cabinet?
cabinet has evolved over time from "cabal" which was an acronym for core ministers, extension of the franchise and the emergence of a formal party system resulting in cabinets relying on the support of commons
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What are cabinet committees? what is the cabinet office?
committes= chaired by PM, fall in to the categories of foreign,defence and economic, collective responsibility extends to those in the committee, office=coordinates the activities of gov,2000 staff
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what are the roles and functions of cabinet?
it was once the key decision making body but that has been undermined by PM power, coordinating activities of department,adresses problems arising from policy, raises genuine concerns
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What changes did Blair make to the cabinet?
1997=reduced full cabinet meetings to a single 45-minute session a week, he reduced the cabinet to a briefing room where collegues where brought up to speed on policies made elsewhere in a less formal setting- "sofa government", "denocracy"
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What are the reasons of decline in cabinet government?
increase in the complexity of government activity, rise of cabinet commitees, use of bilateral meetings and less formal arrangments over cabinet meetings, increase of status to the PM, behaviour of cabinet ministers
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what are the different models of executive control?
PM cliques=PM works closely with a clique of fixed key advisors, Departmentalised=gov department has control over their own areas, segmented= PM has power in areas cabinet has autonomy over others, PM gov="elective dictatorship"
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how does the uk compare to france and the USA?
all have high media visiability, uk has elected party and usa and france have a popular election, Britain has an insecure term but usa and france has fixed terms, they all have relatively high domestic policy
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What is the evidence that the UK is becoming more presidential?
PM tries to create visable distince between themselves and the machinary of gov, PM characterises themselves as "outsiders", PM sought to appeal directly to the public through the modern mass media, PM have become "expanded personalities"
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What is collective responsibility and individual ministerial responsibility?
collective=members of the cabinet publicaly stand by those decisions made collectively within the cabinet, if not they have to resign, Individual=holds ministers responsible for their own personal misconduct and conduct in their own departments
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What is the civil service?
the administerativ e arm of gov, servents of the crown, they work on specific area of policy, or on a wider range of service
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What is agencification?
hiving off government services into semi-autonomous agencies, resulted in some civil servent members becoming known, public servents may have to resign over policy failures, by 2005 there were around 130 agencies employing 75% of civil servents
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What are the principles of the civil service?
They should be impartial (undermined by politicisation since 1979), they should be annoymous (westland affair 1986), permanance (many are now are fixed term contracts), there should be confidentiality (sarah Tisdall imprisoned for 6 months)
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What is the role of the civil service?
Research for policy formation, give policy advice, execute gov policy, responsible for the organisation of each gov department, provides continuity through ministerial reshuffles
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What are the models of ministerial-civil service relations?
formal constitutional=civil servents serve ministers, adversiral=struggle for power, CS has its own agends, Bereautic expansionsm=CS serve own interest by creating bureaucratic empires that are inefficent
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Is the UK civil service servants or masters?
civil servents control information,ministers have too many other commitments, cs outnumber ministers 10:1, CS can network, ministers can "go native", CS outlive ministers
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What are special advisors?
civil servents paid for by the taxpayer, are appointed by and tied to the gov of the day, often public figures on fixed term vontractd, this make gov less reliant on the cs, 1990=5 special advisors,2003=108
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Card 2

Front

What are the origins of the office of PM?

Back

placed upon covention. First lord of tresury (PM) began chairing meetings after King George 1 stopped attending, Robert Walpole is regarded to as the first PM (1921-42), Robert Peel first modern PM (1841-46)

Card 3

Front

What are the sources of primeministerial power?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What are the roles of a PM?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What are the powers of patronage?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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