Pearson Edexcel A Level Politics 2nd Edition - Uk Government - Tuck, David, Jenkins, Sarra, Jefferies, John - 2023 - Hodder Education - 9781398369160 - 29cb584d10a45f7fe9d1ca30f0

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PEARSON EDEXCEL A LEVEL
US GOVERNMENT
AND POLITICS
ANTHONY J. BENNETT
DAVID TUCK
SIMON LEMIEUX
Build your students’ knowledge of US Government

and Politics, develop critical understanding and
practise the skills that will help them in their exams.
This fully updated textbook by Anthony J. Bennett,

revised by David Tuck and Simon Lemieux, is
specially designed to reflect the Edexcel
specification and help your students approach
complex topics with confidence.
l Comprehensively covers the government and politics of the USA, including the 2020
Presidential elections
l Places recent developments in a historical context throughout to show the influence of
political history on current events
l Builds confidence by highlighting key terms and explaining synoptic links between
different topics in the specification
l Develops analysis and evaluation skills through activities, debates and practice questions
l Provides answer guidance for practice questions online at www.hoddereducation.co.uk
This title is also available as an eBook with learning support.

Visit hoddereducation.co.uk/boost to find out more.
PEARSON EDEXCEL A LEVEL
IT
ED
I
I
C
T
S
ION
L
ND
SECO
O
ICS
P
T
ND POLI
N T A S
N ME LITIC
OV ER S
A AND PO
G ID E
UK ITICAL EN T
PO L ER N M JOHN JEFFERIES
G OV SARRA JENKINS
US DAVID TUCK
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© John Jefferies, Sarra Jenkins and David Tuck 2023
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Get the most from this book
This textbook covers the key content of the Pearson Edexcel A level Politics
specification (US) for teaching from September 2017.
Special features
articulated Key thinker
Synoptic link
use of the German word Volk (folk) Key term
conservative nationalism. Herder’s
resigned because of her responsibility
for the and Bismarck co-opted these ideas
Collier, chief regulator of Ofqual, a shared communal national experience into Volksgeist A German
to bring the disparate German states
A summary of a key
2021
Synoptic link in his post as education secretary until somewhat when he spoke of a Volksgeist expression, associated
policy failure, Williamson remained
from the government. with conservatism, which
when Boris Johnson dismissed him a unified country.
Explanation of links
The political impact of
refers to the spirit of the
the media is covered
Key thinker nation: a force that unites
Stretch and challenge
thinker in the political

in Chapter 4 on pages
she admitted that people and gives them a
127–36. secretary, Amber Rudd, resigned when 3)
On 29 April 2018, Theresa May’s home
Committee and the House of Commons
when she stated Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–180 strong sense of national
between important
she had misled the Home Affairs Select attacks from attachment to German nationalism and
a identity.
for removing illegal immigrants. Sustained Herder was a conservative with a romantic
that there were no Home Office targets untenable. key work is Treatise on the Origin of Language
(1772).
Knowledge check further undermined her, making her position scepticism of rationalistic ideas. His
ideas chapters.
the Labour Party and in the media had
7 Define individual Amber Rudd, Home Affairs Select Von Herder’s main ideas
concepts in the
nation can be
Committee, 25 April 2018 common culture of its people, and a
ministerial Ministerial Code of Conduct l The national language expresses the
Amber Rudd: ‘We don’t have targets
for and spirit of a people is their Volksgeist.
responsibility.
1:3 (c) It is of paramount importance defined by its culture. The common culture the basis of a
8 What is administrative truthful removals.’ by their language and this could form
that Ministers give accurate and The German people should be defined a nation but
Yvette Cooper: ‘But you did.’
l
information to Parliament, correcting that time, ‘Germany’ did not exist as
failure? are you united German people in one state. (At
specification.
any inadvertent error at the earliest Amber Rudd: ‘I don’t know. What
9 List three examples was a collection of states.)
opportunity. Ministers who knowingly referring to?’
of ministers resigning
In focus
mislead Parliament will be expected Yvette Cooper: ‘We just heard from
over administrative regional it is often
to offer their resignation to the Prime previous evidence how there are was to preserve the nation, although
failure. targets for net removals.’ Conservative nationalism’s main goal
Minister as being superior to others.
accused of viewing its nation and culture
resign?
and do you think that she was right to
A closer look at an
Why did Amber Rudd resign
In focus
Knowledge check Scandal

A minister can also be held accountable
for their personal conduct and if this
brings Liberal nationalis m vs conservative nationalism
President Emmanuel Macron decided
to fly the EU
example to support
for their In January 2022, liberal nationalist French
are expected to take responsibility of the EU. This
the government into disrepute, they to try flag under the Arc de Triomphe to celebrate
the French presidency of the Council
ministers who might have preferred
actions and, if appropriate, resign. Even
Marine Le
French Conservative nationalists, in particular
Short questions to
which
to resign because of the intensity with led to a furious reaction from leading
to cling on to power have often had
identity.
flag was an attack on the country’s national
speculated on their future in an era of ‘24-hour news’. Scandals can Pen, arguing that ‘replacing’ the French
the media have liberal and conservative nationalism.
knowledge and
this type) or be provoked by a disregard The row sums up the tensions between
be financial or sexual (the media favours
for the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
assess comprehension
are important aspects of conservative
Tradition and a rose-tinted nostalgia examples
the nation state. Some contemporary
John Profumo, secretary of state
for war, 1963 nationalism, reinforcing this idea of
understanding.
in
Ministers can be held of the Macmillan government. However,
John Profumo was one of the rising stars Keeler, for the UK are:
accountable for their his affair with the 19-year-old Christine that the country has faced, such
as the annual
1963 the press uncovered evidence of
of the subject.
personal conduct and a soviet spy, Yevgeny Ivanov. Having
lied to l remembering the hardships
who had also been in a relationship with remembrance of the war dead
are expected to take with Keeler, Profumo resigned. (the popular TV series The Crown Key term
responsibility for their actions Parliament about his relationship l celebrating the royal
family both past and present
demonstrating such nostalgia) Exclusive nationalism
a recent example being
Chris Huhne, energy secretary, 2012 claims l fondly recalling key
moments of collective national joy, in Citizenship of a nation and
the coalition government over media the European Championship final
Chris Huhne was forced to resign from when the England football team reached national identity require
by colluding with his former wife, Vicky
that he had perverted the course of justice convicted 2021. an individual to enjoy a
for his speeding offence. Both were common culture, language
Pryce, so that she took responsibility be described as exclusive nationalism

and sent to prison for the crime.
Priti Patel, international development

secretary, 2017
unofficial
Conservative nationalism can sometimes
as one must be a part of collective
conservative nationalism welcomes
experiences to be part of the nation. However,
those who integrate the values of the
nation
or race with the existing
members of the nation.
Key terms
May’s government over a series of state into their lives.
Priti Patel resigned from Theresa
Concise definitions of
minister,
Israeli ministers, including the prime
private meetings that she’d had with
Activities and questions

directly
to report the meetings also put her
Benjamin Netanyahu. Patel’s failure be
that ‘any significant content should
in contravention of the code’s requirement after the event’.
department as soon as possible
passed back to the
key terms where they

16 Nationalism 437
that encourage learning 214 Theme 1 UK government and politics
beyond the core first appear.

requirements of the
specification.
Summary
Key themes and
Summary
Debate/Discuss Debate Key themes and key thinkers

Society The economy
Human nature The state
Capitalism can be
do multiculturalists agree on the state? The state should practise Societies with value
To what extent Individuals desire inconsistent with absolute
questions at the end of

Isaiah are tolerant
autonomy but mirror value pluralism. Communities pluralism moral values such as
play in preserving a culture?
Evaluation: What role should the state Berlin
Two sides of an
will decide which values are and free
the absolute values equality
Disagreement admired by cultures most important
Agreement over Society can be a The free market will
within multiculturalism The state should practise
agree that the state can promote cultural • There is disagreement
to protect and support different ethnic
Charles Human identity comprise of a variety of sometimes have to be
• Multiculturalists ‘politics of recognition’
chapters against which

how best Taylor is shaped by communities restrained to protect
and provides a form of integration to support different
argument to encourage
diversity groups communities communitarian interests
assimilation as it ideas of Rawls
• Multiculturalists reject state-sponsored Liberal multiculturalists follow the communities
ignores the importance of cultural
belongings • neutral in its Society should be an Free-market capitalism is
and argue that the state must remain Individuals Cultural pluralism must be checked by cultures that
the difference of Bhikhu ongoing conversation
• The role of the state is to recognise treatment of different cultures are culturally recognised by the state, promote alternative values
you can check your

The state Parekh between the various
specific groups and not ignore differences. like Parekh argue that both legal and
the needs of minority • Pluralist multiculturalists embedded allowing
cultures that it contains to economic liberalism
evaluation and analysis.

must be sensitive and tolerant to of the state have to be reimagined
all functions governmental diversity
the police service, Free-market capitalism is
groups through multiculturalism, such as foster unity Pluralistic societies
and anti-discriminatory Tariq History and culture The state should allow nations to checked by cultures that
• The state includes formal equality education and asylum provide comfort through diversity promote alternative values
that live in a society, than Parekh, Modood reconcile their diverse
legislation to protect all grouping Kymlicka offers a less radical vision
•
knowledge.
groups ted and security to histories to economic liberalism
including minority arguing for the state to support group-differentia individuals
Society contains Capitalism is enhanced by
rights state must provide
vision: the Will Individuals The
that transcend the energising effects of a
• Modood supports another alternative are provided group-differentiated rights as cultures multicultural workforce
national story Kymlicka national
state should help create an inclusive ‘anchorage’ by this facilitates the consent of simple
that stresses cultural diversity a diverse number of cultures geographical territories
against their culture
• Cosmopolitan multiculturalists argue
Practice questions
should
preserving a culture and that individuals
cultures.
be free to ‘pick and mix’ from different
Pluralist multiculturalists are very
critical of this Practice questions
cultures will
idea — Parekh argues that dominant ’s support for minority rights promote
overwhelm minority cultures
1 To what extent does multiculturalism to
appropriate thinkers you have studied
Revision questions at
divisions in society? You must use (24)
any differing views in a balanced way.
support your answer and consider
s agree on the type of society they
2 To what extent do multiculturalist
thinkers you have studied to
wish to create? You must use appropriate (24)
Debate any differing views in a balanced way.
the end of each chapter

support your answer and consider
more divided than united? You must
agree on society? 3 To what extent is multiculturalism
To what extent do multiculturalists when considering the nature use appropriate thinkers you have
studied to support your answer and
(24)
cause so much disagreement among multiculturalists consider any differing views in a balanced
way.
Evaluation: Why do shallow and deep diversity
s disagree on the role of the state?
to help you practise

of society? 4 To what extent do multiculturalist
you have studied to support your
Disagreement You must use appropriate thinkers (24)
Agreement views in a balanced way.
liberal/cosmopo litan answer and consider any differing
societies offer many benefits for
all the • There is a divisionandbetween
• Diverse multiculturalists pluralist multiculturalists
toleration so far.
source evaluation and

different cultures can only extend
can agree on the concept of • Liberal multiculturalists and
• Multiculturalists
recognition and the state countering
They oppose cultures that promote gender mutilation
Berlin supported diversity
Further reading
cultural forced dress codes, for example. Western
‘Is humanitarian intervention a form of
Bridges, W. and Marchant, J. (2020)
Further reading
cultural marginalisation only as far as it was based on freedom
groups No. 4.
• A diverse societytoallows different cultural
Kymlicka wants a society that respects
group-differentiated imperialism?’, Politics Review, Vol. 29,
• a recipe for tension and conflict’, Politics
Review,
essay-writing skills.
enjoy their own culture and for collective rights, Heywood, A. (2016) ‘Multiculturalism:
the opportunity
culture rights. Taylor goes further and argues
benefit from being part of a wider which liberals are uneasy about Vol. 25, No. 4.
allows society as a whole to ideas of deep diversity Review, Vol. 29, No. 2.
• A diverse society • Pluralist multiculturalism and Parekh’s Kelly, R. (2019) ‘Multiculturalism’, Politics
Relevant websites,
group and develop, and it also promotes cross- shallow diversity within race in contemporary US politics’, Politics
Review,
clash with liberals’ preference for Mogridge, A. (2020) ‘Black Lives Matter:
cultural toleration
Check your answers at

society
Vol. 30, No. 1.
Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 3.
Tuck, D. (2022) ‘Cosmopolitan Multiculturalism’,
www.hoddereducation. 15 Multiculturalism 427 books and articles.

426 Theme 2 Political ideas
co.uk/pearson-edexcel-
a-level-politics-us (click
‘Download answers’
under ‘Quick Links’)
Get the most from this book iii
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Contents
Theme 1 UK government and politics 1

Chapter 1 Democracy and participation 2
Current systems of democracy in the UK 3
Widening the franchise and debates over suffrage 20
Pressure groups and other influences 23
Rights in context 32
Chapter 2 Political parties 40
The functions and features of political parties 40
Established political parties 47
Emerging and minority parties in the UK 59
Political parties in context 64
Chapter 3 Electoral systems 76
Elections in the UK 77
Different electoral systems 80
Referendums 105
Chapter 4 Voting behaviour and the media 111
Social factors 112
Political context 120
The influence of the media 127
Case studies of three general elections 138
Chapter 5 The constitution 148
The nature of the UK constitution 148
The development of the constitution since 1997 154
The impact of devolution on the United Kingdom 163
How could the UK constitution be further reformed? 170
Chapter 6 Parliament 179
The origins and development of the UK Parliament 179
The composition of the House of Commons 181
The main functions of the House of Commons 183
The composition of the House of Lords 186
The main functions of the House of Lords 188
The comparative powers of the House of Commons and
the House of Lords 192
How Parliament interacts with the executive 195
iv Contents
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Chapter 7 Prime minister and the executive 209
The structure, role and powers of the executive 209
Ministerial responsibility 212
The prime minister and the cabinet 220
Chapter 8 Relations between branches 241
The impact of the Supreme Court on legislative and policy-making
processes 241
The relationship between the executive and Parliament 251
The European Union 257
The location of sovereignty in the UK political system 266
Theme 2 Political ideas 273

Chapter 9 Liberalism 274
Classical liberalism 274
Modern liberalism 276
Core ideas and principles 276
Different views and tensions within liberalism 289
Chapter 10 Conservatism 301
Differing views and tensions within conservatism 312
Chapter 11 Socialism 329
Revolutionary socialism 329
Evolutionary socialism 330
Differing views and tensions within socialism 340
Chapter 12 Anarchism 354
Different types of anarchism 362
Chapter 13 Ecologism 372
Different types of ecologism 379
Chapter 14 Feminism 391
Different types of feminism 402
Chapter 15 Multiculturalism 412
Different types of multiculturalism 418
Chapter 16 Nationalism 428
Different types of nationalism 433
Contents v
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Theme 3 US government and politics 445
Chapter 17 US Constitution and federalism 446
The origins of the Constitution 446
Principles of the US Constitution 449
The nature of the US Constitution 450
The main characteristics of US federalism 467
Debates around the US Constitution 471
Comparisons with the UK 475
Chapter 18 US Congress 480
The structure of Congress 481
The distribution of powers within Congress 486
The functions of Congress 492
Chapter 19 US presidency 512
The presidency and the Constitution 513
Formal sources of presidential power 515
Informal sources of presidential power 528
The presidency 536
Debates of the US presidency 539
Chapter 20 US Supreme Court and civil rights 546
The nature and role of the Supreme Court 547
The appointment process for Supreme Court justices 550
The Supreme Court and public policy 559
The Supreme Court and protection of rights 560
Race and rights in contemporary US politics 570
Chapter 21 US democracy and participation 582
Electoral systems in the USA 583
Parties 600
Interest groups 611
Acknowledgements 627
Index 628
vi Contents
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ME 1
THE UK GOVERNMENT
AND POLITICS
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1 Democracy and participation
In 1947, in the House of Commons, Winston Churchill quoted the famous saying
that ‘democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms’.
Although his support for democracy might seem somewhat qualified, Churchill
understood that the way in which democracy roots power in the people makes it the
best form of government available. This is because the people hold their government
King Charles III walks behind accountable for what it does on their behalf and so choose the politicians whom they
the coffin of his mother, want to be represented by. Democratic governments can claim legitimacy because
Elizabeth II, on which are they govern with the consent of the people. This places an obligation on the public
placed the crown, the orb to obey the law because it ref lects the wishes of society.
and the sceptre — symbols
In autocratic forms of government, power is permanently vested in one individual
of the sovereign’s status as
or group, giving them ultimate power over their people. These sorts of government
head of state. However, in a
rule by force rather than consent and so cannot claim democratic legitimacy.
democracy such as the UK,
the authority of the monarch
is almost entirely symbolic
2 Theme 1 UK government and politics
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The UK’s progression towards full democracy can be traced as far back as Magna
Carta (1215) and possibly even to the Anglo-Saxons, giving the UK a good claim to
have the longest history of democratic development in the world.
In the USA, at the height of the American Civil War in 1863, President Abraham
Lincoln (1861–65), in his Gettysburg Address, established the principle of democratic
government as ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’.
Current systems of democracy in the UK

Here we look at two forms of democracy in the UK — representative democracy
and direct democracy.
Representative democracy
The UK is a representative democracy, which means that the voters elect
politicians to make decisions on their behalf. There are many complicated political Key term
decisions that need to be made in a modern democracy, and the public do not have Representative
the time and understanding to vote on all of them. It is the job of professional democracy A form of
politicians to acquire this sort of political understanding so that they can make democracy in which voters
informed decisions in the interests of the whole nation. elect representatives to
In a representative democracy, elected politicians are made accountable to the make political decisions
electorate in regular elections. This means that the voters retain sovereignty because on their behalf. These
they decide whether or not to renew the mandate of their representatives. representatives are then
held accountable to the
Representative democracy is based on the principle that elected politicians public in regular elections.
should represent the interests of all their constituents. As a result, Members of
Parliament (MPs) spend a significant amount of time in their constituencies listening
to the concerns of the people in public meetings and surgeries. However, an elected
Children celebrate Queen

Elizabeth II’s Platinum
Jubilee at a street party in
Kingston-upon-Thames
1 Democracy and participation 3
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politician should not be a delegate simply carrying out the will of others. Instead,
when making decisions, they should weigh up the feelings of the people they
represent with their party’s manifesto and their wider understanding of an issue. In
other words, representatives should act according to their best judgement rather than
only following the voters’ wishes.
The Westminster Parliament contains 650 MPs, all of whom are accountable to their
constituents in regular general elections. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also
have their own devolved governments that legislate on most of their domestic affairs,
while elected mayors and local councils provide another layer of representation for
the public.
Advantages of representative democracy

The main advantage of representative democracy is that government is carried out by
professional politicians who are required to be well informed about political issues.
They are more likely to make politically educated decisions than most members
of the public, who may be swayed by emotion and may not fully understand the
complexities of a question. For example, before a parliamentary bill is enacted, it
will have been drawn up by ministers and civil servants, been debated in both
the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and been further analysed in
committee stage when amendments may be added to it.
In a representative democracy, elected politicians balance conf licting interests
when reaching decisions. This is important in protecting the rights of all citizens,
especially minorities, and ensuring that the implications of a decision for all members
of the community have been thoroughly examined. Over controversial issues,
parliament balances the benefits to the majority with the more negative impact on
the minority; this sort of balancing is one of the key elements of a representative
democracy.
In focus
The representative function of
an MP
In his speech to the electors of Bristol in 1774, Edmund
Burke (1729–97) explained, ‘Your representative owes you,
not his industry only, but his judgement and he betrays
instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.’
Given that Burke was a known opponent of slavery, and
the wealth of Bristol’s merchant class was founded on
the slave trade, this was a courageous statement that,
if elected, Burke would act according to his conscience
rather than do what his electors would like him to do. His
support of the American revolutionaries similarly put him
at odds with most of his constituents. His justification
of his right to choose his own position is often used
to underpin the principles on which representative
democracy is based. A statue to Edmund Burke in Bristol. He served as MP
for the city from 1774 to 1780
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A representative democracy also comprises the principle of accountability, which
means that in regular elections the voters can decide whether to renew the mandate
of their representatives. In other words, if the public do not approve of the policies
or performance of a government, they can elect another one.
Disadvantages of representative democracy

Critics of representative democracy, as it operates in the UK, argue that MPs
represent a metropolitan elite that does not represent the more traditional values
of the population. This can mean that MPs can be disengaged from the public
and so do not adequately represent their interests. For example, in the 2016 EU
membership referendum 52% of the public voted to leave the European Union,
whereas 74% of MPs had been in favour of remaining.
Powerful pressure groups, lobbyists and the London-based media also establish a
self-perpetuating Westminster ‘bubble’, which disconnects representatives from the Key term
issues that are important to their constituents. Lobbyist Represents the
interests of a particular
In focus group or cause and seeks

to influence politicians in
According to the Russian anarchist thinker Mikhail Bakunin (1814–76), representative its favour.
democracy is a sham since it seeks to falsely legitimise the rule of the ‘intellectual governing
minority, who, while claiming to represent the people, unfailingly exploits them’. The anarchist
political activist Emma Goldman (1869–1940) is also reputed to have said, ‘If voting changed
Knowledge check
anything they’d make it illegal.’ In 2014, the comedian and activist Russell Brand echoed 1 Define democracy.
these arguments at the Cambridge Union when he stated that UK parliamentary democracy 2 What is representative
is ‘designed to sustain the current power structure. . .be under no illusions. . .that is its democracy?
primary objective’. 3 According to Edmund
Burke, what is the role
of an MP?
MPs can have outside interests, including second jobs (so long as they declare them), 4 How many MPs are
which can further contribute to a conf lict of interests and possibly compromise their there in the Westminster
ability to fully represent their constituents. In 2021, Owen Paterson resigned as an Parliament?
MP after he was criticised by the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards for
lobbying on behalf of companies that employed him. The same year Sir Geoffrey
Cox MP, the former Attorney General, was also criticised for earning £900,000
for legal work he undertook in addition to his MP’s salary. Although no conf lict of
interest was found, some suggested that this was an excessive amount to earn when
his primary job was to represent his constituents.
Critics also claim that the Westminster Parliament is highly unrepresentative because
it is elected through first-past-the-post (FPTP). As a result the Conservative and
Labour parties dominate the House of Commons at the expense of smaller parties
such as the Liberal Democrats, Greens and the UKIP/Brexit party, which have
struggled to gain appropriate representation even when they have polled highly.
The House of Lords is unelected and so unaccountable to the public, further
undermining Parliament’s representative function. The social make-up of Parliament
is still primarily white, male and middle class.
How unrepresentative is the Westminster Parliament?

A popular criticism of the Westminster Parliament is that it is socially exclusive
and therefore unrepresentative of the interests of contemporary society. Although
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Table 1.1 The 2019 Parliament
2019 Westminster Parliament National average (2019)
Female 34% 51%
Minority ethnic 10% 14%
LGBTQ+ 7% 2.7% (estimated)
Privately educated 29% 7%
the 2019 general election did elect the most diverse House of Commons ever, as
Table 1.1 illustrates, men and those educated in private schools are still substantially
over-represented in Westminster.
Knowledge check
The social background of MPs is much more middle class than it was in the
5 What is the electoral parliament elected in 1945. Eighty-five per cent of MPs also attended university
system used to elect and 19% graduated from either Oxford or Cambridge. Some argue that MPs do
the Westminster not need to share the same characteristics as a group to represent their interests. For
Parliament? example, legislation advancing LGBTQ+ rights has been passed by predominantly
6 List three advantages heterosexual parliaments.
of UK representative
democracy. A powerful criticism of UK representative democracy is that it is least likely to
7 List three criticisms engage the poorest and most marginalised in society. In 2018, the Hansard Society
of UK representative estimated that 83% of higher (A/B) social groups were prepared to participate in
democracy. politics, compared with 41% for less prosperous (D/E) social groups. Only 2% of
homeless people were registered to vote in 2018.
Direct democracy in the UK

Direct democracy is a form of democracy in which decisions are directly made by
Key term the public without their opinions being channelled through representatives. In a direct
Direct democracy A form democracy there is no distinction between government and citizen. Instead, there is
of democracy in which continuous engagement by the public in the democratic process. With over 40 million
citizens themselves, rather voters in the UK, it would be impossible for it to be completely governed according to
than their representatives, the principles of direct democracy. However, elements of direct democracy have been
make political decisions. introduced into the UK’s system of representative democracy to engage the public more
The most significant closely in issues that directly concern them.
modern example of direct
democracy is a referendum.
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As Table 1.2 illustrates, there are several different sorts of direct democracy used
in the UK. Referendums are the most important because of the far-reaching
consequences they can have.
Table 1.2 Types of direct democracy
Example Why and when have they been used? Advantages and disadvantages
Referendums Referendums enable the public to directly Providing the public with a direct choice can
express their views on single issues. In 2014, in help to settle controversial issues. Since the
the Scottish independence referendum, 55.3% public have voted directly, the result can claim
voted in favour of Scotland remaining in the UK greater legitimacy than a decision reached by
and 44.7% voted in favour of independence. In their representatives. However, critics note that
the EU referendum in 2016, 52% voted in favour referendums require a detailed understanding of
of leaving the EU and 48% voted in favour of issues, which the public may lack. The ongoing
remaining debate over Scottish independence and the
UK’s relationship with the EU also suggests
that referendums do not conclusively resolve
contentious issues
Electronic If a petition on the government website reaches In 2020, England footballer Marcus Rashford’s
petitions 100,000 signatures it will be considered for #EndChildFoodPoverty gained over 1.1 million
debate either in Westminster Hall or the chamber signatures, generating huge public enthusiasm
of the House of Commons. This does not mean and persuading the government to commit to
that legislation will have to be forthcoming. free school meals for low-income families during
However, it does mean that Parliament has to school holidays
engage with issues the public feel strongly about. However, e-petitions can also raise false
In 2021 several important issues were raised by expectations and consume parliamentary time.
e-petitions such as making it a legal requirement There are issues on which Parliament cannot
for night clubs to search guests on entry legislate (an e-petition to revoke Sir Tony Blair’s
knighthood gained more than 1 million signatures
but was rejected because knighthoods are
bestowed by the monarch) or will not legislate (a
petition demanding Article 50 be revoked so that
the UK would remain in the EU gained 6.1 million
signatures in 2019). The publicity e-petitions
generate is nonetheless important in informing
and progressing public debate
Consultative These can be set up when governing bodies want These provide an important way of engaging with
exercises to assess the likely reaction to their proposed the public on issues that directly affect them.
policies. Communities that will be affected have However, since they are consultative exercises,
been consulted over the expansion of Heathrow the public’s opinion is not binding. Critics further
and the HS2 rail link claim that the most socially disadvantaged
groups are least likely to engage, making
consultative exercises unrepresentative
Open primaries In open primaries, the public directly decide If the public have direct influence over who the
who the candidate should be. David Cameron candidates for political office will be, people
encouraged open primaries to open up politics. less closely affiliated with political parties are
Thirteen Conservative candidates were selected more likely to enter politics. Whether or not
in this way for the 2015 general election. this is a positive development divides opinion.
However, for the 2019 general election the Sarah Wollaston was the first Conservative
Conservatives selected only one of their parliamentary candidate to be selected in this way
candidates through an open primary in 2009. As a Conservative MP she proved very
independent-minded and eventually abandoned
the party to join the Liberal Democrats
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Table 1.2 continued
Example Why and when have they been used? Advantages and disadvantages
Election of the All the main political parties now allow their Supporters argue that this makes the leadership
leadership of members to decide who the leader of their party accountable to the whole party. This is an
political parties will be. This is a significant power since it may especially powerful argument in the Labour
determine who the prime minister will be. Party, which sees itself both as a political party
In 2022, Liz Truss defeated Rishi Sunak for the and as a popular movement. Critics claim it
leadership of the Conservative Party by 57% gives too much influence to party activists, who
to 43%. In 2020, Sir Keir Starmer was elected are generally more radical than the electorate.
leader of the Labour Party with 56% of the vote of For example, Labour Party members re-elected
party members Jeremy Corbyn as leader in 2016 by 61.8% even
though Labour MPs had previously passed a vote
of no confidence in him by a staggering 172/40
votes. Although Liz Truss’ policies proved very
popular with Conservative Party members they
were hugely divisive among Conservative MPs,
leading to political chaos and her resignation
after only 45 days in office
Recall of MPs Act If an MP has been imprisoned, suspended from Power of recall makes MPs accountable to their
2015 the House by the Committee on Standards or constituents in matters of serious misconduct
convicted of making false expenses claims then or illegal behaviour. However, the circumstances
a recall petition signed by a minimum of 10% of in which it can be activated are so extreme that
their constituents can trigger a by-election. critics argue its impact has been negligible
In 2019 the Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya
was sentenced to a three-month jail term for
perverting the course of justice. 25% of registered
voters demanded her recall and she did not
contest the subsequent by-election.
In 2019 Chris Davies was convicted of making
fraudulent expenses claims. 19% of the
registered electors of Brecon and Radnorshire
signed a recall petition. Davies contested the
subsequent by-election, which he lost
Advantages of direct democracy

Knowledge check Supporters of direct democracy argue that it engages the public and makes politicians
8 Define direct more responsive to what people really think. This creates a closer connection
democracy. between the public and political decision making.
9 List three types of
By providing the public with more opportunities to make decisions it creates greater
direct democracy.
engagement in the political process, encouraging a more politically educated and
10 What are the reasons
civically involved citizenry.
for which an MP can
be recalled? A greater use of direct democracy ensures that our representatives are kept better
informed of developing public attitudes through referendums, consultative exercises
and electronic petitions.
Disadvantages of direct democracy

Critics of direct democracy respond that referendums dangerously simplify
questions to a binary ‘yes/no’ when the issues are much more complex than that.
For example, the UK’s departure from the EU raised highly complicated issues such
as the UK’s relationship with the EU customs union and the EU single market, and
the border status of Northern Ireland. None of these issues was addressed in the 2016
referendum, which posed only this question: ‘Should the United Kingdom remain
a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?’
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A direct democracy can challenge the Burkean principle that representatives should
act according to their conscience, not the wishes of their constituents. A high-profile
example of this is Theresa May, who supported Remain in the 2016 referendum but
went on to lead a government committed to withdrawing from the EU.
Direct democracy does not balance conf licting interests or protect the rights of
minorities. This is why Clement Attlee referred to referendums as ‘a device of
demagogues and dictators’.
Direct democracy can also encourage the public to vote on issues on which they are
not sufficiently knowledgeable to make well-informed decisions.
Is the UK suffering from a participation crisis?

It has been suggested that a general failure to engage in politics means that the
public are so content with politics that they see no pressing need to engage. This
is an extremely dangerous argument because it suggests that politicians should
aspire to complete public disengagement from politics, which would be the end of
participatory democracy.
Public trust in MPs

When Neil Kinnock became an MP, his father told him, ‘Remember, Neil, MP stands
not just for Member of Parliament but also for Man of Principle.’ Unfortunately,
over the years a number of MPs have not lived up to these high standards. In 2009,
MPs collectively were held up to contempt and ridicule over allegations that they
were overclaiming on their expenses. A perennial criticism is that MPs can exploit
their public position for private gain. In 2010, a former Labour minister, Stephen
Byers, was secretly filmed telling a consultancy firm that he was like ‘a cab for hire’.
In 2021, Conservative minister Owen Paterson resigned as an MP after the House
of Commons Standards Committee suspended him for 30 days for ‘an egregious
case of paid advocacy’. Media interest in such stories has done much to damage the
credibility of Westminster and fuel voter disengagement. In 2021, according to a
YouGov poll, 80% of those surveyed believed there was a fair or significant amount
of corruption in UK politics, with just 1% saying there was no corruption.
Voting is one of the most obvious and important ways of engaging in politics.
Between 1964 and 1997 the average turnout in general elections was 74.5%.
l Voter turnout dramatically decreased to just 59.4% in 2001 when the Blair
government seemed almost certain of being re-elected given its strong record
on governing competence and William Hague’s uninspiring leadership of the
Conservative Party.
l In the next four general elections more pressing issues were at stake and so voting
steadily increased, reaching a high point of 68.7% in 2017.
l However, the average turnout in general elections from 2005 to 2019 was
65.7%, which was 8.8% less than from 1964 to 1997. This suggests a concerning
downward trend.
Significantly, political engagement is least likely from the most socially disadvantaged.
For example, in the 2019 general election, 68% of A/B voters voted, but only 53% of
D/E voters. Three of the five constituencies with the lowest turnout in that election
were in Kingston upon Hull, where 45% of neighbourhoods are among the most
deprived 10% in England. This suggests a crisis of engagement among the most
marginalised social groupings.
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Table 1.3 The turnout in British general elections, 1964–2019
General election date Turnout (%)
1964 77.1
1966 75.8
1970 72
February 1974 78.8
October 1974 72.8
1979 76
1983 72.7
1987 75.3
1992 77.7
1997 71.4
2001 59.4
2005 61.3
2010 65.2
2015 66.1
2017 68.7
2019 67.3
From Table 1.3 it is clear that the numbers voting in general elections are, on average,
significantly lower than they have been.
Historically, the turnout in national elections in the UK has been considerably
higher than that in US presidential elections. However, in the 2020 US presidential
election the turnout was 67%, which was equivalent to the UK general election in
2019. Voter turnout in recent UK general elections has also been noticeably lower
than in several other European democracies where voting is not compulsory and
yet turnout is consistently high. This suggests that UK politicians should not be
complacent about voter participation (Table 1.4).
Devolved governments, elected mayors and elected crime and police commissioners
provide the public with greater opportunities to engage with the political process
at a regional or local level. However, recent voter turnout at such elections
indicates that the problem of voter engagement is not confined to Westminster. For
example, turnout in elections for the devolved parliaments is no higher than for the
Westminster Parliament and in the case of the Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) is
significantly lower (Table 1.5).
Table 1.4 Turnout in selected national elections
Election Turnout (%)
2022 French presidential election First round 73.7
Second round 72
2021 Norwegian parliamentary election 77.1
2021 Dutch general election 78.7
2021 German federal election 76.6
2020 US presidential election 67
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Table 1.5 Turnout in Scottish and Welsh Parliament elections
Scottish Parliament Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru)
1999: 59.1% 1999: 46%
2021: 63.5% 2021: 46.5%
Although there has been a slight increase in voter turnout for elected mayors, they
have not succeeded in generating significant enthusiasm from the electorate (Table
1.6). Police and crime commissioners were elected in 2021 with, on average, a
turnout of just 33.2%, although that was considerably higher than the 15.1% turnout
in 2012 when they were introduced.
Table 1.6 Turnout in mayoral elections
Election Turnout (%)
2021 London 42.2 Key term
2021 Bristol 41.2
Participation crisis
2021 West Midlands 31.2 A point at which the public
2021 Greater Manchester 34.7 have become disengaged
from politics and voting
The membership of political parties (Table 1.7) is also significantly lower than it was in the levels have fallen so low
1950s. In 1953, for example, the membership of the Conservative Party was 2,806,000 that the legitimacy of
and the Labour Party 1,005,000. This does not necessarily indicate a participation elected governments can
crisis, since voters are less likely to fully identify with one party because of partisan be questioned.
dealignment and therefore have less motivation to join one.
Table 1.7 The membership of political parties in the UK, 2021
Party Membership
Labour 430,000
Conservative 200,000
Liberal Democrat 98,000 Table 1.8 Turnout in the
Scottish National Party 119,000 1975 and 2016 EEC/EU
referendums
However, other evidence suggests claims of a participation crisis are exaggerated. Referendum Turnout (%)
When issues are sufficiently important to the public they can still vote in very 1975 EEC 64.6
large numbers. The Scottish independence referendum in 2014 recorded an 84.6% referendum
turnout. There was also an increase of 7.6% in voting from the first to the second 2016 EU 72.2
referendums on the UK’s membership of the EEC/EU (Table 1.8). referendum
The public may also be choosing to participate in politics in different ways.
Parliamentary e-petitions can generate huge support, as evidenced by the 6.1 million
people who signed the Revoke Article 50 and Remain in the EU petition in Knowledge check
2019. Given that voters are increasingly disengaged from traditional party politics,
11 Define participation
e-petitions provide a fresh way of public participation. For example, in 2021,
crisis.
Parliament debated a variety of e-petitions ranging from the protection of hedgehogs
12 What groups are least
to revoking the television licence.
likely to vote in UK
The hundreds of thousands who marched in London in 2019 to demand that the elections?
UK remain in the EU, and the 100,000 who joined protests in Glasgow during 13 What was the turnout
the COP26 climate change conference in November 2021, further demonstrate the in the two most
strength of political activism. Black Lives Matter has stimulated a powerful debate recent UK general
about racism in the UK, highlighting how social movements can encourage intense elections?
political dialogue, especially among young people.
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Pressure groups such as Amnesty International, which
campaigns on behalf of political prisoners, and the
environmental pressure groups Friends of the Earth
and Greenpeace continue to engage large numbers of
the public. Online pressure groups such as 38 Degrees
and Change.org further encourage participation by
presenting an accessible mechanism to create and sign
online petitions.
The public also has a significant online engagement with
politics. The biggest Twitter account in the UK in 2021
was BBC Breaking News, with 10 million followers more
than the singer/songwriter Harry Styles. In 2022, the UK
A march by LGBTQ+ group Stonewall. Political activism and
prime minister Twitter account had 5.8 million followers,
engagement are important, but should not be seen as a
and politicians with radical agendas generate considerable
replacement for voting
enthusiasm. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had
2.4 million followers and former UKIP/Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage had 1.6
million followers on Twitter.
It should be acknowledged that in a democracy the legitimacy of government derives
from the vote of the public. Others forms of political activism and engagement are
important but should not be seen as a replacement for voting.
In what ways is UK democracy in need of reform?

Critics of the UK’s system of representative democracy argue that radical steps need
Key terms to be taken to re-inspire enthusiasm for the democratic process. Trust in politicians
Legitimacy Legitimate and political party membership has declined and the turnout in general elections
authority means power has substantially decreased (Table 1.3). New ways need to be found to make
that has been legally politics relevant to the public. This is vital because if voting trends remain low,
acquired and is exercised the legitimacy that elected politicians can claim will be significantly reduced. For
according to the rule of example, in 2021, no mayoral election gained more than a 50% turnout, while the
law. A dictator can claim Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) was elected on just a 46.5% turnout.
power but not legitimate
power. How convincing are proposals for the reform of
Democratic deficit
When there is so little
UK democracy?
democratic participation Critics suggest that there are several ways in which politicians could be made more
by the public and so responsive to the public. The USA has a tradition of initiatives whereby voters can
little trust in political exert inf luence over the direction of public policy, and a related model could enhance
institutions that only a the participatory nature of UK democracy. Various proposals could encourage
minority of citizens engage greater accountability and address claims of a democratic deficit and so lead to an
in politics. Consequently, increase in participation. All are controversial, however.
elected governments can
no longer claim legitimacy. People’s referendums
Claims that politicians are insufficiently accountable to the public could be addressed by
greater use of direct democracy so that the people themselves are able to make choices.
These could include more referendums. Currently, referendums are called by the
government when it decides that the people need to legitimise an important decision
such as whether the UK should leave the EU (2016). Consequently, critics claim that
the public are being asked to vote on issues only when the government wants them to.
Other ways of determining when a referendum is called might engage the public more.
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For example, according to the constitution of the Republic of Ireland (1937), any
proposed constitutional change has to be endorsed by the public in a referendum.
Knowledge check
Therefore, the legalisation of same-sex marriage (2015) and abortion (2018) were 14 In addition to voting,
both endorsed by the public in a referendum. However, this model can lead to list the other ways in
democratic overload. From 2000 to 2022, Ireland has had 19 referendums. The which the public can
average turnout has been only 48.4% (compared with the 67.3% turnout in the engage in politics.
2019 UK general election), which hardly suggests that referendums have energised 15 What was the turnout
democracy. Equally, some of the referendums, such as whether the age limit for in the 2016 EU
presidential candidates should be reduced to 21 (2015), could be seen as insufficiently referendum?
pressing for a public debate. 16 Define legitimacy.
In Switzerland, if 100,000 citizens sign a petition demanding a new law then this
must lead to a referendum. A referendum on whether to accept a law that the
legislature has passed can also be held if 50,000 signatures are secured. Supporters
claim that this gives Swiss voters unparalleled inf luence over their lives and in turn
could provide a powerful way of reinvigorating UK democracy. However, critics
warn that this model could create a conf lict between the immediate priorities of the
public and the long-term objectives of government. In 2021, Swiss voters rejected
the government’s proposals for new green taxes to help it meet its Paris Treaty carbon
commitments, leaving its environmental policies in disarray. Referendums are also
a majoritarian form of democracy with no safeguards for the rights of minorities.
In 2009, the building of minarets in Switzerland was legally banned as a result of a
referendum, and in 2021, a ban on face coverings in public was endorsed in another
referendum, which then became law. We need to be cautious about extending the
use of referendums since they have the potential to be used in a divisive and populist
fashion that could undermine rather than enhance liberal democracy.
Electronic petitions
The introduction of electronic petitions means that the Westminster Parliament now
includes an element of direct democracy enabling the public to raise issues that they
believe need resolving. The Scottish and Welsh parliaments also use electronic petitions as
a way of keeping the public engaged with their representatives. As a result, parliamentary
debate is now more focused on issues important to the public. This is firmly within the
tradition that Parliament should provide all citizens with the opportunity for redress of
grievance whereby wrongs done to the individual may be resolved.
Some critics suggest that electronic petitions could be more powerful if they automatically
trigger a parliamentary vote. However, this would provide the government with much
less time to fulfil the legislative programme on which it has a mandate to govern. It
could also bog Parliament down further, debating and voting upon issues that our
representatives have already decided upon. For example, in 2021 electronic petitions
demanded, among other things, that work on HS2 be stopped immediately and that
student tuition fees be reduced from £9,250 to £3,000. Although e-petitions can be
important in encouraging redress of grievance, it is also important that they not be used
to try to reopen issues on which our representatives have already legislated or decided.
Power of recall
The Recall of MPs Act 2015 enables voters to trigger a by-election if 10% of them sign
a petition. However, the circumstances when this can happen are quite extreme —
an MP would need to have been sentenced to prison, suspended from the House of
Commons for at least 10 days or convicted of making false parliamentary allowance
claims by the parliamentary committee on standards. Broadening the criteria on
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which power of recall could be demanded to include issues connected with policy
making would weaken the inf luence of party whips and make representatives more
responsive to their constituents. In the USA, for example, 19 states have policy-
based recall provisions. In 2003 the governor of California, Gray Davis, was recalled
over his failure to balance the budget. In 2021, Gavin Newsom, another Democrat
governor of California, survived Republican attempts to recall him over claims he
had mishandled the state’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Critics point out that ‘policy recall’ could be used for political advantage by opposition
parties as some suggest has been the case in California. Providing voters with an
opportunity to dismiss representatives whom they believe have not represented their
interests would also undermine the Burkean principle that MPs should act according
to their conscience. If MPs could be recalled because their decision conf licted with
their constituents’ wishes, then Parliament could be deprived of independent-
thinking MPs and replaced by mere mouthpieces of their constituents. This could
undermine the reputation and authority of Parliament.
Further devolution
In order to encourage greater democratic participation, it has been suggested that
more power should be devolved from Westminster, thereby giving people greater
self-determination. The Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru)
and elected mayors show how decision making can be brought closer to the public.
However, turnout in these elections suggests that providing another layer of
government is not that effective a way of energising political involvement. There
is also little enthusiasm for an English Parliament and when, in 2004, voters in the
North East were given the opportunity to elect their own regional assembly, only
22% voted in favour of it.
House of Lords reform

Table 1.9 Appointments to The House of Lords is unelected and unaccountable. Its membership is appointed
the House of Lords under and there are claims that this can encourage political cronyism. For example, during
Boris Johnson, 2019–21 his premiership (2019–22), Boris Johnson appointed 86 new life peers, the majority
Conservative 42 (51%) of whom were Conservatives, including the former Conservative Party treasurer
Crossbench 17 (20%) Peter Cruddas, who is a major donor to the Conservative Party (Table 1.9). In one of
Labour 13 (16%)
his last appointments as prime minister he controversially appointed Harry Mount,
author of The Wit and Wisdom of Boris Johnson, to the House of Lords Appointments
Non-affiliated 11 (13%)
Commission (HOLAC), which vets all nominations.
Making the Lords an elected chamber would make Westminster fully democratically
accountable. The danger is that an elected Lords could become a rival to the
Commons, potentially creating constitutional gridlock, which would be unlikely
to make representative government more popular. Given public lack of trust in MPs
and concerns about low electoral turnout for elections to the House of Commons, it
is also difficult to see how providing another elected chamber at Westminster would
encourage greater voter participation.
Digital democracy
Supporters of digital democracy argue that facilitating voting and encouraging
electronic political discussion will lead to greater political engagement and higher
turnout. Digital democracy is, however, problematic.
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l Voting on your mobile phone at your convenience would likely encourage more
voting, but it would also mean that voting was no longer carried out in secret and
Knowledge check
so the possibility of voter manipulation would increase. 17 Define democratic
l Allegations of cyber-interference in Western elections by Russia indicates that deficit.
electronic voting is more open to fraud than traditional voting. 18 Define digital
l The way in which politicians and activists use social media can encourage democracy.
populist sloganeering rather than informed political discussion. 19 What are electronic
l The standard of debate on social media indicates that activists and politicians can petitions and how do
use this as much to bully as to engage in considered debate. they contribute to UK
l The banning of President Trump from Twitter in 2021 also raises the important democracy?
question of whether media companies should be allowed to determine who is 20 What percentage of
allowed on their social platforms. voters need to sign a
petition to trigger a
Reform of the Westminster electoral system by-election?
Critics of FPTP claim that it discourages voting because it limits voter choice by
over-rewarding the Labour and Conservative parties, making it much more difficult
for other parties to gain representation. The replacement of FPTP with a proportional
form of election would create a fairer connection between the votes a party receives
and its representation in Parliament. If ‘wasted votes’ and ‘safe seats’ were eliminated,
votes would carry more weight and voters would have a greater incentive to vote.
l In the 2011 additional vote (AV) referendum, a large majority (67.9%) voted in
favour of not replacing FPTP with AV.
l The parliaments in Wales and Scotland are elected by the additional member
system (AMS), which is a type of proportional representation. However, their
voter turnouts suggest that the introduction of proportional representation will
not necessarily provide an effective remedy.
Compulsory voting
In order to improve government’s legitimacy, 16 nation states enforce compulsory
voting, although one of these is North Korea where only one name appears on
the ballot.
l The first country to introduce compulsory voting was Belgium, in 1893. It is an
accepted part of Belgian life and in the 2019 federal election turnout was 90%.
l Australia has required citizens to vote in national elections since 1924. In its 2019
federal elections, 92% of those eligible voted.
Knowledge check
21 What are the main
Supporters of compulsory voting argue that when a high percentage of the electorate
arguments against a
engage in the democratic process, a government’s mandate is significantly enhanced.
primarily appointed
Compulsory voting would address the decreasing voter turnout in the UK. Voters
House of Lords?
would be forced to engage with their civic responsibilities, encouraging a more
22 What problems might
politically educated and participatory democracy.
an elected House of
However, compulsory voting is also highly controversial since critics claim that it Lords create?
gives the state too much power to coerce its citizens. According to some activists, 23 Give an example of
the decision not to engage at any level with the voting process represents a powerful a country that has
political statement of disapproval. Forcing people to vote also fails to address the compulsory voting.
reasons why people may choose not to vote. Although compulsory voting would 24 What are the main
increase voter turnout, critics respond that the extra votes might not necessarily be criticisms of FPTP
informed ones. This could degrade rather than enhance the outcome. Indeed, being for Westminster
compelled to vote might even reduce popular enthusiasm for the democratic process elections?
by making it seem oppressive.
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Debate
Should voting be made compulsory?

Evaluation: The fact that on average 30% of the public now choose not to vote in UK general elections is concerning. However, if
voting was made compulsory, would this involve a dangerous increase in the power of the state over the individual?
Yes No
• Voting is a civic responsibility, like jury service. • The public have the right to choose whether or not to vote
If citizens are not required to fulfil the duties in an election. It is up to politicians to mobilise public
of citizenship, then the civic engagement that enthusiasm by providing reasons to vote. Compulsory
democracy relies upon to function may be lost voting could, therefore, remove the incentive for
politicians to engage with the public
• Political apathy is a problem in many liberal • The votes of politically disengaged citizens will carry
democracies. In the 2019 UK general election, less weight than the votes of those who take their civic
turnout was 67.3% (in 1992 it had been 77.7%). responsibilities seriously. Random voting could undermine
Limited numbers of people voting can undermine the legitimacy of the result
the legitimacy of the result, especially if turnout
falls beneath 50%
• Those not voting are often from the poorest groups • Compulsory voting is based on coercion, which is alien to
in society (D and E voters) and young people. This the British political system. Voting is a civic right, but it is
means that political decision making often favours not a duty such as the payment of taxes or jury service
older and wealthier voters. Compulsory voting would
mean that politicians would have to be responsive to
all shades of political opinion
• Compulsory voting does not have to force people • The extension of the power of the state over the individual
to make a choice. In Australia, for example, the ought to be resisted since it limits our right to act in the
voter can spoil their ballot if none of the candidates way we wish. The British state has traditionally intervened
appeals to them. They must, though, attend a polling as little as possible in the liberties of its citizens. National
station Citizen Service, for example, is voluntary
• The legal requirement to vote can have an important • Not voting can be a positive decision to register
educative role. If people are required to vote, they dissatisfaction with the candidates or the process.
will be more likely to inform themselves of the Only 33.2% of the electorate voted for police commissioners
political choices open to them in 2021, which may indicate that voters regard the post as
insignificant. Forcing the public to vote for a choice they
disagree with is an infringement of civic rights
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Most attempts to increase voter participation focus on the electorate as a whole. A
closer inspection of the evidence reveals that lack of participation is primarily found
Knowledge check
among younger voters and lower social groupings (D and E). In the 2019 general 25 List three arguments
election, for example, Ipsos MORI suggested that just 47% of 18–24-year-olds voted in favour of
compared with a 74% turnout by those aged over 65. Political disaffection is also compulsory voting.
most common among less prosperous and marginalised social groups in deprived 26 List three arguments
areas. In the 2019 general election, for example, the 30 constituencies with the against compulsory
highest turnout in the UK had much higher house prices and more university voting.
graduates living there than the 30 constituencies with the lowest turnout (Table 27 What was the
1.10). Attempts to encourage political participation should focus on the reasons why constituency with the
younger people and poorer people feel less connected with the political process. highest turnout in the
most recent general
Table 1.10 2019 general election: constituencies with the highest and lowest turnout
election?
East Dumbartonshire 80.3% 28 What was the
Richmond Park 78.7% constituency with the
Rushcliffe 78.5% lowest turnout in the
Sheffield Hallam 78.2% most recent general
Central Devon 78.2% election?
Kingston upon Hull East 49.3%
Chorley 51.7%
Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle 52.1%
Kingston upon Hull North 52.2%
Blackley and Broughton 52.6%
Contemporary debates on the further extension of

the franchise
Although the UK elects the Westminster
Parliament on the principle of universal
suffrage, there are still some sections of
society who are denied the vote. Some of
these are uncontroversial, such as members
of the House of Lords who, as members of
the legislature, already have their interests
represented. Those declared mentally
incapacitated are also barred from voting.
Votes at 16
Support for lowering the voting age to 16
has significantly increased in recent years.
The Votes at 16 Coalition was established
in 2003 to bring together groups such as the Votes at 16 arranges high-profile demonstrations such as the one above,
National Union of Students and the British placing them within the long history of those agitating for political reform
Youth Council to campaign for a lowering
of the voting age. In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 16- and 17-year-
olds were allowed to vote. 16- and 17-year-olds can also vote in elections for the
parliaments in Scotland and Wales. The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties
endorse voting at 16, leaving the Conservatives as the only leading party opposed
to this reform.
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The tactics of the Votes at 16 Coalition are twofold:
Knowledge check
1 In order to generate mass enthusiasm for reducing the voting age to 16 it is
important to win as much positive publicity as possible. Given young people’s
arguments in favour
active engagement on social media, Votes at 16 has established a major presence
of voting at 16?
online. It also encourages school and college debates and its memorable slogan,
‘Engage, empower, inspire’, provides the movement with a coherent and powerful
arguments against
message of change.
voting at 16?
2 Votes at 16 also seeks the endorsement of MPs and members of the House of
31 What political parties
Lords and lists on its website the names of all MPs and Lords who back the
support and oppose
campaign, to show there is high-profile support for change.
voting at 16?
Although a significant number of MPs support lowering the age of voting,
Jim McMahon’s Private Member’s Bill (2017–19) to lower the voting age failed
because of lack of parliamentary time. The success of Votes at 16 is likely to
depend on the election of a Labour government or a change of policy by the
Conservative Party. The latter is unlikely because younger people are generally
more left-leaning so there is no incentive for a Conservative government to
support a change in the law.
Debate
Should the age of voting be reduced to 16?

Evaluation: Although supporters of voting at 16 claim that it will encourage important values of civic responsibility, are young
people sufficiently socially and politically mature to vote at this age?
Yes No
• At age 16, young people can exercise significant • Some of the claims about what people can do at age
responsibility: they can engage in sexual relations, 16 are misleading. Parental permission is needed to
marry, pay tax and national insurance and join the join the army at 16 or 17 and, apart from in Scotland,
armed services, so it is irrational that they are parental permission is required to marry before 18
regarded as not mature enough to vote. ‘That is the • Young people are not regarded as responsible enough
ridiculous situation we are in: we ask young people to to be able to buy alcohol or cigarettes themselves
pay tax to a government who spend it on the health until the age of 18, so it is disingenuous to claim that
service or going to war, but they do not have the ability 16- and 17-year-olds are capable of exercising all adult
to influence that government’ (David Linden MP) responsibilities
• The introduction of citizenship lessons into the school • We should beware of imposing adult responsibilities on
curriculum means that young people are now better children. According to the UN Convention on the Rights
informed about current affairs and so can make of the Child, children have the right to be treated as
educated political decisions such. UK soldiers below the age of 18 cannot serve in
• Allowing young people to vote earlier will encourage combat because if they did, the UK could be accused
them to take their duties as citizens earlier, especially of using ‘child soldiers’. Providing 16- and 17-year-olds
as these habits can be developed while they are still at with the right to vote would mean they should logically
school be able to engage in all adult activities, which conflicts
• National Citizen Service is encouraging young people with their rights as children
to have a stake in society, which would be further • Most 16- and 17-year-olds in the UK are still in full- or
entrenched by voting at 16 part-time education. They are therefore much less
• Most local education authorities (LEAs) hold elections likely to pay tax and so do not have the same ‘stake’ in
for the UK Youth Parliament, which has been praised society as those who are older
for its positive campaigning. Large numbers of 16- and • Voting turnout among 18–24-year-olds is lower than in
17-year-olds have also demonstrated considerable other age groups, so allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote
political activism through their commitment to issues could actually compound the problem of youth apathy.
such as Black Lives Matter and environmentalism The Isle of Man enfranchised 16- and 17-year-olds
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Yes No
in 2006. In every election since then voter turnout
• The 2014 Scottish independence referendum among this age group has decreased:
demonstrated huge engagement by 16- and 17-year-
olds. 75% of this age group voted and, according – 2006: 55.3%
to Ruth Davidson, former leader of the Scottish – 2011: 54.1%
Conservatives, ‘The democratic effect turned out to be – 2016: 46.2%
entirely positive’ – 2021: 46%
• Since 16- and 17-year-olds can vote for the Scottish • 16- and 17-year-olds have few adult life experiences
and Welsh parliaments it is illogical that they cannot on which to base their voting decisions. They are thus
vote for the Westminster Parliament. ‘For our United more likely to be manipulated into voting in a certain
Kingdom to be truly united ... we must have democratic way by social media or peer pressure
equality’ (Jim McMahon MP)
• Although Scotland and Wales have reduced the voting
• According to the Conservative MP John Lamont, how age to 16, this does not mean it is the right thing
16- and 17-year-olds choose to vote is irrelevant: ‘If to do. Very few countries allow voting at 16, so the
lowering the voting age is the right thing to do, party UK is within the political mainstream by granting the
politics should not come into it’ franchise at 18
• The Labour Party has closely identified itself with the
youth vote so its support for lowering the voting age
to 16 represents an act of political partisanship rather
than genuine idealism
Prisoner voting
In the UK, prisoners are not entitled to vote. This is because they are
regarded as having renounced the rights of citizenship for the duration
of the time that they are incarcerated.
l The question of whether prisoners are being denied a fundamental
human right gained some publicity in two cases brought by John
Hirst against the British government. Hirst’s claim, that although
he was in prison he should be allowed to vote, was dismissed by
the courts in 2001. However, in 2004 the European Court of
Human Rights declared that the blanket ban on prisoner voting
was contrary to Article 3 of the First Protocol of the European
Convention on Human Rights, which ‘provides for the right to
elections performed by secret ballot, that are also free and that
occur at regular intervals’. The British government was, therefore,
in defiance of the European Convention on Human Rights.
l Pressure groups such as Liberty and the Howard League for Penal
Reform support prisoner voting. However, unlike voting at 16, there has been
very little public pressure for a change in this law. When the issue was debated in
the House of Commons in 2011 it also gained cross-party condemnation, with
234 MPs against prisoner voting and only 22 in favour.
The Hirst cases raised significant issues concerning the extent to which the British
government can act in defiance of the European Court of Human Rights. Since
2004 this had been a constant source of friction with the court and so, in 2017, the
government offered to allow the small numbers of prisoners on day release the right
to vote to resolve the problem. Scotland allows prisoners serving sentence shorter
than 12 months to vote for the Scottish Parliament and in local elections. These
concessions have generated little public interest, which suggests that extending
voting to prisoners serving longer sentences is unlikely to generate enough public
enthusiasm for the law to be changed. The public and their representatives agree that
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people who have been convicted of serious crimes have broken their contract with
society and should be deprived of the rights of citizenship.
Widening the franchise and debates over

suffrage
Historical perspective
The development of Britain as a democratic nation state can be traced far back into
history. Some historians have claimed that the Anglo-Saxon witan, an assembly of
aristocrats who advised their ruler, represented a rudimentary form of democracy.
More commonly, the origins of democracy are associated with King John (1199–
1216) being forced by his barons to sign Magna Carta (1215). Although the barons
were mostly interested in protecting their own powers from the King, they also
inserted a number of clauses to protect the rights of all freeborn Englishmen from
the arbitrary rule of the monarch. The three most iconic clauses in Magna Carta
state that:
‘In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement,
without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it.’
(Paragraph 38)
‘No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions,
or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed
with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of
his equals or by the law of the land.’
(Paragraph 39)
‘To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.’

(Paragraph 40)
Throughout the medieval period, Parliament acquired the right to grant money
to the Crown since it represented the nation’s property holders, and Henry VIII
(1509–47) used Parliament to provide his takeover of the English Church with legal
validity.
However, it was not until the early seventeenth century that Parliament began to
assert the right to protect the liberties of the English people against the increasingly
autocratic Stuart monarchy. Edward Coke, the chief justice of James I (1603–25),
laid down in the Petition of Right (1628) the principle that the Crown is not above
the law, and during the English Civil War, Parliament asserted its right to be the
primary lawmaker against Charles I’s belief in the ‘divine right’ of the King to rule
alone. The violence and instability of the Civil War unleashed new democratic
movements such as the Levellers, who stated that all men had the same right to elect
their government, but such radical ideas were stamped out during the Protectorate
of Oliver Cromwell (1653–58), who proved almost as unwilling as Charles I to
accept the will of Parliament.
Although Charles II accepted the Crown at the Restoration in 1660, his brother
James II was suspected of trying to rule as a tyrant. Consequently, in the Glorious
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Revolution of 1688, James was overthrown and Parliament invited William
of Orange to become King of England. William III’s agreement that he would
cooperate with Parliament on the Bill of Rights (1689) is a key moment in the
development of Britain’s constitutional monarchy.
However, Parliament remained the preserve of the rich and powerful, and it was
only in the nineteenth century that a number of acts of parliamentary reform Key term
gradually opened up the franchise. The Great Reform Act of 1832 enfranchised Franchise/Suffrage
some members of the middle classes, while the Reform Acts 1867 and 1884 The right to vote.
increasingly opened the vote to working-class householders in the boroughs and Throughout the nineteenth
then the counties. and twentieth centuries
the franchise was
gradually extended so that
In focus now the UK has universal
adult suffrage. This means
Early attempts at democracy that all people aged 18
and over have the right to
vote in public elections
unless they are mentally
incapacitated, in prison
or a member of the House
of Lords.
The inscription on a wall of St Mary’s Church, the site of the Putney Debates. In 1647, during
the Putney Debates, members of the New Model Army unsuccessfully put forward to Cromwell
and the military command the case for manhood suffrage. Socialist politicians, in particular,
regard these debates as a dramatic moment in the struggle for democracy
‘For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the
greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it clear, that every Man that is to live under
a Government ought first by his own Consent to put himself under that Government;
and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to
that Government that he hath not had a voice to put Himself under.’
Colonel Thomas Rainsborough during the Putney Debates, 1647
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In 1838, working-class movements across the country drew up a People’s Charter demanding
manhood suffrage. Some of these Chartists tried to provoke a national uprising in 1839
at Newport, in which 20 people were killed, and Chartism remained a worryingly popular
movement for the government until 1848. By the 1860s it had been succeeded by new radical
groups such as the Reform League. Fear of the dangerous consequences of inaction was a
major cause of nineteenth-century parliamentary reform.
1 Research popular movements for political change in the UK from the nineteenth century to
today.
2 How often have they achieved their objectives and to what extent do you think they have
contributed towards the development of British democracy?
In 1872, the Ballot Act made voting in secret compulsory, so protecting citizens’
right to vote in any way they wished.
The Reform Acts of the nineteenth century had all been based on the principle that
the right to vote depended on the ownership of property. Property owners had a
stake in society and had thus ‘earned’ the right to vote. The principle of ‘one person,
one vote’ was alien to these reformers and by the beginning of the twentieth century
40% of adult males could still not vote, as well as, of course, all women.
The suffragists, suffragettes, and the First World War

Political reform has often been driven by popular pressure. In 1897 the National
Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the suffragists, was
established by Millicent Fawcett to lobby Parliament to extend the franchise to women.
The efforts of the suffragists were not sufficient for more militant women. In 1903
Emmeline Pankhurst established the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU)
under the slogan ‘deeds not words’. The suffragettes, as they were known, engaged in
much more disruptive and even violent action to draw attention to their cause. When
imprisoned, some went on hunger strike and in 1913 one suffragette, Emily Davison,
was killed when she tried to run in front of the King’s horse in the Derby.
At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the
suffragettes suspended their activities. However, the
sacrifices that both men and women made during
the war changed the political atmosphere. Women
performed vital war work in factories, and 80,000
served as non-combatants in the armed forces. In
1916 male conscription was introduced and almost
750,000 men were killed in combat. In 1918, in
recognition of this, the Representation of the
People Act allowed all men aged 21 and over, and
women aged 30 and over who fulfilled a property
qualification, to vote in general elections. As a
result of age and other restrictions, only 40% of
women got the vote in 1918, and they were almost
entirely white and middle class. In 1928, a further
Although suffragette protests gained huge publicity, it was Representation of the People Act extended the vote
women’s contribution to the First World War that was the to men and women aged 21 and over, establishing
immediate cause of some women gaining the franchise in 1918 universal suffrage.
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Violence and political change ‘This war was begun in order that force and brutality
might crush out freedom among men. Its authors
The extent to which the suffragettes advanced the cause
cannot have foreseen that one of its main effects
of universal suffrage is controversial. Violent and disruptive
would be to give to women a commanding position and
actions such as burning letterboxes and assaulting leading influence in the public affairs of the world.’
anti-suffrage politicians guaranteed them publicity. However,
this publicity was often negative and associated the movement 1 What social groups/pressure groups today use methods
with violent extremism and even terrorism. This was something similar to those of the suffragettes?
that prime minister Herbert Asquith could not be seen to give 2 To what extent do you think that direct action/civil
in to. Some historians have claimed that women’s vital war disobedience can ever be justified in advancing a
work was significantly more important in proving it was illogical legitimate political cause?
to deny them the vote. In August 1918, Asquith’s successor,
David Lloyd George, paid tribute to their efforts:
Representation of the People Act 1969 Knowledge check

In 1969 a third Representation of the People Act lowered the voting age from 21
32 Define universal
to 18. This was in recognition of the new opportunities for and responsibilities
suffrage.
of young people. The extension of university education, greater sexual freedom
33 What is the franchise?
provided by easier access to contraception, and the increased earning potential of
34 Which act lowered the
young people all made lowering the voting age to 18 relatively uncontroversial.
voting age from 21 to
18?
Pressure groups and other influences

The UK is a pluralist democracy, which means that political power and inf luence are
widely distributed so that different groups can compete to sway the government in
their favour. In addition to voting in elections, members of the public can participate
in the political process by supporting pressure groups and wider social movements,
engaging in direct action or joining online campaigns. Think-tanks, corporations,
charities, lobbying firms, professional bodies and religious movements can also put
pressure on the government to act in a certain way. Table 1.11 explains how pressure
groups are categorised.
Table 1.11 Pressure group categorisation
Sectional/interest Cause/promotional
Sectional pressure groups represent the interests of a Cause pressure groups promote a particular issue.
particular group within society. For example, the Muslim Pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth and Liberty,
Council of Britain specifically represents the interests of which campaigns on behalf of civil liberties in the UK, are
British Muslims and the National Union of Students (NUS) cause pressure groups because their members are united
represents the interests of students. They therefore lobby by their shared interest in a specific cause. Members of
government on behalf of these clearly defined social groups these groups can be drawn from across society
Insider Outsider
An insider pressure group has privileged access to Outsider pressure groups do not possess access to
government decision making. The British Medical Association political decision making and may even be unprepared
represents doctors and so possesses specialist information to work within existing political structures that they
that governments will wish to consult. The Howard League for see as hopelessly compromised. A good example
Penal Reform is an impartial organisation that can supply the of this is Extinction Rebellion, which has carried out
Home Office with important information concerning prison several disruptive high-profile protests to achieve public
reform, policing and youth crime recognition
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What factors help pressure groups to
achieve success?
Insider status
Insider status can be vital in the success of a pressure group. If political decision
makers consider that it is to their advantage to consult with a pressure group, then
the group’s inf luence will be guaranteed. As a result of their specialist knowledge,
groups such as the British Medical Association (BMA), the Confederation of British
Industry (CBI) and the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) can all be called upon
to supply governments with specialised information to help them reach informed
decisions. Whether a pressure group can claim insider status can also be determined
by political circumstances. In the 1970s, trade unions in Britain were so powerful
that Jack Jones, the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union
(TGWU), was once called ‘the most powerful man in Britain’ for the inf luence he
wielded with prime ministers. The interests of the Trades Union Congress (TUC)
remain closely aligned with those of the Labour Party, so they are much more likely
to exert inf luence under a Labour government. Conversely, pressure groups that
represent big business, such as the Institute of Directors, or those that endorse tax
cuts and small government, such as the TaxPayers’ Alliance, are generally more
inf luential under Conservative governments.
Given the growing significance of environmental issues, contemporary politicians
have become more likely to consult environmental groups for specialist information.
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee regularly consults with
the Green Alliance, which provides advice on environmental protection. Similarly,
the developing consensus in favour of LGBTQ+ rights has provided pressure
groups such as the LGBT Foundation with increased inf luence within government,
though trans people are still more marginalised. In 2021, for example, the Scottish
government announced that it was consulting with LGBTQ+ groups over its plans
to ban conversion therapy by 2023.
Wealth
Wealthy pressure groups will have the financial resources to employ researchers,
operate offices close to important points of government access and arrange meetings
with members of parliament. The CBI represents 190,000 UK businesses employing
nearly 7 million people. Its considerable wealth enables it to employ more than
100 policy researchers. The Institute of Directors, representing business leaders and
entrepreneurs, is also very wealthy, enabling it to operate offices in 12 regions across
the UK and the Isle of Man and Guernsey. Wealth does not guarantee success if a
group’s interests do not coincide with those of the government. However, it does
provide a pressure group with a powerful voice among decision makers.
In focus
Campaign on Child Poverty (CPAG)
The Campaign on Child Poverty is financially well resourced. It runs offices in London and
Glasgow and employs a relatively large staff of researchers and lobbyists. Its influence on
decision making is also strong because all the leading political parties at Westminster support
its aims, and reduction of child poverty is a key policy objective of the governments in Wales
and Scotland.
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Celebrity leadership
If a pressure group is connected to a famous name this will help
it achieve popular recognition. One of the reasons why Live Aid
(1985) and Live Eight (2005) were so successful was because they
were very closely associated with the singer-songwriter Bob
Geldof. In 2009, actress Joanna Lumley vocally supported the
campaign for Gurkhas to be granted full rights of residency in the
UK. Today actor and writer Stephen Fry provides a public face for
the Mind mental health campaign for LGBTQ+ rights. Marcus
Rashford has made use of his celebrity status as a professional
footballer to campaign for all school children in households
accessing universal credit to have free school meals.
The actress Emma Watson is
Social media closely associated with the
Social media provide new opportunities for pressure groups to engage with the HeForShe campaign, which
public. Groups such as Amnesty International, Oxfam and Friends of the Earth encourages gender equality.
appreciate the importance of having a considerable inf luence online since this is Her speech at the United
where people increasingly access and spread ideas. Platforms like Facebook and Nations in 2014 in support
Twitter and hashtag campaigns provide a valuable way of keeping the public informed of gender equality has played
of a pressure group’s activities while their websites usually provide opportunities a vital and ongoing role in
to donate and sign online petitions, as well as giving up-to-date information on creating a global debate on
getting involved in national and regional campaigns. the issue
This way of mobilising public support has been called a ‘clickocracy’, since the internet
enables the public to engage with pressure groups purely online. 38 Degrees, for example,
was established in 2009 and provides a forum for its members to quickly choose and
launch their own online campaigns. Its slogan is ‘People, Power, Change’ and it can focus
public attention on local issues such as protecting green spaces or on national campaigns
such as encouraging the government to introduce a drinks-container recycling scheme.
Direct action
Some pressure groups can choose to engage in civil disobedience to achieve their aims.
This is a risky strategy, but it can create immediate publicity and even give rise to so much
disruption that the government decides to back down or negotiate. In 1867, riots in Hyde
Park demanding the extension of the franchise quickened the pace of parliamentary
reform. In March 1990, the extraordinary violence of the poll tax riots in Trafalgar
Square further undermined an already weakened Margaret Thatcher, contributing to
her resignation in November and to her successor, John Major, swiftly abandoning
the tax. However, the extent to which direct and disruptive action by movements like
Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter has furthered their aims is less certain. Knowledge check
Trade unions can deploy industrial action such as limits on overtime and strikes. The 35 Define pluralist
extent to which they are successful depends not only on the disruptions they cause but also democracy.
the strength of a government to withstand them. For example, the fact that most of British 36 Define direct action.
energy derived from coal in the 1970s gave the National Union of Miners (NUM) such 37 List two examples of
huge coercive power that to end an NUM strike in 1972 the Heath government awarded direct action being
miners a 21% increase in pay settlement. Given the decline in trade union membership, used in recent UK
the coercive power of trade unions is significantly less than it was. However, industrial politics.
action can still be successful. In 2021, refuse workers in Glasgow achieved maximum 38 Name two celebrities
publicity and disruption for their cause by having their eight-day strike coincide with who are closely
the COP26 conference. During the Christmas period in 2022, rail and postal strikes associated with a
together with the biggest strike by nurses in the history of the NHS were responsible pressure group.
for widespread disruption, demonstrating the continued significance of industrial action.
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Examples of two pressure group successes
Motorway organisations the AA and the RAC organised successful campaigns against the rollout
of smart motorways in the UK
Table 1.12 outlines the aims and strategies of two successful UK campaigns.
Table 1.12 Two successful UK pressure group campaigns
Motoring organisations and smart motorways Marcus Rashford and free school meals
The Automobile Association (AA) and the Royal Automobile When schools closed during the 2020 lockdown, children
Club (RAC) were both highly critical of the Johnson on free school meals were deprived of this provision. This
government’s plans to introduce smart motorways. These naturally put an added financial burden on the poorest
are motorways on which the hard shoulder is removed to families. Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford,
increase capacity. It is replaced with refugee areas (no whose mother had struggled to provide for him as a child,
more than 1.6 miles apart), which drivers should head empathised with their plight
for. According to both organisations, smart motorways
significantly increased the risk to drivers
Campaign strategy and why it succeeded Campaign strategy and why it succeeded
The tactics they deployed made the most of their Rashford determined to use his celebrity status to take
professional expertise and insider status to directly action on behalf of these families. He worked closely with
influence policy making. the charity FareShare to provide free meals and used his
In 2021, the RAC’s report on motoring survey showed Twitter account to advertise businesses that were offering
that 54% of drivers believed that smart motorways made free meals. This generated considerable favourable
them less safe. According to the AA, smart motorways publicity, which Rashford followed with an e-petition, ‘End
could leave stranded cars like ‘sitting ducks’. In 2021, child food poverty – no child should be going hungry’, signed
the AA and the RAC, together with West Midlands police by 1.1 million people. Pictures of Rashford with his mother
and Highways England, provided specialist evidence to the sorting food parcels generated further positive coverage.
Transport Select Committee. On the recommendation of the As Rashford’s campaign gathered momentum, a growing
committee, the government decided to delay building new number of Conservative MPs were also becoming highly
smart highways for 5 years while their safety implications critical of the prime minister. Consequently, in a series of
were assessed climb-downs, the government announced that it would provide
a £120 million ‘Covid summer food fund’ and a £170 million
‘Covid winter grant scheme’ for vulnerable families
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Why are some pressure groups more successful
than others?
A useful mnemonic to understand the factors that contribute to pressure group
success is RIPE:
l Resources
l Ideological compatibility with the government
l Popularity
l Expertise
A pressure group does not have to fulfil all these criteria to be successful. However,
it will have to demonstrate at least one of them if it is to achieve its objectives. For
example, the expertise of the BMA gives it guaranteed insider status under any
government, while the considerable financial resources of the Conservative and
Labour Friends of Israel enable them to cultivate inf luence at Westminster. The Knowledge check
popularity of the Gurkha Justice Campaign persuaded the Brown government to
provide all Gurkhas with the automatic right of British residency. The TaxPayers’ 39 What is the difference
Alliance was particularly inf luential during the coalition government (2010–15) between insider and
because its commitment to cutting public spending ref lected the austerity measures outsider pressure
of the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne. groups?
40 What is the difference
However, if a pressure group does not fulfil any of these criteria, then it is unlikely between cause
to be successful. Plane Stupid has opposed a third runway at Heathrow and Stop (promotional) and
HS2 opposes the new high-speed rail link between Birmingham and London, but sectional pressure
both have failed because they have not been able to persuade the government that groups?
they have a powerful enough case or significant enough support. The pressure group 41 List three successful
Life, which advocates limiting abortion rights, lacks the popular support and insider pressure groups.
status necessary to achieve success. 42 List three less
successful pressure
Examples of two pressure group failures groups.
Table 1.13 outlines the aims and strategies of two unsuccessful UK campaigns.
Table 1.13 Two unsuccessful UK pressure group campaigns

Stop HS2 Stop the War Coalition
• In response to the decision to build a high-speed rail • The Stop the War Coalition was founded in 2001
link between London and Birmingham, Stop HS2 was in response to the ‘war on terror’. As the Blair
established in 2010. government prepared to invade Iraq, it organised the biggest
• Stop HS2 has organised several high-profile demonstration in British history, in which as many as
demonstrations and has cultivated cross-party 1 million people marched through London to protest the war.
support from several MPs whose constituencies are • However, although the march was peaceful and made a
impacted by the project. powerful impact on the public, Blair remained ideologically
• However, Conservative, Labour and Liberal committed to the invasion. His large parliamentary majority
Democrats all support the construction of HS2. In and the support of most of the Conservative Party also
2013, MPs voted 399 to 42 in favour of building the meant that when the House of Commons voted on military
first stage of the route. The vote in the House of intervention in Iraq, he had a 179-vote majority. Therefore,
Lords was 386 in favour and 26 against. Blair was safely able to ignore the protests and preparations
• In 2020, an e-petition demanding a new for war continued.
parliamentary vote on repealing the HS2 legislation • The Stop the War Coalition continues to campaign against
gained 155,253 signatures. However, strong British military interventions. However, Russia’s invasion
parliamentary support for the London–Birmingham of Ukraine in 2022 has further reduced its influence, with
phase of HS2 has meant that the government could Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer stridently condemning the
ignore calls for it to be scrapped. Stop the War Coalition and demanding that Labour MPs
completely disassociate themselves from it.
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Case studies of a social movement and a
pressure group
Black Lives Matter
In 2020, in the United States the murder during
police custody of George Floyd generated global
outrage. In the UK, this led to several large Black
Lives Matter protests during the summer of
2020, including the dramatic toppling in Bristol
of a statue of Edward Colston, an investor in
charitable works in Bristol whose considerable
wealth derived from the slave trade. The act of
‘taking the knee’ is also closely associated with
Black Lives Matter and during Euro 2020 (played
in 2021), the England team ‘took the knee’ before
each match to show their solidarity against racism.
The passion, energy and enthusiasm of Black
Lives Matter protests and demonstrations
A statue of enslaver Edward Colston is thrown into the River Avon
generated a powerful debate in the UK about the
during a protest in Bristol
need to re-examine Britain’s colonial past, the
pervasiveness of racism and the extent to which it is still tolerated. As a result, the
Johnson government established a new commission on racial inequality and several
companies, schools and colleges released statements condemning racism. In Bristol
the Colston Hall changed its name to the Bristol Beacon and Colston’s Girls’ School
became Montpelier High School. The government of Wales also announced that
from 2022, it would be mandatory for Welsh schools to teach the history of ‘Black,
Asian and minority ethnic people’.
However, some still opposed BLM. From March 2020 to March 2021, racially
motivated crimes increased by 12%, to their highest-ever level, while the then home
secretary, Priti Patel, condemned ‘taking the knee’ as gesture politics and accused
protestors who toppled and defaced statues of vandalism. While Black Lives Matter
builds on a history of organising against racism and has encouraged the UK to
confront the uncomfortable reality of ongoing racism, whether it has achieved the
consensus necessary for real progress is more contentious.
Mind
The mental health charity Mind is committed to improving access to mental
health treatment and helping those who suffer from mental health issues and those
who care for them. Mind organises high-profile fundraising and awareness-raising
events to put pressure on governments to support those with mental health issues.
Its campaigns include #FundTheHubs to ensure anyone aged 11–25 can access
mental health support when they require it. Mind also works closely with schools
and colleges, helping those with mental health issues to appreciate that they are not
alone and there is support they can access.
One of Mind’s key campaign strategies is to use celebrity ambassadors to encourage
outreach and a more open discussion of mental health. These include its president,
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Stephen Fry, and a wide variety of ambassadors such as the political strategist and
writer Alastair Campbell, the comedian Ruby Wax and the singer-songwriter
George Ezra.
Mind works closely with MPs and peers, produces detailed responses to government
legislation and is regularly consulted by the Health Select Committee. Mind shows
how a pressure group can deploy a variety of effective strategies to achieve its
objectives.
Extinction Rebellion
Whereas environmental pressure groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace combine
public activism with lobbying, Extinction Rebellion is a grass-roots social movement which
argues that powerful vested interests mean that traditional lobbying methods will always fail
to address the crisis facing the environment. Instead, its members favour ‘non-violent civil
disobedience’ designed to challenge public and political complacency on climate change.
In the UK the group puts pressure on the Westminster government through direct action to
declare a climate emergency, commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2025 and establish
a citizens’ assembly to ensure that the necessary environmental changes occur. Extinction
Rebellion is firmly committed to the sort of sensational outsider methods that will achieve
maximum publicity for its cause. Its website encourages ‘rebels’ to join protests and, by
advocating for a citizens’ assembly, aims to create organs of direct democracy that will propel
change. Its protests have included disrupting commuter traffic and digging up the lawn at
Trinity College, Cambridge, to draw attention to the college’s proposals to sell land for a lorry
park to be built on. In 2021, Extinction Rebellion blockaded Amazon distribution centres on
‘Black Friday’ to highlight its negative environmental impact. It also disrupted the Lord Mayor’s
Show in London and set up a giant pink table to halt traffic in Covent Garden to protest what it
saw as the failure of COP26 in Glasgow to provide enough of a response to climate change.
Supporters of Extinction Rebellion claim that when it deploys disruptive tactics, like the
suffragettes did, it is doing this to create the necessary sense of urgency to achieve
transformational change. According to Stephen Fry, ‘They are loud, they are disruptive, they
sometimes throw paint and other such things, and they block, but what else is going to make
politicians really recalibrate, realign, revolutionise politics so that it faces the horrors of climate
change and all the damage that we are doing to our planet?’ Others are more critical, claiming
that Extinction Rebellion’s tactics are more likely to generate hostility than support. Professor
of Geography at Cambridge University Mike Hulme alleges that ‘the forms of protests that
Extinction Rebellion [employs] . . . risk alienating the large majority of the public upon which
any sensible climate policies must rely’.
1 There is a growing consensus among all political parties that the UK should achieve net
zero carbon emissions at the earliest opportunity. To what extent do you think Extinction
Rebellion has been important in persuading politicians to take environmental issues more
seriously?
2 In what other ways have environmentalists put pressure on government? Do you think they
have been more or less successful?
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Lobbyists, think-tanks, business and professional
bodies
Pressure groups are not the only organisations that exert inf luence on government.
Key term
Think-tanks are made up of experts in a particular field who produce ideas that can
Think-tank A group form the basis for government policy making. Some of them are closely associated
established to generate with a particular political ideology that helps them to achieve insider status. For
ideas. Political parties example, the Fabian Society is a centre-left think-tank whose reports enjoy a wide
work closely with like- readership within the Labour Party. Its inf luence has also increased under Sir Keir
minded think-tanks to Starmer because he is more open to its ‘soft left’ ideology than was his predecessor,
develop policy. Jeremy Corbyn. On the right, free-market think-tanks, like the Institute of
Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies, encourage a free-market/small
state ideology, which is highly attractive within the Conservative Party.
Not all think-tanks take an ideological stance. Chatham House provides highly
respected impartial analysis of global politics, which politicians consult, and Demos
is a cross-party think-tank specialising in the development of social policy. Such
groups contribute useful insights and ideas to the political debate and so play an
important part in the political process.
Debate
Wealthy groups are most likely to achieve influence with

the government
Evaluation: Lobbyists, think-tanks and wealthy pressure groups have the financial resources
to employ staff and run campaigns. However, can wealth always ‘buy’ influence or are other
factors equally important for success?
Yes No
• Lobbying groups and businesses with • If the government’s views are

strong financial resources can provide incompatible, then wealth is unlikely
easy access to decision makers to achieve influence. The TaxPayers’
• The wealth of the Confederation of Alliance was unable to stop the high
British Industry and Institute of Directors spending of the Johnson government
enables them to staff offices close to • Social movements such as Everyone’s
important centres of power Invited and Black Lives Matter can
• Wealthy pressure groups like Friends of encourage change without financial
the Earth and Oxfam can commission resources
reports that can be used to influence • Celebrity endorsement can be more
government policy important than wealth (e.g. Marcus
• Powerful businesses can employ Rashford and free school meals)
high-profile figures to represent their • Pressure groups can achieve insider
interests. Since 2022, Sir Nick Clegg status (Mind/the Howard League
has been president of Facebook’s global for Penal Reform) without significant
affairs financial resources if the government
shares similar objectives
The TaxPayers’ Alliance was established in 2004 to encourage small government

and lower taxes. Its research papers and advice were particularly valued by David
Cameron and George Osborne and its ideas were used to underpin the austerity
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programme of the coalition government (2010–15). Its Euroscepticism has also
afforded it significant inf luence within the Conservative Party. However, think-
tanks do not wield complete inf luence. Politicians decide whether they are going
to accept their ideas and advice. The Johnson and Sunak governments’ readiness
to engage in large-scale government projects at the cost of higher taxes went
against the advice of the TaxPayers’ Alliance. This suggests the claims that think-
tanks wield too much inf luence are exaggerated. They may have insider status, but
whether their advice is taken will always depend on the ideological convictions of
the party leadership.
More controversially, major corporations and lobbying firms seek to inf luence
decision making by cultivating links with politicians. Powerful companies, such
as Apple, Facebook, Coca-Cola and Google, as well as the major interests such
as banking, digital and media, all try to be as closely involved as possible in the
decision-making process to advance their interests.
In 2022, Meta, the owner of Facebook, appointed the former deputy prime
minister, Nick Clegg, as president of global affairs. Clegg’s insider understanding of Knowledge check
politics made him a powerful force when representing Facebook in its dealings with 43 What is a think-tank?
governments. In the same way, the Church of England, academic bodies such as 44 List three think-tanks.
universities, and the Office of Fair Trading (which protects the rights of consumers) 45 What is a social
also seek to inf luence political debates in their favour. movement?
Lobbying firms can also represent the interests of groups in society who are 46 List three social
prepared to pay for their services. They have thus been criticised for enabling movements.
powerful interests to try to buy inf luence. In a notorious case in 2010, three former 47 What is lobbying
Labour ministers, Stephen Byers, Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt, were suspended and why is it
from the parliamentary Labour Party when investigative journalists offered them controversial?
the opportunity to work for a fake consultancy firm for £5,000 a day and they
accepted. In 2021, David Cameron was criticised by the Treasury Select Committee
‘for a significant lack of judgement’ after he utilised his government contacts when
lobbying on behalf of financial services company Greensill Capital.
Lobbyists respond that they are being unfairly criticised for a small number of
scandals. In most cases they simply open up lines of communication between
Members of Parliament and groups that want to make their case. They are necessary
to democracy because they broaden the debate so that all sides are heard. Two
examples may illustrate this:
l The Raptor Alliance, which represents pigeon fanciers, is a tiny organisation
whose members argue that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has
been so successful in protecting birds of prey that they are now killing off racing
pigeons. Unable to gain public recognition, lobbyists made their cause known
in Parliament by encouraging the establishment of an All-Party Parliamentary
Group for Pigeon Racing and in 2018 organised the first Lords versus Commons
pigeon race since 1928. During Prime Minister’s Questions, Theresa May even
agreed to sponsor a bird.
l Lobbyists have also put forward the interests of gin drinkers. Since the Gin Act
1751, small-scale production had been forbidden to stop bootlegging. However,
in 2008 lobbyists succeeded in having the Gin Act repealed and now boutique
gin is becoming one of the UK’s most enterprising new exports.
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Rights in context
Human rights and civil liberties
Civil rights encompass the rights that individuals and the public are all entitled to.
Individual rights are rights such as the right to privacy and freedom of expression,
which all individuals can claim. Collective rights are those which society can claim
such as the right to be protected from violence, the right to a clean environment or
the right to roam the countryside.
Since the UK does not possess a codified constitution, the rights of British citizens
have been determined and protected through constitutionally significant landmark
events such as the signing of Magna Carta. In addition, judges have defined the
nature of our civil rights in important common law cases, setting a judicial precedent
to be followed in future disputes. Specific Acts of Parliament have further developed
the rights that UK citizens enjoy.
Therefore, the rights of the British public have traditionally been negative or residual
rights. This means everything that is not expressly forbidden belongs to our rights,
which means that they are not set out in one single document. Instead, they derive
from our rights as citizens and key constitutional decisions and important case law
such as the following:
l Magna Carta 1215 This provides the foundation for British civil liberties by
stating that the law should be impartial and that no free man should be convicted
of a crime unless he has been fairly tried.
l Bill of Rights 1689 By accepting the Bill of Rights, William III agreed to
govern with the consent of Parliament, thereby establishing the principle of a
constitutional monarchy bound by the law.
l Somerset v Stewart (1772) Lord Mansfield stated that slavery within the UK
was illegal since it had not been legislated for by an Act of Parliament and was
Knowledge check unsupported by the common law. In his judgment he stated, ‘It is so odious, that
48 Define civil liberties. nothing can be suffered to support it, but positive law.’ This far-reaching decision
49 What are negative set the precedent for the elimination of slavery within Britain.
rights? l Entick v Carrington (1765) In a case involving trespass, Lord Camden lay
50 What is the date of down the principle that government officials ‘cannot exercise public power
the Bill of Rights? unless such exercise of it is authorised by some specific rule of law’. In short,
51 Which act established the government can only act according to the law protecting the rights of
universal suffrage in citizens from despotic rule.
the UK? l Representation of the People Act 1928 This established the principle of
universal suffrage in the United Kingdom.
The development of a rights-based culture

since 1997
Since Tony Blair became prime minister in 1997, the approach towards British civil
liberties has changed. Instead of primarily relying on common law decisions and
constitutional conventions, there has been a greater emphasis on the codification of
what the positive rights of British citizens are.
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Human Rights Act 1998
Although the UK was fully involved in the drafting of the European Convention
on Human Rights in 1950, it did not accept that the convention would be binding
on British courts. However, in 1998 the Human Rights Act was passed, which
incorporates the European Convention fully into British law. The Act entered into
force in 2000. As a result, British citizens now possess a clear statement of their civil
liberties, which is enforceable in British courts. Before the Human Rights Act came
into force, UK civil liberties were grounded in specific statute and case law. This
meant that the rights that British citizens could claim were not widely known or
understood. The Human Rights Act is significant because it clearly establishes the
positive rights that we are all equally eligible for, such as the right to life and the
right to a fair hearing.
Freedom of Information Act 2000

This established a ‘right of access’ to information held by public bodies so long as
it does not compromise national security. The Act, which came into force in 2005,
provides the public with the opportunity to know more about the way in which
public bodies such as the National Health Service operate, as well as being able
to access information held about them. The MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009 was
exposed because journalists were able to demand access to this information through
the Freedom of Information Act.
Equality Act 2010

Although several Acts of Parliament have legislated in favour of equality, such
as various Race Relations Acts and the Equal Pay Act 1970, it was not until the
Equality Act 2010 that an Act of Parliament established equality before the law for
all citizens. This Act consolidates existing legislation and states that in public life,
discrimination is illegal in nine recognised areas:
l age
l disability
l gender reassignment
l race
l religion or belief
l sex
l sexual orientation
l marriage and civil partnership
l pregnancy and maternity.
Civic responsibility and the restriction of civil liberties

As well as having rights, citizens have responsibilities that can be enforced by law,
such as paying taxes and serving on a jury. Other responsibilities are not legally
enforceable, such as voting, but they are expected of citizens.
The public does not have the right to act in whatever way it wants and freedoms
can be restricted if the government decides that these are likely to endanger the
collective good of society. This is most likely to happen when there is a threat to
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national security. Following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC
Knowledge check in 2001 and on London in 2005, several Acts of Parliament were passed to protect
52 Define civic the public from further attack:
responsibility.
l The Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 gave the government the legal
53 Define the collective
power to imprison foreign terrorist suspects indefinitely without trial.
good.
l In 2005, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act limited the right of protest
54 List three Acts of
outside Parliament and created a new offence of inciting religious hatred.
Parliament that
l The Terrorism Act 2006 extended the time for which terrorist suspects can be
have protected civil
held without charge to 28 days and made ‘glorifying terrorism’ a crime.
liberties.
l In 2016, Parliament passed the Investigatory Powers Act, which authorises the
55 List three Acts of
retention of personal electronic data and its access for law enforcement.
Parliament that
l In 2020, Ed Bridges and the pressure group Liberty brought a case against South
have restricted civil
Wales Police over whether it could use automatic facial recognition technology.
liberties.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal ruled that more care should be taken in
how the technology is used. However, the benefits to society are ‘potentially
great’ and the threat to the individual’s privacy ‘minor’.
l The Johnson government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 is
designed to limit the impact of public protests and has thus generated significant
opposition from civil liberties groups.
l In the Queen’s Speech (2022) the Johnson government controversially committed
to introducing a British bill of rights, replacing certain elements of the Human
Rights Act, so that ‘there is a proper balance between the rights of individuals,
our vital national security and effective government, strengthening freedom
of speech’.
l In 2022, the Johnson government controversially introduced a policy to f ly
asylum seekers to Rwanda rather than allow them to claim asylum in the UK.
Designed to stem the f low of cross-Channel refugees and deter people-trafficking,
the policy was condemned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as
‘subcontracting our responsibilities’.
Terrorist attacks, such as

the 2005 London bombings,
which killed 52 people, have
been used to justify the
restrictions of civil liberties in
order to protect the collective
rights of society
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The balance between collective and individual rights
There is naturally going to be tension between our rights as individuals and the need
to protect the collective rights of society, and so governments need to balance the
needs of both. Especially since the terrorist attacks on New York, the Iraq War and
the rise of extremist terrorist groups, several civil liberties groups, such as Liberty,
have argued that the balance has shifted too far away from the individual to the
government and that this has led to the erosion of individual civil liberties.
Lee v Ashers Baking Company (2018)

This case provides a striking example of the tension between collective and individual rights.
Gareth Lee ordered a custom-made cake from Ashers Bakery with a picture of Bert and Ernie
from the television programme Sesame Street and the headline ‘Support gay marriage’. The
bakery refused to bake the cake as the message on it conflicted with their views as Christians.
Eventually, the case reached the Supreme Court, where the bakery’s right to refuse to bake the
cake was upheld. This was on the grounds that their refusal to ice ‘Support gay marriage’ was
not discriminatory since they were being asked to produce a political slogan with which they
profoundly disagreed as Christians.
1 Explain the extent to which you agree or disagree with the Supreme Court judgment.
2 To what extent do you think that collective rights should always take precedence over
individual rights?
Supporters of the Human Rights Act therefore argue that it is vital because it defines
and protects the positive rights to which all individuals are entitled:
l In 2004, senior judges declared that the way in which international terrorist
suspects were being held by the government was ‘discriminatory’ according to
the European Convention on Human Rights. In the face of this legal challenge,
the government released the detainees from Belmarsh Prison.
l Attempts by the government to deport Abu Qatada, an Islamist preacher who
had entered the UK illegally, to face trial in Jordan were stopped for 8 years
on the grounds that the evidence used against him might have been acquired
through torture. This would have breached Articles 3 (freedom from torture)
and 6 (right to a fair trial) of the Human Rights Act and Abu Qatada was not
deported until 2014 when Jordan pledged that no such evidence would be used
against him.
l In 2010, the Supreme Court declared that same-sex relationships could provide
grounds for claiming asylum in the UK if the claimants were from countries
where same-sex relationships were persecuted. Dismissing the argument that
they could hide their sexuality, Lord Hope stated, ‘To compel a homosexual
person to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or suppress the behaviour by
which to manifest itself is to deny his fundamental right to be who he is.’
How effectively are civil liberties protected in

the UK?
Although the Human Rights Act has provided judges with significantly more power
in protecting civil liberties, it is no different from any other Act of Parliament in
that it can be suspended or repealed. It does not, therefore, represent a higher law,
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as would be the case if the UK had a codified constitution. As a result, Parliament
Knowledge check remains the supreme law-making body and so can still enact legislation even if it
56 Define collective and conf licts with the European Convention on Human Rights on the principle that no
individual rights. parliament can bind its successor. For example, even though the Blair government
57 What is the supreme accepted the release of the Belmarsh detainees following the High Court ruling,
law-making body in it quickly introduced legislation to keep them under close surveillance through
the UK? control orders.
58 What are the
This means that judges have less power to protect the civil liberties of UK citizens
limitations on UK
than do judges in liberal democracies that have a codified constitution and where
judges’ ability to
judges can strike down legislation if it conf licts with the law of the constitution.
protect civil liberties?
Therefore, civil liberties pressure groups are especially important in alerting the
public to any erosion of their civil liberties, as well as raising awareness of the ways
in which minorities may still be discriminated against.
Case study
The aims and strategies of two the UK. Although high-level negotiations played a role in her
release, powerful lobbying on her behalf kept pressure on the
civil rights pressure groups in government to act.
the UK Amnesty International’s research papers are also widely
Amnesty International circulated among MPs and ministers in the UK. For example, it
produces research briefings on pressing issues such as the rights
Amnesty International, established in 1961, campaigns
of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, as well as exposing
to ensure that all human beings enjoy the rights set out
human rights abuses in China and Myanmar and showing how
in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
the rights of minority groups in the UK need to be respected.
Rights and associated declarations on human rights. Its
methods combine public activism with targeted lobbying Liberty
of representatives to increase awareness of human rights
Liberty is committed to fighting unjust attempts to
abuses. For example, Amnesty International organises
undermine civil liberties in the UK through a combination of
‘Challenge’ events to raise funds and awareness. It also uses
insider and outsider tactics. Its policy experts and lawyers
modern technology to increase pressure on governments.
lobby MPs and peers to vote against legislation that would
Its Pocket Protest is an SMS action network, which enables
negatively impact on civil liberties. Its professional research
members to instantly support a petition on behalf of a
papers are also widely consulted at Westminster, and the
political prisoner. Its website provides information about
group regularly provides evidence for parliamentary select
ways in which human rights are being abused throughout the
committees. In addition, Liberty organises campaigns that
world together with ways in which supporters can express
publicise ways in which civil liberties are being threatened.
their solidarity with threatened and persecuted groups and
These have included demonstrations and online petitions
individuals.
against limits to public protest and increased police powers
However, Amnesty International also seeks to achieve as close of stop and search.
a relationship as possible with political decision makers.
Liberty also uses the courts to protect civil liberties. In 2020,
Members are encouraged to lobby their MPs, as many did
it supported Ed Bridges’ case against the South Wales Police
in support of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British
that it had breached Article 8 of the Human Rights Act when
woman imprisoned in Iran for allegedly seeking to topple its
it stored biometric data about him secured by automatic
government. When her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, undertook
facial recognition surveillance. When the Court of Appeal ruled
a 21-day hunger strike outside the Foreign Office from 24
that South Wales Police’s use of automatic facial recognition
October to 13 November 2021, Amnesty widely publicised the
required greater care in its implementation, Megan Goulding
event, urging MPs and peers to attend a Westminster Hall and
from Liberty welcomed the judgment, stating, ‘Facial recognition
House of Lords debate advocating action on Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s
is a threat to our freedom – it has no place on our streets.’
behalf. On 16 March 2022, she was released and returned to
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However, the argument that governments are undermining l The coalition in 2010 committed itself to the repeal of
civil liberties is rejected by many politicians, who argue that identity cards as an infringement of civil liberties.
some restrictions are necessary to protect the collective good
of the nation. Also, the fact that only a few Acts, such as the A British bill of rights?
proposed introduction of identity cards, have generated much Several Conservative politicians have signalled that they favour
public outcry suggests the public may well accept that their replacing the Human Rights Act with a British bill of rights.
collective good does require limitations to be put on their A popular criticism is that Article 8 (the right to a family life)
individual liberties. has made it very difficult to deport ‘foreign criminals’, leading
to Philip Hollobone MP’s claim that the Human Rights Act
It is also important to appreciate that, as the representative of
prioritises ‘the rights of bad people over the rights of good
the public interest, Parliament itself can protect civil liberties.
people’. Supporters of a British bill of rights also argue that it
l In 2005, the Blair government’s attempt to increase the
would provide a clearer statement of the responsibilities that
time that a terrorist suspect could be imprisoned to 90
the individual owes to society as well as explicitly recognising
days was defeated in the House of Commons by 323
parliamentary sovereignty over what constitutes a right.
votes to 290, with 49 Labour MPs voting against their
In 2021, Dominic Raab, Boris Johnson’s justice secretary,
government.
announced plans for a British bill of rights to sit alongside the
l In 2008, the Brown government’s attempts to increase the
Human Rights Act, which, he argued, would stop ‘spurious
number of days’ detention to 42 from 28 was defeated
elastic interpretations of human rights’ by restoring ministerial
in the House of Lords and the proposed legislation was
jurisdiction in contested cases.
subsequently shelved.
Knowledge check
59 What are the goals of Amnesty International?
60 What methods does Liberty use to highlight civil rights abuses?
61 What are the main arguments in favour of a British bill of rights?
62 What are the main arguments against a British bill of rights?
Summary
By the end of this chapter you should be able to answer the following questions:
➜ What is representative democracy and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
➜ What is direct democracy and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
➜ What evidence is there to suggest the UK is suffering from a participation crisis?
➜ What are the key milestones in the development of British democracy?
➜ In what ways could UK democracy be further improved?
➜ In what ways might the franchise be further extended and why is this controversial?
➜ How convincing is the case for compulsory voting?
➜ How do pressure groups and other collective organisations access influence?
➜ Why are some pressure groups/collective organisations more successful than others?
➜ How does lobbying work and why can it be controversial?
➜ What is the significance of the distinction between individual and collective rights?
➜ How effectively are human rights protected in the UK?
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Practice questions
Source-based question
The Human Rights Act (‘the HRA’), passed in 1998 by the first Blair government, is central
to the current system of rights protection…
In addition to the HRA, the common law and other statutes passed by Parliament [such as
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Equality Act 2010] play an important role in
protecting individual rights by imposing important legal constraints upon public authorities.
For example, the Equality Act 2010 prevents public authorities discriminating on the
basis of race, sex, disability and other grounds of equal treatment [and requires all public
authorities to give due regard in the performance of their functions to the need to eliminate
discrimination and promote equality of opportunity]. However, these extra sources of legal
rights protection play supporting roles when compared to the HRA… .
The ongoing development of the ‘common law rights’ jurisprudence by the superior courts
has also contributed an additional layer of legal protection… .
…
Successive UK governments have also introduced legislation that has diluted protections
for civil liberties and fundamental rights in the spheres of national security/counter-
terrorism, immigration and socio-economic entitlements: it is likely that this pattern will
continue.
…
The place of both the HRA and European Convention on Human Rights within the UK’s legal
system thus remains open to debate…
Outside of the legal context, human rights values attract substantial support – in particular
from civil society groups.
…
Despite this, critics of the HRA continue to argue that radical reform is needed. Important
elements of the Conservative Party in particular support repeal of the HRA and its
replacement by a ‘British bill of rights’, which would reduce the influence of Strasbourg on
UK law and limit the existing scope of judicial protection of rights in areas such as national
security and immigration control.
O’Cinneide, C. (2018) ‘Chapter 7.1: Human rights and civil liberties’ in Dunleavy, P. (eds)
The UK’s Changing Democracy: The 2018 Democratic Audit, LSE Press
https://press.lse.ac.uk/site/books/e/10.31389/book1
Using the source, evaluate the view that UK civil rights are increasingly under
threat.
In your response you must:
l compare and contrast the different opinions in the source
l examine and debate these views in a balanced way
l analyse and evaluate only the information presented in the source.(30)
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Evaluative questions
1 Evaluate the view that representative democracy in the UK is failing to
represent the interests of the British public. You must consider this
view and the alternative to this view in a balanced way.(30)
2 Evaluate the view that the introduction of more opportunities for direct
democracy would strengthen UK representative democracy. You must
consider this view and the alternative to this view in a balanced way.(30)
3 Evaluate the view that lobbyists, pressure groups and social movements
use the same tactics to achieve success. You must consider this view
and the alternative to this view in a balanced way.(30)
Further reading
Crick, B. (2002) Democracy: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press.
Gallop, N. (2020) ‘How representative is the House of Commons?’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 2.
Hebden, Z. and Ryall, L. (2020) ‘Should the UK have a Bill of Rights?’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 2.
McNaughton, N. and Cooper, T. (2021) UK Government and Politics (6th edn),
Hodder Education.
Sheldon, J. (2020) Democracy: A User’s Guide, Rebel Books.
Tomes, A. (2019) ‘UK Pressure Groups and Democracy’, Politics Review, Vol. 28, No. 4.
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2 Political parties
The functions and features of political

parties
Features
The United Kingdom is a representative democracy, which means that we vote for
MPs to make decisions on our behalf. They are then made accountable to us in
regular general elections. In theory, it would be possible for voters to elect
independent politicians with their own individual manifesto commitments, but
since the English Civil War British politics has gradually developed according to a
party system. In elections we generally select from a choice of political parties that
represent the spectrum of political ideas from left to right (Table 2.1).
Key term
The UK’s system of Party system There are several party system models, ranging from one-party dominance to
parliamentary democracy a multiparty sharing of influence. A two-party system (duopoly) means that power is shared
provides a wide range of between two leading political parties. A two-and-a-half-party system means that a smaller party
political parties for the may hold the balance of power.
electorate to choose from
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Table 2.1 The political spectrum in the UK
Left-wing political ideas Right-wing political ideas
• Those on the left of British politics have a positive view • The right wing of British politics focuses more on the
of the state and a collectivist view of society importance of giving the individual as much control over
their own life as possible
• They believe that the government should reduce • Right-wing politicians reject left-wing attempts to
inequality and encourage social cohesion by providing an encourage greater equality and believe that the
extensive welfare state free market operates best when there is as little
government interference as possible
• The wealthier in society should pay a higher share of the • Governments should aim to keep taxation as low as
cost of this through redistributive taxation. The government possible and trade union influence needs to be limited in
should also play a major role in the economy through the order to encourage the smooth operation of the market
nationalisation of key industries
• Left-wing politicians have generally enjoyed a close • Companies operate most efficiently when there is
relationship with the trade union movement since the competition, so nationalised firms are best privatised
unions also represent the economic interests of the
working class
• Socially, the left embraces multiculturalism. It is also • Although economically libertarian, the right wing is
socially libertarian and so supports giving alternative socially conservative and so emphasises the importance
lifestyles equal status with more traditional ones of a shared national identity and encourages traditional
lifestyles
A political party comprises members who share a similar political ideology. This
does not mean that they will agree about every political opinion, but their basic
political ideology will be similar. For example, Conservatives are united in their
belief that taxes should be kept as low as possible because it is the individual’s money
rather than the state’s, while members of the Labour Party believe in the importance
of the government encouraging social justice.
However, within a party, different factions will emphasise different elements
of its ideology. Right-wing Conservatives, for example, are likely to favour as
small a state and as low taxation as possible, which put them at odds with the
Johnson government’s increase in taxation to pay for extended public investment.
The left wing of the Labour Party, represented by Momentum, strongly favours
nationalisation and uses the language of class conf lict, which is far removed from Sir
Keir Starmer’s more inclusive ideology and recognition of the free market.
Key terms
Right wing Right-wing political beliefs derive from liberal and conservative ideology. These
include a liberal focus on the importance of limiting excessive government, keeping taxation
low and protecting individual liberty. The right also emphasises conservative values such as law
and order and the importance of national sovereignty and strong defence.
Left wing The left wing emphasises the importance of creating a fair and equal society through Knowledge check
positive state intervention. This includes higher taxes on the wealthier, extensive welfare 1 Define parliamentary
provision and greater state influence in the economy. The left wing is also socially progressive democracy.
and favours an internationalist approach to global problems. 2 Define right wing.
3 Define left wing.
Adversary politics is used to denote a period when there are vast ideological 4 What is redistributive
differences between the two main parties. Consensus politics is used when they are taxation?
so ideologically similar that their policies are very similar.
2 Political parties 41
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Table 2.2 explains the difference and gives examples.
Table 2.2 Consensus vs adversary politics
Consensus politics Adversary politics
• Consensus politics means that there • When politics is adversary, this means
are many philosophical and policy that the main parties are divided by
similarities between the main political fundamental philosophical and policy
parties. The opposition may therefore differences
be able to support some government • The opposition will routinely oppose
policies the policies of the government since
Knowledge check • In the 1950s the shared commitment of they are so ideologically and practically
the Labour chancellor of the exchequer, opposed to them
5 Define adversary Hugh Gaitskell, and the Conservative • The early 1980s provides a good
chancellor of the exchequer, R.A. example of adversary politics since
politics.
Butler, to full employment and a mixed the socialism of Labour leader Michael
6 Define consensus economy led to the invention of the term Foot (1980–83) was fundamentally at
politics. ‘Butskellism’ odds with the free-market reforms of
7 When has politics • Tony Blair embraced traditionally Margaret Thatcher. As Labour leader,
been consensus? Conservative principles such as the free Jeremy Corbyn (2015–20) pursued
8 When has politics market and low taxation during his time socialist policies that placed Labour in
as Labour leader (1994–2007) direct conflict with the Conservative
been adversary?
Party
Functions
Selecting candidates
A key function of a political party is to select candidates to fight local, regional,
mayoral and general elections. In order to contest a general election, applicants have
to be a member of the party and then go through a national selection process to
become an approved candidate. If they pass this, they can apply to a constituency
party that will then choose the individual it considers has the best chance of
Key term increasing the party’s share of the vote.
Mandate If a political
Once a candidate wins a seat, they can claim to have an electoral mandate to
party wins a general
represent that seat in the House of Commons. However, the local party does not
election, it can claim
have to automatically endorse its MP as the candidate for the next general election
the legitimate right,
if their views are too opposed to those of local activists. Instead, it can open up the
or mandate, from the
field to other candidates. This mechanism is rarely used.
electorate to try to
implement its manifesto In 2022, the Labour MP Sam Tarry, who had been sacked as a shadow minister by
promises. Sir Keir Starmer on the grounds that he was out of touch with the leadership, was
deselected by his Ilford South constituency.
Providing the personnel of government

By providing candidates for election to public office, political parties contribute the
personnel for government. This can be in a local, devolved or national executive.
For example, in 2010 the membership of the parliamentary Conservative and Liberal
Democrat parties provided the membership of the coalition government.
Electing a leader
The members of a political party also play an important role in the election of the
party leader. In the Conservative Party, for example, the parliamentary party will
agree on two MPs, whose names then go forward to party members to decide
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between. In 2022, the party membership voted for Liz Truss (57%) over Rishi Table 2.3 2020 Labour
Sunak (43%). However, the inf luence of party members can be side-stepped. This leadership contest
was the case in 2016 when Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the contest, ensuring
Share of
that Theresa May became Conservative leader, and prime minister, unopposed. This Contender the vote (%)
was strikingly also the case in 2022, when Conservative MPs united behind Rishi Sir Keir 56
Sunak as party leader, so preventing the party membership from electing another Starmer
leader after the Liz Truss debacle. Rebecca 28
Under Ed Miliband, the Labour Party also adopted one member, one vote. The Long-Bailey
current rules state that if an MP can secure the backing of 10% of the parliamentary Lisa Nandy 16
Labour Party, their name will go to the party membership to vote on (Table 2.3).
Policy formulation (the manifesto)

Political parties determine the policy commitments that will be put in the party
manifesto. In the Labour Party, a National Policy Forum consults with party
members over the development of policy. Before the 2017 general election the
National Policy Forum and the elected National Executive Council worked closely
with the leadership and senior members of the parliamentary party to ‘aggregate’
a manifesto that fairly represented the political opinions of the Labour movement.
At all levels the party will ensure that members, elected representatives, affiliated
organisations and, where practicable, the wider community are able to participate
in the process of policy consideration and formulation.
Clause V, Labour Party Rule Book (2018)
The Conservative Party also encourages consultation and discussion among

its membership, although the manifesto is more likely to be drawn up by senior
members of the party. More decentralised parties such as the Liberal Democrats and
the Green Party give the party membership the final decision over what appears in
the party manifesto.
Table 2.4 summarises the path from manifesto to mandate.
Table 2.4 Manifesto and mandate
Manifesto Mandate
• A political party will publish its manifesto during a • If a political party has won a general election, it can be
general election campaign. This sets out what it will seek said to have a mandate to govern the country. This means
to achieve if it is able to form a government that it has the authority to try to enact its manifesto
• If a party wins a parliamentary majority in a general commitments. Having won a majority in the 2019 general
election, it can claim the legitimacy to carry out its election, Boris Johnson’s government could legitimately
manifesto commitments fulfil its manifesto commitment to enact legislation
• These manifesto promises will form the core of withdrawing the UK from the EU
the monarch’s address at the beginning of the new • If no party has achieved a parliamentary majority, then
parliament a coalition (2010) or a minority (2017) government will
be established. In these circumstances the principle
of the mandate does not operate smoothly since the
government cannot rely on an unequivocal electoral
mandate from the public
• A government can also claim a ‘doctor’s mandate’,
which means that it can propose measures not
included in its manifesto in response to changing
political circumstances. For example, within weeks of
being elected in 2019, the Johnson government had
to introduce legislation to respond to the Covid-19
pandemic
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Campaigning
Knowledge check The way in which political parties campaign during elections plays a key part in
9 Define manifesto. the democratic process. Party activists will deliver leaf lets, canvass voters on the
10 Define mandate. doorstep and arrange political events so that voters understand the choice between
11 What is the difference the candidates. Political parties are increasingly using the internet and social media
between a majority to engage with voters between, as well as during, elections. They also invigorate
and a minority democracy by campaigning on local issues.
government?
12 List three functions of Representation
a political party. Political parties also play a key representative function by ensuring that everyone in
society (barring certain groups – see pages 17–20) can have their say. In the 2019 general
election, 75.7% of those who voted felt that their political opinions were represented
by the Conservative Party (43.6%) or the Labour Party (32.1%). There is also the
opportunity to vote for a range of other political parties, ensuring that even those
with the most radical political opinions have the chance of being heard. The Scottish
Parliament, the Parliament for Wales (Senedd), the London Assembly and the Northern
Ireland Assembly are elected using proportional representation, which gives minority
and nationalist parties a greater opportunity to achieve representative influence.
Debate
Do political parties help or hinder representative democracy?

Evaluation: Although US president Thomas Jefferson (1801–09) claimed ‘If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not
go there at all’, might the elimination of political parties challenge the UK’s tradition of liberal democracy?
Help Hinder
• Representative democracy could not function • Political parties reduce voter choice by requiring voters to
without political parties. If politicians simply associate themselves with the manifesto of a political party even
represented their individual views, it would though that manifesto might not fully represent their political
be very difficult to establish a government views. For example, in 2017 you might have voted Labour
since its members would not be united by one because you fully supported the party’s policies on taxation
political ideology and yet regarded their policies on nationalisation and defence
much less favourably. A political party often can only partially
represent one’s political views, so limiting the individual’s choice
• Political parties develop/aggregate coherent • The freedom of action of MPs is reduced because although
political programmes through discussion. they could argue that they have their personal mandate,
The way in which political parties then issue the party whips expect them to support the programme of
manifestos enables voters across the whole their political party. As Benjamin Disraeli once said, ‘Damn
country to make the same rational choices your principles. Stick to your party.’ Political parties can be
about who they will vote for criticised for suffocating genuine debate in a representative
democracy by monopolising political decision making
• Without political parties, voting in elections • The ‘spirit of faction’ that political parties create has also
would be more complicated because voters been criticised for creating a confrontational and negative
would no longer be able to associate a approach to government. Political parties too often focus on
candidate with a particular party manifesto their differences and fail to work together, which can create a
• Political parties select suitable candidates to dangerously polarised society. The gulf between the Democrats
stand for public office. Without political parties, and the Republicans in the USA today, which has even led to
wealthy individuals with populist agendas might temporary shutdowns in government, illustrates how negative
find it easier to access power, with potentially party animosities can be. On the other hand, the Conservative–
dangerous consequences for UK liberal Liberal Democrat coalition lasted the full term of a parliament,
democracy demonstrating what can be achieved when party differences
are kept to a minimum
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Help Hinder
• Opposition political parties can hold a • Political parties give excessive power to the party membership.
government accountable for its policies in a By selecting the party leader, the membership effectively
way that would be impossible for individual determines the choice of who will be prime minister in the
representatives general election
• Political parties are vital in organising • The way in which the main political parties benefit from
parliamentary business. If they did not exist, disproportionate funding also ensures that they can
representative bodies would become confused monopolise political decision making
and disorganised
Mobilising consent for government

Without political parties, it would be difficult to form effective governments in
representative democracies with large populations. Individual politicians, each with
their own unique political opinions, would find it virtually impossible to establish
governments quickly and effectively. Parties combine elected politicians into
recognisable groups, which creates favourable conditions for the establishment and
survival of government.
How parties are funded

The way in which political parties are funded is highly controversial. In some countries
the state itself funds its political parties. However, in the UK political parties have
always relied on a great deal of private funding, although they do have some limited
access to public funds to subsidise policy development and parliamentary scrutiny.
A leading criticism of the private funding of political parties is that wealthy vested
interests can ‘bankroll’ a political party to achieve their own political objectives.
l Policy development grants allocate £2 million to all the main parties so that they
can employ policy advisers.
l Short money, named after the Labour politician Ted Short, is allocated to the
opposition parties for their work in the House of Commons based on the number
of seats they have (Table 2.5). The leader of the opposition is also funded almost
£800,000 for the running of their office.
l Cranborne money, named after the Conservative peer Lord Cranborne, subsidises
the work of scrutiny carried out by the opposition parties in the House of Lords.
These subsidies do not cover campaigning and election expenses. For these, a
political party depends on the subscriptions of its party members, as well as individual
donations from benefactors (Table 2.6). The Conservative Party has traditionally
received large-scale donations from big businesses that see a Conservative
government as being in their best interests.
Table 2.5 Short money allocation, 2021–22
Opposition party Short money
Labour Party £6,602,347
Scottish National Party £1,117,489
Democratic Unionist Party £195,870
Liberal Democrats £903,753
Green Party £181,907
Plaid Cymru £104,683
Social Democratic and Labour Party £104,683
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Table 2.6 Donations to political parties during the 6 weeks of the 2019 general election
Individual Company Trade union Other
Party donation donation donation donations Total % share
Conservative £13,265,157 £5,997,751 Nil £108,000 £19,370,908 63
Labour £159,442 £201,600 £5,039,754 £10,500 £5,411,296 17.5
Brexit £4,150,000 Nil Nil Nil £4,150,000 13.5
Liberal £1,004,998 £241,000 Nil Nil £1,245,998 4.1
Democrats
Green £232,477 £10,000 Nil Nil £242,477 0.8
Critics of this way of funding political parties point out that it provides the Conservatives
with a massive advantage over other political parties. For example, during the period
of the 2019 general election, 63% of all donations went to the Conservative Party. The
Knowledge check £4.2 million the Brexit Party received from a small number of individual private donors
13 What is the role of further suggests the disproportionate influence that the very wealthy can have in UK
party whips? politics. It was also striking that during the 2019 general election, 93% of donations
14 What is Short and to the Labour Party came from trade unions, which some suggest makes Labour too
Cranborne money? closely associated with trade union interests. Parties that lack these close financial ties
15 Where do the are significantly disadvantaged in terms of the private funding they receive.
Conservative and The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 states some rules
Labour parties concerning party funding. These are designed to encourage greater transparency
acquire most of their and fairness.
funding from?
16 List two important l An independent Electoral Commission was established to record and make
requirements of the public how political parties are funded.
Political Parties, l The amount a political party can spend in a constituency during an election is
Elections and limited to £30,000.
Referendums Act. l Political parties must register large-scale donations (over £7,500) with the
Electoral Commission and must not accept donations from non-UK citizens.
Should the state fund political parties?

Tony Blair’s final year as prime minister (2006–07) was blighted by the ‘cash for honours’
scandal when it was suggested that certain Labour donors had been elevated to the House
of Lords because of donations to the Labour Party. Although there were no prosecutions,
there was so much public outrage that Blair commissioned the Phillips Report to
investigate the case for party funding reform. The Phillips Report (2007) concluded that
there was a strong case for political parties to be primarily funded through taxation and
for a limit of £50,000 to be put on donations from individuals and organisations.
However, these recommendations have not been acted upon. The Conservative
Party, as the largest recipient of donations, is unwilling to lose that advantage over
its rivals. Labour is also wary of reforms that would remove the financial support it
receives from trade unions.
In focus
Membership of the Leader’s Group is open to those who have donated £50,000 to the Conservative Party. Members attend
regular lunches and dinners with senior members of the Conservative Party. There is no evidence that wealthy donors have
used this access to direct Conservative policy. However, critics claim the insider status that businesspeople can automatically
expect as a result of substantial donations discourages transparency and creates too close a relationship between Conservative
politicians and their financial backers.
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Debate
Should political parties in the UK be state funded?

Evaluation: Although the huge financial advantage that the Conservative Party has over other UK political parties is controversial,
would the alternative of state-funded political parties challenge democratic freedom?
Yes No
• During the 2019 general election, the Conservative • In a free democracy, people should be able to
and Labour parties were responsible for 80.5% of total financially support any cause they wish. Political
campaign spending. This disproportionate influence is parties are no different from charities or pressure
reinforcing a duopoly in the UK groups
• The public funding of political parties would create a • If the state were to fund political parties, as occurs
more level playing field so that smaller parties would in some countries, it would be controversial to
not be so disadvantaged in elections. This would decide how much each political party could claim. For
provide the electorate with a fairer choice example, if funding was based on existing electoral
• The way in which they are funded connects Labour success, this could reinforce Conservative and Labour
and the Conservatives to the trade unions and big dominance
business. If this connection was broken by public • Philosophically, state funding might also suggest that
funding, then both parties would be more responsive to political parties were somehow servants of the state,
the wider public which might limit their political independence
• Despite the cash for honours scandal (2006–07) • In the 2019 general election, 87 political parties (many
there have been further examples of big donors to of them fringe or extremist) received more than 500
political parties being awarded peerages. In 2021, votes. It would be controversial to decide which would
Peter Cruddas, a former Conservative co-treasurer who receive funding and how much
has donated £3 million to the Conservative Party, was • In 2019, despite the Brexit Party spending £4,150,000
recommended for a peerage by Boris Johnson. The (13.5% of total spending), it won no seats. The Scottish
public funding of political parties would remove the National Party received £24,929 in donations (0.1%
potential for claims of corruption and help to restore of total spending) and won 48 seats. This suggests
public trust in politicians that the disproportionate financial influence between
• The cost of state funding of political parties would be political parties has little impact in terms of electoral
comparatively small (the Phillips Report recommended success
£25 million). The required increase in taxation would • All political parties raise money through charging
thus be comparatively small membership dues. If they were publicly funded there
• State funding of political parties would encourage would be less of an incentive for them to encourage
greater transparency and trust in politics political activism and engage with the public
Established political parties

The Conservative Party
Traditional conservatism
The origins of the Conservative Party can be traced back to the English Civil War.
During this conf lict, the royalist supporters of the monarchy and the established
Church of England resisted giving Parliament greater inf luence and providing the
public with greater freedom of worship. Those who supported the Crown were siding
with the status quo against what they feared would become violent and destabilising
change. This conservative fear of the violence that sudden change can unleash is
ref lected in Thomas Hobbes’ masterpiece Leviathan (1651). Hobbes had lived through
the English Civil War and so knew first-hand what can happen when government
breaks down. His view of human nature was also very negative and so he argued
that if there was not a strong government to control its citizens and resist dangerous
innovation, anarchy would ensue, ensuring that property would not be safe, violence
would be endemic and ‘the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’.
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The dynamic new egalitarian principles of the French Revolution (1789) based
on ‘liberty, fraternity, equality’ were in conf lict with traditional conservative
principles. Horrified by the enthusiasm that some Britons were showing for
the French Revolution, the Whig MP Edmund Burke wrote Reflections on the
Revolution in France (1790), in which he warned about the consequences of too-
rapid change. For Burke, the idealistic desire to change the world was dangerous
and the safest course was always to approach problems pragmatically, respecting
authority and tradition.
Closely associated with the monarchy and the Church of England, traditional
conservatism was aware of humanity’s potential for ‘mob rule’ and so sought to
resist radical changes to the British constitution. By the nineteenth century, Toryism
was the party of:
l property
l pragmatism
l authoritarianism
l tradition
l stability.
One-nation conservatism
According to Benjamin Disraeli, traditional conservatism lacked the necessary
Key term dynamic to inspire men. In his ‘Young England’ novels, especially Sybil (1845),
One nation According to Disraeli, as an ambitious Tory backbencher, argued that conservatism must unite
one-nation principles, the the nation in a collective reverence for those traditions and institutions that had
Conservative Party should made Britain great. Disraeli saw society as an organic body in which stability and
protect and advance the prosperity could be achieved only through all classes and individuals appreciating
interests of the whole their debt to each other and not putting their selfish interests above the wellbeing
nation. One-nation of the community. In the most famous passage in Sybil, Disraeli warns against
conservatism is thus more Britain becoming ‘Two Nations’, ‘THE RICH AND THE POOR’, which is
inclusive and progressive why the inclusive conservatism he argued for became known as ‘one-nation
than traditional conservatism’.
conservatism.
Disraeli’s ‘one nation’ sentiments helped the Conservatives to reach out to the
working class. As prime minister, he supported extensive social reforms and by
closely associating itself with one-nation principles, the Conservative Party went on
to become the most successful modern vote-winning political party and the main
governing party for most of the twentieth century.
Conservative prime ministers such as Stanley Baldwin (1923–24, 1924–29 and
1935–37), Harold Macmillan (1957–63) and Edward Heath (1970–74) saw
themselves within this tradition and sought to govern in the interests of the whole
nation, accepting the government’s role in creating a more prosperous and inclusive
society.
The New Right

By the 1970s, the effectiveness of one-nation conservatism was being undermined
by large-scale industrial unrest. Trade unions were increasingly demanding higher
wages for their workers, challenging the principle that a Conservative government
Disraeli stated that the could successfully unite all sections of society. When, in 1975, Margaret Thatcher
purpose of the Conservative defeated Edward Heath for the leadership of the Conservative Party, what became
Party was the ‘elevation of known as ‘New Right principles’ became the dominant creed within Thatcherite
the condition of the people’ conservatism.
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The New Right is an interesting combination of neo-liberalism and neo-
conservatism. It is neo-liberal because, unlike one-nation conservatism, it is based
on the principle that the economy best regulates itself with as little government
intervention as possible: that businesspeople and entrepreneurs create wealth, rather
than governments. This means that the role of government in the economy should
be limited to making conditions as favourable as possible for the successful operation
of the free market. This is what the classical economist Adam Smith (1723–90) Margaret Thatcher,
referred to as the ‘invisible hand of the market’. Government should do this by: Conservative prime minister
1979–90, with US president
l keeping taxation to a minimum to provide people with greater opportunities to
Ronald Reagan (1981–89)
take financial control of their lives
l reducing inf lation and interest rates to encourage investment
l discouraging a ‘dependency culture’ based on too extensive a welfare state Key term
l limiting the inf luence of trade unions since they disrupt the smooth operation of
New Right New Right
the free market by demanding excessive pay claims.
conservatism is rooted
However, the New Right is also inf luenced by neo-conservatism, which is in classical liberalism
more closely connected with the authoritarianism, fear of disorder and a sense of because it seeks to
community associated with traditional conservatism. The New Right sees a positive reduce the influence
role for the state in encouraging social stability and security by: of government in the
l discouraging permissive and alternative lifestyles that threaten the traditional economy and over
family unit as the basis for social harmony people’s lives. It also
l giving the government extensive powers to fight crime and disorder derives from traditional
l protecting the national interest by pursuing a strong defence policy conservatism because
l emphasising the nation state as the ultimate source of the citizen’s security of its emphasis on the
(because of this the New Right is sceptical of regional organisations, such as the importance of achieving
EU, which challenge the authority of the government). security through law and
order and strong defence.
Current Conservative ideas and policies

During the prime ministership of Margaret Thatcher (1979–90) a powerful criticism
of the Conservative Party was that it had focused too much on free-market principles Knowledge check
and allowed society to become divided. Its authoritarianism and lack of commitment 17 What are the main/
to social justice prompted Theresa May in 2002 to admit that for many people the established UK
Conservatives had become the ‘nasty party’. When David Cameron became prime political parties?
minister of a coalition government in 2010, he proved to be extremely socially 18 Define one-nation
progressive, supporting same-sex marriage legislation, promoting what he called a conservatism.
Big Society and introducing a National Citizen Service to encourage young people 19 Define the New Right
to support their communities. However, in 2010, the UK was severely in debt (Thatcherism).
because of the global economic crisis (2007–09). As a result, David Cameron and his 20 What is the free
chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, committed to an austerity programme market?
in which public spending was cut dramatically. The Cameron governments (2010– 21 What is dependency
15 and 2015–16) thus combined a one-nation emphasis on social cohesion with a culture?
more Thatcherite emphasis on good financial housekeeping.
Although the Conservative Party has a Eurosceptic tradition reaching back to Enoch
Powell in the 1970s, in recent years the Eurosceptic wing of the party, represented
by the European Research Group (ERG), has begun to wield significantly more
inf luence within the party. Pressure from the ERG helped force David Cameron
to call a referendum on EU membership and subsequent Conservative prime
ministers (Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak) have positioned
the Conservative Party as the party ideologically committed to Brexit and the full
9781398369160.indb 49 15/02/23 10:23 PM

restoration of state sovereignty. Consequently, the pro-European tradition within
the Conservative Party, represented by one-nation Conservatives such as Kenneth
Clarke, Michael Heseltine and more recently Rory Stewart and Dominic Grieve,
has come close to extinction.
Following Theresa May’s failure to enact legislation to take the UK out of the EU
(2016–19), Boris Johnson won an 80-seat majority in the 2019 general election.
His success in winning so many ‘Red Wall’ seats in traditionally Labour heartlands
encouraged the Conservatives to refocus on public spending as a way ‘of levelling
up’ society. Johnson’s enthusiasm for large-scale spending projects such as HS2 and
his support for the NHS, including an extra £36 billion over 3 years paid for by a
1.25% increase in National Insurance (2022) and an increase in corporation tax from
19% to 25%, demonstrated a strong faith in the enabling state.
Consequently, under Johnson the Conservative Party abandoned much of the
economic neo-liberalism and social conservatism of Thatcherism, with a greater
focus on one-nation principles of economic and social inclusion, reminiscent of
Harold Macmillan. During Liz Truss’ brief premiership, there was an attempt
to dramatically lower corporation tax back to 19%, reverse the 1.25% increase
in National Insurance and abandon the 45% top rate of taxation. Although her
supporters welcomed these policies as economic neo-liberalism unleashing the
economic potential of business, they proved deeply controversial within the party.
All were quickly reversed, with Rishi Sunak adopting higher tax economic policies
much more in keeping with the Johnson government.
Table 2.7 highlights modern-day Conservative Party policies.
In focus
Will the real Margaret Thatcher please stand up?
Liz Truss’ supporters claimed that her chancellor of the exchequer’s decision to cut the basis
rate of taxation by 1p proved the government’s Thatcherite economic credentials. After all,
in his first 1979 budget, Thatcher’s chancellor of the exchequer, Geoffrey Howe, drove down
the top rate of income tax from 83% to 60% and the basic rate from 33% to 30%. However,
to argue that Thatcherism was all about tax cuts is misleading. Thatcher was also deeply
committed to balancing the budget through policies of fiscal responsibility and economic
good housekeeping. Thus, Howe’s 1981 budget dramatically increased indirect taxes to drive
down the deficit, in contrast to Truss’ claim in October 2022 that it was the ‘right time’ for the
government to borrow more.
Critics claimed that Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘give away budget’ — with cuts to both the base rate of
income tax and a sudden removal of the 1.25% increase in national insurance and a freeze on
corporation tax at 19% — had more in common with the ‘dash for growth’ launched by Edward
Heath’s chancellor of the exchequer, Anthony Barber, in 1972 than the Thatcherite commitment
to balancing the budget. The resulting ‘Barber Boom’ led to a dramatic rise in inflation,
necessitating a sharp hike in interest rates. So although Truss may have come into office laying
claim to Thatcher’s legacy, her policies had a distinctly Heathite flavour. Although Rishi Sunak
was much less anxious to be seen as a Thatcherite, some critics suggest that his commitment to
balancing the budget through tax increases may actually have been truer to Thatcher’s legacy.
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Table 2.7 Modern-day Conservative policies
The economy It is difficult to state with any certainty where the Conservative Party stands ideologically in relation
(one-nation/ to the economy. The Johnson government’s commitment to high public spending to level up society
Thatcherite) reflected a ‘big government’ approach to the economy, reminiscent of the one-nation government
of Harold Macmillan (1957–63). Public spending in 2021 was 42% of the economy, on a par with
spending in the 1970s, although the government’s response to Covid-19 will have contributed to
this. To finance increased public spending in 2021, the then chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi
Sunak, announced a significant increase in corporation tax and national insurance. After a brief
flirtation with Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting dash for growth, the Sunak government
responded to the recession with higher taxes and dramatic cuts in public spending, reminiscent of
the ‘good house-keeping’ policies of Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980s. This suggests that the
Conservative Party is in a period of transition over whether its priority should be encouraging growth
or balancing the budget
Welfare When the Blair government introduced a minimum wage in 1997, the Conservatives claimed this
(one-nation/ was unacceptable interference in the free market. However, in 2015, the Conservative chancellor
Thatcherite) of the exchequer, George Osborne, introduced a ‘living wage’ to provide extra support for the least
well paid. In 2021, Johnson established a new secretary of state for levelling up, housing and
communities. Like all Conservative leaders since David Cameron, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak also
emphasised the Conservative Party’s commitment to the National Health Service.
However, the Universal Credit system, which is based on the principle that the more you earn,
the fewer benefits you receive, suggests an anti-dependency approach more associated with
Thatcherism
Law and order Recent Conservative governments have committed to strict enforcement of law and order. The
(Thatcherite) Investigatory Powers Act 2016 passed under Theresa May gives the government enhanced powers
of surveillance to protect national security. The Johnson government committed to increasing police
powers over public protests in legislation such as the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act.
The appointment as home secretary of strident critics of liberalism such as Priti Patel and Suella
Braverman has further demonstrated an uncompromising Thatcherite approach to law and order
Foreign policy The Johnson government’s negotiation of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU (1 January 2021)
(Thatcherite) demonstrated a New Right commitment to sovereign borders. In 2020, Boris Johnson announced a
£16.5 billion increase in UK defence spending — the biggest boost in defence spending since the
end of the Cold War. In 2021, the UK joined a new defence alliance with Australia and the United
States (AUKUS) to counter China. In 2021, a carrier strike group was also sent on a world tour,
training with allied forces and sailing through the disputed South China Sea. This highlights the
Conservative Party’s commitment to a strong national defence policy designed to protect British
interests and demonstrate the UK’s continued military outreach. Truss and Sunak have been
similarly hawkish, providing strong opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, criticising China
for its human rights record and seeking the closest possible ties with the USA
In focus
A Thatcherite Home Office?
Although the Conservative Party has significantly increased taxes to pay for greater public spending, it has remained much
truer to Thatcherite principles on issues such as immigration, law and order and national identity. When the UK exited the
EU and free movement between the EU and the UK ended on 1 January 2021, the Home Office introduced a points-based
immigration system to limit immigration to those with skills most valuable to the UK. As home secretary (2019–2022), Priti
Patel firmly positioned herself on the right, explaining, ‘I’ve always felt the Conservative Party is the party of the police and
police officers. Quite frankly, with more police officers out there and greater police presence, I want criminals to literally feel
terror at the thought of committing offences.’ The Conservative reaction to Black Lives Matter demonstrations and direct
action has also been generally negative, with Boris Johnson condemning the toppling and defacing of enslavers’ statues
as unacceptable criminal damage. When she became home secretary, Suella Braverman similarly outraged liberal opinion,
telling the 2022 Conservative Party conference that, ‘We need to get back to common sense policing, empowering the
police to tackle the real issues facing the public – not policing pronouns on Twitter or non-crime hate incidents.’
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Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson

Read the two passages below and explain the ways in which they suggest that Margaret
Thatcher and Boris Johnson regard the relationship between the state and the individual
differently.
‘I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to
understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it. “I
have a problem; I’ll get a grant.” “I’m homeless; the government must house me.” They’re
casting their problems on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society.
There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can
do anything except through people and people must look to themselves. It’s our duty
to look after ourselves and then also to look after our neighbour. People have got
the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There’s no such thing as
entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.’
Margaret Thatcher, in an interview with Woman’s Own magazine, 31 October 1987
No one believes, I don’t believe, you don’t believe, that there is any basic difference in
the potential of babies born across this country. Everyone knows that talent and
energy and enthusiasm and flair are evenly spread across the UK, evenly spread. It is
opportunity that is not and it is the mission of this government to unite and level up
across the whole UK not just because that is morally right but because if we fail then
we are simply squandering vast reserves of human capital, we are failing to allow people
to fulfil their potential and we are holding our country back.
Boris Johnson, in his Levelling Up speech, 15 July 2021
1 Find evidence to suggest that the ‘levelling up’ agenda of Boris Johnson has influenced
current Conservative policy.
2 In what ways can current Conservative social and economic policy be seen as Thatcherite?
Conservatives in conflict?
Since the resignation of David Cameron in 2016, the Conservative Party has
struggled to politically define itself, with significant divisions apparent on a range
of issues.
Knowledge check
l As prime minister, Liz Truss’ willingness to borrow to finance tax cuts
22 Define levelling up.
and avoid public spending cuts provoked outrage from fiscally responsible
23 What is economic and
Conservatives, whose priority is to balance the budget and maintain confidence
social inclusion?
in the pound.
24 What are the dates
l Although Truss was eager to slash taxes to encourage growth, the Johnson
of the Thatcher
and Sunak governments have been much more prepared to keep taxes high to
governments?
maintain public services.
25 List three ways
l Following Theresa May’s memorable warning in 2002 that the Conservative
in which modern
Party risked being seen as the ‘nasty party’ for being too illiberal and reactionary,
Conservatism
Cameron committed to making it more inclusive and progressive. Since then,
is influenced by
home secretaries, such as Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, have once again
Thatcherism.
adopted more socially conservative policies, strenuously attacking what they see
26 List the six most
as being ‘political correctness’ and emphasising their toughness on law and order.
recent Conservative
l Although Cameron was determined to make the Conservatives more
prime ministers.
protective of the environment, when she became prime minister, Truss quickly
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announced that she was ending the ban on fracking and wanted to expand
North Sea gas and oil extraction. When he succeeded her, Rishi Sunak
immediately reimposed the ban on fracking.
The Labour Party

Old Labour
The Labour Party was established in 1900 to represent the interests of the working
class. Although its membership has included Marxists, it has never been a Marxist
Key term
party since it is not committed to the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist free Old Labour Old Labour
market. Instead, Labour has traditionally been a compromise between democratic is associated with
socialism and social democracy. Democratic socialists, in the tradition of Beatrice left-wing principles of
Webb, believe that the capitalist state will inevitably be replaced by a socialist state positive intervention
as the working class achieves political power. According to Webb, this represents to create a more equal
the ‘inevitability of gradualism’. Conversely, social democrats, such as Anthony society through higher
Crosland, have argued that a more socially just and equal society can be achieved by taxes on the wealthy,
reforming existing capitalist structures. nationalisation of public
services and generous
At the core of Labour’s socialist ideology is the principle of collectivism, whereby
welfare provision.
we achieve more by working together for the common good than by competing
according to our own interests. Labour governments have traditionally sought to
create a more just and inclusive society through:
l nationalisation, whereby the government runs key industries in the interests of
the workers and the nation
l redistributive taxation so that the wealthier in society pay a greater share of
taxation
l supporting an extensive welfare state
l fostering close links with the trade unions since these, like Labour, were
established to protect and advance the interests of the workers.
The prime minister of the first majority Labour government (1945–51) was Clement
Attlee. His governments are nostalgically remembered by many in the Labour Party
as a high point of democratic socialism.
l In 1948, the health secretary, Aneurin Bevan, introduced the National Health
Service, providing free healthcare for the nation.
l Approximately 20% of the economy was nationalised, including core industries
such as steel, electricity and coal, as well as the Bank of England.
The Labour governments of Harold Wilson (1964–70 and 1974–76) also attempted to
create a fairer and more equal society based on government-led economic expansion.
In 1963, Wilson argued that Labour would unleash the ‘white heat of technology’ in
government and, as prime minister, he sought to associate Labour with progressive
policies and industrial modernisation. Philosophically his approach to government
was underpinned by Anthony Crosland’s Future of Socialism (1956), which envisaged
a more equal society being achieved through redistributive taxation, comprehensive
education and a mixed economy.
l In 1965, the deputy prime minister, George Brown, announced a National Plan
for economic growth that would expand the economy by 25% by 1970.
l The maintenance grant was introduced to make it easier for young people from
poorer backgrounds to attend university.
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l The Open University was established to further open higher education to those
from poorer backgrounds.
l Wilson’s governments were also committed to the expansion of comprehensive
education at the expense of the grammar schools as a way of encouraging a more
inclusive and less elitist society.
l Acts of Parliament were passed to encourage a fairer and more inclusive society,
such as the Race Relations Act 1968, which made discrimination in the workplace
illegal, and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.
l To pay for a generous welfare state, taxes on the wealthier dramatically increased
under Labour. In 1979, under Wilson’s successor, James Callaghan (1976–79), the
top rate of taxation reached 83%.
New Labour
In the 1979 general election, James Callaghan was defeated by the Conservative
Party led by Margaret Thatcher. Following the election of Michael Foot as Labour
leader in 1980, the party moved decisively to the left. In the 1983 general election,
Labour’s manifesto committed the party to further nationalisation, increased taxation
of the wealthier in society, withdrawal from the European Economic Community
and unilateral nuclear disarmament. One Labour MP, Gerald Kaufman, famously
referred to the manifesto as ‘the longest suicide note in history’ and Labour’s share
of the vote collapsed from 36.9% in 1979 to 27.6% in the 1983 general election,
handing Thatcher a landslide victory.
The scale of the 1983 general election defeat shocked Labour into abandoning its
most socialist policies and, under the leadership of Neil Kinnock (1983–92) and
John Smith (1992–94), Labour moved towards the centre. However, it was the
election of Tony Blair as Labour leader in 1994 that most transformed the party.
Blair was strongly inf luenced by the principles of the ‘third way’, which was
developed by the political philosopher Anthony Giddens. According to Giddens,
the third way represented a compromise between the extremes of socialism and
capitalism. Labour governments ought not to commit to ideological principles such
as nationalisation, redistributive taxation and class conf lict. Gone, too, was the
As Labour prime minister

in 1964–70 and 1974–76,
Harold Wilson believed that
government should play a
central role in establishing a
dynamic economy and a more
just and meritocratic society
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socialist commitment to collectivism and equality. Instead, Labour should focus
on the establishment of a ‘stakeholder society’ based on the principles of inclusion
and communitarianism. Labour should enact policies that would encourage wealth
creation rather than wealth redistribution, as well as loosen its ties with the trade
union movement in a bid to become a less class-based party. In short, Labour should
work for the achievement of social justice within a prosperous capitalist economy.
So great was Blair’s impact on the Labour Party that it became known as New
Labour. A key moment in the development of New Labour was when, in 1995,
Key term
Clause IV of the Labour Party Constitution (1918) was modified so that the party New Labour (third way)
abandoned its commitment to nationalisation and accepted the economic benefits The third way combines
of a free-market economy. As prime minister (1997–2007), Blair’s centrist policies a left-wing commitment
put him starkly at odds with more left-wing members of the party such as Tony to social justice with a
Benn and Jeremy Corbyn, who believed that New Labour was abandoning ‘real’ right-wing emphasis on
socialism. the value of free markets
in encouraging economic
‘Socialism for me was never about nationalisation or the power of the state … it is
prosperity.
a moral purpose to life, a set of values, a belief in society, in cooperation, in achieving
together what we cannot achieve alone.’
Tony Blair
l Margaret Thatcher’s chancellor of the exchequer, Nigel Lawson, had lowered

the top rate of taxation to 40% in 1988. Blair kept it at 40% on the basis that the
wealthiest in society are wealth creators and that the economy would grow faster
if their taxes were kept low.
l The state was viewed as an ‘enabler’ rather than a provider. State schools
were given greater independence from local authorities and tuition fees were
introduced so that students would have to contribute towards the cost of their
higher education.
l New Labour introduced tough new laws such as anti-social behaviour orders
(ASBOs) to combat crime.
l For Blair, a key element of New Labour was constitutional modernisation. In
1999, most of the hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords.
The European Convention on Human Rights was incorporated into British
law in the Human Rights Act 1998 and an independent Supreme Court was
established. Referendums paved the way for devolved legislatures in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland, dramatically altering the location of power in the
United Kingdom.
l However, New Labour remained committed to social
justice and, like former Labour governments, tried to create
a fairer and more inclusive society. In 1997, for instance,
it introduced the minimum wage to help the lowest paid.
The government also significantly increased spending on
public services.
On the resignation of Tony Blair in 2007, Gordon Brown
became prime minister. In response to the global economic
crisis, his government (2007–10) attempted to stabilise public
finances by introducing a 50 pence top rate of taxation on
incomes over £150,000, as well as a bank bailout programme.
Although these policies were primarily a reaction to the As Labour leader (1994–2007), Tony Blair broadened the
desperate economic situation, some political commentators party’s appeal far beyond its traditional working-class
predicted that they spelled the end of New Labour. core vote
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When Brown was defeated in the 2010 general election, his successor, Ed Miliband
(2010–15), seemed to further distance the party from its recent Blairite past by
maintaining its commitment to a 50p top rate of taxation, demanding an energy
price freeze and drawing a distinction between ‘predatory’ finance capitalism and
the ‘producers’ in industry.
Jeremy Corbyn (2015–20)

The election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2015 signalled the most striking
shift in the direction of the Labour Party. A keen participant in socialist gatherings
such as the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ annual festival, and with a deep-seated belief in
the importance of workers’ solidarity, Corbyn was added to the list of candidates
for the leadership by fellow MPs so that the left of the party would be represented
in the ballot. However, under Ed Miliband, the party had changed the rules by
which the Labour leader is elected to a one-member-one-vote system, and Corbyn
won an unexpected landslide victory.
Soon after his election, a new group within Labour, known as Momentum, was
established to sustain his leadership and encourage the spread of democratic socialist
principles within the party, such as more government control of the financial sector,
nationalisation and redistributive taxation. Momentum’s principles of socialist equality
and collective solidarity are inspired by Karl Marx’s optimistic vision of what human
beings can achieve by working together. The groups’ inf luence within the party could
be seen in the 2017 Labour election campaign slogan, ‘For the Many Not the Few’, in
which Labour increased its share of the vote by a stunning 9.6%.
However, in the 2019 general election, Labour support slumped and the party won
its smallest number of MPs since the 1935 general election (Table 2.8). Just as the
1983 general election landslide defeat prompted a complete reappraisal of Labour
philosophy and policy, so the scale of its 2019 defeat led to Labour moving back
towards the centre ground under Corbyn’s successor, Sir Keir Starmer (2020–).
Table 2.8 Labour’s electoral performance in the 2017 and 2019 general elections
2017 general election 40% of the popular vote 262 MPs
2019 general election 32.1% of the popular vote 202 MPs
Current Labour ideas and policies

Sir Keir Starmer has distanced Labour from the democratic socialism represented
by Jeremy Corbyn and Momentum. However, it would be misleading to suggest
that Labour has re-embraced the principles of Tony Blair and New Labour. Instead,
Labour remains committed to achieving social justice through a mixed economy
Knowledge check rather than embracing capitalism and so its current philosophy probably owes more
to Anthony Crosland than to Anthony Giddens (Table 2.9). In his 2022 conference
27 Define Old Labour. speech, Starmer made clear that Labour still believed in redistributive taxation,
28 Define New Labour. announcing that, ‘Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. Britain won’t be better
29 List the Labour prime off just because we make the rich richer.’
ministers since 1945.
30 What political Constitutionally, Starmer has sought to distance Labour from the Conservatives,
philosophies do promising ‘the biggest-ever transfer of power from Westminster to the British people’,
you associate with involving an elected House of Lords and more power devolved to local authorities,
Anthony Crosland and devolved governments, and English mayors. Reminiscent of New Labour’s modernising
Anthony Giddens? plans for decentralisation, Starmer’s proposals are a far cry from the big government/
top-down approach to government often associated with traditional socialism.
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Table 2.9 Modern-day Labour policies
The economy Following its landslide defeat on a left-wing manifesto in the 2019
general election, Labour has adopted a more centrist social democrat
approach to the economy. Labour is therefore no longer committed
to the nationalisation of energy firms. According to Sir Keir Starmer,
‘When it comes to common ownership, I’m pragmatic about this. I
do not agree with the argument that says we must be ideological.’
However, in 2022 Starmer’s promise of a publicly owned energy
company, Great British Energy, demonstrated a left-wing faith in
government-led enterprise.
In terms of taxation, Labour is still more likely than the Conservatives
to tax wealth. As Starmer put it, ‘Those with broader shoulders
should pay their fair share.’ However, Starmer has also been keen
not to alienate business, noting in a pamphlet for the Fabian Society,
‘The role of government is to be a partner to private enterprise,
not stifle it’
Welfare Sir Keir Starmer’s promise of a Great Renewal of the NHS represents
a traditional left-wing commitment to the health service. Labour is also
committed to abolishing Universal Credit because they claim it traps
people in poverty. Labour’s commitment to removing the charitable
status of independent schools and channelling those funds into the
state sector and abolishing tuition fees represents a traditionally
socialist approach to education
Law and order In his 2021 party conference speech, Sir Keir Starmer positioned
the Labour Party as being harder on criminals than the Conservative
Party, stating, ‘The fight against crime will always be a Labour issue.’
Labour has pledged to strengthen the law on crimes specifically
directed against women and girls and increase the number of police
on the street
Foreign policy Labour has also re-emphasised the party’s traditional commitment
to NATO and an independent nuclear deterrent, which reaches back
Knowledge check
to Clement Attlee. According to Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s support 31 What is
for the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent is ‘non-negotiable’ and
nationalisation?
when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he made clear
that Labour MPs should not join anti-NATO Stop the War Coalition 32 Define social justice.
demonstrations. Labour is also committed to the AUKUS military 33 List three current
alliance designed to maintain the existing balance of power in the Labour policies.
Far East. This suggests that Labour foreign and defence policy 34 How many seats did
is much more assertive and interventionist than it was under Labour win in the
Jeremy Corbyn and is now more firmly focused on the UK’s national
2019 election?
security interests
The Liberal Democratic Party

Origins — classical liberalism
Although the Liberal Democratic Party was established in 1988 and is the newest
political party in the UK, its origins go far back into British history. In the 1850s,
Whigs and radicals, who supported reform of Parliament and limits on royal
authority, and supporters of the former prime minister Robert Peel, who had split
the Conservative Party by repealing the protectionist Corn Laws, came together on
the issue of free trade. Under the leadership of William Ewart Gladstone, the Liberal
Party became a dominant force in British politics, advocating not only free trade but
lower taxes, balanced budgets, parliamentary and administrative reform, and a more
moral approach to foreign policy.
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Gladstone had four periods of office as Liberal prime minister (1868–74, 1880–85,
1886 and 1892–94) and provided the party with a strong sense of moral purpose.
According to Gladstone, ‘Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence.
Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.’
1900 to today — modern liberalism

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Liberal Party became increasingly
Key term inf luenced by the work of T.H. Green, John Hobson and William Beveridge, who
Modern liberalism argued that the government must have adequate welfare provision for the most
In addition to accepting vulnerable in society. According to this ‘New Liberalism’, individual freedom
the importance of civil and self-fulfilment required at least a basic standard of living, and during the
liberties, the free market governments of H.H. Asquith (1908–16), old-age pensions and sickness and
and limited government, unemployment insurance were introduced, which were partly paid for by higher
modern liberalism taxes on the wealthier.
acknowledges that the
The rise of the Labour Party from 1900 provided a powerful alternative to the
government should play
Liberal Party among the working class and following the resignation of David
an important role in
Lloyd George as prime minister in 1922, the Liberal Party declined as Labour
advancing social justice.
and the Conservatives shared power between them for the remainder of the
twentieth century.
However, in the early 1980s the Liberal Party entered an electoral pact with former
Labour MPs who had established the Social Democratic Party. Campaigning together
as the Alliance, they fought the 1983 and 1987 general elections and merged to form
the Liberal Democrats in 1988.
As a united party, the Liberal Democrats enjoyed growing success under Paddy
Ashdown and as a result of Charles Kennedy’s principled opposition to the Iraq
War, won 62 seats on 22% of the vote in the 2005 general election. Although their
number of MPs dipped to 57 in the 2010 general election, their support proved
necessary for David Cameron to form a government — and so, under Nick Clegg,
they re-entered government.
The coalition agreement that Cameron and Clegg negotiated gave the Liberal
Democrats 5 seats in the cabinet, including Nick Clegg’s position as deputy prime
minister. This was the most inf luence the party had enjoyed in government since
David Lloyd George resigned as prime minister in 1922. However, in the 2015
general election, the Liberal Democrats won only 8 seats, creating another electoral
mountain for them to climb again.
Knowledge check Current Liberal Democrat ideas and policies
35 What was the Since the Liberal Democrats combine the values and principles of the Liberal and Social
Alliance? Democratic parties, its ideas cover a broad spectrum. This has sometimes resulted in
36 When was the Liberal an uneasy relationship between the social democratic left of the party that emphasises
Democrat Party the role of government in encouraging social justice and Liberal Democrats who
established? support a less-interventionist, more neo-liberal approach to the economy. Those on
37 When were the Liberal the liberal side of the party are sometimes referred to as Orange Book liberals after a
Democrats last in UK 2004 book of that title, which argued that the Liberal Democrats should reconnect
government? with their nineteenth-century commitment to free trade and free markets. Recent
38 List three current Liberal Democrat leaders (Tim Farron, Sir Vince Cable, Jo Swinson and Sir Ed
Liberal Democrat Davey) have emphasised issues connected with social justice. However, core principles
policies. of internationalism and constitutional reform provide the Liberal Democrats with a
coherent political ideology.
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l As the most pro-European political party, the
Liberal Democrats fought the 2019 general
election on a pledge to re-join the EU. However,
in 2021 the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed
Davey, acknowledged that the UK would not be
re-joining the EU, although the party remained
committed to ‘the closest possible relationship
with our European partners’.
l The Liberal Democrats are committed to the
UK’s continued membership of the European
Convention on Human Rights as a core way of
protecting our civil liberties.
l There has always been a strong tradition
of parliamentary and constitutional reform
within the Liberal Democrats and so they are
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey speaks at a by-election
committed to a democratic House of Lords
campaign event in 2022
and support further devolution as a way of
making government more accountable to the
public. They also support the introduction of proportional representation at
Westminster to ensure that the House of Commons more fairly represents the
way in which the UK votes (Table 2.10).
Table 2.10 Modern-day Liberal Democrat policies
The economy A strong social democrat influence on the party can be seen in its
commitment to increasing income tax by 1p. The £7 billion this would
raise would then be ring-fenced for the NHS. The Liberal Democrats
would also invest £150 billion on green infrastructure over 3 years
Welfare As a result of their commitment to social justice the Liberal Democrats
would restore the university maintenance grant to encourage young
people from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend university. They
would also provide free childcare for pre-school children
Law and order The Liberal Democrats’ support for community policing to discourage
crime and develop trust highlights its preventative approach to
law and order. Its commitment to the legalisation of cannabis
demonstrates the continued influence of John Stuart Mill and the
‘self-harm’ principle within the party
Foreign policy As an internationalist party, the Liberal Democrats want the strongest
possible relationship with the European Union. The moral principles
of the party can also be seen in its commitment not to cut overseas
aid. However, the Liberal Democrats support the UK’s independent
nuclear deterrent and NATO membership as necessary to protect
British security interests
Emerging and minority parties in the UK

Since the Second World War, UK politics has been dominated by the Conservative
and Labour parties, with the Liberals/Alliance/Liberal Democrats providing an
alternative for those disillusioned with existing party dominance.
In addition to these three parties, several minor parties have achieved varying levels
of political success. The Communist Party of Great Britain lasted from 1920 to 1991
and in the 1945 general election won 2 seats at Westminster. At the other extreme,
the British National Party achieved 1.6% of the vote in the 2010 general election,
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as well as returning two MEPs in the 2009 European Parliament elections. Since
then, however, its inf luence has steadily declined and in the 2019 general election it
fielded just one parliamentary candidate.
Other minority parties have been significantly more successful. For some this has
been because they have achieved inf luence in Westminster or regional government.
For others, it is because they have managed to set an agenda that the main political
parties have decided to follow.
The Scottish National Party (SNP)

The Scottish National Party was established in 1934 and won its first parliamentary
seat at the Hamilton by-election in 1967. Until the 2015 general election, the highest
number of MPs the SNP had returned to Westminster had been 11 (October 1974).
However, in 2015, the SNP won an extraordinary 56 of the 59 Scottish constituencies
in the House of Commons on 50% of the popular vote in Scotland. In the 2017
general election it won 35 seats and in the 2019 general elections 48 seats. This means
that the SNP has been the third biggest party in the House of Commons since 2015.
As a result of these general election successes, the SNP plays a significant role in
contemporary British politics. Its Westminster parliamentary leaders, Ian Blackford
(2017–22) and Stephen Flynn (2022–), have gained a reputation for combatively
representing Scottish interests at Prime Minister’s Questions. The SNP’s large
number of MPs gives it the potential for substantial inf luence when the government
lacks a strong parliamentary majority. In 2016, the SNP voted with Labour and
Conservative rebels to defeat Cameron’s government (317/286) over its plans to
allow larger stores in England and Wales to open longer on Sundays. The SNP
claimed this would affect pay rates in Scotland, which justified it voting the bill
down. However, the inf luence of the SNP at Westminster has been limited by
the unwillingness of the Labour Party to work too closely with a party that has
supplanted it as the dominant political force in Scotland.
The most powerful inf luence of the SNP has been in the government of Scotland,
where its policies have made a dramatic impact.
l Scotland has maintained free university tuition by not adopting the tuition fees
that exist elsewhere in the UK.
l Prescriptions are free of charge, as is bus travel for under-22s and NHS dental
treatment for under-26s.
l 16- and 17-year-olds are allowed to vote in local council elections and were
allowed to vote in the Scotland independence referendum.
l The way the SNP government in Holyrood established its own response to the
Covid-19 pandemic significantly raised the governing profile of the Scottish
government at the expense of the UK government.
l In 2021, Nicola Sturgeon stated that victory in the Scottish parliament elections
gave the SNP a mandate to press for another independence referendum. In 2022,
she committed her government to holding this referendum in October 2023.
However, like the UK government, the Scottish government is constrained by
the UK Supreme Court. In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled Sturgeon’s decision to
call another independence referendum illegal, since this was a power reserved to
Westminster. This may have contributed to Sturgeon’s surprise resignation in 2023.
In the Gina Miller case (2017), the court established that the Scottish Parliament did
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not have to be consulted over legislation withdrawing the UK from the EU, even
though Scotland voted decisively to remain in the EU.
It is important not to exaggerate the inf luence of the SNP. Scotland is a part of the
UK and this puts significant restraints on what the SNP can achieve in government
in Scotland. Although the SNP rejects nuclear weapons, national defence policy is
determined at Westminster and so Trident is still based in Scotland. In 2023, the
Westminster government blocked a Scottish government bill implementing self-
identification for people who want to change gender, since it claimed this conf licted
with the Equality Act, which has legal force across the UK.
Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru dates from 1925 and won its first seat at Westminster
in the 1966 Carmarthen by-election. Unlike the success of the
SNP across Scotland, Plaid Cymru’s main basis of support has
been in the Welsh-speaking parts of Wales, and it has never
achieved an electoral breakthrough in Labour-dominated
South Wales, where most constituencies are located. In the
2019 general election Plaid Cymru won four of the 40 Welsh
parliamentary seats, which was the most seats it has ever won,
and so its inf luence at Westminster has always been minimal.
Plaid Cymru has achieved more success on the National
Assembly for Wales, and from 2007 to 2011 it formed a
coalition with Labour on the agreement that there would be a referendum giving
the Assembly further devolved powers. However, Labour’s dominant inf luence in
Wales has ensured that Plaid Cymru’s inf luence has been limited both at Westminster
and on the National Assembly.
United Kingdom Independence Party

(UKIP)/Brexit Party
The inf luence of UKIP on UK politics has been significant. Founded in 1993, it
had little impact until the 2004 European Parliament elections when it achieved
16.1% of the vote. Following the election of Nigel Farage as leader in 2006, it
began to broaden its support among the white working class by opposing not only
the UK’s membership of the EU but also further immigration. The implications
of the expansion of the EU in 2004 and 2007, and the resulting number of Eastern
Europeans coming into the UK, contributed to its growing electoral success. Farage’s
high-profile media presence and ‘plain speaking’ and ‘common sense’ criticism of
establishment politicians further added to UKIP’s inf luence. In the 2014 European
Parliament elections, UKIP beat both Labour and the Conservatives with 26.6% of
the vote and 24 seats.
The inf luence of UKIP in the Westminster Parliament has always been tiny,
however. In the 2015 general election, although it achieved an impressive 12.6% of
the vote, it won 1 seat. In the 2017 general election, it lost that seat, achieving just
1.8% of the popular vote. In 2019, as the Brexit Party, it achieved 2%.
However, UKIP’s inf luence on British politics has been significantly greater than
these results suggest. This is because David Cameron’s manifesto commitment in the
2015 general election to offer the British public an ‘in/out’ referendum on the UK’s
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Table 2.11 The result of the membership of the European Union was a response to the growing Euroscepticism
European Union referendum of British politics, which UKIP had done so much to fuel. Nigel Farage played a
held in 2016 defining role in the EU referendum campaign in 2016, placing the free movement of
Leave Remain
EU citizens to and from the UK at the heart of the case for Brexit. This was highly
effective in mobilising voters in traditional working-class parts of the country to
52% 48%
vote Leave, despite Labour’s support for Remain.
The Euroscepticism that UKIP has encouraged in the UK has had enormous and
far-reaching consequences. It helped to determine the result of the 2015 general
election, secured a commitment from the Conservative Party
to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU and
helped to swing the vote towards Leave (Table 2.11). In 2021,
Labour abandoned its commitment to re-establishing the free
movement of EU people to and from the UK because it was
so electorally unpopular. This demonstrates that although a
minority party, the ideas of UKIP have successfully ‘made
the weather’ in terms of political debate in the UK.
The Green Party

Like UKIP, the Green Party is a victim of first-past-the-
Caroline Lucas has been the Green Party MP for Brighton post (see Chapter 3) and so has achieved little success at
Pavilion since 2010 Westminster. Originally known as PEOPLE, and then the
Ecology Party, it changed its name to the Green Party in
Table 2.12 The Green 1985. In 1989, the Greens achieved 15% in the European Parliament elections
vote in general elections, and in 2010 Caroline Lucas won Brighton Pavilion for the Greens with 31.3%. In
2001–2019 the 2019 general election Lucas’ share of the vote increased to 57.2%. Nationally,
2001 2.8% Greens have on average achieved a 3.6% vote share in general elections this
2005 3.2% century (Table 2.12).
2010 1.8% However, in constituencies where they have significant support, the Greens have
2015 4.3% sometimes been able to inf luence the result by deciding not to stand. In 2017,
2017 2.1% they did not contest Ealing Central and Acton, so boosting the Labour vote at the
2019 3.6% expense of the Conservatives. In 2019, by not contesting North East Fife and Angus
they swung the seats towards the Liberal Democrats and the SNP at the expense of
the Conservatives.
Knowledge check
The additional member system (see Chapter 3) has given the Green Party greater
39 Define Orange Book inf luence in the Scottish Parliament, where in 2021 it secured 8/129 seats. Since the
liberals. SNP won 64 seats (one short of a majority), Nicola Sturgeon signed a confidence-
40 Define minority/ and-supply agreement with the Greens (the Bute House Agreement). Two Green
emerging parties. MSPs were given ministerial office and in a joint statement the two parties agreed
41 List five minority/ to work together to ‘accelerate our response to the climate emergency’. Since
emerging parties. the Greens are also a pro-independence party, the SNP were also able to claim
42 What percentage of a fresh mandate for a second independence referendum, although its legality was
the popular vote did subsequently rejected by the UK Supreme Court.
UKIP secure in the
2015 general election? The Greens have also had a significant inf luence on British politics by increasing
43 List the SNP majority greater awareness of the importance of environmental protection. This has encouraged
and minority all the main UK and regional parties in the UK to make environmental protection
governments in a much more prominent part of their manifesto commitments. In 2019, there was
Holyrood. cross-party support when the Westminster Parliament declared an environment and
climate emergency.
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‘If we elect a majority of Conservative MPs to Parliament, we will start putting our deal
through Parliament before Christmas and we will leave the European Union in January.’
Conservative Party manifesto, 2019
‘Given the outcome of this election, there is simply no democratic justification

whatsoever for Boris Johnson or anyone else seeking to block the right of the people of
Scotland to choose our future.’
Nicola Sturgeon, 7 May 2021, following the SNP’s victory in the
Parliament of Scotland election
In the years since Paris, the world has slowly, and with great effort and pain, built a
lifeboat for humanity. And now is the time to give that lifeboat a mighty shove into
the water, like some great liner, rolling down the slipways of the Clyde. Take a sextant
sighting on 1.5 degrees and set off on a journey to a cleaner, greener future.
Boris Johnson opening the COP26 summit in Glasgow, 1 November 2021
1 In what ways can minority parties influence the development and direction of British politics?
2 To what extent do minority parties wield significant influence in UK politics?
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)

Founded in 1971 by the Reverend Ian Paisley, the DUP’s priority is to keep
Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. It maintains strong links with the
Free Presbyterian Church, and its social conservatism and the intense Protestantism
that it defends have ensured that it has had little impact on the manifestos of the
main political parties.
However, the Democratic Unionists have played an indispensable role in the
development of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Initially opposed to power
sharing with republican parties, in the 2005 general election the DUP became the
largest unionist party at Westminster (Table 2.13).
The decision of Ian Paisley in 2007 to finally agree to power sharing with Sinn Féin
was a pivotal event in the Northern Ireland peace process. However, the difficult
relationship that the DUP have with republican Sinn Féin has meant that it has not
been easy for them to cooperate in government. From 2017 to 2020, for example, the
Stormont assembly was suspended when Sinn Féin withdrew from the government.
The DUP’s strong presence at Westminster has sometimes given it inf luence
disproportionate to its national vote. The 10 seats it won in the inconclusive 2017
Table 2.13 Stormont Assembly results, 2022
Party Share of the vote (%) Description
Sinn Féin 27 Republican
Democratic Unionist Party 25 Unionist
Alliance 17 Non-sectarian
Ulster Unionist Party 9 Unionist
Social Democratic and Labour Party 8 Republican
Independents 2 N/A
Traditional Unionist Voice 1 Unionist
People Before Profit 1 Non-sectarian
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Table 2.14 2017 general general election made DUP support indispensable to the Conservatives if they were
election results — seats won to reach the 326 MPs needed to avoid having to form a minority administration
Number
(Table 2.14).
Party of seats By making a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Conservatives, the
Conservatives 317 DUP agreed to vote with the government on key issues connected with Brexit and
Labour 262 the Budget and to support the government in the event of a vote of confidence.
SNP 35
In return for this support, the DUP’s then leader, Arlene Foster, secured an extra
Liberal 12 £1 billion in funding in Northern Ireland and a practical veto over the May
Democrats
government’s proposed Brexit legislation. However, when the Conservatives won an
Democratic 10 80-seat majority in the 2019 general election, the DUP lost its negotiating inf luence
Unionist Party
at Westminster. It was therefore unable to block the Northern Ireland protocol that
Plaid Cymru 4
kept Northern Ireland within the EU single market for goods and established a trade
border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Key term
Confidence and supply Sinn Féin
Refers to a situation where Sinn Féin is a republican political party committed to the unification of Ireland.
a minority government Since it does not acknowledge the justification for Northern Ireland being part of
retains power by arranging the UK, its Westminster MPs (seven in 2019) do not take up their seats. However,
with another party that Sinn Féin has served in government in Northern Ireland with the DUP and in 2022
it will support it in a vote won the greatest number of seats in the Stormont Assembly. This is notable because
of confidence and on the it meant that Sinn Féin’s leader, Michelle O’Neill, could claim to be Northern
Budget (supply). It is a less Ireland’s first nationalist first minister.
formal arrangement than a
coalition, since members Knowledge check
of the smaller party do
not sit in government 44 Where are minority parties currently in government in the UK?
and can vote against 45 What is the difference between unionist and republican parties in Northern Ireland?
the government on other 46 When has the Northern Ireland Assembly been suspended?
issues.
Political parties in context

The development of a multiparty system and its
implications
Barriers to entry for smaller parties
During most of the twentieth century, British politics was dominated by two main
political parties. This can be referred to as a political duopoly and was caused by the
way in which the different social classes tended to identify with one or the other of
the main parties. As a result of class-based voting, the traditional working-class vote
generally lined up behind Labour, with the middle classes and upper classes more
likely to vote Conservative. This made it difficult for smaller parties to achieve an
electoral breakthrough.
There have also been periods of one-party dominance. From 1951–64 the
Conservative Party was permanently in government and then again from 1979–92.
New Labour under Tony Blair was similarly dominant, winning three consecutive
general elections (1997, 2001 and 2005).
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That the House of Commons is elected by FPTP also makes it difficult for smaller
parties to gain representation. This is because they generally lack the depth of
support that the larger parties can claim. The Liberals/Alliance/Liberal Democrats
have, for example, enjoyed significant breadth of support across the country but they
lack the electoral strongholds of the Labour and Conservative parties. Historically
they have been significantly underrepresented at Westminster.
This has led to a self-fulfilling belief that a vote for a minority party is a wasted
vote. In addition, minority parties have suffered from a lack of funding, since they
have not been able to rely on the close financial links that Labour has had with
the trade unions or the Conservatives with big business. As a result of Labour and
Conservative dominance at Westminster for much of the post-war period, the UK
was not a multiparty system.
Has two-party dominance been eroded at Westminster?

Key term
The two-party system at Westminster began to be challenged in the 1980s, when
the Social Democratic Party was established by former members of the Labour Two-party system Refers
Party and formed an electoral alliance with the Liberal Party. This created a centrist to a distribution of political
party (the SDP–Liberal Alliance) with wider potential appeal and, following their power in which two
merger as the Liberal Democrats in 1988, the party began to increase its inf luence dominant political parties
at Westminster (Table 2.15). share power between
them. This can also be
The decline of the Westminster duopoly was also facilitated by growing partisan
referred to as a political
dealignment as voters increasingly voted on specific issues rather than according to
duopoly.
class. The Liberal Democrats focused their efforts on certain key geographical areas
that they had a good chance of winning, such as the South West, and this further
maximised their inf luence at Westminster.
The consistent opposition of Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy to the Iraq
War (2003) further boosted Liberal Democrat support in the 2005 general election.
Then in 2010 a strong campaign by his successor, Nick Clegg, combined with
disappointing performances by David Cameron and Gordon Brown, provided the
opportunity for the Liberal Democrats to form a coalition government with the
Conservatives.
In contrast to the Liberal Democrats’ slow progress, the SNP achieved its electoral
breakthrough in the 2015 general election following its high-profile campaign in
the 2014 Scottish independence referendum (Table 2.16).
Table 2.15 Liberal Democrat share of the national vote and representation
at Westminster, 1992–2010
General election Share of national vote (%) Number of seats won
1992 17.8 20
1997 18.8 46
2001 18.3 52
2005 22 62
2010 23 57
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Table 2.16 SNP share of the vote in Scotland and representation at Westminster, 1992–2019
General election Share of vote in Scotland (%) Number of Westminster seats won
1992 21.5 3
1997 22.1 6
2001 20.1 5
2005 17.7 6
2010 19.9 6
2015 50 56
2017 36.9 35
2019 45 48
Knowledge check
47 Define a political duopoly.
48 What is a coalition?
49 What is a confidence-and-supply agreement?
50 Define two-and-a-half-party democracy.
51 Define multiparty democracy.
The establishment of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010 and

Key term the electoral breakthrough of the SNP in 2015 might suggest that the UK has now
Two-and-a-half-party entered a two-and-a-half-party system at Westminster. However, this would be
system Refers to a premature. In 2017 the Conservative and Labour parties achieved their highest vote
distribution of political share (82.4%) in any general election since 1970. Although this decreased in 2019
power in which a third to 75.7%, it still gave them, because of the way in which FPTP operates, 87.2%
smaller party can of the seats at Westminster. In contrast, since the 2015 general election, Liberal
sometimes hold the Democrat representation has plummeted at Westminster. The SNP retains a strong
balance of power between parliamentary presence. However, it is likely to wield decisive inf luence only if
the two more dominant Labour requires its support to form a government. This suggests that as long as the
parties. Labour and Conservative parties are able to form majority governments, a political
duopoly will be maintained at Westminster (Table 2.17).
Table 2.17 Liberal Democrat, UKIP/Brexit and the Green Party results in the 2015, 2017 and
2019 general elections
General election Liberal Democrats UKIP/Brexit (2019) Green Party
2015 7.9% of the popular 12.6% of the popular 3.8% of the popular
vote vote vote
8 seats 1 seat 1 seat
2017 7.4% of the popular 1.8% of the popular 1.6% of the popular
vote vote vote
12 seats No seats 1 seat
2019 11.6% of the popular 2% of the popular 2.6% of the popular
vote vote vote
11 seats No seats 1 seat
Multiparty democracy in the devolved governments

Although it could be argued that the Conservative and Labour parties are still
dominant at Westminster, the evidence suggests that the regional legislatures have
encouraged the development of a multiparty democracy elsewhere in the UK.
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Table 2.18 Results in devolved elections, 2021 and 2022
National Parliament for
Scottish Parliament 2021 Wales (Senedd) 2021 Northern Ireland Assembly 2022
(129 seats) (60 seats) (90 seats)
SNP 64 Labour 30 Sinn Féin 27
Conservative 31 Conservative 16 Democratic Unionist Party 25
Labour 22 Plaid Cymru 13 Alliance 17
Green 8 Liberal Democrat 1 Ulster Unionist Party 9
Green 4 Social Democratic and Labour Party 8
Independent 2
Traditional Unionist Voice 1
People Before Profit 1
As we can see from Table 2.18, power is shared much more equally among the parties
in all the devolved legislatures. No two parties can be sure of being dominant and
so, in the constituent parts of the UK, multiparty democracy does exist. As further
power is devolved to the constituent parts of the UK, so the importance of multiparty
democracy in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to increase.
Debate
Has the UK now become a multiparty democracy?

Evaluation: Although critics claim that the influence of the Conservative and Labour parties is being eroded, is it an exaggeration
to claim that the UK has become a multi-party democracy?
Yes No
• In the devolved legislatures, power is shared by • The Westminster Parliament determines constitutional
more than two parties, so in the regions there is issues and those concerning foreign policy and defence.
multiparty democracy. Since 2007, the SNP has Conservative and Labour dominance here means that
either governed as a single party or with other although the SNP is the dominant party in Scotland, it
political parties cannot fulfil manifesto commitments such as securing a
second independence referendum or removing nuclear
bases from Scotland without the consent of Westminster
• Smaller parties have been highly influential in • In the Parliament elected in 2019, Labour and the
recent general elections. In 2010 the Conservatives Conservatives won 87.2% of the seats. This means that at
established a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and Westminster their influence remains dominant, especially if
in 2017 the DUP agreed to support the Conservative the winning party has a large majority
government in a confidence-and-supply agreement
• The SNP has a significant Westminster presence, • From 1997 to 2010 support for the Liberal Democratis
which would be very important in a hung parliament steadily increased. In 2010 (with 57 MPs) the party entered
government for the first time since 1922, breaking the
Labour/Conservative duopoly. However, in more recent
general elections, Liberal Democrat influence in the House
of Commons has collapsed (2015: 8 MPs, 2017: 12 MPs,
2019: 11 MPs)
• Smaller parties can wield significant influence by • In every general election since 1922 the party with the
setting the political agenda. Although UKIP won only most seats has either been Conservative or Labour.
1 seat in the 2015 general election with 12.6% of This means that for more than 100 years Labour or the
the popular vote, its growing influence shifted the Conservatives have always been in government. This
Conservative Party in a more Eurosceptic direction. dominance extends to local government in England and
The influence of the Green Party can be seen in Wales as well as to elected mayors, who wield growing
the way in which all the main political parties have influence
adopted more environmentally aware policies
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Factors that contribute to party success or failure
Popularity and image of the leader
Although the UK is not a presidential system, intense media interest in a party’s
leader can be vital in determining how successful a political party is. This is not new.
In 1918, at the end of the First World War, the Liberal leader, David Lloyd George,
was so popular that he was even mobbed on a ‘presidential’ tour of the United States.
Since 1945, the ability of a party leader to establish a close personal relationship with
the electorate has often been important in the success of a political party. The veteran
constitutional expert Peter Hennessy refers to this as ‘spatial leadership’ whereby a
charismatic and empathetic leader creates a space between them and their party, so
the public put their faith in the leader more than the party they represent.
Margaret Thatcher won three general elections because her
direct and patriotic leadership appealed to aspirational working-
class voters. In his two landslide general election victories in
1997 and 2001, Tony Blair’s optimistic moral vision won him
support among all age groups and classes. In the 2019 general
election, the focus of the Conservative campaign was on Boris
Johnson’s personal responsibility to ‘get Brexit done’, as the ‘Vote
Conservative, actually’ party political broadcast demonstrates.
However, if a leader is seen as weak and ineffectual this will
have a negative impact on their party’s performance. Ed
Miliband, as Labour leader 2010–15, failed to persuade the
electorate that he had the steely strength of character needed
to be prime minister. Liz Truss lacked the presence to create
Boris Johnson drives a Union flag-themed bulldozer, confidence in her radical economic policies.
with the slogan ‘Get Brexit Done’ inside the bucket, In particular, small parties need effective leaders if voters
through a fake wall emblazoned with the word are going to change their voting allegiance. The Liberals/
‘Gridlock’ during the 2019 general election campaign Liberal Democrats have been at their most successful when
they have had media-friendly and compelling leaders such as
Jo Grimond, Jeremy Thorpe, Charles Kennedy and Nick Clegg. However, under
recent lacklustre leaders like Tim Farron, Vince Cable and Jo Swinson their fortunes
have plummeted.

When Jeremy Paxman interviewed Ed Miliband during the 2015 general election, the exchange
below made Miliband look weaker rather than stronger as a potential prime minister. This may
Knowledge check
have contributed to David Cameron’s unexpected general election victory.
52 Define spatial
Jeremy Paxman: ‘A bloke on the tube said to me last week: Ed Miliband goes into a room with
leadership.
Vladimir Putin. The door is closed. Two minutes later the door is opened and Vladimir Putin is
53 Define
standing there smiling and Ed Miliband is all over the floor in pieces. You understand what the
presidentialism.
point is here – the point is, people think you’re just not tough enough.’
54 List four landslide
victories in UK Ed Miliband: ‘Let me tell you . . . hell, yes. I’m tough enough.’
politics. 1 Research other leaders who may have failed to become prime minister because it was felt
55 When were televised they lacked the necessary leadership attributes.
leaders’ debates 2 Which prime ministers may have lost office because their leadership was seen by the
introduced in the UK? electorate to be inadequate?
9781398369160.indb 68 15/02/23 10:23 PM

Thank you, Boris?

The Blyth Valley constituency in the North East was Labour from 1950 to 2019. In 2019, when Blyth Valley was won by the
Conservatives, its new MP, Ian Levy, directly attributed his success to Boris Johnson: ‘I’d like to thank Boris … because I’m going
to be on that train on Monday. I’m going to London, we’re going to get Brexit done.’ Comments such as Ian Levy’s suggest that it
was Boris Johnson’s leadership which led to so many ‘Red Wall’ seats like Blyth Valley becoming Conservative in 2019. However,
Table 2.19 possibly tells a different story.
Table 2.19 Changing share of the Conservative vote in three Labour ‘Red Wall’ seats, 2010–19
Blyth Valley Sedgefield Leigh
2019 general election +5.8% +8.4% +9.5%
2015 general election +5.1% +6% +1.7%
1 Why might the evidence in Table 2.19 suggest that Johnson’s leadership may have been exaggerated in winning the
Conservatives traditionally Labour seats in the 2019 general election?
2 How important do you think Boris Johnson’s style of leadership was in the December 2019 80-seat Conservative election
victory?
Debate
The party leader is vital in determining how successful a political party is

Evaluation: Charismatic political leaders gain a huge amount of media publicity. However, the UK is not a presidential democracy,
so is the influence of a popular party leader exaggerated?
Yes No
• Margaret Thatcher’s dominant leadership style won the • Clement Attlee won the 1945 general election by a
Conservatives support in areas and among groups that had landslide, even though he had none of Churchill’s
rarely voted Conservative before charisma and gifts of oratory
• Tony Blair won landslide victories (1997 and 2001) by • Theresa May is generally seen as a less impressive
appealing to middle-class voters who traditionally had voted Conservative leader than Margaret Thatcher.
Conservative However, in the 2017 general election, May
• Harold Macmillan was called ‘Supermac’ by the cartoonist achieved 42.4% of the vote, the same as Thatcher
‘Vicky’. Although not meant as a compliment, the name achieved in 1983
stuck and Macmillan cruised to a general election landslide • In 1964, Harold Wilson ran a much more
in 1959 presidential campaign than Hugh Gaitskell had
• In the 2017 general election, Ruth Davidson’s gutsy, down-to- done in 1959. Despite this, the Labour vote share
earth approach contrasted with that of previous establishment increased by only 0.2%
Scottish Conservative leaders. This contributed to the • In 1970, Edward Heath won a surprise general
Conservatives’ vote share leaping by 13.7%, taking them from election victory over Harold Wilson. Although
1 Westminster seat in Scotland to 13 Heath’s earnest approach to campaigning was
• Nick Clegg’s impressive performance in the televised hardly inspirational, voters abandoned Wilson
leaders’ debates in the 2010 general election (‘I agree with because of the government’s failure to address
Nick’) denied David Cameron a parliamentary majority and industrial unrest and the announcement of a
led to the first coalition government since 1945 surprise balance of trade deficit 3 days before the
• In contrast, doubts over Liz Truss’ leadership capabilities general election
helped contribute to Labour achieving a 33% lead over the
Conservatives (YouGov, 29 September 2022)
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Relationship with the media
If political parties can establish a positive relationship with the media, it will be
easier for them to achieve political success. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s press
secretary, Bernard Ingham, played a vital role in ensuring that the government had
a strong relationship with inf luential newspapers. Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s
press secretary, was equally successful in ensuring that New Labour was able to
control the political agenda as much as possible. So important did inf luencing the
media become that the term ‘spin doctor’ was invented for media-savvy political
advisers. Nick Clegg was so popular with the media during the 2010 general election
that the term ‘Cleggmania’ was invented. Positive stories about Nigel Farage in the
right-wing press and his frequent appearances on television gave UKIP the strong
media exposure it otherwise would have lacked.
If, however, a political party has a distant or difficult relationship with journalists,
it will find it much more difficult to encourage the sort of favourable news stories
that enable it to ‘make the political weather’. In the 2019 general election, Jeremy
Corbyn and the Labour Party were thrown onto the defensive by allegations of
anti-Semitism, which made it impossible for them to control the political agenda.
Similarly, in 1979 James Callaghan’s Labour government struggled to regain the
initiative after The Sun headline ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’ claimed that Callaghan was
not taking the widespread industrial strife seriously enough. From 1992 to 1997 John
Major’s government became so associated with allegations of sleaze, incompetence
and divisions over the European Union that it could not shift the political agenda on
to areas such as the economy, where it had a stronger record. After 5 years of negative
media coverage of their role in the 2010–15 coalition, the Liberal Democrats secured
only 8 seats in the 2015 general election, their lowest number of MPs since 1970. Liz
Truss’ failure to successfully communicate her radical neo-liberal policies through
the media doomed her premiership. Initially enthusiastic papers, like The Sun and
the Daily Mail, quickly turned on her and the final straw came when the Daily Star
likened her to a ‘wet lettuce’.
However, a positive relationship with the media does not guarantee success for a
party. When Neil Kinnock became Labour leader in 1983, Peter Mandelson worked
hard to remove the tension between Labour and the media. They adopted the Red
Rose as the party’s new symbol and in the 1987 general election, the party political
broadcast focused entirely on Kinnock was a brilliant advertising achievement.
However, Margaret Thatcher still won a landslide victory. In 1992, Labour again
ran a highly professional stage-managed campaign culminating in the presidential
Sheffield Rally showcasing Kinnock as a ‘prime minister in waiting’. Once again,
he lost, suggesting that issues of governing competence and leadership may be more
important in determining party political success than media presentation. Following
the bloody aftermath of the Iraq War (2003), despite its media self-confidence, New
Labour found it much more difficult to control the political agenda since Blair’s
leadership had been so compromised.
Record in government
If a political party achieves a reputation for governing competence, this will naturally
contribute to its success. For example, the Conservative prime minister Harold
Macmillan won the 1959 general election because the government was presiding
over a period of unparalleled economic prosperity. Margaret Thatcher won two
9781398369160.indb 70 15/02/23 10:23 PM

landslide victories (1983, 1987) because enough voters believed that Conservative
governments had successfully transformed the British economy. However, if
a political party is seen as being incompetent or ineffective in government, that
will dramatically impact its fortunes. The Callaghan government was seen to
have failed to address industrial strife during the Winter of Discontent (1978–79),
which haunted the Labour Party until Tony Blair became leader in 1994. The
sudden dramatic rise in interest rates on Black Wednesday (1992) under John Major
established a Conservative reputation of economic incompetence that lasted until
David Cameron. When Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting September 2022 mini-
budget sent shockwaves through financial markets, some Conservatives feared it
might be another office-denying ‘Black Wednesday’ moment. It is little wonder
therefore that Conservative MPs swiftly turned on Liz Truss in the hope that they
could re-establish a reputation for economic confidence before the next general
election.
Record in opposition
According to the nineteenth-century Conservative politician Lord Randolph
Churchill, ‘the duty of an opposition is to oppose’. An effective parliamentary
opposition can therefore challenge the competence of a government and position
itself as a ‘government in waiting’. From 1994 to 1997, Tony Blair and his
frontbench team successfully undermined John Major’s government by highlighting
Conservative divisions over membership of the EU and accusing the government
of incompetence. From 2007 to 2010, the Conservative leader, David Cameron,
used Prime Minister’s Question Time to discomfort Gordon Brown and undermine
his government. The shadow chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, also
successfully criticised the government’s response to the global economic crisis that
began in 2008. Sir Keir Starmer’s earnest and forensic attacks on Boris Johnson’s
integrity and Liz Truss’ competence in 2022 were generally regarded as having been
successful. It was less certain, however, how effective these tactics would be against
Rishi Sunak.
Equally, a governing party can benefit from an ineffective opposition. Neither
Michael Foot nor Neil Kinnock had enough popular appeal to provide strong
Labour opposition to Margaret Thatcher. Similarly, following its landslide defeat
in the 1997 general election, the failure of the Conservative Party under William
Hague and Iain Duncan Smith to reach beyond its core vote made it incapable of
challenging the progressive appeal of New Labour.
Funding and organisation

Although the Conservative Party dominates party funding, this does not guarantee
the party victories. For example, the Conservatives lost three general elections to
New Labour (1997, 2001 and 2005) even though they had significantly greater
financial resources. In 2005, the Liberal Democrats won a record 62 seats even
though they had comparatively limited financial resources. The dramatic rise of the
Scottish National Party since 2015 has been achieved even though they have almost
no financial backing. More important in determining success is how well the party
organises itself. New Labour was so successful because its candidates presented such
a united and coherent political message. In 2015, the Conservatives focused on a
‘decapitation’ strategy, successfully targeting Liberal Democrat seats. In 2019, they
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focused their resources on winning traditional Labour ‘Red Wall’ seats where the
Knowledge check Conservatives had been building up their support in previous general elections.
56 List general elections
when the campaign Choice of candidates and campaign methods
was significant. Although some critics suggest that the public vote according to who the party
57 When have manifesto leader is or how the party is portrayed nationally in the media, the importance of
commitments been candidate selection should not be underestimated. A local candidate, or one who
important in a general is thoroughly engaged with constituency issues, can generate more support than a
election? perceived outsider. In 2019, the Conservative Party generally selected local people
58 When has positive with a commitment to Brexit to fight Red Wall seats, and activists spent a lot of time
media coverage of a campaigning on local issues in pubs and community centres.
leader been important
in a general election?
The thrust of the campaign can also be vital in determining the result. In the 1992
59 When has negative
general election, the Conservatives quickly set the agenda in their favour by claiming
media coverage of a
that the Labour Party was preparing to dramatically increase taxation (‘Labour tax
leader been important
bombshell’). As a result, they won a surprise general election victory. However, in
in a general election?
the 2017 general election the Conservative campaign quickly faltered on claims that
60 List three general
the manifesto was committed to what the press termed a ‘dementia tax’, while the
elections when
idealistic tone of the Labour manifesto and campaign ‘For the Many Not the Few’
governing
led to an unexpected surge in support for Labour. In many general elections the
competence helped
campaign has little impact, especially if the public already have either a very positive
to determine the
or a very negative view of the government or the opposition. In 1997, for example,
result.
opinion polls hardly changed during the campaign since the Major government had
such a negative reputation and New Labour’s popularity was undefeatable.
Table 2.20 highlights a number of election campaigns and their inf luence.
Table 2.20 A comparison of important and less important general election campaigns
Influential general election campaigns Uninfluential general election campaigns
• In 1970, Harold Wilson and the Labour Party were far ahead • When a government is seen as competent and
in all the opinion polls. The last Gallup poll before the general efficient the general election campaign will be
election put Labour on 49% and the Conservatives on 42%. unlikely to influence the result
However, Wilson’s presidentialism was misplaced given • In 1959, Harold Macmillan was comfortably
underlying industrial and economic problems. Voters preferred returned to office on the back of unprecedented
Edward Heath’s perceived honesty and dogged determination material prosperity for which the government
and the Conservatives won a surprise majority of 30 on a gained the credit. The Labour campaign of Hugh
4.7% swing Gaitskell made little impact on the electorate
• In 1992, 38 out of 50 opinion polls put Labour clearly ahead. • In 2001, Tony Blair’s Labour government
On general election night the BBC predicted a hung parliament. was in such a commanding position and the
However, John Major’s soap box campaign, Conservative Conservative opposition of William Hague so
warnings of ‘Labour’s tax bombshell’ and Neil Kinnock’s weak that the campaign did not make a difference
performance at Labour’s Sheffield Rally, which cast doubts on
him as a potential prime minister, shifted support back to the
• If the opposition is weak then the campaign is
unlikely to be decisive. In 1983, the Labour Party
Conservatives. The swing to Labour was just 2.2% and Major manifesto was so left wing and its leader Michael
secured a 21-seat majority Foot so ridiculed in the press that Margaret
• When the 2017 general election campaign began, Theresa Thatcher won a 144-seat majority. The only
May’s Conservative Party led Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour question was whether Labour would manage to
Party by 20% in the polls. At the end of the campaign the beat the Liberal/SDP Alliance into third place
Conservatives were on 44% and Labour had caught up, to 36%.
The actual result was even closer, with the Conservatives on
• In 1987, Labour ran a much more media-focused
campaign under Neil Kinnock than it had under
42.4% and Labour on 40%. Theresa May’s lacklustre, stage- Michael Foot. However, the swing to Labour was
managed appearances, media allegations of a Conservative only 3.2% and Margaret Thatcher won a 102-seat
dementia tax and the enthusiasm of the Corbyn campaign ‘For majority
the Many Not the Few’ combined to increase the Labour vote
share by a remarkable 9.6%
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Policy statements, including the manifesto
High-profile policy statements, manifesto commitments and the way they are
reported in the media can have a dramatic impact on the fortunes of a political
party. In the 1979 general election, the Conservative manifesto’s promise to allow
council house tenants to buy their homes helped increase Conservative support
by 15% among C2 voters and 12% among DE voters. In 2015, David Cameron’s
manifesto commitment to a referendum on UK membership of the EU meant
that the Conservatives lost fewer votes to UKIP and so Cameron secured a 12-
seat majority. However, in 2017, media claims that the Conservatives planned a
‘dementia tax’ and the popularity among young people of Labour’s commitment to
ending tuition fees encouraged such a dramatic shift in public opinion that May lost
13 seats and had to form a minority government with the support of the Democratic
Unionist Party.
Impact of any relevant referendums

A criticism of referendums is that a party may use them
for political self-interest. In the February 1974 general
election, Labour leader Harold Wilson won votes by
promising a referendum on the UK’s continued
membership of the European Economic Community
(EEC). In 2015, David Cameron reduced the threat from
UKIP by pledging to a referendum on EU membership
and won the general election. The promise of a referendum
can also have a long-term negative impact on party unity.
The 2016 EU referendum and its aftermath encouraged
bitter in-fighting within the Conservative Party and
prompted the resignation of both David Cameron (2016)
and Theresa May (2019) as prime minister. Party leaders
are likely to be cautious of referendums since they may Do politicians use referendums for political self-interest?
have unexpected and enduring consequences.
In focus
The political wisdom of two Harolds
According to Harold Wilson, ‘a week is a long time in politics’; Harold Macmillan once commented that it was ‘events, dear
boy, events’ that determined party political success. It could be argued that political careers can be made or ruined by how
governments and the opposition react to crises and unexpected events. In 1962, the Profumo scandal, in which the secretary
of state for war, John Profumo, lied to Parliament about his affair with young model Christine Keeler, made the prime minister,
Harold Macmillan, look out of touch and made the Conservative Party look seedy and hypocritical. In September 1978, James
Callaghan decided not to call a general election that autumn. Soon after, widespread industrial unrest broke out in the Winter
of Discontent and Callaghan went on to lose a parliamentary vote of confidence and the resulting general election to Margaret
Thatcher. John Major never recovered from Black Wednesday in 1992 when his government greatly increased interest rates in
one day to try to remain on the EU Exchange Rate Mechanism. However, unexpected events can also make fortunes. Victory in
the Falklands War in 1982 increased Thatcher’s prestige. In early 2022, evidence of government parties during lockdown led to a
massive loss of public confidence in Boris Johnson and a corresponding increase in support for Sir Keir Starmer.
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Summary
➜ What are the key functions of political parties?
➜ How convincing is the case for state funding of political parties?
➜ What are the main traditions and policies of the Conservative and Labour parties and the
Liberal Democrats?
➜ How significant are divisions within the main political parties?
➜ How significant are the policy differences between the main political parties?
➜ Why do smaller parties find it difficult to achieve representation at Westminster?
➜ How much influence do smaller parties have in UK politics?
➜ Which party system model best fits UK politics today?
➜ What factors best explain the success or failure of political parties?
Practice questions
Political parties play a major role in democratic processes around the world…
…
Imagine the UK would not have any parties at all, and all of the 650 parliamentary seats
would be given to individual representatives acting on behalf of their voters. The MPs would
still need to conclude on a prime minister, a government and a policy programme to be
implemented. Even if they found common ground on all three fronts, it would take them
a very long time. In comparison, this process is expedited with pre-election grouping of
representatives … policy outcomes are more predictable and transparent. Voters already
know before the election about the likely policies a winning party is going to implement. If
there were no parties whatsoever, the imaginary 650 individual representatives in the UK
would need to concur on a programme. A voter of an elected representative could then not
be sure that many of his/her preferences would find their way into legislation. There are
simply too many individual, competing proposals.
…
To be sure, political parties are by no means flawless: party patronage, group discipline,
party finance scandals and campaign-focused behaviour are all areas of concern that
political parties have to work on.
…
But even with these caveats of party democracy parties provide important qualities and we
should not abandon them. They are not necessary for representative democracy to work
in the sense that plants need water to grow – something parties need to be more often
reminded of. But they improve politics and it is implausible that representative democracy
could be successful without them.
‘Despite their manifest flaws, political parties improve democracy and it is implausible
that it could be successful without them.’
Professor Ann-Kristin Kölln, ‘Despite their manifest flaws, political parties improve
democracy and it is implausible that it could be successful without them’,
Democratic Audit, https://tinyurl.com/53uv5ahs
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Using the source, evaluate the view that political parties strengthen rather than
weaken UK democracy.
1 Evaluate the view that the Conservative Party has abandoned
Thatcherism. You must consider this view and the alternative to this
view in a balanced way.(30)
2 Evaluate the view that the main UK political parties are more united than
divided in terms of their political philosophies and policies. You must
3 Evaluate the view that the popularity of a political party is most
dependent on its leader’s media image. You must consider this view
Further reading
Clark, A. (2018) Political Parties in the UK (2nd edn), Red Globe Press.
Gallop, N. and Tuck, D. (2020) ‘Conservatism and the Conservative Party’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 1.
Shipman, T. (2016) All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class,
HarperCollins.
Shipman, T. (2017) Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem, HarperCollins.
Tomes, A. (2020) ‘Have the minor parties reshaped UK politics?, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 1.
Yeowell, N. (ed.) (2022) Rethinking Labour’s Past, IB Tauris.
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3 Electoral systems
First-past-the-post (FPTP) has been used for UK elections, in some form, for
centuries. Over this time there has been extensive reform to address complaints
of corruption in the system and to ref lect changing political attitudes — these
reforms have included constituency boundaries, the extent of the franchise and
the ballot.
Nineteenth-century Acts reformed the franchise, with prime minister Gladstone
insisting that:
‘… whatever might be the effect on the House from some points of view, it was Voters queue outside a
past doubt that the two Reform Acts had made the House far more adequate to polling station in south
express the wants and wishes of the nation as a whole.’
London. Across the UK
Gladstone was referring to the Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867, which had granted polling stations open from
the vote to an increased number of men. These reforms continued into the twentieth 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the day
century with the extension of the franchise to women and to 18-year-olds. In recent of a general election to allow
decades FPTP itself has come under criticism, especially since the introduction and as many people as possible
successful use of other electoral systems in the UK: to participate
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l The additional member system (AMS) in Wales and Scotland and for the Greater
London Assembly
l The single transferable vote (STV) in Northern Ireland
l Between 2000 and 2022, supplementary vote (SV) was used for elections of the
London mayor. Following the Elections Act 2022, the London mayor will now
be elected using FPTP.
There are numerous supporters of FPTP, which does have clear benefits. During
the alternative vote (AV) referendum campaign of 2011, prime minister Cameron
commented: ‘Britain is in real danger of exchanging an electoral system that works
for one we would come to regret profoundly.’
Key term
Elections in the UK Accountability To be
A feature of liberal democracy is the holding of free and fair elections, which held responsible for your
allow true competition between parties and give a real choice to its citizens. Elections actions. In a political
give citizens an opportunity to elect a government, using their vote to try to shape sense, citizens judge their
the policies of the nation going forward. It also allows citizens to hold their elected elected representatives for
representatives accountable for their actions over their previous term in office. their policies and actions
during their time in office.
A vast array of elections takes place across the UK at different intervals using
different electoral systems (Figure 3.1). Each election is an opportunity for eligible
citizens to participate in a democracy. The regional assemblies in Scotland, Wales Knowledge check
and Northern Ireland are elected only by citizens in those regions. All of these
elections share the same features in the UK: 1 What reforms to the
franchise took place in
l Secret ballot the twentieth century?
l Universal suffrage 2 List the key features of
l Regular elections, regulated independently elections in the UK.
l Clear voter choice on the ballot 3 What electoral system
To hold an election, an electoral system must be chosen and used. In the simplest was the subject of a
terms, an electoral system takes votes cast by citizens and turns these into seats or referendum in 2011?
offices won. There are many electoral systems, each with its own processes which 4 List the different
lead to different outcomes. Table 3.1 differentiates between elections, electoral systems used in the
systems and party systems. UK.
Table 3.1 Elections, electoral systems and party systems

Elections (in the UK) Electoral system Party system
• An opportunity for citizens to • A process by which the votes cast • The number of parties that have
cast a vote for their elected can be translated into elected a realistic chance of forming
representatives officials or seats government
• A feature of liberal and • A variety of systems is available, • A result of the electoral process
representative democracy broadly falling into three types: that is chosen, not a choice in itself
• A way in which governments are proportional, plurality and
chosen and held accountable majoritarian
3 Electoral systems 77
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SCOTLAND
Scottish Parliament
Every 5 years
Northern Irish Assembly Using the additional member system (AMS)
Every 5 years Edinburgh
Using single transferable
vote (STV) Local elections
NORTHERN
IRELAND 4-year terms
Belfast Using first-past-the-post (FPTP)
UK Parliament — House of
Commons
Every 5 years
ENGLAND
REPUBLIC OF Using first-past-the-post (FPTP)
IRELAND London Assembly
Every 4 years
Using the additional
WALES
member system (AMS)
Welsh Assembly Cardiff London London mayor
Every 5 years
Every 4 years
Using the additional
Using first-past-the-post (FPTP)
member system
(AMS)
Police and crime commissioners
Every 4 years
Using supplementary vote (SV)
Figure 3.1 Elections in the UK
The purpose of elections

To understand why elections are features of liberal and representative democracies,
Key terms it is important to understand what holding an election is meant to achieve.
Mandate The right to act
on behalf of a constituency Choosing an elected representative and government
as its representative. For In all the elections on the map (Figure 3.1), voters are choosing politicians to represent
the party that wins an their views. Candidates campaign either on their personal beliefs and policies or, if they
election, the mandate are a member of a party, on the policies in their party’s manifesto. By winning an
is the authority to carry election, this person gains a mandate to act on behalf of their constituency. In most
out the policies within UK elections, the election of individuals in each constituency leads to the formation of
the party’s manifesto a government, usually by the party that won a majority of seats in that election.
published before the Failing this, a number of parties form a coalition, working together in order to govern.
election.
Majority Mathematically, a Holding the current elected representatives to account
majority is more than half, An election allows for the current office holders to be judged on their performance over
or 50% + 1. the time they have been in office. For most UK elected offices, this is either a 4- or
5-year term. This ensures there are consequences for the actions that an elected official
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takes while in office and that they can be voted out if their constituents are unhappy.
Knowing that their actions could lead to them being removed should encourage officials
to better communicate with voters, to make sure they feel represented and happy.
Legitimising political power

The government formed as a result of a free and fair election is called a ‘legitimate’
government. This means that it has the right to exercise power and authority
(Table 3.2) over an area and the people within it. When this government introduces a
new policy or changes an old one, it has the right to do so because it won an election.
Table 3.2 Power and authority
Authority Power
• The rightful exercising of power, granted • The ability to actually carry out
to a government in an election government action Key terms
• For example, Boris Johnson campaigned • For example, when the Commons voted
to ‘Get Brexit Done’ in 2019, gaining the for the Letwin amendment to the EU Legitimacy The rightful
authority to do so in winning the election (Withdrawal) Bill, it forced Johnson to holding of political authority,
with a clear majority seek an extension to Brexit negotiations usually gained by winning a
free and fair election.
For a government to gain legitimacy, the participation of voters is needed. If the
Participation The act of
turnout is too low, the election result does not effectively represent the views of the
taking part in a political
public. This undermines the legitimacy of the elected government. For legitimacy,
process, most commonly
there must be competing parties or individuals for voters to choose between in an
through voting but other
election.
methods are possible,
Most governments in UK general elections gain a majority of the seats but not such as pressure group
a majority of the votes cast (Table 3.3). These governments are still regarded activity or educating
as legitimate, having won a majority of seats under the rules of FPTP. The oneself.
Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition of 2010–15 is useful when considering Turnout The number,
legitimacy. On the one hand, neither party won the election outright, undermining usually a percentage, of
their legitimacy. On the other hand, the two parties together gained 59% of the eligible voters who took
vote. This clear majority is unusual in UK politics and arguably increased their part in an election.
legitimacy.
Limiting the power of elected representatives and the government

Elections give power to a government, but they also serve
to limit it. Each elected government knows that it will face
election again in a number of years. In order to retain power in
future elections, the government should carefully consider the
actions it takes. This effectively limits its power. Elections also
result in the election of other representatives who do not form
government. These are still legitimately elected officials and
they therefore form the opposition. They can use this position
to scrutinise and challenge government policy, which also limits
the power of government.
Development of political policy

As part of an election, most parties or candidates publish a Theresa May and Arlene Foster after forming a
manifesto: a document outlining the policies the party plans confidence-and-supply agreement in 2017, with the
to implement if it is elected. Public opinion can shape these Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) pledging to support
policies, as a government must be popular to win an election. the Conservatives in votes of no confidence and budget
The winner of an election is usually chosen on these policies. (supply) votes
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During the 2019 general election, the Conservative Party had to change its proposed
policy on corporation tax. Initially, Prime Minister Johnson had pledged to cut
corporation tax further. However, under public pressure Johnson was forced to
Knowledge check abandon this proposal, pledging instead the money made by keeping corporation
tax at 19% to the NHS.
5 Define party system.
6 What is the difference
between power and Selection of a political elite
authority? In the UK, parties can decide who runs in an election under their party name.
7 What is a manifesto? They choose those they think are mostly likely to win elections and be successful
8 Define accountability. as elected officials. Once elected representatives are chosen for each constituency,
9 What is the role of the some of them will be included in the formation of a government. This political elite
opposition? is then responsible for the smooth running of a country; the election provides an
opportunity to ensure they are capable and competent at doing so.
Different electoral systems

The electoral systems in the UK fall broadly into three categories — majoritarian,
plurality and proportional (Table 3.3).
Table 3.3 Categories of electoral system

Majoritarian Plurality Proportional
Meaning A majority is 50% +1 to win A plurality of votes is having more A proportional system allocates
This usually refers to the minimum votes than anyone else seats roughly in line with the
number of votes needed to win a In a plurality system, no outright percentage of votes gained by a
seat majority is required to win a seat party
Alternatively, it may refer to the Likely to produce a two-party No purely proportional systems
number of seats a party needs to system are used in the UK, but a number
win to form a government of systems used are more
Likely to produce a two-party proportional than FPTP
system Likely to produce a multiparty
system
System Supplementary vote (SV) First-past-the-post (FPTP) Additional member system (AMS)
Single transferable vote (STV)
Sometimes these distinctions become blurred. For example, to win a constituency

seat in FPTP, a candidate needs to gain a plurality of the vote. To form a government
under FPTP, a party is usually expected to win a majority of the seats available in
the House of Commons.
Plurality systems
First-past-the-post
Key term First-past-the-post (FPTP) is used for UK general elections. These should occur
First-past-the-post at a fixed point every 5 years in accordance with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act
(FPTP) The plurality 2011. However, this Act does have a provision to allow for an election to occur
electoral system used for should two-thirds of MPs vote for one. This happened in 2017 when the issue of
UK general elections. Brexit became particularly divisive, explaining why three general elections occurred
within 4 years.
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In focus
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act and elections
Passed in 2011, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act laid out in legislation that UK elections should
occur every 5 years on a fixed date. Previously, the prime minister decided when elections were
called. The Act did allow for a snap general election to be called if two-thirds of MPs voted for
it — as happened in 2017.
This Act was criticised by the Conservative Party, which pledged to overturn it in its 2019
manifesto. The party also showed how weak this Act was in 2019 when, instead of seeking a
two-thirds majority, it simply passed the Early Parliamentary General Election Bill instead.
Winning a majority in the 2019 election, the Conservatives introduced the Dissolution and
Calling of Parliament Bill, which would put the power to call elections back in the hands of the
prime minister. This bill suffered a number of defeats in the House of Lords, who argued that
this decision should remain with MPs and not with the prime minister alone. The bill became
law in 2022, effectively overturning the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.
How it works
Key features:
l Single-member constituencies
l Plurality system
l Vote cast for a person, not a party
Election of the Member of
At constituency level Parliament for a constituency
l The UK is divided into 650 geographical areas called Vote for only one candidate by putting a
cross  in the box next to your choice
constituencies. Each constituency contains an electorate of
approximately 70,000 people, although this does vary widely across FIRST, Candidate
the UK.
Address
l Each constituency is represented by 1 seat in the House of Commons
held by a single MP. These are known as single-member Party
constituencies. SECOND, Candidate
l Each party will select a candidate to run for election within a
Address
constituency.
l The voters of a constituency cast a single ballot, choosing between Party
the candidates put forward. To do this, they put an ‘X’ in a box next THIRD, Candidate
to their chosen candidate on the ballot paper.
Address
l The candidate with the most votes wins that constituency seat and
becomes its elected representative. Party
FOURTH, Candidate
Key term Address
Constituency A geographical area containing voters who elect a representative Party
to act on their behalf.
FIFTH, Candidate
Single-member constituency A constituency that is represented by just one
Address
elected individual.
Minority government A party that has only a minority but usually the plurality Party
of seats in Parliament and has chosen to form a government.
Figure 3.2 A ballot paper for FPTP
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The ballot paper for FPTP is simple (Figure 3.2). Candidates are listed alphabetically by
Knowledge check their surname. If they are standing on behalf of a party, the party logo appears on the
10 Define proportional right. In each constituency, voters are electing a local MP. While many of them may
representation. choose to vote based on their party preference, they are actually voting for a person.
11 What was the Fixed-
term Parliaments At national level
Act? l The winning candidate in each constituency is sent to Parliament to be an MP
12 Who is a voter casting and represent their constituency.
their ballot for in l The party with a majority of MPs — currently at least 326 out of 650 — can then
FPTP? form the government.
13 Define a majority. l If no party has a majority, two or more parties may form a coalition and work
14 What is a together, or the leading party might form a minority government.
constituency?
In focus
Types of government
FPTP usually returns a government that has won a majority of the seats available in the House
of Commons — this means gaining more than 326 seats. However, the last four elections at the
time of writing have returned unusual results:
l 2010 — a coalition between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrat Party.
l 2015 — a very small Conservative majority of only 331 of the 650 available seats.
l 2017 — a confidence-and-supply agreement between the Conservative Party and the DUP,
in which the DUP pledged its ten elected MPs to support prime minister May’s Conservative
Party in any votes of money (supply) or no confidence. This was necessary as May gained
only 317 seats.
l 2019 — a more expected result of FPTP, with Prime Minister Johnson gaining 365 of the
available seats, a sizeable majority.
The return of a strong and stable government is a key feature of FPTP. These results led many
to question whether FPTP still fulfilled its purpose.
The effects of using FPTP

While the results of each election vary according to the votes cast, FPTP has a
number of common outcomes. These outcomes can be assessed as positive or
negative, or in some cases a little of both. These are simply the likely consequences
of choosing to use FPTP, rather than advantages and disadvantages.
A two-party system
FPTP is a plurality system based in constituencies and this generally results in
a two-party system. All that is needed to win a seat within a constituency is to
gain more votes than the person who came second, meaning the winner can
gain a whole seat with a relatively small proportion of the vote. Those who come
second, third or below gain nothing at all. This is known as a ‘winner-takes-all’
system. In 2015, Alasdair McDonnell of the SDLP in Northern Ireland achieved
just 24.5% of the vote in his constituency of Belfast South and yet won the seat.
In 2019, 12 seats were won with margins of less than 1%, with 1 seat being won
by just 57 votes.
As a result of its ‘winner-takes-all’ nature, FPTP is beneficial to parties that have a
reasonable concentration of support in a geographical area. In the UK, this means
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that Labour and the Conservatives benefit from the use of FPTP, with
Labour voters more concentrated in urban areas and Conservative
voters more concentrated in rural areas. Smaller parties find it difficult
to compete — their support is often thinly spread across the UK,
election campaigns are expensive, and the two main parties have broad
ideologies. Even if a third party is successful, it often has only a few
seats and so has little inf luence in Parliament.
‘Winner’s bonus’
The ‘winner’s bonus’ is not a literal bonus. Instead it is the effect of
FPTP, which tends to over-reward the winning party in an election.
For example, in 1997 Labour gained 43% of the national vote but 63%
of the seats, and in 2019 the Conservatives gained 44% of the vote
but 56% of the seats. The reason for this is that these are the national
totals. The reality of an election is that 650 small constituency-based
elections are taking place. While a party may win a seat with a plurality
of the vote, it wins the whole seat, effectively being over-rewarded.
On a national scale, this often results in a higher percentage of seats
being gained by the winning party than the percentage of the vote
won by the party.
To win in a constituency, a candidate
In Figure 3.3, the left circle represents the percentage of votes cast
simply needs to gain more seats than other
while the right circle represents the percentage of seats won. This has
candidates. This meant that in 2015, the UK
both advantages — such as creating a government that is easily able
Independence Party (UKIP) gained 4 million
to pass legislation — and disadvantages — such as the exclusion of
votes nationally but only 1 seat, as the party’s
minority voices.
support was thinly spread across the country
% votes cast % seats won
Key
Conservative
Labour
SNP
UKIP
Lib Dem
Green
Figure 3.3 FPTP has a tendency to over-represent the winning party in an election at the expense
of the smaller parties (data shown for 2015 general election)
Knowledge check
15 How many seats does a party need to form government?
16 Define ‘confidence and supply’.
17 Define the winner’s bonus.
18 What percentage of the votes and seats did the Conservatives gain in the 2019 election?
19 In what years since 2010 did the UK not have a single-party majority government?
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Strong, single-party government
The two-party nature of FPTP and the ‘winner’s bonus’
usually mean that one party gains a clear, outright
majority and is therefore able to form a strong and stable
government, meaning it can pass laws with relative ease
and appear unlikely to face an unexpected election. The
three general elections of 2010, 2015 and 2017 have been
notable for their unpredictability and for the relative lack
of single-party dominance. In 2015, the Conservatives
gained a majority, even though it was a small one. In 2010
and 2017, the Conservatives narrowly missed a majority
and yet managed to create a working government. In
2019, FPTP returned a more expected result, perhaps
suggesting these other elections were outliers.
In focus
The winner’s bonus
The winner’s bonus refers to an outcome of FPTP that seems to over-reward the winning party,
giving it a much higher percentage of the seats than the vote it achieved. This is because FPTP is
a winner-takes-all system, giving a whole seat to a party that may have achieved a relatively low
number of the votes cast. For example, imagine the following results occurred in an election:
Constituency Result Winner
Constituency 1 Conservative — 40% Conservative
Labour — 35%
Liberal Democrats — 25%
Labour — 34%
Labour — 35%
Labour — 30%
Key terms Constituency 5 Conservative — 37% Conservative
Coalition A government Labour — 36%
created from two or
Average Conservative — 40% Conservative — 5 seats
more parties following an
Labour — 34% Labour — 0 seats
election. They will normally Liberal Democrats — 26% Liberal Democrats — 0 seats
have to agree and
compromise on common In this example, the Conservatives would gain 100% of the available seats, winning in all five
policy goals in order to constituencies. However, the party would have achieved only 40% of the votes cast on average.
make this successful. It has therefore been over-rewarded by 60%. This is what is meant by the ‘winner’s bonus’.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats would have been under-rewarded, gaining
nothing for the votes they received.
Table 3.4 sets out the differences between a coalition and a confidence-and-supply
agreement.
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Table 3.4 Coalition compared with confidence and supply
Coalition Confidence and supply
• A formal agreement between two or more parties, with • A more informal agreement between the governing party
both forming the government and one other
• Results in the creation of joint party policies and goals • Results in an agreement to support the government on
for the duration of the coalition and an expectation issues of ‘confidence’ and ‘supply’ in return for government
of support for these policies from the elected support on specific issues important to the other party.
representatives of both parties Beyond this, there is no expectation of support
• The government, including the cabinet, is formed from • The government, including the cabinet, is formed of
members of all parties in the coalition members from one party
120
100
Number of seats
80
60
40
20
0
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% over
50%
2010 2015 2017 2019
Marginality percentage
Figure 3.4 The number of marginal and safe seats in the four general elections 2010–2019. It shows how
many seats were won by different margins
Safe seats and swing seats

As a result of the ‘winner-takes-all’ nature of FPTP, a number of the constituencies
become safe seats. This means that a particular party can almost guarantee victory
Key terms
in a particular seat. Usually, this is a result of a concentration of voters with loyalty Safe seat A constituency
to one party being grouped together in one constituency. that is highly likely to be
In contrast, some seats are marginal seats. These are seats where the voter loyalty won by a specific party at
within a constituency is more evenly split between parties, meaning that the likely repeated elections.
winner of the seat is more difficult to predict. Marginal seat
A constituency in which
Figure 3.4 shows the margins by which seats were won in recent general elections —
the electoral outcome is
this is the percentage difference between the candidates who came first and second.
not easily predictable and
The seats won with a lower percentage margin are the marginal seats and those won
could be won by one of a
with a higher percentage margin are safe seats. The number of safe and marginal
number of parties. Also
seats changes with each election and this may be due to population change, party
known as a swing seat.
policy change or other factors that affect voting behaviour. In the 2017 and 2019
general elections, there was an increase in the number of very marginal and very
safe seats.
9781398369160.indb 85 15/02/23 10:23 PM

Knowledge check Stretch and challenge
20 Which parties agreed
to form a coalition in The by-election following Owen Paterson’s resignation
2010? By-elections occur when an MP’s seat becomes vacant between elections. By-elections are
21 Define a ‘marginal often seen as referendums on the government, with the result being scrutinised to determine
seat’. how popular the government currently is. However, turnout in by-elections is often very low.
22 What was the trend In November 2021, Owen Paterson resigned amid a scandal in the House of Commons. He
in the number of safe had been suspended from the House for 30 days for breaching parliamentary rules, but the
seats in 2010–2019? Conservative government then tried to change those rules to overturn his punishment.
23 List the effects of Research the resulting by-election. Can it be used to evaluate the popularity of the
using first-past-the- government? Why?
post.
In focus
Marginality in the House of Commons
The number of safe and marginal seats varies in any election. Often a substantial number of
seats are won by a margin of just 1% or 2%. In 2019:
l 12 seats were won by less than 1% of the vote (this was 31 seats in 2017)
l 14 seats were won by between 1% and 2% of the vote (this was 11 seats in 2017)
l 141 seats were won by less than 10% of the vote
l 18 seats were won with a majority of 60% or more of the vote
l 1 seat was won by less than 100 votes (this was 11 seats in 2017).
Safe and marginal seats are spread across the UK — the safest seats and the closest marginal
seats are both in North West England. The Conservative Party took Bury North from Labour by
Key term
a majority of 0.22% while Labour took Knowsley with 73% of the nearly 40,000 votes cast.
Spoiled ballot A ballot
that is filled in incorrectly
and therefore ignored. This
The advantages and disadvantages of FPTP
may be unintentional or
Many effects of FPTP can be evaluated positively and negatively. It is important
it may be an intentional
to note that some effects may be positive for one group and negative for another
protest by the voter.
(Table 3.5). For example, safe seats are positive for the major UK parties but negative
for third and minority parties.
Table 3.5 Summary of the advantages and disadvantages of using FPTP in UK general elections
Traditional advantages Traditional disadvantages
Simplicity Lack of voter choice
It is a simple system, rather than a mathematical formula, The resulting two-party system gives voters a lack of real
and produces a quick result. Voters know how the system choice, leading to reduced turnout or tactical voting
works and how their vote will be counted, which should 70 parties ran in 2019, but only 10 parties gained seats
increase turnout and reduce spoiled ballots
117,919 out of 47,587,254 votes cast were invalid in 2019
Strong government Unequal vote value
It should produce a strong, single-party government able With uneven constituency sizes and with safe and marginal
to effectively lead the country, rather than needing a seats, the vote of one person can be far more valuable
compromise of parties than that of another, depending on where they live,
The Conservative Party gained an 80-seat majority in 2019 undermining key principles of democracy
Dan Carden gained nearly 85% of the vote in his constituency
of Liverpool Walton in 2019
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Traditional advantages Traditional disadvantages
MP–constituency link No majority needed
It gives a clear link between each area and a To win in a constituency, only a plurality is needed, meaning
representative, providing effective local representation and more people in total can vote against the winning candidate
clear accountability to constituents than for them, undermining legitimacy and wasting the
When Johnson was faced with criticism over parties held in votes of those who vote for a losing candidate
No. 10 during Covid-19 lockdowns, MP Andrew Bridgen said, In 2019, 229 of the 650 seats were won with less than 50%
‘I’ve had lots of emails from people demanding that Boris of the vote
goes’
Centrist policies Disproportionate result
With third parties struggling to gain success under FPTP, it Compared to the percentage of the vote they receive, the
keeps extremist parties out of office. The two main parties two main parties are over-represented, usually through the
hold broadly centrist views, and voters are given a clear winner’s bonus, while other parties are under-represented
choice between them and therefore the direction in which The Conservatives took 43.6% of the vote in 2019 but 56.2%
they believe the country should move of the seats
In 2019, the Conservative and Labour Parties took 567 of the
available 650 seats
Advantages of FPTP
Simplicity
FPTP is a simple system for the voter and for electoral administration. This allows
for a cost-effective election that delivers a quick and legitimate result. The simplicity
of the system should encourage people to turn out and vote as they can easily
understand how the system works and why their vote matters. A bigger turnout
underpins the legitimacy of the election result. Even if a voter casts their ballot for
a losing candidate, by taking part they are consenting to the use of FPTP to elect a
legitimate government.
Strong government
Traditionally, FPTP provides the country with a winner with a clear majority. This
gives the victorious party a mandate to fulfil its manifesto commitments. As coalitions
are unlikely, the winning party does not have to compromise its manifesto promises
without the consent of the voters. Having a majority also means the government can
pass legislation with relative ease, enabling it to make the changes that the public
voted for.
MP–constituency link
The UK is divided into 650 constituencies, meaning that each area has a local MP
to represent it directly in Parliament. This means that the voters in a constituency
can have a direct effect on the result in their area, and the elected MP is accountable
to their constituents. Usually, MPs have an office in their constituency and hold
surgeries to keep in touch with their constituents. As well as being loyal to their
party, an MP is more likely to be interested in remedying local issues in order to Knowledge check
ensure their re-election. This supports the principles of a representative democracy. 24 What is a spoiled
ballot?
Centrist policies 25 Define the MP–
As FPTP encourages a two-party system, the manifestos of the main parties include constituency link.
policies that cover the political centre in UK politics. The policies that are likely to 26 What is tactical
be included in their manifestos are those they believe will be popular and therefore voting?
will win them a high number of votes. This ensures that the majority of the UK 27 List the advantages of
population is represented, excluding the policies and electoral success of minor, first-past-the-post.
more extremist parties on the right or left wing of the political spectrum.
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Disadvantages of FPTP
Lack of voter choice
The simplicity of FPTP is achieved through the ‘winner-takes-all’ aspect of the
system. This means that for many voters, the only real choice is between Labour
and the Conservatives, as these are the only two parties with a realistic chance of
winning the seat. If a voter knows this, it might actually decrease turnout in an
election or lead to voters choosing to vote tactically, both of which undermine
the legitimacy of the result. Voting tactically means that voters are not expressing
their own desire at the ballot box. Rather, they are considering the most likely
outcome in their constituency and working out how to achieve the least bad outcome
for themselves. For example, a Liberal Democrat supporter may choose to vote
for Labour if they feel the Liberal Democrat candidate does not stand a chance of
winning in their constituency.
In recent elections, new technology was used to create websites like Swap My Vote.
Voters could pledge to swap their votes with others in the country depending on
how safe their own constituency was and dependent on the outcome they were
trying to achieve. This relied on trust, as the UK has a secret ballot, and could be
seen as a way of manipulating the result.
Unequal vote value
If a person lives in a safe seat, their vote is effectively worth less than that of someone
in a marginal seat. A voter might wish to vote for the party that is most likely to
win the seat in their constituency. In this case, their vote is largely ineffective as
so many other people in their constituency are voting for that party. Or, they may
wish to vote for a different party. In this case, the party is so unlikely to win that
their vote is also worth less. In a marginal seat, if just a few voters switch who they
vote for, it can dramatically affect the outcome in that seat, thereby giving each
voter more power. The unequal power attached to votes across the UK undermines
the principles of both representative and liberal democracy, thus undermining the
democratic principle of ‘one person, one vote’.
A lack of a majority
For a candidate to win a constituency, they merely need a plurality of votes, not a
majority. Most MPs will not have won a majority in their constituency election. If
the winning candidate has less than 50% of the overall vote cast in their constituency,
then more people in total actually voted against them than voted for them. This
undermines the legitimacy of the winning candidate. It means that a significant
number of voters in each constituency will be represented by someone from a party
or ideology for which they did not vote. These voters may therefore feel under-
represented in Parliament.
Disproportionate result
FPTP gives a disproportionate result that over-represents
the main parties and under-represents the other parties. The
exclusion of any party is not in keeping with the principles
of free and fair elections or effective representation of the
voters. This reduces voter choice in an election, and also
creates artificial majorities for the main parties, which does
not necessarily ref lect the political beliefs of the nation. This
The simplicity of first-past-the-post is achieved through means that the winning party often has a majority of seats
the ‘winner-takes-all’ aspect of the system despite not winning a majority of the vote. By reducing the
9781398369160.indb 88 15/02/23 10:23 PM

competition in elections, the legitimacy of the result could be undermined. It also
means that many votes have no impact on the electoral outcome, meaning they are
effectively wasted.
In focus
FPTP and the possibility of reform
While FPTP has been used for centuries for general elections, other systems have been used in
the UK since 1997. Understanding the reasons for this is important:
l Conservative rule 1979–1997: the Labour Party had been out of power for nearly two
decades, leading to it favouring electoral reform. This was especially true in Scotland, which
was more traditionally a Labour-voting region and yet had been governed by Conservatives
for this period. Reform to the electoral system could prevent this in the future.
l Modernisation: New Labour fought on a manifesto of modernisation and democratisation,
and introducing devolved assemblies and more proportional electoral systems was a part
of fulfilling this pledge
l Lib-Lab Pact: Labour’s 1997 victory was not certain. According to the Liberal Democrat
leader at the time, he and Blair were in discussions about a pact, or coalition, right up to
results day. The Liberal Democrats have long fought for electoral reform.
With Blair winning a huge majority in the 1997 election, support for electoral reform faded
away. He did appoint Lord Jenkins to explore electoral reform, with four clear principles to be
upheld. The resulting Jenkins Commission recommended alternative vote plus (AV+); however,
the recommendations were largely ignored.
The issue of electoral reform seemed to fade entirely following the 2011 referendum on
replacing FPTP with alternative vote. This referendum came about as part of the coalition
agreement between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats had
advocated for something more proportional than AV, however they were forced to compromise.
The Conservatives campaigned to retain FPTP throughout the referendum, and indeed beyond
given the success they have achieved under this system. The turnout for the referendum was
low, but the population ultimately agreed to retain FPTP. In September 2022, the Labour Party
annual conference backed a motion for the party to adopt electoral reform with proportional
representation as a manifesto policy.
Knowledge check
Developments in the twenty-first century 28 How many votes were
FPTP has seen some new challenges in the twenty-first century: cast per seat for UKIP
l More safe seats — Figure 3.5 shows a significant jump in the number of safe seats in 2015 on average?
in recent elections. In 2015, 21 seats were won by more than 50% and in 2017, 35 29 List some of the third
seats. While there was also a jump in the number of marginal seats, this simply parties in UK general
reinforces the increased inequality in the value of a vote across the UK. elections.
30 List the three reasons
l FPTP can create disproportionate results — With more votes being cast for third for electoral reform
parties, the result has been more disproportionate. In 2015, UKIP gained nearly since 1997.
4 million votes (12.6%) but gained only 1 seat, while the SNP gained 1.5 million 31 Define ‘wasted vote’.
votes (4.7%) but gained 56 seats. In the 2015 general election, and again in 2017, 32 List the
a different party won the election in each of the countries within the UK. This disadvantages of
was in addition to the disproportionate results gained for the two main parties first-past-the-post.
that has always existed.
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l Failure to deliver a strong, single-party government — A number of elections in
the twenty-first century have cast a doubt on whether FPTP produces a strong
and stable government. There have been small majorities, a minority government
and a coalition. The 2017 election saw the Conservatives and Labour together
gaining over 82% of the national vote; in fact, the Conservatives gained an extra
5.5% of the vote compared with their vote gained in 2015. Regardless, FPTP did
not return a party with a clear majority.
1,200 1,158
1,000
866
800
600
526
400
285 302 336
198
200
120
82 49
35 33 34 40 26 43 28 39 51 26
0
2010 2015 2017 2019
Conservative Labour Lib Dem SNP Green
Figure 3.5 Average number of votes needed per seat won (000s) — 2010–2019 general elections
Debate
Should FPTP be replaced for UK general elections?

Evaluation: Do the elections of 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 suggest that the importance of each of these arguments changes
over time?
Yes No
• Recent elections demonstrate that FPTP can no longer • It is widely understood by the public, not just in terms
be relied on to fulfil the promise of a strong, single- of how the ballot works but also how the winner of an
party government election is calculated. As a result, an educated public
is more likely to turn out to vote, which improves the
legitimacy of the resulting government
• FPTP produces a poor result regardless of the voter • The governments it has produced have largely been
choice — its lack of proportionality is increasingly ‘strong and stable’. The 2010 coalition lasted for the
evident and this does not fit with the principles of full term of a Parliament and did not appear as weak
representative democracy, and it does not deliver either
MPs or a government with a majority of the votes cast
• The government that it does deliver can be argued • It is possible for smaller parties to do well, as the SNP
to lack legitimacy due to not having a majority of demonstrated in 2015, while at the same time it can
the vote and yet possess huge power: what Lord keep parties with more extreme political views out of
Hailsham referred to as ‘an elective dictatorship’. office. While UKIP gained nearly 4 million votes but only
Even governments with small majorities have been 1 seat in 2015, its impact was still seen through the
able to push through policy with little regard for the adoption of its major policy by the Conservative Party.
opposition view This allows for the best of both worlds
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Yes No
• The inequality in voter value across the UK does not • The clear choice for voters in a two-party system, and
fit with the principle of ‘one person, one vote’ the likelihood of a single-party government, make it
easier for the voters to hold a government to account
simply by voting for the other major party
• Many votes are wasted, meaning they have little or • FPTP maintains a strong link between a geographical
no impact on the electoral outcome. This undermines constituency and a specific MP. This link allows for
legitimacy, encourages tactical voting and may discourage effective local representation of the whole of the UK in
turnout, all of which undermine democratic principles Parliament
• The two-party system represents a lack of true
competition in UK elections, which undermines liberal and
pluralist democratic principles. Often, the only way voters
can hold the government accountable is to vote for the
other major party, which is not a great deal of choice
Should FPTP be replaced?

Given the successful use of other systems across the UK, and the drawbacks of
FPTP in the twenty-first century, there have been growing questions over whether
the FPTP system should now be replaced for UK general elections. Although a
referendum was held on this issue in 2011, it only gave the public the option of
FPTP or AV. While the public voted against this proposal, this did not mean they
rejected electoral reform outright, but rather that they rejected AV. After two more
contentious elections in 2015 and 2017, the questions over the use of FPTP have not
gone away.
Proportional electoral systems

Following the election of Labour in 1997, a number of key constitutional reforms
were passed to try to democratise and modernise the UK political landscape. These
included the creation of a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, along with
the re-establishment of a devolved body in Northern Ireland. Each of these bodies
would use a proportional electoral system to elect members.
These elections have nothing at all to do with the UK general election — they
happen at different times and elect different representatives to different bodies.
These countries elect these representatives in addition to their MPs for the UK
Parliament.
The additional member system

The additional member system (AMS) is the only system in the UK that gives
voters two independent votes to cast — one for the voter’s local representative and Key term
one for their regional representatives. It is used for elections to the Scottish Parliament Additional member
at Holyrood and the Welsh Parliament at the Senedd. system (AMS) An electoral
system that uses two
How it works votes, one for a local
When a voter goes to the polls in AMS, they are presented with two different representative and one for
ballots. On each one they must cast their vote with a simple ‘X’ in a box. In the regional representatives,
constituency vote they are electing a person, whereas in the regional vote they are with the aim of producing
casting their vote for a party. There is no need for them to vote for the same party a more proportional result.
on both ballots.
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Election of the Scottish Parliament
Figure 3.6 shows the choices a voter in the Scottish
You have two votes Parliamentary elections has to make. On the right,
Scottish Regional Members Scottish Constituency Member they elect their constituency Member of the Scottish
Parliament (MSP) and on the left they cast a vote for a
Vote once Vote once
only (X) only (X)
party in order to elect their regional MSPs.
FIRST, Candidate The constituency vote

Party A
Party name This first part of the election works in exactly the
same way that FPTP works in UK general elections.
SECOND, Candidate
Party B l Scotland is divided into 73 small single-member
Party name
constituencies and Wales is divided into 40
THIRD, Candidate small single-member constituencies — these
Party C
Party name constituencies are different from those used in a
FOURTH, Candidate
general election.
Party D l The ballots cast for a constituency representative
Party name
are counted.
l Each constituency elects a single representative on
Party E
a plurality, ‘winner-takes-all’ basis.
l Those elected are given a seat in either the Scottish
Party F Parliament or the Welsh Parliament, and the first
ballots are then effectively thrown away.
Party G
The regional vote
This second part of the election works more
Party H proportionally and is designed to correct some of the
problems created by FPTP.
Party I Scotland and Wales are divided into large multi-
l
member constituencies — eight regions in Scotland,
each with seven elected members, and five regions
Figure 3.6 An example of a ballot paper using AMS in Wales, each with four elected members.
l Each party running for election draws up a list of
candidates for each region, ranking them in the order they will be elected.
l The second ballots are counted within each region.
l To decide who gets the first seat, this system uses the d’Hondt formula. The
inclusion of ‘+ 1’ is simply the maths necessary to make the formula work; it is
not an extra seat.
Number of regional votes gained for a given party
Number of seats a party has gained at constituency level + 1
l Once this formula is completed for every party, the first seat is allocated to the
party with the highest number resulting from this equation.
l This process is repeated until all seats in a region are allocated to a party. The
party gives the seats it has won to the corresponding number of candidates from
the top of its list downwards.
Each person in Scotland is therefore represented by a local MSP in their constituency,
seven further MSPs in their region (Figure 3.7) and the MP they elect to send to the
UK Parliament.
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N
N
0 30 km 0 10 km
0 0
Figure 3.7 The 73 single-member constituencies in Scotland (left) and the 8 regions (right)
The 2021 Scottish election results (Table 3.6) demonstrate that the parties which
do not do well in the first part of the AMS process have a chance to do well in
the second part. The Conservatives traditionally have a low level of support spread
throughout Scotland. Therefore they often do not gain enough votes to win in a
constituency, but AMS allows them to do better in the proportional element of the
system.
Table 3.6 Scottish election results, 2021
Constituency Seats
vote Seats gained Regional vote gained
SNP 47.7% 62 40.3% 2
Conservatives 21.9% 5 23.5% 26
Labour 21.5% 2 17.9% 20
Liberal Democrats 7% 4 5% 0
Green 1.3% 0 8% 8
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Knowledge check
33 Who are votes cast for in AMS?
34 What kind of constituencies are the Scottish regions?
35 Do parties with concentrated support do better in the constituency or regional part of AMS?
36 What electoral system is used for the first part of AMS?
37 What is the formula called for the second part of AMS?
In focus
The Lothian region of Scotland
The Lothian region of Scotland contains nine single-member constituencies. In 2016, the SNP took six and the Conservatives,
Labour and the Liberal Democrats took one seat each (Table 3.7).
Table 3.7 The regional vote in Lothian
Conservatives Green Labour Liberal Democrats SNP
Constituency 1 0 1 1 6
seats gained
Regional votes 74,972 34,551 67,991 18,479 118,546
received
First regional 74,972 34,551 67,991 18,479 118,546
seat = 37,486 = 34,551 = 33,996 = 9,240 = 16,935
1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 6+1
Winner? Win
Second 74,972 34,551 67,991 18,479 118,546
regional seat = 24,991 = 34,551 = 33,996 = 9,240 = 16,935
2+1 0+1 1+1 1+1 6+1
Winner? Win
Third regional 74,972 34,551 67,991 18,479 118,546
seat = 24,991 = 17,276 = 33,996 = 9,240 = 16,935
2+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 6+1
Win
Fourth 74,972 34,551 67,991 18,479 118,546
regional seat = 24,991 = 17,276 = 22,644 = 9,240 = 16,935
2+1 1+1 2+1 1+1 6+1
Winner? Win
Fifth regional 74,972 34,551 67,991 18,479 118,546
seat = 18,743 = 17,276 = 22,644 = 9,240 = 16,935
3+1 1+1 2+1 1+1 6+1
Winner? Win
Sixth regional 74,972 34,551 67,991 18,479 118,546
seat = 18,743 = 17,276 = 16,998 = 9,240 = 16,935
3+1 1+1 3+1 1+1 6+1
Winner? Win
Seventh 74,972 34,551 67,991 18,479 118,546
regional seat = 14,994 = 17,276 = 16,998 = 9,240 = 16,935
4+1 1+1 3+1 1+1 6+1
Winner? Win
Regional 3 2 2 0 0
seats won
Total seats 4 2 3 1 6
won
Source: Data from https://www.maths.lancs.ac.uk/jameson/scotelec2016.pdf
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Table 3.7 demonstrates how the d’Hondt formula
works. One seat at a time, the mathematical formula
is worked out and 1 seat is allocated. This seat is then
added to that party’s total seats gained and the process
is repeated. Note: to make sense of the table you need
to read the rows stage by stage, from the first regional Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, is situated in the Lothian region.
seat down to the seventh regional seat. Since 1999 it has been the seat of the Scottish Parliament at
Holyrood
The effects of using AMS
AMS is likely to result in a multiparty system as its proportional nature allows
for smaller parties to have some, if limited, success. This in turn is likely to result
in a coalition government as it can be difficult for one party to gain an outright
majority. In Scotland, the SNP did manage to achieve an outright majority in 2011,
although all of the other governments formed in Wales and Scotland have either
been coalition or minority governments. Safe seats and marginal seats are still a
feature of the constituency vote of AMS, but this is less evident in the regional vote
because this element is proportional.
Advantages and disadvantages of AMS

The pros and cons of AMS are summarised in Table 3.8.
Table 3.8 Advantages and disadvantages of AMS

Advantages Disadvantages
Proportional result More complicated
The second stage of AMS tries to correct the flaws of Although the process of voting is simple, what happens
FPTP. The more seats a party gains in the constituency next is not. This can put voters off, as they may feel that
vote, the more difficult it is for it to gain regional seats as their vote will be mathematically manipulated. This may
its votes will be divided by a higher number. This reduces reduce turnout
the wasted votes and ensures more parties have a chance
of being represented
Split-ticket voting An unlikely single-party government
Voters have more choice with two votes to cast, and they The more proportional nature of AMS means single-party
can choose to cast their two votes for different parties, governments are harder to achieve and coalitions are
known as split-ticket voting. This also encourages more more likely. This means governments may be weaker and
parties to run, especially in the regional part of the find it more difficult to pass the policies on which they
election campaigned
A government with broad popularity FPTP used for first round
In order to form a single-party government, a party must The constituency vote of AMS is conducted using FPTP.
have broad popularity across a whole country, not just in Therefore this carries with it the same disadvantages of
concentrated pockets. If coalitions are formed, a greater FPTP
number of parties can have an input into policy. This
supports greater legitimacy of the government
Greater representation Different types of representatives
With all areas being represented by a constituency and AMS creates two tiers of representatives, a constituency
regional representatives, there is more chance for the and a regional MSP. This can cause tension and confusion
voters that someone who shares their ideology represents for the voters and blur accountability
them, potentially increasing turnout
MP–constituency link Party control
Each constituency is a relatively small geographic area. In the regional vote, the party controls the order of its list
Each MP is attached to a constituency and is responsible for of candidates — voters only have the choice to support
listening to their constituents. This gives voters a direct link its list or not. It could be argued that this gives excessive
to national politics and encourages their engagement influence to the party leadership
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Knowledge check
38 Define split-ticket voting.
39 What is a multiparty system?
40 What is the likely government that will be formed using a proportional system?
41 List the ways in which AMS increases representation for voters.
The single transferable vote

Used for elections to the Northern Irish Assembly, the single transferable vote
(STV) is the only system in the UK that allows for ordinal voting. This allows a
voter to rank candidates in order of preference, beginning at ‘1’ and going through
as many of the candidates as they wish to rank.
Key terms
Single transferable vote (STV) A voting system in which voters express their preference,
ranking candidates in order. To win, a candidate needs to achieve the ‘Droop quota’.
Ordinal voting A vote cast in which the voter ranks candidates in order of preference, ranking
as few or as many candidates as they wish.
How it works
l Northern Ireland is divided into 18 large, multi-member regions, each electing
six representatives to send to the Northern Irish Assembly.
l The voter is given a ballot paper showing all of the candidates running in their
region. This may include multiple candidates running from the same party. They
cast their ballot by numbering candidates 1, 2, 3 and so on, ranking as many or
as few candidates as they wish.
l Once the election is over, the total number of ballots cast in each region is counted.
l In order to win, a candidate needs to achieve the ‘Droop quota’:
 Total number of valid votes cast in a region + 1

 Number of seats available in a region + 1  + 1
l Candidates who have achieved the Droop quota

are automatically given a seat.
l Any votes that they achieved over this number are
redistributed according to any second preferences.
If any more candidates now have the Droop quota,
they too are given a seat.
l If there are seats remaining and no one else has reached
the Droop quota, the candidate with the fewest votes
is eliminated and their votes are redistributed.
l This process continues until all available seats in a
region are filled.
Figure 3.8 shows how the ballot for the Northern
The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 in Northern Ireland Irish Assembly elections allows voters to express their
requires that a power-sharing government is formed as a result preferences by ranking as many candidates as they
of the elections to Stormont. This can cause tension, as seen would like, including ranking multiple candidates
in the suspension of this government between 2017 and 2020 from the same party.
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Northern Ireland Assembly Election
Name of constituency
You can make as many or as few choices as you wish
Put the number 1 in the voting box next to your first choice
Put the number 2 in the voting box next to your second choice
Put the number 3 in the voting box next to your third choice And so on
FIRST, Candidate
Address
Party
SECOND, Candidate
Address
Party
THIRD, Candidate
Address
Party
FOURTH, Candidate
Address
Party
FIFTH, Candidate
Address Figure 3.8 An

Party example of a ballot
paper using STV
The Northern Irish Assembly results in 2022 (Table 3.9) demonstrate a closer
correlation than most other electoral systems in the UK between the percentage of
votes cast for each party and the percentage of the seats it gained. This means votes
are of more equal value and there is less incentive for voters to vote tactically.
Knowledge check
42 What does DUP stand for?
43 What is the Droop quota?
44 What happens to votes won above the Droop quota?
45 Define ‘ordinal voting’.
Table 3.9 Northern Irish Assembly results, 2022

First preference Number of seats Percentage of seats
votes gained gained
Sinn Féin 29% 27 30%
DUP 21% 25 28%
Alliance 14% 17 16%
UUP 11% 9 12%
SDLP 9% 8 10%
Others 6% 4 7%
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In focus
Vote transfers in 2016
Under the Droop quota, votes are redistributed according to the preferences expressed by the
voters. In 2017, 179,287 votes were transferred. Table 3.10 is an excerpt of just some of those
transferred votes.
Table 3.10 Transferred votes, Northern Irish Assembly election, 2017
Democratic Ulster Unionist
Votes transferred from Unionist Party Sinn Féin UKIP Party
Votes transferred to
Democratic Unionist Party 16,680 111 1,699 4,795
Sinn Féin 49 15,687 65 212
UKIP 174 31 0 531
Ulster Unionist Party 8,378 224 1,644 10,835
Vote transfers within the same party occur when one of its candidates wins but has more votes
than the Droop quota. If these excess votes have as their next preference a candidate from the
same party, then these votes are effectively transferred within that party. Table 3.10 also highlights
the preferential voting exercised for parties of a similar ideology. The Democratic Unionists and
Ulster Unionists want to remain in the UK, while Sinn Féin is republican, meaning it wishes to leave
the UK and join with the rest of Ireland. It is not surprising, therefore, that nearly 5,000 votes were
transferred from the UUP to the DUP, while only just over 200 votes were transferred from the UUP
to Sinn Féin. This demonstrates the greater choice voters can have in this system.
The effects of using STV

Using STV is likely to result in a multiparty system and produce a coalition
government. Being highly proportional, it is unlikely that it will lead to any one
party gaining an outright majority. This means that parties will need to work
together after the election to form an agreement on which they can govern. With
only multi-member constituencies in this electoral process, the likelihood of safe
seats is significantly reduced and the value of each vote is more uniform.
Advantages and disadvantages of STV

The pros and cons of the STV system are summarised in Table 3.11.
Table 3.11 Advantages and disadvantages of STV
Proportional result More complicated
STV is the most proportional system used within the UK, Although the process of voting is simple, what happens
delivering a result that has a close correlation between next is not, which could reduce turnout
the percentage of the vote cast and the percentage of
seats gained, increasing the legitimacy of the result
Voter choice An unlikely single-party government
Voters have a great degree of choice, not only between In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement means
parties but also within parties. They may support one there has to be a coalition in government. However, even
particular party but if it puts forward a candidate the voters if this was not the case, the proportional nature of STV
do not like, they have the choice to vote for someone else means a coalition is a likely result, which could be weaker
from that party than a single-party government
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Greater representation Constituency link
Like AMS, the multi-member constituencies mean a voter is With no local elected representatives as in FPTP or AMS,
likely to have someone elected who shares their ideology or and large multi-member constituencies, the link between
beliefs elected representatives and their local area is weaker
A different electoral system

Much research has been conducted on how the UK general election would look if another
electoral system were used. If the 2019 election had been conducted using a different system,
there might have been other outcomes, as shown in Table 3.12.
Table 3.12 Possible different outcomes of the 2019 general election under
three electoral systems
FPTP AMS STV Knowledge check
Conservative 365 288 308
46 What does the Good
Labour 202 216 225 Friday Agreement
SNP 48 28 30 ensure about the
Liberal Democrats 11 70 59 executive in Northern
Plaid Cymru 4 4 4 Ireland?
47 What is a coalition
These results do not, of course, account for the fact that under a different system a voter may
government?
use their vote differently.
48 List the advantages
How can these figures be used to support and oppose the use of FPTP for UK general and disadvantages of
elections? STV.
Majoritarian systems
Following a referendum in 1998, Londoners
voted to change the way that London was
governed, and this included having an
elected mayor. To elect this position, the
supplementary vote (SV) system is used,
requiring the office holder to have a majority
of the vote. In 2000, the first election took
place and was won by the then independent
candidate Ken Livingstone. Since then,
elections have taken place every 4 years, with
three different people holding the office of
Mayor of London.
Key term
Supplementary vote (SV) A majoritarian
voting system in which voters can express two The way in which the supplementary vote operates means that Sadiq Khan
preferences. can claim a strong personal mandate as London mayor, having won 55.2%
of the vote in the second round
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Election of the Mayor Supplementary vote
Vote once (X) in column one for your first choice How it works
Vote once (X) in column two for your second choice l London is treated as one large single-member constituency for the
column column election of the London mayor.
one two l Candidates are given a ballot paper with all of the candidates listed
first second
choice choice and two columns — one for the voter’s first choice and one for their
1 FIRST, Candidate second choice. The voter puts one ‘X’ in each column to vote.
l All of the first-choice ballots are counted. If anyone has a simple
Party
majority, they win the election and second preferences are
2 SECOND, Candidate ignored.
l If no one has a majority, all but the top two candidates are eliminated
Party
in one go. The second preferences for all of the eliminated candidates
3 THIRD, Candidate are taken into account and the votes redistributed. If both a voter’s
first- and second-choice candidates have been eliminated, then their
Party vote is ignored.
l With only two candidates left and all votes redistributed, one of
4 FOURTH, Candidate
them must now have a majority — this person is the winner.
Party
Figure 3.9 shows how the ballot for the mayor of London allows voters
5 FIFTH, Candidate
to express a first and second preference.
Party
In 2021 the mayoral election saw a turnout of just 41%, or around 2.5
million Londoners (Table 3.13). If voters choose to express no second
6 SIXTH, Candidate preference, or if their second preference is for an eliminated candidate,
their inf luence is reduced. Around 225,000 voters in 2021 cast both
Party
of their first and second preferences for the same person, either Shaun
Bailey (Conservative) or Sadiq Khan (Labour).
Figure 3.9 An example of a ballot paper for
a mayoral election (SV)
Table 3.13 The London mayoral election, 2021
First-preference Second-preference
votes (%) votes (%) Overall (%)
Sadiq Khan (Labour) 40 70 55
Shaun Bailey (Conservative) 35 30 45
Sian Berry (Green) 8
Luisa Porritt (Liberal Democrat) 4
Others 12
The effects of using SV

Using SV is likely to result in a two-party system and produce a strong, single-party
government. London is not a good example of this as there is only 1 seat available.
However, these results can be used to infer what would happen if SV was used across
the UK — the elimination of all but the top two candidates for the second round
is likely to result in a similar two-party dominance to that produced by FPTP, or
make this dominance even more likely.
Advantages and disadvantages of SV

The pros and cons of the SV system are summarised in Table 3.14.
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Table 3.14 Advantages and disadvantages of SV
Majority result Two-party dominance
SV ensures that the winning candidate has The elimination of all but two candidates in
a clear majority of the votes, increasing one go means that third parties are unlikely
their legitimacy. This should lead to a to do well, and the result is not proportional
strong and stable single-party government
Voter choice A false majority
Voters have more choice than in FPTP, A candidate needs only to gain a majority
knowing that they can vote for a smaller of the ‘valid vote’, meaning the votes that
party with their first preference if they wish, count. In the second round, the vote of
but still using their second preference to try anyone with no second preference or whose
to ensure that their vote is not wasted second preference has been eliminated
is not counted, meaning the winning Knowledge check
candidate might not have a true majority
Simple system Wasted votes
49 Why is SV known as a
Unlike the proportional systems, SV is As with FPTP, there are a large number of majoritarian system?
relatively easy to understand both in how wasted votes that have little or no impact 50 How do voters cast
votes are cast and how they are counted on the outcome of the election their vote under SV?
afterwards 51 What government is
Extremist parties Tactical voting SV likely to produce?
Requiring the winner to gain a simple Using SV might encourage a tactical use of 52 List the advantages
majority means it is unlikely that small or the second preference rather than providing and disadvantages
extremist parties will be successful better choice for voters, or might discourage
of SV.
some from turning out to vote at all
FPTP compared with other systems

One way in which FPTP can be compared with other systems is by looking
at the features and effects of each of the electoral systems used in the UK
(Table 3.15). These different elements produce advantages and disadvantages
for each system and form the basis of debates over the potential reform or
replacement of FPTP.
Table 3.15 Overview of the features of the electoral systems used in the UK
Likely Likely
Type of Type of Number Type of resulting government
System system constituency of votes vote Voting for party system formed Used in
FPTP Plurality Single-member 1 Single A single Two-party Single-party UK general
choice person election
AMS Proportional Single- and 2 Single Vote 1: Multiparty Coalition Scottish
multi-member choice a person and Welsh
Vote 2: Parliament
a party elections
STV Proportional Multi-member 1 Ordinal A single Multiparty Coalition Northern Irish
voting person Assembly
election
SV Majoritarian Single-member 1 First- and A single Two-party Single-party London
second- person mayoral
choice election
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Table 3.16 Overview of election results under different systems in different parts of the UK
FPTP SV STV AMS AMS
UK general elections London mayoral Northern Irish Scottish elections Welsh elections
elections elections
2001 2000 2003 2003 2003
Labour majority Ken Livingstone Election took place Coalition of Labour government —
government — 413 (Independent) won but the Assembly Labour and Liberal 30 seats with 40%
seats with 41% of the with 39% of first-round suspended. Largest Democrats — a total of the constituency
national vote votes and 59% after parties were DUP of 67 seats with 50% vote and 37% of the
the second round and UUP of the constituency regional vote
vote and 41% of the
regional vote
2005 2004 2007 2007 2007
Labour majority Ken Livingstone Coalition of DUP and SNP minority Coalition of Labour and
government — 355 (Labour) won with 37% Sinn Féin (with UUP, government with the Plaid Cymru — a total
seats with 35% of the of first-round votes SDLP and Alliance) — Green Party — a total of 41 seats with 55%
national vote and 55% after the a total of 64 seats of 49 seats with 33% of the constituency
second round with 56% of the of the constituency vote and 51% of the
national vote vote and 35% of the regional vote
regional vote
2010 2008 2011 2011 2011
Coalition of Boris Johnson Coalition of DUP and SNP majority Labour government —
Conservatives and (Conservative) won Sinn Féin (with UUP, government — 69 30 seats with 42%
Liberal Democrats — with 43% of first- SDLP and Alliance) — seats with 45% of the of the constituency
a total of 363 seats round votes and 53% a total of 67 seats constituency vote and vote and 37% of the
with 59% of the after the second with 57% of the 44% of the regional regional vote
national vote round national vote vote
2015 2012 2016 2016 2016
Conservative majority Boris Johnson Coalition of DUP and SNP minority Coalition of Labour and
government — 330 (Conservative) won Sinn Féin — a total of government — 63 Liberal Democrats — a
seats with 37% of the with 44% of first-round 66 seats with 53% of seats with 47% of total of 34 seats with
national vote votes and 52% after the national vote the constituency 42% of the constituency
the second round vote and 42% of the vote and 38% of the
regional vote regional vote
2017 2016 2017 2021 2021
Conservative minority Sadiq Khan (Labour) No coalition SNP minority Labour minority
government — 317 won with 44% of agreement reached. government — 64 government — 30
seats with 42% of the first-round votes and Largest parties were seats with 48% of seats with 40% of the
national vote 57% after the second DUP and Sinn Féin the constituency constituency vote and
round vote and 40% of the 36% of the regional
regional vote vote
2019 2021 2022
Conservative majority Sadiq Khan (Labour) Sinn Féin won 27 seats
government — 365 won with 40% of first- and the DUP won 25,
seats with 44% of the round votes and 55% but issues surrounding
national vote after the second round the Northern Ireland
protocol prevented
a power-sharing
government from being
formed
The impact of UK electoral systems

The use of different electoral systems across the UK has had a range of outcomes.
Not only are there differences between systems, there have also been differences
within the same system over time (Table 3.16).
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Impact on governments and the type of government
Proportional systems have led to a greater number of coalition or minority
governments being formed where they are used. However, as Northern Ireland
has to have a coalition government as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the data
collected from its elections must be viewed through this lens. While Scotland and
Wales have experienced coalition governments, they have also achieved majority
governments using a proportional system. Given that AMS has created a strong and
stable, single-party government, this has fuelled discussions over whether systems
like AMS could be used to replace FPTP.
l Wales and Scotland have both been able to legislate successfully over their own
regions. As a result, both countries have pressed for further power to be devolved
to them, as seen in subsequent Scotland and Wales Acts.
l For Wales this meant gaining primary legislative powers and changing from a Knowledge check
‘conferred matters’ model, meaning it could make law only on policy areas it
had been given, to a ‘reserved matters’ model. The ‘reserved matters’ model of 53 List the key features
government had been used in Scotland and allowed it to make laws on anything that define any
not ‘reserved’ for Parliament at Westminster. electoral system.
l For Scotland, this meant pressure for independence and an independence 54 What is a minority
referendum. The outcome of the referendum initially quelled this pressure. government?
However, given the result of the Brexit referendum — in which the UK voted 55 Define a ‘reserved
to leave the EU but Scotland as a nation voted to remain — the issue of Scottish matters’ model of
independence was reignited. government.
56 List the last time each
Aside from Northern Ireland, the governments that have been created have proven to election system was
be stable. In Northern Ireland, the problems that have occurred have been less as a used in the UK.
result of the electoral system and more to do with the historical tensions that exist there.
Impact on parties and party systems

The number of parties successfully competing in elections and forming governments
has increased as a result of proportional systems. In Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland, nationalist or unionist parties (SNP, Plaid Cymru, DUP and Sinn Féin)
have gained inf luence and been able to be part of governments in their respective
countries or provinces. These systems have also allowed notable success for other
parties. The Conservatives have performed poorly in Scotland since the prime
ministership of Margaret Thatcher. Under AMS, they have been able to pick up
seats, even becoming the second-largest party in the Scottish Parliament due to this
proportional system. AMS has allowed the Conservatives’ widely spread support to
be translated into seats at regional level; they do, however, still perform less well at
constituency level in Scotland.
In some of the devolved bodies, it could be argued that small parties have been
over-represented. In 2007, with the SNP winning 47 seats and Labour winning
46, an SNP agreement with the Green Party, which had just two seats, allowed the
SNP to form a minority government. In this situation, small parties have become
‘king-makers’, similar to the role of the Liberal Democrats in the 2010 UK general
election — this means they exercise power far beyond that which their electoral
success suggests they should have.
Figure 3.10 illustrates the changing fortunes of third parties in Scottish, Welsh and
Northern Irish elections since 1998/9 and the multiparty systems that exist in the
devolved assemblies, in which there are a number of parties that have a realistic
chance of forming a government.
9781398369160.indb 103 15/02/23 10:24 PM

Wales
Scotland 40
75
30
50
20
25
10
0 0
1999 2003 2007 2011 2016 1999 2003 2007 2011 2016
SNP Lab Con Lib Dem Green Scottish Socialist Other Lab Plaid Con UKIP Lib Dem Other
Northern Ireland
40
30
20
10
0
1998 2003 2007 2011 2016 2017
DUP Sinn Féin UUP SDLP Alliance Other
Figure 3.10 Elections since 1999, showing the seats each party gained in the regional assemblies
These successes have had a wider impact — they have led to the recognition and
success of more minor parties in the UK general election. For example, the SNP
was able to capture 56 seats in the general election of 2015, replacing Labour as
the dominant force representing Scotland in Westminster. UKIP demonstrated a
significant, if short-lived, ability to attract a large volume of voters. Perhaps the most
visible impact of this widening of party politics has been at the televised leaders’
debates prior to an election. Used for the first time in 2010 with just three party
leaders, one of the debates in 2015 featured seven different party leaders. The 2017
and 2019 elections do suggest that the electoral success of these parties still has
limitations, with the Conservatives and Labour gaining 82% of the vote between
them in both elections. In general elections, third parties can exert pressure on
the major parties and inf luence even without holding many seats. For example,
the threat of UKIP in 2015 led to the Conservative Party adopting a policy of a
referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.
Knowledge check
57 When were televised Impact on voters and voter choice
party leader debates The use of differing electoral systems can theoretically help to improve voter turnout
first used? by eliminating some of the problems associated with FPTP that may depress turnout,
58 How has the use of such as wasted votes and safe seats. However, it can be difficult to demonstrate this
AMS in Scotland as turnout for a regional election does not necessarily represent the likely turnout for
affected the a general election. In many of the devolved bodies, turnout has been lower than in
Conservative Party? the UK general election. This could be due to the complexity of the systems or to
59 Which party is the a reduced importance placed on them given the limited powers of devolved bodies.
most successful in Extrapolating answers from this data is tricky because these systems have not been
each of the regional used in a nationwide election.
assemblies?
60 How can third parties It is clear, however, that voters have had greater choice in all of the newly introduced
have influence, even if electoral systems. This includes SV which, while majoritarian, allows voters two
they have few seats? preferences, meaning they can vote however they wish with their first vote and still
use the second for one of the two major UK parties. The proportional systems have
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gone further than this, not only offering greater choice, with AMS having two votes
and STV offering ordinal voting, but also reducing wasted votes or the likelihood of
safe seats. They have also improved voter choice in representation. In multi-member
constituencies, voters have a choice of representative they can lobby in order to get
their voices heard.
Referendums
Referendums have gained huge prominence and significance in UK political life
through the twenty-first century. Once a relatively rare occurrence, they have been
Key term
used since 2000 to: Referendum A ‘yes’ or ‘no’
vote offered to the public
l give more power to the Welsh Assembly, 2011
on a single issue.
l consider replacing FPTP, 2011
l give Scotland a vote on independence, 2014
l give the UK public a vote on leaving the European Referendum on the United Kingdom’s
Union, 2016. membership of the European Union
The understanding and acceptance of referendums as part of Vote only once by putting a cross X in the box next to
UK political life is now so widespread that there have been your choice
several public campaigns for referendums. This includes Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the
calls for a second referendum on Scottish independence and European Union or leave the European Union?
further referendums on rejoining the European Union.
Remain a member of the European Union
Figure 3.11 shows how a referendum offers voters a straight
binary choice on the issue on which the referendum is held.
Leave the European Union
The UK-wide referendum on whether the UK should
remain in the European Union was particularly controversial.
The public were given only two choices, ‘Remain a member Figure 3.11 A referendum ballot paper
of the European Union’ or ‘Leave the European Union’, which did not capture the
complexity of the issue. A good proportion of the electorate were only educated
on these choices by the two sides that campaigned in this referendum. Later, one
of the campaigns was fined for breaking electoral law. A Supreme Court case was
ultimately needed to ensure the decision would be enforced by Parliament and not Knowledge check
by the government alone. 61 Define ‘referendum’.
62 What was the result
Why call a referendum? of the referendum on
The role of referendums in UK politics has changed very little even as they have the UK’s membership
become more accepted. of the EU?
63 Who would a
l A government might call a referendum in response to public pressure. In 2014, constituent seek
under pressure from the majority SNP government in Scotland, the government ‘redress of grievance’
allowed a referendum on Scottish independence to take place. In 2015, part of from?
the general election campaign became the issue of the UK in the EU. With 64 When was the
UKIP arguing for leaving the EU and promising a referendum, the Conservative referendum on
Party eventually offered one too, fearing the loss of its voters to UKIP. using AV for general
l Referendums can help to resolve controversial issues dividing a party. By elections held?
handing over responsibility for a decision to the people, a party can absolve 65 List the referendums
itself of the decision making and avoid arguments between factions of the party. that have taken
The Conservative Party was divided between ‘Remainers’ and ‘Brexiteers’ and a place since 2000.
referendum should have helped to solve this issue. This was unsuccessful for the
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Conservative Party as after the referendum, the party
became further divided over the type of Brexit that
should take place.
l
A referendum might also be called as part of an
agreement between parties. The AV referendum of
2011 was part of the coalition agreement between the
Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
l
Finally, referendums can lend legitimacy to large,
constitutional changes in the UK. The referendums
that have been held have all been on substantial issues
that might affect the location of power and sovereignty.
Changing the electoral system, giving more power to
devolved bodies and other similar issues all inf luence
The referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU created where power lies in the UK. However, some issues
political problems across the British political system, involving the movement of power, such as the creation
undermining the power of the prime minister, dividing of the UK Supreme Court, were not subject to a
parties and creating constitutional crises referendum.
Referendums in the UK
There have been only three nationwide referendums in the UK, although there
have been substantial calls for more referendums, including a second referendum on
both Brexit and Scottish independence. In addition, there have been a number of
regional referendums. Table 3.17 gives details of all the referendums held since 1975.
Table 3.17 Referendums in the UK since 1975

Turnout
Date Location Issue Yes (%) No (%) (%) Commentary
1975 UK Remaining in the 67.2 32.8 63.2 This was the first UK-wide referendum. In
European Economic the campaign for the referendum, Prime
Community (EEC) Minister Harold Wilson’s pamphlet said, ‘The
Government will accept your verdict’
1979 Wales Creating a Welsh 20.3 79.7 58.3
Assembly
1979 Scotland Creating a Scottish 51.6 48.4 63.7 40% of the overall electorate needed to vote
Parliament ‘yes’ for this to be enacted. Accounting for
turnout, only 33% voted ‘yes’, therefore the
referendum was ignored
1997 Scotland Creating a Scottish 74.3 25.7 60.4 The Labour manifesto in 1997 committed to
Parliament … 63.5 36.5 60.4 giving both Scotland and Wales a referendum
… with tax-varying over whether power should be devolved to
powers them. As both countries voted ‘yes’, the
Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly
for Wales were established
1997 Wales Creating a Welsh 50.3 49.7 50.1
Assembly
1998 Northern Approving the Good 71.1 28.9 81.0 This was held as a result of the Northern
Ireland Friday Agreement Ireland Peace Process
1998 London Creating an elected 72.0 28.0 34.0 This was held as part of Labour’s push for the
mayor democratisation of the UK
2011 Wales Primary legislative 63.5 36.5 35.6 The result helped to begin to bring Wales
powers for Wales more in line with the Scottish Parliament
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Turnout
Date Location Issue Yes (%) No (%) (%) Commentary
2011 UK Replacing FPTP with 32.1 67.9 42.2 Held due to the coalition agreement between
AV the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats
2014 Scotland Scottish 44.7 55.3 84.6 Held due to pressure from the Scottish
independence government. 16- and 17-year-olds were
allowed to vote
2016 UK Leave or remain in Leave: Remain: 72.2 Held due to a promise made by the
the EU 51.9 48.1 Conservatives in the 2015 general election
The consequences of referendums in the UK

Many of the referendums held across the UK have resulted in
notable political change. However, Parliament always remains
sovereign, so governments are not bound to follow the decision
of the voters. This became a significant issue following the
Brexit referendum. MPs such as Dominic Grieve claimed
‘the [EU] referendum was an advisory referendum’, whereas
John Redwood claimed ‘this was not an advisory referendum’.
Parliamentary sovereignty means no referendum can truly be
legally binding. Even if Parliament passed a law saying that a
referendum was legally binding, it could simply pass another
law to repeal this at a later date because sovereignty rests with
Parliament. However, the government is under considerable Although the 2016 EU referendum achieved the
political pressure to follow the result of a referendum. Giving highest turnout (72.2%) in a national election since
the public a choice and then ignoring the outcome casts 1992, the campaign was marred by allegations of lies
questions of legitimacy and accountability of the government. and scaremongering on both sides and subsequent
Nonetheless, this remains an issue with Brexit: while some fines for electoral misconduct
have claimed the referendum showed the will of the people,
others have argued that both Remain and Leave were not
truthful in their campaigning.
Stretch and challenge Knowledge check

66 Why are referendums
Referendums thresholds not legally binding?
Referendums in recent years have proven controversial. While it has been claimed that big 67 What were the two
issues such as Brexit and Scottish independence have been settled, the relatively close vote issues of the Scottish
has meant that the controversy surrounding these issues remains. Would this have been solved referendum of 1997?
through the use of thresholds? 68 List the reasons to
call a referendum.
Thresholds
69 What issues have
l A threshold could be set for a minimum turnout needed for a referendum result to be been the subject
followed — for example, 50%. of a nationwide
l A threshold could be set for the minimum vote needed for a result to be followed. This referendum in the
could be a supermajority such as 60% or two-thirds. UK?
However, there are some suggestions that the use of these thresholds could actually lower
turnout, as not voting is effectively the same as a ‘no’ vote. What impact might thresholds have
had on recent referendums or might they have on future referendums?
One notable consequence of referendum use in the UK has been the public’s expectation of
more referendums. Since the UK constitution is uncodified and unentrenched (there is no
9781398369160.indb 107 15/02/23 10:24 PM

specific procedure to amend it), the use of referendums for issues concerning the reform of the
constitution has arguably become a convention. However, conventions can be broken, and the
expectations of the public cannot always be met.
In 2018 and 2019 as the consequences of Brexit became clearer, public pressure mounted
for another referendum on whether or not the UK should exit the European Union. However,
Theresa May consistently opposed this, arguing that not to deliver on the result of the 2016
Knowledge check referendum would ignore the democratic will of the people and threaten social cohesion.
70 What kind of The expectation of more referendums increases the reliance on direct democracy (Table 3.18)
democracy are and that has the potential to cause considerable conflict between the public and their elected
elections? representatives. This is especially true in the light of misleading campaigns, as the UK’s
71 What kind of representative democracy hinges on the ‘Burkean principle’ — elected officials being allowed
democracy are to use their conscience to act in the best interests of their constituents on the basis of being
referendums? fully informed.
72 Define the Burkean
principle.
Table 3.18 Referendums and elections
73 List the differences
between a Referendum Election
referendum and an A vote on a single, narrow issue A vote on a wide range of policy issues
election. A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote A choice of options is available for the voter
74 What was the result of Called when the government wishes Called at set intervals as defined by law
the 2016 referendum The result is not legally binding The result is legally binding
on Brexit?
An example of direct democracy An example of representative democracy
Debate
Are referendums good for the UK?

Evaluation: Which types of democracy are referendums good for and which could they damage?
Yes No
• They can encourage participation and education, • Turnout for some referendums, such as the AV
as shown in the Scottish independence and Brexit referendum, has been low, which undermines the
referendums, which enhances legitimacy and consent legitimacy of the decision and the effectiveness of direct
in the political system democracy
• They have provided a clear answer to political issues • Close results can be more divisive rather than
and the results have been successfully implemented, settling an issue, as seen in Brexit and the Scottish
such as the creation of devolved bodies independence referendum
• They have enhanced liberal democracy by serving as a • The campaigns surrounding some referendums have
way to limit the power of the government been misleading, raising questions over the legitimacy of
the result
• The management of referendums is overseen by the • The government decides if and when to call a
independent Electoral Commission in the same manner referendum, which concentrates power in the
as elections. This limits government manipulation government rather than limiting it
• They have enhanced representation in the UK by • They have undermined representative democracy in
allowing popular sovereignty to be directly expressed the UK, challenging key principles of the Burkean
principle in which elected representatives act in the best
interests of the electorate on the basis of the consent
given at an election
9781398369160.indb 108 15/02/23 10:24 PM

• As an accepted constitutional convention, they • The issues raised are often too complex to reduce to a
provide another way in which the public can engage in ‘yes’ or ‘no’ choice, with voters lacking the necessary
politics between elections, and ensure a responsive information to make a fully informed decision
government with a mandate to act
• As referendums are advisory, Parliament remains • Parliamentary sovereignty is undermined in reality
sovereign and can implement the decision in an as, having offered a referendum, there is a lot of
effective manner. Although the public voted to leave the political pressure for the government to honour the
EU, Parliament decides on the manner of the withdrawal will of the people
Summary
➜ Which electoral system in the UK best fulfils the functions of an election?
➜ What are the different types of electoral systems used in the UK?
➜ What is the most significant factor in assessing the effectiveness of an electoral system?
➜ Have the uses of other electoral systems demonstrated the necessity of replacing FPTP?
➜ To what extent have the different electoral systems resulted in different outcomes?
➜ How significant has the use of referendums been in the UK?
➜ To what extent do referendums undermine democracy in the UK?
➜ What factors influence the calling of a referendum?
Practice questions
First Past the Post (FPTP) is a robust method of electing MPs. A referendum on changing
the voting system was held in 2011 and the public voted overwhelmingly in favour of
keeping the FPTP system. The Government’s manifesto made a commitment to respect
the will of the British people as expressed in the 2011 UK Parliamentary elections voting
system referendum and keep the First Past the Post system for elections to the House
of Commons. The Government, therefore, has no plans to change the voting system for
elections to the House of Commons. The Government is concerned that proportional
voting systems would weaken the direct constituency link which is a key feature of our
Parliamentary system, and under a proportional system the voting process is more
complicated for the voter. The Government’s view is that the First Past the Post voting
system is the best system for elections to the House of Commons. The system is well
established and understood by voters and provides a clear link between constituents and
their representatives in Parliament. More often than not, it results in a government with a
working majority in Parliament making decisive government possible. At the voting system
referendum in May 2011, electors were asked whether the Alternative Vote system (AV)
should be used instead of the First Past the Post system for electing members of the House
of Commons. The referendum produced a clear result with over 13 million voters rejecting
the option for change to move away from the First Past the Post system, compared to over
6 million voters who voted for change.
Johnston, N. and Uberoi E. (2019) Debate Pack: Proportional Representation,
House of Commons Library, https://tinyurl.com/6t6b949z Contains Parliamentary
information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
9781398369160.indb 109 15/02/23 10:24 PM

Using the source, evaluate the view that the use of referendums in the UK is
unnecessary.
l compare and contrast different opinions in the source
1 Evaluate the view that the use of referendums is the most effective
way to increase political participation in the UK. You must consider
this view and the alternative to this view in a balanced way.(30)
2 Evaluate the view that the use of proportional systems in the UK has
shown that they are a good alternative to FPTP for general elections.
You must consider this view and the alternative to this view in a
balanced way.(30)
3 Evaluate the view that the most significant benefit of FPTP is the
legitimacy it gives to a party’s manifesto. You must consider this view
Further reading
Barnes, H. (2021) ‘Focus on…the Fixed-term Parliaments Act’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 2.
Ford, R., Jennings, W., Surridge, P., Bale, T. (2021) The British General Election of 2019,
Palgrave Macmillan.
Gallop, N. (2020) ‘The 2019 general election’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 3.
Kelly, R. (2021) Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, House of Commons Library Research
Briefing, https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06111/SN06111.pdf.
Norton, P. (2020) ‘Parliament and referendums: direct or representative democracy’, in
Governing Britain: Parliament, Ministers and Our Ambiguous Constitution, Manchester
University Press.
Shipman, T. (2016) All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class,
Williams Collins.
Tomes, A. (2020) ‘Have the minor parties reshaped UK politics?’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 1.
Verdon, R. (2021) ‘The 2021 regional elections’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 1.
9781398369160.indb 110 15/02/23 10:24 PM

4 Voting behaviour and
the media
Before examining why people vote the way that they do, it is important to address
the popular misconception that the working class always vote Labour and that the
middle and upper classes are invariably Conservative voters. Like any misconception,
there is an element of truth in this. In the 1951 general election, for example, the
Conservative Party under Winston Churchill succeeded in defeating Clement Attlee
and Labour by mobilising middle-class support, which gave Churchill a majority in
the House of Commons.
However, general elections are inf luenced by a huge variety of other factors and it
would be simplistic to argue that the public will always vote according to class-based
allegiance. Margaret Thatcher won three general elections (1979, 1983 and 1987)
with significant amounts of working-class support, and in the 2017 and 2019 general
elections Theresa May and Boris Johnson won several traditionally working-class
seats, while seats that had been firmly Conservative were won by Labour.
The relationship between social class and voting behaviour is further complicated
by the reasons why voters of all classes might vote for the Liberal/Liberal Democrat The diversity of the British
parties, the nationalist parties and the UKIP/Brexit parties. The variations within electorate makes any
social classes highlighted in Table 4.1 demonstrate why it is so important to avoid generalisations about its
generalisations when examining voting trends. Indeed, the more one studies voting voting intentions rash and
unhelpful
4 Voting behaviour and the media 111
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Table 4.1 Social class composition
Class Composition and description
A Higher managerial, professional (judges, top civil servants, company directors)
Upper middle class
B Middle managers, professionals (teachers, lawyers, accountants)
Middle class
C1 Clerical workers, junior managerial roles, shop owners
Lower middle class
C2 Skilled workers (builders, electricians, hairdressers)
Aspirational working class
D Semi-skilled, unskilled factory workers
Working class
E Casual workers, long-term unemployed, elderly people who rely solely on the
state pension
Working class
behaviour, the more one appreciates that the reasons why we vote as we do are
determined by a vast range of rational and even irrational factors.
In order to engage with this topic, you need to familiarise yourself with the
significance of at least three general elections. The case studies in this chapter focus
on the 1979, 1997 and 2019 general elections. You should be prepared to study these
in great depth, although you are advised to familiarise yourself with as many general
elections since 1945 as you can, as this will add conviction to your writing. It is
compulsory that you cover the 1997 general election.
Social factors
Class-based voting and class/partisan dealignment
From 1945 until 1966, general elections were defined by how successful the Labour
Key term and Conservative parties were in mobilising their core support. The Conservatives
Partisan dealignment generally relied on the support of A, B and C1 voters, with Labour’s core support
Refers to the way in among C2, D and E voters. In the 1964 general election, for example, Labour’s
which voters since the Harold Wilson won 64% of the votes of DE voters, while the Conservative prime
1970s have abandoned minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, won 78% of the support of AB voters.
traditional party loyalties
However, the 1970 general election, in which the Conservative leader Edward
and have instead voted
Heath achieved a surprise victory over Harold Wilson, demonstrated that issue
based on a range
voting (see pages 144–45) could determine the result of a general election as much
of factors, including
as class-based voting. In this election, the Conservatives won a large number of
governing competence,
traditional Labour seats because, following Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech
the salience of core issues
in 1968, significant numbers of the white working class felt that immigration would
and economic self-
be more tightly controlled by the Conservatives. The decline of class-based voting
interest.
is also known as partisan dealignment and, since the 1970s, the results of general
elections have often been determined by striking examples of voting based on the
government’s competence and the salience (prominence) of specific issues rather
than according to class.
For example, in the 1979 general election, Margaret Thatcher startled political
commentators by launching the Conservative campaign in Labour-supporting
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Cardiff. This was a clever attempt to disassociate the
party from being too middle class. The campaign’s
resulting focus on controlling inf lation, enabling
tenants to buy their own council houses and confronting
trade union power following the excessive number of
strikes during the so-called ‘Winter of Discontent’,
was so popular that there was an 11% swing to the
Conservatives by C2 voters and a 9% swing by
DE voters. In her subsequent general election victories
(1983, 1987) Thatcher made further inroads into the
working class by associating the Conservatives with
strong national defence, privatisation and traditional
social values.
Public anger at the consequences of the ‘Winter of Discontent’
Like Thatcher, Tony Blair was highly successful at led to significant class dealignment in the 1979 general
broadening his party’s appeal far beyond its core election
support. He increased Labour’s share of the vote in all
social categories and won a majority of support in all
age groups with the progressive appeal of New Labour.
Key term
Class dealignment
In the 2017 general election, Jeremy Corbyn gained further support from the AB
Suggests that voters
social category, while Theresa May made striking gains among DE voters. This was
are much less likely
due to pro-Europeans in higher social classes wanting to punish the Conservatives
to vote according to
for Brexit by voting Labour, while large numbers of DE voters considered the
their membership of a
Conservatives more likely to deliver Brexit and control immigration.
particular social class. It is
On the morning after the 2019 general election, Boris Johnson thanked Labour closely linked to partisan
voters who ‘lent’ their votes to the Conservatives, telling them, ‘I will never take dealignment, whereby
your support for granted.’ This suggests that the Conservatives understand that they voters abandon traditional
may not be a natural home for working-class voters and so will seek to maintain this party loyalties.
support by focusing on the NHS and ‘levelling up’. Whether or not they succeed is
likely to determine the extent to which partisan dealignment becomes a permanent
feature of UK politics. Knowledge check
1 Define A and B voters.
Region 2 Define C1 and C2
All the national parties can claim a significant concentration of support in certain voters.
parts of the country (Table 4.2). This is mostly due to economic and social factors. 3 Define D and E voters.
4 What is partisan
l The South East is the most prosperous region in the UK, with high levels of
dealignment?
home ownership and little tradition of heavy industrial trade unionism. The
5 What is class
Conservatives do disproportionately well there. Ethnically white rural parts of
dealignment?
the UK, such as East Anglia and the South Coast, are also classic Conservative
territory.
l Labour, meanwhile, has dominated ethnically diverse big cities with large
working-class populations, and major centres of industrial production such as
South Wales, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Tyne and Wear.
l As a rule, the industrial North of England has been more likely to vote Labour
and the South of England Conservative.
The Liberal Democrats have fared disproportionately badly out of the UK’s first-
past-the-post electoral system (see Chapter 3) because they have fewer areas of
concentrated support. However, even liberalism has had its heartlands in the
Celtic fringes of the South West, rural Wales and the far north of Scotland,
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where there is a long tradition of small-scale, non-conformist artisans who do
not identify with either of the main political parties. Since 1950, Orkney and
Shetland, for example, has always returned a Liberal/Liberal Democrat MP to
Westminster.
Table 4.2 Voting by region from 2005 to 2019

2005 2010 2015 2017 2019
North East Conservative 19.5% Conservative 23.7% Conservative 25.3% Conservative 34.4% Conservative 38.3%
Labour 52.9% Labour 43.6% Labour 46.9% Labour 55.4% Labour 42.6%
Liberal Democrat Liberal Democrat Liberal Democrat Liberal Democrat Liberal Democrat
23.4% 23.6% 6.5% 4.5% 6.8%
North West Conservative 28.7% Conservative 31.7% Conservative 31.2% Conservative 36.2% Conservative 37.5%
21.3% 21.6% 6.5% 5.4% 7.9%
Yorkshire and Conservative 29.1% Conservative 32.8% Conservative 32.6% Conservative 40.5% Conservative 43.1%
Humber Labour 43.6% Labour 34.4% Labour 39.1% Labour 49% Labour 38.9%
20.6% 22.9% 7.1% 5% 8.1%
East Midlands Conservative 37.1% Conservative 41.2% Conservative 43.5% Conservative 50.7% Conservative 54.8%
Labour 39% Labour 29.8% Labour 31.6% Labour 40.5% Labour 31.7%
18.4% 20.8% 5.6% 4.3% 7.8%
West Midlands Conservative 35% Conservative 39.5% Conservative 41.8% Conservative 49% Conservative 53.4%
18.6% 20.5% 5.5% 4.4% 7.9%
East Conservative 43.2% Conservative 47.1% Conservative 49% Conservative 54.6% Conservative 57.2%
Labour 29.8% Labour 19.6% Labour 22% Labour 32.7% Labour 24.4%
21.9% 24% 8.2% 7.9% 13.4%
London Conservative 31.9% Conservative 34.5% Conservative 34.9% Conservative 33.1% Conservative 32%
21.9% 22.1% 7.7% 8.8% 14.9%
South East Conservative 44.9% Conservative 49.3% Conservative 50.8% Conservative 53.8% Conservative 54%
25.4% 26.2% 9.4% 10.5% 18.2%
South West Conservative 38.6% Conservative 42.8% Conservative 46.5% Conservative 51.4% Conservative 52.8%
32.5% 34.7% 15.1% 15% 18.2%
Scotland Conservative Conservative Conservative Conservative Conservative
15.8% 16.7% 14.9% 28.6% 25.1%
Labour 38.9% Labour 42% Labour 24.3% Labour 27.1% Labour 18.6%
22.6% 18.8% 7.5% 6.7% 9.5%
SNP 17.7% SNP 19.9% SNP 50% SNP 36.9% SNP 45%
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2005 2010 2015 2017 2019
Wales Conservative Conservative Conservative Conservative Conservative
21.4% 26.1% 27.2% 33.6% 36.1%
21.8% 20.1% 6.5% 4.5% 6%
Plaid Cymru 12.6% Plaid Cymru 11.3% Plaid Cymru 12.1% Plaid Cymru 10.4% Plaid Cymru 9.9%
Several interesting conclusions about voter/partisan dealignment can be drawn from

Table 4.2:
Knowledge check
6 What regions have
l London has increasingly become a Labour stronghold, with the party’s share of
traditionally voted
the vote increasing by 9.2% between 2010 and 2019 despite losing all four general
Labour?
elections (Table 4.3). This is probably due to the inclusive, more pro-European
7 What regions have
position of the party, which is more popular in a multicultural global city like
traditionally voted
London.
Conservative?
l However, the Conservatives have dramatically increased their share of the vote 8 What has happened
in parts of England that used to have significant amounts of heavy industry to Conservative
and which are now being termed ‘left behind’ areas because of their lack of support in London
opportunities and relatively high number of D and E voters. Euroscepticism has since 2010?
also enabled the Conservatives to break into traditional Labour heartlands. 9 What has happened
l For example, in the North East, Conservative support increased by 18.8% to Labour support in
between 2010 and 2019 and in Yorkshire and the Humber it increased by 14%. Scotland since 2010?
l The West and East Midlands also provide striking evidence of dealignment. In the 10 Where has partisan
West Midlands, Conservative support from 2010 to 2019 increased by 18.4% and dealignment
Labour support declined by 4.8%. In the East Midlands over the same period, the happened most
Conservatives increased their vote by 17.7% and Labour went down by 7.3%. in recent general
l Labour support has held up better in Wales, but here again the Conservatives elections?
have dramatically increased their vote by 14.7% by appealing to Welsh
Euroscepticism.
l Although Scotland used to be a Labour heartland (holding 41 of the 59 seats
in 2010), Labour support has declined by a staggering 20.3%, with just one
Labour MP being returned for Scotland in the 2019 general election. This is
because the SNP has been so successful in presenting itself as the natural party
of government in Scotland and associating the unionist parties with distant rule
from London.
l Support for the Liberal Democrats has collapsed across the UK, including in
traditional heartlands like rural Wales. In the 2017 and 2019 general elections,
for the first time ever Wales did not return a Liberal/Liberal Democrat MP.
l The evidence suggests that voting behaviour has become much more erratic in
recent years, challenging party dominance in regional heartlands across the UK.
The argument that FPTP encourages safe seats and minimises voter choice (see
Chapter 3) may not be as persuasive as it once was.
Table 4.3 The results of general elections in London in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019
General election Labour Conservative Liberal Democrat
2010 38 seats 28 seats 7 seats
2015 45 seats 27 seats 1 seat
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Table 4.4 highlights just how much Scottish politics changed in less than a decade.
Table 4.4 The results of general elections in Scotland in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019
General Liberal
election Labour SNP Democrat Conservative
2010 41 seats 6 seats 11 seats 1 seat
2015 1 seat 56 seats 1 seat 1 seat
2017 7 seats 35 seats 4 seats 13 seats
2019 1 seat 48 seats 4 seats 6 seats
Age
The inf luence of age on how we vote is significant. The Conservative Party’s
support is strongest among older voters, while the Labour and Liberal/Liberal
Democrat parties have generally won the support of younger voters. This is because
the Conservative Party has traditionally emphasised policies such as lower taxation,
strong national defence, law and order and, in recent years, has been significantly
more Eurosceptic than Labour and the Liberal Democrats. These sorts of policies
appeal to older property-owning voters, who tend to favour security and stability
and, having more financial responsibilities and savings than younger voters, are
often keen for their taxes to be kept as low as possible. In the 2019 general election,
for example, it was striking that people who owned their homes or had a mortgage
voted Conservative by a clear margin. Those who rented were much more likely to
vote Labour (Table 4.5).
Table 4.5 General election 2019 — voting by property status
Conservative (%) Labour (%)
Owner 57 22
Owner with mortgage 43 33
Social renter 33 45
Private renter 31 46
Table 4.6 General elections 2017 and 2019 — voting by age

2017 general 2017 general 2017 general 2019 general 2019 general 2019 general
election election election election election election
Age Labour Conservative Liberal Democrat Labour Conservative Liberal Democrat
18–24 62% 27% 5% 62% 19% 9%
25–34 56% 37% 9% 51% 27% 11%
35–44 49% 33% 10% 39% 36% 13%
45–54 40% 43% 7% 28% 46% 14%
55–64 34% 51% 7% 27% 49% 11%
65+ 25% 61% 7% 17% 64% 11%
Younger voters are more likely to be concerned with issues such as social justice
and the environment and so are more likely to favour Labour. In 2017, for example,
Jeremy Corbyn successfully connected with young people by emphasising that
Labour was on the side of ‘the many not the few’. Labour’s commitment in the 2017
and 2019 general elections to abolish tuition fees further encouraged support among
young people.
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Table 4.6 illustrates how significant age is in determining how we vote.
Evidence from the 2017 and 2019 general elections suggests that age has become
a more important determinant of voting behaviour than class or region. Labour
maintains a commanding lead among younger voters. In 2019, despite increasing
their overall vote share, the Conservatives continued to lose votes among young
people. However, once voters reach the 45–54 age bracket, they become much more
likely to vote Conservative, with that support significantly increasing the older the
voter becomes. Liberal Democrat support is strongest among people approaching
and in middle age but then declines among older voters.
Labour’s focus on social
justice, environmentalism and
its less hardline approach to
Brexit has made it a popular
choice for young people
Table 4.7 General elections 2017 and 2019 — voter turnout among the youngest and oldest
voters
Approximate proportion Turnout 2017 Turnout 2019
Age group of the UK population general election general election
18–24 5% 54% voted 47% voted
65+ 19% 71% voted 74% voted
Source: Ipsos MORI
Table 4.7 shows turnout among youngest and oldest voters for the last two general
elections.
Labour and the Conservatives have been most successful when they have been able
to reach beyond their core age support. In 1997, Labour achieved a 5% lead over the
Conservatives among voters aged 65+, helping Tony Blair to his landslide victory,
while in Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 general election victory the Conservatives
achieved a 1% lead over Labour among 18–24-year-olds. Currently, the dominance
of the Conservative Party among older voters gives them a major electoral advantage
because older voters are significantly more likely to vote.
9781398369160.indb 117 15/02/23 10:24 PM

Ethnicity
The impact of ethnicity in determining voting
behaviour is also significant. Historically, since
Commonwealth immigrant communities were
generally within the C2, D and E classes, they were
more likely to vote Labour because of its high spending
on the welfare state and close association with the
trade union movement. Labour’s commitment to
multiculturalism and its introduction of the first Race
Relations Acts in 1965, 1968 and 1976 to outlaw
discrimination have further provided it with a strong
historical connection with immigrant communities.
Meanwhile, the inf luence of Enoch Powell — whose
Ethnicity continues to be a salient factor in determining voting ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968 called for an end to
behaviour, but it is important not to generalise about minority Commonwealth immigration — on some elements
ethnic voters within the Conservative Party has often made it seem
hostile to immigrant communities. For example, in
the 2017 general election, the Conservatives won just 5 of the 75 most ethnically
diverse constituencies in the UK. In contrast, Labour won 46 of the 73 seats in
London, which is 45% white British.
Despite the Johnson and Truss cabinets being the most ethnically diverse in UK
history and positive efforts by the Conservative Party to connect more with minority
ethnic voters by selecting more candidates from minority ethnic backgrounds, Table
4.8 demonstrates Labour retains a commanding lead among minority ethnic voters.
This suggests that ethnicity continues to be a salient factor determining voting.
The appoinment of Rishi Sunak as the UK’s first British Asian prime minister in
October 2022 may challenge this, although his privileged background suggests this
is by no means certain.
Table 4.8 General elections 2015, 2017 and 2019 — how minority ethnic people voted
2015 general election 2017 general election 2019 general election
Share of minority ethnic vote Share of minority ethnic vote Share of minority ethnic vote
followed by national share of vote followed by national share of vote followed by national share of vote
Labour 65% (30.4%) 73% (40%) 64% (32.1%)
Conservative 23% (36.9%) 19% (42%) 20% (43.6%)
Liberal Democrat 8% (7.9%) 6% (8%) 12% (11.6%)
Table 4.9 Two UK constituencies with a significant British However, it is also important to not generalise about
Asian population minority ethnic voters. In several constituencies, the
Harrow East Leicester East
Conservatives have successfully cultivated the British
Asian vote. For example, Harrow East and Leicester
2019 general election 2019 general election
East both have large British Asian populations and
Conservative 54% Conservative 39%
Labour 38% Labour 51%
both have seen a steady increase in support for the
Liberal Democrat 8% Liberal Democrat 6%
Conservatives (Table 4.9).
Conservative 32% Conservative 24.5%
Labour 55% Labour 57.6%
Liberal Democrat 13% Liberal Democrat 12.3%
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Education
The impact of education on voting behaviour significantly changed in the 2017
general election. Those with higher educational qualifications comprise the top social
brackets and have traditionally been more likely to vote Conservative. However, in
2017 there was a remarkable change in voting patterns, with the Conservatives
increasing their support among those with fewest educational qualifications and
Labour achieving higher levels of support among those with degrees in the top
brackets. The 2019 general election results suggests this may be part of a long-term
trend in which the Conservatives have aligned themselves with stricter controls on
immigration, increasing their support among white working-class voters who feel
threatened by globalisation and so decisively voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum
(see Chapter 3). Labour’s more liberal approach to immigration and its more nuanced
approach to Brexit have dramatically increased its support among better educated,
more cosmopolitan voters who voted Remain in 2016 and have been dismayed by
what they see as Conservative insularity.
David Goodhart, in The Road to Somewhere (2017), has contrasted the less educated
‘somewheres’, who are rooted to their communities through lack of opportunities,
with the better educated ‘anywheres’, who have the educational qualifications to take
advantage of globalisation. In 2017 and 2019, it seems as though Labour generated
significant support among the ‘anywheres’ while the Conservatives achieved their
own breakthrough with the ‘somewheres’ (Table 4.10).
Table 4.10 General elections 2017 and 2019 — the significance of higher educational
qualifications
2017 general 2017 general 2019 general 2019 general
election election election election
Education Labour (%) Conservative (%) Labour (%) Conservative (%)
Degree or higher 48 33 39 34
Other qualifications 39 46 33 47
No qualifications 35 52 23 59
Gender
The inf luence of gender in determining the result of general elections has changed
since the end of the Second World War. From 1945 until the 1980s Labour’s close
association with male-dominated trade unionism and its reputation for allowing
inf lation to spiral, so hitting family finances, provided the Conservatives with a
powerful opportunity to appeal to the housewives’ vote. In the 1959 general
election, Harold Macmillan associated Conservative prosperity and stability with
a happy family life. Then, in 1970, Edward Heath defeated Harold Wilson by
pledging to reduce the cost of living, thereby winning significant support among
housewives. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher similarly articulated women’s concerns that
Labour governments had allowed inf lation to undermine family finances and that
irresponsible trade unionism was pulling society apart (Table 4.11).
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Table 4.11 1979 general election — how men and women voted
Knowledge check
Gender Conservative (%) Labour (%) Liberal (%)
11 What social factors
Female 47 35 15
can influence voting
Male 43 40 13
behaviour?
12 Which political party
However, the Conservatives’ traditional lead among female voters has been
are young people
challenged by Labour. This is perhaps because the Conservative Party’s emphasis on
most likely to vote
strong national defence and its growing association with euroescepticism may have
for?
contrasted unfavourably for some women with Labour’s focus on education, social
13 What political party
care and the National Health Service (Table 4.12).
are BAME voters most
likely to vote for? Although the overall gap is minimal, among younger voters women are dramatically
14 What party were more likely to vote Labour than Conservative. In 2019, among 18–24-year-old voters,
those with the just 17% of women voted Conservative and 64% voted Labour, whereas 22% of men
highest educational in this age group voted Conservative and 59% Labour. Whether this trend has been
qualifications most caused by a reaction against certain male Conservative politicians among younger
likely to vote for in women is uncertain. As men and women increasingly play similar roles in the family
the 2017 and 2019 and workplace, the gender gap may diminish as a factor determining voting behaviour.
general elections? Table 4.12 How males and females voted in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections
15 What party were
those with the Election Conservative (%) Labour (%) Liberal Democrat (%)
least educational 2015 Male 38 Male 30 Male 8
qualifications most Female 37 Female 33 Female 8
likely to vote for in 2017 Male 44 Male 40 Male 7
the 2017 and 2019 Female 43 Female 42 Female 8
general elections? 2019 Male 46 Male 31 Male 12
Female 43 Female 34 Female 12
Key terms Political context

Valence factor The Although social factors are significant, the political context in which a general
relative success or failure election is held is of defining importance. This is because the electorate makes
of a government’s policies. decisions based on several judgements about the governing and opposition parties.
Voters who vote according The factors that inform these judgements are based on the competency and
to valence factors are effectiveness of the government and are called valence factors. This means that
making their decision voters make value judgements on the government and the opposition parties.
based on whether they are With the decline of class-based voting, valence factors become more significant in
satisfied or dissatisfied determining the result of a general election.
with the government’s
performance.
Governing competence
Governing competency
A core reason why voters choose to vote in the way they do involves a valence
The extent to which the
judgement on the effectiveness of the government and the likely effectiveness of the
government is regarded
opposition. If voters are reassured that the government is competent, they are less
as having been capable
likely to vote for opposition parties. Alternatively, if the government seems unable
and competent. If it is
to cope with the challenges it faces, this may encourage voters to vote in a new
viewed as having failed
government, either because they believe another party to be more likely to govern
in government, this will
well or as a protest vote.
encourage the public to
vote for a change.
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A Conservative poster from the 1959 general election depicting a happy family at
home and the line ‘Life’s better with the Conservatives — don’t let Labour ruin it’ is an
example of how the valence inf luence of competency can be utilised by a governing
party. On that occasion, the remarkable prosperity achieved under the Conservatives
rewarded Macmillan with a 100-seat majority over Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell.
Table 4.13 shows how valence issues of governing competency have helped
governments to both win and lose general elections.
Table 4.13 The influence of governing competency in general elections
Successful governments Unsuccessful governments
1959 1964
Economic prosperity and a wider availability of The short-lived Conservative government of Sir Alec Douglas-Home
consumer goods contributed to Harold Macmillan had not been able to disassociate itself from the failures and scandals
increasing the Conservatives’ parliamentary of the last years of the Macmillan government. These included Charles
majority to over 100. Macmillan’s calm sense of de Gaulle vetoing Macmillan’s attempt to join the EEC, Macmillan’s
authority and the way in which he took political desperate decision to sack a third of his cabinet in the ‘Night of the
advantage of rising living standards, claiming ‘most Long Knives’, and the Profumo affair, which highlighted scandal,
of our people have never had it so good’, gave intrigue and deception at the heart of government. Harold Wilson
voters little reason to change government and the Labour Party were thus well placed to end what they called
‘thirteen wasted years of Conservative government’
1966 February 1974
After 2 years in power, Harold Wilson’s Labour When Edward Heath called a snap general election, he did so in
government still looked energetic and focused and response to another miners’ strike, which threatened more severe
industrial unrest was limited. Facing a new and industrial disruption. His decision to use a general election to
untried leader of the opposition, Edward Heath, assert the government’s authority led to this being referred to as
Wilson called a snap election and dramatically the ‘Who governs Britain’ general election. Many voters, however,
increased his parliamentary majority to over 100 saw this as evidence that an incompetent government had lost
control of the nation
1983 1979
Although unemployment levels remained high, The inability of Labour prime minister James Callaghan to stop
Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government had the dramatic escalation of strikes during the Winter of Discontent
successfully brought inflation down, fulfilling its undermined public faith in his government. This was made worse
manifesto commitment. Her leadership during the when his attempts to reassure the country were misquoted in the
Falklands War (1982) and the unity of her cabinet press as ‘Crisis? What crisis?’. Swing voters consequently voted
further reinforced the government’s reputation for Conservative because they thought Margaret Thatcher was more
strength of purpose likely to confront the growing power of trade unionism
Leadership Knowledge check

The image that the party leader projects has become increasingly important for
16 Define ‘left behind area’.
voter support. Some prime ministers, such as Harold Macmillan in the 1959 general
17 Define valence factors
election, have won convincingly because they were able to present themselves as
when determining how
competent and in charge.
people choose to vote.
In the 1983 general election, Margaret Thatcher’s reputation for strong and focused 18 Define governing
leadership contrasted with Michael Foot’s left-wing intellectualism, which had little competence.
appeal beyond Labour’s core vote. For example, Thatcher faced down one-nation
rebels at the 1980 Conservative Party conference, saying, ‘You turn if you want to.
The lady’s not for turning’, and sent a task force to recover the Falklands from an
invasion by Argentina in 1982. Foot, in contrast, although a brilliant orator, failed to
inspire widespread backing. He has been described by Andrew Marr as ‘a would-be
parliamentary revolutionary detained in a secondhand bookshop’.
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In 2001, Tony Blair dominated the political landscape with the charismatic force
of his personality and so there was little reason to vote for a weak and divided
opposition under William Hague.
Opposition leaders
Sometimes opposition leaders can generate support by capturing
the mood of the nation. In 1970, Edward Heath’s dogged principles
successfully contrasted with a growing distaste for Harold Wilson’s
misplaced presidentialism and reputation for duplicity. Similarly,
in the 1979 general election campaign, Margaret Thatcher was
presented as a sensible and forthright ‘housewife’ who, like much of
the rest of the nation, was no longer prepared to tolerate excessive
trade union power. In 1997, the energy of Tony Blair’s campaign
and his attractive self-confidence had huge appeal in the country in
The 1979 Conservative campaign focused on contrast to John Major’s reputation for dithering, weak leadership.
Labour’s failure to deliver on its core values, Successful opposition leaders are thus able to set the agenda of an
such as maintaining high levels of employment election to their advantage.
l Winston Churchill, 1951 general election — Churchill successfully campaigned
on a manifesto pledge to ‘set the people free’, promising to end rationing and
reduce the middle classes’ tax burden. He also won support by contrasting one-
nation Conservative values with the class-based socialism of the Attlee government.
l Margaret Thatcher, 1979 general election — Although less popular than Labour
prime minister James Callaghan, Thatcher successfully focused the general
election on the government’s failure to confront the growing power of trade
unionism.
l David Cameron, 2010 general election — In 2010, David
Cameron focused the Conservative campaign on the huge
increase in the national debt under Gordon Brown. Having
suffered from so much media criticism, this was Labour’s
weakest point and contributed to Brown’s defeat. That
Cameron did not achieve a parliamentary majority was due
to a strong showing by the Liberal Democrats under Nick
Clegg.
However, some opposition leaders can fail to engage with the
public and may even lose support as the campaign continues.
In 1959 Hugh Gaitskell could not compete with Macmillan’s
effortless charm, while in both 1987 and 1992 Neil Kinnock
could not convince enough swing voters that he possessed the
gravitas necessary to be prime minister. In 2015, Ed Miliband
also failed to inspire the confidence of the electorate.
l Neil Kinnock, 1992 general election — Having lost to
Margaret Thatcher in 1987, Neil Kinnock was confident
By associating a socialist government with ‘The of defeating John Major in 1992. However, the triumphant
Gestapo’ in the 1945 general election, Churchill presidentialism of his campaign grated with core swing
completely misjudged the mood of the country. His voters. The Sheffield Rally just days before the election saw
1951 campaign was much more successful in winning Kinnock become incoherent with excitement. His repeated
back traditional middle-class Conservative voters ‘We’re all right, we’re all right’ shocked enough voters back
to the Conservatives to give Major a slim victory.
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l Michael Howard, 2005 general election — In 2005, Michael Howard succeeded
in reducing Tony Blair’s majority. However, lingering memories of Anne
Knowledge check
Widdecombe’s jibe that ‘there was something of the night’ about him meant 19 List three successful
that he could not inspire widespread popular support for the Conservatives. His opposition leaders.
support for the Iraq War (2003) also ensured that the anti-war vote went to the 20 List three
Liberal Democrats under Charles Kennedy. unsuccessful
l Ed Miliband, 2015 general election — Miliband failed to persuade enough voters opposition leaders.
that he had the strength of character to be prime minister. An attempt to provide 21 When was the Winter
him with greater stature by having him publicly unveil a 9-foot stone tablet with of Discontent?
his campaign promises carved into it backfired when it was ridiculed as the 22 When was the
‘Edstone’ and ‘The heaviest suicide note in history’. Falklands War?
23 List the three general
Liberal/Liberal Democrat and minority party leadership elections Margaret
Although every modern prime minister has been a member of either the Thatcher won.
Conservative Party or the Labour Party, the leadership of other political parties has
often been important in determining the result of a general election. The 1964,
February 1974 and 2010 general elections all demonstrate how a strong showing
by the leader of the Liberal/Liberal Democrat parties can have a significant impact
on the result.
l 1964 general election — Although Harold Wilson had expected to win a decisive
victory over Conservative prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Labour
managed only a 4-seat majority. This was because Liberal leader Jo Grimond’s
energetic campaign appealed to young people. The Liberal vote consequently
increased by 5.3%, while the swing to Labour was only 0.2%.
l February 1974 general election — In the ‘Who governs Britain?’ general election,
Jeremy Thorpe offered an exciting alternative to Edward Heath and Harold
Wilson. The Liberals increased their share of the vote by 11.8%. By holding the
balance of power, Thorpe was able to force the resignation of Edward Heath as
prime minister.
l 2010 general election — This was the first election in which televised leaders’
debates were held in the UK. Nick Clegg’s engaging personality made him the
clear winner, forcing both Gordon Brown and David Cameron to admit, ‘I agree
with Nick.’ The Liberal Democrats’ party-political broadcasts also focused on
Clegg’s trustworthiness. The 57 Liberal Democrat MPs elected to Parliament
denied Cameron a majority, leading to the first coalition government since 1945.
The impact of Nigel Farage as UKIP leader in the 2015 general election was also
significant. Although UKIP was expected to win votes at the expense of the
Conservatives, Farage’s relentless focus on immigration made it a pivotal issue
among the working class and so took potential votes away from Labour, helping the
Conservatives to win key marginal seats. Although UKIP only won Clacton, the
party achieved 12.6% of the popular vote.
In Scotland, an extraordinarily effective campaign by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon
in the 2015 general election led to Labour losing 40 seats north of the border,
undermining Ed Miliband’s hopes of forming a government. Two years later, Ruth
Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, ran a highly effective campaign that
won the Conservatives 13 Scottish seats. This was the highest number since 1983 and
without them Theresa May would not have been able to form a government.
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Table 4.14 The popularity of party leaders and how they fared in the 1979, 2015 and 2017
general elections
General election Party leader
1979 Although James Callaghan was significantly more popular than
Margaret Thatcher, she still won the general election by focusing on
the competence of the government and the need for change
2015 Although UKIP leader Nigel Farage had the worst approval rating of any
party leader, he succeeded in making immigration a key issue in the
election, dramatically increasing UKIP’s vote among the working class
2017 When the general election was announced, YouGov found that 50%
of voters thought Theresa May would make the best prime minister
compared with just 14% for Jeremy Corbyn and 36% undecided.
Although Corbyn never achieved approval ratings as good as May’s,
his much more optimistic campaign increased the Labour share of the
vote by 9.6%
Knowledge check The popularity of the party leader

A party leader can be very important in winning support for their party. However,
24 List three successful as Table 4.14 illustrates, a party leader can have a negative approval rating but still
Liberal/Liberal achieve highly if they are able to define to their advantage the issues on which a
Democrat leaders. general election is fought.
25 Name the general
election when Ruth
Davidson led the
The campaign
Scottish Conservatives. The way in which a party campaigns can be significant in determining the result
26 When was UKIP’s most of a general election. The socialist rhetoric of the Labour Party’s campaign in 1983
successful general appealed only to its core vote and failed to engage middle-class swing voters who
election campaign? were beginning to benefit from the tax cuts of the Thatcher government. In 1992,
27 Name the two general John Major salvaged the Conservative campaign by taking to his soap box to appeal
elections when Neil directly to the voters. This old-style electioneering was a welcome contrast to the
Kinnock led the stage-managed Neil Kinnock campaign and gave the Conservatives an unexpected
Labour opposition. general election victory. In the 2017 general election, Jeremy Corbyn campaigned
28 Name the two general in a similarly traditional fashion across the nation, taking the Labour case directly
elections when to the people, in marked contrast to Theresa May’s lacklustre and highly controlled
Jeremy Corbyn led the campaign. However, 2 years later, Corbyn failed to campaign in the same optimistic
Labour opposition. fashion. Beset by allegations of anti-Semitism and unable to address great open-air
meetings (due to poor weather during the December general election), Corbyn was
quickly thrown on the defensive. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson
fought a tightly organised campaign simply focused on ‘Get
Brexit Done’. This powerful appeal contributed to his 80-seat
majority.
However, even a carefully choreographed campaign can fail
if the electorate is not persuaded by the manifesto or the
leader. In 1987, for example, Peter Mandelson brilliantly
organised Labour’s campaign, including an inspiring television
commercial focusing on Neil Kinnock. Yet Labour’s vote
share increased by only 3.2% over Michael Foot’s disastrous
campaign in 1983. The key issue was not the campaign but
In the 1992 general election, John Major altered the
that Thatcher was perceived to be much the stronger leader.
dynamic of the campaign by taking his case directly to
the voters, in often rowdy public meetings
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Debate
Do campaigns influence the result of a general election?

Evaluation: General election campaigns are always eagerly anticipated by the media. However, is the result often a foregone
conclusion and so has the importance of the parties’ political campaigns been exaggerated?
Yes No
• Although some campaigns may simply reinforce • According to some political commentators the influence
existing attitudes, others may challenge them, of the campaign can be exaggerated since voters in
especially if it is a tight race. The growth of general have already made up their mind
partisan dealignment suggests that campaigns do
increasingly matter as voters have become much
more flexible in their voting intentions
• In the February 1974 general election, the Liberal • In the 1950s and 1960s the class allegiance that
Party under Jeremy Thorpe exploited widespread political parties could depend on meant that campaigns
discontent with both Edward Heath and Harold made little difference in swaying most voters. For
Wilson, especially among first-time voters. In a example, the 1955 and 1959 general election campaigns
campaign address a few days before the vote, simply confirmed expected Conservative victories under
Thorpe called on Liberal voters: ‘Stand firm. Don’t Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan
be bullied. Together we can make history and heal
the self-inflicted wounds of Britain.’ As a result, the
Liberal share of the vote increased by 11.8%
• In 1992 John Major’s decision to abandon stage- • Although Harold Wilson’s dynamic and presidential
managed events and take his soap box to town campaign in 1964 was supposed to make him appeal to
centres was in marked contrasted to Neil Kinnock’s the voters as a British John F. Kennedy, in fact Sir Alec
over-confidence at the Sheffield Rally. This changed Douglas-Home’s low-key dogged earnestness proved
the dynamic of the general election, giving the more appealing. In the end, Wilson increased Labour’s
Conservatives an unexpected victory share of the vote by only 0.2% on Hugh Gaitskell’s
lacklustre performance in 1959
• In 2010 a strong Liberal Democrat campaign, • In 1970 Edward Heath’s campaign was dismissed as
including Nick Clegg’s impressive performance in bland and uninspiring. Plans had been drawn up by top
the televised debates, significantly increased Liberal Conservatives to force his resignation when he lost.
Democrat support, mostly at the expense of the His surprise victory over Harold Wilson was completely
Conservatives, leading to a hung parliament and a unexpected
Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition
• In 2017 Jeremy Corbyn’s optimistic rallies and • Although praised by the media, Labour’s television-
popular manifesto commitments such as ending friendly 1987 campaign hardly dented Margaret
tuition fees contrasted sharply with Theresa Thatcher’s political domination and she was returned
May’s uninspiring campaign appearances and the to government with a 102-seat majority. The satirical
widespread unpopularity of the ‘dementia tax’. As a magazine Private Eye ironically commented on ‘Labour’s
result, Labour dramatically increased its support as brilliant defeat’
the campaign progressed, from less than 30% of the • In 2019, the Conservatives ran a more effective
vote at the beginning to 40% in the general election campaign by relentlessly focusing on Brexit. However,
during the campaign, polling hardly changed, suggesting
that many voters had already decided how to vote before
the campaigning began
Voter turnout and trends

Voter turnout in general elections is less high than it has traditionally been. A
low point was reached in 2001 when just 59.4% of the electorate voted. By 2017
turnout had recovered to 68.8%. It dipped back to 67.3% in 2019, although this
may have been because it was a winter general election. What matters more than
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the headline figure is the age factor. Older people are much more likely to vote
than younger people. This is generally to the Conservatives’ advantage, as they
have much more support among older voters than does the Labour Party. Labour
has also been disadvantaged since voters in the lower social classes are less likely
to vote than in the higher categories. However, because of the Conservatives’
growing support among C2, D and E voters, this may become a problem for the
Conservatives as much as for Labour.
The manifesto
In its manifesto, a political party explains the policies upon which it will govern. It is
Key term unlikely that voters will engage with all the elements of a manifesto (see Chapter 2).
Manifesto In a general However, certain popular policies may help swing the result, while unpopular or
election each political confusing policies can help to undermine a campaign. Two examples demonstrate
party launches its the inf luence of a party’s manifesto, the Labour Party’s manifestos of 1987 and 1992:
manifesto, in which it
l In 1987 the Labour Party manifesto did not commit to the UK’s nuclear
sets out the policies it
deterrent. This enabled the Conservatives to claim that Labour could not be
will introduce if it forms a
trusted on defence, their campaign poster boldly stating ‘LABOUR’S POLICY
government.
ON ARMS’ next to an image of a surrendering soldier.
l In 1992 the Labour manifesto commitment to increase public spending allowed
the Conservatives to claim that a Labour government would mean a ‘tax
bombshell’ for every family.
On both these occasions the Labour manifesto contributed to the Conservative
victory.
In the 2017 general election, however, the Conservative Party’s manifesto pledged
that if elderly people receiving NHS care at home had assets of more than £100,000,
the excess would contribute to the cost of their care after their death. Although
the plan was supposed to provide a fairer system of care, it was quickly labelled a
‘dementia tax’ by the press and the Conservative campaign stalled. Meanwhile,
Labour’s manifesto commitment to abolish tuition fees gave the party a dramatic
boost from young and first-time voters, while its promise of an end to austerity
and the introduction of higher taxes for the top 5% of the population had broad
popular appeal. Its slogan ‘For the Many Not the Few’ also gave the campaign an
inspirational dynamic, which was absent from the Conservative campaign.
Two years later, Labour failed to replicate this in their 2019 manifesto. Instead,
their commitment to renegotiate the terms of the UK’s EU withdrawal and then
hold a second referendum on EU membership contrasted unfavourably with the
Conservatives’ simple manifesto promise to ‘get Brexit done’.
Issue/instrumental voting
In addition to making decisions on the competence of the government, voters can
choose to vote on the salience (importance) to them of certain issues. This can also
be referred to as instrumental voting and suggests that voters do study a party’s
manifesto and make decisions based on how they respond to particular issues.
Therefore, political parties often establish focus groups to investigate which issues
the public feels most strongly about so they can tailor their manifesto accordingly. In
other words, general elections can be determined by voters making a rational choice
based on their individual self-interest.
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In 1983, for example, Conservative warnings that a Labour government under
Michael Foot would reverse the right-to-buy scheme contributed to Margaret
Knowledge check
Thatcher’s landslide re-election by encouraging the aspirational working class 29 Define issue/
to vote Conservative to protect their properties. In 2015, immigration and instrumental voting.
Euroscepticism were unexpected core issues for many voters, contributing to the 30 Define the term
remarkable increase in UKIP’s vote from 3.1% in 2005 to 12.6%. In 2017, a core manifesto.
issue was where the leading parties stood on Brexit, while Labour’s commitment 31 Name the general
to abolishing tuition fees provided a strong incentive for younger voters to vote election when John
Labour. In the 2019 general election, the party positions, manifestos and campaigns Major used a soap
were also driven by this issue of Brexit. box.
However, in some general elections instrumental voting can be considerably less
when the popularity
important than the government’s reputation for competence. For example, in the
of the government
1997 general election Labour enjoyed an 11% swing among AB voters even though
helped determine the
they were most likely to be affected by Labour’s proposed windfall tax on privatised
result.
utilities. This suggests that the perceived incompetence of the government of
John Major was the valence factor that mattered more than economic self-interest.
when the unpopularity
Since the UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020, the EU is unlikely to be an
of the government
important factor going forward, and governing competence, such as the political
helped determine the
fallout of the fuel and cost of living crisis, may once again become key in determining
result.
the result of a general election.
The influence of the media

Media and impartiality in the UK
l Ofcom (the Office of Communications) regulates television and radio broadcasts
to ensure ‘due impartiality’. The BBC, ITV, Channel 4, SFC and Channel 5 are
thus expected to provide balance in their approach to the news. In 2019, RT,
the Kremlin-backed broadcaster, was fined £200,000 by Ofcom for its biased
reporting of the war in Syria and the Salisbury poisonings of Sergei and Yulia
Skripal. In February 2022, as the Russia–Ukraine war began, the government
asked Ofcom to investigate claims that RT was responsible for ‘disinformation’
against the West.
l In June 2021 the privately funded GB News was launched with an acknowledged
right-wing bias. Its presenters have included Nigel Farage, Mark Steyn and
former Sun journalist Dan Wootton, who used his first appearance on the
channel to attack UK government restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rather than encouraging a free exchange of ideas, the existence of such channels
suggests that the public may now choose to source news from one partisan
channel, undermining broadcast television’s reputation for impartiality.
l Newspapers have never been bound by ‘due impartiality’. Indeed, they have
generally approached the news from an entirely different perspective, taking pride
in offering a highly prejudicial political stance to grip their readers. Controversial
newspaper editors such as Kelvin MacKenzie (The Sun, 1981–94) Paul Dacre
(Daily Mail, 1992–2018) and Piers Morgan (Daily Mirror, 1995–2004) have taken
pride in the way in which they provoked outrage with hard-hitting, opinionated
pieces.
l Social media are unregulated by Ofcom. They are not expected to fulfil a standard
of impartiality in its comments, stories or judgements. Since more young people
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are using social media as their main way of accessing news and information, the
implications of internet bias are increasingly important.
Print journalism
Newspapers in the UK are not bound by ‘due impartiality’. Most of them have
generally supported the Conservative Party. The right-wing tabloids (The Sun,
Daily Mail and Daily Express) have often been ruthless in their attacks on the
Labour Party in charged headlines and opinion pieces. The Daily Telegraph is also
firmly Conservative. The Times and Sunday Times have a reputation for greater
impartiality. The Guardian’s progressive bias makes it a natural home for Liberal
Democrats. Only Mirror Group newspapers have consistently supported the
Labour Party.
The reputation that newspapers have for opinion-forming has made them highly
attractive to business tycoons such as Robert Maxwell, Conrad Black and Rupert
Murdoch since it enabled them to wield inf luence in politics. The classic view
of the inf luence that newspapers exercise was given by prime minister Stanley
Baldwin in 1931 when he charged that the Daily Mail and the Daily Express
‘are engines of propaganda for the constantly changing policies, desires, personal
vices, personal likes and dislikes of the two men (Lord Rothermere and Lord
Beaverbrook). What are their methods? Their methods are direct falsehoods,
misrepresentation, half-truths, the alteration of the speaker’s meaning by
publishing a sentence apart from the context…What the proprietorship of these
papers is aiming at is power, and power without responsibility ...’ Currently,
six unaccountable media tycoons with a pronounced right-wing agenda (Lord
Rothermere, Rupert Murdoch, Richard Desmond, the Barclay Brothers and
Evgeny Lebedev) share vast inf luence over the sorts of stories UK citizens
encounter when they read newspaper coverage either in print or online.
Do newspapers wield political influence?

At the close of the twentieth century newspaper sales had generally declined,
although some newspapers had proved very resilient, and some had even managed to
significantly increase their readership. However, the internet has had a devastating
impact on all sales, with fewer people than ever before regularly reading a newspaper.
In many cases the decline has been staggering, with sales of The Sun dipping from
3,877,097 in 1997 to 1,210,915 (March 2020) and the Daily Mirror from 2,442,078
(1997) to 333,556 in December 2021.
Nevertheless, although newspaper sales have decreased dramatically, free online
newspaper sites attract a massive new online audience (Table 4.15).
Critics suggest that newspaper bias ref lects rather than inf luences the opinions of
its readership and therefore newspapers’ political inf luence can be exaggerated. For
example, readers of the Daily Mail and Mail Online are already likely to be attracted
Table 4.15 Number of online
by the right-wing focus of its news stories and opinion pieces, so their views are
visits in December 2021
being reinforced rather than developed out of nothing. Similarly, a Guardian reader
will choose this newspaper because of its liberal and progressive reputation. It will
Mail Online 155.8 million have little appeal to conservatives, who source their news stories and opinions from
The Guardian 125.1 million newspapers that better ref lect their political views.
The Sun 65.1 million
The extent to which the political stance of newspapers can impact the result of
Daily Mirror 61.2 million a general election is also contested. In 1992, having switched its support to the
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victorious John Major, The Sun famously declared, ‘It’s The Sun Wot Won It.’
However, its notorious headline on the day of the general election, ‘If Kinnock wins
today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights’, may simply
have reinforced growing public unease with Kinnock as a potential prime minister
following the Sheffield Rally.
In the 2015 general election, according to the Media Standards Trust, 77% of tabloid
leaders were hostile to Ed Miliband. However, before claiming that such negative
publicity explains David Cameron and the Conservatives’ unexpected victory, it
is important to acknowledge that tabloids were even more hostile towards Jeremy
Corbyn in the 2017 general election. Despite this, support for the Labour Party
increased by 9.6% because of its optimistic ‘For the Many Not the Few’ campaign.
This suggests that claims that newspapers can swing the result of a general election
may be unfounded. Knowledge check
Nevertheless, the stories and personalities that newspapers choose to focus on 34 Define bias.
between general elections certainly do help ‘to set the political weather’. This can 35 List newspapers that
either discredit or enhance the reputation of a government or opposition. From regularly support the
2007 to 2010, for example, most of the press was hostile to the Brown government’s Conservative Party.
response to the global economic crisis. Consequently, in the 2010 general election 36 List newspapers that
the political environment was much more in favour of the opposition parties than regularly support the
the government. Labour Party.
According to some critics, the right-wing bias of the press has benefited the 37 When did The Sun
Conservative Party. Certainly, most tabloids’ relentless attacks on the Labour Party switch from Labour to
during the 1980s benefited Margaret Thatcher. However, we should beware of the Conservatives?
taking this argument too far. From 1992 to 1997 the press was also deeply hostile
to Conservative prime minister John Major, while right-wing tabloids such as
the Daily Mail and The Sun undermined Theresa May by claiming she was weak
on Brexit. In early 2022, Boris Johnson’s reputation was irreparably damaged by
press coverage of No. 10 parties during the lockdown restrictions, but then brief ly
recovered as the press focused on his response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Relentlessly negative press coverage of Liz Truss’ leadership irreparably damaged
her premiership, provoking her resignation after just 45 days in office. This suggests
that, although most of the press does have a strong right-wing bias, no political
party or leader can ever be entirely confident that it will always have their support.
Indeed, when the press turns on a Conservative leader (e.g. Major, May, Johnson,
Truss) the attacks can be particularly vicious and wounding.
In focus
On 22 November 2021, YouGov gave Boris Johnson a net approval rating of minus 35%. On
30 November 2021, the Daily Mirror broke the first story about potentially illegal parties held
at Downing Street during the Covid-19 lockdown. Other newspapers soon followed. When the
next YouGov poll was taken on 17 January 2022, the prime minister’s approval rating had sunk
to minus 51%. Although he slightly recovered following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on
24 February 2022, his approval rating remained abysmal and on the day Johnson resigned
it was minus 53%, with only 19% registering a positive view of the prime minister.
Initially Conservative-supporting newspapers, such as The Sun and the Daily Mail, threw their
weight enthusiastically behind Liz Truss. The Sun, for example, greeted her with headlines
such as ‘Liz puts her foot on the gas’, while the Daily Mail welcomed her with ‘Cometh the
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hour. Cometh the woman’, while fulsomely praising Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget with ‘At
last! A True Tory budget’. However, when the value of the pound plummeted, Labour surged
ahead in opinion polls and Kwarteng was sacked as chancellor of the exchequer, their eager
support swiftly turned to recrimination and contempt. At Truss’ press conference following her
sacking of Kwarteng, Harry Cole, The Sun’s political editor, asked how she could now justify
remaining as prime minister, while the Daily Mail ran headlines including ‘Get a Grip’ and ‘How
much more can she (and the rest of us) take?’ As the media storm intensified against her, and
Conservative MPs panicked at what seemed the prospect of a general election wipe-out, Truss
announced her resignation after just 45 days in office.
Table 4.16 gives examples of different prime ministers’ relationships with the media.
Table 4.16 The media and government popularity

Negative news A positive spin
During the winter of 1978–79, the Labour government of Tony Blair understood that having a positive relationship
James Callaghan faced widespread industrial unrest. Most with the press was indispensable to the success and
of the tabloid press were deeply critical of Callaghan, with popularity of his government. For example, The Sun’s
banner headlines asserting that the government could decision to abandon the Conservatives for New Labour
not cope. In 1978, The Sun abandoned Labour for the provided Blair with a regular source of positive publicity.
Conservatives. Its famous headline attacking Callaghan, Communications experts working for Blair, such as Alastair
‘Crisis? What crisis?’, became so influential that the Campbell, proved so effective at positively ‘spinning
Conservatives even used it in a party-political broadcast. By stories’ that they earned the name ‘spin doctors’. However,
the 1979 general election, sustained negative publicity had questions over the legitimacy of the Iraq War (2003) and
moved public opinion decisively against the government. the failure to pacify the country led to the erosion of that
Callaghan himself remarked during the campaign, ‘It does support, undermining both Blair and Labour
not matter what you say nor do. There is a shift in what the
public wants and what it approves. I suspect there is now
such a sea-change — and it is for Mrs Thatcher’
Following his surprise general election victory in 1992, When Harold Wilson called a referendum in 1975 on
little went right for John Major. On Black Wednesday (16 whether the UK should remain a member of the European
September 1992), his government dramatically increased Economic Community (EEC), every mainstream national
interest rates in a doomed attempt to cling on to the newspaper supported membership. Only the communist
European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Even Conservative- Morning Star was against. The vote in favour of continued
supporting newspapers like the Daily Mail, The Sun and the membership was a resounding 67.2% to 32.8%. By the
Daily Telegraph accused the government of incompetence. 2016 EU referendum the situation was completely different.
Divisions in the party over membership of the European Since the 1980s the press had become increasingly
Union, allegations of ministerial sleaze and claims that Eurosceptic, with The Sun and the Daily Mail regularly
it had mishandled ‘mad cow disease’ further dominated accusing the EU of attempts to undermine UK sovereignty.
the headlines, putting the government on the defensive During the campaign, Press Gazette estimated that 49.6%
and making Major seem ridiculous. By the 1997 general of the press supported Leave, 32.6% Remain and 17.8%
election, 5 years of mockery, including from once loyal were undecided. More significantly, support for Remain was
newspapers like The Sun and the Daily Telegraph, had often qualified, in contrast to stridently confident Leave
helped to firmly shift public opinion against the government headlines. For example, the day before the EU referendum
the Daily Mail headline told its readers, ‘If you believe in
Britain, vote Leave’
Even though traditional newspaper readership has declined, newspapers remain

crucial in setting the political agenda. Powerful news stories are often first reported
in the press and then inform debate on television and social media, rather than the
other way around. How a news story is presented, developed and impacts the public
thus still owes a great deal to the press.
For example, the Daily Mail’s campaign to expose the Metropolitan Police’s
mishandling of the murder enquiry into the death of the black teenager Stephen
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Lawrence in 1993 contributed to the ongoing debate about the extent of racism
in British society. The Daily Mirror worked closely with the Justice for Gurkhas Stretch and
campaign to press the Brown government to grant the Nepalese former military challenge
servicemen residency rights in the UK. The success of the campaign owed a great In the 1941 movie Citizen
deal to the unfavourable publicity directed against Brown by a normally loyal left- Kane, newspaper baron
wing newspaper. Newspaper headlines can also encourage such negative attitudes Charles Foster Kane claims,
that the policy is quickly dropped as being too politically toxic. This was the case ‘People will think what I tell
in 2012 when George Osborne’s proposed tax on takeaway hot food was reported them to think.’
as a ‘pasty tax’, and in 2017 when the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitment
that old people contribute to the cost of care homes became quickly known as the
‘dementia tax’.
Hostile press coverage can also exacerbate developing political scandals. In 2018, press
attacks on the home secretary, Amber Rudd, during the Windrush Scandal, when
Commonwealth immigrants were wrongly deported from the UK, contributed to
her resignation. In 2021, Matt Hancock’s position as health secretary was made
untenable by press coverage of him kissing his aide during lockdown. The Daily Mirror
and The Guardian’s investigative reporting of illegal lockdown parties at Downing
Street and The Sun’s exposure of sexual allegations against the Conservative deputy
chief whip, Chris Pincher, helped to provoke the resignation of Boris Johnson. The Do you think this is an
media’s exposure of Downing Street lockdown parties led to a collapse in popular exaggerated claim regarding
support for Boris Johnson, forcing him from office on 5 September 2022. newspaper influence?
Broadcast media
In contrast to the USA, where television channels are politically partisan, in the
UK broadcast television and radio are required to maintain certain standards of
impartiality when reporting the news. The BBC, ITV, Channel 4, SFC and Channel
5 are thus expected to provide balance in their approach to the news. However,
during the 2019 general election, ITV decided to restrict the leaders’ debates to
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn — the only leaders assumed to be able to form
a government. In so doing, ITV discriminated against the leaders of the smaller
parties.
GB News openly marketing itself as right-wing suggests that television objectivity is
being challenged by the rise of privately funded or foreign news channels. Television
bias may need to be factored into debates about the inf luence of broadcast media.
For example, on 18 March 2022, Ofcom revoked the licence for the Kremlin-
backed RT as it investigated 29 separate allegations concerning its coverage of the
war in Ukraine.
Since most people in the UK use television as their main source of news, all
political leaders seek to establish a commanding TV presence. Political leaders
have often employed former journalists to present them in the most effective way
in the media. For example, Alastair Campbell, the former Daily Mirror political
editor, played a vital role in constructing Tony Blair’s attractive New Labour
public image. In 2022, facing publicity fallout because of Downing Street parties
during the pandemic lockdown, Boris Johnson appointed veteran journalist and
broadcaster Guto Harri as his director of communications in a vain attempt to
restore his media reputation.
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Members of ‘Covid-19
Bereaved Families for Justice’
provide cheese and wine at
the gates of Downing Street
for passersby as a protest
against government parties
held during lockdown
In focus
News consumption in the UK (Ofcom findings, 2021):
l 79% of the adult population use television as their main source for accessing the news.
l 93% of adults aged 65+ use television to access the news.
l 89% of 16–24-year-olds report that their main source of news is the internet.
l 85% of minority ethnic people access news from the internet rather than television.
This evidence suggests that although television remains a powerful source of information, its
influence, especially among young people, is increasingly being challenged by the internet,
which is significantly less regulated.
Even impartial television reports can inf luence political fortunes based on a
politician’s looks. Harold Macmillan understood this and always avoided being
filmed returning from a long f light: ‘After 14 hours of travel, you get off the
aeroplane wanting only a shave and a bath — oh no — you are cornered — the
lights in your eyes — the cameras whizzing. You put up your hands to shield your
eyes and the next day there you are in ‘The Daily Clarion’ looking weary, old,
worried — over a caption which implies you are past it!’
Knowledge check
38 What is the purpose of Ofcom?
39 Define broadcast, print and social media.
40 Which TV channel markets itself as right-wing?
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In focus
A tale of two Gordons
On 28 April 2010, amid Conservative claims that he had doubled the national debt, Labour
prime minister Gordon Brown did a walkabout in Rochdale. During his visit he refuted claims
from 65-year-old Gillian Duffy that EU migrants were flooding the NHS. Unfortunately, Brown
had left his microphone on and when he thought he was safely in his car, he recorded himself
accusing his aides of pushing Duffy towards him: ‘She was just a sort of bigoted woman who
said she used to be Labour. I mean, it’s just ridiculous.’ Hours later the tape was played in front
of Brown on the Jeremy Vine radio show. The Sun’s headline the next day was ‘Brown toast’,
keeping Labour firmly on the defensive with only a week before voting.
On 17 September 2014, the day before the Scottish independence referendum, Gordon Brown
gave a powerful and widely reported pro-union speech. A lacklustre ‘Better Together’ campaign
had failed to engage the electorate and the momentum seemed to be with Leave. However,
Brown’s emotional plea for unity — ‘What we have built together by sacrificing and sharing, let
no narrow nationalism split asunder ever’ — changed the dynamic of the referendum as people
prepared to vote.
1 Find examples of other political leaders or causes being helped or hindered by television.
2 To what extent can party leaders influence the way in which the media portray them?
Labour leaders such as Hugh Gaitskell, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock and Ed Miliband
had a difficult relationship with television, which may help to explain why they
lacked enough popular support to win a general election. Gaitskell appeared too
intellectual, Foot too elderly and eccentric, Kinnock too bombastic and verbose,
and Miliband appeared to lack the necessary strength of character. Conservative
leaders have also suffered at the hands of television. William Hague was a brilliant
parliamentary performer, but this did not translate to television. Iain Duncan Smith
made so small an impression against Tony Blair on television that he was replaced
by the Conservative Party without ever fighting a general election.
However, some leaders are highly skilled in using television to their advantage. In
the 1960s, Harold Wilson’s image of bold and modern leadership benefited from
stage-managed photo shoots with celebrities such as The Beatles and Sean Connery.
In the February 1974 general election, the suave media-savvy Liberal leader Jeremy
Thorpe had a much more attractive television image than either Edward Heath
or Harold Wilson. Consequently, the Liberal vote increased by 11.8%. Margaret
Thatcher famously used power dressing to establish her reputation for strength and
decisiveness.
By capturing the mood of the nation in his ‘People’s Princess’ speech on the death
of Princess Diana in 1997, Blair reinforced his stature as a political leader. During
the Covid-19 pandemic, Boris Johnson’s regular briefings to the nation gave him a
powerful connectivity with the public, which strengthened his popularity in a time
of national crisis. As leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer did not have the same
regular access to the electorate, making it more difficult for him to establish himself
in the public consciousness.
The widespread coverage of Prime Minister’s Questions makes it an important
television battle as both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition try
to seize control of the political agenda for their own advantage. If they can utter a
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memorable soundbite, this will further help their political fortunes. As leader of the
opposition (1994–97) Tony Blair was highly successful at using Prime Minister’s
Question Time to contrast the strength of his leadership and Labour unity with
John Major’s declining grip on his party. David Cameron also enhanced his profile
as Conservative leader with his confident attacks on Gordon Brown during Prime
Minister’s Question Time. Cameron’s speech writer, Ameet Gill, called it ‘an
important fixture in the weekly calendar to make the political weather’.
However, as Harold Wilson put it, ‘A week is a long time in politics.’ Prime ministers
can be built up by television but also undermined by it. Harold Wilson misjudged
the mood of the nation in his ‘Pound in your pocket’ speech on devaluation in
1967, leading to a dramatic loss in support. Having previously used television to
his advantage, Tony Blair’s authority was ruined by television footage of bloodshed
and violence in Iraq. In 2022, Boris Johnson’s positive media image was crushed by
media accusations that Downing Street had disobeyed Covid restrictions, swiftly
followed by the Chris Pincher scandal in which Johnson admitted appointing him
deputy chief whip despite being aware of sexual allegations against him. So great
was the media storm and the resulting collapse of support in the Conservative Party
that he was forced to resign. The media storm provoked by Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-
budget in September 2022 was so massive and sustained that when Suella Braverman
resigned as home secretary, Truss’ own position as prime minister became untenable.
Broadcast television and politics

Table 4.17 shows how various types of television coverage may inf luence the public’s
attitude towards politicians
Table 4.17 Politicians, television and public opinion
News reports Television editors decide what news stories are in the ‘public interest’. This suggests that news does
not just happen, it is created. This can bring political advantages and disadvantages. During the 1997
general election, regular television focus on anti-sleaze candidate Martin Bell’s contest with Neil
Hamilton in the Tatton constituency significantly disadvantaged the Conservative campaign. However,
in the 2019 general election, television focus on Brexit likely benefited the Conservatives with their
constant refrain of ‘Get Brexit Done’. In 2022, unrelenting television coverage of lockdown parties
at Downing Street, the Sue Gray report and then the Chris Pincher scandal combined to force Boris
Johnson from office. Truss’ press conference following her sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of
the exchequer was so hesitant and stilted that far from reducing calls on her to resign it actually further
undermined her authority
Interviews Political interviews have long been a staple of television. Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair were very
confident interviewees even when they were on the defensive. However, Jeremy Paxman’s BBC interview
with Ed Miliband in the 2015 general election (‘hell, yes, I’m tough enough’) reinforced negative public
attitudes about him. In the 2019 general election, during his BBC interview with Andrew Neil, Jeremy
Corbyn did not dispel rumours that he had endorsed anti-Semitism. This failure dominated the next day’s
newspapers and helped put the Labour campaign firmly on the defensive
Satirical Broadcast television can engage in satire so long as it is evenly balanced. However, some politicians’
comedies public reputations have suffered more from satire than others. In the early 1960s, Harold Macmillan’s
unflappable reputation for ‘Edwardian cool’ was ruined by That Was the Week That Was. Neil Kinnock
suffered at the hands of Spitting Image. In contrast, Boris Johnson used his appearances in satirical
programmes like Have I Got News for You to successfully develop his brand image on television
Leaders’ The extent to which leaders’ debates influence general elections is unproven. In 2010, Nick Clegg’s
debates confident performance in the televised debates was highly popular and yet the Liberal Democrat vote
share decreased by 1% and they lost 5 seats. Theresa May was ridiculed for not attending the leaders’
debates in 2017. However, her campaign had already proved lacklustre and so her non-appearance did
not change the campaign dynamic. In 2019, opinion polls were not impacted by the debate between
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn when they reiterated their existing positions. This suggests that unless
something exceptional occurs, leader debates are unlikely to dramatically change voting intentions
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Social media
Social media are becoming an increasingly important
way for people to access news and information and users
access news stories on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat
and Twitter through their preferred news outlet. This
presents new challenges for the free exchange of ideas
in a liberal democracy. When people read a newspaper
or watch television, they make a one-off informed
choice. On social media, algorithms register users’
viewing choices and connect the user with posts of
similar interest. If users have a politically partisan search
history, they are bombarded with related material,
thereby reinforcing their existing prejudice. Powerful During a 2019 BBC interview Jeremy Corbyn did not dispel
financial interests can also f lood the internet with rumours that he had endorsed anti-Semitism. This failure
advertising. Since the user may not even realise that it dominated the next day’s news, encouraged demonstrations
is advertising, this further undermines the individual’s against Corbyn’s leadership and helped put the Labour election
capacity for making informed judgements. campaign firmly on the defensive
Critics note that accessing information on a smart phone means it is more likely that
the user will be grabbed by a headline without reading the full article. Memes can also
wield huge influence without having any evidential basis. The comments posted on
social media are rarely an invitation to debate. Instead, they are often judgements and
assertions, sometimes expressed in aggressive language designed to limit discussion.
Although in 2022 the BBC was still the dominant news channel on social media, on
TikTok, which is especially popular among young people, the right-wing GB News
was increasingly dominant. According to television reporter Luke Hanrahan, the rise
of opinion news pieces is dangerous because it encourages people to watch the news to
have their prejudices confirmed rather than to be better informed.
Twitter is particularly controversial. Its supporters claim that it connects the public
and creates a constant free exchange of information and opinions. However, critics
note that Twitter is responsible for the rapid spread of unverified comments and
assertions, which make politics a shouting match between rival opinions with no
attempt at dialogue and consensus.
Social media can also encourage an unprecedented cascade of news and publicity.
This can be to the advantage of politicians and spread important news. During
the 2019 general election, ‘Get Brexit Done’ was a simple and arresting message
that spread quickly on social media, to the advantage of the Conservative Party.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Boris Johnson’s statement
condemning Russian aggression was posted across social media, making clear the
UK government’s position.
However, since the internet is not bound by Ofcom, fake news stories can
proliferate. This could have disastrous implications for informed debate within a
liberal democracy. Unlike newspapers, social media stories are not attributable to
journalists and so a story can spread with absolutely no provenance. For example,
during the pandemic, social media encouraged the proliferation of anti-vaccination
conspiracy theories with no evidential basis. During the Russia–Ukraine war many
images and stories were shared on social media with no attempt to verify whether
they were true or false.
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41 Name the prime
‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.’
minister whose
Winston Churchill
popularity suffered
from his ‘pound in 1 In what ways has social media changed how the public access news and information?
your pocket’ television 2 Research examples of social media being used to spread false or misleading information.
address (1967). 3 To what extent do you think social media present significant new challenges for liberal
42 Name the prime democracy?
minister who suffered
from negative press
coverage between
Social media’s impact on political opinion making and voting is contentious. In the
1992 and 1997.
2017 general election, Labour had double the number of Conservative Twitter users.
43 When was the
Some critics suggested that this helped Labour to increase its vote share by 9.6%,
Sheffield Rally?
making it the first general election in which social media use played a significant
44 What was the
role. However, this dramatic rise in support may have been due to other factors,
significance of the
such as the contrast between the Labour and Conservative manifestos and Theresa
Sheffield Rally?
May’s and Jeremy Corbyn’s styles of campaigning.
45 List Tony Blair’s Yet it may be that social media primarily strengthen existing political points of
general election view. Social media often facilitate access to broadcast and press stories rather than
victories with the initiating them, suggesting its inf luence is still less important than traditional forms
parliamentary of media.
majorities he won.
However, the political impact of social media is continually evolving. Black Lives
Matter and #MeToo are social movements that have had enormous inf luence by
spreading their message across the internet. Social media also provide an instant
test of public opinion, which politicians can use to judge public reaction to their
policies.
Opinion polls
How important and reliable are opinion polls both during
and between elections?
Opinion polls have been used regularly in the UK since the 1945 general election.
There are several leading polling companies in the UK, notably Ipsos MORI,
Populus and YouGov. Researchers take a cross section of society in terms of age,
social class and gender and then ask them for their views. The larger the sample
and the more accurate the sample of society, the more likely the poll is to provide a
strong indication of public opinion.
l Opinion polls can determine the public’s attitude on a specific issue.
l They can also be used to determine how the public intend to vote in a referendum
or an election.
l Political parties can commission opinion polls themselves to determine public
opinion on a specific issue and develop policies that ref lect public concern.
l On General Election Day, exit polls record how the public have voted. They are
usually highly accurate and are released at 10 p.m. when polling closes.
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Debate
Do opinion polls have a beneficial impact on UK politics?

Evaluation: Opinion polls have a high profile in UK politics, especially during general elections. However, do they positively
contribute to UK democracy, or do they divert attention from more important political issues?
Yes No
• When opinion polls ask about specific issues this • Opinion polls do not always accurately reflect public
ensures that politicians engage with what the public opinion. This means that political parties can campaign
thinks is important. Consequently, the parties’ and make policy on inaccurate information
manifestos are likely to reflect public concern • The public can focus too much on opinion polls in
• Opinion polls demonstrate changing attitudes on general elections. Instead of voting on principle,
important issues, ensuring that political parties are they can be encouraged to vote tactically. In the
constantly informed about developing public opinion. 2019 general election, the website tactical.vote
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February used polling data to show anti-Conservative voters
2022, in a YouGov poll the percentage seeing Russia whether they were better off voting Liberal Democrat
as a threat jumped from 34% (September 2021) to 64% or Labour
(March 2022)
• In 2022, opinion polls demonstrated such public • During 2015, 56 national opinion polls suggested
outrage at government parties during the pandemic voters wanted to remain in the EU. Just ten suggested
lockdowns that the parliamentary Conservative Party a vote for Leave. When David Cameron decided to
was encouraged to ditch Boris Johnson as an electoral call the EU referendum, he was therefore highly
liability confident that Remain would win. Critics suggest that
• Opinion polls can also encourage enthusiasm such positive polling for Remain may have made its
for politics. During a general election campaign, supporters too complacent about the result
numerous opinion polls reflect the current state of • Critics of opinion polls argue that they undermine
party popularity. This can increase voter turnout if the conviction politics by making politicians focus too much
result is likely to be very close. In 1992, opinion polls on policies they think may generate popularity instead
suggested a hung parliament with no party able to of what they think is right for the country. Politicians
claim an overall majority. Consequently, voter turnout can end up being led by short termism and expediency
was very high (77.7%) because voters felt that their rather than by what they think is right
votes really mattered • During general election campaigns, if opinion polls
• During the Scottish independence referendum show that one side is far ahead, this can discourage
campaign in 2014, opinion polls suggested voter turnout. In 2001, the massive lead that Labour
an increasingly tight race. This encouraged an had accumulated in the polls discouraged the public
exceptionally high turnout (84.6%) since the stakes for from voting since the result appeared a foregone
both sides were so high conclusion
• A YouGov opinion poll on 29 September 2022 put • In the 2017 general election, most opinion polls gave
Labour 33% ahead of the Conservatives. This provoked the Conservatives a commanding lead over Labour.
Conservative MPs to oust Liz Truss as so unpoular and This may have reduced the urgency with which the
little-respected that she was incapable of continuing to Conservatives campaigned, especially in marginal
fulfil the role of prime minister constituencies. Some pro-European Conservatives may
even have voted Labour in protest at Brexit as this was
unlikely to lead to a Corbyn government
Knowledge check
46 Which Labour leader of the opposition suffered from poor media exposure in 2015?
47 What types of social media enable people to access news stories?
48 Define an opinion poll.
49 Define tactical voting.
50 List three general elections when opinion polls were very inaccurate.
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Case studies of three general elections
1979 general election
The loss of a vote of confidence in the House of Commons by one vote (311/310)
in March 1979 forced James Callaghan to call an immediate general election.
Although Callaghan’s approval rating was high, large-scale industrial unrest during
the preceding Winter of Discontent had undermined his government’s authority.
The Conservative campaign exploited discontent with trade union strike action and
benefited from extensive support from the press.
The 1979 general election demonstrates how social factors can combine with valence
issues of governing competency and issue voting to determine the result. James
Callaghan’s minority government had managed to survive only with the support of
the Liberals and the nationalist parties. In the autumn of 1978, Callaghan decided not
to call a general election even though Labour was ahead of the Conservative Party
in most opinion polls. This proved to be a mistake since in the winter that followed
his government faced a highly damaging series of strikes by public sector workers
unprepared to accept the government’s 5% pay cap. These included ambulance
drivers, refuse collectors, water and sewerage workers and, notoriously, gravediggers
in Liverpool. The dominant issue on which the Conservatives campaigned would
thus be the record of the government, especially its failure to confront excessive
trade union pay claims.
In focus
Negative news
Media coverage of an event can influence the outcome of a general election. Speaking at
Heathrow Airport as he landed on his return from a Commonwealth summit in Guadeloupe on
10 January 1979, Callaghan had dismissed a description of the country being in chaos. The next
day The Sun headline was ‘Crisis? What crisis?’. It was this headline, rather than what Callaghan
actually said, that influenced how people voted and subsequently provided the basis for a
powerful Conservative election broadcast.
Reporter: ‘What is your general approach, in view of the mounting chaos in the country at the
moment?’
James Callaghan: ‘Well, that’s a judgement that you are making. I promise you that if you look
at it from outside, and perhaps you’re taking rather a parochial view at the moment, I don’t
think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos.’
During the campaign, Callaghan’s unf lappable grandfatherly image, for which
he had earned the nickname Sunny Jim, failed to resonate with voters, who felt
that he was underestimating how trade unions’ demands for higher pay for their
members was driving up inf lation. His attempt to calm the nation on his return
from Guadeloupe, seen as a refusal to accept there was a crisis, made him appear
complacent and out of touch. That he had played a leading role in every Labour
government since 1964 also made it difficult for him to persuade f loating voters that
he was now the right prime minister to successfully confront the growing inf luence
of the trade unions.
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The campaign
Even before the campaign began, the Conservatives focused on Labour’s record in
power, in particular its inability to control excessive trade union pay claims, bring
down inf lation and reduce unemployment. Valence issues of governing competence
were thus vital in the Conservative victory. In addition, the Conservatives emphasised
that they were a party of national unity, with common sense and practical solutions
to the growing power of trade unions.
Positive press coverage of the Conservative campaign reinforced the message among
voters that Margaret Thatcher would offer a fresh approach to the defining issue of
trade union inf luence. This helped to increase the Conservative vote in several social
groupings that had traditionally been more likely to vote Labour. The narrowing
Conservative poll lead as the general election loomed closer also likely boosted
Thatcher’s fortunes by encouraging her supporters to turn out to vote. The high
turnout in the 1979 general election (76%) is therefore likely to have helped the
Conservatives more than Labour.
The Conservatives also gained votes from the Liberal Party, which by propping up
Callaghan in the Lib–Lab pact lost some of its traditional middle-class support. The
imminent trial of its former leader, Jeremy Thorpe, for conspiracy to murder his ex-
lover further damaged Liberal fortunes. Voters were therefore much less inclined to
vote Liberal as a protest vote and so the Conservatives were the main beneficiaries
(Table 4.18).
The social breakdown of the general election illustrates just how much class
dealignment had taken place, with Conservative support dramatically increasing
across all social classes — the biggest swing being among Labour’s traditional core
C2 voters. In the October 1974 general election, Labour had led the Conservatives
23% among C2 voters. By 1979 the parties were neck and neck with C2 voters
(Table 4.19).
Table 4.18 Result of the 1979 general election
Number of % of popular Increase/loss Positive or negative
seats vote of seats swing (%)
Conservative 339 43.9 62+ 8.1+
Labour 269 36.9 −50 −2.3
Liberal 11 13.8 −2 −4.5
Table 4.19 How the working class voted in the 1979 election compared with the October 1974
general election
Social class of voters October 1974 general election (%) 1979 general election (%)
C2 Conservative 26 Conservative 41
Labour 49 Labour 41
Liberal 20 Liberal 15
DE Conservative 22 Conservative 34
Labour 57 Labour 49
The Conservatives also significantly increased their support among women and
younger voters (Table 4.20).
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Table 4.20 Women and young voters in the October 1974 and 1979 elections
Knowledge check
October 1974 general election (%) 1979 general election (%)
51 When was the Winter
Women Conservative 39 Conservative 47
of Discontent?
Labour 38 Labour 35
52 When and where was
the ‘Crisis? What
18–24-year-old voters Conservative 24 Conservative 42
crisis?’ headline?
Labour 42 Labour 41
53 Name the leader of
the Conservative
Party in 1979. All this evidence suggests that Conservatives’ focus on the central issue of growing
54 Among which social trade union power and governing competency persuaded large numbers of Labour
group did the voters to abandon their traditional loyalties.
Conservatives most
increase their support
in 1979?
In 1997 the Conservatives had been in power for 18 years. The Major government was
divided over Europe and associated with sleaze and incompetence. This contrasted
with the dynamism and unity associated with Tony Blair and New Labour. With
Labour 20% ahead in most opinion polls at the beginning of the campaign, even
the most optimistic Conservatives found it difficult to believe they could win this
general election.
Having narrowly won the 1992 general election, John Major’s 1992–97 government
quickly became associated with incompetence, disunity and ministerial corruption.
Major’s reputation for weak leadership was exploited by Tony Blair, who provided
an exciting contrast to an increasingly unpopular prime minister.
Major was defeated in 1997 because he could not persuade the electorate that his
party was fit to govern. As early as 1992 the government had lost its reputation for
economic competence when it abandoned the European exchange rate mechanism
(ERM) on ‘Black Wednesday’. The resulting dramatic rise in interest rates hit
mortgage owners the most and the Conservatives never regained the economic trust
of the electorate because neither the chancellor of the exchequer, Norman Lamont,
nor the prime minister took responsibility by resigning.
The Conservative Party was also divided over the European Union. Major only just
managed to get the Maastricht Bill, which further increased European unity, through
the House of Commons against opposition from his Eurosceptic backbenchers. The
resignation of several ministers over allegations of sleaze damaged the government’s
reputation. The government’s slow response to ‘mad cow’ disease, together with
claims that ministers had colluded in the illegal sale of arms to Iraq, also undermined
their credibility.
Tony Blair and New Labour

Although attempts to make the Labour Party more attractive to middle-class voters
had begun under Neil Kinnock, he lost both the 1987 and 1992 general elections.
The sudden death of his successor, John Smith, in 1994 then led to Tony Blair
taking over as Labour leader. Blair’s youthful energy and charisma drove forward
the modernisation of Labour, based on the principles of an inclusive ‘stakeholder
society’. Clause IV of the Labour Party constitution was amended so that Labour
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no longer committed itself to nationalisation. Blair also moved to the centre by
promising not to increase income tax, while he even challenged the Conservatives’
traditional lead on law and order by promising ‘to be tough on crime, tough on the
causes of crime’.
The campaign
Tony Blair’s press secretary, Alastair Campbell, ran
a disciplined campaign, which showcased Blair as a
youthful and energetic leader whose progressive centre-
ground policies were in sharp contrast to Major’s
reputation for weak and uninspiring leadership. In
1997, Blair’s presidential style of leadership was exactly
what the electorate wanted.
The ‘pledge card’ that Labour campaigned on in 1997
also gave coherence to its campaign and was a way
of persuading voters that Labour could be trusted in
government after 18 years in opposition.
Labour’s 1997 pledge card Tony Blair proved to be a highly effective campaigner in the
l Cut school class sizes to 30 or under for 5-, 6- and 1997 general election when his charisma was at its strongest
7-year-olds.
l Halve the time between arrest and punishment for persistent young offenders.
l Cut NHS waiting lists.
l Take 250,000 young people off benefits and put them into work.
l No rise in income tax, VAT on fuel to be cut to 5%, interest rates and inf lation
to be kept as low as possible.
The Labour’s Party’s inspiring election broadcasts reached out far beyond Labour’s
core vote. Just 3 days before the general election its ‘angel taxi driver’ broadcast
offered a moving vision of how life could be so much better under Labour, fitting
in with its campaign song ‘Things Can Only Get Better’. Labour’s promises of
dramatic constitutional reforms, including devolution and House of Lords reform,
also resonated with Liberal Democrat voters, helping Labour to win seats that might
otherwise have gone Liberal Democrat.
At the same time, Labour was in the unusual position of having the support of The
Sun, which in 1997 still had a circulation of almost 4 million. However, The Sun
switched allegiance to Labour only when Labour already had a commanding lead
in the polls. Its support, therefore, was significant only in reinforcing Labour’s lead
over the Conservatives.
In contrast, the Conservative campaign was hampered by the government’s inability to
escape its reputation for corruption and disunity. Journalist Martin Bell stood as an anti-
sleaze candidate against Neil Hamilton, who had resigned from the government over
allegations that he had taken ‘cash for questions’. This created huge negative publicity.
The high-profile campaign of the Referendum Party also meant that Conservative
divisions over Europe remained more prominent than Major would have wished.
To make matters worse, the Conservatives’ disastrous ‘New Labour New Danger’
campaign, focusing on Blair’s ‘demon eyes’, entirely misjudged the mood of the
nation. Five years of constant media attacks on Major’s competence also made his
leadership an electoral liability in a way that it had not been in 1992.
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The results
The scale of Blair’s general election victory meant that the Conservatives scored
their lowest share of the popular vote since the leadership of the Duke of Wellington
in 1832 (Table 4.21).
Table 4.21 Results of the 1997 general election
Number of % of popular Increase/loss Positive or negative
Party seats vote of seats swing (%)
Labour 418 43.2 145+ +8.8
Conservative 165 30.7 −178 −11.2
Liberal Democrat 46 16.8 28+ −1
Table 4.22 shows how Labour was able to dramatically increase its share of the vote
in all social categories by presenting itself as a progressive party under a dynamic
leader. Despite its broad inclusive appeal, Labour in 1997 still performed by far
the best among C2 and DE voters, while the Conservatives managed to keep a
substantial lead among AB voters.
Knowledge check
Table 4.22 1997 general election — social class voting trends
55 What was Black
Wednesday? Swing to Labour since
56 When did Tony Blair Social class Labour (%) Conservative (%) 1992 general election (%)
become Labour Party AB 31 41 11
leader? C1 39 37 14
57 What was New C2 50 31 9
Labour’s pledge card? DE 59 21 9
58 What was Labour’s
parliamentary Labour also increased its share of the vote in all parts of the UK, including
majority in the 1997 traditional Conservative heartlands, and won the most votes in every age group,
general election? indicating the broad inclusive appeal of New Labour across all social, geographical
and age categories.

When Boris Johnson succeeded Theresa May as prime minister on 24 July 2019,
he inherited a minority government and a Conservative Party that was still divided
over how to deliver Brexit. A general election was therefore called for 12 December
2019. Johnson enthusiastically campaigned on a promise to ‘get Brexit done’, while
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn struggled to have the same impact he had had against
the much less charismatic Theresa May in 2017. Johnson’s success in winning
traditional ‘Red Wall’ Labour seats secured him an 80-seat majority, indicating the
continuing relevance of partisan and class dealignment.
The campaign
In 2017, Jeremy Corbyn’s optimistic, pro-European and youth-focused campaign set
the tone of the general election. The idealistic title of the manifesto ‘For the Many
Not the Few’, together with mass open-air rallies, was also in marked contrast to the
much more sterile Conservative campaign, contributing to a 9.6% swing towards
Labour. In 2019, however, Labour struggled to replicate that success. A winter
campaign provided less opportunity for the sort of public meetings Corbyn excelled
at. His refusal to explicitly condemn anti-Semitism within the Labour Party during
his BBC interview with Andrew Neil on 25 November put him firmly on the
defensive for the last 3 weeks of the campaign.
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Andrew Neil: ‘Many Jews, 80% of Jews think that you’re anti-Semitic. That’s quite a lot of British
Jews. I mean, wouldn’t you like to take this opportunity tonight to apologise to the British
Jewish community for what’s happened?’
Jeremy Corbyn: ‘What I’ll say is this. I am determined that our society will be safe for people
of all faiths. I don’t want anyone to be feeling insecure in our society and our government will
protect every community . . .’
Andrew Neil: ‘So no apology?’
Jeremy Corbyn: ‘Against the abuse they receive on the streets, on the trains or in any . . .’
Andrew Neil: ‘So no apology for how you’ve handled this?’
Jeremy Corbyn: ‘Or any other form of life.’
Andrew Neil: ‘I’ll try one more time. No apology?’
Jeremy Corbyn: ‘No, hang on a minute, Andrew. Can I explain what we’re trying to do?’
Andrew Neil: ‘You have, and you’ve been given plenty of time to do that. I asked you if you
wanted to apologise and you haven’t.’
1 In what ways does this interview demonstrate the important role of television during a
campaign?
2 Research other examples of negative or positive television appearances determining
success or failure during a general election campaign.
Labour’s commitment to renegotiate the terms under which the UK would leave
the EU and then offer a second referendum also misjudged the mood of the nation.
In addition, Labour’s promise to dramatically increase public spending, with for
example a 4.3% increase in the health budget as well as free broadband, contributed
to fears that a Labour government would have to increase taxes to pay for such
generous promises.
In contrast, the Conservative manifesto and campaign were firmly focused on the
simple and direct message ‘Get Brexit Done’. After three and a half years of Brexit
gridlock, this resonated among voters and the Conservatives managed to keep
Brexit at the centre of the campaign. Boris Johnson’s popularity as a leader was also
made central to the campaign. For example, the campaign video ‘Vote Conservative
Actually’ ended with Johnson appealing directly to the electorate for their support:
‘Enough, enough. Let’s get this done.’
The Conservatives reinforced their support in Leave areas (which were generally
less prosperous than Remain areas) by emphasising their ‘levelling up’ policies. This
helped them snatch ‘Red Wall’ constituencies such as Blyth Valley, Sedgefield and
Bolsover, where Labour support was already in decline.
In Scotland, the Conservatives lost ground to the SNP following the surprise
resignation of Ruth Davidson as party leader in August. Without her combative
leadership and with differences between Scottish Conservatives and the Johnson
administration, their vote share declined by 3.5%. The Liberal Democrats’
controversial promise to remain in the EU despite the result of the 2016 Despite the scale of the
referendum did win them support in Remain areas. However, the first-past-the- Conservative victory in 2019,
post system operated against them and so their inf luence in the general election it lost ground in Scotland to
was minimal. the SNP
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Governing competence and issue voting
Given that the Johnson government had been in office for only 6 months and that its
focus had been on extricating the UK from the EU, governing competence played
a minimal role in the 2019 general election. As in the 2017 general election, when
the May government had only been in office for a year, the key issue on which the
election was fought was Brexit. However, it is important to note that the political
paralysis caused by the EU referendum in 2016 was unique. Usually general elections
occur at regular intervals, enabling the electorate to better judge the effectiveness of
the government. Thus, the 2017 and 2019 general elections had more in common
with the two crisis general elections in 1974 (February and October) than with most
general elections.
Despite the scale of the Conservative victory, a close analysis of geographical, social
and demographic trends suggests that the 2019 general election was not a watershed
election. Instead, it confirmed pre-existing trends of partisan and class dealignment
as the Labour Party increased its vote share in cosmopolitan and pro-European
Union areas, while the Conservatives did well in more Eurosceptic areas with a
declining industrial base.
Table 4.23 illustrates this with a comparison of the results in two Midlands
constituencies. Warwick and Leamington Spa are two prosperous West Midlands
towns. North Warwickshire has a significantly higher working-class population and
has roots in coal and heavy industry.
The salience of Brexit as the core issue in this general election is further demonstrated
by the way in which different age groups voted. Labour dominated the vote share
among pro-European younger voters, as did the Conservatives among older more
Eurosceptic voters (Tables 4.24 and 4.25).
Table 4.23 A comparison of Leave and Remain Midlands constituencies
Warwick and Leamington Spa North Warwickshire
Voted 59% Remain in the 2016 EU Voted 67% Leave in the 2016 EU
referendum referendum
2015 general election: 2015 general election:
• Conservative 47.9% • Conservative 42.3%
• Labour 34.9% • Labour 36%
• UKIP 8.9% • UKIP 17.4%
• Liberal Democrat 5% • Liberal Democrat 2.1%
2017 general election: 2017 general election:
• Labour 46.7% • Conservative 56.9%
• Conservative 44.4% • Labour 38.9%
• Liberal Democrat 5.2% • Liberal Democrat 2.2%
• Labour 43.6% • Conservative 65.9%
• Conservative 42.3% • Labour 26.8%
• Liberal Democrat 9.2% • Liberal Democrat 4.5%
Table 4.24 EU referendum 2016 — how the youngest and oldest voted
Age Remain (%) Leave (%)
18–24 71 29
65+ 36 64
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Table 4.25 Voting according to age in the 2015 and 2019 general elections
Age Conservative (%) Labour (%) Age Conservative (%) Labour (%)
18–24 27 43 18–24 19 62
25–34 33 36 25–34 27 51
35–44 35 35 35–44 36 39
45–54 36 33 45–54 46 28
55–64 37 31 55–64 49 27
65+ 47 23 65+ 64 17
The results
The results of the 2019 general election are laid out in Table 4.26.
Table 4.26 Results of the 2019 general election
Number of % of popular Increase/loss Positive or
seats vote of seats negative swing
Conservatives 365 43.6% 48+ +1.2%
Labour 202 32.1% −60 −8%
Liberal Democrats 11 11.6% −1 +4.2%
Scottish National Party 48 3.9% +13 +1%
Knowledge check
59 Name three ‘Red Wall’ seats the Conservatives won in 2019.
60 What was the main issue the Conservatives campaigned on in the 2019 general election?
61 What happened to Labour’s vote share in the 2019 general election?
62 What was the significance of age on voting in the 2019 general election?
Summary
➜ What is the significance of social factors in general elections?
➜ To what extent has party/class dealignment taken place?
➜ Are general elections determined by issue voting?
➜ What is the significance of party campaigns in determining the result of a general election?
➜ How important is the role of different sorts of media in politics and has that role changed?
➜ What are the advantages and disadvantages of opinion polls in UK politics?
➜ How important is governing competency in determining the result of a general election?
➜ What is the significance of party manifestos in a general election?
➜ How important is the party leader in a general election?
9781398369160.indb 145 15/02/23 10:24 PM

Practice questions
In recent years, the UK’s media landscape has undergone enormous transformation.
Not only has news consumption shifted online, but the growth in digital social media
has enabled people to originate, find and share information in ways that challenge the
traditional hegemony of state-funded broadcasters and the national press.
The biggest source of concern about the democratic qualities of the UK’s media system
has been that most of the press always back the Conservative Party (in very forceful
ways in most cases). Far fewer papers normally back Labour, and the Liberal Democrats
receive only episodic support from smaller papers.
…
The non-partisan broadcast news media have maintained far more reach and regular
use than print newspapers. In modern times a trio of TV news outlets (BBC, ITV and Sky
News) plus radio have provided much of people’s political information. All broadcasters
operate under political neutrality rules that apply with special force during election
campaigns. They must achieve a bipartisan balancing of Conservative and Labour
issues and viewpoints (given their historic dominance in shaping general election
voting) plus the broadly proportional representation of other parties – for example,
giving the SNP in Scotland equal prominence.
…
…online media has inflicted considerable disruption on the newspaper-dominated press
model. Digital entrants have used social media to disseminate free news and opinion.
…
A number of hyper-partisan low-cost start-ups – such as Evolve Politics and the
Canary, a free-to-access site funded by advertising and voluntary subscriptions – have
generated their traffic via Facebook.
Taylor, R. (2018) ‘Chapter 3.3: The media system’ in Dunleavy, P. (ed) The UK’s Changing
Democracy: The 2018 Democratic Audit, LSE Press; ‘How well does the UK’s media system support
democratic politics and represent citizens’ interests?’ Ros Taylor, Democratic Audit, 30 August
2018, www.democraticaudit.com/2018/08/30/2018audit-how-well-does-the-uks-media-system-
support-democratic-politics-and-represent-citizens-interests/
Using the source, evaluate the view that broadcast, print and social media play
a positive role in UK democracy.
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1 Evaluate the view that the campaigns of political parties are more
important in determining the result of a general election than the
competence of the government. You must consider this view and the
alternative to this view in a balanced way.(30)
2 Evaluate the view that newspapers are now having less of an impact
in a general election than television and social media. You must
3 Evaluate the view that age has now replaced class as the most
important factor in determining the result of a general election.
You must consider this view and the alternative to this view in a
balanced way.(30)
Further reading
Alcoe, A. (2022) ‘The influence of the media in the UK’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 3.
Denver, D. and Garnett, M. (2021) British General Elections since 1964: Diversity, Dealignment
and Disillusion, Oxford University Press.
Ford, R., Bale, T., Jennings, W. and Surridge, P. (2021) The British General Election of 2019,
Palgrave Macmillan.
Johns, R. (2020) ‘Voting behaviour in the UK: the 2019 general election’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 2.
Street, J. (2021) Media, Politics and Democracy, Red Globe Press.
9781398369160.indb 147 15/02/23 10:24 PM

5 The constitution
The nature of the UK constitution

The UK constitution has developed differently from the constitutions of most other
nation states. This is because since the Norman Conquest in 1066, there has not Key term
been a historical event that has entirely altered the principles on which the nation Constitution Determines
is governed. Even when a protectorate was established under Oliver Cromwell in where power is located
1653, it barely outlasted Cromwell’s death and the monarchy was re-established within a nation state
under Charles II in 1660. and the rules by which
The development of the British constitution has therefore been evolutionary, it is governed. It also
involving no irrevocable breaks with the past. This is in contrast to countries such establishes the extent of
as France and the USA, in both of which a revolutionary event led to the overthrow the government’s authority
of the government and the establishment of a codified constitution setting out the and the rights of its
principles by which the government would operate and the rights of its citizens. citizens.
The events in Figure 5.1 demonstrate how power in Britain has gradually moved
away from the Crown to Parliament and within Parliament to the democratically
elected House of Commons, without a single revolutionary upheaval. Consequently,
the British monarchy has become a constitutional monarchy, which means that it
holds limited power according to the rule of law. As the power of the Crown has
been reduced, the rights of the public have been secured by a series of landmark
Even Oliver Cromwell had to
decisions, court cases and Acts of Parliament.
work with Parliament
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Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
As a result of the House of Lords’ refusal to pass David Lloyd George’s People’s
Budget, the Liberal prime minister H.H. Asquith (1908–16) threatened that he
would ask King George V (1910–35) to flood the House of Lords with Liberal
peers if it did not accept limits on its powers. The House of Lords relented, and
in the 1911 Parliament Act the Lords lost its right of veto. Henceforth the Lords
would not be able to amend financial bills such as the Budget, while it would be
able to delay other bills for only 2 years. The 1949 Parliament Act reduced the
Lords’ right of delay from 2 years to 1 year. The two Parliament Acts established
the democratic legitimacy of Parliament by asserting the primacy of the
Commons over the Lords
Magna Carta Act 1215 Devolution 1997
By forcing King John (1199–1216) to accept As a result of referendums
the 63 clauses of Magna Carta, the barons in 1997, Scotland and Wales
placed limits on the power of the monarchy. Act of Settlement 1701 established their own
This established the principle that the Crown The Act of Settlement confirmed the primacy governments and legislatures.
is not above the law. Magna Carta also of Parliament over the Crown by declaring Subsequent legislation has
contains the first statement of the principle that Parliament had the authority to determine increased their powers and
of habeas corpus, that one cannot be the succession to the throne. The Act of stated that they can only be
punished without due process of law Settlement also confirmed judicial abolished through referendums
independence by stating that a judge in each country. Critics suggest
can be removed only on the agreement that this process is challenging
of both houses of Parliament the unitary basis of the UK
constitution
The Bill of Rights Act 1689

In 1688, the last Stuart King, Brexit 2016
James II, was overthrown in the European Communities Act 1972
Act of Union 1707 As a result of the 2016
Glorious Revolution because it In 1972, the Conservative government
Although England, Wales and referendum in which the
was claimed he was trying to of Edward Heath (1970–74) successfully
Scotland had shared the same public voted in favour
establish an absolutist monarchy. steered the European Communities Act
monarch since 1603, the Act of of leaving the EU,
When Parliament offered the through Parliament. As a result of the
Union united the Parliament of parliament enacted
Crown to James II’s daughter Mary Act, the UK joined the European
Scotland with that of England the EU (Withdrawal
and her husband William of Orange, Economic Community (from 1993 the
and Wales. This created the Agreement) Act 2020,
they had to accept the Bill of Rights, European Union) on 1 January 1973. In
United Kingdom, although the so restoring British
which gave legal force to‘certain 1991 in the Factortame case
independence of Scottish law sovereignty and carrying
ancient rights and liberties’. These (see Chapter 8), the principle that, in
was preserved into UK law all former
included the summoning of regular cases of overlap, European law would
EU law
parliaments, free elections, no taxation take precedence over domestic law, was
without the consent of Parliament and established
parliamentary freedom of speech
Figure 5.1 Key events in the development of the constitution
The Bill of Rights (1689) is based on the principle that the right of the Crown to
govern derives from a contract made with Parliament that it will govern according
to the rule of law. The acceptance by William and Mary of the Bill of Rights
established the principle of a constitutional monarchy.
The core liberal thinker John Locke provides a philosophical justification for limited
government according to the rule of law in his Two Treatises on Government (1689).
According to Locke:
‘Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can
be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without
his own consent.’
This links to Component 1, Core Political Ideas (page 278).
According to the noted constitutional theorist A.V. Dicey, the ‘twin pillars’ on
which Britain’s uncodified constitution is based are that Parliament is the supreme
law-making body and that government must be according to the rule of law.
5 The constitution 149
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Since the UK constitution is uncodified, it is also unentrenched. This means that,
unlike the majority of nation states, which have a codified constitution, the UK does
not possess a single document that establishes the rights of its citizens and the limits
on government and so can be said to represent ultimate power in the state. Instead,
Parliament, as the sovereign law-making body, can enact any legislation for which
there is a parliamentary majority and which would not be deemed unconstitutional,
such as extending the lifetime of a parliament beyond 5 years.
As a result of parliamentary sovereignty, the rights of British citizens are not
protected by the higher law of the constitution as they are in, for example, the
USA. Instead, the rights of British citizens have traditionally been seen as being
negative rights, in that we are free to do whatever has not been forbidden by
Parliament. Our civil liberties are protected by:
l the principle that the government should act according to the rule of law
l the independence of the judiciary from the government and the way in which
judges interpret the law according to the principles of natural justice.
According to Thomas Paine — who in 1776 published Common Sense,
which encouraged the American colonies to declare their independence —
Part of the Bill of Rights (1689) obedience to the rule of law means the difference between autocratic and free
government, ‘For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries
the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other’.
Key terms
Unitary In a unitary state Key terms
power is centralised and
Uncodified/codified When a constitution is codified, it is contained in one single document
the central government
that is entrenched and is superior to all other law. An uncodified constitution derives from a
possesses absolute
variety of sources and does not represent a higher law.
authority.
Unentrenched/entrenched Codified constitutions entrench constitutional rules, making it
Federal In a federal state
impossible for them to be altered without complicated procedures requiring the agreement of
power is shared and
more than just the legislature. When a constitution is unentrenched, the way in which the state
dispersed. The power of
is governed and the rights of its citizens can be changed simply by an Act of Parliament.
the central government is
limited by the sovereign Parliamentary sovereignty Parliament is the supreme legislative body. It is free to enact any
power of lower levels of legislation for which it has a parliamentary majority since there is no authority greater than
government, over which it Parliament which could veto this. Since each parliament is sovereign, no parliament could
has no authority. enact legislation that could force its successor to act in a certain way.
Devolution The transfer The rule of law The principle that the same laws apply equally to every citizen and that the
of powers from central government is subject to the same laws as everyone else.
government to regional
legislatures. These Since Parliament is the supreme law-making body, the UK has often been referred
powers are said to be to as a unitary state. This contrasts with federal states like the USA, where the
devolved, rather than states have certain powers which the central government cannot override. The
given away, since the transfer of power from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament
central government retains of Wales (Senedd Cymru) through devolution could however be seen as a developing
sovereignty and so, in challenge to the principle that the UK is a unitary state.
theory, could reclaim them.
Knowledge check
1 When was the Bill of Rights?
2 Define parliamentary sovereignty.
3 Define constitutional monarchy.
4 Define the rule of law.
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The sources of the UK constitution
Since its development has been evolutionary, the UK
does not possess a codified constitution.
The British constitution has gradually developed over
800 years since Magna Carta. Sir Robin Butler,
Cabinet Secretary (1988–98), even joked that the
British constitution is ‘something we make up as
we go along’. The UK, therefore, has an uncodified
constitution deriving from a variety of sources. The
main sources of the UK constitution are as follows.
Statute law
Momentous Acts of Parliament contribute to the UK’s
uncodified constitution. For example, the Parliament A reforming Act of Parliament legalised same-sex marriage
Act 1911, which removed the House of Lords’ right of in 2013
veto, established the principle that Parliament should
ref lect the democratic will of the public expressed through the House of Commons.
Another parliamentary statute of enduring importance is the Representation of the
People Act 1928, by which the UK adopted universal suffrage.
Since the election of the Blair government in 1997, a number of reforming Acts
of Parliament have led to the further development of the British constitution
(Table 5.1).
Table 5.1 Reforming Acts of Parliament
Act Explanation
Scotland Act 1998 and Following the 1997 referendum in which Scotland voted
Wales Act 1998 in favour of devolution, the Scotland Act re-established a
Scottish Parliament. As a result of Wales’ referendum vote
in favour of devolution, it was provided with its own National
Assembly. In subsequent legislation (2020) this became
known as the Senedd (Welsh Parliament)
Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act incorporates the European Convention Key terms
on Human Rights (ECHR) into British law. As a result, public
bodies, including the government, are expected to act in Statute law
accordance with the ECHR and judges should interpret the law A parliamentary bill that
according to the principles of the ECHR has been approved by
House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act removed all but 92 hereditary peers both houses of Parliament
from the House of Lords. This ensured that most peers would and then given royal
now be life peers rather than members of aristocratic families
assent. In the UK, there is
Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act codifies into one parliamentary statute all
no authority greater than
previous anti-discriminatory legislation, so providing the
positive right of equal treatment statute law.
Marriage (Same Sex This Act legalises same-sex marriage and represents a pivotal Common law Refers to the
Couples) Act 2013 step in the development of LGBT rights judgments made by judges
in important legal cases.
Sometimes referred to as
Common law ‘judge-made law’. Common
How the judiciary interprets the meaning of the law contributes to the development law cases set precedents
of case law. This is especially important on occasions when statute law is lacking to be followed in future
or unclear. The precedents set in such cases are so far-reaching that they can be said cases.
to contribute to the constitution as common law. Table 5.2 gives some examples.
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Table 5.2 Some landmark common law cases
Case Explanation
Bushell’s case (1670) The presiding judge instructed the jury to find two Quakers guilty of unlawful assembly. The
jury refused to do this and so were fined for contempt of court. One juror, Edward Bushell,
refused to pay the fine and in the resulting case Sir John Vaughan declared in favour of the
jury, stating that a judge ‘may try to open the eyes of the jurors, but not to lead them by the
nose’. Bushell’s case represents a landmark case protecting the independence of a jury
Entick v Carrington (1765) When agents working for a member of the government, the Earl of Halifax, ransacked the
home of the anti-government publicist James Entick searching for incriminating evidence,
Entick sued for damages. The presiding judge, Lord Camden, found in favour of Entick,
declaring that ‘if this is law it would be found in our books, but no such law ever existed in this
country; our law holds the property of every man so sacred, that no man can set his foot upon
his neighbour’s close without his leave’. The principle of Entick v Carrington, that the executive
cannot infringe the civil liberties of its citizens without legal justification, established an
enduring precedent that protects British citizens from arbitrary and autocratic government
Somerset v Stewart (1772) When a black slave, James Somerset, was imprisoned by Charles Stewart for having escaped,
lawyers acting for Somerset claimed he had been illegally imprisoned. In his judgment, Lord
Mansfield stated that nothing in English statute law justified slavery and so Somerset could not
be enslaved: ‘It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it, but positive law.’ The
case is momentous because it challenged the legitimacy of slavery in common law long before
its abolition by Act of Parliament (1833). Mansfield reminded the court, ‘We cannot in any of
these points direct the law; the law must rule us.’ This set an important precedent that the
courts must always dispense justice whatever the consequences
R v R (1991) R v R established the principle in common law that a husband could be guilty of raping his
wife. Until this case there was no legal safeguard against rape in marriage
Knowledge check
5 What is the difference between a unitary and a federal constitution?
6 Define a codified constitution.
7 Define an uncodified constitution.
8 Define common law.
9 Define statute law.
Conventions
Although they are not recognised in statute law, a number of conventions have
Key term developed which, like common law, have achieved the force of constitutional
Convention Represents precedence.
the accustomed way in
l There is, for example, no legal requirement that a member of the House of
which political activity is
Lords cannot be prime minister. However, in 1963, Lord Home recognised
carried out. Conventions
that this would be constitutionally unacceptable and he resigned his peerage so
are not legally binding.
that he could fight a by-election to enter the House of Commons as Sir Alec
Their constitutional
Douglas-Home.
significance derives from
l According to the Salisbury Convention, the House of Lords does not oppose the
tradition.
second or third reading of legislation that was in the winning party’s manifesto.
This convention was named after Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, the fifth Marquess of
Salisbury. It dates to the Labour government of 1945–51 when Lord Salisbury,
the leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords, accepted that the
House of Lords would not use its Conservative majority to try to wreck Labour’s
manifesto commitments since Labour had achieved such a strong mandate from
the British public in the 1945 general election.
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l The principle of collective ministerial responsibility is,
likewise, a convention that has developed as a way of ensuring
that governments survive rather than fragment.
l The Ministerial Code of Conduct (1997 and regularly
updated) explains the role of government ministers, including
the circumstances in which they would be expected to
resign. However, these are simply rules, which are not legally
enforceable by parliamentary statute.
l In 2003, by allowing the House of Commons to vote on
whether to support military action against Iraq, Tony Blair
established the convention that henceforth Parliament should
be consulted over the large-scale commitment of British
forces to military operations.
l Another convention that has developed in recent years is that
the public should be consulted in a referendum to legitimise
proposed changes to the constitution.
Landmark decisions
Some historical events also contribute towards the constitution. Sir Alec Douglas-Home renounced his peerage so
that he could enter the House of Commons. He
l Magna Carta (1215), by recognising that limits can be
became prime minister in October 1963
placed on the authority of the Crown, has inf luenced the
development of the rule of law.
l The Petition of Right (1628), which Parliament presented to King Charles I,
sets out core rights including freedom from arbitrary imprisonment and the
requirement that Parliament grant taxation.
l The Bill of Rights (1689) asserts the subordination of the Crown to Parliament,
as well as condemning ‘illegal and cruel punishments’.
Authoritative works Key terms

There are a small number of inf luential works that are said to be part of the Authoritative works
constitution. Texts of such profound
l Walter Bagehot, in The English Constitution (1867), explains the relationship and enduring political
between the monarchy, the legislature and the executive, which makes this work significance that they
a core constitutional text. contribute to the
l A.V. Dicey’s Introduction to the Law of the Constitution (1885) is similarly important constitution of the United
because Dicey explains how the British constitution rests upon the ‘twin pillars’ Kingdom.
of parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law. Treaty A written agreement
l Erskine May (1815–86), a clerk of the House of Commons, published Parliamentary made between two or
Practice in 1844. It explains in minute detail how Parliament operates and is now more political entities.
in its twenty-fifth updated edition (2022). It is so authoritative that it is regarded Following parliamentary
as being part of the UK constitution. In March 2019 the then speaker of the acceptance of the Treaty of
House of Commons, John Bercow, used one of its principle that a motion or Accession to the European
amendment ‘which is the same in substance’ should not be reintroduced to stop Economic Community
Theresa May reintroducing her Brexit deal into Parliament in an unchanged in 1972, the UK’s
state. constitution was radically
Since the constitution is constantly evolving, new authoritative works can become changed since Parliament
part of it. For example, in 2010, cabinet secretary Gus O’Donnell produced such agreed to adopt legislation
a complete guide to how a coalition government should be established that it has that had been enacted
achieved constitutional significance. elsewhere.
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Treaties
Knowledge check As a result of the European Communities Act 1972, the UK accepted the Treaty of
10 List three important Accession, which the prime minister, Edward Heath, had negotiated. This made the
cases that have UK a signatory to the Treaty of Rome (1957) and meant that the UK accepted all
influenced the existing European Community law. The UK subsequently ratified several other EU
development of UK treaties, such as the Single European Act 1986, the Maastricht Treaty (1993) and the
civil liberties. Lisbon Treaty (2009), further changing UK law. However, the EU Withdrawal Act
11 List three 2020 shows that Parliament retains the right not only to make but to repeal treaties.
parliamentary
statutes with Relations between the sources of the UK
constitutional
significance. constitution
12 Define a Since the UK constitution derives from so many different sources, there can be
constitutional competing jurisdictions between them. Parliamentary statute law has traditionally
convention with three been seen as the ultimate source of authority since an Act of Parliament can supersede
examples. even landmark decisions such as Magna Carta. A parliamentary statute also takes
precedence over works of authority, conventions and the common law. However, in
the Factortame case (1991), the Law Lords declared that in cases where the EU had
legislated, EU law took precedence over domestic law. Although this did put limits on
parliamentary sovereignty, this was only in areas where the UK had pooled sovereignty
with the EU. In those areas where the UK retained sovereignty, such as negotiating
treaties, parliamentary statute remained supreme, which is why Westminster was able
to enact legislation withdrawing the UK from the European Union.
Knowledge check
13 What is the significance of the ministerial code?
14 List three landmark events in the development of the UK constitution.
15 List three authoritative works in UK politics.
The development of the constitution

since 1997
The Blair government (1997–2007)
Although at the beginning of the twentieth century the Asquith governments
Synoptic link (1908–16) profoundly changed the constitution by asserting the primacy of the
The modernising agenda House of Commons over the House of Lords, for most of the rest of the century
of New Labour is covered the reform of the constitution was not a major political issue. That changed with
in Chapter 2 on pages the election of the government of Tony Blair in 1997. Blair was a modernising and
54–56. progressive Labour leader, with a parliamentary majority of 179 seats, facing a weak
Conservative opposition that had just suffered its biggest general election defeat
since 1832.
For Blair, the British constitution was urgently in need of reform. Power was
too centralised in Westminster and the rights of the citizens were insufficiently
protected. Since the government was so remote and unaccountable, the public
had become disengaged from politics. New Labour wanted to reinvigorate
democracy through extensive constitutional reforms. As Blair put it, ‘modernisation
is the key’.
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‘We wish to change politics itself, to bridge the gap between governed and
government and to try to address the deep-seated and damaging disaffection
with politics which has grown up in recent years.’
Tony Blair, May 1996
His constitutional reform programme focused on the following connected themes:

l Decentralisation Since so much power had been focused on Westminster
(especially during the prime ministership of Margaret Thatcher, 1979–90),
power should be devolved back to the people. Scotland and Wales would be
offered their own elected governments, and cities and towns would be given the
opportunity to elect their own mayors.
l Democratisation The public should be given more inf luence over decision
making through the greater use of referendums on important constitutional
issues. To encourage greater democracy, the House of Lords would be reformed.
l Transparency To encourage greater trust in government, the role of the senior
judiciary would be reformed. A Freedom of Information Act would also open up
government, making it more accountable to the public.
l Rights protection Since British citizens’ human rights were not protected
by a codified constitution, the government committed to incorporating the
European Convention on Human Rights into British law. This would provide
the judiciary with an important new statute, protecting and advancing the
public’s civil liberties.
Devolution/decentralisation
Labour’s f lagship constitutional reform in 1997 was devolution. This would provide
Scotland and Wales with greater powers to govern themselves. In 1997, referendums Synoptic link
were held in Scotland and Wales over whether they wished to have their own elected The constitutional
governments. Scotland voted by a large majority in favour of having its own significance of
parliament, while Wales voted in favour of its own assembly by a tiny margin. In referendums is covered
1998, as part of the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland also voted in a in Chapter 2 on pages
referendum in favour of power sharing between unionists and republicans in a 105–09.
devolved assembly.
The aim of these reforms was to provide the constituent parts of the UK with greater
self-determination. Establishing new legislatures and executives in Edinburgh,
Cardiff and Belfast would ensure that policies could be more exactly suited to the
needs of the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Giving Scotland and
Wales the opportunity to vote in favour of devolution recognised that from 1979 to
1997 they had been governed from Westminster by Conservative governments when
they had consistently voted Labour. In Northern Ireland the offer of devolution was
an integral part of the peace process.
Since the establishment of these governments and legislatures in Scotland and Wales
they have acquired significant new powers, suggesting that here devolution has been
successful. In Northern Ireland, the difficulty of power sharing between republicans
and unionists has undermined success. Plans to move towards English devolution
were stalled when, in 2004, the North East rejected proposals for a regional assembly
in a referendum by 78% to 22%.
The government also allowed many towns, cities and regions to elect their own
mayors, to make local government more accountable to the public. In 1998, London
voted in a referendum in favour of a Greater London Authority comprising an elected
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mayor of London and a London Assembly, which can veto the mayor’s proposals
with a two-thirds majority. The Local Government Act 2000 then enabled local
authorities to offer their voters a referendum over whether they wanted their own
directly elected mayors.
Supporters of the principle of elected mayors argue that they encourage greater
accountability and transparency in local government. However, elected mayors have
failed to reinvigorate enthusiasm for democracy in the way intended. In 2021, for
example, Andy Street was re-elected mayor of the West Midlands on a turnout of
31.2%. In Greater Manchester, where Andy Burnham was re-elected, the turnout
was 34.7% and in London, where Sadiq Khan was re-elected, the turnout was 42.2%.
By 2022, the electorate had rejected the opportunity to have an elected mayor in 37
of the 54 referendums that were called. In May 2022, in a referendum Bristol voted
to abolish the position of elected mayor by 59% to 41% on a turnout of only 29%.
The extent to which devolution and decentralisation have re-engaged democratic
participation thus remains contested.
House of Lords reform

In 1999, when the government introduced legislation to reform the Upper House,
1,330 peers were eligible to attend the House of Lords. The majority were hereditary
peers, which meant that their right to sit in the House of Lords derived from their
membership of one of the aristocratic families of the UK. The hereditary peers
outnumbered the life peers, who had been appointed to the Lords because of their
services to the nation.
The hereditary principle undermined the legitimacy
of the House of Lords and so the Blair government
determined to remove the right of the hereditary peers
to attend. Life peers became, by far, the biggest group
in the House of Lords. However, to persuade the
House of Lords to accept this reform, the government
compromised by allowing the hereditary peers to elect
92 of their number who would continue to sit in the
House of Lords. Whenever a hereditary peer dies or
resigns, another Lord is elected to that position by
the House of Lords. Ironically, the hereditary peers
constitute the only democratic element of the House
of Lords.
The reform of the House of Lords has affected its
membership rather than its powers. The government’s
intention was to make it a more professional body
by ensuring that membership became based on
merit and accomplishment rather than birth. In
2000, a House of Lords Appointments Commission
(HOLAC) was established, which would nominate
a small proportion of crossbench life peers. While
most appointments are made by the monarch on the
recommendation of the prime minister, the HOLAC
does scrutinise these appointments and can publicly
The House of Lords does not contain an elected element express disapproval.
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These reforms have certainly made the House of Lords a much more professional
body. However, they have also been highly controversial. Although the government
intended the House of Lords Act 1999 to be a first-stage reform, no elected element
was introduced into the House of Lords. This means that although the House
of Lords can now claim greater expertise, it still lacks democratic legitimacy. In
addition, most life peers are still appointed on the recommendation of the prime
minister, and critics claim that too many appointments to the Lords are made
through political patronage and that this amounts to democratic travesty. In 2022,
Keir Starmer sought to address this problem by promising to abolish the House of
Lords and replace it with an elected Assembly of Nations and Regions.
In focus
Tony Blair appointed 374 life peers in 10 years and David Cameron 245 in 6 years.
Although life peers are expected to be appointed on merit, there is, for any prime minister,
the temptation to appoint political allies and party supporters to the House of Lords. The
Conservative leader William Hague (1997–2001) accused Blair of creating a ‘house of cronies’,
and in 2006 the prime minister was questioned by police over allegations that donors to the
Labour Party had subsequently been awarded life peerages. This became known as the ‘cash
for honours’ scandal. Although no charges were brought against Blair, it demonstrates how
making the Lords an almost wholly appointed chamber could encourage political cronyism.
David Cameron was also widely criticised for his resignation honours list, in which he appointed
13 Conservative life peers and just 1 Labour life peer. When he was in office from 2019 to
2022 Boris Johnson recommended that 86 new life peers be appointed. Although some
appointments were uncontested, such as that of Kenneth Clarke, a former Conservative
frontbencher and leading critic of Johnson, others such as Peter Cruddas, a major donor to
the Conservative Party, provoked controversy. Despite HOLAC criticising his recommendation,
Cruddas still joined the Lords as a life peer. Boris Johnson was further criticised for
recommending the Russian owner of the Evening Standard, Evgeny Lebedev, for a life peerage,
overriding HOLAC concerns about security risks.
Critics also claim that the recommendation process has led to the House of Lords
become much too large and unwieldy. In January 2022 there were 771 members Knowledge check
of the House of Lords, and since there is no upper limit on its membership, that 16 List the Blair
number could increase further. government’s
constitutional
Table 5.3 illustrates how long-serving prime ministers like Tony Blair can have a
reforms.
dramatic impact on the composition of the Lords that can last long after they retire
17 Define hereditary
from office. It also highlights how all prime ministers favour appointments from
peer.
their own party, encouraging allegations of political cronyism.
18 Define life peer.
Table 5.3 Prime ministers’ appointments to the House of Lords 19 Define crossbencher.
Prime Minister Conservative Crossbench Labour Liberal Democrat
Boris Johnson 2019–22 42 17 13
Theresa May 2016–19 26 12 4
David Cameron 2010–16 110 25 55 51
Gordon Brown 2007–10 4 17 11 2
Tony Blair 1997–2007 62 91 162 54
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Although some appointments to the Lords are controversial, most are not. Among Boris
Johnson’s recommendations were: noted forensic anthropologist Sue Black; the former leader
of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson; Minouche Shafik, Director of the London School
of Economics; and the former Archbishop of York, John Sentamu.
1 Research other life peers who contribute to the wisdom, expertise and diversity of the Lords.
2 How important do you think it is for the House of Lords to be able to claim democratic
legitimacy?
Although it might seem obvious that both chambers of Parliament should be

accountable to the public, an elected Lords could also have damaging consequences.
l Since the House of Commons can claim democratic legitimacy and the Lords
cannot, the Commons will always prevail.
l If both houses of Parliament were able to claim legitimacy, there would be the
potential for gridlock if they disagreed.
l Conversely, if a political party won majorities in both houses, then the scrutinising
strengths of the House of Lords might be reduced.
l Since peers can, if they wish, sit for life, they can be much less inf luenced by the
party whips to follow party policy. This ensures that the Lords provides a reservoir
of independent thinking, which might not be the case if they were elected.
Supporters of an appointed House of Lords also note as a result of the House of Lords
Reform Act 2014, life peers may now resign or be removed if they fail to attend.
By February 2022, 146 peers had retired from the Lords and 8 had been removed.
This reform has made it easier to invigorate the Lords membership with fresh peers.
Electoral reform
Although Tony Blair, as leader of the opposition, had expressed interest in electoral
reform for Westminster elections, the massive parliamentary majority Labour
achieved in the 1997 general election reduced his enthusiasm. Although the
government did task Roy Jenkins, the former Labour minister and founder of the
Social Democrat Party, to investigate alternatives to first past-the-post (FPTP), it
ignored the report’s recommendation that FPTP should be replaced with a form of
the alternative vote (AV).
Labour was, however, prepared to adopt new electoral systems for the new devolved
assemblies and elected mayors and regional assemblies to encourage voter choice and
ensure a fairer balance of inf luence. The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly
would be elected by means of the additional member system (AMS) and the
Northern Ireland Assembly by the single transferable vote (STV). The AMS would
also be used for elections to the London Assembly and the supplementary vote (SV)
would be used to elect mayors.
Blair’s record on electoral reform was thus unimpressive. Some critics suggested that
the government had put political expediency before principle.
The Human Rights Act

In 1998 the Human Rights Act (HRA) was enacted, which incorporated the
European Convention on Human Rights into British law. The HRA came into
force in 2000 and is important because for the first time it positively states the rights
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that British citizens can claim. The Act provides the judiciary with important new
powers to protect and advance our civil liberties.
l In the Laporte case (2006), for example, Article 8 of the HRA, the right to a
private life, and Article 10, the right to freedom of expression, were used to
show that the police had acted illegally when they stopped 120 anti-Iraq War
protestors from reaching RAF Fairford in 2003.
l In HJ and HT v Home Office (2010) Lord Hope used the HRA to argue that the
Home Office had been wrong to deny asylum to two gay people trying to escape
persecution in their own country. The Home Office’s defence that they could
have hidden their sexuality was invalid because ‘to compel a homosexual person
to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or suppress the behaviour by which to
manifest itself is to deny his fundamental right to be who he is’.
l In 2012, the US government demanded the extradition of Gary McKinnon
on accusations that he had hacked NASA and the Pentagon as he searched for
information on UFOs. Because Mr McKinnon has Asperger’s, the home secretary,
Theresa May, refused the application since the prospect of trial and imprisonment
in the USA would be a serious infringement of Article 3 of the Human Rights
Act, which protects individuals from ‘inhuman and degrading’ treatment.
Incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into British law has also
led to the better protection of our civil liberties:
l Public bodies, such as the government, are now expected to act in accordance
with the HRA.
l When Parliament legislates, it should do so, as much as possible, in accordance
with the principles of the HRA.
However, the constitutional significance of the Human Rights Act should not be
exaggerated. Since it is an Act of Parliament, it does not represent the sort of higher
constitutional law to be found in, for example, the US Bill of Rights. Parliament has
the right to repeal the Act, and Parliament can still enact legislation even if it conf licts
with the HRA. In such circumstances, the judiciary would issue a formal statement
of incompatibility, but the new law would still stand. Article 15 of the HRA also
gives the government the right to suspend, or derogate from, certain of its provisions,
as the Blair government did after 9/11. In 2022, the Johnson government proposed a
British bill of rights that would modify certain provisions of the Human Rights Act.
The strengths and limitations of the HRA are illustrated by the Belmarsh case (2004).
Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the USA, the Blair government suspended Knowledge check
Article 5, the right to liberty to keep foreign terrorist suspects in custody without
charge. Parliament also enacted the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, 20 What does HOLAC
which gave the government the authority to keep foreign terrorist suspects in prison stand for?
indefinitely. 21 Name three elected
mayors.
In the resulting Belmarsh case, the judges issued a formal statement of incompatibility, 22 What is the Human
declaring that the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act was contrary to Article 14, Rights Act?
freedom from discrimination, of the HRA since foreign suspects were being treated 23 List three important
differently to British suspects. The government initially ignored the ruling, but then cases involving the
released the suspects because of the unfavourable publicity. This could be seen as Human Rights Act.
a victory for the HRA. However, soon after Parliament enacted the Prevention 24 What are Articles 3, 8
of Terrorism Act 2005, which allowed the government to limit the freedom of and 10 of the Human
movement of all terrorist suspects through control orders. This demonstrates the Rights Act?
way in which parliamentary sovereignty impacts the effectiveness of the HRA.
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Supreme Court
Knowledge check The last major constitutional reform of the Blair government was the Constitutional
25 When was the Reform Act 2005. Although the judiciary should be independent from the
Supreme Court legislature and the executive, there were several anomalies in the constitution. The
opened? Lord Chancellor was not only head of the judiciary but also a member of the cabinet
26 What are the powers (executive) and presided over the House of Lords (the legislature). The most senior
of the Supreme judges also sat in the House of Lords (although they did not vote on legislation),
Court? making it the final court of appeal.
27 What is the purpose
In order to guarantee the separation of powers, the Constitutional Reform Act
of the Judicial
achieved the following:
Appointments
Commission (JAC)? l It ended the House of Lords’ judicial function and in its place established the
Supreme Court. The Supreme Court opened in 2009. Its members dispense
justice in a more transparent and conspicuous way than the Law Lords.
l In order to make the appointment of judges more transparent, the Lord
Chancellor’s right to nominate judges was transferred to the Judicial Appointments
Commission ( JAC), which makes recommendations to the justice secretary.
l The Lord Chancellor’s role presiding over the House of Lords was removed and
the new head of the judiciary became the non-political Lord Chief Justice. The
Lord Chancellor’s functions merged with those of the justice secretary.

In 2022, in the monarch’s speech, the Johnson government proposed the introduction of a
British bill of rights that would modify certain provisions of the Human Rights Act and restore
‘the balance of power between the legislature and the courts’. Civil liberties groups and the
opposition parties reacted with outrage. For example, according to Shami Chakrabarti, the
Labour peer and former Director of Liberty, the changes would lead to ‘constitutional butchery
which will make us all less free’.
How convincing do you find the argument for a British bill of rights?
The coalition government (2010–15)

The government of Gordon Brown (2007–10) was so preoccupied with confronting
the global economic crisis that it did not introduce any further major constitutional
reforms. However, the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition (2010–15) did
reform the constitution further. David Cameron was more progressive than former
Conservative leaders. He also had to make constitutional reform a priority if he
wanted to bring the Liberal Democrats, committed to updating the constitution,
into coalition government.
Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011

A major royal prerogative power of the prime minister has traditionally been deciding
the date of a general election. This would have been a highly contentious decision
for a coalition prime minister and so the Fixed-term Parliaments Act legislated that a
general election should be held exactly 5 years after the last general election. As well
as providing the government with greater stability, the Act made it more difficult
for a prime minister to call a snap general election for political advantage at a time
of their choosing.
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However, the Act does allow a general election if the government loses a vote of
confidence and a new government that has the confidence of the House of Commons
cannot be established or if a two-thirds majority of the House of Commons agrees
to a general election. In 2017 and 2019, Theresa May and Boris Johnson were thus
able to call early general elections because they gained the necessary support of the
House of Commons. The practical impact of the Act was therefore not that far-
reaching and in 2022 the Act was repealed, reinstating the prime minister’s right to
decide the timing of the general election.
Electoral reform
Since the Labour and Conservative parties benefit most from FPTP, electoral reform
at Westminster is not a priority for them. The Blair government ignored the Synoptic link
recommendations of the Jenkins Commission Report (1998) to replace FPTP with The way in which smaller
a new system based on the alternative vote. parties can wield influence
is covered in Chapter 2 on
However, providing the opportunity for electoral reform was the price that David
pages 59–64.
Cameron had to pay to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010. The
coalition agreement stated that the government would call a referendum offering
the public the opportunity to replace FPTP with the AV. In the 2011 referendum,
opponents of change successfully portrayed the AV system as complicated and
lacking in transparency. David Cameron even called it ‘undemocratic, obscure,
unfair and crazy’, and the electorate voted 68% to 32% in favour of retaining FPTP
on a turnout of just 42%.
Critics of Nick Clegg claimed that he should have negotiated for a referendum on
the additional member system or the single transferable vote. These options might
have been more appealing, while Cameron knew that a referendum on the AV
would be unlikely to generate much support. Whether or not this is a fair criticism,
the case for electoral reform was strongly put back by this convincing endorsement
of FPTP.
Parliamentary reform
Possibly the coalition’s most positive legacy was giving backbench MPs more
inf luence and addressing the government’s dominance in the House of Commons.
Most of the recommendations of the Wright Committee (2009) were enacted. The
most significant points are as follows.
l A Parliamentary Backbench Committee was established to give backbench MPs
more control over what is debated in Parliament.
l The membership of select committees would no longer be determined by the
whips. Instead, the membership and chairs would be elected by MPs in a secret
ballot. This has increased the legitimacy of select committees and made them
more confident when scrutinising government.
l In order to address criticisms that Parliament was irrelevant to people’s everyday
lives, electronic petitions were introduced, which allow the public to directly
lobby Parliament. Parliament does not have to legislate on these issues, but if an
e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it is very likely the issue will be debated.
Further devolution
Like the Blair government, the coalition was keen to decentralise power to bring
decision making closer to the public.
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l In a referendum in 2011, Wales voted in favour of its Assembly being given
primary legislative power in some areas. These provisions were enacted by the
Wales Act 2014. In 2015 Wales was also given income tax-varying powers.
l Further powers were also devolved to Scotland, including the right to vary
income tax by up to 10p. In addition, the Scottish government was given the
authority to borrow up to £5 billion.
Elected police and crime commissioners

A further example of decentralisation was the coalition’s introduction of elected
police and crime commissioners, who would be accountable to the public for regional
policing. However, the turnout in elections for police and crime commissioners
has generally been so low that there are concerns they lack a sufficient democratic
mandate to legitimately carry out their functions (Table 5.4).
Table 5.4 Police and crime commissioner elections, 2021
Dyfed-Powys 50.6% — highest national turnout
Wiltshire 16.6% — lowest national turnout
Power of recall
To help restore trust in politicians, the Recall of MPs Act was passed in 2015. Its aim is
to make MPs more accountable by allowing their constituents to demand a by-election
if an MP is sentenced to prison, is suspended from the House of Commons for at
minimum 10 sitting days, or is convicted of making ‘false or misleading’ parliamentary
allowances claims. For a recall petition to be successful, 10% of constituents must sign it.
The Act has been used on two occasions to trigger a by-election.
Knowledge check l In 2019 the Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya lied about a speeding offence
28 Define the royal and was sentenced to 3 months in prison for perverting the course of justice.
prerogative. When 25% of registered voters demanded her recall, she was removed as MP for
29 List three coalition Peterborough. She did not stand in the subsequent by-election.
reforms of Parliament. l In 2019 the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, Chris Davies, was convicted of
30 Define power of making fraudulent expenses claims for his constituency office redecoration.
recall. When 19% of registered electors signed a recall petition, this prompted a by-
election. Davies stood in the election but was defeated.
Conservative governments (2015–)

After David Cameron’s success in the 2015 general election, the Conservatives
introduced several measures that significantly impacted the constitution. Some
of these reforms were a response to political circumstances. For example, fearing
that a strong showing by UKIP might diminish Conservative support in the 2015
general election, and in a bid to quell Conservative divisions over the EU, Cameron
committed the Conservative manifesto to promising an ‘in/out’ EU referendum.
Other constitutional reforms carried more conviction. Like Tony Blair, Cameron and
his chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, were in favour of decentralising
power to local government. Elected mayors were duly introduced, without
referendums, in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, West of England, Tees
Valley, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and Liverpool City Region. By 2022, the
number had risen to nine (Sheffield City Region, North of Tyne and West Yorkshire),
with the prospect of more to come. The powers of these new ‘metropolitan mayors’
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are extensive, covering areas such as housing, welfare and transport. In 2016, Greater
Manchester’s elected mayor became responsible for a £6 billion social care and health
budget. However, the decision by Bristol in a referendum to abolish its elected mayor
after 10 years suggests that the case for elected mayors is still contested.
The government also addressed the West Lothian question. Since the establishment
of governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, concerns had been raised
that England was being disadvantaged by this constitutional arrangement. MPs
from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland still attended Westminster, where they
could vote on legislation that affected England. MPs for English constituencies at
Westminster, however, could not vote on issues now controlled by governments in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As a result of this constitutional anomaly, in
2015 a Legislative Grand Committee was established. Its membership ref lected the
composition of the parties in England and its consent was necessary for legislation
that affected only England. This procedure, known as English Votes for English
Laws (EVEL), was in place until 2020 when it was suspended during the Covid-19
pandemic. In 2021, a government motion to abolish EVEL was approved by the
House of Commons. Consequently, the West Lothian question remains unresolved.
The impact of devolution on the United

Kingdom
In the 1997 general election, Labour committed to providing Wales and Scotland
with referendums on whether they wanted powers to be devolved to them from
Westminster. Scotland, which had had its own parliament until the Act of Union in
1707, voted decisively in favour of the restoration of a Scottish Parliament. Wales,
which had less of a political sense of its own identity, only narrowly supported the
establishment of a Welsh Assembly. The results of these referendums are shown in
Table 5.5.
Table 5.5 Results of the referendums on devolving power to Scotland and Wales, 1997
Scotland Wales
Yes to devolution — 74.3% Yes to devolution — 50.3%
No to devolution — 25.7% No to devolution — 49.7%
Turnout — 60.1% Turnout — 50.2%
According to Tony Blair, devolution was an essential part of New Labour’s

programme of constitutional modernisation since it would bring decision making
closer to the people. It would also, Blair hoped, strengthen the United Kingdom by
satisfying nationalist demands for greater self-determination. However, devolution
has raised complicated constitutional questions and threatened the future of the UK
in ways that Blair failed to predict.
l In the 2011 Holyrood election, the Scottish National Party replaced Labour as
the dominant political force in Scotland. With its majority of 69/129 seats it
had a mandate for a referendum on independence, which Westminster granted.
Although the 2014 referendum provided a 55%/45% vote in favour of the union,
Scotland’s strong majority in favour of remaining in the EU in 2016 means that
the SNP stays committed to a further independence referendum.
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l The way in which Scotland and Wales have acquired new devolved powers
suggests that devolution is an ongoing process, which could result in a quasi-
federal arrangement replacing the unitary nature of the British state.
l Questions have been raised about why England, which comprises 84% of the UK
population (2022), has not been granted its own devolved powers. This has all
contributed to an unbalanced sharing of political power within the UK.
Scotland
The Scotland Act 1998, which established the Scottish Parliament and executive,
devolved several primary legislative powers from Westminster to Scotland. These
included:
l local government
l housing
l environment
l law and order
l education
l health
l income tax-varying powers of 3p in the pound.
Powers not devolved to Scotland are said to be ‘reserved’ to Westminster. These
include foreign policy, defence and immigration, since if Scotland had control over
these policies it would essentially be a nation state.
Table 5.6 Result of the
independence for Scotland The Scotland Act 2012 further increased Holyrood’s powers. These include:
referendum, 2014 l varying the rate of income tax by up to 10p in the pound
No to 55.3% l providing the Scottish government with the authority to borrow up to £5 billion.
independence When it looked as though Scotland might vote for independence in 2014 (Table 5.6),
Yes to 44.7% all the political leaders in the UK (David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband)
independence
quickly promised further ‘extensive new powers’ to Scotland if independence was
Turnout 84.6% rejected. At the time these proposals were referred to as ‘devo max’.
Knowledge check
31 When has power of recall been successfully used?
32 Define the West Lothian issue.
33 What is the role of elected police and crime commissioners?
34 What were the results of the referendum on devolving power in Scotland?
35 What were the results of the referendum on devolving power in Wales?
As a result of this commitment, the Smith Commission was established. Its

recommendations formed the basis of the Scotland Act 2016, which transferred
more reserved powers to Scotland over a wide range of domestic areas, including:
l determining abortion laws
l deciding air passenger duty
l determining speed limits.
Significantly, the Act stated that the Scottish Parliament and executive were now
permanent features of the UK constitution, which can only be abolished by a
referendum. This implies that Scotland now enjoys more than just devolved powers
and that the UK is much closer to becoming a quasi-federal state, with Westminster
9781398369160.indb 164 15/02/23 10:24 PM

unable to abolish the Scottish Parliament and
executive by Act of Parliament.
Devolution has given Scotland control over several
important areas of domestic policy. It could be
argued that this is a major strength of devolution
because it enables the Scottish Parliament to
legislate directly on issues that concern Scotland.
For example, in 2016 NHS Health Scotland
estimated that sales of alcohol per week per adult
were 17% higher in Scotland than in Wales or
England. Consequently, in 2018, the Scottish
Parliament introduced a minimum alcohol price
of 50p per unit to discourage excessive drinking.
The Scotland Act 2016 recognises the Scottish Parliament and
Going its own way government as a permanent fixture of the British constitution
Holyrood has also enabled Scotland to develop
its own approach to important domestic questions such as health, education and
democracy:
l Scotland was the first part of the UK to ban smoking in public places in 2006.
l Scotland offers free university education to Scottish residents.
l The voting age has been reduced to 16 for local elections, referendums and
elections to the Scottish Parliament.
l Since 2011 medical prescriptions have been free in Scotland.
The Covid-19 pandemic highlights the ways in which devolution has encouraged
a separate identity among the constituent parts of the UK. Since the devolved
governments determined how families, schools, shops and care homes should
respond to the crisis, they have increasingly become the governments the public
most identify with. As decisions made at Westminster become less relevant in
Scotland, people’s commitment to the Union is likely to weaken.
Whether or not the devolution of more powers to Scotland will ultimately lead to
separation or satisfy demands for more self-government is still open to question.
There is considerable support for the union, especially in the northeast of Scotland
and in the England-facing lowlands.
Table 5.7 shows how the SNP has significantly increased its support in elections
to the Scottish Parliament since 2003 to become the leading political force at
Holyrood.
Table 5.7 The number of SNP and Labour MSPs at Holyrood out of a total of 129
2003 2007 2011 2016 2021
SNP MSPs 27 47 69 63 64
Labour MSPs 50 46 37 24 22
However, the collapse of support for Labour in Scotland and the remarkable growth
in SNP support suggests that the union is vulnerable. The SNP won 48 of the 59
Scottish seats at Westminster in the 2019 general election (Table 5.8) and 64 of the
129 seats at Holyrood in the 2021 election. As Scotland also voted overwhelmingly
in favour of remaining in the European Union (62% Yes/38% No) in 2016, demands
for a second referendum remain strong since the SNP argue that the post-Brexit
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United Kingdom is very different from the one that Scots voted for in 2014. In 2022,
In focus Nicola Sturgeon announced that she wanted a second independence referendum on
19 October 2023. Journalist and historian Andrew Marr suggested that England and
Sturgeon and Scotland have become ‘like a piece of pizza which is being pulled apart and only
connected by strings of molten cheese’. However, the UK Supreme Court rejected
the Supreme Sturgeon’s calls for a second referendum (see ‘In focus’ box).
Court Table 5.8 Results of the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections in Scotland
In 2022, the UK Supreme
Court rejected Nicola 2015 2017 2019
Sturgeon’s calls for a Scottish National Party — Scottish National Party — Scottish National Party —
second independence 56 seats (50%) 35 seats (36.9%) 48 seats (45%)
referendum as not within Conservatives — 1 seat Conservatives — 13 seats Conservatives — 6 seats
(14.9%) (28.6%) (25.1%)
the jurisdiction of the
Scottish government. Labour — 1 seat (24.3%) Labour — 7 seats (27.1%) Labour — 1 seat (18.6%)
Since Sturgeon was Liberal Democrats — 1 seat Liberal Democrats — 4 Liberal Democrats — 4
(7.5%) seats (6.8%) seats (9.5%)
such a dominant force
in the cause of Scottish
independence, unionist Wales
parties in Scotland
The independence movement has had significantly less impact in Wales than in
were empowered by her
Scotland. This may be because Wales was absorbed into the English state in the
surprise resignation in
medieval period and so did not develop a distinct legal system, while medieval and
2023. Labour, led by
Tudor monarchs often boasted of their Welsh ancestry.
Anas Sarwar, hoped to
capitalise on the change in FLUELLEN: and I do believe your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint
leadership by challenging Tavy’s day.
the SNP’s policies. KING HENRY V: I wear it for a memorable honour; For I am Welsh, you know, good
countryman.
William Shakespeare, Henry V
Table 5.9 General election The Labour Party also has very firm roots in English-speaking South Wales and
support for Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru (the ‘Party of Wales’) has generally won most of its support in the
Welsh-speaking parts of North Wales. As a result, Welsh nationalism has not been
General Number of
election seats and % able to make the same progress across the country as Scottish nationalism did in the
of the vote in 2015 general election (Table 5.9). Its support has remained relatively even, and it has
Wales only rarely achieved more than 10% of the popular vote in Wales.
1987 3 seats (7.9%) In the 1997 referendum, therefore, Wales was offered less extensive devolved
1997 4 seats (10%) powers than Scotland. The Government of Wales Act established a Welsh National
2017 4 seats (10.4%) Assembly and a Welsh executive, but Wales was not granted any primary legislative
2019 4 seats (9.9%) authority. Instead, Wales was simply given administrative powers in areas such as
education, health, transport and agriculture. In effect, Wales was just being given
the power to decide how to implement Acts of Parliament that had been passed at
Westminster.
Like Scotland, however, Wales has steadily been granted more devolved powers.
This is not because of a surge in support for Welsh nationalism but more to do with
ensuring a more even balance of power in the United Kingdom. The coalition and
the Conservative government elected in 2015 were also committed to encouraging
regional initiative and so this provided further justification for increasing the
authority of the Welsh Assembly and executive.
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The Government of Wales Act 2006 separated the executive from the legislature, Table 5.10 Welsh referendum
gave it limited powers of primary legislation and provided for another referendum 2011: Do you want the
to be held on whether Wales should be allowed further devolved powers. The Assembly now to be able to
referendum was held in 2011 and although the turnout was a disappointing 35.4%, make laws on all matters in
the vote was decisively in favour of Wales being given the power to enact primary the 20 subject areas it has
legislation in all areas where power had been devolved to it, including education and powers for?
health (Table 5.10). Yes 63.5%
As a result, the Wales Act 2014 devolved more power to Wales, including control No 36.5%
of a number of taxes, including stamp duty, land tax and landfill tax. The Act also
changed the name of the Welsh Assembly Government to the Welsh Government,
symbolising its growing significance.
A further Wales Act 2017 gave Wales the right to vary income tax by
up to 10p in the pound, as well as giving the Welsh Assembly new
primary legislative powers over electoral arrangements, transport and
energy. Like the Scotland Act 2016, it stated that the Welsh government
is a permanent feature of the UK constitution that can no longer be
abolished by an Act of the Westminster Parliament but would require
the consent of the Welsh people in a referendum. In 2020, the Welsh
Assembly became known as the Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru),
further highlighting its growing status as a fundamental part of the
UK constitution. As First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford
Wales is consistently more Labour voting than England and so a major introduced Covid restrictions that differed
advantage of devolution is that Labour governments in Wales have significantly from those introduced in England
been able to introduce legislation which ref lects the more left-wing orientation of
Welsh politics, such as free prescriptions in 2007. In addition:
l Wales was the first part of the UK to introduce a single-use plastic bag charge in
2011
l
Wales introduced an opt-out organ donor scheme ahead of the rest of the UK
(2015)
l in 2019 Wales became the first country in the world to declare a ‘climate
emergency’
l in 2021, the Welsh government announced that ‘targeted green investment of
more than £160 million revenue and a total investment of £1.8 billion capital
will be committed over the next three years’
l during the Covid-19 pandemic the Welsh government, like the other devolved
governments, provided the main leadership in responding to the crisis.
Although Wales has acquired greater devolved powers, there has not been notable
growth in support for an independent Wales. Significantly, Labour in Wales has
proved rather more resilient than Labour in Scotland, and Plaid Cymru (the Party
of Wales) has not achieved a breakthrough in either the Westminster Parliament or
the Senedd (Table 5.11).
Table 5.11 2021 Senedd election results (46.6% turnout), 60 seats total
% vote Seats
Labour 39.9% 30
Conservative 26.1% 16
Plaid Cymru (the Party of Wales) 20.7% 13
Liberal Democrat 4.3% 1
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However, the recognised permanence of the devolution settlement in both Wales
and Scotland does suggest that the unitary nature of the UK constitution is gradually
being replaced with a more federal structure in which the central government’s
sovereignty is restricted by the permanent transfer of powers to two constituent
parts of the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland
The history of devolution in Northern Ireland has been very different from that
of Scotland and Wales. As a result of the partition of Ireland in 1922, Northern
Ireland was given its own parliament. This lasted until 1972, when the government
of Edward Heath imposed direct rule on Northern Ireland because of escalating
violence. The Catholic (mainly nationalist) minority felt that their rights were
being ignored by the Protestant–unionist-dominated assembly and so the decision
to suspend devolved power was a practical attempt to end the conf lict.
During ‘the Troubles’, republican terrorist groups such as the Irish Republican Army
(IRA) targeted unionist figures, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British
army, which in 1969 had been sent in to try to keep the peace. Unionist paramilitary
groups such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer
Force (UVF) also committed violence against republican targets, and an estimated
3,600 people were killed as a result of the conf lict.
With neither side able to achieve its objectives, in the 1990s John Major’s government
opened covert negotiations with Sinn Féin, which had historic links with the IRA,
to try to achieve a political settlement. In 1997, Tony Blair gave the peace process
renewed momentum and in the Good Friday Agreement (1998) negotiated a power-
sharing assembly that would fairly represent both unionist and nationalist sentiment.
In May 1998, the Agreement was strongly endorsed by the peoples of Northern
Knowledge check Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in two separate referendums.
36 What are reserved Devolution in Northern Ireland is thus inseparable from the peace process and
powers? is based on the principle that if unionists and nationalists can work together in a
37 Define primary devolved assembly, this will stop Northern Ireland reverting to sectarian violence.
legislation. The extent to which devolution has been successful in Northern Ireland thus needs
38 Define secondary to be measured differently compared with Wales and Scotland. The focus in Northern
legislation. Ireland is much more on whether devolution has succeeded in eliminating political
violence by enabling the peaceful resolution of long-held violent disagreements.
The decision to elect the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont by the single
transferable vote was also taken to give the electorate as much choice as possible and
make it more difficult for one party to dominate.
The way in which the executive comprises the leader of the largest party as the
first minister and the leader of the second largest party as the deputy first minister
is also meant to ensure stability. They possess equal powers and if one resigns, the
other must also resign, ensuring that there is a strong incentive for both sides to
work together.
Several devolved primary legislative powers have been given to the Northern Ireland
Assembly over an extensive number of areas, including:
l education
l agriculture
l transport
9781398369160.indb 168 15/02/23 10:24 PM

l policing
l housing
l health
l environment.
From 2011 to 2016, the assembly passed 67 bills. These included the following
significant legislation:
l Human Trafficking Act (2015): designed to prevent human trafficking to
Northern Ireland and provide support for victims.
l Addressing Bullying in Schools Act (2016): provides a legal definition of bullying
and
l requires schools to have robust policies against it.
l Houses of Multiple Occupation Act (2016): improves legal protection for students
when renting rooms in a house.
However, ongoing tension between the republican and unionist communities has
meant that devolution to Northern Ireland has been a much less smooth process than
in Scotland and Wales.
l From 2002 to 2007 the assembly was suspended because of continued conf lict
between unionists and nationalists.
l In 2007, the assembly reopened after a surprise agreement was reached
between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin. Ian Paisley,
the leader of the DUP, became first minister and Martin McGuinness of
Sinn Féin became deputy first minister. After years of violent hostility, the
close relationship they established led to them being known as the ‘Chuckle
Brothers’.
l However, in 2017, Martin McGuinness resigned as deputy first minister in
protest at the refusal of the new first minister, Arlene Foster, to acknowledge any
responsibility for the Renewable Heat Energy (Cash for Ash) scandal in which
people were paid to heat their homes with renewable energy at a cost of £500
million to taxpayers.
l McGuinness’ resignation automatically meant that Foster had to resign and with
neither side prepared to compromise, direct
rule was reimposed from Westminster until
2020.
Brexit has caused further problems for the
Northern Ireland Assembly. Since Ireland remains
in the EU and Northern Ireland has left, there
were fears of a new hard border, which would
have undone so much of the hard work of
reconciliation. As a result, the free f low of EU
goods and people across the border was allowed in
the Northern Ireland Protocol (2020). However,
this has necessitated some customs checks
between Northern Ireland and the rest of the
UK, which has incensed some unionists who feel
they are not being treated as fully British. This Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin meets Boris Johnson in 2022. Sinn
contributed to rioting across mainly unionist parts Féin’s success in winning most seats at Stormont in 2022 (27) was
of Northern Ireland in 2021. Although not on the first time a republican/nationalist party has topped the poll. The
the scale of the Troubles, this violence highlights consequences of this for Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK are
how much more the Assembly still needs to do to likely to be profound
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bring the unionist and republican communities together around a shared vision of
Northern Ireland’s future.
Sinn Féin’s victory in the May 2022 Stormont election, together with the refusal of
unionist politicians to engage in power-sharing in protest at the Northern Ireland
Protocol, indicates just some of the difficulties in making devolution work in
Northern Ireland.
How could the UK constitution be further

reformed?
Although there has been considerable constitutional reform since 1997, critics argue
that too many of the reforms have not fully addressed the problems they were meant
to resolve. For example:
l devolution has been granted to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but not to
England
l the House of Lords has lost most of its hereditary peers, but it still lacks democratic
legitimacy
l the European Convention on Human Rights has been incorporated into British
law, but UK citizens’ rights have not been entrenched in a codified constitution.
Further House of Lords reform

Critics of House of Lords reform argue that only when the Lords are elected and
accountable to the public will it be able to claim democratic legitimacy. However,
opponents of an elected Lords claim that an appointed chamber has major advantages.
l It contains experts in every field and so the scrutinising work of committees of
the House of Lords is held in high regard.
l In cases of dispute, the House of Commons will always prevail because it possesses
democratic legitimacy.
l If both chambers were elected, there would be potential for gridlock because
both would be able to claim a democratic mandate.
l Currently the Lords has a significant number of crossbenchers. If the House
of Lords were to be elected, the main political parties would likely dominate,
which would undermine its reputation for independence.
Some critics argue that the legitimacy of the Lords does not depend on it having
a democratic mandate but derives from its expertise and effectiveness. There is
therefore a strong case that an appointed Lords would acquire greater legitimacy if the
HOLAC was given the statutory right to veto inappropriate political appointments.
Synoptic link Electoral reform at Westminster

The impact of first- A major argument in favour of electoral reform has been that the UK is becoming a
past-the-post on party multiparty democracy and so the electoral system should be reformed to provide
representation is covered minority parties with fairer representation. For example, in the 2015 general
in Chapter 3 on pages election, UKIP and the Greens won almost 5 million votes and secured only 1 seat
102–05. each. If the House of Commons better ref lected the political will of the nation, the
public might also be more encouraged to vote.
However, proportional representation at Westminster might not improve politics as
much as its supporters claim.
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l According to the Electoral Reform Society, if the result of the 2019 general election
had been determined by the d’Hondt formula, no party would have gained an
Knowledge check
overall majority. Given that the public was eager for the UK’s withdrawal from 39 List three significant
the EU to be resolved, another coalition would have been unlikely to be popular. policies enacted by
l Although proportional representation is supposed to provide smaller parties with each of the three
enhanced representation, this has not been the case in Wales and Scotland. The devolved legislatures.
Liberal Democrats, for example, achieved an average 6% of the vote in the 2021 40 What is the Northern
Scottish Parliament election but won only 4/129 (3.1%) of the seats at Holyrood Ireland Protocol?
(2021). In the Welsh Parliament elections (2021) they won an average 4.6% of the 41 What electoral
vote but secured 1/60 (1.7%) of the seats. process is used to
l In the 2017 and 2019 general elections, a significant number of supposedly safe elect the legislatures
seats changed hands, which suggests that FPTP is more responsive to changes in in Wales, Scotland
public opinion than its critics claim. and Northern Ireland?
Should devolution be extended to England?

Arguments in favour of English devolution
The devolution of power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has created an
unusual situation in which three of the four constituent parts of the UK now have
extensive rights of self-government. The issue could be resolved by the establishment
of an English parliament or English regional assemblies. Supporters of English
devolution make the following arguments.
l England is by far the most populous nation in the United Kingdom and yet its
citizens are the only ones without their own government.
l The devolved powers of Wales and Scotland have been significantly increased
since 1999. This indicates how popular devolution has been and that it is illogical
for England not to have the same rights.
l Devolution has created an asymmetric United Kingdom, leading to potential
resentment that England’s interests are being taken less seriously than those of
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Barnett formula, for example, by
which public funding is allocated across the UK, has always meant that spending
per capita in England is less than in other parts of the UK. Devolution to England
might resolve such issues.
l There is a strong sense of regional identity in parts of England, such as Cornwall
and Yorkshire, which would make regional assemblies popular and relevant. In
2015, Cornwall became the first county to be given devolved powers, including
control of investment and bus services.
l The establishment of elected mayors also shows how power can be decentralised. Both
models could provide a template for how English devolution could be introduced.
In focus
Metro mayors
As chancellor of the exchequer from 2010 to 2016, George Osborne supported metro mayors.
From 2016 to 2022, nine were created and the Johnson government promised more. By 2022,
41% of England’s population had a metro mayor with considerable powers over public spending
and public services. Metro mayors provide voters with a clearly accountable figure responsible
for important decisions that affect them. Average turnout for metro mayor elections in 2021
was 34% — an increase on the 28% turnout in 2017.
9781398369160.indb 171 15/02/23 10:24 PM

Supporters argue that former Westminster politicians such as Andy Burnham (Greater
Manchester) and Dan Jarvis (South Yorkshire) being elected metro mayors has reinvigorated
democracy by creating an important new tier of government. However, critics note that powerful
mayors with a personal mandate could create conflict with Westminster. In 2020, for example,
there was an acrimonious dispute with Andy Burnham over the Johnson government’s decision
to place Greater Manchester in the highest level of Covid-19 restrictions.
Using this and your own research, to what extent do you think metro mayors have been a
success?
Arguments against English devolution

l Critics of English devolution argue that there is very little demand for reform.
Despite the asymmetric development of the UK’s constitutional arrangements,
most English people are content that their interests are sufficiently represented
by the Westminster Parliament.
l An English parliament could challenge the authority of the Westminster
Parliament. Since Westminster brings together MPs from across the whole
country, any further reduction in its power and prestige could threaten the
survival of the UK.
l If each nation within the UK had its own legislature, this would emphasise
national differences rather than common national values. Some critics have
suggested that an English parliament could lead to ‘Balkanisation’ in which a
shared sense of national identity is undermined by competing national identities.
l An English parliament could encourage the growth of English political parties
based on extremist political ideology, such as the English Defence League (EDL).
If the English parliament was elected by proportional representation, this could
provide extremist political parties with the opportunity for inf luence.
l Not all parts of England have a strong sense of regional identity. Even the North
East, which does have a strong sense of its identity, rejected the opportunity to
have its own assembly by 78% to 22% in 2004.
l Further devolution would create another layer of government and this could
create a democratic overload, which would undermine the legitimacy of the
result.
l The turnout for elected mayors and police commissioners has been disappointing,
and elections for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly (Parliament since
2020) have had a lower poll than the average general election (Table 5.12). In
England, where a sense of nationhood is much weaker, elected bodies could fail
to achieve a strong enough electoral mandate.
l Since 41% of England’s population now has a metro mayor, this scheme could be
taken further, removing the need for an English parliament.
Table 5.12 Turnout in Scottish and Welsh elections, 1999 and 2021
1999 2021
Turnout in the election for the National Turnout in the election for the Welsh
Assembly for Wales: 46% Parliament: 46.6%
Turnout in the election for the Scottish Turnout in the election for the Scottish
Parliament: 59.1% Parliament: 63.5%
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Debate
Devolution has been a constitutional success.

Evaluation: Although there has been a political consensus at Westminster in favour of devolution and decentralisation, have the
problems it has raised outweighed its successes?
Yes No
• Devolution has addressed a major problem that • Devolution has led to an asymmetrical United Kingdom,
Wales and Scotland were for long periods governed with governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern
by Conservative governments (for example, 1979– Ireland and no comparable government in England
97), which, as nations, they had not voted for • Devolution has also created the potential for
• Devolution has encouraged self-determination by constitutional conflict between Westminster and
enabling Scotland and Wales to develop policies that Holyrood. In 2021, for example, the SNP and the Greens
are suited to the desires and traditions of the two together were able to secure a pro-independence
countries Scottish government. However, the Westminster
• Although devolution in Scotland may have government was unprepared to allow a second
encouraged demands for independence, there is no independence referendum because the SNP had not
evidence that this has been the case in Wales secured an outright electoral mandate
• Turnout in elections in Wales and Scotland has • Devolution could be a step towards an independent
improved, suggesting that devolution is having a Scotland, which could potentially weaken the global
positive impact. In 2003 the turnout in Wales was influence of the UK
38.2%. By 2021 it was 46.6%. In Scotland in 2003 it • Devolution in Northern Ireland has been unsuccessful
was 49.7%. By 2021 it has risen to 63.5% because there have been long periods (2002–07 and
• Without devolution there might have been even 2017–20) when unionists and republicans have been
more demands for independence in response to unable to cooperate at Stormont
Conservative rule from Westminster • Devolution has failed to engage the public. Metro mayors
• Although devolution in Northern Ireland is imperfect, were elected on an average of 28% in 2017 and 34% in
it has encouraged power sharing between 2021. The highest voter turnout for elections in Wales
republicans and unionists was 46.6% in 2021 and in Scotland it was 63.5% in
• Devolution has not encouraged a nationalist 2021. Both are lower than the turnout for the 2019
Westminster election (67.3%). In 2022, Bristol voted in a
backlash in England. Metro mayors may also address
the asymmetry without the necessity of an English referendum to abolish its elected mayor
parliament • Devolution has provided a disparate response to national
problems like the Covid-19 pandemic when a unified
response would have created less confusion
Does the UK need a codified constitution?

The United Kingdom is one of only five countries in the world without a codified
constitution. The others are Israel, Saudi Arabia, Canada and New Zealand. As
a result, the UK does not have a higher constitutional law that the legislature
must respect and so there are few constitutional limitations on the legislation the
Westminster Parliament could enact.
Critics of the UK’s uncodified constitution argue that the rights of British citizens
need the protection of an entrenched bill of rights. In 1976, Lord Hailsham warned
that the UK was in danger of becoming an ‘elective dictatorship’ because there were so
few constraints on the inf luence of the government. The way in which several Acts of
Parliament, such as the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, have significantly extended the
power of government by restricting civil liberties would have been made considerably
more difficult if citizens’ rights were entrenched in a codified constitution.
A codified constitution would also clarify the relationship between the constituent
parts of the United Kingdom and determine the exact location of sovereignty
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within the British political system. The lack of clarity over where power lies in the
UK constitution is illustrated by the Gina Miller case (2017). There was considerable
doubt whether the government of Theresa May could negotiate withdrawal from
the European Union without Parliament being consulted. Gina Miller brought a
case to the UK Supreme Court which ruled that Parliament would have to enact
the legislation taking the UK out of the European Union.
The way in which a government can introduce legislation that can change the
constitution to its advantage has been likened to a sports team being able to
manipulate the rules of the game as it is being played. In 1999, there was a strong
case for the removal of the hereditary peers from the House of Lords. However, this
reform also benefited the Blair government since the hereditary peers had provided
the House of Lords with an inbuilt Conservative majority.
Critics of David Cameron argue that he only offered the EU membership referendum
to reduce support for UKIP in the upcoming general election, so encouraging a
Conservative victory. If the UK constitution had been codified and entrenched,
it has been suggested that Cameron would not have been able to gamble with the
constitution for potential political advantage as critics allege that he did. In response,
supporters of the UK’s uncodified constitution argue that its f lexibility enabled
Cameron to respond to growing concerns about European integration, proving how
democratically accountable an uncodified constitution is.
Knowledge check Opponents of an entrenched constitution respond that parliamentary sovereignty
42 Define entrenched enables the government to quickly react to crises and emergencies. This is important
constitutional rights. if the collective rights of society are to be protected. If these Acts of Parliament are
43 Define collective unpopular, they can also be repealed by a future parliament. In 2010, for example,
rights. the coalition introduced legislation to repeal the Act of Parliament that had
44 Define individual introduced identity cards. An uncodified constitution, it could be argued, is the
rights. most democratic form of constitution because it places power in the hands of
Parliament and the electorate.
In focus
Brexit and the constitution
Whether the experience of Brexit suggests that the United Kingdom requires a codified
constitution is contentious. According to supporters of a codified constitution it would have
provided greater clarity over whether the executive or legislature had the responsibility for
withdrawing the UK from the EU. A codified constitution would also have quickly determined
whether Boris Johnson could legally prorogue Parliament in 2019 when he failed to enact
his EU withdrawal legislation. However, in both instances the Supreme Court was able to
reach a judgment that the government had to accept. Parliament was able to respond to the
2016 referendum result by enacting legislation withdrawing the UK from the EU, which
highlights the flexibility of an uncodified constitution in which parliamentary statute is
supreme.
Those in favour of the UK’s uncodified constitution further note that its evolution
has enabled it to keep pace with social and political change. Since the Westminster
Parliament is not bound by a codified constitution, it has the f lexibility to pass
any legislation for which it has a parliamentary majority. This makes the British
constitution highly democratic and responsive to the changing nature of society.
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l For example, in the 1960s, Parliament could quickly legislate to legalise same-sex
relationships and abortion and abolish capital punishment without the need for a
long and complicated constitutional procedure.
l More recently same-sex marriage and the rights of transgender people have been
recognised by parliamentary statute.
A codified constitution can also become fossilised. In the USA, the 12th Amendment
of the Constitution for the election of the president by the Electoral College has
been strongly criticised as unsuitable given how the demography of the USA has
developed. This, like the 2nd Amendment, which protects the ‘right of the people to
keep and bear arms’, could only be changed by another constitutional amendment.
The tension between collective and individual rights

Individual rights include the right to privacy, freedom of religion and belief and the
right to a fair trial. Collective rights are the rights we enjoy as part of a society, such
Synoptic link
as the right to be safeguarded from violence. These rights generally co-exist. The balance between
However, when the state is threatened by external violence (e.g. an invading army) collective and individual
or internal violence (e.g. terrorism) then governments may decide to sacrifice rights is covered in
individual rights for the collective rights of society. On 7 July 2005, a London bus Chapter 1 on pages
was blown up by a suicide bomber. Thirteen passengers died in the explosion. On 35–37.
the same day, there were three other coordinated explosions on the London
Underground. A total of 52 people were murdered in these atrocities.
In 2008, Geoff Hoon, who had been secretary of state for defence during the 2003
Iraq War, commented that ‘the biggest civil liberty of all is not to be killed by a
terrorist’. According to Hoon, the terrorist threat justifies Parliament in legislating to
increase government power to combat terrorism and extremism. Since Parliament is
sovereign, the judiciary cannot strike down any such legislation as ‘unconstitutional’.
The following Acts of Parliament have been especially controversial:
l Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 As a result of this Act the
right to protest outside Parliament has been considerably restricted. Critics
argue that it denies the public an essential civil liberty, which is to protest their
grievances at the legislature.
l Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 This Act requires universities and
schools to monitor debate and deny a platform to speakers who could encourage
radicalisation, which has been criticised by some as an infringement of freedom
of speech.
l Investigatory Powers Act 2016 The increased authority this Act gives to the
intelligence services to carry out electronic surveillance of private individuals has
led civil liberties groups to label it ‘The Snoopers’ Charter’.
l Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 This Act controversially
allows the home secretary to ban ‘unacceptable’ protests, while providing the
police with greater control over how a demonstration is orchestated. The Act
also provides for a statutory offence of up to 10 years in prison for causing ‘public
nuisance’ during a protest.
Civil liberties groups, such as Charter 88 and Liberty, claim that these statutes allow the
government to act in an arbitrary fashion, which is a strong argument for the codification
of UK citizens’ civil liberties in a bill of rights. This would make it much more difficult
for the government to extend its power in the way that it has been able to. Sir Keir
Starmer, for example, was highly critical of Theresa May’s promise to change the law in
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any way necessary to combat terrorism, warning against ‘throwing away the very values
that are at the heart of our democracy and everything we believe in’.
In focus
Knowledge check The Elections Act 2022
45 What was the In 2022, Parliament passed the Elections Act. The Act introduces several important changes
significance of the to the way in which voting is conducted in the UK. Photo ID will now be required when voting
two Gina Miller cases in UK general elections, local elections and referendums. The use of the supplementary vote
(2017 and 2019)? (SV) for elections for mayors and police commissioners will be replaced with first-past-the-post
46 List three Acts of (FPTP). The work of the Electoral Commission, which since 2000 has overseen party funding
Parliament that have and ensured fairness in elections, will now be supervised by a government minister.
advanced UK civil Supporters of the Act claim that voter ID will discourage fraud in elections and that FPTP will
liberties. encourage turn-out in mayoral and police commissioner elections. However, critics of the
47 List three Acts of Act argue that it is politically advantageous to the Conservative Party, since younger (more
Parliament that have Labour-inclined) voters are less likely than older (more Conservative-inclined) voters to have
restricted UK civil the necessary voter ID. Traditionally, the Conservatives have favoured FPTP over other electoral
liberties. systems, so it is to their advantage to extend it.
Debate
Should the UK have a codified constitution with an entrenched bill of rights?

Evaluation: Supporters of codification of the UK constitution argue that it would determine where sovereignty lies in the UK and
would entrench civil liberties. However, would giving judges greater constitutional influence challenge the democratic strengths of
the existing UK constitution?
Yes No
• A codified constitution would represent a higher • The uncodified nature of the British constitution means that
constitutional law, which would entrench the it is very flexible and can quickly respond to changing social,
British people’s civil liberties and so protect them political and security circumstances
from arbitrary government
• The Human Rights Act 1998 does not do this • An uncodified constitution is more democratic because it
because it is an Act of Parliament and so puts power in the hands of elected representatives who are
Parliament can suspend its provisions or repeal it accountable to the electorate, rather than in the hands of
unelected judges
• The authority of the Supreme Court would be • Civil liberties are adequately protected by common law and
enhanced since it would be able to quash laws by the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010.
it deemed ‘unconstitutional’ by referring to the The judiciary has used both of these Acts to protect and
higher law of the constitution develop civil liberties
• A codified constitution would clarify the relationship • A codified constitution reflects the social and political attitudes
between the various branches of government and of the people who composed it. It cannot keep pace with
establish where sovereignty lies society changes in the way that an uncodified constitution can
• The rights of minorities could be recognised in a • The ambiguity in the British constitution is an advantage since
codified constitution. This is especially important it has allowed for the changing relationship between England,
in a multicultural society, in which many alternative Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in response to the will of
lifestyles exist the public. This would have been more difficult to achieve if the
constitution had been codified
• The public could become more politically engaged
since they would know what their relationship with
the government is
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Summary
➜ What are the main sources of the UK constitution?
➜ Why has the UK constitution developed in an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary fashion?
➜ What are the differences between a codified and an uncodified constitution?
➜ How effective have the constitutional reforms introduced since 1997 been?
➜ In what ways has devolution impacted the United Kingdom?
➜ How convincing is the case for further constitutional reform?
➜ Should devolution be extended to England?
➜ To what extent has the location of sovereignty changed in the United Kingdom?
➜ How convincing is the case for the codification of the British constitution?
➜ To what extent are further constitutional reforms required?
Practice questions
The UK’s House of Lords is an almost all-appointed upper chamber, whose members are
nominated by some (but not all) main parties. Once appointed they effectively sit for life
and attend more or less when they wish, never facing re-appointment, nor of course any
form of re-election. The Lords’ powers in law-making are limited to amending or delaying
non-financial bills, and its members have generally followed a convention acknowledging
the ‘primacy’ of the Commons. In addition, the ‘Salisbury convention’ means that the
House will give a second reading to bills for which an elected government in the House of
Commons has a majority and a manifesto commitment.
…
Although outside peerage appointments are scrutinised by a weak regulator (the House
of Lords Appointments Commission), party nominations of peers seem to be only lightly
and inadequately appraised, and HOLAC’s remit is very constrained. Many citizens and
commentators believe that major party donors can still effectively ‘buy’ peerages.
…
… Lords defeats since 2010 have frequently been on significant pieces of legislation
including some relating to immigration, pensions, anti-lobbying, financial services, children
and families, welfare reform and legal aid. In some of these cases the amendments passed
by the Lords, or the amended government proposals responding to Lords defeats, were
accepted by the Commons, often bringing about better policy making. The pattern of
defeats and amendments suggests that the Lords continues to play a significant legislative
role on issues where the heavily whipped MPs in the Commons at times seem incapable or
unwilling to act.
Kippin S. & Campion S. (2018) ‘Chapter 4.4: How undemocratic is the House of Lords?’ in
Dunleavy, P. (eds) The UK’s Changing Democracy: The 2018 Democratic Audit, LSE Press.
Using the source, evaluate the view that if the House of Lords is to play a useful
and legitimate role in UK politics, it needs to be elected.
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l analyse and evaluate only the information presented in the source. (30)
1 Evaluate the view that devolution will only be complete when England
has its own parliament. In your answer you should draw on relevant
knowledge and understanding of the study of Component 1 UK Politics
and Core Political Ideas and consider this view and the alternative to
this view in a balanced way.(30)
2 Evaluate the view that the time has come for the UK to adopt a codified
constitution. In your answer you should draw on relevant knowledge and
understanding of the study of Component 1 UK Politics and Core Political
Ideas and consider this view and the alternative to this view in a
balanced way.(30)
3 Evaluate the view that UK citizens can only be confident that their civil
liberties are effectively protected if an entrenched British bill of rights
is enacted. In your answer you should draw on relevant knowledge and
balanced way.(30)
Further reading
Bogdanor, V. (2021) Beyond Brexit: Towards a New British Constitution, IB Tauris.
Gallop, N. (2021) ‘House of Lords reform’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 3.
Gallop, N. (2021) ‘Scottish Independence’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 3.
Gallop, N. (2021) ‘Devolution: is it the end for the United Kingdom?’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 4.
Gallop, N. (2022) ‘Devolution and the future of England’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 3.
Grant, P. (2021) In Good Faith: The UK’s Constitution, Governments and Parliaments,
independently published.
Norton, P. (2020) Governing Britain: Parliament, Ministers and Our Ambiguous Constitution,
Manchester University Press.
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6 Parliament
The origins and development of the UK

Parliament
The origins of the British Parliament can be traced far back into medieval history.
King Henry III (1216–72) did not want to share power, provoking conf lict with the
King Henry III and his nobility led by Simon de Montfort. Eventually, Henry was captured at the battles
Parliament. Although Henry of Lewes in 1264 and Simon de Montfort summoned representatives of the nobility
wished to rule as an absolute and senior churchmen, together with two knights from each county and two
monarch, opposition from burgesses from leading towns, to meet at Westminster Hall in 1265. By broadening
the nobility forced him to the membership beyond the nobility, the de Montfort Parliament is often considered
summon Parliament against the first English Parliament.
his will
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Extension of the franchise — 1832, 1867, 1884,
1918, 1928 and 1969
These parliamentary reform acts gradually extended
the franchise until in 1928 the principle of universal
franchise was established when the vote was given to
everyone over the age of 21. In 1969 the voting age
was reduced to 18
The de Montfort Parliament 1265

The decision of the nobleman Simon de The Bill of Rights 1689
Montfort to summon commoners as well The agreement of King William III
as nobles and churchmen to Westminster (1689–1702) to Parliament’s Bill of
Hall in 1265 to discuss reforms is generally Rights established the principle of
seen as the first recognisable parliament parliamentary sovereignty
Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949

The 1911 Act established House of Lords Act 1999
the principle that the House All but 92 hereditary peers were
of Lords, as an unelected body, removed from the House of Lords.
could only delay, not veto, As a result, most members of the
legislation that the House of Lords are life peers, which has made
Commons had passed. In 1949 the House of Lords more assertive in
the Lords’ delaying power was its dealings with the House of
reduced to 1 year Commons
Figure 6.1 Key events in the development of the UK Parliament
The main events in the development of the British Parliament from 1265 to the
Key term present day are outlined in Figure 6.1.
Parliament The UK
During the seventeenth century both Houses of Parliament increasingly asserted
Parliament comprises
their authority against the Crown and in 1689, following the Glorious Revolution,
the House of Commons
William III accepted the Bill of Rights, which established the principle of
and the House of Lords
parliamentary supremacy.
and possesses supreme
legislative authority. As the franchise was extended during the nineteenth century, the legitimacy of the
It scrutinises the work elected House of Commons grew at the expense of the unelected House of Lords.
of government and The supremacy of the Commons over the Lords was not achieved until the early
represents the diverse twentieth century, however, when the attempt by the House of Lords to veto the
interests of the United ‘People’s Budget’ led to the Parliament Act 1911. This abolished the Lords’ right of
Kingdom. Parliament also veto over legislation that had passed the Commons. In future the Lords would only
provides the membership be able to delay legislation for 2 years. In 1949, another Parliament Act reduced this
of the government. to just 1 year.
Although British democracy has evolved over many centuries, this has occurred
without the codification of the British constitution and so there is no authority
greater than that of the British Parliament. Parliament is the nation’s supreme law-
making body and the judiciary cannot strike down an Act of Parliament because of
the principle of parliamentary sovereignty.
The UK has a parliamentary, rather than a presidential, form of government. This
means that the voters elect the House of Commons and the executive is then selected
from its membership together with some members appointed from the House of
Lords. In this way, the executive and the legislature are fused and the executive
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cannot claim its own authority. Instead, its power derives from the support of the
House of Commons and if that support is withdrawn through the loss of a vote of
confidence, then the government must resign.
The composition of the House of Commons

The House of Commons is the democratically elected chamber of Parliament.
Each Member of Parliament (MP) represents the interests of their constituency. Key term
Constituencies are allocated in a way that ensures that all parts of the UK can claim House of Commons
roughly equal representation within the House of Commons. Table 6.1 shows the Parliament’s
composition of the House of Commons in 2019. democratically elected
chamber. MPs represent
Ever since the development of the party system during the eighteenth and nineteenth
constituencies across the
centuries, the vast majority of MPs elected to Parliament represent a political party.
UK, scrutinise government
While there have been some examples of independent candidates being returned to
and vote on legislation.
Parliament, such instances are rare and often depend on local conditions, which may
As the democratic body
count against the established parties.
representing the nation,
the House of Commons
Frontbench and backbench MPs can also dismiss a
MPs can be divided into frontbench and backbench MPs. MPs who have been government if it loses
invited by the prime minister to join the government as senior ministers, junior a parliamentary vote of
ministers or permanent private secretaries are all bound by the principle of collective confidence.
ministerial responsibility. This means that they present, and must publicly support,
government policy from the front benches. The main opposition party has its own
shadow frontbench team, whose members scrutinise their government counterparts. Table 6.1 The House of
Like the government front bench, they are also required to support their party’s Commons elected in 2019
leadership. (650 MPs)
Number of
Party whips Region seats/MPs
All the main political parties appoint whips to maintain party discipline. MPs are England 533
elected on a party manifesto. However, they also represent the interests of their Scotland 59
constituencies and, as Edmund Burke explained in the eighteenth century, should Wales 40
also act according to their ‘judgement’. The parliamentary leadership needs to Northern 18
tightly control its MPs, otherwise their control of the party could break down. Ireland
The Whips’ Office is thus an essential part of the House of Commons. In the 1990
BBC adaptation of Michael Dobbs’ House of Cards the villainous chief whip Francis
Urquhart darkly explains, ‘I’m the chief whip. Merely a functionary. I keep the
troops in line. I put a bit of stick about. I make ’em jump.’
Whips encourage and sometimes possibly even cajole their
MPs to support the party line. They also report back any
potential large-scale rebellions that might encourage the
party leadership to modify its position to avoid defeat. On
especially important issues, a three-line whip is issued,
which requires MPs to attend a vote (division) and to vote
as demanded by the leadership. If MPs refuse, they may
have the party whip withdrawn from them, which means
they lose their membership of the parliamentary party. In
September 2019, 21 Conservative MPs, including high- The way in which the chamber of the House of Commons
profile former ministers such as Kenneth Clarke, Philip is designed, with benches facing each other, emphasises
the adversarial nature of British politics
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Hammond and Rory Stewart, had the party whip withdrawn for supporting the
Synoptic link House of Commons taking control of EU withdrawal negotiations.
The tension between pro-
The whips are particularly important when a government has a small parliamentary
and anti-EU Conservative
majority or is trying to survive as a minority administration. From 1976 to 1979,
MPs is covered in Chapter
the Callaghan government had to survive without a parliamentary majority. There
2 on pages 48–51.
were several very close votes in which Labour and Conservative whips struggled to
ensure that all their MPs went through the division lobbies.
l In one famous incident, Conservative MP Michael Heseltine furiously brandished
the mace when he felt that Labour had unfairly won a division by one vote.
Knowledge check l On another occasion, Conservative MP Roger Sims was late for a parliamentary
1 Define frontbench MP. vote, enabling the government to win by one vote. This provoked a somewhat
2 Define backbench MP. menacing response from the Conservative Whips’ Office: ‘It’s the sort of thing
3 Define vote of that happens to us all — just once.’ The government fell when a vote of no
confidence. confidence proposed by the leader of the Conservatives, Margaret Thatcher,
passed by 311 to 310 votes.
The speaker of the House of Commons

There is one MP whose role it is to be impartial. This is the speaker of the House
of Commons, who does not engage in political debate. Their role is to ensure that
Parliament functions as effectively as possible.
The speaker arranges parliamentary business with the leaders of the main political
parties, ensures that proper procedure is followed and presides over debates in
the House of Commons. The speaker also has a disciplinary function and if MPs
are deliberately disobedient, abusive, or accuse another MP of lying, they can be
suspended. In 2022, then leader of the Scottish National Party at Westminster, Ian
Blackford, was suspended by the speaker for claiming that the prime minister, Boris
Johnson, had been ‘wilfully misleading Parliament over lockdown parties held at
Downing Street.
Since the election of John Bercow in 2009, the speaker has been elected by a secret
ballot of all MPs. Once elected, they are then ceremonially dragged to the Speaker’s
Chair and at the beginning of each new Parliament must seek re-election, although
this is usually just a formality.
In focus
The speaker of the House of Commons
As speaker of the House of Commons (2009–19) John Bercow stood up for the rights of
Parliament against the executive. He supported several reforms to increase the powers of
backbench MPs to scrutinise government. For example, he ensured that MPs were allowed to
ask many more ‘urgent questions’, which ministers had to respond to the same day. His criticism
of government attempts to dominate parliamentary time also won him the support of many
backbench MPs. In 2018 he reacted furiously when the government attempted to limit the time
provided for an opposition day debate on the Grenfell Tower disaster. In March 2019, Bercow
stopped Theresa May from reintroducing her unamended Brexit deal into the House of Commons.
His successor, Sir Lindsay Hoyle (2019–), has continued to ensure that the executive does not
seek to evade its responsibility to Parliament. In 2021, for example, he criticised the Treasury
when it briefed journalists about the upcoming budget before informing the House of Commons.
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The leader of the official opposition
The role of the leader of the official opposition is to ensure that the government is
thoroughly scrutinised, while convincing the public that the official opposition is an
alternative government in waiting. The opposition since the 1970s has been able to
claim Short money from public funds to finance the leader of the opposition’s office
and help with parliamentary business. The leader of the opposition is also given the
right to ask six questions at Prime Minister’s Question Time. This enables the leader
of the opposition to put high-profile pressure on the prime minister by highlighting
any failures of policy and offering their own political solutions. The leader of the
opposition also selects a shadow cabinet, whose task it is to hold the government
accountable and persuade the electorate that they could be trusted in government.
The main functions of the House

of Commons
The House of Commons possesses several functions. Some are shared with the
House of Lords, such as scrutinising government and enacting legislation. However,
because it is Parliament’s democratically elected chamber, it also has a constituency Key term
representative function which the House of Lords cannot claim.
Public Bill Committee
Legislation Once a bill has passed

its second reading in
The House of Commons must agree to enact a bill if it is to become law. If it decides the House of Commons,
not to vote for legislation, then it will fail to pass. A bill is formally presented to its details are then
Parliament at its first reading. MPs then have their first opportunity to debate the considered by a Public
main principles of a bill at its second reading. Following its second reading, a bill Bill Committee, when
is scrutinised in detail by MPs on a Public Bill Committee. The bill is further possible; amendments
debated at its report stage and at its third reading, before being sent to the House of are discussed before the
Lords where the same process takes place. Once all the appropriate stages have been bill returns to the House
successfully gone through, a bill receives royal assent and becomes law. of Commons for the report
The various stages at which a bill is scrutinised before it becomes law should mean stage and then its third
that the House of Commons legislative function works well. However, critics note reading.
that:
l Public Bill Committees vote on party lines and always have a government Knowledge check
majority, which may impact on the objectivity when offering amendments to a 4 When did the
bill. government last lose a
l On many bills, MPs are also expected to vote the way the whips tell them to, vote of confidence?
limiting genuine engagement with the potential strengths and weaknesses of a bill. 5 What is a three-line
l Many changes to the law are now made by secondary/delegated legislation using whip?
statutory instruments (known sometimes as Henry VIII clauses) rather than by 6 Define parliamentary
enacting primary legislation. By using statutory instruments the executive can democracy.
thereby sidestep House of Commons’ scrutiny.
Providing ministers
In the British parliamentary system, the legislature and the executive are fused —
the legislature provides the executive. There is a convention that the major office
holders in government are members of the House of Commons because this chamber
possesses democratic legitimacy.
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An advantage of the parliamentary system is that MPs can prove their abilities in the
legislature and so can persuade the executive of their fitness for government office.
When the young Conservative MP Iain Macleod impressed Winston Churchill in
parliamentary debate, Churchill demanded that he be in government. When the
chief whip told him, ‘He’s too young to be eligible’, Churchill responded, ‘He’s too
eligible to be too young.’
However, the way in which Parliament provides the front benches for the
government and opposition does significantly restrict choice. As many as one in
three members of the governing party may be given a ministerial role. Critics also
note that the prime minister selecting the government from their backbenchers
gives them significant patronage power. This is likely to encourage conformity
and reduce debate as backbenchers support the government in the expectation of
political advancement.
Scrutiny and debate

A major function of MPs is to debate the government’s legislative programme.
This enables MPs to weigh up the likely impact of Public Bills, such as the highly
controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which raised significant
questions about the extent to which the state can coerce its citizens on claims of
national security. MPs also debate Private Members’ Bills.
There are several further ways in which MPs can scrutinise the executive and debate
issues of public concern.
The parliamentary Backbench Business Committee

The Backbench Business Committee was established in 2010 and provides backbench
MPs with 35 days a year in which they can control parliamentary business. MPs can
ask to raise any issue with the committee, which is an opportunity to generate
debate on areas that might otherwise be neglected by government. In 2021–22,
some of the debates the committee arranged included the Black History Month,
gender-specific religious persecution and on St Patrick’s Day 2022, the role of the
Irish in Britain.
The Petitions Committee

In 2015, the Petitions Committee was created to schedule debates on petitions
that had reached 100,000 signatures. In March 2022, for example, the committee
arranged an important debate on waiving visa requirements for Ukrainian
refugees.
Adjournment debates
Adjournment debates take place at the end of each day’s sitting. MPs can apply to
the speaker to ask a minister a question. When the MP has asked their question
and the minister has responded, other MPs may ask questions if the minister and
backbencher agree. Adjournment debates are limited to 30 minutes and are rarely
attended by many MPs, but they can raise issues of significant public interest. For
example, in 2020, Neil Parish MP’s adjournment debate called on the BBC to
protect regional news programmes.
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Early day motions
Early day motions are motions introduced by MPs urging debate on a specific
issue. Most do not reach the f loor of the House of Commons. However, they can
demonstrate parliamentary support for a particular issue, especially if a significant
number of MPs lend their support to the motion.
Emergency debates
Under House of Commons standing order 24, an MP may request an emergency
debate. If the speaker allows, an MP has three minutes to make the case in the
chamber for an emergency debate. If the speaker allows it, the House of Commons
can decide whether the emergency debate will take place. On 3 September 2019,
Oliver Letwin’s case for an emergency debate on the House of Commons blocking
a no deal Brexit was approved by the then speaker John Bercow. When it passed
(328–301) this enabled the Commons to successfully demand that the government
extend its Brexit negotiations by a margin of 329–300.
Urgent questions
If an MP believes that an issue needs a minister to address it at once, they can apply
to the speaker to ask an urgent question. If the speaker decides that this will serve the
public interest, the minister is required to explain to the House of Commons ‘what
the government is doing on the issue raised’. Knowledge check
In January 2022, speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle granted Angela Rayner an urgent 7 Define scrutiny.
question to the prime minister on whether he had knowingly broken lockdown 8 Define representation.
restrictions by attending Downing Street parties during the Covid-19 pandemic. 9 What is the
The effectiveness of parliamentary scrutiny and debate is disputed. On a three- parliamentary
line whip, MPs can be just as much swayed by their whips as by arguments, and Backbench Business
adjournment debates can often be in front of an almost empty chamber. Many Committee?
debates, for example on e-petitions and on opposition day motions, also lack the 10 What is the role of the
force to change the law. speaker of the House
of Commons?
However, MPs can be independent-minded, and strong arguments can determine 11 What is the purpose
the result of a vote with profound consequences. In December 2021, the House of of the House of
Commons debate on the introduction of Covid-19 passes in England generated Commons Petitions
powerful arguments on both sides over the extent to which the government can Committee?
intrude in people’s private lives.
Representation
The House of Commons is responsible for Parliament’s representative function. The
650 MPs represent every part of the UK so that the interests of all the British public
are represented at Westminster.
Since each MP represents a single constituency, MPs should work hard to ensure that
the interests of their constituents are raised in the House of Commons. However,
the representative role of MPs has been criticised on the grounds that the House of
Commons is not sufficiently ref lective of the social configuration of the UK today
since it is too inf luenced by privately educated, white middle-class males. Despite
this, the membership of the House of Commons that was elected in 2019 was the
most socially representative in parliamentary history, with the highest number of
female MPs (34%), the highest proportion of BAME MPs (10%) and the highest
number of LGBTQ+ MPs (7%).
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Critics, however, note that 80% of these MPs have had a business or professional
career so the working class is significantly under-represented. 66% of MPs are
still male and 27% of MPs were privately educated when nationally this is just
6%.
However, it may be simplistic to argue that the background of an MP necessarily
informs their approach to politics. The leading private school, Westminster School,
has produced politicians as radically different as Tony Benn and Sir Nick Clegg, and
Clement Attlee (Labour prime minister, 1945–51) and Tony Blair (Labour prime
minister, 1997–2007) were both privately educated. The parliaments that legalised
same-sex acts (1967) and legislated in favour of same-sex marriage (2013) were
primarily composed of straight men.
A more persuasive criticism is that the way of electing the House of Commons by
FPTP means that the political opinion of the electorate is not fairly represented.
Legitimation
Parliament was established to provide the consent that would legitimise the decisions
Knowledge check of the monarch. Although the Crown has now been replaced by a democratically
12 What is royal assent? elected government, legitimation remains Parliament’s main constitutional function.
13 What is an Thus, parliamentary bills require the consent of the House of Commons before they
adjournment debate? can be enacted. Since the Parliament Act 1911, the House of Commons has the
14 Who grants urgent exclusive right to approve the Budget.
questions?
A convention has also developed whereby the House of Commons should be
15 Who grants
consulted over committing British forces to military action. Traditionally the
emergency debates?
prime minister has had the right to do this through the exercise of the royal
prerogative. However, since the Iraq War in 2003, prime ministers have allowed
Parliament to debate large-scale military commitments on the principle that the
representatives of the nation should legitimise such important decisions in the life
of the nation.
How well the House of Commons fulfils its legitimising role is controversial. This
is because the UK does not have a codified constitution determining exactly what
powers the House of Commons has in relation to the government. For example,
in 2018, Theresa May decided to join US-led assaults on the Syrian government
without consulting the House of Commons. This provoked an angry response from
the then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who called it a ‘f lagrant disregard’ of the
legitimising rights of Parliament.
Key term However, attempts by Theresa May’s government to begin the process by which
the UK would enter negotiations to exit the European Union without consulting
House of Lords The
the House of Commons failed. In the Gina Miller case (2017), the Supreme Court
unelected chamber of the
declared the prime minister could not legally do this through the royal prerogative.
Westminster Parliament.
Instead, ‘the UK’s constitutional arrangements require such changes to be clearly
Composed of life peers,
authorised by Parliament’.
elected hereditary peers
and Anglican bishops,
it does not possess
democratic legitimacy and
The composition of the House of Lords
so its main focus is on Although the House of Lords is referred to as ‘the Upper Chamber’, its
scrutinising the work of the authority is considerably less than that of the House of Commons. As a primarily
House of Commons. appointed chamber it cannot claim the democratic legitimacy that the House of
Commons can.
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Throughout most of its history the House of Lords was primarily composed of
peers, whose claim to membership was based on their possession of a hereditary
noble title, as well as a much smaller number of bishops representing the Church of
England. These two groups comprised the ‘lords temporal’ and the ‘lords spiritual’.
However, the expansion of the franchise during the nineteenth century meant
that the inf luence of the House of Lords declined as the authority of the House of
Commons increased. The Parliament Act 1911 further diminished the power of
the House of Lords by removing its right to veto legislation passed by the House of
Commons.
In 1958, the Life Peerages Act gave the prime minister the authority to nominate
life peers to the House of Lords. Life peers do not pass on their title, and their
appointment to the Lords is based on their public service. This opening up of the
membership of the House of Lords to people who had distinguished themselves
in the service of their country gave the upper house a new sort of professional
legitimacy.
In 1999, the Labour government of Tony Blair removed the
right of the 750 hereditary peers to continue sitting in the
upper chamber. However, to avoid a confrontation with the
Lords, Blair agreed to a compromise, whereby 92 hereditary
peers could be elected to the Lords by the hereditary peerage.
The number remains fixed at 92 and is continually refreshed
by the hereditary peers choosing new peers from among the
peerage. The party allegiance must also remain as it was in 1997
so there will always be 42 Conservatives, 28 Crossbenchers, 3
Liberal Democrats, 2 Labour and 17 non-affiliated hereditary
peers. As a result of these reforms the House of Lords is now
composed of a mixture of life peers, elected hereditary peers Queen Elizabeth II in the House of Lords during the
and bishops of the Church of England. Life peers are by far state opening of Parliament
the most numerous and are nominated to the Crown by the prime minister, on the
advice of Downing Street’s Main Honours Committee and the opposition parties.
The politically neutral House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) also
appoints several crossbenchers and scrutinises political appointments, although it has
no right of veto.
In 2022, there were almost 800 members of the House of Lords. Of these, 26
were bishops of the Church of England (including the Archbishops of Canterbury
and York), 92 were hereditary peers and the remainder were life peers. Given that Table 6.2 The composition of
life peers should be appointed because of their service to the nation, the House of the House of Lords, 2022
Lords is much less inf luenced by party politics than the House of Commons. Life
Number of
peers can choose to take the whip of a political party, but a significant number sit as
members
crossbenchers (Table 6.2).
Conservative 257
A government that has been in office for a long period of time can appoint a Labour 168
considerable number of life peers to the House of Lords. There is also a convention Crossbench 184
that the government should make nominations to the Lords roughly based on Liberal 84
the political configuration of the House of Commons. During his 10 years as Democrat
prime minister (1997–2007), Tony Blair recommended 374 appointments to the Bishops of 26
House of Lords. Since he won such commanding majorities in the House of the Church
Commons (1997, 2001), the majority of these were Labour (162) or crossbench of England
(96) appointments.
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As in the House of Commons, the government and the opposition have their own
Knowledge check
frontbenchers in the House of Lords. The Lords is presided over by the lord speaker,
16 Define legitimation. who, in the same way as the speaker of the House of Commons, manages the
17 What is the current chamber and advises on procedure. In 2021, Lord McFall of Alcluith was elected
percentage of women lord speaker. Since the House of Lords primarily focuses its expertise on scrutinising
in the House of and revising legislation, its debates are considerably more courteous than those in
Commons? the House of Commons.
18 What is the royal
prerogative?
19 What is the In focus
significance of the
1911 Parliament Act? Buying influence?
The way in which the prime minister can recommend peerages has long been controversial. The
First World War music hall refrain:
‘Lloyd George knew my father
Father knew Lloyd George’
satirises the way in which David Lloyd George (1916–22) abused this right. More recent prime
ministers have been similarly criticised.
l When he unexpectedly resigned as prime minister in 1976, Harold Wilson was widely
mocked for his ‘lavender list’ of appointments to the House of Lords, which included his
close friend, the businessman Joseph Kagan, whose company had invented the Gannex
coat that Wilson liked to wear.
l On his resignation in 2016, David Cameron was accused of similar political cronyism,
appointing 13 Conservative peers, 2 crossbenchers and just 1 Labour peer to the House of
Lords. Among the newly appointed peers were Cameron’s chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, the
head of his Policy Unit, Camilla Cavendish, and his head of operations at Downing Street,
Liz Sugg.
l Boris Johnson was also criticised for the peerages he recommended. HOLAC refused
to endorse peerages for Peter Cruddas, a leading donor to the Conservative Party, and
expressed security concerns over a life peerage for Evgeny Lebedev, the owner of the
Evening Standard and a close friend of Johnson. On both occasions the prime minister
ignored HOLAC’s advice.
The main functions of the House of Lords

Legislation
Although legislation may be introduced into the House of Lords, especially if it is
non-controversial, most bills begin in the House of Commons and then proceed
to the Lords. As a non-elected chamber, the House of Lords is unable to stop bills
that have passed the House of Commons from becoming law. However, the Lords
plays an important role in the legislative process. When a bill leaves the House
of Commons it is sent to the House of Lords, where it is examined in detail in
the chamber of the House of Lords. Here any member of the House of Lords can
propose an amendment, and given the expertise of the Lords these amendments
are often highly important in refining the content of a bill. Therefore, the primary
purpose of the Lords is as a revising chamber.
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The Commons does not have to accept the advice of the Lords and the Lords can
only delay legislation for a year. However, their advice is often very valuable and
the amendments that they make can often be accepted by the House of Commons
as improving the quality of a bill. Since members of the Lords can sit for life, and
a significant number of them are crossbenchers, they are also less inf luenced by
the dictates of the whips and so can address the merits and demerits of legislation
with a more open mind. The way in which the two chambers negotiate over
proposed amendments to legislation before it receives royal assent is often referred
to as ‘parliamentary ping-pong’. This can be a highly productive form of political
engagement.
However, because of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, the government can still
pass legislation over the objections of the House of Lords. In 2000, for example, the
Sexual Offences (Amendment) bill, which reduced the legal age for gay sex from 18
to 16, easily passed the House of Commons but was rejected by the House of Lords.
The government quickly invoked the 1949 Parliament Act to give the bill royal
assent, effectively bypassing the Lords.
Heavy defeats in the House of Lords may persuade the government to reconsider
whether to modify or even continue with legislation. This is especially the case
if legislation has passed the House of Commons with only a small majority and is
clearly controversial.
l In 2008, clauses in the Counter-Terrorism Bill to enable terror suspects to be held
for 42 days without charge were decisively defeated in the Lords by 191 votes.
Since these proposals had passed the Commons by only nine votes, Gordon
Brown decided to drop them from the bill.
l In 2015, George Osborne’s plan to cut tax credits was defeated in the House of
Lords. In a significant show of bipartisanship, the Lords accused the government
of introducing a significant financial measure through a statutory instrument to
reduce parliamentary scrutiny. The resulting outcry was so great that Osborne
dropped his proposals to reduce tax credits.
l The House of Lords’ criticism that the Internal Market Bill (2020) did not
sufficiently recognise the authority of the devolved governments to determine
goods and services policy led to the government conceding that some regulatory
differences could be accepted within a ‘common framework’.
However, if the government is fully committed to a
policy and possesses a sizeable House of Commons
majority, then it will be much less prepared to accept
Lords’ amendments.
l
Following Boris Johnson’s 80-seat election victory
in 2019, in January 2020 the House of Commons
decisively rejected all five of the House of Lords’
amendments to the EU (Withdrawal Agreement)
Bill. One of these was the Dubs amendment, which
would have ensured that unaccompanied child
refugees would still be able to join relatives in the
UK after Brexit.
l
According to Baroness Hayter, these rejections of The Conservatives’ 80-seat majority in 2019 led to the
the Lords’ amendments demonstrated an arrogant rejection of the Dubs amendment to the EU (Withdrawal
and unwelcome disregard for the informed Agreement) Bill
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contributions which the House of Lords makes to political decision making:
Knowledge check
‘Legislation is meant to be a dual responsibility. Let’s hope this is a one off and
20 What is political that normal service will shortly resume.’
cronyism?
21 List three Scrutiny
controversial House of
House of Lords sessional committees and special enquiry
Lords appointments.
22 Define bipartisanship. (ad hoc) committees
The House of Lords scrutinises the work of government in oral questions to ministers
and through committees. As a result of the expertise of its members, the committee
work of the House of Lords is especially highly regarded. Instead of monitoring
specific departments, committees concentrate on major social and political issues
making recommendations to the government.
l Sessional committees deal with a particular issue and last from one parliamentary
session to the next.
l Special enquiry (ad hoc) committees also investigate a specific issue but are set up
for a specific time period.
In focus
‘Governing from the shadows’
Secondary legislation provides the government with a useful way of avoiding parliamentary
scrutiny. Although the House of Commons must vote on primary legislation, changes
to the detail of existing Acts of Parliament can be delegated to government ministers
and civil servants through statutory instruments (SIs, also known as Henry VIII clauses).
Critics have accused governments of increasingly using statutory instruments to introduce
significant changes to the law without them being given the same scrutiny as a primary Act
of Parliament. In 2020, for example, 1618 statutory instruments were passed and just 29
Acts of Parliament. This is why the veteran Labour MP Angela Eagle has accused recent
Conservative governments of ‘governing from the shadows’.
Although many statutory instruments are highly technical and so non-controversial, others
develop policy and so critics argue that they should have been enacted as primary legislation,
thus enabling full parliamentary scrutiny. For example, statutory instruments were often
used to develop the government’s strategy to the Covid-19 pandemic, including lockdown
measures. The speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, made a statement in the
House which was highly critical of how the government was excessively deploying statutory
instruments: ‘The way in which the government have exercised their powers to make secondary
legislation during this crisis has been totally unsatisfactory.’
Explain why governments like and parliaments dislike secondary/delegated legislation
(statutory instruments).
l A particularly significant House of Lords sessional committee is the Secondary

Legislation Scrutiny Committee. The House of Commons has limited time to
examine secondary legislation, so the House of Lords Secondary Legislation
Scrutiny Committee plays a valuable role in highlighting when statutory
instruments are so badly worded or poorly drawn up that they may not achieve
their purpose. In 2022, a statutory instrument was used to reduce from 3 months
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to 4 weeks the time when claimants may limit their job search to the same
occupation and pay level as their former occupation. The committee was highly
critical of what it regarded as rushed measures.
l The sessional House of Lords committee on the environment and climate change
has held government accountable for not achieving its carbon reduction targets.
It also launched an inquiry into how the public can contribute to resolving the
challenge of climate change: ‘We know achieving our environmental goals will
require not just innovation and technology but something far more personal –
changing our behaviours’ (Baroness Parminter, chair of the Lords committee on
the environment and climate change).
l In 2020, a House of Lords special enquiry into the negative economic and social
consequences of gambling reported its findings and advice based on extensive
consultation.
Joint House of Lords and House of Commons committees

There are also a small number of joint committees of the House of Commons and
the House of Lords.
Three of them are permanent and meet regularly:
l Human Rights
l National Security Strategy
l Statutory Instruments
A strength of these committees is that they can consult widely and their membership
ref lects the accumulated experience of both Houses of Parliament. In 2022, for
example, members of the National Security Committee included: Tony Blair’s former
defence secretary, Lord Reid; the former cabinet secretary, Lord Butler; the former
chief of the general staff, Lord Dannatt; together with Tobias Ellwood, chair of the
House of Commons Defence Select Committee and Tom Tugendhat, chair of the
Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Their questions, reports and recommendations
are therefore very highly regarded.
Other joint committees can be established to deal with a specific issue. These
include the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill. As the government
prepared legislation to make ‘the UK the safest place in the world to be online’,
a joint committee was established to provide wide-ranging and detailed analysis
of the issues involved. According to its chair, Damian
Collins MP, the committee’s purpose was to ‘stress test
its most critical clauses’ and in its report in December
2021 it made 127 recommendations for enhanced
online security for the public.
Legitimation, representation,
providing government and debate
The Lords does not have a representative role in a
democratic sense, although the ancient tradition that
the Lords represents the spiritual as well as the temporal
realm is acknowledged by the presence of the bishops
of the Church of England. Since legislation can be Rescuers explore a Ukrainian building after a Russian missile
enacted without its consent it also cannot also claim a attack. The House of Lords has long been alert to the Russian
legitimising role threat to Ukraine
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However, the Lords plays an important role in scrutinising legislation. Its committees
Knowledge check
also provide the government with valuable information and advice and members of
23 Define the Salisbury the House of Lords can serve as government ministers.
Convention.
In addition, the wisdom and experience of the House of Lords means that the
24 What are statutory
questions for government and their less politically toxic chamber debates can raise
instruments?
vital issues of public concern.
25 List three significant
House of Lords
committees. In focus
26 Define a joint
committee and give
two examples.
The House of Lords, Ukraine and Russia
27 List three occasions As a result of its impressive diplomatic and military expertise, the House of Lords has been
when the government very alert to the Russian threat to Ukraine. Ten months before the invasion, on 15 April 2021,
changed policy the former Liberal Democrat leader, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, questioned the government
because of a House on how it was responding to the growing possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine:
of Lords defeat. ‘To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have held with NATO allies
regarding the recent amassing of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border.’
To what extent do you think that the standard of debate in the House of Lords would be
improved or damaged if the house was elected?
The comparative powers of the House of

Commons and the House of Lords
The powers of the House of Commons
The House of Commons has the sole right to defeat a bill. It also possesses the
exclusive right to dismiss the government if it loses a vote of confidence.
In 1979, for example, the Labour government of James Callaghan had managed to
survive for 3 years as a minority administration. However, on 28 March that year
the government lost a vote of confidence by 310–311 votes. Callaghan immediately
asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament, telling the House of Commons, ‘Mr
Speaker, now that the House of Commons has declared itself, we shall take our case
to the country.’
The powers of the House of Lords

As long ago as 1867 Walter Bagehot, in The English Constitution, contrasted the
‘efficient’ part of government, which was the House of Commons, with the merely
‘dignified’, which was the House of Lords.
However, the House of Lords also has advantages over the House of Commons.
Since members of the Lords do not have the same constituency duties as MPs, they
can devote more of their time to scrutiny. As they are not elected or bound by a
party’s manifesto, they are more able to act independently. The large number of
crossbenchers also makes it more difficult for a government to dominate the House
of Lords.
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Table 6.3 Three examples of specialist experience in the House of Lords
Lord Norton of Louth Baroness Black of Strome Lord Darroch of Kew
Philip Norton was appointed Professor of Sue Black was appointed to the Kim Darroch was a member of the
Politics at Hull University in 1986. A House of Lords in 2021. As an diplomatic service for 40 years, rising to
brilliant expert on Parliament and the anatomist and forensic anthropologist, national security adviser (2012–15) and
constitution, Lord Norton still teaches she has played a leading role in British ambassador to the United States
undergraduates, regularly speaks at many criminal trials and war crimes (2016–19). In 2019, Darroch resigned
schools and contributes to Politics Review. investigations including Kosovo and from this position when secret memos
His constitutional insights greatly inform Sierra Leone. She is president of St sent to the prime minister critical of
political debate in the House of Lords. His John’s College, Oxford. In 2020, she the Trump administration went public.
personal blog, ‘The Norton View’, provides published the hugely popular, Written On his return from Washington, he wrote
a constantly updated mine of vital in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Collateral Damage: Britain, America and
information on how Parliament works Leave Behind Europe in the Age of Trump (2020)
Although prime ministerial

appointments to the House of
Lords have been accused of
cronyism, the vast majority
of appointments are non-
controversial.
Table 6.3 profiles three
distinguished members of the
House of Lords.
The House of Lords also offers
a unique opportunity for
former members of the House
of Commons to continue in
public service and use their
accumulated political experience
to inform political debate and
advise government.
l Kenneth Clarke was a
Conservative MP from 1970
Baroness Black of Strome
to 2019. He served in cabinet under Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David
brings her extensive
Cameron. A pro-European, he lost the Conservative whip in 2019 for seeking
experience as an anatomist
to delay Brexit. Raised to the peerage in 2020, he brings to the House of Lords
and forensic anthropologist
a wealth of experience as well as considerable independent judgement.
to the House of Lords
l A former Labour MP, Alf Dubs, entered the House of Lords as Baron Dubs in
1994. In 1939, as a Jewish child, he escaped Prague on a Kindertransport. He has
often spoken about the plight of child refugees and in February 2022, in the early
stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, tweeted, ‘We cannot publicly say we’re
doing everything to help Ukraine but then turn our backs on those f leeing.’
A summary of the functions and powers of the House of Commons and the House
of Lords is given in Table 6.4.
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Table 6.4 A comparison of the relative functions and powers of the House of Commons and the
House of Lords
The House of Commons The House of Lords
Key term
• Represents the nation and is • Can delay legislation for one
Salisbury Convention accountable to it in a general election parliamentary session but cannot veto
Since the Lords cannot • Can dismiss the government in a vote of it. According to the Salisbury Convention, if
claim democratic confidence proposed legislation has been included
legitimacy, the Salisbury • Must agree to the Budget in the winning party’s electoral manifesto
Convention established • Legitimises important decisions such the Lords will not oppose it
the principle in 1945 that

as the dissolution of Parliament and, by • Since the Parliament Acts 1911 and
convention, the commitment of the UK to 1949 do not extend to statutory
the Lords will not seek to major military operations instruments, the Lords, theoretically,
stop legislation that was • The executive requires the consent of maintains a veto over them
contained in the governing the House of Commons for legislation to • The Lords’ main work is as a revising
party’s manifesto. To do be enacted chamber: offering amendments to
so would be to oppose the • Scrutinises legislation in parliamentary legislation and scrutinising the work
of government through committees,
democratically expressed debate and Public Bill Committees
ministerial questions and parliamentary
will of the public in a • House of Commons select committees
debate
monitor the work of government
general election. The departments • If the House of Commons voted to
Lords can still propose extend the life of a parliament beyond
amendments, but these 5 years, the House of Lords could
should not be designed to constitutionally reject this proposal. This
provides a way in which the Lords can
wreck the bill.
protect civil liberties in the UK
Debate
The House of Lords fulfils an important parliamentary role

Evaluation: Since the removal of most of the hereditary peers, the House of Lords has gained in experience and expertise.
However, are critics justified in claiming that its lack of democratic legitimacy means that its influence is too minimal for it to
perform a useful parliamentary function?
Yes No
• The expertise of peers means that the amendments • Since the House of Lords cannot claim democratic
they make to legislation can significantly improve it legitimacy, the government can ignore its amendments
• The reports of House of Lords committees are also to legislation
held in high regard because of the experience of their • Although the House of Lords can delay legislation for a
members year, it possesses no veto power
• The House of Lords committee on secondary • The House of Lords has no influence over financial
legislation fulfils an important function scrutinising bills, including the Budget
statutory instruments • The Salisbury Convention means that the House of
• House of Lords debates often raise important issues Lords will not vote against legislation that has been in
for public debate the governing party’s election manifesto
• The House of Lords scrutinises ministers further, • House of Lords debates may be highly regarded but
ensuring that the government is made accountable to there is little evidence that they influence government
Parliament decision making
• If the government dominates the House of Commons • Since the House of Lords is unelected it lacks
with a very large parliamentary majority (Blair, 1997 a representative function, which undermines its
and 2001), then the House of Lords provides an parliamentary usefulness
important source of independent opposition • The House of Commons also has a strong committee
system, so House of Lords committees are not
essential to Parliament
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How Parliament interacts with the executive
The role and significance of backbenchers
in both houses
Backbenchers in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords are protected
Key term
by parliamentary privilege. This principle dates back to the Bill of Rights in 1689,
which states, ‘the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought Backbenchers Members
not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament’. As a of the House of Commons
result, parliamentarians are free to raise any issue they wish in Westminster without and House of Lords who
fear of being prosecuted in the courts for libel or defamation of character. are not members of either
the government front
The main roles of backbench MPs are to represent the interests of their constituents,
bench or the opposition
scrutinise the work of government, consider the merits of legislation, legitimise
front bench. They are
certain government decisions such as committing British troops to military action,
not bound by collective
and raise issues that they regard as significant.
ministerial responsibility
l How much inf luence backbenchers wield depends on the size of the government’s and so are more
parliamentary majority. Tony Blair won landslide parliamentary majorities in the independent, although
1997 and 2001 general elections and could survive even very large rebellions by they are expected to obey
his backbenchers. In 2003, for example, 84 Labour MPs voted against involvement the party whip.
in the Iraq War, but Blair still won the parliamentary vote. However, Labour’s
majority dipped to 66 in the 2005 general election and Blair subsequently failed
to introduce 90-day detention for terrorist suspects when 49 Labour MPs voted
against the government.
l If a government has a very small or non-existent parliamentary majority,
backbenchers will be at their most inf luential as the whips, on both sides, will
need to make concessions to secure their support. Having lost her parliamentary
majority in the 2017 general election, Theresa May had to ‘manage’ rather than
‘lead’ Brexit to create as much cross-party support for her strategy as possible.
Ultimately, she failed, and it was only when Boris Johnson won an 80-seat
House of Commons majority in December 2019 that he was able to enact the
EU withdrawal agreement that he wanted.
The legislative process

The legislative function of Westminster is the process through which parliamentary
bills become law (Table 6.5). During each Parliament the government will introduce
a number of Public Bills into the House of Commons.
At its first reading a bill’s title is introduced and a date is given for its second reading.
There is no debate or a vote at this stage. At its second reading a bill is debated and
a vote taken. A bill could be defeated at this stage. The bill then goes to a Public
Bill Committee where it is examined in detail and amendments may be added to
it. The bill then reaches the report stage where the changes made by the Public Bill
Committee are either accepted or rejected. Further amendments may be added by
MPs who were not members of the Public Bill Committee. The bill then reaches
its third reading when it is further debated and a vote is taken. A bill is unlikely to
be defeated on its third reading. The bill is then sent to the House of Lords where it
goes through a similar process. As a primarily revising chamber the House of Lords
may make significant amendments to a bill. At this stage the bill may therefore
pass back and forth between the two houses in a process known as parliamentary
‘ping-pong’ as the House of Commons decides whether to accept or reject Lords’
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Table 6.5 The passage of a bill through Parliament
Bill beginning in the House of Commons Bill beginning in the House of Lords
House of Commons House of Lords
First reading First reading
Second reading Second reading
Public Bill Committee Public Bill Committee (usually the whole
Report stage chamber of the House of Lords)
Third reading Report stage
The bill then moves to the House of Lords Third reading
and the same process of debate, scrutiny The bill then moves to the House of
and vote is carried out Commons and the same process of debate,
scrutiny and vote is carried out
House of Lords House of Commons
First reading First reading
Second reading Second reading
Public Bill Committee (usually the whole Public Bill Committee
chamber of the House of Lords) Report stage
Report stage Third reading
Third reading Parliamentary ‘ping-pong’
Parliamentary ‘ping-pong’ Royal assent
Royal assent
amendments. Once both houses agree, the bill receives royal assent and so becomes
Knowledge check a parliamentary statute. If a bill was introduced first into the House of Lords, it then
moves to the House of Commons. The process remains the same (Table 6.5).
28 What executive right
does the House of
Commons possess? Government bills
29 Which house must Most bills debated by Parliament will have been introduced by the government.
agree on the budget? These bills have a strong chance of being enacted because the government will be
30 Define parliamentary able to give the bill sufficient time to be debated. The government can also rely on
ping-pong. the whips to encourage support for the bill in the House of Commons. Furthermore,
if the proposed legislation was in the government’s election manifesto, the House
of Lords, according to the Salisbury Convention, will not seek to obstruct it with
‘wrecking amendments’.
The progress of a bill through Parliament should involve a great deal of intense
scrutiny. The principles of a bill will be thoroughly debated at its second reading
and a particular strength of Public Bill Committees is that they can take advice from
relevant experts and interested parties.
However, critics of the House of Commons’ legislative function argue that the
government has too much power over the process.
l If the government has a large parliamentary majority, it will usually be able to
rely on the loyalty of its MPs to vote for the bill, thus making the debates and
votes essentially a formality.
l The membership of Public Bill Committees is proportionate to party strength in
the House of Commons, so this always give the government a majority.
l Whips also inf luence the selection of Public Bill Committee members, who are
instructed to vote according to the whip on proposed amendments to the bill.
l MPs who are too critical of their government’s bills are unlikely to advance their
careers — a good reason for them just to accept the proposed legislation.
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The way in which MPs are expected to follow the dictates of their whips in both
parliamentary and committee votes can thus result in a lack of scrutiny and badly
thought-through legislation. Labour backbenchers elected during Blair’s landslide
victories in 1997 and 2001 were often criticised for their lack of independent
judgement and for too readily supporting government policy without adequately
scrutinising it.
However, MPs can show a great deal of independence and prove to be much more
unruly than their whips would like. For example, although the Johnson government
succeeded in its legislative plans to introduce Covid passports in England in 2021,
99 Conservative backbenchers voted against the proposals, forcing the government
to rely on the support of the Labour Party for success.
Table 6.6 demonstrates several occasions when MPs were much more than just
‘lobby fodder’. The scale and effectiveness of backbench rebellions during the 2019
minority Johnson administration are particularly striking. Not only did Johnson
not have a parliamentary majority, he also faced determined and tightly disciplined
opposition from pro-EU Conservative MPs, making him highly vulnerable. In
June 2022, when 41% of Conservative MPs refused to back Johnson in a vote of
confidence, his authority was fatally damaged.
Table 6.6 Notable government defeats in the House of Commons
Proposal Opposition
Shops Bill 1986 The Shops Bill was defeated on its second reading when 72
Conservative MPs, keen to maintain tradition, voted against plans
to deregulate Sunday trading. Despite Margaret Thatcher’s 140-
seat majority, her government lost the vote 282–296
Terrorism Act 2006 In 2005, 49 Labour MPs were unconvinced by the Blair
government’s proposals that terrorist suspects should be held in
custody for 90 days without charge. As a result, the government
was defeated 291 votes to 322 and the legislation was enacted
without this provision
Reform of Sunday Plans by the Cameron government to allow large shops to extend
Trading Laws 2016 their opening hours in England and Wales were defeated 286–
317 when 27 Conservative MPs rebelled against the government
EU Withdrawal In January 2019, Theresa May’s government was defeated by
Agreement 2018 432 votes to 202 on the Brexit deal it was offering Parliament.
This crushing defeat of her government’s central policy by 230
votes was the biggest any British government has ever suffered.
In March 2019 a modified deal was once again defeated by the
House of Commons, by 391–242. A third attempt in March was
defeated, by 344–286
The Letwin On 3 September 2019, in an emergency debate, 21 pro-EU
Amendment 2019 Conservative MPs voted for Oliver Letwin’s amendment for the
House of Commons to take control of parliamentary business to
stop the possibility of the Johnson government leaving the EU
with a ‘no deal Brexit’. The government lost the vote 328/301
The Fixed-term On three separate occasions the Johnson government failed
Parliaments Act 2019 to secure the 2/3 majority necessary under the Fixed-term
Parliaments Act 2019 to trigger a snap general election
EU (Withdrawal An attempt by the Johnson government to limit discussion of the
Agreement) Bill 2019 EU (Withdrawal) Bill to 3 days was defeated 322/308
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Critics might suggest that these rebellions unacceptably
slow down the government’s legislative programme.
Indeed, the Victorian prime minister Benjamin Disraeli
is alleged to have rebuked rebellious backbenchers
with the words, ‘Damn your principles, stick to your
party.’ However, the willingness of backbenchers to
question and even reject government bills can be more
convincingly seen as evidence that backbenchers take
their legislative functions very seriously.
Private Members’ Bills

Members of both the House of Commons and the
House of Lords can also introduce Private Members’
Government plans to reform Sunday trading laws were defeated Bills. MPs can introduce Private Members’ Bills under
by a Conservative rebellion in 2016 the ballot, the Ten-Minute Rule and presentation.
l Ballot A ballot is held at the beginning of each Parliament in which MPs can put
Key term forward proposals for a Private Members’ Bill. Twenty bills enter the ballot and
Legislative bill A bill the top seven are usually debated. Most Private Members’ Bills are introduced by
is a proposed piece of this method.
legislation that can be l Ten-Minute Rule MPs can put forward their proposals for a bill in a speech of
introduced in either the ten minutes, but this is much less likely to be successful.
House of Commons or l Presentation An MP formally presents a Private Members’ Bill to the House of
the House of Lords. If Commons.
it passes both houses,
In the House of Lords, Private Members’ Bills are selected at a ballot at the start of
it receives royal assent
a new Parliament.
and becomes an Act of
Parliament. As a result of The fact that so few Private Members’ Bills become law has been used to demonstrate
the Parliament Acts 1911 the lack of inf luence of backbenchers. Most Private Members’ Bills originate in the
and 1949, a legislative House of Commons. Limited time is given to debate them on a Friday and there may
bill can still become law not even be enough present for a division (vote), which is necessary if the bill is to
even if it is opposed by the progress. Since there is so little time available, hostile MPs can also talk out a bill
House of Lords. (known as filibustering). The impact of Private Members’ Bills can therefore be more
to do with raising the profile of a particular issue rather than actually changing the law.
In 2018, for example, Peter Kyle’s Representation of the People (Young People’s
Enfranchisement) Bill, which proposed reducing the age to vote in parliamentary
and other elections to 16, was not given enough time by the government to proceed.
Nevertheless, the bill has ensured that the issue retains a high parliamentary and
public profile.
Knowledge check
31 Who wrote The English Constitution in 1867?
32 What is a Public Bill Committee?
33 List three occasions when a government suffered a significant House of Commons defeat.
34 What is a Private Members’ Bill?
35 Define filibuster.
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In focus
The filibuster
In 2016 John Nicholson MP introduced the Sexual Offences
(Pardons Etc.) Bill. Known as the Turing Bill, after the brilliant
mathematician Alan Turing, who may have committed suicide
after being prosecuted for same-sex acts, the bill would have
pardoned living and dead men for same-sex historic sexual
offences.
When the then justice minister Sam Gyimah spoke at length
during the debate, Nicholson desperately tweeted, ‘It seems
that the Minister plans to talk the #Turing out. If he keeps
talking until 14.30 the bill dies. I’ll keep you posted. It’s 14.10.’
Sam Gyimah, MP for East Surrey. Formerly a Conservative MP, This alleged filibuster led to the bill’s failure through lack of
he joined the Liberal Democrats in September 2019 time.
However, if a Private Members’ Bill has cross-party support and the government
looks favourably upon it, it does have a chance of becoming law. In 2021 Andrew
Rosindell’s Animals (Penalty Notices) Bill proposed financial fines of up to £5,000
for animal abuse. Given that it had the full support of the government, it quickly
made its way through Parliament.
The House of Lords Reform Act

One of the most significant Private Members’ Bills to have become law is the House of
Lords Reform Act 2014. It was introduced by Dan Byles MP (2010–15) and for the first time
makes it possible for members of the House of Lords to resign or retire, as well as providing
a mechanism for the expulsion of peers from the House of Lords because of criminal activity
or non-attendance. As a result of the Act, the replacement of very elderly, lazy or corrupt
members of the House of Lords with new members has been made possible, improving the
effectiveness of the chamber. Key term
Research three other Private Members’ Bills that you think have made a significant impact on Select committee
the UK. A parliamentary select
committee is composed
of a small number of MPs.
Scrutiny House of Commons select
Select committees committees investigate
In 1979, House of Commons select committees were introduced to monitor the work of departments
the performance of the major departments of state. The departmental select of state, but they can also
committees are: focus on specific subjects,
as House of Lords select
l Business, Energy and Industrial l Environment, Food and Rural
committees do. Some
Strategy Affairs
issues can be addressed
l Digital, Culture, Media and Sport l Foreign Affairs
by a joint committee of the
l Defence l Health and Social Care
House of Commons and
l Education l Home Affairs
House of Lords.
l International Development
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l International Trade l Scottish Affairs
l Justice l Transport
l Levelling Up, Housing and l Treasury
Communities l Welsh Affairs
l Northern Ireland Affairs l Work and Pensions
l Science and Technology
Select committees can also cut across departmental lines, such as the highly inf luential
Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Women and Equalities Committee and the
Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union.
Unlike Public Bill committees, select committees are non-partisan, which means
that MPs from all parties are expected to work together on them towards a shared
conclusion. Such political impartiality, so rare in the House of Commons, means that
their reports carry great political weight. Their criticisms are designed to improve
future performance rather than win political advantage. Each political party votes
on the membership, rather than it being chosen by the whips, ensuring that the
MPs who serve on select committees are highly regarded backbenchers. In addition,
the chairs of select committees are elected by MPs as a whole, ensuring cross-party
support. Chairs also receive a significant financial bonus, giving them the same
sort of salary as a junior minister. These factors combine to make chairing a select
committee an attractive prospect and provide the leadership of select committees
with a strong mandate directly from the legislature with which to confront powerful
departments of state. Many experienced backbenchers now chair select committees,
so increasing the inf luence they wield.
l In 2020, Jeremy Hunt was elected chair of the Health Select Committee. As
a former health secretary, he was well placed to lead investigations into the
performance of his former department. In 2021, the Health and Social Care
Committee and the Science and Technology Committee together reported on
the Covid-19 pandemic. They strongly criticised the government for its initially
slow response to the pandemic, calling it ‘one of the most important public health
failures the UK has ever experienced’. However, the report also acknowledged
that the vaccination programme had been highly successful. Overall, the
committees concluded, ‘The UK has combined some big achievements with some
big mistakes. It is vital to learn from both.’ This demonstrates the constructive
way in which select committees try to inform political decision making.
l Tobias Ellwood was elected chair of the Defence Select Committee in 2020. As
a former soldier and defence minister his chairmanship of the committee carries
considerable weight. In July 2021, the committee’s report on the most effective
way of combatting Russia’s long-term strategic goals perceptively noted, ‘It is
imperative that the UK government work with Ukraine, allies and NATO to
promote peaceful resolutions between Russia and Ukraine. The West’s greatest
defence is unity. Divided, Russia will reap the rewards.’
l Tom Tugendhat was chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2017
to 2022, prior to being appointed Minister of State for Security. In 2021, the
committee presented a powerful condemnation of the Chinese government’s
atrocities against the Uyghur Muslims and other minority groups. In its report,
the committee urged that the Foreign Office acknowledge that ‘crimes against
humanity’ and ‘genocide’ are occurring. According to Tugendhat, ‘This report
moves the conversation forward, away from the question of whether crimes are
taking place and on to what the UK should do to end them.’
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The Public Accounts Committee is generally regarded as the most important of
Key term
all the House of Commons select committees. It investigates the expenditure of
all government departments, ensuring that public money is not wasted. Given the Parliamentary privilege
massive cost of responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, its reports on how effectively A principle that protects
the government has spent taxpayers’ money have been particularly important. Its MPs and peers from being
2021 report on the £22 billion cost of ‘track and trace’ was notably critical of sued for libel or slander,
the government, urging a much more cost-effective approach in future health so ensuring that they have
emergencies, ‘British taxpayers cannot be treated by government like an ATM freedom of speech within
machine. We need to see a clear plan and costs better controlled.’ the Palace of Westminster.
It also includes the right
A strength of select committees is that they can consult widely with ministers,
of Parliament to exclusive
civil servants and experts, and can send for ‘persons, papers and records’ to help
cognisance, which means
them with their investigations. They can compel attendance from members of the
it controls its own internal
public and because of parliamentary privilege, MPs can ask the most difficult
affairs without outside
questions without fear of prosecution. Therefore, even though the reports that select
interference.
committees issue are not binding, because they are non-partisan and can summon
expert witnesses, they can have a significant impact on government decision making.
In 2015, the Health Select Committee recommended that a 20% tax on sugary
drinks be enacted to cut childhood obesity. Although the Cameron government
had consistently been against this, in 2016 the chancellor of the exchequer, George Knowledge check
Osborne, introduced a sugar drink tax. However, we need to remember how few 36 What is a select
researchers MPs employ, how many demands there are on MPs’ time and the fact that, committee?
unlike barristers, MPs are not trained in forensic cross-examination. Consequently, 37 List three current
this puts select committees at a significant disadvantage when scrutinising the work chairs of House of
of government departments employing many civil servants and government lawyers. Commons select
committees.
Stretch and challenge 38 What was the
significance of the
Lessons from the pandemic House of Lords
On 19 May 2021, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, was called to give Reform Act 2014?
evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee. The committee, chaired by Jeremy 39 What is the Public
Hunt, probed Cummings on the extent to which he believed that the government had responded Accounts Committee?
effectively to the Covid-19 pandemic and what lessons he believed could be learned for the future. 40 Define parliamentary
Dominic Cummings: ‘If you are faced with the choice between a massive wave killing hundreds privilege.
of thousands or (immediate lockdown), I think almost everybody in this country would say,
“Let’s go down that route.” That is the route that we should have started to go down in January.
We started to think about that in mid-March, but it took a few months, really, for that new
thinking to develop into real policy and real operational capabilities in certain ways. You don’t
change big cultural barriers like that (without) learning from abroad, quickly. I think it will take
time for Whitehall to adapt.’
Sarah Owen: ‘This is my last question. You have described the PM’s running of No. 10 as
chaotic, incompetent and lacking judgement at times. Do you think Boris Johnson is a fit and
proper person to get us through this pandemic?’
Dominic Cummings: ‘No.’
What are the main strengths and weaknesses of select committees in holding government
accountable?
Ministerial questions
As the executive sits within the legislature it can be regularly questioned, in both
chambers, and held accountable for government policy. In the House of Commons,
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from Monday to Thursday an hour of parliamentary business time is set aside for
oral questions to ministers. In the House of Lords, half an hour is devoted to oral
ministerial questions on the same days, although questions are directed to the
government rather than to a specific department. Ministers must also respond to
written questions within a week if they are asked in the Commons, and within 2
weeks if they are asked in the Lords. According to the Ministerial Code of Conduct,
‘Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, refusing to
provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest.’ Oral
and written questions and responses are made publicly available.
Ministerial questions are thus an important way of ensuring that ministers do not
neglect their responsibility to the House of Commons. For example, during the
early stages of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Foreign Office had to respond to several
questions from MPs over whether the UK’s response was having its desired effect.
Prime Minister’s Questions

The prime minister is expected to attend the House of Commons every Wednesday
between noon and 12:30 p.m. to respond to questions from the chamber. This
provides an important opportunity for the prime minister to be held accountable
for government policy. On these occasions, the leader of the opposition can ask
six questions, so it is important for both the prime minister and the leader of the
opposition that they present themselves as effectively as possible. The leader of the
next biggest party is given two questions to ask and then MPs have an opportunity
to ask their own questions.
In 2015, Sir Gerald Kaufman MP, who was first elected an MP in 1970, said that
Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQT) had become ‘an exchange of pointless
and useless declamations’. The governing party’s MPs can also deliberately ask the
sorts of questions that enable the prime minister to take the credit for government
successes. However, supporters of PMQT respond that it provides the opportunity
for Parliament to interrogate the prime minister on a weekly basis in a way that is
alien to presidential systems in which the executive is much less regularly accountable
to the legislature. PMQT can also provide a powerful spotlight on the record of the
prime minister, as well as enabling the prime minister to expose any inadequacies
in the opposition.
Critics of PMQT claim that its raucous nature discourages genuine debate and
that, backed by hundreds of cheering MPs, prime ministers are adept at avoiding
answering the question. Instead, they use the theatrical nature of the proceedings to
make popular counterclaims and assertions, making PMQT more of an excuse for
electioneering than an effective way of scrutinising government policy.
However, in early 2022, it might be claimed that the relevance and importance
of PMQT was demonstrated by the leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer,
using it to forensically examine the extent of Boris Johnson’s culpability for illegal
lockdown parties at Downing Street and then the government’s response to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both issues were of enormous public concern and
PMQT meant that the prime minister had to regularly respond to issues of enormous
public concern.
Liaison Committee
The Liaison Committee represents the chairs of all the select committees and twice
yearly questions the prime minister. It is significantly less confrontational than
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PMQT and its form of steady examination allows greater opportunities for extended
discussion. Prime ministers are thus much less able to divert questions than during
PMQT. When Boris Johnson cancelled his appearance before the committee in
2019, the then chair Sarah Wollaston issued the following stern rebuke: ‘Our role
as select committee chairs is to ask you detailed questions on behalf of the public
and we planned to do so on Brexit, climate change, health and social care. It is
unacceptable that you are refusing to be held to account.’
In 2020, the government appointed its own candidate, Sir Bernard Jenkin, as chair
of the Liaison Committee rather than allowing the heads of the select committees
to choose the chair as they had done since 2010. Despite this, there is no evidence
that its role has been diminished. In 2022, for example, Jenkin clearly explained
to the prime minister that it was unacceptable for him not to completely detail
the government’s climate change strategy so that the committee could address its
effectiveness. The day after the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from his
government, Johnson endured a bruising encounter with the Liaison Committee
that further demonstrated his declining authority. In an exchange that raised
exceptionally important constitutional issues, Sir Bernard Jenkin succeeded in
getting the prime minister to accept that he would not be justified in seeking a
general election if he had lost the support of the parliamentary Conservative Party.
In focus
Sir Bernard Jenkin: ‘I wish you to be clear about one thing: that if you have lost the confidence
of your MPs, you will not seek a dissolution. You will stand aside and allow a leadership
election to take place . . . that’s the proper procedure, isn’t it?’
Boris Johnson: ‘What I’m going to do is get on with the job . . .’
Sir Bernard Jenkin: ‘No – I need you to answer this question, Prime Minister.’
A Liberal Democrat motion

on the Brown government’s
failure to provide Gurkha
veterans with UK residency
rights was a rare example
of an opposition day motion
that passed
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Opposition days
During each parliamentary session, 20 days are set aside to debate subjects chosen
Knowledge check by the opposition. Naturally these will be over issues which the opposition parties
41 What is an opposition believe the government should try to justify itself. It is rare for an opposition
day? day motion to pass, although in 2009 a Liberal Democrat motion on the Brown
42 What is the purpose government’s failure to provide Gurkha veterans with UK residency rights passed
of Prime Minister’s by 267/246. In 2019, a Labour opposition day motion urging the government to
Question Time? declare ‘an environment and climate emergency’ was also supported by the House
43 What is the purpose of Commons, although ultimately not endorsed by the government. Opposition
of the Liaison days are therefore most important in pressurising the government on areas where
Committee? it is most vulnerable.
44 Name three MPs in
your local area. Representation
45 List two local issues
MPs are accountable to their constituents in regular general elections, which
on which these MPs
ensures a very close relationship between them. This does not mean that MPs must
have campaigned.
do exactly as most of their constituents want, however. This would make them
simply delegates. Instead, MPs should balance the interests of their constituents
with the demands of the party whips and the dictates of their own conscience.
Synoptic link Edmund Burke provided the classic trusteeship interpretation of the role of MPs
The principle of the in 1774 when he told his constituents in Bristol, ‘Your representative owes you,
parliamentary mandate not his industry only but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if
within a representative he sacrifices it to your opinion.’
democracy is covered in The conf licting loyalties posed by Brexit have raised interesting questions about the
Chapter 1 on pages 4–5. Burkean model of trusteeship. For example, some pro-EU MPs decided to switch
to supporting Brexit given the strength of support for EU withdrawal among their
constituents. Others continued to try to delay or stop Brexit despite going against
the wishes of their constituents.

Sarah Champion (MP for Rotherham, Caroline Spelman (MP for Meriden,
2012–) 1997–2019)
In the 2016 referendum Rotherham Meriden is in the metropolitan borough
voted 68% in favour of Brexit. Although of Solihull, which voted 56% in favour of
Champion had campaigned to remain Brexit. In 2019, its MP, Caroline Spelman,
in the EU, she subsequently changed lost the Conservative whip when she
her position, voting in favour of Boris voted to delay Brexit. Having received
Johnson’s withdrawal agreement. In significant abuse for her lack of support
2019, she publicly stated: ‘I accept, for Brexit, she did not contest the 2019
respect and I’m doing all I can to honour general election
the result of the referendum and leave
the European Union’
1 Explain which of these MPs’ actions represents a Burkean model of trusteeship.

2 In your opinion, which of these MPs best fulfilled their role as a constituency MP?
What is less controversial is that MPs are expected to thoroughly engage with local
issues involving their constituents, both individually and collectively, to ensure that
they are acknowledged at Westminster.
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Therefore, a highly important part of an MP’s workload is to spend time in their
constituency, discussing constituents’ concerns in regular surgeries and becoming
thoroughly involved in the life of the community. By doing this they contribute
to one of the great functions of Parliament, which is to provide citizens with the
right of ‘redress of grievance’. Tony Benn, who served as an MP for 50 years,
called constituency work the hardest but also most satisfying part of his job: ‘In my
constituency, everyone I met was my employer.’ Tragically, the assassinations of
the MPs Jo Cox (2016) and David Amess (2021) both took place while they were
attending a constituency surgery.
Debate
The influence of backbench MPs at Westminster has increased in recent years

Evaluation: Although the influence of backbench MPs has increased as a result of several parliamentary reforms, does the extent
of their influence primarily depend upon political circumstances?
Yes No
• The greater independence of select committees has • Despite recent reforms, select committees’ reports
made them more effective in scrutinising government and the scrutiny of the Liaison Committee have no
departments binding power over government
• The Backbench Business Committee has provided • The government’s increasing use of secondary
MPs with more control over the parliamentary agenda, (delegated) legislation to change laws has negatively
enabling them to choose more topics for debate impacted MPs’ legislative function
• The Petitions Committee also provides MPs with • It is only a convention that the House of Commons
more opportunities to determine what is debated in should be consulted on the deployment of British
Parliament troops. Theresa May took military action in Syria in
• The Liaison Committee (chairs of all select committees) 2018 without a parliamentary vote
regularly holds the prime minister to account for policy • The Johnson government repealed the Fixed-term
development and implementation Parliaments Act 2011, restoring the prime minister’s
• MPs have an increasingly important legitimising role. right to determine the date of the general election
Since the Iraq War in 2003 the House of Commons • Recent speakers have allowed more urgent questions,
has voted on whether to support large-scale military but this is not a new backbench power
expeditions overseas • Although MPs wielded significant influence during
• As a result of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, Brexit negotiations, 2017–19, this was only because
the House of Commons had to approve the early 2017 the second May and first Johnson administrations
and 2019 general elections, although this will not lacked a parliamentary majority. Once Johnson had
subsequently be the case achieved an 80-seat majority, the influence of the
• Recent speakers have allowed MPs more opportunities backbenches decreased
to ask urgent questions • This suggests that the influence of backbench MPs
• From 2017 to 2019 backbenchers were very influential depends upon parliamentary arithmetic rather than
in delaying the May and Johnson governments’ EU steadily increasing
withdrawal legislation. Theresa May’s Brexit deal was
defeated three times and in September 2019 MPs
took control of parliamentary business to try to stop a
potential ‘no deal Brexit’
• The erosion of their backbench parliamentary support
led to the resignations of Margaret Thatcher (1990),
Theresa May (2019), Boris Johnson (2022) and Liz
Truss (2022)
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The role and significance of the opposition
In one of his novels, Coningsby (1844), Benjamin Disraeli stated that ‘no government
can be long secure without a formidable opposition’. According to the Conservative
MP and philosopher Edmund Burke, ‘He that wrestles with us strengthens our
nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.’
These two quotations encapsulate the importance of opposition parties in British
Key term politics. Without a strong opposition, the government does not have to justify its
Opposition The second- policies and this can encourage complacent and even incompetent government. The
largest party in the House opposition parties should therefore:
of Commons constitutes l ensure that the government justifies its legislative programme and executive
His Majesty’s Most Loyal decisions
Opposition. The opposition l create a public debate by providing reasoned arguments why they cannot support
front bench shadows the decisions of the government
the government front l in the case of the biggest opposition party, known as His Majesty’s Most Loyal
bench and scrutinises its Opposition, be prepared to provide an alternative government-in-waiting in case
decisions. It uses its role the prime minister seeks an early dissolution of Parliament (as happened in 2017
in Parliament to persuade and 2019)
the electorate that it is a l use their various frontbench spokespeople to focus on the government department
potential government-in- that they are shadowing, exposing any failures of policy implementation
waiting. l in the case of the leader of the opposition, use the opportunity of the weekly
PMQT to present themselves as having the political stature to be the prime
minister-in-waiting.
There is a variety of ways in which opposition parties can achieve these objectives:
l
Theparliamentary timetable allows 20 opposition days when the opposition
parties can choose the subjects for debate in the House of Commons. The main
opposition party chooses the motion for debate on 17 of them.
l Opposition MPs scrutinise proposed government legislation in
Public Bill Committees and offer amendments. However, these
require the support of the government to be accepted.
l Shadow ministers should expose the mistakes and failures of
their opposite numbers in government. A strongly interrogative
shadow minister has an important role in highlighting failings
of government policy development and implementation. Diane
Abbott, for example, as Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow home secretary
(2016–20), proved effective at keeping up the pressure on Amber
Rudd during the Windrush scandal (2018).
l In 2022, Angela Rayner, Labour deputy leader, powerfully
attacked Boris Johnson in the House of Commons over the
allegations that he had broken lockdown regulations.
l Especially if the government has a small or non-existent
parliamentary majority, opposition parties can work closely
with the more independent-minded House of Lords to uncover
failures in government policy and to delay legislation.
l In parliamentary debate, for example on the Budget and
proposed government legislation, opposition parties play a
very important role in forcing the government to justify its
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves made political policies.
capital out of Rishi Sunak’s cut in fuel duty in
2022
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In November 2021, Sir Keir Starmer radically changed his frontbench team, advancing David 46 Define Edmund
Lammy to shadow the Foreign Office and Yvette Cooper to shadow the Home Office. Lisa Burke’s view of
Nandy was given the high-profile role of shadowing the Department for Levelling Up, Housing the representative
and Communities, and key figures on the right of the party were advanced to key roles, with function of an MP.
Wes Streeting shadowing Health and Bridget Phillipson Education. According to Starmer, the 47 Define ‘redress of
changes would enable Labour to better ‘hold the Conservative government to account on grievance’.
behalf of the public and demonstrate that we are the right choice to form the next government’. 48 What is the shadow
As well as being designed to put greater pressure on the government, the changes sent the cabinet?
public a powerful signal of what a future Starmer government might look like. 49 List five significant
members of the
What are the most important factors in making an opposition front bench effective?
shadow cabinet.
In focus
The shadow chancellor
Second only to the leader of the opposition in holding the government accountable is the
shadow chancellor. A shadow chancellor can be highly effective in ‘setting the economic political
weather’ in favour of the opposition. George Osborne was able to successfully put the Brown
government (2007–10) on the defensive over the dramatic increase in the public debt. In 2021,
Sir Keir Starmer appointed Rachel Reeves shadow chancellor. Her task was to make political
capital out of the government’s economic record. During Kwasi Kwarteng’s brief chancellorship,
she regularly appeared in the media condemning his ‘reckless gamble’ with the economy.
What makes a shadow chancellor effective?
Summary
➜ What are the differences between the membership and the powers of the House of
Commons and the House of Lords?
➜ What are the functions of the House of Commons and how well does it fulfil them?
➜ What are the functions of the House of Lords and how well does it fulfil them?
➜ By what stages is a parliamentary bill enacted?
➜ What obstacles to success do Private Members’ Bills encounter?
➜ How effective are parliamentary backbenchers?
➜ How effective are opposition parties in holding government accountable?
➜ Does Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQT) fulfil a useful function?
Practice questions
Even a government with a small parliamentary majority will be able to set the parliamentary
agenda in the way that it wants. This means that opposition parties must react to the
legislative programme of the government. Their impact on public bill committees is also
limited because of the government’s inbuilt majority. However, there are several important
6 Parliament 207
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ways in which opposition parties can still take the initiative. For example, opposition days
provide an excellent opportunity for them to place the government under pressure. A good
opposition front bench spokesman can also make life very difficult for a badly briefed
minister during regular ministerial questions. Prime Minister’s Question Time is, of course, the
most high-profile example of the way in which the opposition can go on the offensive against
the government. Tony Blair, as leader of the Labour opposition, for example, used it highly
effectively against the prime minister John Major from 1994–97. However, a less impressive
opposition leader will be unlikely to use it so successfully and it may even undermine their
own authority if they fail to make an impact. Of course, parliamentary arithmetic is also
important. A minority government or one with a small majority will be much more vulnerable
to the opposition parties than one with a large majority. From June 2017 to December 2019,
opposition parties were continually able to undermine Theresa May’s and Boris Johnson’s
attempts to withdraw from the EU because their governments lacked a Conservative
parliamentary majority. However, even a government with a firm majority can be weakened by
well-directed opposition, as Gordon Brown discovered to his cost from 2007 to 2010.
Using the source, evaluate the view that opposition parties have only a limited
impact in the House of Commons.
1 Evaluate the view that the House of Commons fulfils its representative
function more effectively than its legislative function. In your answer you
should draw on relevant knowledge and understanding of the study of
Component 1 UK Politics and Core Political Ideas and consider this
2 Evaluate the view that the powers of the House of Lords are so limited
that it is an ineffective parliamentary chamber. In your answer you
should draw on relevant knowledge and understanding of the study of
Component 1 UK Politics and Core Political Ideas and consider this
3 Evaluate the view that the House of Commons is only effective at holding
the government accountable when it has a small parliamentary majority.
In your answer you should draw on relevant knowledge and understanding
of the study of Component 1 UK Politics and Core Political Ideas and
Further reading
Besley, N. and Goldsmith, G. (2018) How Parliament Works (8th edn), Routledge.
Gallop, N. (2020) ‘How representative is the House of Commons?’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 2.
Jones, B., Norton, P. and Hertner, I. (eds) (2021) Politics UK (10th edn), Routledge.
Norton, P. (2020) Governing Britain: Parliament, Ministers, and Our Ambiguous Constitution,
Norton, P. (2022) ‘Parliament and government in the UK’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 4.
Wright, T. (2020) British Politics: A Very Short Introduction (3rd edn), Oxford University Press.
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7 Prime minister and the
executive
The structure, role and powers of the

executive
The structure and role of the executive
The executive is another term for the government. In the British system of
parliamentary democracy the members of the government sit within the legislature Key term
and are accountable to it. The most important elements of the executive are the The executive In the
prime minister and the cabinet. The cabinet comprises the heads of the departments British parliamentary
of state such as the home secretary and the foreign secretary, as well as the chief system the executive sits
whip. Junior ministers are also members of the government, although they do not within the legislature and
generally attend cabinet. is responsible for the
government of the country.
The executive is also served by senior civil servants, who run the administration of
the departments of state and implement government policies. The most important
of these is the chief secretary to the cabinet, the country’s most senior civil servant,
who provides impartial guidance to the prime minister as well as taking the minutes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
of cabinet meetings. The prime minister also takes policy advice from key political delivers a speech outside
10 Downing Street
7 Prime minister and the executive 209
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advisers who work for them in institutions such as the Cabinet Office and the Policy
Key terms
Unit at 10 Downing Street. The core executive comprises those ministers, senior
Core executive The most civil servants and political advisers whom the prime minister freely confides in
important elements of when developing policy.
the government, including
The executive governs the nation in the following ways:
the cabinet, senior civil
servants and key political l It introduces into Parliament proposals for new legislation based on the manifesto
advisers based in the on which it fought the general election. These include the Monarch’s Speech,
prime minister’s Private which is delivered at the state opening of each new Parliament to both the
Office. Commons and the Lords.
Secondary legislation l It introduces legislation into Parliament in response to changing circumstances.
Also known as delegated This is known as ‘the doctor’s mandate’ and the Monarch’s Speech always makes
legislation, the process by reference to this with the sentence, ‘Other measures will be laid before you.’
which primary legislation l It introduces a Budget, which outlines how the government proposes to raise
can be amended by revenue. This is presented to Parliament in the autumn and is drawn up by the
government departments chancellor of the exchequer in negotiation with the prime minister.
without requiring another l It can also introduce secondary or delegated legislation. This means that
Act of Parliament. when legislation has already been passed by Parliament it can be modified
by the government without the need for new primary legislation. Statutory
instruments, sometimes known as Henry VIII clauses, are used to make these
changes. They have been criticised for being undemocratic as they seek to bypass
full parliamentary scrutiny and debate. During the Covid-19 pandemic many
restrictions on public activity and personal freedoms were introduced through
statutory instruments, leading to criticism from the speaker of the House of
Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, that this had shown ‘a total disregard for the
House’.
The sources of power of the prime minister

The authority of the prime minister derives from the fact that they have been asked
by the monarch to form a government on their behalf. The individual appointed by
the monarch to be prime minister will have been selected because they are able to
command the support of the majority of MPs in the House of Commons. The prime
minister also requires the support of their parliamentary party. Margaret Thatcher
(1990), Theresa May (2019), Boris Johnson (2022) and Liz Truss (2022) all resigned
office when it became clear they had lost the support of their MPs.
The prime minister will likely be the leader of the largest party in the House of
Commons. In 1990, for example, when John Major replaced Margaret Thatcher
as leader of the Conservative Party, he also became prime minister. In exceptional
circumstances, an individual can be appointed prime minister without leading their
party. In 1940, George VI asked Winston Churchill to form a government since
although he was not the leader of the Conservative Party, the King was confident
that only Churchill would be able to establish an all-party wartime coalition
government.
There is also a convention that the prime minister should be a member of the House
of Commons. When Lord Home formed a government following the resignation
of Harold Macmillan in 1963, he renounced his peerage and fought a by-election to
secure a seat in the House of Commons.
The prime minister can be asked by the monarch to form a government having won
a general election or because they are replacing a prime minister who has resigned.
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From 1976 to 2022, seven of the ten party leaders ( James Callaghan, John Major,
Knowledge check
Gordon Brown, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak) who
became prime minister did so following the resignation of their predecessor rather 1 What is the UK
than by first winning a general election. executive?
2 Define the ‘doctor’s
The powers of the prime minister mandate’.
3 List the sources of
The prime minister, as the head of the executive, exercises the royal prerogative. prime ministerial
These executive powers derive from the monarchy but are exercised on the monarch’s power.
behalf by the prime minister. As a result of the transfer of royal prerogative powers,
the prime minister:
l determines the membership of the government, including the cabinet and cabinet Key terms
committees Royal prerogative The
l makes senior appointments to the civil service and judiciary executive power of the
l recommends most appointment of life peers to the House of Lords monarchy, such as
l negotiates foreign treaties command of the armed
l directs military forces in combat forces, patronage and
l decides whether to activate the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent. the conduct of foreign
The government shares in the prime minister’s royal prerogative. For example, in policy. As the UK is a
2013 the Ministry of Justice requested a posthumous royal pardon for Alan Turing. constitutional monarchy,
Turing cracked the German enigma code in the Second World War but in 1952 was these powers have now
convicted of ‘gross indecency’ with another man. been transferred to the
prime minister, who
The prime minister is also the key figure in casting the narrative of their
wields them on behalf
government. Margaret Thatcher, for example, defined the free-market principles
of the monarch without
and uncompromising spirit of her governments. Having won the December 2019
requiring the consent of
general election with an 80-seat majority, Boris Johnson used his substantial mandate
the legislature.
to personally associate his government with a commitment to ‘levelling up’. On the
other hand, during her brief premiership Liz Truss unsuccesfully tried to redefine Cabinet minister
the Conservatives as the party of growth and low taxation. A senior member of
government. Most
members of the cabinet
The role of government departments head a department of
As well as the prime minister, the government comprises cabinet ministers state and so have a
and junior ministers. Cabinet ministers are generally in charge of departments of major administrative and
state, such as the Treasury, Home Office, Foreign Office, Education or Transport. policy-making function.
The function of government departments is to manage that particular area of They attend cabinet and
government and to develop policy. are bound by the principle
Each ministerial team makes proposals for legislation concerning their department. of collective ministerial
This includes the introduction of major primary legislation into Parliament and also responsibility.
the amending of existing legislation, known as secondary or delegated legislation. Government department
An executive branch of
The key figures in a department are the secretary of state, who takes ultimate
government. Its role is to
responsibility for the department, and their junior ministers, who are also bound by
implement government
the principle of collective ministerial responsibility. Each department relies on the
policy and administer
support of the civil service, headed by a chief secretary. Unlike political advisers, the
its areas of interest and
civil service is defined by the principles of neutrality, anonymity and permanence,
control.
which means that civil servants should provide impartial advice, to any government,
on policy development and implementation. They are therefore not expected to be
held accountable for the actions of a department since the overall focus of policy and
administration should have been determined by elected politicians.
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Knowledge check
4 List three royal prerogative powers exercised by the prime minister.
5 What is the role of the civil service in government?
6 What is the role of political advisers in government?
Ministerial responsibility
Individual ministerial responsibility
According to the principle of individual ministerial responsibility, ministers
Key term are accountable to Parliament for the actions of their department. This means that
Individual ministerial ministers must respond honestly to questions asked by members of the legislature.
responsibility The They should, therefore, when required, justify the actions of their department
principle that members during parliamentary debate, in written responses and by appearing before select
of the cabinet take committees.
ultimate responsibility for Individual ministerial responsibility also means that a minister should take personal
what occurs within their responsibility for serious administrative or policy mistakes that occur within their
department, including both department and of which they should have been aware. They are also expected to
administrative and policy not act in any way that would discredit the government of which they are a member.
failures. They are also
individually responsible to The Ministerial Code of Conduct (1997, updated 2019 and 2022) establishes the
the prime minister for their following general principles that ministers should obey:
personal conduct. 1:1 ‘Ministers of the Crown are expected to maintain high standards of behaviour
and to behave in a way that upholds the highest standards of propriety.’
1:2 ‘Harassing, bullying or other inappropriate or discriminating behaviour
wherever it takes place is not consistent with the Ministerial Code and will not
be tolerated.’
1:3 (b) ‘Ministers have a duty to Parliament to account, and be held to account, for
the policies, decisions and actions of their departments and agencies.’
1:3 (c) ‘It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful
information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest
opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected
to offer their resignation to the Prime Minister.’
1:6 ‘Ministers only remain in office for so long as they retain the confidence of the
Prime Minister. He is the ultimate judge of the standards of behaviour expected
of a Minister and the appropriate consequences of a breach of those standards.’
The extent to which a minister can be held personally responsible for all major errors
that take place within their department is, however, controversial. Harry S. Truman
(US president, 1945–53) had a sign on his desk in the Oval Office with the words,
‘The buck stops here’, and on several occasions ministers have indeed followed this
principle and resigned office when their departments have been seriously at fault in
terms of administration or policy.
Administrative failure
In 1954, Sir Thomas Dugdale resigned as minister of agriculture over the Crichel
Down affair, when his department failed to return land to its rightful owner after it
had been compulsorily purchased to be a bombing range before the Second World
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War. Although Dugdale’s civil servants were the ones mostly at fault, Dugdale
resigned, telling Parliament, ‘I, as minister, must accept full responsibility for any
mistakes and inefficiency of officials in my department, just as, when my officials
bring off any successes on my behalf, I take full credit for them.’
Policy failure
In 1982, Lord Carrington resigned as foreign secretary from Margaret Thatcher’s
government in the immediate aftermath of Argentina’s invasion of the Falklands.
The reason for his resignation was that the Foreign Office should have been more
aware of Argentina’s intentions and should have made clearer what the response of
the British government would be to any military intervention. In his resignation
letter, he wrote:
‘The Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands has led to strong criticism in
Parliament and in the press of the Government’s policy. In my view, much of the
criticism is unfounded. But I have been responsible for the conduct of that policy,
and I think it right that I should resign.’
In 2002, Tony Blair’s education secretary, Estelle Morris, was caught up in a political
crisis over who should take responsibility for a scandal involving inappropriate
A-level grade fixing. Like Lord Carrington, she took full responsibility for the
policy failure and resigned.
However, there have also been numerous occasions when ministers have held on
to office despite intense parliamentary and media criticism of their departments. In
these circumstances they have often argued that they were not personally responsible
for the actions of those working in their department or that the policy for which
they were responsible was the policy of the whole government and they did not have
to take any individual responsibility for its failings.
Norman Lamont, chancellor of the exchequer, 1992

On ‘Black Wednesday’ (16 September 1992) the Major government was forced to
abandon the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM), having raised interest rates
by a staggering 5% in a desperate attempt to retain membership. As chancellor of
the exchequer, Lamont was most closely associated with this policy failure. Lamont
refused to resign, however, because the policy he was pursuing was also that of the
prime minister. He claimed that since Major had not resigned, neither should he.
Michael Howard, home secretary, 1995

As home secretary, Michael Howard was widely criticised for not resigning
following a series of mass breakouts from Parkhurst jail. These indicated significant
administrative failings within the Home Office. Instead, Howard sacked the director
general of the Prison Service, Derek Lewis, since he had been in operational control
of the policy that had led to the escapes. Lewis subsequently won a case of wrongful
dismissal against Howard.
Gavin Williamson, education secretary, 2020 The failure of the algorithm

In 2020, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools were required to provide A-level used to calculate GCSE and
and GCSE candidates with centre-assessed grades, which would then be modified A-level grades during the
by means of an algorithm. When this led to many A-level pupils not achieving first year of the Covid-19
the grades they required for university, Williamson abandoned the algorithm and pandemic was an example of
pupils were given grades based purely on their centre assessment. Although Sally administrative failure
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Collier, chief regulator of Ofqual, resigned because of her responsibility for the
Synoptic link
policy failure, Williamson remained in his post as education secretary until 2021
The political impact of when Boris Johnson dismissed him from the government.
the media is covered
in Chapter 4 on pages Stretch and challenge
127–36.
On 29 April 2018, Theresa May’s home secretary, Amber Rudd, resigned when she admitted that
she had misled the Home Affairs Select Committee and the House of Commons when she stated
Knowledge check that there were no Home Office targets for removing illegal immigrants. Sustained attacks from
the Labour Party and in the media had further undermined her, making her position untenable.
7 Define individual
ministerial Amber Rudd, Home Affairs Select
Ministerial Code of Conduct Committee, 25 April 2018
responsibility.
8 What is administrative 1:3 (c) It is of paramount importance Amber Rudd: ‘We don’t have targets for
that Ministers give accurate and truthful removals.’
failure?
information to Parliament, correcting Yvette Cooper: ‘But you did.’
9 List three examples any inadvertent error at the earliest Amber Rudd: ‘I don’t know. What are you
of ministers resigning opportunity. Ministers who knowingly referring to?’
over administrative mislead Parliament will be expected Yvette Cooper: ‘We just heard from
failure. to offer their resignation to the Prime previous evidence how there are regional
Minister targets for net removals.’
Why did Amber Rudd resign and do you think that she was right to resign?
Scandal
A minister can also be held accountable for their personal conduct and if this brings
the government into disrepute, they are expected to take responsibility for their
actions and, if appropriate, resign. Even ministers who might have preferred to try
to cling on to power have often had to resign because of the intensity with which
the media have speculated on their future in an era of ‘24-hour news’. Scandals can
be financial or sexual (the media favours this type) or be provoked by a disregard
for the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
Ministers can be held John Profumo, secretary of state for war, 1963
accountable for their John Profumo was one of the rising stars of the Macmillan government. However, in
personal conduct and 1963 the press uncovered evidence of his affair with the 19-year-old Christine Keeler,
are expected to take who had also been in a relationship with a soviet spy, Yevgeny Ivanov. Having lied to
responsibility for their actions Parliament about his relationship with Keeler, Profumo resigned.
Chris Huhne, energy secretary, 2012

Chris Huhne was forced to resign from the coalition government over media claims
that he had perverted the course of justice by colluding with his former wife, Vicky
Pryce, so that she took responsibility for his speeding offence. Both were convicted
and sent to prison for the crime.
Priti Patel, international development secretary, 2017

Priti Patel resigned from Theresa May’s government over a series of unofficial
private meetings that she’d had with Israeli ministers, including the prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu. Patel’s failure to report the meetings also put her directly
in contravention of the code’s requirement that ‘any significant content should be
passed back to the department as soon as possible after the event’.
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Matt Hancock, health secretary, 2021
In 2021, The Sun newspaper published photographs of the secretary of state for health,
Matt Hancock, surreptitiously kissing a colleague, Gina Coladangelo. Hancock’s
f lagrant disregard for Covid distancing regulations, despite being health secretary,
caused an outcry and he was quickly forced to resign from the government.
Suella Braverman, home secretary, 2022

On 19 October 2022 Suella Braverman resigned as home secretary having used
her personal email account to send an official document to a colleague. In her
resignation letter she stated that, ‘The business of government relies upon people
accepting responsibility for their mistakes.’ Interestingly, she then launched an attack
on the prime minister, Liz Truss, expressing her ‘concerns about the direction of
this government’. Truss resigned a day later and on 25 October Rishi Sunak re-
appointed Braverman as home secretary.
Gavin Williamson, minister of state (minister without portfolio), 2022

The Conservative chief whip Wendy Morton complained that Gavin Williamson
had sent her abusive texts over his not being invited to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth
II. Allegations that he had used bullying language against civil servants when he
was defence secretary also surfaced. Facing a fast-developing media and opposition
storm of criticism, Williamson resigned from Sunak’s government on 8 November.

Despite the convention that ministers should resign if:
l their department is responsible for a serious administrative or policy failure
l they have not told the truth to Parliament
l their personal actions have discredited the government
ministers can still hold onto office if they retain the support of the prime minister. If they can
rely on this then they will likely survive calls in Parliament and from the media to resign. A
strong prime minister may thus be able to salvage a minister’s career if they are prepared to
stand by them. However, a weakened prime minister is unlikely to have the necessary political
capital to protect a vulnerable minister.
In 2018, for example, Theresa May, who had already been weakened by her poor performance
in the 2017 general election, continued divisions over EU withdrawal and the Grenfell Tower
disaster, had little choice but to accept Amber Rudd’s resignation as home secretary, although
she was a close political ally.
In 2020, a cabinet office report stated that Priti Patel’s treatment of Sir Philip Rutnam
(permanent secretary at the Home Office) had ‘not consistently met the high standards
required by the Ministerial Code of treating her civil servants with consideration and respect’.
There was thus a strong case to suggest that Patel should resign, having breached the
ministerial code. However, Boris Johnson, then at the height of his power, stated that she
continued to have his ‘full support’ and she did not resign as home secretary.
1 Given that both home secretaries were strongly criticised for acting in defiance of the
ministerial code, why did only one resign?
2 Research examples of ministers who resigned under Margaret Thatcher (1979–90), John
Major (1990–97) and Tony Blair (1997–2007) for ‘scandalous’ behaviour.
3 To what extent do you think that individual ministerial responsibility is still an important
parliamentary convention? Explain your answer fully.
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In focus
No more good chaps?
The principle of individual ministerial responsibility, of course, depends on the prime minister
being prepared to hold their ministers properly accountable, as well as not breaching the
Ministerial Code of Conduct themselves. Constitutional expert Peter Hennessy refers to
this as the ‘good chaps’ theory of government whereby the prime minister should be relied
upon to act in an appropriate fashion. However, in 2022 this came close to breaking point
when Boris Johnson was accused of misleading Parliament over whether he had attended
Downing Street parties in defiance of the government’s own Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
As the political crisis intensified, in May a report by senior civil servant Sue Gray accused
No. 10 of ‘failures of leadership and judgement’. Soon after, Johnson announced a revision of
the ministerial code. Reference to ‘integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty
and leadership in the public interest’ was removed from the prime minister’s foreword and
the revised code was accompanied by the statement that it would be ‘disproportionate
to expect that any breach, however minor, should lead automatically to resignation or
dismissal’.
In June, 41% of Conservative MPs called upon Johnson to step down as prime minister.
However, he still refused to relinquish office and it was only when 62/179 ministers in his
government resigned in the wake of the Chris Pincher scandal that he reluctantly agreed to
leave office.
The smooth operation of individual ministerial responsibility is therefore clearly dependent
on the conduct of the prime minister. Time will tell whether Johnson’s approach to the code
represents the new norm or an aberration.
Collective ministerial responsibility

According to the principle of collective ministerial responsibility, if the
Key term government loses a vote of confidence in the House of Commons, the whole
Collective ministerial government must resign. This memorably happened on 28 March 1979 when the
responsibility All members Labour government of James Callaghan lost a vote of confidence by 311 to 310
of the government are votes, precipitating a sudden general election.
expected to publicly l Collective ministerial responsibility also requires that discussions within cabinet
support it. If a minister must be kept secret in order to maintain the integrity of government.
cannot do this, they should l A core aspect of collective ministerial responsibility is that members of the
resign. They should also government must support agreed policies even if in private they may have
not disclose the contents been highly critical of them. This is important in maintaining the unity of
of private ministerial the government. In political terms, unity represents strength and so collective
discussions. If the ministerial responsibility is fundamental to the survival of the government. If
administration is defeated collective responsibility did not operate, the authority of the prime minister
on a vote of confidence, would be greatly undermined.
this convention also states l If a minister cannot publicly agree with a government policy or the way in
that all members of the which government is being run, they have no choice but to resign and return
government must resign. to the back benches. This has happened on numerous occasions, with varied
consequences for the authority of the prime minister.
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High-profile ministerial resignations over collective responsibility
Peter Thorneycroft, chancellor of the exchequer, 1958
In 1958, the chancellor of the exchequer, Peter Thorneycroft, resigned from the
Macmillan government because he could not publicly support what he regarded as
the excessive public spending of the government. Two other Treasury ministers,
Enoch Powell and Nigel Birch, resigned with him. Macmillan dismissed the
resignations as ‘little local difficulties’ and the government went on to win the 1959
general election by a landslide.
Geoffrey Howe, leader of the House of Commons and deputy prime minister,
1990
The pro-European Geoffrey Howe resigned from the Thatcher government on
1 November 1990, just 2 days after Margaret Thatcher delivered her famous assault
on European federalism in her ‘No, no, no’ speech. In his resignation speech to the
House of Commons on 13 November, Howe explained that he could no longer serve
under an increasingly Eurosceptic prime minister. Howe’s resignation prompted the
leadership challenge of Michael Heseltine and by the end of November, Thatcher
had been forced from office.
Robin Cook, leader of the House of Commons, 2003

In 2003, Robin Cook resigned from Tony Blair’s government over its preparations
for war against Iraq. Cook was unconvinced by claims that Saddam Hussein was
a threat to the UK’s national interests and in his resignation speech explained,
‘I intend to join those tomorrow night who will vote against military action now.
It is for that reason, and for that reason alone, and with a heavy heart, that I resign
from the government.’ Jeremy Corbyn, among others, lent him his support. The
UK continued its preparations for war and Blair won a third general election victory
in 2005.
Boris Johnson, foreign secretary, 2018

Having been an unenthusiastic supporter of Theresa May’s Brexit negotiations, Boris
Johnson finally resigned when he decided that he could not publicly support her
Chequers Agreement as the basis for an EU withdrawal agreement. His ministerial
letter of resignation provides a classic statement of the meaning of collective
ministerial responsibility.
‘On Friday I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail
and congratulated you on at least reaching a cabinet decision on the way forward.
As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. The trouble is that I have
practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat. We
must have collective responsibility. Since I cannot in all conscience champion these
proposals, I have sadly concluded that I must go’.
Boris Johnson, resignation letter, 9 July 2018
Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sajid Javid, health

secretary, 2022
Criticisms of Boris Johnson’s style of leadership came to a head when his deputy
chief whip, Chris Pincher, resigned over allegations that he had sexually assaulted
two men. When it became clear that Johnson had been aware of previous complaints
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made against Pincher, Sunak and Javid resigned within minutes of each other. Sunak’s
Knowledge check
resignation letter focused on economic policy differences with the prime minister: ‘In
10 What is policy failure? preparation for our proposed joint speech on the economy next week, it has become
11 List three examples clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different.’ In contrast, Javid
of ministers resigning focused on what he called the prime minister’s lack of ‘integrity’ and failure to instil
over policy failure. ‘strong values’. Fatally damaged, Johnson announced his resignation 2 days later.
12 Define collective
ministerial Breaking the rules?
responsibility. The extent to which collective ministerial responsibility always operates can,
however, be contested. Ministers can choose to remain in government while making
indiscreet criticisms of it. John Major, for example, did not trust several Eurosceptic
members of his cabinet, whom he rightly believed were briefing the press against
him behind his back. He was even caught on microphone confiding to journalist
Michael Brunson:
‘Oh, I can bring in other people into the Cabinet, that is right, but where do you think
most of this poison has come from? It is coming from the dispossessed and the
never-possessed. You and I can both think of ex-ministers who are going around
causing all sorts of trouble. Would you like three more of the bastards out there?’
The following instances demonstrate occasions when ministers broke (or almost broke)
collective ministerial responsibility and yet did not resign from the government:
l In 1974, three members of Harold Wilson’s government, Tony Benn, Judith Hart
and Joan Lestor, backed a resolution by Labour’s National Executive Council
condemning the government’s decision to agree to joint UK/South African
naval exercises as a ‘gross error’. A furious Wilson reminded them that if they
were not prepared to abide by collective ministerial responsibility then he would
acknowledge this ‘as a decision on your part that you did not wish to continue as
a member of this administration’. They did not resign.
l From 2010 to 2015, Vince Cable was the Liberal Democrat business secretary in
David Cameron’s coalition government. Frequently critical of his Conservative
colleagues, in 2014 he publicly criticised George Osborne’s cuts in public
expenditure in his autumn budget statement.
l During the 2 years before Boris Johnson resigned from May’s government in
2018, his criticisms of the government’s developing EU policy had been notably
hostile. When, for example, the prime minister said she favoured a customs
partnership with the EU, Johnson told the Daily Mail that the plan was ‘totally
untried and would make it very, very difficult to do free trade deals’. He also
argued in The Sun that there should be ‘no monkeying around’ over withdrawal
from the EU. May, however, refused to sack him as foreign secretary, claiming
that she preferred not to have ‘a cabinet of yes men’.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

On rare occasions, the prime minister may acknowledge that it is impossible to
achieve collective ministerial responsibility. In these circumstances the convention
is suspended and ministers are allowed to disagree publicly with each other.
l Notably this occurred during the UK’s referendums on continued membership
of the European Economic Community (1975) and the European Union (2016).
l In 1975, the prime minister, Harold Wilson, allowed members of the cabinet
to campaign in favour of or against membership. Two of the most high-profile
figures in his government, Roy Jenkins (yes to membership) and Tony Benn
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(no to membership), even debated the issue on television during a special edition
of Panorama.
l In 2016, David Cameron made a similar concession to his cabinet. Although he
personally campaigned on behalf of Remain, he knew that if he demanded that
Eurosceptic members of his cabinet, such as Michael Gove and Chris Grayling,
support membership then he would suffer a series of damaging resignations.
Consequently, he suspended collective ministerial responsibility on this issue,
allowing members of the cabinet such as Iain Duncan Smith (Work and Pensions)
and Theresa Villiers (Northern Ireland) to campaign against membership even
though the policy of the government was to remain.
l In 2010, the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition was established. Although
they had, of course, campaigned against each other in the general election, David
Cameron and Nick Clegg were able to agree a coalition agreement on those
areas where government ministers would have to obey collective ministerial
responsibility. However, some contentious areas were not covered by the
agreement and so on these ministers could still publicly disagree. These included
Trident renewal and the construction of new nuclear power stations, both of
which the Liberal Democrats had vigorously opposed in the general election.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats also campaigned on different sides on
the alternative vote referendum in 2011. In 2014, Nick Clegg publicly stated that
he would not support David Cameron if he sought parliamentary approval to
bomb Islamic State targets in Syria.
l In 2016, Theresa May temporarily suspended collective ministerial responsibility
over controversial government plans to expand Heathrow. Two members of her
cabinet (Boris Johnson, Foreign Office and Justine Greening, Education) had
constituencies that would be affected and were known to be against expansion.
To avoid potential resignations May did not require their public support.
l In March 2019, 13 ministers in Theresa May’s government abstained on a vote to
stop a ‘no deal Brexit’ even though the government was committed to keeping
‘no deal’ as an option.
In focus
Collective ministerial responsibility challenged, Knowledge check
13 List five examples
2017–19 of ministers
On 15 January 2019 Theresa May’s government suffered a devastating parliamentary defeat resigning over
when 118 Eurosceptic Conservative MPs rebelled over her Brexit deal proposals. Her loss by collective ministerial
230 votes (432:202) was the biggest in parliamentary history. Some critics suggested that responsibility.
since the government had been defeated on its leading manifesto commitment it should have 14 When does the
resigned. In 1940, for example, although Neville Chamberlain won an adjournment debate on convention of
the government’s handling of the Norway expedition, he resigned when 39 government MPs collective ministerial
failed to support him. responsibility not
However, having come close to being defeated by Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 general election, apply in government?
May was unwilling to risk another general election. Conservative MPs were also determined 15 On what occasion did
to avoid this and so when Corbyn called a vote of confidence, they rallied around the prime Theresa May suspend
minister (325/306), giving her a 19-vote majority. The government subsequently lost two more collective ministerial
attempts to get the House of Commons to support its EU withdrawal agreement by 149 votes responsibility in
(12 March) and 58 votes (29 March). 2016?
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The convention of collective individual ministerial responsibility has thus been put
under significant strain in recent years:
l when prime ministers have suspended the principle
l when governments have failed to resign despite being defeated on a core policy
manifesto commitment
l when members of government have successfully disassociated themselves from
government policy.
However, the UK’s departure from the European Union in 2020 may, once again,
make it easier to uphold collective ministerial responsibility. Much though will
depend upon whether other divisive issues replace Brexit and whether ministers
are still prepared to resign on principle if they cannot publicly endorse government
policy.
The prime minister and the cabinet

The functions of the cabinet
The cabinet consists of 20–25 senior government ministers who generally head
large departments of state. It usually meets once a week for no more than 2 hours
on a Thursday morning, although in a crisis it can also be summoned. The prime
minister sets the agenda, chairs and sums up the meeting and then approves the
cabinet secretary’s minutes. Votes are very rarely taken and although there can be
intense debate and disagreement within cabinet, the prime minister expects all
present to publicly support the government’s decisions and policies based on the
principle of collective ministerial responsibility. If a member of the cabinet cannot
publicly agree to a policy determined by cabinet, they should have to resign and join
the back benches, where they are free to criticise the government.
The cabinet has several important roles:
l Since many decisions are taken elsewhere within the executive, a core function
of the cabinet is to approve them, so providing them with the seal of government
policy. This maintains the unity of the government. The cabinet provides the
key forum in which government policies are legitimised.
l The cabinet can also determine key issues of policy. In 1976, James Callaghan
allowed the cabinet to freely debate whether to accept a loan from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). All sides presented their cases on the understanding that
at the end a consensus would be reached and that would be government policy.
In 2018, May summoned the cabinet to Chequers, the prime minister’s country
retreat, to determine what the government’s bargaining position should be in the
final stages of her Brexit negotiations.
l A key role of cabinet is to decide how the government will determine business.
If controversial legislation is going to be introduced into Parliament, the cabinet
will need to discuss how it is best presented and ministers will need to know
when they should be available on the front benches to enthusiastically support
it. The chief whip will also explain whether there is likely to be a sufficient
government majority for a bill and so the cabinet may debate any concessions
they may need to make in order to win parliamentary support.
l If a dispute between two departments of state is proving impossible to resolve, the
issue may be brought to cabinet as a final court of appeal to resolve it. This was
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particularly significant when departmental conf licts had to be resolved during
the 2010–15 coalition.
l Prime ministers also appoint cabinet committees to develop and implement
specific policy. This can be an effective way of enhancing prime ministerial
authority, since the prime minister determines the membership and the number
and remit of the committees. The decisions of cabinet committees possess the
same legitimacy as decisions of the full cabinet. The prime minister often chooses
to chair committees on issues that are particularly important to the government.
For example, Boris Johnson decided to chair the Covid-19 Strategy Committee
and the Climate Action Strategy Committee.
How is the cabinet selected?

By deciding who is in the cabinet, the prime minister puts their own stamp upon
government. However, even here, the prime minister does not have a completely
free hand. As Walter Bagehot put it in his seminal work The English Constitution
(1867), ‘The position of most men in Parliament forbids their being invited to the
cabinet; the position of a few men ensures their being invited.’ In other words,
there will be some high-profile ‘big beasts’ whose exclusion would be politically
impossible, while other members of the legislature would never aspire to high
office.
The prime minister is under great pressure to include in their cabinet inf luential
colleagues and dominant personalities. Harold Wilson knew that George Brown,
whom he had defeated for the party leadership, was rated more highly than him
by many Labour supporters — ‘Better George Brown drunk than Harold Wilson
sober’ — and so he appointed him deputy prime minister. In 1997, it would have
been inconceivable for Tony Blair not to appoint Gordon Brown as chancellor of
the exchequer, given his grasp of economics and their agreement to share the two
top jobs in government.
The prime minister also advances to senior positions key allies they can rely on to
provide unwavering support in a crisis.
l Margaret Thatcher relied totally on the advice and support of William Whitelaw,
her first home secretary. She also advanced to key positions politicians like
Norman Tebbit (Employment) and Cecil Parkinson (party chairman), who
loyally shared her political views.
l After his second landslide general election victory, Tony Blair advanced the careers
of Labour modernisers, such as Alan Johnson (Education) and Alan Milburn
(Health), to provide his government with continued reforming momentum.
l When she became prime minister in 2016, Theresa May was determined to
remove the ‘Notting Hill’ public school ‘chumocracy’ that David Cameron had
cultivated. She sacked George Osborne as chancellor of the exchequer to make
her administration appear less elitist.
The prime minister would be well advised to also include potential rivals in government,
since this binds them to collective ministerial responsibility so they cannot publicly
criticise the government. By rewarding them with high office they may even be able
to cultivate their loyalty. Margaret Thatcher was considerably weakened when Michael
Heseltine resigned from her government. From 2016 to 2018, Theresa May tolerated
Boris Johnson’s rather broad interpretation of collective ministerial responsibility on
the understanding that her position was safer with him inside government.
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Party unity is vital, so the prime minister often decides to balance their cabinet to
avoid alienating certain sections of the party. This was well exemplified by Tony
Blair’s inclusion of John Prescott, who served as deputy prime minister from 1997
to 2007. Prescott was from the working-class left of the Labour Party and had had
a career in the merchant navy. He gained inf luence as a militant member of the
National Union of Seamen and then entered Parliament. By appointing Prescott
to such a prominent role in government, Blair reassured the left of the party that
New Labour had not entirely abandoned its socialist ideology. Similarly, even after
her third general election victory in 1987, Margaret Thatcher kept one-nation
Conservatives in her cabinet, such as Douglas Hurd and Kenneth Clarke.
Table 7.1 Remain and Leave MPs in May’s first cabinet, 2016
Remain Leave
Philip Hammond: chancellor of the exchequer Boris Johnson: foreign secretary
Amber Rudd: home secretary David Davis: Brexit secretary
Party unity was especially important to Theresa May when she became prime minister
in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum. Since the Conservative Party
was split down the middle over Brexit, she had to give prominent cabinet positions
to both Remain and Leave politicians (Table 7.1).
When there is a coalition, the prime minister’s right to appoint is severely restricted.
In 2010, David Cameron, as part of the Coalition Agreement, had to appoint Nick
Clegg as deputy prime minister and give the Liberal Democrats 5 out of the 22 seats in
cabinet. In contrast, Boris Johnson was initially so politically dominant and faced so
few rivals within the Conservative Party that he could act in defiance of the principle
of balance, only appointing to his cabinet those who shared his political ideology. In
2022, Liz Truss also advanced her own political allies on the cabinet at the expense of
allies of her rival for the leadership, Rishi Sunak. The disadvantage of this approach
is that it can encourage party divisions if one party faction feels marginalised. When
Sunak replaced Truss as prime minister, he reverted to a more traditionally balanced
approach to cabinet. He retained Jeremy Hunt (who shares his economic views) as
chancellor of the exchequer while returning Michael Gove and Dominic Raab to
government. However, to further balance the party, he also kept James Cleverly as
Key terms foreign secretary and reinstated Suella Braverman as home secretary.
Cabinet government
A type of government How significant is the cabinet?
in which the cabinet According to Walter Bagehot in The English Constitution, the cabinet is ‘the most
plays the key role in the powerful body in the state’ and the prime minister, rather than dominating it, is
development of policy. It essentially first among equals. However, it has also been claimed that the relatively
provides a direct contrast large size of the cabinet precludes constructive debate. This supports the view that it
to the prime-ministerial is more of a rubber stamp for policies that have already been determined elsewhere
model of government. in the core executive than a sounding board for new ideas.
Prime-ministerial
Especially since the government of Harold Wilson in the 1960s, the centrality of
government A model of
the cabinet in government (cabinet government) has been questioned. Prime
government in which the
ministers have acquired so many other sources of advice and information, and are
prime minister is dominant
now treated so presidentially by the media, that they will already have decided
and the cabinet is
the focus and direction of their government without needing to talk it through
relegated to a subordinate
cabinet. It has been claimed that the UK now has a system of prime-ministerial
decision-making role.
government rather than cabinet government.
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The expansion of the prime minister’s Private Office has provided an enhanced
Knowledge check
engine of government. In 1974, on his return to office, Harold Wilson set up the
Policy Unit in Downing Street to provide him with his own support and advice in 16 What is the role
developing political strategy. Tony Blair introduced a number of initiatives to further of the cabinet in
increase control from the centre and the most important phrase in government, it government?
was half-joked, became ‘Tony wants’. 17 What is a cabinet
committee?
l The position of chief of staff was established to coordinate government
18 List three factors
policy. Jonathan Powell, who held the position under Blair, explained that his
that may influence
appointment demonstrated ‘a change from a feudal system of barons to a more
the prime minister’s
Napoleonic system’. Blair’s successors have all retained this role.
cabinet selection.
l The establishment by Blair of the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and Prime
19 List four occasions
Minister’s Delivery Unit further challenged the autonomy of cabinet ministers by
when the cabinet has
setting their departments’ targets and monitoring their performance. Although
played an important
David Cameron abolished both roles because of fears of micro-management, he
role in decision
strengthened the Implementation Unit to ensure more coordinated government.
making.
l The Press Office under Alastair Campbell became more prominent in government,
ensuring that Downing Street had more control over how news stories were
presented and responded to.
l Blair increasingly relied on special advisers (SPADS) for advice rather than the
civil service. His successors have continued to use SPADS to develop policy
because, as political appointments, they are committed to the same political
ideology as the prime minister. For example, one prominent SPAD, Dominic
Cummings, played a vital and highly partisan role as Boris Johnson’s chief
adviser (2019–20) in determining the policy priorities and strategies of his
government.
Like Blair, Boris Johnson was keen to put his stamp very firmly on all aspects
of government policy. He demanded that cabinet members’ political advisers
be approved by No. 10, prompting Sajid Javid’s resignation as chancellor of the
exchequer in 2020. The cabinet office was also given enhanced powers to supervise
the work of each department. However, it would be wrong to dismiss the inf luence
of cabinet. Every cabinet is composed of the most powerful and inf luential members
of a political party and the prime minister would be unwise to ignore the political
experience that the cabinet can provide. Members of the cabinet are also likely to
be ambitious, and those heading powerful departments like the Treasury, Home
Office or Foreign Office have been compared to feudal barons with the authority
to challenge the prime minister.
l In 2018, Jeremy Hunt refused Theresa May’s attempt to move him from the then
Department of Health and even managed to expand his role to being health and
social care secretary.
l The prime minister’s ability to govern and achieve the outcomes they want also
depends on them maintaining the confidence of the cabinet.
l In 1956, Anthony Eden was forced to announce a ceasefire against Egypt in the
Suez War when the cabinet refused to support further hostilities.
l In 1969, Harold Wilson failed to combat growing trade union power when
leading members of the cabinet, led by the home secretary, James Callaghan,
refused to support him over ‘In Place of Strife’.
l Once Margaret Thatcher (1990) and Boris Johnson (2022) lost the support of
their cabinets, they were both forced to resign office.
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Prime ministers and their cabinets
Each prime minister will approach cabinet differently depending on their character
and political circumstances. Prime ministers who value debate and want to achieve
consensus are thus more likely to utilise cabinet than those who are more single-
minded and urgently committed to achieving their objectives. Prime ministers
with small or non-existent parliamentary majorities and with ideologically divided
parties will also need to consult cabinet to maintain party unity.
As prime minister, James Callaghan (1976–79) lacked a parliamentary majority and
led an administration divided between left and right. He therefore worked hard to
achieve consensus in cabinet on contentious debates such as the IMF loan (1976) to
stop his government from fracturing.
In her first government (1979–83), Margaret Thatcher faced opposition from one-
nation Conservatives who distrusted her monetarist policies and so she needed to
ensure cabinet unity by thoroughly debating controversial policies. As challenges to
her authority diminished in her second (1983–87) and third governments (1987–90),
so did her use of cabinet.
At the start of his second government (1992–97) John Major had only a 21-seat
majority. His cabinet and the parliamentary party were also bitterly divided over
membership of the European Union. Consequently, Major tried to achieve workable
compromises in cabinet to hold his government together.
In contrast Tony Blair had a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve as prime
minister, as well as strong parliamentary majorities, and so cabinet became more
focused on reporting decisions that had already been made elsewhere. Blair’s failure
to properly consult cabinet even led one member, Mo Mowlam, to claim in 2001
that ‘cabinet itself is dead, it doesn’t have a function to play’.
However, it is important not to generalise. Despite his powerful 80-seat majority
in the December 2019 general election, Boris Johnson understood the value
of debating contentious issues in cabinet to maintain unity and avoid damaging
resignations. In December 2021, cabinet freely discussed the case for new Covid
restrictions to stop the alarming spread of the Omicron variant. At the meeting
Johnson allowed supporters of the new measures, including health secretary Sajid
Javid, to argue the case with opponents of new measures including the chancellor
of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak. The cabinet lasted double its normal length and at
the end Johnson announced he had not been convinced there was ‘enough data’ for
further restrictions.
On 24 February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Johnson summoned an
emergency meeting of the cabinet at 8.30 p.m. It directly followed a 7.30 p.m.
meeting of COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A), which deals with national
emergencies. Johnson used the cabinet meeting to fully brief its members on the
government’s response to the invasion, to ensure that the government showed a
united front during the emergency.
Knowledge check
20 List the main parts of the prime minister’s Private Office.
21 List four factors that may limit the power of the prime minister.
22 Who resigned as prime minister in 1990 and why?
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In focus
‘If you want a friend in politics, get a dog’
(anonymous)
As Margaret Thatcher’s grip on power loosened in 1990, the Conservative minister and
Thatcher loyalist Alan Clark confided in his diary, ‘There are no true friends in politics. We are
all sharks circling and waiting for traces of blood to appear in the water.’
Research the circumstances in which Margaret Thatcher and Liz Truss resigned as prime minister
in 1990 and 2022 respectively. What mistakes did they make that contributed to their fall?
Debate
Does the cabinet play a central role in British government?

Evaluation: Walter Bagehot placed the cabinet at the centre of British government. However, has the influence of the cabinet
been increasingly challenged by powerful prime ministers with rival sources of expertise and advice?
Yes No
• During political crises the prime minister will need to • Although Harold Macmillan presented an image of calm
discuss all the options open to them with the cabinet unflappability, he had a clear political agenda that he
since the cabinet contains the accumulated wisdom of wanted to achieve. In just 6 years he appointed four
the government chancellors of the exchequer, closely monitoring their
• Boris Johnson consulted the cabinet on major crises approach to economic policy. On the appointment of
such as the spread of the Omicron variant (December his last chancellor of the exchequer, Reginald Maudling,
2021) during the pandemic. There was genuine Macmillan noted in his diary: ‘To my great pleasure (and
uncertainty over the best approach to follow and so the surprise) the Treasury are now adopting my views’ (10
cabinet provided an important forum for debate August 1962)
• Following the Argentinean invasion of the Falklands in • Harold Wilson liked to make decisions through a small
April 1982, Margaret Thatcher summoned an emergency body of core advisers in his Downing Street flat. This
meeting of the cabinet to discuss all the diplomatic and was known as the ‘kitchen cabinet’ and included
military options open to the government key friends and allies such as his secretary Marcia
Williams, press secretary Joe Haines and political
adviser Bernard Donoughue
• In April 2018, Theresa May called an urgent meeting to • Edward Heath saw himself as an efficient moderniser
discuss a military response to the Syrian government’s and so made key decisions with trusted advisers such
presumed use of chemical weapons. It was particularly as cabinet secretary Sir Robert Armstrong and his
important that she knew she could rely on the support political secretary Douglas Hurd
of the cabinet because she was not intending to
consult the House of Commons
• When Russia invade Ukraine (24 February 2022) Johnson
held an emergency cabinet meeting to ensure the
cabinet was fully briefed on the government’s response
• In 1976, James Callaghan’s cabinet thoroughly • Margaret Thatcher also had a clear political vision of
discussed the IMF loan, while John Major’s cabinet met what she wanted to achieve and, especially towards the
in emergency sessions during the Black Wednesday end of her prime ministership, pushed issues such as
economic crisis in 1992 the poll tax through cabinet with insufficient discussion.
She discouraged discussion during the Westland crisis,
which highlights her sometimes imperious and arrogant
approach to cabinet government
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Yes No
The prime minister also depends on cabinet support to
remain in power:
• Tony Blair liked to make decisions quickly and was
impatient with long discussions. He therefore discouraged
• In 1990, the failure of the cabinet to offer Margaret cabinet discussion, preferring to have already made key
Thatcher its full support during Michael Heseltine’s decisions with ministers in bilateral meetings
leadership challenge prompted her resignation
• In 2017, Theresa May decided to call a snap election
• The resignations of the chancellor of the exchequer, without consulting her cabinet. The manifesto was also
Rishi Sunak, and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, from overseen by her two chiefs of staff (Fiona Hill and Nick
Boris Johnson’s government on 5 July 2022 triggered Timothy) with no cabinet involvement
three other cabinet resignations. Facing the collapse of
his government, Johnson announced his resignation on
• From 2019 to 2020, Boris Johnson’s key strategy
decisions were primarily made in close cooperation
7 July 2022 with his chief adviser Dominic Cummings
• Having sacked her chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi
• The growing influence of Downing Street political
Kwarteng, Liz Truss was left brutally exposed by the advisers reduces the importance of cabinet. Cabinet
shock resignation of her home secretary, Suella usually meets once a week. Political advisers,
Braverman (19 October 2022). A day later (20 October), meanwhile, have constant access to the prime
Truss announced her resignation as prime minister minister. For example, the prime minister’s chief
of staff and head of the policy unit play a vital role
developing government strategy
Two examples of how prime ministers can approach cabinet

The IMF loan, 1976
In 1976 the Labour government was in turmoil over whether to accept a loan from
the International Monetary Fund with its accompanying demands for stringent cuts
in public spending. The chancellor of the exchequer, Denis Healey, argued that
there was no alternative to the loan. However, Callaghan needed to prove that the
government was united on the issue and so allowed the cabinet to fully debate it.
The leading opponent of the loan, Tony Benn, noted in his diary on 1 December
1976 that Callaghan told the cabinet, ‘We shall have to rally to the majority view,
whatever it is, or it will not be possible for me to carry on.’
The Westland affair, 1986

During 1985 and 1986, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of
Defence clashed over whether a British firm, Westland Helicopters, should be taken over
by an American or European bid. The dispute proved so irreconcilable that it went to
cabinet to be resolved. However, the defence secretary, Michael Heseltine, complained
that Margaret Thatcher’s obvious bias towards the American business undermined
genuine cabinet debate and he spectacularly resigned during a meeting of the cabinet on
9 January 1986, allegedly stating, ‘I can no longer be a member of this cabinet.’
To what extent is the prime minister the dominant

force in politics?
‘Events, dear boy, events’ (Harold Macmillan)
The authority that the prime minister wields depends greatly on the circumstances
in which they hold office. Harold Macmillan once quipped to a journalist that the
power of the prime minister depends on ‘events, dear boy, events’, while Harold
Wilson commented that ‘a week is a long time in politics’. Although prime ministers
can decisively move on the political agenda, they can also fall victim to a changing
political environment.
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Harold Macmillan (1957–63)
In 1962, Harold Macmillan determined to give new energy to his government by sacking
a third of his cabinet, including his chancellor of the exchequer, Selwyn Lloyd. Far from
enhancing his authority, the decision gave the impression that Macmillan had lost his
deft political touch and was in panic. The young Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe claimed,
‘greater love hath no man than he lay down his friends for his life’ and Macmillan’s
reputation never recovered as the press went from referring to him as ‘Supermac’ to
‘Mac the knife’. A year later, the Profumo scandal, in which Macmillan’s secretary of
state for war, John Profumo, was forced to resign over an affair with Christine Keeler
that seemed to threaten national security, further undermined Macmillan’s authority
and, following emergency surgery, he decided to resign office in October 1963.
Edward Heath (1970–74)

Edward Heath had a dominant personality, a loyal cabinet,
a clear vision and a workable parliamentary majority
and was determined to modernise the UK. His most
significant achievement was using the prestige of his
office to negotiate the UK’s entry into the EEC in 1973.
However, his authority was challenged by a remarkable
series of misfortunes. Miners’ strikes in 1972 and then
again in 1974 threatened the nation’s energy supplies, while
a dramatic rise in the cost of oil led to a huge increase in
global inflation, undermining the government’s economic
strategy. Faced by mounting industrial unrest, Heath
called a snap general election in February 1974, which
Miners’ strikes and a huge rise in inflation undermined
he lost by four seats to Harold Wilson.
Edward’s Heath’s economic strategy
James Callaghan (1976–79)

Following the resignation of Harold Wilson, James Callaghan became prime
minister in 1976. Popular in the party and with a strong personal approval rating in
the nation, he quickly stamped his authority on government. At the 1976 Labour
Party conference, he challenged the post-war economic consensus, telling delegates:
‘The cosy world we were told would go on for ever, where full employment would be
guaranteed by a stroke of the Chancellor’s pen, cutting taxes, deficit spending;
that cosy world is gone.’
The result of the speech was a sudden and dramatic change in government policy
from high spending to def lationary measures. This commitment to def lation proved
to be effective in starting to bring down inf lation.
Callaghan, however, decided not to call a general election in the autumn of 1978, which
he was widely expected to win. That winter the authority of his government was
undermined by a series of damaging strikes that became known as the Winter of Discontent.
Abandoned by the Liberal Party and the nationalist parties, his minority government
eventually lost a vote of confidence in the House of Commons, forcing Callaghan to call
a general election at the worst possible time for the survival of his government.
John Major (1990–97)

When he replaced Margaret Thatcher as prime minister in 1990, John Major quickly
changed the dynamic of the Conservative government. He ditched the unpopular
poll tax and was widely praised for negotiating an opt-out from the social chapter in
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the Maastricht Treaty. However, Major achieved only a 21-seat majority in the 1992
general election. This gave Eurosceptic Conservative MPs the opportunity to disrupt
ratification of the treaty, exposing growing divisions within the Conservative Party.
In June 1995, John Major resigned the leadership of the Conservative Party, telling
his Eurosceptic critics to either ‘put up or shut up’. One member of his cabinet, John
Redwood, decided to take up the challenge, winning the support of 89 MPs to
Major’s 218 in a leadership ballot, further exposing the divisions and highlighting
Major’s declining authority as prime minister.
Allegations of ministerial sleaze and constant media criticism, together with Tony
Blair’s combative leadership of the Labour Party, further contributed to his decline.
David Cameron (2010–16)

As coalition prime minister, David Cameron introduced major
cuts to public expenditure as part of the government’s austerity
programme. He also put the weight of his authority behind legislation
allowing same-sex marriage despite the opposition of large numbers
of more traditionalist Conservative MPs. Coalition government
placed significant restraints on Cameron’s freedom of manoeuvre,
however. As part of the Coalition Agreement, he had to allow a
referendum on electoral reform in 2011 and he failed to reform
parliamentary boundaries when the Liberal Democrats withdrew
their support. His failure to persuade Parliament to support bombing
President Assad in 2013, following the use of chemical weapons in
Syria, further demonstrated the limits on his authority.
Cameron’s promise to call a referendum on the UK’s membership of
the EU probably helped to keep the Conservative Party united and
helped him win the 2015 general election. However, the surprise
vote for Brexit which provoked Cameron’s immediate resignation
on 24 June 2016 highlights that the prime minister cannot always
control events. Cameron had campaigned hard for Remain and the
victory for Leave meant, he said, that it would not be right for him
to ‘be the captain that steers our country to its next destination’.
Boris Johnson (2019–22)

Boris Johnson’s prime ministership provides the most stunning example of how
political fortunes can change. Having achieved a highly personal 2019 general
election victory, Johnson initially dominated politics. With no potential rivals
for the leadership, Brexit secured, the party united around him, a lacklustre
opposition and very favourable press coverage, Johnson was seemingly impregnable.
However, as allegations that he had broken lockdown regulations and then misled
Parliament began to surface, Johnson’s grip on power steadily diminished. Serious
criticisms of his style of government in the Sue Gray Report, closely followed by
41% of Conservative MPs voting against him in a vote of confidence, significantly
undermined his authority. When it became known that Johnson had still appointed
Chris Pincher deputy chief whip despite serious personal allegations having been
made against him, Johnson’s judgement and probity were further criticised. In
these circumstances the resignations of two such high-profile cabinet members as
Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid within moments of each other left Johnson completely
exposed and within 2 days he was forced to announce his resignation.
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Knowledge check
23 When did cabinet discuss the IMF loan?
24 Who resigned as prime minister in 2016 and why?
25 Who was prime minister 1990–97?
26 Who was prime minister 2016–19?
27 What was the significance of the Sue Gray Report and the resignation of Chris Pincher in
2022?
Debate
The prime minister is the dominant force in UK politics

Evaluation: Although the prime minister wields extensive power, what circumstances beyond their control can make it difficult for
them to set the political agenda?
Yes No
• The policy unit and cabinet office report directly to • Prime ministers can only be dominant in certain
the prime minister. The prime minister chooses their circumstances
membership and they play a key role in developing • During his second administration (1992–97),
policy (policy unit) and then ensuring departments put John Major had a small (21-seat) majority and the
it into action (cabinet office) Conservative Party was divided over membership of the
• The prime minister determines the main policy EU. This made it difficult for him to be a dominant force
objectives of government (Boris Johnson: Brexit, • Intense divisions over Europe, her lack of a
increased defence spending, levelling up). This is parliamentary majority (2017–19) and her lack of
sometimes referred to as ‘making the political weather’ charisma made it impossible for Theresa May to control
• The cabinet is selected by the prime minister. Cabinet the political agenda
careers can also be advanced or ruined by the prime • As a coalition prime minister (2010–15) David Cameron
minister. This gives the prime minister significant had to agree to certain policies (AV referendum) as part
patronage power, consolidating their authority within of the coalition agreement (2010)
the party
• Boris Johnson (2019) lacked the necessary
• The prime minister chairs cabinet and key cabinet parliamentary support to achieve his EU withdrawal
committees, enabling them to steer the development agreement. His authority was so limited that on 3
of government policy September 2019 the House of Commons voted to take
• The media spotlight is constantly focused on the prime control of parliamentary business
minister. Strong communicators (Margaret Thatcher, • In 2022, Boris Johnson’s ability to control events
Tony Blair, Boris Johnson) can use this to set the crumbled as he lost the support of large numbers of
political agenda backbenchers and ministers over allegations that he had
• The prime minister decides crucial intelligence and misled Parliament over breaking lockdown regulations
military issues and in national crises such as Covid-19 • The Supreme Court can challenge the authority of the
plays the key role, determining strategy prime minister (Theresa May’s attempt to secure EU
withdrawal without parliamentary approval in 2016 and
Boris Johnson’s attempt to prorogue Parliament in 2019)
• Liz Truss’ attempt to radically transform her
government’s economic strategy was quickly condemned
by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As the pound
plummeted in value, Tory backbenchers and the press
turned against her, and her home secretary, Suella
Braverman, resigned. Truss was then forced out of office
after just 45 days
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Knowledge check Presidents in all but name?
Several political commentators regard the position of the prime minister as becoming
28 Define
increasingly presidential. According to this model, prime ministers have become so
presidentialism in UK
dominant in cabinet, and the media have become so obsessed with their characters,
politics.
that their personal charisma and inf luence have enabled them to dominate decision
29 What is the spatial
making as pseudo-presidential figures.
leadership thesis?
30 List four prime The presidentialism thesis of British politics dates from the 1960s, when Harold
ministers who Wilson, as an admirer of President John F. Kennedy (1961–63), confidently utilised
displayed presidential television to reach out directly to the public, creating a close relationship between
characteristics. him and the voters. He clearly understood, too, the political power of a good photo
31 List four prime opportunity and was regularly pictured with celebrities such as The Beatles and the
ministers who did not cast of Coronation Street. However, the presidentialism of UK prime ministers can
display presidential be traced as far back as the late nineteenth century when in the new era of mass
characteristics. democracy, the great political rivals, William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli,
generated both intense personal hatred and devotion.
The political writer Michael Foley has linked the presidential model to what he
has termed ‘spatial leadership’, in which a prime minister creates their own space
by distancing themselves from their party and thereby securing a personal mandate
directly from the public in much the same way as a president does. This enables the
prime minister to rise above the party and, in a presidential manner, appeal directly
to the people.
The development of the media has also provided more opportunities for prime
ministers to act in a presidential manner. The media’s appetite for celebrity news
and their enthusiastic coverage of personal interventions in global crises have
further increased the constant spotlight on the prime minister rather than on the
government.

‘I am not talking about failure, I am talking about my supreme confidence in the
British fleet ... superlative ships, excellent equipment, the most highly trained
professional group of men, the most honourable and brave members of Her Majesty’s
Service. Failure? Do you remember what Queen Victoria once said? ‘Failure — the
possibilities do not exist.’
Margaret Thatcher, television interview, 5 April 1982, as the task
force was being sent to recover the Falklands
The death of Princess Diana on 31 August 1997 stunned the nation. Displaying extraordinary
empathy, Blair sensitively articulated the mood of the public in his ‘People’s Princess’ speech.
‘We know how difficult things were for her from time to time. I am sure we can only
guess that. But people everywhere, not just here in Britain, kept faith with Princess
Diana. They liked her, they loved her, they regarded her as one of the people. She was
the People’s Princess and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and
our memories for ever.’
1 Find other examples of prime ministers effectively representing the mood of the nation.
2 Do you think all prime ministers are equally able to do this?
3 Does this suggest that the office of prime minister is becoming more presidential?
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Like Wilson, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair demonstrated presidential tendencies,
as they both had a distinctive political style and knew how to use the media to reach
beyond established party loyalties to those who did not traditionally see themselves as
either Conservative or Labour supporters.
During both the Falklands War (1982) and the miners’ strike (1984–85) it was
Thatcher, rather than her cabinet, who provided the leadership that the media and
the public focused on.
Thatcher also won support from significant numbers of C2 voters who traditionally
support Labour. This demonstrated the strength of her ‘spatial’ appeal as a presidential
figure not associated with traditional party allegiances.
Blair’s rhetoric was also highly personal, emphasising his moral focus, which
developed his relationship with the public above less ideologically driven politicians.
He frequently referred to government policy as though it was his own. For example,
‘The people entrusted me with the task of leading their country’ and ‘This is the
Britain I offer you.’
The energy with which he intervened in all aspects of government policy (sometimes
over the authority of the minister concerned) further focused attention on Blair
rather than his government. Blair’s high-profile personal interventions were crucial
in driving forward the Northern Ireland peace process: ‘This is not a time for
soundbites. We feel the weight of history upon us.’
In the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Blair, characteristically,
reached beyond Parliament and put the case for war directly to the public through
television discussions and debates.
According to the presidential model, the cabinet becomes almost irrelevant to
decision making in the same way as its role is more marginal in the USA. The prime
minister can increasingly afford to ignore the cabinet because they have their own
mandate directly from the people through public acclamation and so have less need
to have their policies legitimised by cabinet.
Blair further enhanced the more presidential atmosphere in Downing Street by
more closely modelling it on the White House. The new position of chief of
staff was established and the prime minister’s Private Office and Cabinet Office
were enlarged to provide greater control from the centre and more ‘joined-up’
government.
David Cameron also understood how to use the media spotlight. On several
occasions he acted in a presidential fashion by associating a specific policy with his
personal authority rather than his government. He notably did this when he very
publicly and personally put forward the case for same-sex marriage. In the 2014
Scottish referendum and the 2016 EU referendum Cameron deployed the personal
prestige of his office to back Better Together and Remain.
The 2010, 2015 and 2017 general election campaigns all included televised leaders’
debates, further making UK politics more presidential by publicly displaying the
leadership qualities of the candidates. Such debates have been integral to US
politics since the Kennedy/Nixon debates in 1960, but are a significant innovation
in the UK’s system of parliamentary democracy, further focusing attention on the
leader.
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In focus
Boris Johnson: a presidential prime minister?
Boris Johnson’s highly personal style of leadership made him ideally suited to be a presidential
prime minister. His ‘celebrity’ media personality, which he had cultivated as mayor of London
and foreign secretary, gave him an appeal far beyond that of most prime ministers. In the
2019 general election, the Conservative campaign effectively focused on Johnson’s promise
‘to get Brexit done’, helping the Conservatives to their biggest parliamentary majority since
1987. His reliance on the policy unit and the cabinet office for strategic advice and control
further indicated his preference for a presidential approach to politics. The Covid-19 pandemic
(2020–) and the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022) then presented Johnson with
some of the greatest challenges any prime minister has faced since 1940. His approach during
both was to communicate directly with the British people in televised speeches (flanked by
Union flags), reinforcing the presidentialism of his government.
1 Research those ways in which Boris Johnson showed himself to be a dominant prime minister.
2 In what ways and why was his influence increasingly challenged?
However, it would be misleading to suggest that prime ministers are essentially now
presidents. The UK is a parliamentary democracy and government is based on the
principle of collective ministerial responsibility. This means that a British prime
minister, unlike a US president, possesses no electoral mandate from the public.
Their authority depends on having a parliamentary majority and maintaining the
support of their parliamentary party. In 1979, for example, James Callaghan was
forced to call a general election when he lost a vote of confidence in the House of
Commons, and in 1990, Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister when she lost
the support of her cabinet. These events occurred because the UK is a parliamentary
democracy. They could not have happened in the USA, where a president has a
personal electoral mandate and can only be forced to resign for committing ‘high
crimes and misdemeanours’ in defiance of the Constitution.
A British prime minister is constitutionally incapable of being a president, although,
as we have seen, certain prime ministers can display presidential characteristics if their
character and political circumstances permit. Others, however, are entirely free of
presidential attributes.
l Many prime ministers are personally ill suited to a presidential role or are
politically weak. For example, John Major’s collegiate approach to politics was
resolutely non-presidential and after 1992, his declining parliamentary majority
and growing divisions within his party would have made it impossible for him to
project a presidential image.
l Gordon Brown was another uncharismatic prime minister, whose attempts to
speak directly to the nation were ruthlessly parodied by the comedian Rory
Bremner. Indeed, such was his lack of charisma that his colleague Robin Cook
once commented that he had ‘a face like a wet winter’s morning in Fife’.
l Theresa May initially displayed presidential characteristics when she became
prime minister in 2016, but her failure to engage with the public during the 2017
general election and the humiliating loss of her parliamentary majority ensured
that she was unable to govern in a presidential fashion.
l Liz Truss' lacklustre media appearances and the opposition to her economic
policies quickly dispelled the possibility that she would be a presidential (or long-
lasting) prime minister.
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Whether or not a prime minister acts in a presidential manner therefore depends very
much on their personality and power base. Indeed, if prime ministers try to act in
too presidential a manner, this is likely to antagonise the House of Commons, from
where they derive their political power. However, Liz Truss’ failure to successfully
communicate her policies and resolve outside No. 10, and in her press conference on
her sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer, may also indicate that
at least some presidential characteristics are required in a successful prime minister.
In focus
The limits of presidentialism
With his command of media presentation and striking personality, Boris Johnson was
undoubtedly presidential, establishing a strong rapport with many non-traditional Conservative
voters and winning a remarkable 80-seat majority in the 2019 general election. Consequently,
from 5–6 July 2022, as ministerial resignations mushroomed, Johnson claimed that he had a
‘colossal mandate’ from the British people which allowed him ‘to keep going and that’s what
I’m going to do’. However, in reality no prime minister possesses a personal mandate. Instead,
their authority depends upon the support of Parliament and their own MPs. When it became
clear that Johnson was fast losing the support of both his parliamentary party and government
ministers, he therefore had to grudgingly announce that he was resigning office on 7 July 2022.
Constitutional differences between presidents and prime ministers

Table 7.2 lists the main constitutional differences between presidents and prime
ministers.
A close analysis of the prime ministerships of Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher, Tony
Blair, Theresa May and Boris Johnson provides a powerful insight into the nature
and extent of prime ministerial power and how much the nature of the relationship
between the prime minister and cabinet can depend on forces beyond their control.
Table 7.2 The main constitutional differences between presidents and prime ministers
Prime ministers Presidents Key term
A British prime minister is not directly elected by In presidential governments, the
the public. In a general election the electorate executive is elected separately from Presidential government
votes for an MP and the party leader who has the legislature, which means that The presidentialism of
the confidence of the legislature becomes prime a president possesses a personal UK politics suggests that
minister electoral mandate there is now a greater
The prime minister is accountable to the legislature Since a president is separately focus on the prime
and so their government can be dismissed by elected from the legislature, they are
minister as representative
Parliament if they lose a vote of confidence not accountable to the legislature
of the nation. It implies
Although the prime minister is head of A president combines the role of head
a close personal
government, they are not head of state. In the of government with head of state
UK the head of state is the monarch, although relationship between the
most of the monarch’s governing powers are now leader and the public not
devolved to the prime minister normally associated with
The prime minister works closely with the cabinet. The president selects the cabinet parliamentary democracy.
Its membership is selected by the prime minister from outside the legislature. It meets
from the legislature and it regularly meets under much less frequently than the British
the chairmanship of the prime minister. As a cabinet and is rarely chaired by the
result of the principle of collective ministerial president. It plays more of an advisory
responsibility, the prime minister will want to role rather than a central role in US
achieve consensus within the cabinet politics
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Case study
Harold Wilson (1964–70 and The Myth of Cabinet Government (1972), of the way in which
Wilson bypassed cabinet. ‘So Cabinet as a Cabinet is meeting
1974–76) less and is less effectively controlling policy than ever before,’
he wrote on 9 March 1969.
However, although Wilson liked to give the impression of
presidentialism, his party was strongly divided between left
and right and his cabinet was full of extraordinarily strong
and combative figures, many of whom wanted his job. His
dominance of the cabinet and his control of events can be
exaggerated, as the following examples demonstrate.
l In 1969 Wilson came into conflict with his cabinet over his
plans to introduce legal restrictions on the power of the
trade unions. This was naturally going to be controversial
for a Labour government and the White Paper ‘In Place of
Strife’, introduced by the employment secretary Barbara
Castle, led to a furious row in cabinet. Opposition from most
of the cabinet, led by home secretary James Callaghan,
eventually forced Wilson into a humiliating climb-down.
l ‘It became clear that Harold’s self-confidence,
complacency, bounce and good temper were all breaking
down. At one point he said, “Well, you’re all giving this up
because it’s unpopular” … He was a little man, for the first
Although Harold Wilson is often seen as a presidential prime time dragged down to our level. It was painful because in a
minister, on key issues he had to adapt his policies in the face sense he was sabotaged and utterly nonplussed.’
of cabinet opposition Richard Crossman’s diary, 17 June 1969
Harold Wilson is often regarded as a highly presidential prime l One of the key reasons why Wilson won the February 1974
minister who liked to ignore cabinet and would make key general election was that he promised a referendum on
decisions regarding policy within a small group of trusted British membership of the EEC. By 1975 Wilson, following
advisers known as his ‘kitchen cabinet’. Ted Short, Wilson’s limited renegotiation of the terms of British membership,
chief whip, even called Wilson’s cabinet ‘the doodling cabinet’ was prepared to support Britain’s continued membership.
since so little of importance was discussed in it. In her diaries, However, many Labour MPs opposed membership of the
Barbara Castle, one of the most prominent members of EEC, a special conference of the Labour Party had also
Wilson’s cabinet, frequently vented her frustration that Wilson demanded withdrawal and the cabinet remained divided
had already decided with his closest advisers what to do on the issue of membership. As a result of this Wilson had
before cabinet even met. to allow a free vote by cabinet, acknowledging that on
Richard Crossman, another leading member of Wilson’s this important issue he could not enforce the principle of
cabinet, was similarly critical, in his diaries and in his book collective ministerial responsibility.
Knowledge check
32 List three constitutional differences between presidential and prime ministerial
government.
33 What are the dates of the four Harold Wilson governments?
34 When was ‘In Place of Strife’?
35 When was the EEC referendum?
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Case study
Margaret Thatcher (1979–90) sending a task force to recover the Falklands from
Argentinean occupation.
Margaret Thatcher had a complex relationship with her
cabinet. Although she had a very clear sense of purpose
when she initially became prime minister, she appreciated
the importance of thoroughly discussing issues in cabinet
to maintain government consensus. This was necessary
especially because she had to balance her supporters with
those who were associated with her predecessor, Edward
Heath, and more one-nation elements within the party.
l In 1981 Thatcher allowed extensive cabinet debate about
Geoffrey Howe’s controversial tax-raising Budget.
l When Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982, Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher with her cabinet, 1983
called an emergency meeting of the cabinet to debate
l Following her victories over Argentina (1982) and the miners (1984–85) Thatcher
became increasingly assertive in cabinet. Instead, she preferred to make decisions
with a small group of key advisers who shared her political opinions. In 1986,
during the Westland crisis, Michael Heseltine resigned as her defence secretary
on the grounds that his opinion was no longer being listened to.
l In 1989, her chancellor of the exchequer, Nigel Lawson, resigned because he
complained she was listening to her special economics adviser, Alan Walters, more
than to him. This high-profile resignation significantly undermined her authority.
l The unpopularity of the poll tax and rising inf lation led to a dramatic decline in
Thatcher’s popularity, reducing the loyalty of the Conservative Party, who feared Synoptic link
defeat at the next general election. The significance of the
l Her increasingly Eurosceptic speeches also put her so at odds with most of her relationship between
cabinet that her deputy prime minister, Geoffrey Howe, resigned, prompting the media and the prime
Michael Heseltine to challenge her for the party leadership. minister is covered in
l When Heseltine won the support of enough Conservative MPs to take his Chapter 4 on pages
leadership challenge to a second round, Thatcher needed the support of the 68–70.
cabinet to survive. However, having been taken for granted for so long, one by
one the cabinet told her she should resign because she would lose.
l In the end, although she had promised to ‘let her name go forward for the second Knowledge check
ballot’, Thatcher was left with no choice but to announce her resignation on 22 36 Who resigned as
November 1990. defence secretary in
1986?
37 Who resigned as
In focus chancellor of the
exchequer in 1989?
Margaret Thatcher and the cabinet 38 What tax dramatically
Although Margaret Thatcher boasted, ‘I don’t mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they reduced support for
do what I say’, in reality she was more politically astute. In his memoirs, Kind of Blue, Kenneth Margaret Thatcher?
Clarke recalls, ‘Although Margaret could speak for at least half of any cabinet meeting and was 39 Who resigned as
a poor chairman on that account, she did let other ministers express their views and could be deputy prime minister
prevailed upon to change her mind or even, occasionally, be overruled.’ in 1990?
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Case study
Tony Blair (1997–2007) l Even before his first cabinet had met, Blair and his
chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, had decided
to give interest-raising powers to the Bank of England. This
was a momentous political decision designed to encourage
economic stability by stopping the government from
manipulating interest rates to its advantage. When Robin
Butler, the chief secretary to the cabinet, asked if the
prime minister would like to discuss this decision with the
cabinet first, Blair responded, ‘They’ll agree.’
l Blair was personally in favour of building the Millennium
Dome, so even though this was strenuously opposed in
cabinet, he ignored his colleagues’ reservations and plans
continued.
l Preparations for the Iraq War in 2003 were the most striking
example of the cabinet not being consulted by Blair on key
Tony Blair, prime minister 1997–2007. Critics claim that the issues. The publication of the Chilcot Report in 2016 shows
limitations of Blair’s presidential style of government were how Blair failed to consult the cabinet about the advisability
exposed by the lack of cabinet debate over the invasion of of war and that most members of his government accepted
Iraq in 2003 the decision to invade Iraq as a fait accompli.
Like Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair possessed great self- l However, even Blair’s dominance of cabinet was not total.
confidence and a very clear vision of what he wanted to Part of the deal whereby Gordon Brown would not challenge
achieve as prime minister. In the 1997 general election he also Blair for the leadership of the Labour Party in 1994 was
achieved a massive parliamentary majority of 179, which gave that Brown would have full control of the British economy.
him an extraordinary personal mandate to implement change. Even though Blair was keen to join the European single
Blair’s commitment to the centrist third way also provided currency, Brown continually roadblocked this by demanding
his government with strong philosophical foundations. More that his ‘five tests’ for membership first be fulfilled.
than any other post-war British prime minister, Blair enjoyed l Like Margaret Thatcher, Blair’s control of cabinet
a strong rapport with the British people, which reached far diminished as his authority waned. Controversies over the
beyond traditional party loyalties and further persuaded him legality of the Iraq War and the political fallout of the 2005
that cabinet was insignificant in policy development. general election, which Blair won with only 35.2% of the
popular vote (the lowest a single-party government had
Blair’s approach was highly presidential and his government
ever achieved), took Blair from being an electoral asset
has often been referred to as a ‘command prime-ministership’,
to being an electoral liability. The cabinet increasingly
in which the cabinet was so diminished that it was simply
looked to Gordon Brown to provide the government with a
notified of decisions that had already been made in the prime
new dynamic, especially since in 2005 the youthful David
minister’s Private Office. This has also been referred to as
Cameron had taken over the leadership of the Conservative
a ‘sofa government’, in which Blair made key decisions in
Party. In September 2006, having squandered his
bilateral meetings with senior ministers and key advisers such
effortless control of cabinet, Blair announced that he would
as Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff, and Alastair Campbell,
resign as prime minister within a year.
his press secretary.
Knowledge check
40 List three occasions when Tony Blair did not consult cabinet.
41 Define ‘sofa government’.
42 Who was Tony Blair’s chancellor of the exchequer?
43 What happened to Labour’s support in the 2005 general election and why?
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Case study
Theresa May (2016–19) trusted joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.
The Conservative manifesto was then drawn up by Downing
Street with no input from the cabinet.
l Even at the height of her popularity, there were significant
constraints on her authority since she had to balance her
government so that both Remain and Leave Conservatives
were given important ministerial roles.
l Her unexpectedly poor campaigning in the 2017
general election dramatically diminished her authority
because she was personally associated with the
government’s loss of its parliamentary majority. This
impacted her ability to command the loyalty of her cabinet,
especially since Jeremy Corbyn had achieved a 9.6% swing
to Labour.
l Lacking a parliamentary majority, and with a disunited
party, May’s ambitious plans for more grammar schools,
a free vote on fox hunting and the repeal of the Human
Rights Act then had to be scrapped as the government
instead had to focus all its energy on achieving Brexit.
Theresa May, like every Conservative prime minister since
l As prime minister of a minority government (2017–19)
Margaret Thatcher, saw her authority undermined by party
May also had to rely on the support of the Democratic
divisions over Europe
Unionist Party, which added new constraints to her
When Theresa May became prime minister in 2016, she was freedom of action.
expected to provide firm leadership. Having survived 6 years l As the date for the UK to exit the EU came closer, the
in the notoriously challenging role of home secretary, she had difficulty of reconciling differing interpretations of
won the support of 61% of the parliamentary Conservative Brexit became increasingly apparent. The resignations
Party in the second ballot of the leadership contest and in her of David Davis as Brexit secretary and Boris Johnson
first speech as prime minister she provided a clear vision of as foreign secretary after the cabinet decision to pursue
what she wanted her government to achieve. Jeremy Corbyn’s a softer Brexit further exposed the divisions within
abysmal poll ratings further suggested that she would be able the party, challenging her authority. Boris Johnson’s
to dominate domestic politics. resignation letter was meant to wound May: ‘Brexit
l Her ruthless reorganisation of cabinet quickly stamped should be about opportunity and hope. It should be a
May’s authority on the new government, especially the chance to do things differently, to be more nimble and
sacking of George Osborne as chancellor of the exchequer dynamic, and to maximise the particular advantage of
and his replacement with her long-time ally, Philip the UK as an open, outward-looking global economy.
Hammond. Another of May’s key supporters, Amber Rudd, That dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt.’
took over as home secretary. Massive parliamentary defeats of May’s Brexit deal
l Theresa May also put her personal prestige behind proposals in January and March 2019 further undermined
controversial commitments such as the reintroduction of her grip on power.
grammar schools, allowing a free vote on fox hunting and l Under increasing pressure from within the Conservative
repealing the Human Rights Act in favour of a British bill Party, Theresa May announced in May 2019 that she would
of rights. step down as party leader and prime minister. On 24 July
l The decision to call a snap general election was not 2019 Boris Johnson replaced her as PM, having been
discussed in cabinet but taken by Theresa May with her decisively elected Conservative Party leader.
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Case study
the prime minister either did not stand (Amber Rudd,
Rory Stewart, Kenneth Clarke) or lost their seats
(Dominic Grieve, David Gauke).
l Johnson’s authority was further increased because many
of the new cohort of Conservative MPs for former Labour
‘Red Wall’ seats owed a personal debt of loyalty to the
prime minister for their victories. Consequently, Johnson
was able to exert much more authority during his second
administration than his first.
l Johnson’s Brexit withdrawal agreement quickly passed
parliament (January 2020).
l Armed with a powerful majority, Johnson was also able to
define the character of his second administration as one
Boris Johnson ran a highly personal campaign in the 2019
which would ‘level up’ the nation. In 2021, for example,
general election
he renamed the Department for Housing, Communities
Boris Johnson (2019–22) and Local Government to the Department for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities.
During the first 6 months of his prime ministership (July–
l The Covid pandemic crisis, which began in 2020, rather
December 2019) Boris Johnson was a very weak prime minister.
than undermining the prime minister may actually have
He inherited a minority Conservative administration from Theresa
increased his authority since Johnson’s regular speeches
May and a rump of pro-European Conservative MPs who were
and updates provided a powerful sense of connectivity
determined to make it as difficult as possible for the prime
between the prime minister and the nation.
minister to risk a ‘no deal Brexit’. The Labour opposition was
l Johnson’s resolute support of Ukraine when it was invaded
also energised, following its strong showing in the 2017 general
by Russian forces in February 2022 further added to his
election, and the Supreme Court and the House of Lords further
reputation for strong leadership.
challenged the prime minister’s authority to get things done.
l However, by 2022, media allegations of illegal lockdown
l On 3 September 2019, the House of Commons seized
parties at Downing Street were beginning to dramatically
control of government business and on 4 September
undermine the authority of the prime minister.
legislated to stop the possibility of a ‘no deal Brexit’.
l On 25 May 2022 the Sue Gray report on the No. 10 parties
l On 24 September 2019, the Supreme Court declared that
was highly critical of Downing Street, stating that ‘the
Johnson’s prorogation of parliament had been illegal and
public have a right to expect the very highest standards of
that he must recall it.
behaviour in such places, and clearly what happened fell
l On three occasions Johnson failed to win parliamentary
well short of this’.
approval for an early general election under the Fixed-term
l On 6 June 2022, 41% of Conservative MPs voted against
Parliaments Act 2011.
the prime minister in a vote of confidence. The joint
l The House of Commons eventually agreed to an early
resignations of the chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi
general election on 29 October.
Sunak, and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, on 5 July then
l In the December 2019 general election, Johnson ran a
precipitated the collapse of the prime minister’s control
highly personal ‘Get Brexit Done’ campaign and secured an
over his government and he was forced to announce his
80-seat parliamentary majority.
resignation on 7 July 2022.
l Labour achieved its lowest share of seats since 1935,
l On 5 September 2022, Johnson was succeeded by Liz
and most Conservative pro-European opponents of
Truss as prime minister.
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Knowledge check
44 What was the result of the 2017 general election?
45 List three limitations on Theresa May’s authority as prime minister 2016–19.
46 What was the result of the 2019 general election?
47 List three reasons for Boris Johnson’s resignation in 2022.
Summary
➜ What are the main powers of the prime minister?
➜ From where do those powers come?
➜ What factors influence the prime minister’s selection of the cabinet?
➜ What is the significance of individual and collective ministerial responsibility?
➜ For what reasons do ministers resign?
➜ What factors determine the influence that the prime minister can wield?
➜ Why are some prime ministers more powerful than others?
➜ What are the differences between presidential and prime ministerial government?
➜ To what extent are British prime ministers becoming more presidential?
Practice questions
Ever since the governments of Harold Wilson in the 1960s, political scientists and former
cabinet members have warned that powerful prime ministers are largely ignoring cabinet
government. Instead of regularly engaging in debate with cabinet colleagues according to
Walter Bagehot’s model (1867), they have preferred to make important decisions within
a small group of trusted advisers. This was true, they argue, of Wilson’s ‘kitchen cabinet’
and Cameron’s ‘chumocracy’. Blair, possibly the most dominant of all prime ministers, had
a ‘sofa government’ approach to decision making, much preferring to reach decisions with
individual ministers rather than fully debate them at cabinet. However, other critics respond
that this is an unhelpful exaggeration. Wilson may have wanted to dominate cabinet but did
not always succeed. Margaret Thatcher only lost power when she felt herself greater than
cabinet, while James Callaghan and John Major always understood the importance of trying
to maintain cabinet support for controversial government policies. Boris Johnson, like Blair,
came into government in 2019 with a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve. This may
have sometimes diminished the role of the cabinet in his approach to decision making and
yet Johnson did consult cabinet during key crises. Like any prime minister, he also needed
the support of cabinet and when six of its members resigned in July 2022, he was unable to
continue as prime minister.
Using the source, evaluate the view that the cabinet is of declining importance
in UK politics.
l analyse and evaluate only the information presented in the source. (30)
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1 Evaluate the view that the prime minister can always control the
decisions made by their government. In your answer you should draw on
relevant knowledge and understanding of the study of Component 1
UK Politics and Core Political Ideas and consider this view and the
2 Evaluate the view that the conventions of collective and individual
ministerial responsibility are now largely ignored in UK politics. In your
answer you should draw on relevant knowledge and understanding of
the study of Component 1 UK Politics and Core Political Ideas and
3 Evaluate the view that since 1997 prime ministers have steadily
become more presidential. In your answer you should draw on relevant
knowledge and understanding of the study of Component 1 UK Politics
and Core Political Ideas and consider this view and the alternative to
Further reading
Dale, I. (2020) The Prime Ministers, Hodder Paperbacks.
Garnett, M. (2021) The British Prime Minister in an Age of Upheaval, Polity.
Patel, J. (2022) ‘The power of the prime minister’, Politics Review, Vol. 32, No. 2.
Richards, S. (2019) The Prime Ministers: Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to May,
Atlantic Books.
Seldon, A. (2020) ‘British prime ministers: power and success’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 1.
Seldon, A. (2021) ‘The prime minister and cabinet: theories and myths of executive power’,
Seldon, A. (2021) The Impossible Office The History of the British Prime Minister, Cambridge
University Press.
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8 Relations between branches
The impact of the Supreme Court on

legislative and policy-making processes
The role and composition of the Supreme Court
According to the rule of law, everyone is equal before the law. The government is
no more above the law than any individual citizen. Therefore, the UK as a liberal
democracy, requires a clear and unequivocal separation of power between the
executive and the judiciary. This is vital so that UK citizens can be confident that
their civil liberties are being protected.
The judiciary represents the courts and judges, who dispense justice throughout the
United Kingdom. Lower courts such as crown courts and magistrates’ courts resolve The Supreme Court is housed
cases. The judgments that are reached in more senior courts, such as the High in Middlesex Guildhall,
London
8 Relations between branches 241
9781398369160.indb 241 15/02/23 10:25 PM

Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, are especially important because
Key term
they set legal precedents that can then be referred to in subsequent cases. This is
Supreme Court a key function of the more senior courts. Although Parliament enacts legislation,
Established in 2009, the the meaning and relevance of those laws have to be worked out by judges. This is
Supreme Court is the because, in a particular case, it may not be certain how an Act of Parliament should
highest court of appeal be interpreted. There may not even be a relevant Act of Parliament to refer to.
in the UK. Its 12 justices The way in which senior judges interpret Acts of Parliament and resolve cases thus
comprise the most senior creates a legal precedent, known as case law or judge-made law, which judges are
judges in the country and expected to follow in subsequent cases. This provides the basis for British common
its judgments can carry law, in which the decisions of senior judges in previous cases achieve the force
great legal, constitutional of precedence. As Bishop Benjamin Hoadly (1676–1761) put it: ‘Whoever hath an
and political significance. absolute authority to interpret any written or spoken laws, it is he who is truly the
lawgiver and not the person who first wrote or spake them.’
As the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom, the judgments reached by the
UK Supreme Court are of profound importance. Important cases, in which the
meaning of the law is uncertain, are judged by the Supreme Court and the decisions
that it reaches must be followed in future cases.
The UK Supreme Court is a relatively new court. The highest court of appeal in
the UK had been the House of Lords, where the 12 Law Lords delivered judgments
in the Appellate Committee. However, the fact that the most senior judges in the
UK sat in the House of Lords breached the principle of the ‘separation of powers’,
whereby the judiciary ought to be separate from the legislature. Therefore, as part of
the Blair government’s commitment to modernising the British constitution, the
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 was passed. This removed the Law Lords from
the House of Lords and in its place established the Supreme Court. Consequently, the
separation power is now transparently obvious as the chief justices make judgments
in a separate building from where those laws are enacted.
l The 12 most senior judges in the UK now sit in the Supreme Court and are
called Justices of the Supreme Court. The head of the Supreme Court is known
as its president.
l The work of the new Supreme Court is more open to public scrutiny than had
been the case with the Appellate Committee.
l The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court reaches across the UK, and it is the highest
court of appeal for all civil cases. It is also the final court of appeal for all criminal
cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, the High Court of
Knowledge check Justiciary, in most cases, fulfils this role.
1 Define the rule of law. l The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal when there is a judicial review of
2 Define judge-made how the government has acted.
law. l The Supreme Court also has the authority to determine whether an issue ought
3 What are the main to be under the jurisdiction of the British government or a devolved body.
responsibilities of the l The membership of the Supreme Court is determined by a five-member selection
Supreme Court? commission made up of the most senior judges in the UK. Their nominations
4 Define civil liberties are then passed for approval to the justice secretary, who has one opportunity to
with three examples. reject a nomination. Once agreed, the prime minister asks the monarch to make
the appointment.
It is vital that the Justices of the Supreme Court are independent of the legislature
and the executive. The rule of law depends on judges not being inf luenced by the
9781398369160.indb 242 15/02/23 10:25 PM

government. Instead, the decisions that they reach should be entirely based on the
principles of justice. Judges are also expected to be neutral, which means that their
judgments should never be inf luenced by any social or political prejudice.
In what ways can the Supreme Court claim to be

independent and neutral?
l
Opened in 2009, the UK Supreme Court is housed in Middlesex
Guildhall and directly faces Parliament on Westminster Square.
This physical separation from Parliament is an important statement
of the court’s political independence.
l Judges in the UK are not permitted to be members of a political
party. A barrister or solicitor may be a member of a political party
and may pursue a political career but once appointed, a judge must
abandon any political ambitions and associations.
l Judges’ salaries are not determined by Parliament. Instead, the
government follows the recommendations of the Senior Salaries
Review Body and payment is made directly from the Consolidated
Fund. This mechanism ensures that no government could seek to
inf luence the judiciary through financial incentives.
l Since the Act of Settlement in 1701, which established the Protestant
succession to the Crown, a senior judge can be removed only by
a resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament. This means that
they have, in effect, security of tenure and cannot be removed from
office by the government. As a result, judges can act according to
how they think the law should be interpreted without fearing the
consequence of loss of office.
l The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 further promoted the independence of the
senior judiciary by removing the Law Lords from the Appellate Committee of
the House of Lords and establishing the Supreme Court as a separate institution
from the legislature.
l The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 was also designed to make appointments
to the judiciary more transparent. Previously, the Lord Chancellor had advised
the prime minister through ‘secret soundings’ of senior judges. This, it could
be argued, led to a self-perpetuating socially elitist judiciary. In its place a new
Judicial Appointments Commission was established, which selects judges on their
merit and good character, as well as considering the importance of encouraging
diversity within the judiciary.
l Appointments to the Supreme Court are decided by a specially summoned five-
person selection committee comprising the lord president of the Supreme Court,
a senior judge and representatives of the Judicial Appointments Commission
of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. If candidates for the
Supreme Court are deemed to be of equal merit, then the selection committee
may ‘prefer one candidate over the other for the purpose of increasing diversity
within the group of persons who are judges in the court’. This contrasts with the
USA, where the president appoints the membership of the Supreme Court with
the consent of the Senate. The inf luence that the president has over nominations
to the US Supreme Court makes it a more politically partisan body than the
UK Supreme Court.
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l Since court cases are generally open to the public and judgments are in the public
domain, any prejudice or bias shown by a judge would be quickly publicised in
the media.
l Unlike other UK courts, the full proceedings of the Supreme Court can be
photographed and are live streamed so the public is fully informed of how it
makes its judgments.
Key terms l When a case is being heard, it is said to be ‘sub judice’. This means that Parliament
cannot express an opinion as this would breach the separation of powers and
Judicial independence
undermine judicial independence. If a member of the legislature or executive
A central principle of the
did express an opinion, this would be contempt of court.
rule of law is that judges
must be independent
of control or persuasion Criticisms of the independence and neutrality of the
by the executive or the Supreme Court
legislative. Judges can
That the members of the Supreme Court are generally from such an elite background
only fairly administer
has led to claims that they tend to favour the establishment. In 1977, John Griffith,
justice if they are separate
a radical socialist academic, argued in The Politics of the Judiciary that socially and
from the other branches
politically conservative judges always favour the status quo. For example, one of
of government and so free
the most famous judges of the twentieth century, Lord Denning, sided with the
to act without government
government on several occasions. In the Hosenball case (1977), for example, he
pressure.
boldly asserted, ‘In some parts of the world national security has been used as an
Judicial neutrality The excuse for all sorts of infringements of individual liberty. But not in England.’
rule of law requires the
elimination of political Critics of the Supreme Court’s ability to provide justice therefore argue that its
bias. The judgments membership is so privileged that the decisions it makes are unlikely to ref lect
that judges reach must how the law impacts on modern society. Most Justices of the Supreme Court
never be influenced by have been privately educated and attended Oxford or Cambridge universities, and
any personal prejudice. these rarefied experiences could make them ill-suited to interpreting the law in a
Instead, they must fairly contemporary setting. In short, some critics have argued that the privileges and
interpret the law so that it prejudices of their class hinder the justices of the Supreme Court from maintaining
is applied impartially to all. judicial neutrality. Men also dominate the Supreme Court. In 2022, Lady Rose
was the only female judge on the Supreme Court.
Enemies of the people criminals from being deported from the UK and trying to hinder
the will of the British public by opposing Brexit.
In the 1970s judges were often criticised by the left for
being socially and politically ultra-conservative. A good In a notorious example of this, on 4 November 2016 the Daily
example of this was in 1984 when the Thatcher government Mail placed pictures of three judges on its front page with the
banned employees at GCHQ (Government Communications headline ‘Enemies of the people’.
headquarters) from joining a trade union since this could 1 Research the Daily Mail story above. With what justification
pose a threat to national security. When the case reached did the Daily Mail claim these judges were ‘enemies of the
the House of Lords, the Lords Appellate decided in favour of people’?
the government because as an issue of national security it 2 What arguments did the Supreme Court use in September
was beyond their jurisdiction. However, in recent years the 2019 to show that Boris Johnson’s prorogation of
main criticism of the judges has come from the right. Judges, Parliament had been illegal?
some on the right claim, far from being ultra-conservative are 3 According to Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Supreme Court’s
instead ultra-liberal — using the Human Rights Act to stop judgment against the prime minister was a ‘constitutional
coup’. Do you agree? Explain your answer fully.
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The government also retains some political inf luence over the appointment of
Justices of the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 merged the
position of lord chancellor with that of justice secretary. The justice secretary, who
does not need to have a legal background, is a member of the cabinet. Despite this,
the selection committee for new Justices of the Supreme Court must pass their
recommendations to the justice secretary, who can request further information and
retains the right to reject a nominee. This power would only be used in exceptional
circumstances and only one nomination can be rejected, but it does show how there
is not a complete separation of powers in the UK.
Critics of the Supreme Court suggest that, in cases concerning the government, the
court risks being pulled into major political disputes, which could compromise its
neutrality. This was particularly the case over Brexit, as well as in major decisions
involving the interpretation of human rights legislation. In 2019 the then justice
secretary, Liz Truss, failed to defend judges when they were being vilified in the
right-wing press for allegedly frustrating Brexit. However, the Supreme Court is
the final arbiter of the law and so has an obligation to determine the legality of
government decisions, especially when they are contentious.
The rule of law

Knowledge check
In one of the last rulings of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, Lord Hope, in a
case involving the possible deportation to Jordan of radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, clearly 5 Define judicial
articulated the principle of judicial neutrality: ‘No one, however dangerous, however disgusting, independence.
however despicable, is excluded [from the European Convention on Human Rights]. Those 6 Define judicial
who have no respect for the rule of law — even those who would seek to destroy it — are in the neutrality.
same position as everyone else.’ 7 List three ways
1 In what ways does Lord Hope’s statement demonstrate the principles of judicial in which judicial
independence and neutrality? independence is
2 On what grounds did the Home Office seek to deport Abu Qatada and how was it maintained.
challenged in court (2005–13)? 8 List three ways
3 When Abu Qatada was eventually deported, the then home secretary, Theresa May, in which judicial
stated, ‘We must make sure it never happens again.’ Having studied the case, do you neutrality is
agree with her? maintained.
In what ways does the Supreme Court limit the

authority of the executive and Parliament?
Since the UK does not have a codified constitution, the Supreme Court cannot
refer to a higher constitutional law when delivering its judgments. This makes the
British Supreme Court less powerful than the supreme courts of countries that have
a codified constitution. In the USA, for example, judges can strike down laws if they
conf lict with the higher law of the Constitution.
Despite this, UK judges may refer to the European Convention on Human Rights
(1950), which was drafted by the Council of Europe and incorporated into British
law in the Human Rights Act (1998). Judges have increasingly referred to the Human
Rights Act in their judgments, so developing case law, while the European Court of
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Human Rights in Strasbourg represents the final court of appeal for cases involving
the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the Human Rights Act does
not represent a higher law, since it was enacted by Parliament, and a parliamentary
statute can always be repealed. In 2021, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab announced
plans to modify its reach with a British bill of rights, further demonstrating its
limited inf luence. It is also important not to confuse the European Court of Human
Rights with the European Union Court of Justice, which no longer has jurisdiction
in the UK since its withdrawal from the European Union in 2020.
However, the UK Supreme Court still has important constitutional and political
functions including:
l deciding whether a public body, including the government, has acted beyond its
authority (ultra vires)
l establishing where sovereignty is located within the UK
l declaring when government has acted in defiance of the Human Rights Act
l determining the meaning of the law, so setting judicial precedents that must be
followed in future cases.
Therefore, although the Supreme Court cannot strike down parliamentary
statute because Parliament is supreme, it can determine whether the actions of the
government are in accordance with the law. It does this through judicial review,
whereby a judge can review the action of a public body, including the government,
and decide whether it was lawful. If unlawful, that decision can be quashed. Judicial
review is therefore highly important in ensuring that public bodies are held legally
accountable for the decisions they make.
In the past, socially conservative senior judges have often been criticised for not being
critical enough of government. In recent years though, Supreme Court judgments
have often gone against the government. This has been controversial in many cases,
with critics claiming that the government has a democratic mandate to govern the
nation and that unelected judges should not therefore make judgments on what the
government can and cannot do. As many of the issues on which the Supreme Court
has had to decide are very politically partisan, this has also led to claims that the
judiciary has been politicised.
However, defenders of the Supreme Court respond that it possesses the ultimate
authority to determine the meaning of statute law and what is possible within the
scope of the constitution. Therefore, even though its judgments have sometimes
Key term seemed to place it in opposition to the government, it has only been fulfilling its legal
Ultra vires The principle constitutional role with those judgments.
that one has ‘acted In addition, if the government was able to itself determine whether its actions were
beyond one’s authority’. legal, then the rule of law would have been significantly breached. Adverse Supreme
If the courts rule that a Court judgments may make life more difficult for the executive, but by judging
public body has acted the legality of the government’s actions, the Supreme Court provides a necessary
beyond its authority, then safeguard for the principle of limited government in a liberal democracy.
these actions can be
quashed because they The following are all examples of judicial review when the Supreme Court had
have not been legally to decide whether the government had gone beyond its authority (ultra vires),
carried out. not followed proper procedure, acted irrationally or against the principles of the
European Convention on Human Rights.
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The Gina Miller case 2017 (1)
R Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (2017)
Knowledge check
9 How many supreme
The Gina Miller case demonstrates how the Supreme Court can determine the
court justices are
legality of government action. Following the EU referendum on 23 June 2016, the
there?
government claimed that it could begin the process of leaving the European Union
10 Who is the current
through the exercise of the royal prerogative. However, on 24 January 2017, the
president of the
Supreme Court, by a majority of 8–3, upheld an earlier decision taken in the High
Supreme Court?
Court which stated that the government did not have the authority to do this. This
11 What is a judicial
was because Parliament in 1972 had enacted the legislation which had taken the UK
review?
into the EU and so it was Parliament’s responsibility to enact legislation to remove
12 Define ultra vires.
the UK from membership of the EU. As the then president of the Supreme Court,
Lord Neuberger, stated in the Supreme Court’s judgment:
‘Withdrawal effects a fundamental change by cutting off the source of EU law, as
well as changing legal rights … The UK’s constitutional arrangements require such
changes to be clearly authorised by Parliament.’
The fact that the High Court and then the Supreme Court had both declared that
Parliament must consent to the government opening negotiations to withdraw from
the EU was seen by some supporters of Brexit as an attempt to subvert the result of the
referendum. However, this was not the case. The judges were simply determining
the proper location of legal sovereignty in an issue of vital constitutional importance.
Joanna Cherry/Gina Miller case 2019 (2)

In August 2019, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced that he had decided
to prorogue (suspend) Parliament for 5 weeks that autumn. Prime ministers possess
this right. However, the length of time that Parliament would not be sitting caused
accusations that the prime minister wanted to limit parliamentary opposition to his
EU withdrawal proposals and so his actions were motivated by political self-interest.
As a result, Gina Miller and the SNP MP Joanna Cherry brought two cases against
the prime minister alleging that the government was illegally seeking to limit
Parliament’s sovereign right to hold the government to account. Gina Miller initially
lost her case at the High Court, but in Scotland Joanna Cherry’s case was upheld.
Consequently, both cases were appealed to the Supreme Court to determine the
meaning of the law. On 24 September, the 11 justices hearing the case unanimously
found that the prime minister had acted illegally by suspending Parliament for such
an excessively long time when momentous constitutional issues needed to be fully
debated.
In her judgment, Lady Hale, the then president of the Supreme Court, stated,
‘The court is bound to conclude, therefore, that the decision to advise Her Majesty
to prorogue parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or
preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without
reasonable justification.’ Consequently, ‘It is for Parliament, and in particular the
Speaker and the Lord Speaker, to decide what to do next. Unless there is some
parliamentary rule of which we are unaware, they can take immediate steps to
enable each house to meet as soon as possible.’
According to Gina Miller, the judgment represented ‘a win for parliamentary
sovereignty’ since it legally confirmed that the prime minister had improperly used
the royal prerogative when attempting to prorogue Parliament.
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Supreme Court judgments have also been highly important in ensuring that the
government acts according to the law in cases involving human rights.
HJ and HT v Home Secretary (2010)

Two men from Iran and Cameroon respectively claimed asylum in the UK because
they were gay and consequently would suffer persecution in their home country.
The Home Office refused to allow them asylum on the grounds that if they
concealed their sexuality, they would not suffer persecution. When the case reached
the Supreme Court, Lord Hope decided against the Home Office. In his judgment
he clearly stated,
‘Unlike a person’s religion or political opinion, [sexual orientation] is incapable of
being changed. To pretend that it does not exist, or that the behaviour by which
it manifests itself can be suppressed, is to deny the members of this group their
fundamental right to be what they are — of the right to do simple, everyday things
with others of the same orientation such as living or spending time together or
expressing their affection for each other in public.’
Al Rawi and others v The Security Service and others

(2011)
When former detainees of the American prison Guantánamo
Bay claimed that the British security services shared
responsibility for their imprisonment and ill treatment, the
British government argued that the evidence of the heads
of security should not be given in public in case it breached
national security. The Supreme Court decided in favour
The Supreme Court often has to determine the extent to
of the detainees, stating, ‘A closed material procedure …
which the Human Rights Act impacts on the individual’s
involves a departure from the principle of open and natural
relationship with the state
justice which are essential features of a common law trial.’
R (on the application of UNISON) v Lord Chancellor (2017)

In 2017 the trade union UNISON brought a case to the Supreme Court declaring
that the government’s introduction of employment tribunal fees was unlawful. The
Supreme Court agreed that the fees risked denying justice to those on low incomes
and so were discriminatory. In their judgment the justices declared, ‘The Fees Order
is unlawful … because it has the effect of denying access to justice. Since it had
that effect as soon as it was made, it was therefore unlawful and must be quashed.’
It would be misleading to suggest, as some have, that the judgments of liberal-
minded judges on the Supreme Court always go against the government. The
Supreme Court can, for example, find that controversial government decisions do
not breach human rights law.
AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2020)

The Supreme Court blocked attempts by the Home Office to deport an individual
who had been convicted of several serious offences back to Zimbabwe. This was
because the individual had HIV and his life would likely be shortened if he was
returned to Zimbabwe where he would be unlikely to receive the treatment he
required. This case highlights the ongoing tension between the collective rights of
society and the rights of the individual.
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Stretch and challenge Synoptic link
The balance between
The ‘clash’ between public and private good collective and individual
Lord Wilson opened his judgment in the case of AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the rights is covered in
Home Department (2020) with these words: Chapter 1 on pages
‘This appeal requires the court again to consider one of the most controversial
35–37.
questions which the law of human rights can generate. It relates to the ability of the
UK to deport a foreign citizen who, while lawfully resident here, has committed a string
of serious crimes. The reaction of many British citizens is likely to be: “We don’t want
this man here.”. His response is: “But I need to remain here.” In this case he no longer
casts his response under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“the
Convention”) by reference to respect for his private and family life. Instead, he wishes
to cast it under article 3 of the Convention which provides:
No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment.’ For the appellant is HIV positive. He is a citizen of Zimbabwe and his
contention, which for reasons which I will explain has not yet been fully developed
still less tested, is that, if deported to Zimbabwe, he would be unable to access
the medication which, here in the UK, prevents his relapse into full-blown AIDS. So
considerations of public policy on the one hand and of what is said to be private
existential need on the other clash like warriors; and upon the courts lies a heavy
burden in determining which should, under the law, prevail.’
1 Research this case. What were the main arguments on each side?
2 Do you agree with the judgment? Explain your answer fully.
3 According to Lord Denning, ‘Someone must be trusted. Let it be the judges.’ Do you agree
that the Supreme Court not Parliament should decide on complicated moral cases like
this one?
Shamima Begum (2021)

In 2015, Shamima Begum, then aged 15, travelled to Syria with two other girls
so that she could join Islamic State. In 2019, the then home secretary, Sajid Javid,
removed her British citizenship on the grounds that she was a threat to national
security. In 2020, the Court of Appeal judged that Ms Begum be allowed to return
to the UK so that she could appeal the judgment. The Home Office responded that
if this was allowed it ‘would create significant national security risks’. When the case
went to the Supreme Court, the then lord president, Lord Reed, found in favour of
the home secretary. According to Lord Reed, the court of appeal was wrong when
it stated that ‘when an individual’s right to have a fair hearing...came into conf lict
with the requirements of national security, her right to a fair hearing must prevail’.
Instead, in a judgment remarkably like Lord Denning’s in the Hosenball case (1977),
he stated that the right to a fair hearing did ‘not trump all other considerations, such
as the safety of the public’.
Determining the meaning of the law

As the final court of appeal, the decisions of the Supreme Court carry greater weight
in developing the meaning of the law.
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R v Jogee (2016)
In R v Jogee (2016), the Supreme Court overturned the principle of ‘joint enterprise’,
which was established in common law whereby those who were part of a group that
incited a murder could be convicted of the crime in the same way as the one who
had actually done the killing. Instead, the Supreme Court stated that there had to
be ‘intent to kill’ shown if members of a group were all to be held guilty of murder.
In other cases the Supreme Court has also had to determine the extent to which the
Human Rights Act impacts the individual’s relationship with the state.
Knowledge check P v Cheshire West and Cheshire Council (2014)

13 What is the difference In the case of ‘P’, a man with Down’s syndrome and cerebral palsy was placed with
between statute law social services, who limited his personal freedom as part of his care. In a powerful
and case (judge- judgment, with far-reaching consequences for the care of mentally disabled people,
made) law? Lady Hale stated:
14 List three cases when ‘Far from disability entitling the state to deny such people human rights,
the Supreme Court rather it places upon the state (and upon others) the duty to make reasonable
has referred to the accommodation to cater for the special needs of those with disabilities … Those
Human Rights Act in rights include the right to personal liberty which is guaranteed by Article 5 of the
its judgment. European Convention … If it would be a deprivation of my liberty to be obliged to
15 List three occasions live in a particular place subject to constant monitoring and control and unable to
when the Supreme move away without permission even if such an opportunity became available then
Court has ruled it must also be a deprivation of the liberty of a disabled person. The fact that my
against the executive. living arrangements are comfortable, and indeed make my life as enjoyable as it
could possibly be, should make no difference. A gilded cage is still a cage.’
The Supreme Court and parliamentary sovereignty

The Human Rights Act states that ‘so far as it is possible to do so, primary legislation
and subordinate legislation must be read and given effect in a way which is compatible
with the Convention rights’. As a result, there is the expectation that Parliament
should legislate in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights. If
this is not possible, then the judges can issue a formal statement of incompatibility,
which will put significant pressure on the government to amend the law. However,
since Parliament is sovereign, and no Parliament may bind its successor, the new law
would still stand despite conf licting with the principles of the Human Rights Act.
This demonstrates the limitations of the Human Rights Act. Since it is not a higher
constitutional law, the Supreme Court cannot use it to strike down legislation. Given,
too, the sovereign legal power of Parliament, if the Supreme Court stated that the
government had acted beyond its authority (ultra vires), then the government could
ask Parliament to legislate to give it these powers!
The Belmarsh case (2004)

The Belmarsh case (2004) provides the classic example of the tensions between the
judiciary and the executive. In 2004, the Blair government used the powers given to
it by the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 to hold foreign terrorist suspects
indefinitely without trial. The Law Lords declared that this was discriminatory
according to the European Convention on Human Rights since British terrorist
suspects were not being treated in the same way. The government accepted the ruling
and the detainees were released. However, soon after, the government introduced
legislation into Parliament to monitor the whereabouts of these and other foreign
terrorist suspects using control orders (the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005). This
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shows that although a declaration of incompatibility can have significant moral
inf luence, the executive’s ability to circumvent the judiciary is still great.
Debate
Is the Supreme Court influential?

Evaluation: Since the UK Supreme Court cannot refer to the ‘higher law’ of a codified constitution, its influence is limited.
However, despite this constraint, does it still play an important role in ensuring the rule of law?
Yes No
• The Supreme Court is the UK’s most senior court and • Since the UK Parliament is legally sovereign, the
final court of appeal Supreme Court cannot strike down an Act of Parliament
• The Justices of the Supreme Court are the most senior • The Supreme Court cannot initiate cases. It only
judges in the UK and their interpretation of the meaning determines cases that are brought to it
of the law is final
• If the Supreme Court declares a formal statement of • The government could ignore a declaration of
incompatibility between an Act of Parliament and the incompatibility
European Convention on Human Rights, that will put • Although the Supreme Court interprets the meaning of
significant political pressure on the government to the law, it is also bound by what the law states
amend the law
• The Supreme Court also determines the location of • Although the Supreme Court can quash the decision of
sovereignty in the UK and can declare when a public a public body for acting beyond its authority, Parliament
body has acted illegally by acting beyond its authority could then legislate to give that body the legal powers
(ultra vires). For example, it possesses the authority it did not have before
to determine whether the Scottish government has
the sovereign right to call a second independence
referendum
The relationship between the executive

and Parliament
How effectively does Parliament hold the executive
to account?
In the British parliamentary system, the executive sits within Parliament. The
executive and the legislature are thus fused. As a result of parliamentary sovereignty,
the executive is accountable to the House of Commons since it represents the will
of the British people expressed through the MPs they elect.
Despite this, it has often been claimed that Parliament is ineffective at holding
the government accountable for its actions. In 1976, Lord Hailsham, a leading
Conservative lawyer and politician, even claimed that the executive had so much
Key term
power that it could be called an elective dictatorship. Elective dictatorship
In 1976, Lord Hailsham
This claim can be supported by the following arguments:
stated that the ability
l The government exerts a great deal of control over parliamentary business. This of a British government
limits opportunities for the opposition to debate government legislation. to dominate Parliament
l Since Public Bill Committees always have a government majority and are meant it was essentially
whipped, it is unusual for the opposition to be able to significantly amend an elective dictatorship.
legislation at committee stage.
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l A government with a large parliamentary majority should be able to rely on the
support of its MPs to pass the legislative programme it wishes.
l The government can change the law using secondary legislation (statutory
instruments), over which the House of Commons has much less power of scrutiny.
l The prime minister possesses extensive powers of patronage. Government
whips can offer ambitious backbenchers opportunities to join the government
or withhold any chance of advancement. This is a powerful way in which the
government can encourage loyalty.
l The royal prerogative means that the prime minister does not legally have to
Knowledge check consult Parliament on the use of British military forces, as Theresa May showed
16 Define political
in 2018 when she did not seek parliamentary approval for air strikes on Syrian
patronage.
chemical installations.
17 Who referred to an
l According to the Salisbury Convention, the House of Lords should not attempt
‘elective dictatorship’
to stop government legislation that was in the winning party’s manifesto, since
in 1976?
this would obstruct what the public had voted for.
18 List three minority However, the relationship between Parliament and the executive is not static. It changes
governments. depending on circumstances. For example, a minority government or one with a
19 List three small parliamentary majority will find it much more difficult to pass its legislative
governments elected programme, especially if it cannot rely on the loyalty of its backbenchers. When this
with large House of is the case, both Houses of Parliament can become more assertive. Equally, if the
Commons majorities. opposition is united around a strong leader who is widely expected to win the next
general election, then this can greatly undermine the confidence of the government.
The House of Commons

Examples of weak parliamentary influence
l 1979–87 Margaret Thatcher’s determined leadership of the Conservative Party
contrasted with divisions within Labour, which led to the party fracturing and
the foundation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981. This meant that the
Conservatives were facing a split opposition and in 1983, having won the Falklands
War the previous year, Thatcher increased her parliamentary majority to 144. In
these circumstances, neither Michael Foot (1980–83) nor Neil Kinnock (1983–
92) was able to effectively challenge her policies in the House of Commons.
l 1997–2001 In 1997 Tony Blair won a landslide general election, giving him
a House of Commons majority of 179 seats. The parliamentary party was
then almost totally united around Blair’s third way political philosophy and
having suffered their worst general election defeat since 1832 under the Duke
of Wellington, the Conservatives had only 165 MPs. Their ability to oppose
Blair was further undermined by Conservative divisions over the EU and the
ineffective leadership of William Hague (1997–2001).
Examples of strong parliamentary influence

l 1974–79 (Wilson and Callaghan) Although Labour leader Harold Wilson won
the October 1974 general election, he did so with a parliamentary majority of
just three. When James Callaghan took over as Labour leader and prime minister
in 1976, Labour’s majority disappeared because of election defeats and Callaghan
was forced to establish a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberal
Party from 1977 to 1978. When this ended, the government struggled on until it
was defeated in a vote of confidence by 310–311 votes, forcing a sudden general
election, which was won by Margaret Thatcher.
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l 2017–19 (May) In 2017, Theresa May decided to call a snap general election to
try to win a larger parliamentary majority, which would make it easier for her
to pass the Brexit legislation she wanted. However, the Conservatives lost seats
and May became prime minister of a minority administration. She was forced
to establish a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist
Party. This meant the government had to try to pass its Brexit legislation without a
Conservative majority, which was made even more difficult by growing divisions
within the Conservative Party over Brexit and an increasingly self-confident
Labour opposition, which had increased its parliamentary representation.
Massive parliamentary defeats of May’s Brexit proposals in January and March
2019 further shifted the balance of power towards the House of Commons.
l 2019 ( Johnson) When he became prime minister in July 2019, Boris Johnson
faced an even more uncooperative House of Commons than Theresa May had. His
Brexit proposals were even more unpopular with pro-European Conservatives
and he suffered the humiliation of Parliament seizing control of parliamentary
business and enacting the Benn Bill (4 September 2019) extending the Brexit
deadline if a deal was not achieved.
However, not even a powerful government should take Parliament for granted.
In 1986, despite its 144-seat majority, the Thatcher government was defeated on
the second reading of the Shops Bill, which would have enabled shops to open on
Sunday, when 72 Conservative MPs voted against the bill. In 2021, 99 Conservative
MPs voted against Covid passes, forcing Boris Johnson to rely on Labour support
for the bill to pass the House of Commons. In 2022, Johnson was forced to resign as
prime minister when he lost the support of both his cabinet and the parliamentary
Conservative Party as a result of illegal Downing Street parties during lockdown.
In focus
Parliamentary debate The significance of parliamentary debate in influencing how
MPs vote should not be underestimated. In 2013, David
Cameron proposed military strikes on the Syrian government
following its alleged use of chemical weapons. Both sides
deployed compelling arguments; however, the government
failed to sufficiently prove its case and was defeated by
285–272 votes. Thirty Conservative and nine Liberal Democrat
MPs voted against the government.
Towards the end of the debate, Jeffrey Donaldson MP stated:
‘The Democratic Unionist Party has never been found
wanting when it has come to supporting military
action on behalf of our nation when it was deemed
necessary. That has happened on at least three
occasions during my time in Parliament. I have to
Although there were widespread protests against bombing say, however, that I have not yet heard a compelling
Syria in 2013, the key reason why David Cameron did not take argument today to convince me that military
military action was that he lost the debate in the House of intervention in this case is either necessary or in our
Commons national interest.’
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In what ways has the ability of Parliament to control
government increased in recent years?
The effectiveness of the mechanisms through which Parliament can hold government
accountable has been hotly criticised. For example, although Prime Minister’s Question
Time provides the opportunity for regular scrutiny of the prime minister, critics claim
that its focus is less on constructive debate than trading claims and counter claims.

Keir Starmer: ‘On 1 December, the prime minister told this House from the Dispatch Box, in
relation to parties during lockdown, that “all guidance was followed completely in No. 10”. He
looks quizzical, but he said it. On 8 December, the prime minister told this House that “I have
been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party”. Since he
acknowledges that the ministerial code applies to him, will he now resign?’
The prime minister: ‘No. But since the right hon and learned gentleman asks about Covid
restrictions, let me just remind the House and, indeed, the country that he has been
relentlessly opportunistic throughout. He has flip-flopped from one side to the other. He
would have kept us in lockdown in the summer. He would have taken us back into lockdown
at Christmas. It is precisely because we did not listen to Captain Hindsight that we have the
fastest-growing economy in the G7, and we have got all the big calls right.’
Keir Starmer: ‘This is the guy who said that, in hindsight, he now appreciates it was a
party. We have discovered the real Captain Hindsight, have we not? Let me spell out the —
[Interruption] They shout now, but they are going to have to go out and defend some of
this nonsense. Let me spell out the significance of yesterday’s developments. Sue Gray
reported the matter to the police, having found evidence of behaviour that is potentially a
criminal offence. Prime Minister, if you do not understand the significance of what happened
yesterday, I really do despair. Does the prime minister — [Interruption].’
Hansard, Extracts from Prime Minister’s Question Time, 26 January 2022
1 How useful do you think this exchange between the prime minister and the leader of the
opposition was?
2 Research other recent Prime Minister Question Times. Do you think they provided useful
scrutiny or not?
3 To what extent do you think PMQT provides a useful parliamentary function?
However, several reforms have made the House of Commons and the House of
Lords institutionally stronger in their relationship with the government.
In 2009 a committee chaired by the former Labour MP Tony Wright recommended
in its report ‘Rebuilding the House’ several ways in which the powers of backbench
MPs could be increased. These reforms then formed the basis of the coalition’s
parliamentary reform programme.
l In 2010 the Backbench Business Committee was established, which for the
first time allows backbenchers to determine the issues they wish to debate
for 35 days each parliament. This provides an important way in which MPs
can raise important topics for debate, whether the government is in favour or
against.
l Since 2010 the chairs of select committees have been elected by a secret ballot of
all MPs and the membership of select committees by a secret ballot within each
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parliamentary party. Previously, the whips had selected the chairs and membership,
Knowledge check
which meant that loyal rather than independent-minded MPs were usually
selected. This reform has significantly increased the prestige of select committees, 20 When does Prime
especially as several prominent MPs have taken over the leadership of them. Minister’s Question
l The Liaison Committee consists of the heads of all the select committees and Time take place?
regularly questions the prime minister. Since, unlike Prime Minister’s Questions, 21 List three ‘Wright
the meeting takes place in a restrained, non-partisan atmosphere, it can put the Committee’ reforms
prime minister under more sustained objective scrutiny. of the House of
l Electronic petitions can now be sent directly to Parliament and a House of Commons.
Commons petitions committee (2015) then decides when and where those 22 What is the purpose
eligible will be heard. of the Backbench
Business Committee?
23 What is the purpose
In focus of the Liaison
Committee?
The Public Accounts Committee
The Public Accounts Committee dates from 1861 and is the most important committee in
Parliament because it scrutinises the effectiveness with which the government spends the
public’s money. It does not question whether a government policy is correct but focuses on
whether value for money is being appropriately delivered. For example, in 2022, in a notable
report the Public Accounts Committee explained what lessons the government should learn
from how it had handled the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, it highlighted the need for a
clearly defined leadership structure to deal with potential future crises:
‘Many of the major risks that the country faces would cut across institutional
boundaries and affect multiple areas of government and society, if they materialized.
Yet, no one in government is tasked with forming an overarching view of whole system
risks, ensuring that all departments are adequately prepared for them, and prompting
departments to enhance their preparedness in the areas where they fall short.’
l Recent House of Commons Speakers have authorised more urgent questions

making ministers more accountable to the House of Commons. According to
former speaker John Bercow, ‘I do not apologise for restoring this instrument
of scrutiny. I believe the evidence demonstrates that it has helped revive the
standing of the House by demonstrating its relevance.’ On average there were 0.1
urgent questions per day from 1991 to 2009. But by the 2017–19 parliamentary
session this had leapt to 0.88 urgent questions per day.
l It has also been claimed that the executive’s authority has been reduced by
the convention that the House of Commons should now be consulted on the
commitment of British forces to military operations, and by the Fixed-term
Parliaments Act 2011, which stopped the prime minister requesting a dissolution
of Parliament and a general election at their convenience.
However, the extent to which this has really increased the power of the House of
Commons is disputed.
l Since 2003, when Tony Blair allowed a parliamentary vote on the justification
for war in Iraq, there has been the expectation that Parliament should authorise
military action. However, it is not a legal requirement, and in 2018 Theresa May
ignored it to exercise the royal prerogative when the RAF joined US/French
air strikes on Syrian government chemical weapons installations. In a sudden
emergency the prime minister might also claim justification for not seeking
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parliamentary approval for immediate military deployments, while the use of
the nuclear deterrent is at the prime minister’s discretion.
l The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 still allowed the prime minister to call
a general election, as Theresa May did in 2017, if two-thirds of MPs agreed.
Having failed three times in 2019 to win a sufficient parliamentary majority
for an early election, the Johnson government then introduced legislation to
repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. Consequently, the right of the prime
minister to decide the date of a general election was restored in the Dissolution
and Calling of Parliament Act 2022.
The House of Lords

Since the removal of most of the hereditary peers and their replacement with life
peers, the House of Lords can claim greater professional expertise and so has become
much more self-confident in opposing government legislation. It has also lost its in-
built Conservative majority and become more balanced in its composition.
Although the powers of the House of Lords have not changed, the peers’ willingness to
use them has. For example, from 1999 to 2010 the Labour government suffered more
than 450 defeats in the House of Lords, including the latter’s successful opposition
to Gordon Brown’s attempt to increase detention of terrorist suspects to 42 days.
In 2015, the Lords provoked even more controversy when it opposed attempts by
the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, to cut tax credits. Although this
concerned financial legislation and so, according to the Parliament Act 1911, the
Lords should not have opposed the government, the Lords claimed that it could vote
against the measure as it had been introduced through secondary legislation. In the
same manner, the Lords was highly proactive (although ultimately unsuccessful) in
opposing the EU (Withdrawal) Bills introduced by the May and Johnson governments.
In focus
The Salisbury Convention
According to the Salisbury Convention, since the House of Lords cannot claim democratic
legitimacy, it will not oppose legislation which was in the winning party’s manifesto. However,
when a government does not have a parliamentary majority, it is more difficult for it to claim that
its manifesto has been popularly endorsed by the public. In these circumstances it has been
claimed that the Salisbury Convention is in abeyance, providing the Lords with the opportunity to
oppose the manifesto commitments of the largest party in government. This was the case during
Knowledge check
the 2010–15 Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition. In 2017, Theresa May’s failure to secure
24 When is the Salisbury a parliamentary majority also encouraged the Lords to be more proactive and the government
Convention not suffered 15 defeats in the upper house over the EU (Withdrawal) Bill. For example, on one notable
operational? occasion, in April 2018, the Lords voted by a majority of 123 to insert a clause in the European
25 What sort of Union (Withdrawal) Bill that the UK should negotiate to remain in the customs union after Brexit.
legislation can the
The way in which, in these circumstances, peers have ignored the Salisbury Convention has
House of Lords not
led to claims that the House of Lords has become too prepared to oppose the government’s
oppose?
legislative programme. Lord Forsyth even told the Lords, ‘Have a care to what we are doing.
26 What power does the
We are an unelected House, and this amendment is part of a campaign which is putting peers
prime minister have
against the people.’
over the date of the
general election? Explain the circumstances in which the Salisbury Convention operates.
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The European Union
The aims of the EU Key term
The European Union (EU) can be traced back to the Schuman Declaration (1950) European Union (EU)
when, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the French foreign secretary, The European Economic
Robert Schuman, proposed that France and Germany pool their production of Community (EEC) was
coal and steel under one supranational authority, which other West European states established in 1957
would be free to join: by the Treaty of Rome.
‘By pooling basic production and by instituting a new High Authority, whose When the Maastricht
decisions will bind France, Germany and many other countries, this proposal will Treaty was ratified in
lead to the realisation of the first concrete foundation of a European federation 1993 the community was
indispensable to the preservation of peace.’ renamed the European
Union as a result of
The idea was that by removing coal and steel production from national control, war
increased economic and
between member states of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) would
political integration.
be made impossible.
The ECSC provided the basis for the European Economic Community
(EEC), which was established by the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The
opening paragraph of the Treaty of Rome lays down that the aim
of the EEC should be ‘an ever-closer union among the peoples of
Europe’. All subsequent treaties between its member states have
increased the process towards fuller European integration. According
to the principle of pooling sovereignty, member states would achieve
greater political inf luence by sharing power within a much larger
political organisation.
As well as deeper interconnectedness, the EEC/EU has significantly
increased its membership across the continent. By 2022 it had increased
to 27 member states from 6 in 1957.
The aims of integration and expansion are to encourage peace, prosperity
and liberal democracy across Europe, so banishing the prospect of war
by eliminating the national differences and jealousies that can encourage
conf lict. However, as well as establishing supranational institutions of
government above the member states, the EU possesses intergovernmental
organs of governance which protect the sovereignty of members in certain
key areas such as foreign policy, defence and taxation. The European Coal and Steel Community
As Table 8.1 shows, the deepening of the relationship between member provided the basis for the European
states and the widening of the EU to cover most of Europe have taken Economic Community (EEC) and later
place in step. the EU
Table 8.1 The enlargement of the EEC/EU
Deepening Widening
Treaties and agreements Expansion of the EEC/EU
1957 The European Economic Community is established by the 1973 UK, Ireland and Denmark join
Treaty of Rome
1985 The Schengen Agreement establishes the principle of passport- 1981 Greece joins
free travel across most member states of the European Union
1986 The Single European Act commits the European Economic 1986 Spain and Portugal join
Community to the creation of a single internal market
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Table 8.1 continued
Deepening Widening
Treaties and agreements Expansion of the EEC/EU
1993 The Maastricht Treaty establishes the European Union with a 1995 Austria, Sweden and Finland join
common citizenship. It commits members to pursuing a common foreign
and security policy and launches plans for a single European currency
1999 The Amsterdam Treaty incorporates the Schengen Agreement 2004 Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia,
(omitting the UK and Ireland) and Social Chapter into EU law Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and
Hungary join
2002 The European single currency is launched into circulation as 2007 Bulgaria and Romania join
national currencies are withdrawn in the Eurozone
2003 The Nice Treaty further reduces occasions when member 2013 Croatia joins
states can use their national veto by increasing opportunities for
qualified majority voting
2009 The Lisbon Treaty provides the EU with its own diplomatic
corps and creates the positions of a full-time EU President and High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to give the EU
the potential for greater international influence
The four freedoms

Knowledge check The core economic aspiration of European integration is expressed in the four
27 What was freedoms, which were laid down in the original Treaty of Rome and envisaged
the Schuman a European single market. The Single European Act and the Lisbon Treaty have
Declaration? further recognised the centrality of a fully functioning single market to European
28 In what year was the integration. Under the four freedoms, among member states there should be:
European Economic
l the free movement of goods: member states should not impose tariffs on goods
Community (EEC)
from another member state, so creating a customs union
established?
l the free movement of services: businesses should be able to open up and operate
29 List two reasons
in any member state
why the EEC was
l the free movement of capital: capital should be able to move freely throughout
established.
the member states
30 When did the EEC
l the free movement of people: no internal barriers should stop citizens of the EU
become the European
working in any member state and being able to claim the same social benefits.
Union (EU)?
By eliminating national barriers, members of the EU would achieve so much
prosperity through interconnectedness that war between them would be
Key term unthinkable. The liberal principle of French economist Frédéric Bastiat (1801–50),
Four freedoms The free that ‘if goods do not cross borders, armies will’, is thus of central importance to
movement of goods, European integration.
services, capital and In addition to economic integration, the EU has pursued ‘ever closer union’ in terms
people through which of social, political and monetary unity, as well as developing closer foreign policy
European economic unity and defence objectives.
is to be achieved.
Monetary union
At the Maastricht Treaty (1993) the principle of monetary union was agreed. This
established that European integration would aspire to both economic and monetary
union (EMU). In 1999 the euro was introduced as a trading currency and in 2002
the founding member states of the eurozone physically replaced their existing
currencies with the euro. The Maastricht Treaty also created the European Central
Bank to set a common interest rate for members of the eurozone. By 2022, there
were 19 EU member states in the eurozone.
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Social unity
In the 1980s, the president of the European Commission,
Jacques Delors, emphasised that European integration
should also encourage workers’ rights. In recognition of
this, the Maastricht Treaty included the Social Chapter,
which established certain rights that all workers in the EU
can claim in areas such as health and safety, freedom from
discrimination, equal treatment, paid holidays, working
hours and conditions, and parental leave on the birth of a
child.
The protection of human rights The European Central Bank in

In 2000, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union was proclaimed Frankfurt, Germany
and became legally binding on all member states when they ratified the Lisbon
Treaty in 2009. The human rights that the charter guarantees significantly overlap
with the European Convention on Human Rights. The main difference is that the Knowledge check
charter applies only to areas connected with EU law and is applied through the
31 What are the EU’s four
European Court of Justice.
freedoms?
32 List three terms of
Political union the Maastricht Treaty
Since the Single European Act 1986 all EU treaties have restricted the occasions (1993).
on which nation states are able to exercise the veto in the Council of Ministers/ 33 List three terms of the
European Council, so advancing political integration. The Maastricht Treaty (1993) Lisbon Treaty (2009).
also established a common EU citizenship and, significantly, changed the name of 34 Define monetary
the European Economic Community to the European Union. union.
35 Name the current
Common foreign and defence policy EU President of the
The Maastricht Treaty (1993) committed the EU to a common foreign and defence Commission.
policy. This was advanced in practical terms by the Lisbon Treaty (2009), as it provided 36 Name the current EU
the EU with a legal identity so that it can negotiate on equal terms with nation High Representative
states and an EU diplomatic service. Lisbon also established a full-time President of for Foreign Affairs and
the European Council and a High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Security Policy.
Policy, both of whom represent the EU in its dealings with other world leaders.
Crises? What crises?

Since 2015, the European Union has faced unprecedented challenges. The Syrian civil war,
conflict in Libya, climate change and the chance for a better life have encouraged migrants
from across Africa and the Middle East to attempt the dangerous journey to Europe. Unequal
responses meant that some member states accepted more migrants than others, fuelling
resentment. In Hungary, for example, the nationalist government of Viktor Orbán angrily
condemned the then German chancellor, Angela Merkel, for favouring an EU response: ‘When it
comes to the question of who can live in Hungary, Merkel is not the one in charge.’
The Covid-19 pandemic that began in 2020 initially saw member states pursuing different
responses to the crisis. Belgium, Spain and Italy, for example, introduced strict quarantines
and stringent restrictions on travel very early on, whereas Sweden and the Netherlands were
much less interventionist. However, by 2022, the EU had committed €1.8 trillion to a recovery
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plan and by January 2022, 80% of the EU had been fully vaccinated against the virus
according to the European Medicines Agency.
On 24 February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine, providing the European Union with its greatest
ever geo-strategic challenge. In response the EU imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia
and proved much more united than when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. However,
consensus was more difficult on a complete ban on Russian oil and gas, with Hungary vetoing
enhanced sanctions and refusing to allow military equipment for Ukraine to cross its borders.
How successful do you think the EU has been in responding to these and other recent crises?
Debate
Has the European Union achieved its objectives?

Evaluation: The European Union has bold economic and political plans. Many of these have been achieved. However, to what
extent has the EU’s aim of ‘ever closer union’ been hampered by state sovereignty and national differences?
Yes No
• By 2022 the EU had expanded from 6 members to • The expansion of the EU has diluted its purpose,
27 members. Turkey, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and making it more difficult to achieve a united European
Montenegro have all applied to join response to contentious issues
• Despite placing significant sanctions on Russia,
member states could not agree whether to extend
these to a complete ban on Russian oil and gas
• The expansion of the EU has encouraged democracy in • The commitment of member states such as Hungary
former communist states in Eastern Europe and Poland to the democratic principles of the EU is
• The European Charter of Fundamental Rights has disputed, undermining the EU’s sense of common
entrenched core civil liberties in European law purpose
• The implementation of the four freedoms means that • The austerity programmes demanded by the European
the EU is now the biggest single market in the world, Commission and European Central Bank in response
providing EU citizens with the right to live, work or to the euro crisis have undermined support for the
study in any member state EU in south European countries such as Greece, Italy,
Spain and Portugal
• In 2022 the EU’s gross domestic product (GDP) was • The removal of barriers to the free flow of workers (one
worth $17.9 trillion, making the EU the second-biggest of the four freedoms) has encouraged the rise of populist
economy in nominal terms in the world parties across Europe that are committed to protecting
their workforce from ‘foreign’ competition
• The euro is the world’s second reserve currency (after • The migrant crisis has exposed significant tensions
the US dollar) between the liberal approach of the German and
French governments and the more defensive approach
of states such as Hungary and Italy
• The EU has provided a global lead on issues such as • Little progress has been made on establishing a
combating climate change and has been responsible for European sense of identity. National identities have
the most environmentally-friendly legislation in the world even been strengthened because of austerity, the free
• When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 the movement of workers and the migrant crisis
EU agreed the strongest sanctions in its history and also
committed to significant military support for Ukraine
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The institutions of the EU
The main institutions of the EU, such as the European Commission, the European
Council and the European Central Bank, and the way in which they operate are
listed in Table 8.2.
Table 8.2 The main institutions of the European Union
Institution Description
European Commission The European Commission is the government (executive) of the EU. Each member state
(supranational) sends a commissioner, who represents the interests of the EU rather than their own state,
to its headquarters in Brussels. The Commission is responsible for developing EU policy
and ensuring that it is carried through
Council of the European This is one of the legislative bodies of the EU. Here relevant government ministers decide
Union (intergovernmental/ whether to accept legislative proposals from the Commission. Some decisions require
supranational) unanimity, although increasingly decisions are reached by qualified majority voting
European Council The European Council convenes four times a year when the leaders of the EU and their
(intergovernmental) foreign ministers meet. The Council develops EU foreign policy and makes strategic
decisions concerning the future of the EU. According to the Lisbon Treaty, the European
Council ‘shall provide the union with the necessary impetus for its development’
European Parliament The European Parliament is the EU’s only directly elected body. It sits in both Brussels and
(supranational) Strasbourg and shares legislative and budgetary control with the Council of the European Union
The European Commission is accountable to Parliament and Parliament elects the
President of the Commission
European Central Based in Frankfurt, the European Central Bank implements EU economic policy and sets a
Bank (supranational) common interest rate for the members of the eurozone
European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice is based in Luxembourg and ensures that European law is
(supranational) applied equally and interpreted in the same way in all member states
The impact of the EU on the United Kingdom Knowledge check

From the time the UK joined the EEC in 1973 its membership was contentious.
37 Define supranational.
Supporters of the EU could point to the positive social and economic impact
38 Define
of membership, while critics of the EU responded that British membership had
intergovernmental.
undermined democratic accountability, threatened Britain’s existence as an
independent nation state and created another layer of unnecessary bureaucracy.
functions of the
During the EU referendum in 2016 these were some of the arguments that the
European Council/
Remain and Leave sides deployed.
Council of Europe?
40 What are the
Benefits for the UK main functions
l Membership of the EU provided the UK with duty-free access to the world’s of the European
second-biggest economy. Tariffs reduce trade and UK exporters benefited from Commission?
being able to sell abroad more cheaply, while UK consumers benefited from
cheaper EU imports. In 2016, 43% of British trade was with the EU and was
worth £241 billion.
l Most economists agree that the UK economy benefited from EU immigration.
EU immigrants came to the UK to join the workforce and so contributed more to
the state in taxation than they claimed back in benefits. In 2013–14, non-British
EU citizens living in the UK paid £14.7 billion in tax and national insurance and
claimed just £2.6 billion in tax credits and child benefit.
l More than 3 million British jobs relied on trade with the EU. The Confederation
of British Industry estimated, during the EU referendum, that the net benefit to
the UK economy of EU membership was worth between 4% and 5% of GDP.
9781398369160.indb 261 15/02/23 10:25 PM

lAs a result of the four freedoms, British entrepreneurs
could set up businesses anywhere they wanted in
the EU, students could study freely in the EU and
the elderly could retire to an EU country and still
receive their British pension. In 2017, 1.3 million
British citizens were living in other EU countries.
l Since 1987 the EU’s Erasmus programme had
encouraged educational exchanges across the EU.
Up to 200,000 British students took advantage of
this to study in EU countries.
l The Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty, which
the Blair government accepted, provides important
Most economists agree that the UK economy benefited from EU safeguards to workers’ rights such as the Working
immigration, though the socioeconomic impacts were profound Time Directive, which guarantees a maximum 48-
week working year with 4 weeks’ paid holiday.
l The European Charter of Fundamental Rights was incorporated into European
Law with the Treaty of Lisbon. This meant that when exercising European law,
the British government had to act according to the charter, which helped to
increase the rights of workers and immigrants in the UK.
l In an increasingly multipolar world comprising huge nation states like the USA,
China and Russia, the UK was able to assert shared values such as democracy,
human rights and the rule of law through its membership of the EU.
l The EU is the world’s most advanced example of a liberal approach to global
politics, bringing together independent nation states into a union. From 1900
to 1950, an estimated 110 million people died in European wars. However,
since 1957, the EEC/EU has encouraged peace and stability across member
states.
Arguments against membership of the EU

l British membership of the EU challenged parliamentary sovereignty. The key
principle of democracy is that representatives are accountable to the public in
regular elections. As a result of the pooling of sovereignty in the EU, Parliament
lost its sovereign right to legislate on behalf of the British people. In November
1991, Tony Benn MP put the democratic case against the EEC/EU, and the
UK’s membership of it, in the House of Commons:
‘If democracy is destroyed in Britain, it will be not the communists, Trotskyists or
subversives but this House which threw it away. The rights that are entrusted to
us are not for us to give away.’
l The EU has been accused of having a democratic deficit at its heart, since its
government, the European Commission, is not directly elected and the EU’s
only directly elected body, the European Parliament, has less direct inf luence
than most legislative assemblies.
l Critics argue that EU legislation creates another layer of unnecessary law which,
since it is applicable to all members of the EU, may not serve the interests of a
country’s citizens. According to the think-tank Open Europe, the implementation
of EU regulations in the UK cost £33 billion every year.
l The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) represented 38% of the EU’s budget
for 2014–20. It helps to protect the livelihood of EU farmers by subsidising
production and protecting them from outside non-EU competition. Since the
UK has a tiny agricultural base, it benefited little from the CAP.
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l Critics of the CAP also argue that as a member of the EU, the UK had to
subsidise a protectionist scheme, which discriminates against the developing
Knowledge check
world and goes against the free-market principles on which the EU is supposed 41 What are the main
to be founded. functions of the
l Although UK trade with the EU in 2016 was 43% of total British trade, it had European Parliament?
been 54% in 2006. This suggests that the UK has the potential to engage further 42 What are the main
in global trade rather than prioritising the European market. functions of the
l The UK contributed more to the EU than it got directly back. This means European Central
that although it received money back through CAP and regional grants to Bank?
poorer regions of the UK such as Cornwall and South Wales, it was still a net 43 What are the main
contributor to the EU. In 2017, the UK made a net contribution of £8.9 billion functions of the
to the EU. European Court of
l Attempts by the EU to integrate Europe through the promulgation of the four Justice?
freedoms have had the opposite effect in member states such as the UK. Rather
than encouraging a sense of European identity, this encouraged xenophobic
resentment, especially among C2, D and E voters who generally gained least
from EU immigration.
In focus
The Factortame judgment British fishing industry. The Common Fisheries Policy gained
further notoriety because of fish being thrown back into the
sea in order not to exceed quotas landed.
In 1988, the Merchant Shipping Act limited the ability of
foreign vessels to fish in British waters. This was in defiance of
the Common Fisheries Policy and the four freedoms of the EU,
and a Spanish fishing company, Factortame, appealed to the
House of Lords, which was then the highest court in the UK. In
the resulting Factortame judgment, the Law Lords stated that
the Merchant Shipping Act should be disapplied because EU
law took precedence over national law. According to one of the
judges, Lord Bridge, it has ‘always been clear that it was the
duty of a United Kingdom court when delivering final judgment,
to override any rule of national law found to conflict with any
As a result of legislation establishing a single European directly enforceable rule of Community law’.
market, member states of the EU cannot restrict access to The significance of this judgment was crucial since it
each other’s fishing grounds. The Common Fisheries Policy of established the principle that when British and European law
the EU also set quotas of fish that can be caught to preserve conflicted, European law must take precedence. Critics of the
fish stocks. The impact of these two policies was highly EEC/EU were outraged by the judgment. They argued that it
unpopular in Britain’s maritime fishing communities, since removed the democratic principle of parliamentary sovereignty,
it allowed often larger fishing boats from other EU countries making the UK Parliament answerable to the European
to fish British waters. Since what could be caught was now Commission even if the interests of British citizens were
limited, this, fishermen argued, threatened the survival of the potentially being compromised.
The EU referendum in 2016

From when it joined the EEC in 1973, the UK rarely had an easy relationship with its
European partners. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Labour Party saw membership of the
EEC as a barrier to socialism, while more recently a large section of the Conservative
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Party focused on the loss of national identity and threat to parliamentary sovereignty
Synoptic link posed by European integration.
The debate over whether
A major reason for the UK’s historic lack of commitment to the EU is that the UK
referendums contribute to
did not join until 16 years after the EU was established by the Treaty of Rome and so
UK democracy is covered
it had to accept rulings such as the Common Agricultural Policy, which conf licted
in Chapter 1 (pages 6–9)
with British interests. Britain’s imperial legacy, which is still apparent in the existence
and Chapter 3 (pages
of the Commonwealth, also made European integration seem less pressing. The UK,
105–09).
as an island nation state, has developed separately from continental neighbours and
avoided being conquered by either Napoleon or Hitler, further fostering a separate
British identity.
In focus
The socioeconomic impact of EU There is a strong case to suggest that the UK economy
benefited from EU immigration. Most EU immigrants were in
migration on the UK their twenties and took up paid employment, contributing more
In 2004 the EU expanded from 15 to 25 member states, to the economy than they claimed through social services.
including 8 from Eastern Europe. In 2007, Bulgaria and Romania In 2018, unemployment levels in the UK were just 4% — the
also joined the EU. Under the principle of the four freedoms, lowest since 1975 — which suggests that the UK was easily
members of the EU enjoy the right to work and claim social able to absorb EU immigrants. Fears that EU immigrants
security in any member state. Some restrictions were placed on were changing the social fabric of the UK nevertheless had a
Romanian and Bulgarian work permits, but by 2014 these had powerful resonance in many non-metropolitan centres. People
been removed, establishing complete freedom of movement. began to feel that their communities were being potentially
changed for ever by EU migration. One in five of the population
The socioeconomic impact of EU migration on the UK was
of Boston in Lincolnshire, for example, was an immigrant in
profound. The UK’s position as a member of the single market
2016, and Boston voted 75.6% to leave the EU.
contributed to a significant increase in immigration. From
1991 to 1995, on average, immigration to the UK amounted In 1968, Enoch Powell had warned that, because of
to 37,000 people, whereas from 2013 to 2017 the figure was Commonwealth immigration, British-born citizens would find
277,000. By 2017, 3.8 million people living in the UK were ‘their homes and neighbourhoods changed beyond recognition,
citizens of another EU country. This represented approximately their plans and prospects for the future defeated’. Almost 40
6% of the UK’s population. The largest number of EU migrants years later, in 2016, it was by appealing to fears such as these
to the UK were, by far, from Poland, with over a million Poles that the Leave campaign was helped to achieve victory in the EU
living in the UK in 2017. UK citizens were much less likely to referendum.
take advantage of the single market, with just 785,000 British
nationals in 2017 living in other EU states excluding Ireland.
When David Cameron pledged to hold an ‘in/out’ referendum on the UK’s

membership of the EU, it was widely expected that the UK would vote to remain
in the union. The prime minister and most of the cabinet campaigned to remain,
as did the Labour and Liberal Democrat leadership. The Confederation of British
Industry (CBI) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) argued strongly in favour of
the economic advantages of membership. The then governor of the Bank of England,
Mark Carney, announced that Brexit could ‘possibly include a technical recession’ and
the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, went further, stating that Brexit
would push the UK into an immediate recession costing 820,000 jobs in 2 years.
However, unlike the 1975 referendum, in which the UK voted decisively to remain
in the EEC, in 2016 the strong economic arguments to remain in the EU proved less
inf luential than expected. Instead, the Leave campaign’s focus on restoring British
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sovereignty was highly popular, especially among C2, D and
E voters, who felt that their economic opportunities were
being lost and that the social fabric of their communities was
being irretrievably altered without their consent.
The morning after the EU referendum, at 4.39 a.m. on
Friday 24 June, David Dimbleby confounded most polling
forecasts when he announced on BBC television, ‘The
British people have spoken and the answer is we’re out.’
The result was close but decisive: Remain 48%; Leave 52%.
It remains the case that the UK enjoyed considerable
economic benefits from membership of the EU’s single The 2016 EU referendum demonstrated a striking
market. The free f low of trade, services, capital and workers discontent between the more pro-European attitudes of
represented by the four freedoms benefited the UK’s many young people and the greater Euroscepticism of
economy and so the economic consequences of Brexit are many older voters
highly controversial. However, supporters claim that the
UK as a sovereign nation will be better able to determine its own destiny. On 31
January 2020, when the UK officially left the European Union, the prime minister, Knowledge check
Boris Johnson, declared, ‘In our diplomacy, in our fight against climate change, in 44 What were the
our campaigns for human rights or female education or free trade we will rediscover dates of the UK’s
muscles that we have not used for decades: the power of independent thought and membership of the
action.’ European Union?
45 What was the
The impact of Brexit on the UK significance of
the Factortame
The departure of the UK from the European Union has meant the full restoration
judgment?
of parliamentary sovereignty. The four freedoms (the free f low of goods, services,
46 List three criticisms
capital and persons) no longer apply to the UK. This means that the EU retains no
of EU membership for
external sovereignty over the UK, although it should be noted that EU Withdrawal
the UK.
legislation enshrined in UK law all existing EU legislation. The UK can thus
47 List three advantages
negotiate its own trade deals and as Rishi Sunak has put it, ‘have proper control of
of EU membership for
our borders’.
the UK.
Brexit has also led to potential conf lict with EU members over contested territorial
issues. In 2021, the UK government sent two warships to Jersey when French
fishing boats threatened a blockade over post-withdrawal disputed fishing rights.
UK sovereignty over Gibraltar has also become increasingly contentious, since the
UK and Spain no longer share EU membership.
Brexit has also raised significant constitutional complications and exposed major
unresolved tensions within UK democracy. Faced by significant anti-Brexit feeling
within the Conservative Party, Boris Johnson removed the whip from 21 pro-
European Conservatives. Just four of them returned to Parliament in the 2019
general election. Consequently, the Conservative Party has been transformed into
a fully Eurosceptic party: a dramatic transformation that has left pro-European
Conservatives politically homeless.
Some critics have suggested that rather than empowering parliament, Brexit has
allowed the executive to significantly increase its authority. For example, in response
to Parliament’s unwillingness to agree to an early general election in 2019, the
Johnson government enacted legislation restoring to the prime minister the right to
determine the date of the general election. Brexit has also led to highly publicised
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clashes between the Supreme Court and the executive. In the first Gina Miller case
(2017), the Supreme Court stated that Parliament must legislate to withdraw the UK
from the EU rather than the executive using its prerogative power. In the second Gina
Miller case (2019), the Supreme Court declared that the Johnson government could
not prorogue Parliament since that would limit its constitutional right to debate
Brexit. Both cases generated significant public interest, with populist claims being
made that the Supreme Court was delaying Brexit and becoming too politicised.
Brexit has also significantly undermined the integrity of the United Kingdom.
Although 52% voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum, results differed across
the constituent parts of the UK: 53.4% in England and 52.5% in Wales voted to leave.
However, Scotland (62%) and Northern Ireland (55.8%) voted decisively to remain.
The pro-Europeanism of Scotland has encouraged the SNP to press for another
independence referendum with the ultimate objective of trying to rejoin the EU.
As a result of Brexit, the Northern Ireland Protocol was established to enable the free
f low of goods across the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of
Ireland, which remains in the European Union. Checks on EU goods would then
be carried out on goods coming from Northern Ireland to Great Britain (England,
Wales and Scotland). The Protocol has been viewed by the unionist community
in Northern Ireland as threatening its membership of the UK. Consequently, the
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) withdrew from power-sharing, leading to the
collapse of the Northern Ireland government in 2022.
The way in which Brexit has disrupted the UK constitution in terms of the
relationship between the various parts of the UK has also encouraged Labour to
commit to a dramatic rebalancing of power in the UK to maintain the union. This
would involve power being devolved from Westminster, and the House of Lords
being replaced by an elected Assembly of Regions and Nations.
The location of sovereignty in the

UK political system
Legal and political sovereignty
Key terms Political sovereignty refers to the sovereignty exercised by the public. This is
the ultimate form of sovereignty since the legislature and executive depend on the
Political sovereignty
consent of the public to govern. At each general election the British public reclaim
Means absolute authority.
their sovereignty when they choose their parliamentary representatives.
Since the legislature’s
authority derives from the Legal sovereignty is the absolute right that every Parliament has to enact whatever
public, the public may be legislation it chooses. Although Parliament’s sovereignty has been given to it by the
said to exercise political people, once it legislates there can be no power greater than an Act of Parliament.
sovereignty. Popular sovereignty occurs when the public expresses its sovereign will through
Legal sovereignty direct democracy. The 2016 EU referendum provides a good example of the
Represents the right sovereign will of the people conf licting with that of Parliament.
of Parliament to enact
legislation which has Parliament and legal sovereignty
absolute authority and According to the great constitutional expert A.V. Dicey (1835–1922), Parliament
cannot be overturned by possesses the legal sovereignty to enact any law without this being overruled by any
any other body. other body. As Dicey put it in his Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution
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(1885), ‘Parliament … has, under the English constitution, the right to make any law
whatever; and, further, that no person or body is recognised by the law of England
as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament.’ The power
of Parliament is, though, not of its own making, Dicey noted, because the House of
Commons is accountable to the public in regular general elections.
The extent to which sovereignty has moved

between branches
Traditionally, the UK has been viewed as being a unitary state, since sovereign
authority is located in one place, the Westminster Parliament, which has supreme
legislative authority. Unlike in federal systems of government such as the USA,
power is not shared between the federal government and the states.
The fact that the UK does not have a codified constitution means that there is no
law higher than parliamentary statute. Unlike US judges, British judges cannot
strike down an Act of Parliament since they have no higher law of the constitution
to which to appeal.
The legal doctrine of parliamentary supremacy was clearly stated in the case of R
( Jackson) v Attorney General (2005) when Lord Bingham stated that the ‘bedrock of
the British Constitution is … the Supremacy of the Crown in Parliament’.
However, the location of sovereignty in the UK is much more complicated than this
implies. Although Parliament does possess legal sovereignty, the extent to which it
can exercise this in all circumstances is debatable.
Referendums
Since the election of the Blair government in 1997, a precedent has been established
whereby referendums have been called to determine the opinion of the public on
important constitutional questions such as Scottish independence and the UK’s
membership of the EU. The results of these referendums have not been legally
binding since the questions have been only advisory. However, in reality, it would
be constitutionally highly improbable, and dangerous, for the government to ask the
public a question and then ignore the result. Referendums therefore demonstrate
a de facto transfer of authority from the people’s representatives in Parliament, via
direct democracy, to the public. This most controversially occurred in 2016 when
the public voted to leave the EU. Although it is estimated that 73% of MPs opposed
Brexit, in 2017 the House of Commons consequently voted 498–114 to allow the
government to open negotiations to exit the EU.
Devolution
Devolution also provides de facto evidence for a change in the location of sovereignty.
In theory, Westminster did not lose any of its sovereign power when it devolved
rather than gave away certain domestic powers to the Scottish Parliament and the
Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies. The Westminster Parliament could legally
reclaim those powers. This occurred in Northern Ireland in 2002–07 and then
again from 2017 to 2020 when direct rule was re-established. Ongoing difficulties
in power sharing provoked by the implications of Brexit make it possible that this
could temporarily occur again.
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The debating chamber of the
However, to do the same for Wales and Scotland would be much more difficult
Scottish Parliament building,
since both the Scottish and Welsh governments can claim popular legitimacy.
Edinburgh. The way in which
Also, the Scotland Act 2016 and the Wales Act 2017 recognise the permanence
its seating is configured is
of their governments and establish that they can only be abolished as a result of a
supposed to encourage a
referendum in each country. As a result, some political commentators suggest that
more consensual approach to
the UK is currently evolving into a quasi-federal state in which sovereign authority
decision making
is increasingly being shared by the constituent members of the UK.
In focus
The importance of determining where sovereignty lies is that a referendum is a ‘reserved power’ that can only occur
demonstrated by the question of whether Scotland can with the consent of the UK government. In cases such as
unilaterally hold another referendum on independence or these the constitutional significance of the UK Supreme Court
whether this needs to be legally recognised by Westminster. in determining the location of sovereignty is paramount. In
In June 2022, Nicola Sturgeon announced that she was 2022, the President of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed, stated
planning to hold a second independence referendum in that even the advisory referendum Sturgeon proposed would
October 2023. According to Sturgeon, the majority at not be permissible because it had ‘more than a loose or
Holyrood for pro-independence parties (the SNP and the consequential connection with the reserved matters of the
Green Party) provided her with a democratic mandate to do Union of Scotland and England and the sovereignty of the
so. However, this was disputed by Westminster, which stated United Kingdom Parliament’.
Royal prerogative
The royal prerogative is exercised by the prime minister and means that in certain
areas Parliament is not sovereign. These areas include patronage powers, such as
recommendations to the Crown of life peers and Anglican bishops. The prime
minister also decides who will be in the cabinet.
Since the parliamentary vote in 2003 supporting military action in Iraq, the convention
has developed that the House of Commons should be consulted over the use of military
force. However, this has not been set out in law and so there is no legal restraint on the
prime minister still choosing to exercise the royal prerogative when committing British
forces to conflict. This demonstrates how, lacking a codified constitution clearly setting
out the relationship between the branches of government, there can be competing
claims between the executive and the legislature over where sovereignty lies.
The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ensures that the government does not act beyond its authority
(ultra vires). For example, the Gina Miller case (1) stated that the May government
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could not use the royal prerogative to withdraw from the EU. Instead, Parliament
would have to legislate in the matter. In the Gina Miller case (2) Boris Johnson was
forbidden from using the royal prerogative to prorogue/suspend Parliament. The
Supreme Court can also determine in judicial review whether the government has
acted within the law and can quash decisions if this is not the case.
According to some critics, recent attempts by the executive to neglect Parliament
demonstrates the importance of the Supreme Court making clear the limits of
government power. However, the UK does not possess a codified constitution
and Parliament could subsequently legislate to give government powers it did not
previously have, so limiting the authority of the Supreme Court.
Human Rights Act 1998

In cases involving the protection of civil liberties, British courts can refer to the
Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporates the European Convention on Human
Rights into British law. However, the Human Rights Act (HRA) still falls far
short of being a codified constitution with an untrenched bill of rights which really
would limit Parliament’s sovereignty. As it stands, the HRA is no different from any
other Act of Parliament and so parts of it can be suspended — as occurred when
Article 5 was suspended after 9/11, enabling the government to hold foreign terrorist
suspects indefinitely without trial. An Act of Parliament can also still become law
if it is in defiance of the terms of the HRA on the principle that no parliament
may bind its successor. In these circumstances, the judiciary should acknowledge
the contradiction by issuing a formal statement of incompatibility, but the Supreme
Court could not strike down the legislation. The vulnerability of the HRA is
further demonstrated by the determination of some Conservatives, such as the justice
secretary, Dominic Raab, to lessen its legal impact with a British bill of rights.
In focus
The Crown in time of national minister of their choosing. This happened in 1940 when Neville
Chamberlain resigned following the Nazi Blitzkrieg on Norway
emergency and Denmark. There were several possible replacements,
Although the monarch generally asks the party leader including the foreign secretary, Lord Halifax. However, King
with a majority of MPs in the House of Commons to form George VI asked Winston Churchill to form a government on
a government on their behalf, if there was an absence of his behalf since he felt that he best represented the will of the
clear political leadership in time of national crisis then nation to oppose Hitler.
constitutionally the monarch would be able to appoint a prime
The EU
As a member of the EEC/EU, the UK pooled its sovereignty with other member
states. Where European law was established, the UK had to accept the supremacy
of European law over domestic law. This principle was recognised in British law by Knowledge check
the Factortame case (1991), which stated that in cases of conf lict, British courts must
implement European law over British law. 48 Define sovereignty.
49 What is political
However, the question as to what extent this meant that parliamentary sovereignty sovereignty?
had been compromised was settled when, because of the vote to leave the EU in 50 What is legal
2016, Parliament began the process of withdrawal from the European Union, which sovereignty?
was finally completed on 31 January 2020. This demonstrates that although the UK
9781398369160.indb 269 15/02/23 10:25 PM

pooled its sovereignty as a member of the EEC/EU, Parliament always retained the
sovereign right to legislate to restore full parliamentary sovereignty on the principle
that no parliament may bind its successor.
In focus
The European Court of Human (234–22) to deny prisoners voting rights. In 2020, the European
Court of Human Rights expressed ‘profound concern’ that the
Rights and parliamentary UK government had refused its request to open an inquiry into
sovereignty the murder of Pat Finucane by loyalists to discover whether
there was any government collusion. On both occasions state
On several occasions, there has been conflict between the
sovereignty was pitted against the UK’s obligations under the
European Court of Human Rights and the UK Parliament and
European Convention on Human Rights. In 2022, Dominic Raab,
government over where sovereignty lies. In 2011, despite
the justice secretary, introduced a Bill of Rights bill, which would
warnings that it was acting in defiance of the European
formally legislate that the UK government does not have to
Convention on Human Rights (which the UK adopted in the
abide by the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
Human Rights Act 1998), the House of Commons voted
Globalisation
It could be argued that membership of international organisations such as the
International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, as well as the
impact of economic globalisation, have restricted UK sovereignty. For example, the
UK is expected to obey the trading rules of the World Trade Organization and is
committed to the principle of Article 5 of NATO’s constitution that an attack on
one member state represents an attack on all member states. However, in 2021 when
the International Court of Justice stated that the UK’s ownership of the Chagos
Islands was illegal, the UK government simply ignored the judgment, declaring,
‘The UK has no doubt as to our sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory
which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814.’ Additionally, as
the UK’s withdrawal from the EU demonstrates, the UK could legally withdraw
from any global organisation of which it is a member, so reclaiming its sovereignty.
Debate
Is the Westminster Parliament sovereign?

Evaluation: Although constitutional law experts often claim that the Westminster Parliament is sovereign, have recent
constitutional developments meant that sovereignty is now more widely dispersed?
Yes No
• Parliament legislated to leave the EU. This means • The devolved governments of Wales and Scotland can
that even when the UK was part of the EU, in spite of only be abolished by Parliament following referendums
the Factortame case, Parliament reserved the right to calling for their removal
enact legislation to repeal UK membership
• Since the UK does not possess a codified constitution, • There is now a convention that major constitutional
there is no law higher than parliamentary statute. The decisions should be agreed by the public in
Supreme Court may not, therefore, strike down an Act referendums rather than by Parliament
of Parliament
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Yes No
• Although the European Convention on Human Rights • Parliament accepted the result of the EU referendum
has been enacted through the Human Rights Act, it is in 2016, although most MPs disagreed with it. This
no different legally from any other Act of Parliament suggests that the political sovereignty of the public is
so it can be suspended or repealed superior to that of the Westminster Parliament
• Parliament could, in theory, abolish the devolved • The Westminster Parliament is not sovereign in those
assemblies by Act of Parliament areas involving the prime minister’s exercise of the
royal prerogative
• Parliament is not legally bound by the result of a • The UK Supreme Court determines where sovereignty
referendum lies in the UK. In cases such as the legitimacy of
a second Scottish independence referendum, its
decisions are final
Summary
➜ What is the role of the Supreme Court?
➜ Why is judicial independence important and how is it secured?
➜ How effective is the Supreme Court in protecting civil liberties?
➜ Why is the location of sovereignty in the UK difficult to determine?
➜ How effective is Parliament in holding government accountable?
➜ What factors explain the extent to which the legislature can control the executive?
➜ Has the balance of power shifted from the executive to the legislature?
➜ To what extent is the UK Parliament sovereign?
➜ In what ways did EU membership impact the UK?
➜ To what extent is the EU a successful organisation?
Practice questions
Current strengths Current weaknesses
• Some parliamentary institutions • The Commons is executive-dominated,
operate effectively, engaging the with MPs most often voting on
attention of MPs, media and the ‘whipped’ partisan lines. Party
public — especially Prime Minister’s cohesion has weakened but it is still
Question Time (and to a lesser exceptionally high
degree, ministers’ question times) • Only a few component parts of the
and the operation of select committees legislature’s activities work well.
• The post hoc scrutiny of policy Much time and energy is consumed in
implementation via select committees behaviours that are ritualistic, point-
has greatly improved the Commons’ scoring and unproductive in terms of
role since 1979, adding to previous achieving policy improvements
strengths in post hoc financial scrutiny • At 650 MPs, the House of Commons
• The Backbench Business Committee is an exceptionally large legislature.
enables backbenchers to raise topics Most MPs don’t have enough useful
for debate in a more effective way, things to do (hence the . . . plethora
adding to the Commons’ overall of ethically dubious ‘outside interests’)
steering capabilities
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Current strengths Current weaknesses
• The Liaison Committee’s generalist • Fuelled by the coalition period, and the
sessions with the prime minister post-2017 hung parliament, the amount
(ranging across a wide set of policy of secondary legislation is growing.
areas) are a useful if modest Primary legislation is increasingly drafted
innovation in ways that leave its consequences
obscure, to be filled in later via statutory
instruments or regulation. Commons
scrutiny of such ‘delegated legislation’ is
very weak and ineffective
Photiadou A. & Dunleavy P. (2018) ‘Chapter 4.1: The House of Commons:

control of government and citizen representation’ in Dunleavy, P. (eds)
The UK’s Changing Democracy: The 2018 Democratic Audit, LSE Press.
Using the source, evaluate the view that parliamentary scrutiny of the executive
is limited and ineffective.
1 Evaluate the view that the UK Parliament can justifiably claim to be a
sovereign body. In your answer you should draw on relevant knowledge and
balanced way.(30)
2 Evaluate the view that the Supreme Court exerts too much influence
over the executive and the legislature. In your answer you should draw
on relevant knowledge and understanding of the study of Component 1
UK Politics and Core Political Ideas and consider this view and the
3 Evaluate the view that the European Union has been an economic
success but a political failure. In your answer you should draw on relevant
knowledge and understanding of the study of Component 1 UK Politics and
Core Political Ideas and consider this view and the alternative to this view
in a balanced way.(30)
Further reading
Bingham, T. (2011) The Rule of Law, Penguin.
Hale, L. (2022) Spiderwoman: A Life, Vintage.
Kenealy, D., Hadfield, A., Corbett, R. and Peterson, J. (2022) The European Union: How Does it
Work?, Oxford University Press.
Lakin, M. (2020) ‘Power and protection: comparing the US and UK Supreme Courts’, Politics
Review, Vol. 30, No. 2.
Lakin, M. (2022) ‘The post-pandemic Parliament’, Politics Review, Vol. 32, No. 2.
Neuberger, D. and Riddell, P. (2018) The Power of Judges, Haus Publishing.
Norton, P. (2020) Governing Britain: Parliament, Ministers and Our Ambiguous Constitution,
Rasoul, S. (2022) ‘The power and influence of the European Union’, Politics Review, Vol. 32, No. 1.
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ME 2
THE POLITICAL IDEAS
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9 Liberalism
Classical liberalism
The political ideas of classical liberalism are most commonly associated with the
age of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, when rationalistic ideas of science
and philosophy challenged the traditional religious order and divinely ordained
monarchical government.
Classical liberals’ ideas have been inf luential across the Western world. They can be
summarised as follows:
l Government by consent
l Guarantee of individual freedom
l Representative democracy
The tenets of liberalism l A limited role for the state within society and the economy
include representative l The belief that individuals are born with natural rights.
democracy and a guarantee
of individual freedoms
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In focus
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment, sometimes known as ‘The Age of Reason’, is estimated to have lasted from
the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, however its influences stretch back to the classical
work of Socrates. Some key Enlightenment thinkers included Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Isaac
Newton (1643–1727) and John Locke (1632–1704).
Its ideas can be summarised under four basic themes:
l a positive view of human nature
l an expansion of knowledge
l the application of reason
l a dedication to scientific method.
Superstition, customs, traditions and the old order of absolute monarchy and organised
religion were threatened by Enlightenment ideas, whose reason for being, French philosopher
Denis Diderot (1713–84) argued, was that:
‘All things must be examined, debated, investigated, without exception and without
regard for anyone’s feelings…We must ride roughshod over all those ancient puerilities,
overturn the barriers that reason never erected.’
Enlightenment ideas informed both liberalism and socialism, while the ideas of Edmund Burke
and conservatism were a reaction against this rationalistic way of thinking that was challenging
the status quo. Enlightenment concepts such as human rights and rationality were attributed
to white Europeans, while minority ethnic people were still seen as inferior and weren’t afforded
these rights.
Figure 9.1 The Enlightenment

utilitarianism focused on the human
Ke ono
social
capacity for rationalism and
ec
yn m
justice
es ics
negative
ian
scientific method
ve ran
ign
il o ce
freedom
nt l
o
co ocia
t
rac
iple positiv
e
s
inc
pr fre e d o m
rm
limited
ha
eq government enabling
op ualit state
po y o
imal state
rtu f
nit
y y
p a t r i a rc h
min
formal
equality
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Modern liberalism
Modern liberalism argued for an increased role of the state within society and the
economy. For some, it enhanced individual freedom and was a logical continuation
of the ideas of classical liberalism. For others, such as neo-liberals, this was a betrayal
of classical liberalism’s core ideas.
Liberalism, in both its classical and modern forms, is seen by many as the most
Liberalism informs the inf luential ideology in the world today. It informs the political systems of both the
political systems of both the USA and the European Union.
USA and the European Union
Core ideas and principles

Individualism
The preservation of individual rights and freedoms above any claims by the
state or groupings within society are of paramount importance to liberals. John
Key terms Locke focused on the individual rights of man. Locke believed in foundational
Foundational equality A
equality: that man’s natural state was one of freedom, and in particular freedom
fundamental liberal belief
from unnecessary external interference by the state. Locke and John Stuart Mill
that all individuals are
(1806–73) perceived individuals as capable of intellectually informed ideas but as
born with natural rights
self-interested and indifferent to each other. Mill would also act as a bridge between
that entitle them to liberty,
classical and modern liberalism, with his concept of developmental individualism.
the pursuit of happiness
Mill differentiated between the idea of the rights of individuals and how they might
and avoidance of pain.
develop as individuals.
In a liberal state this Modern liberalism’s perception of individualism differs from that of classical
translates into the rule of liberalism. Modern liberalism argues that classical liberalism underplays the inequality
law, where all individuals of society. Society is not equal and some individuals have a distinct advantage over
are treated equally under others. Likewise the idea that individuals are autonomous is also overstated. John
the law. Rawls (1921–2002) argued that one’s societal position and particular circumstance
Egotistical individualism (race, gender, social class, innate intelligence, etc.) were important in determining
The belief that individual whether an individual thrived or underachieved. Therefore, individuals can have
freedom is associated with both innate advantages and disadvantages that affect their eventual fate. The negative
a rational sense of self- freedom practised by classical liberalism only exacerbates these inequalities rather
reliance and self-interest. than addressing them. Modern liberalism therefore critiques classical liberalism’s
egotistical individualism (Table 9.1).
Table 9.1 Attitudes towards individualism
Knowledge check
Classical liberalism’s attitude Modern liberalism’s attitude
1 What was the
An individual’s primary motivation is T.H. Green (1836–82) was an early
Enlightenment for egotistical individualism, which is advocate of modern liberalism who
and why was it so concerned with maximising their own argued for positive freedom whereby the
influential? utility (their personal worth or value) so state practises a form of developmental
2 What is foundational that they can thrive to the best of their individualism to help make society a fairer
equality? ability place. An idea that J.S. Mill agreed with
but described as ‘individuality’
3 What is formal
equality?
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Classical liberalism’s attitude Modern liberalism’s attitude Key terms
The freedom of the individual is Modern liberals can broadly agree with
sacrosanct. Society would be atomistic: classical liberals on the concept of self- Developmental
a collection of autonomous individuals reliance but argue that the state must offer individualism Both
a ‘hand up’ if every individual is to achieve classical and modern
this goal liberals think that
The state should be small, limited to The influence of modern liberalism’s ideas of individuals must help
maintaining law and order and protecting developmental individualism can be seen in the themselves to improve.
society from invasion, so that it does expansion of state involvement and welfare
not infringe on individual freedom and provision in Western democracies after the
Classical liberals think the
respects formal equality. This limited Second World War state should interfere as
interference is sometimes called little as possible in this
negative freedom process, whereas modern
Classical liberalism influenced the Modern liberals would agree that ‘life, liberty liberals believe that the
American revolutionaries, who refer and the pursuit of happiness’ are human state, by intervening,
specifically to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit rights. However, whereas classical liberals can assist in individuals’
of happiness’ in the US Declaration of argue for a minimal state to ensure these
Independence. These are human rights values, modern liberals believe that only an
development (e.g. a state-
that the state must uphold and protect interventionist state can guarantee such run education system).
freedoms Formal equality Similar
to foundational equality,
Liberalism is also associated with the concept of individual tolerance. Locke, formal equality is a wider
writing in the seventeenth century, focused on respecting alternative religious and concept, supported by
political views, while Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) and Betty Friedan (1921– all liberals. It includes
2006) argued for a toleration of men towards women, calling for an end to sexual equality under the law
discrimination. In the twenty-first century, individual tolerance has been extended but also the principle that
towards gay and more recently transgender individuals, though transgender people every individual is entitled
in particular still face a great deal of discrimination. to equal treatment in
society. It also includes
Freedom/liberty the idea of equality of
The concept of freedom has evolved as liberalism has developed over the centuries. opportunity and the
Early liberals resented how authoritarian government and absolute monarchies abolition of artificial
retained full legitimacy, often at the expense of their subjects’ freedoms. social distinctions such as
gender inequality.
l Freedom is therefore intimately connected with the law. As Locke argued, ‘where
Social contract The state
there is no law there is no liberty’.
is based on a contract
l Freedom is a natural right; Locke asserted that the role of government was to
between the government
protect people’s right to ‘life, liberty and estate’. The state is needed to mediate
and the people.
between competing individuals to enforce order, to protect property rights and
Government agrees to
to prevent breach of contracts and fraud.
make itself accountable to
l Absolute monarchies were illegitimate and Locke argued for a state constructed
the people and to operate
by social contract where individuals are governed by consent. This idea was
within the law, while the
based on the rationalistic proposition that individuals would enter into a social
people should agree to
contract to allow the state to act as a neutral umpire to resolve clashes. If the state
obey the laws and uphold
broke the contract by not protecting or enhancing natural rights, then the people
the security of the state.
were within their rights to withdraw their consent and replace the government.
For many classical liberals, the American Revolution was a perfect example of a
broken contract between the ruled and the rulers.
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l The state would practise limited government so that the individual might enjoy
Key terms the maximum amount of freedom within a legal framework. This freedom gave
Limited government heavy emphasis to the economic sphere of society and the doctrine of laissez-
The principle that faire capitalism as advocated by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776).
governments should be
constrained by strong In focus
laws and constitutions.
Classical and neo-liberals
believe strongly in limited
The social contract
government. All branches The ‘social contract’ is a hypothetical agreement among individuals to establish a sovereign
of liberalism support state. Its origins can be found in the ancient Greek philosophy of Socrates and Plato, and
entrenched constitutions Enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) (see page 431, Nationalism
and the separation of key thinker) later dubbed it a social contract. In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
powers to reinforce limited hypothetically argued that individuals would surrender their sovereignty to an all-powerful
government. monarch to protect them from the chaotic disorder of a ‘state of nature’. For Hobbes, society
could not exist before the creation of the state (see Chapter 10).
Laissez-faire capitalism
A principle mostly Classical liberal John Locke created his own social contract theory in Two Treatises of
associated with the role Government (1689). Locke’s version of the state of nature was guided by rational reason
of the state within a and had its own ‘natural’ laws. Locke argued that individuals would rationally conclude that
capitalist economy, which they would best serve their own interests by contracting into a ‘state of law’ to reconcile the
proposes that capitalism competing individual interests present in a state of nature. Government would be limited to
and wealth creation are protecting the interests of the governed.
enhanced if the state
For Locke, the state was a necessary evil. Individuals would choose to exchange some of
does not interfere with
their natural rights to form a social contract with other individuals, to create a state with
the markets for goods,
a civil government with separate legislative, executive and judicial branches. Individuals
services and labour.
have the right to dissolve their government if the government ceases to work solely in their
best interest.
While Hobbes argued the sovereignty lay with the sovereign, for Locke’s social contract, the
state has no sovereignty of its own and existed only to serve the people. The people would be
citizens and not subjects.
In focus
Liberal ideas and the American War of
Independence and the French Revolution
Liberal ideas created a debate over whether the traditional elites of monarchy and aristocracy
really deserved to maintain their power. The American War of Independence demonstrated that
government could be challenged and raised ideas of freedom and political independence. For
many, it was an example of Locke’s social contract ideas working in practice, as the British
government was no longer governing in the interests, or had the consent, of the American
colonies. For conservatives, who supported monarchical and aristocratic rule, it was a terrifying
challenge to their legitimacy as rulers.
The French Revolution furthered the ideas that men are fundamentally equal with the ideas of
liberty, equality and fraternity. Liberal thinker Thomas Paine published a book called Rights of
Man (1791) as a defence of the values of the French Revolution, criticising governments that
failed to protect basic human freedoms such as freedom of speech and liberty, and the fact
that only a minority of people in Britain could vote.
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Key thinker Knowledge check
4 What is a social
John Locke (1632–1704) contract?
Locke is seen as one of the principal thinkers of classical 5 Why did Locke believe
liberalism, with his key work being Two Treatises of that there needed to
Government (1689). be a state?
6 Why did Locke
Locke’s main ideas
argue for limited
l The state was not created by God, nor is the monarchy
government?
legitimised by the ‘divine right of kings’. Rather, the
7 Why did Locke
state is created via a social contract between the rulers
propose a separation
and the ruled: the principle of government by consent.
of powers?
l Prior to the existence of the state, humans existed in a state of nature, a phrase and
concept Locke borrowed from Thomas Hobbes (see Chapter 10). Locke argued that within
the state of nature the human race was underpinned by ‘natural laws’, ‘natural liberties’
and ‘natural rights’. The freedoms were extremely desirable and so the state must not
encroach on them.
l Locke defined natural rights as ‘life, liberty and estate’ (with estate meaning private
property). Natural rights are negative rights, the right not to be subject to interference
by another person or the state. This is connected to the idea of negative freedom, which
is a central principle for both classical and neo-liberalism. For Locke, government was
Key terms
legitimate only if was legally protecting natural rights.
l The ‘state of law’ that Locke envisaged would see the state resolve disputes between Constitutionalism The
individuals more equitably than can be achieved within a state of nature. belief that a government’s
l The state’s interference in society and economy should be limited. This would ensure authority is determined
that the state always represented the interests of the governed and always required their by a body of laws or a
ongoing consent. The state should be limited under the principle of constitutionalism, with constitution. An example
a clear separation of powers to prevent an abuse of power. of this would be the US
l There should be tolerance between alternative religious and political views. Constitution.
Harm principle The idea
that the state is justified in
Key thinker interfering with individual
freedom when it is to
John Stuart Mill (1806–73) prevent some citizens
doing harm to others.
Mill is considered to be one of the greatest philosophers of all time and his ideas influence
both classical and modern liberalism. His key work is On Liberty (1859).
Mill’s main ideas

l Mill argued for restraint by the state, leaving individuals to be free to take whatever actions
they judged fit, provided these did not harm others. This latter point became known as the
harm principle.
l Mill distinguished between ‘self-regarding’ actions (such as religious worship or
freedom of speech), which do not impinge on the freedom of others and should be
tolerated, and ‘other regarding’ actions (involving violent or riotous behaviour), which
clearly do ‘harm’ and infringe the freedom of others and should not be tolerated by a
liberal state.
l Mill argued that the state should be tolerant of diverse opinions. This attitude has been
paraphrased by Evelyn Beatrice Hall: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the
death your right to say it.’
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l Mill believed that individual liberty was essential for the development of the individual
in terms of creativity, culture and intellect. If individuals were able to develop their
individualism, the whole of society would benefit.
l Unlike earlier liberals who perceived human nature as the finished article, Mill argued that
humans could always improve. Mill distinguished between the rights of the individual with
what he called individuality, or developmental individualism, where he was concerned with
what the individual might become.
l He opposed popular democracy, where the interests of the few could be crushed by
the interests of the majority. As an alternative, he supported the idea of representative
democracy with a limited government. The representatives would aggregate all the
demands of individuals to create a broad consensus for decision making rather than
strictly following the will of the majority. Mass education was a means to facilitate
developmental individualism so that only the educated could vote and those with a higher
level of education could have multiple votes.
l Although Mill argued that government should interfere as little as possible in society
and the economy, he later argued that the state must intervene to help individuals
attain developmental individualism by facilitating education. He saw these ideas, which
influenced modern liberalism, as a natural continuation of classical liberalism and not a
contradiction.
J.S. Mill broadened what liberalism meant by freedom:

l Advocating freedom of speech, thought and religion, unless these pose a direct
threat to others, is an idea that became known as negative freedom.
l Individuals should be free from interference even if this means that they are
harming themselves. For example, suicide should not be a crime.
Classical liberalism’s conception of freedom is atomistic: made up of individuals
with their own interests. There is no broader ‘public interest’ or ‘common good’
that individuals have to serve. People succeed or fail in society on their own efforts.
The state should not provide welfare as this will just make individuals dependent on
the state. This rugged individualism will make society more dynamic as individuals
have to succeed on their own merits and efforts.
Mill moved from a strictly classical liberal approach to a more modern liberal
approach when he advocated that the state had a moral right to educate individuals.
These ideas changed the way liberals thought about freedom, the role of the state
and the nature of society:
l T.H. Green broadened Mill’s ideas when he argued that society was organic
(not atomistic as classical liberals believed), that there was a common good and
that public interest coexisted with individual interests. Limited state intervention
was necessary to facilitate developmental individualism, which would increase
individuals’ capacity to be free.
l Whereas the negative freedom of classical liberalism focused on a freedom
from the state, Green argued that this did not recognise that freedom could
be threatened by social and material disadvantage within society and the
economy.
l Green supported positive freedom that allowed individuals to achieve their
aspirations by the state assisting their development (Table 9.2).
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l Similarly, Rawls argued for a larger role for the state in society and the
economy. This ‘enabling’ state would ensure an individual’s life chances were
not determined by their status at birth. These levels of intervention would
involve more taxation and state spending to ensure equality of opportunity via
developmental individualism.
Knowledge check
8 What is constitutionalism?
9 Why has it been argued that the American War of Independence was influenced by Locke’s
ideas?
10 Why would absolute monarchy and aristocratic government fear the ideas of Locke?
11 What is the social contract?
Table 9.2 Negative freedom vs positive freedom

Negative freedom/liberty Positive freedom/liberty
• A conception of freedom that defines • A conception of freedom that sees the
itself as an absence of constraint state playing a positive role to assist
• Liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin (1909– individuals to achieve their dreams and
97) described it as ‘freedom from’ rather aspirations and develop as individuals
than ‘freedom to’ • A state-funded educational system would
• Advocates of negative freedom want be an example of positive freedom
freedom from government interference • Modern liberals prefer positive freedom
wherever possible and an enabling state
• Classical liberals and neo-liberals prefer
negative freedom and a minimal state
Finally, political writer Carole Pateman (b. 1940) and others have criticised
liberalism for having a conception of freedom that is male-centric and excludes
women. Although many (male) writers of liberal ideas did fall into this category,
liberalism has also acknowledged female rights:
l An exception to this criticism should be J.S. Mill, who in The Subjection of
Women (1869) argued for votes for women decades before enfranchisement was
achieved. For many students reading this textbook, the idea of women voting
seems perfectly rational and hardly controversial. However, in the nineteenth
century, popular opinion was adamant that it was absurd for women to vote. (For
a more detailed discussion of this see Chapter 14.) Mill was regularly ridiculed
in the popular press for championing such ideas and was mockingly depicted in
a dress.
l Wollstonecraft championed formal equality in society, in terms of women
pursuing a career, playing a role in the economy and having legal and property
rights. She also argued that women were equally as rational as men, as ‘the mind
has no gender’. If they did not appear equal, it was because most women had been
denied the same educational opportunities.
l Friedan championed equality of opportunity to a far greater and in a more
explicit sense than Wollstonecraft in the middle years of the twentieth century.
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The state: a necessary evil
The liberal attitude to the state, its size, role and limits, is critical to the development
Key terms of liberalism in the last 400 years. Classical liberalism argued for a minimal state
Minimal state A concept (which contemporary neo-liberals support), which was subsequently altered by
associated with classical modern liberals to an enabling state.
liberalism and modern
neo-liberalism. It suggests Classical liberalism
that in a free society, the The traditional liberal position is that the state is a necessary evil. Although classical
state must be strongly liberalism (and its modern-day counterpart, neo-liberalism) advocates egotistical
controlled and should individualism within society and a laissez-faire attitude towards the economy,
have a minimal breadth it never went as far as individualist anarchism (see Chapter 12) in arguing that
of functions. If the state there should be no state at all. The state must protect ‘life, liberty and estate’. The
has too many functions, state must intervene to uphold the rule of law and to protect society from foreign
it is likely to interfere with invasion. These interventions require institutions such as police forces, armies, laws
individual liberties. The and a judiciary to uphold the laws.
concept is also associated
with laissez-faire The kind of liberal state that Locke advocated was in direct contrast to the absolute
capitalism. monarchies that dominated Europe when he was writing. Monarchs in these
countries received legitimacy via the religious belief of the ‘divine right of kings’,
Enabling state A state
which asserted that the sovereign was ordained to rule by God. Locke disagreed
that does not necessarily
with this irrational interpretation of God’s will, arguing instead for government
provide for people directly
by consent: the state would be the result of a social contract enshrining the natural
but creates the conditions
state of freedom into the law of government. Individuals would enter this social
where people can help
contract voluntarily, whereby government was subject to the consent of the people
themselves. Education
and in return individuals would agree to obey its laws. This would ensure that
provision for all is a key
‘government should always be the servant, and not master, of the people’. The state
example.
should be organised in the following ways:
l It should be based on rational rather than traditional ideas. A constitutional
government would replace an arbitrary government and traditional monarchy.
l Government should be limited in its power and its jurisdiction (Table 9.3).
Table 9.3 How do classical liberals wish to limit government?
By limiting power • Power should be divided between different branches of
government. The separation of powers idea was posited
by the French philosopher Montesquieu and would see
three branches of government — legislative, executive
and judiciary — separated from each other. Each of these
three branches would have the ability to act as a check on
the others
• The state should be based on Locke’s principle of
‘government by consent’. This would be done through
constitutional agreements and government that is constantly
accountable to the people via regular elections
• These principles influenced the creation of the US
Constitution (see Chapter 17)
By limiting jurisdiction • Individuals should be protected by law from actions that
might harm their individual liberty. Economically, the state
should protect property rights, oversee the enforcement of
legal contracts by the law, and regulate monopoly power that
would operate against the interests of consumers
• The state should operate under the rule of law, whereby all
citizens would enjoy foundational equality
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By limiting the • Classical liberals were in favour of a representative
electorate democracy rather than a direct, popular democracy
• J.S. Mill believed that only those with an appropriate formal
education should be allowed to vote
• J.S. Mill feared that a popular democracy might lead to a
‘tyranny of the majority’
Modern liberalism
Although J.S. Mill is strongly associated with classical liberalism, he later adapted
his view of limited government to allow for state intervention to assist the poor
who were experiencing injustice in society and the economy. Mill promoted a
form of developmental individualism, so that people could continue to develop,
which would require a greater involvement of the state. Mill advocated mass
education to advance individual potential and create a liberal consensus within
society. The vote would be withheld from the illiterate while those educated
to university level would receive multiple votes. An educated society would
be a progressive society, and this allowed Mill to refine Jeremy Bentham’s
idea that the liberal state should aim for ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest
Key terms
number’. Mill believed this could be achieved if politicians and educated voters Equality of opportunity
aggregated everyone’s interests, and not just their own, when reaching a political All liberals accept that
judgement. inequality is inevitable
in a free society. Modern
T.H. Green continued to reinterpret the role of the state so that it had a larger role
liberals argue for equality
in both society and the economy:
of opportunity by enabling
l The state should promote equality of opportunity through education and all citizens to have
reductions in the inf luence of inherited privilege. access to education and
l The state should organise welfare to help those unable to defend themselves for society to be truly
against deprivation, such as the unemployed, the chronically sick and the meritocratic.
elderly. Keynesianism A system
l John Maynard Keynes’ (1883–1946) key work The General Theory of Employment, of economic management
Interest and Money was a rational construct that argued against Smith’s laissez-faire where the state
economics. The state, Keynes argued, was capable of managing the economy so (government) directly
as to secure full employment. Keynes, a modern liberal, wished to rectify the intervenes to stimulate the
negative consequences of economic downturns as he felt mass unemployment economy to achieve full
negated individual freedom. These economic ideas are known as Keynesianism. employment and economic
l Recent liberals such as Rawls argue that the state should also take a more proactive growth.
role in reducing inequality within society and preventing social injustice.
Figure 9.2 How big do

J.S. Mill (later writings) liberals think the state
should be?
Classical Betty Friedan
John Locke liberalism: Modern liberalism:
minimal ‘enabling’ state T.H. Green
J.S. Mill
state
(early writings) John Rawls
Mary Wollstonecraft
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l In The Feminine Mystique, Friedan argued that the state was the structure in which
Knowledge check to guarantee societal and economic equality of opportunity for women:
12 What did Mill mean by
‘In almost every professional field, in business and in the arts and sciences, women
the harm principle?
are still treated as second-class citizens. It would be a great service to tell girls
13 What does negative who plan to work in society to expect this subtle, uncomfortable discrimination –
freedom mean? tell them not to be quiet, and hope it will go away, but fight it. A girl should not
14 What does positive expect special privileges because of her sex, but neither should she “adjust” to
freedom mean? prejudice and discrimination.’
15 How did
Wollstonecraft,
Mill and Friedan
Rationalism
broaden the meaning The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement of the eighteenth century inspired
of ‘freedom’ for by scientists and philosophers such as Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, René Descartes
liberalism? and Immanuel Kant. They were united in their positive view of human nature,
particularly concerning rationality, as they believed that humans were capable of
reason and logic. As Locke argued, ‘Reason must be our last Judge and Guide in
every Thing.’
Unlike conservatives, who doubted humans possessed such aptitudes, liberals
believed that rationalism enabled individuals to both define their own best interests
and make their own moral choices, free from external authorities such as the state
and the Church. Whereas conservatives fear intellectual fallibility and cling to
empiricism, customs and tradition to guide them, liberals have far more confidence
in their intellectual ability to construct theories to create a progressive society
(Table 9.4).
Table 9.4 How have classical and modern liberalism been influenced by rationalistic ideas?
Classical liberalism Modern liberalism
• Locke’s ideas of constitutional and representative government • T.H. Green’s positive freedom, which urged state
(as opposed to monarchical government) proved hugely intervention to assist individual freedom, was a key
influential to England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688 and to the rationalistic updating of classical liberalism that
British Bill of Rights of 1689 (see Chapter 5) as well as to the informed the ideas of a state-sponsored welfare
US Constitution (see Chapter 17) state
• Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations is one of the most • Mill’s later ideas such as universal education
important expressions of economic theory within liberalism. anticipated Green’s positive freedom by arguing
Smith argued that capitalism functions best when the state that the state must be an enabling state,
takes a laissez-faire approach. These ideas resonate today with facilitating developmental individualism. However,
the Trump administration’s flirtation with tariffs and protected modern liberals agree with classical liberals on the
markets being criticised for contradicting Smith’s principles desirability of a free-market economy
• Mill’s concept of negative liberty/freedom has been hugely • Keynesian economics, although differing entirely
influential in countries such as the UK and the USA in from laissez-faire economics, was equally
determining the parameters of state intervention, the autonomy rationalistic in its conception
of the individual and the atomistic nature of the society
• Rawls’ ideas of equality and social justice (which
we discuss further in the next section) is a perfect
example of abstract rational thought
Knowledge check
16 List five ways that classical liberals wish to limit the role of the state.
17 What did Mill mean by developmental individualism?
18 Explain what modern liberals mean by the enabling state.
19 What is equality of opportunity?
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Equality and social justice
Liberalism was initially focused on foundational equality (the premise that all
individuals are born with equal rights) and the rule of law so that no individual could
be exempt from society’s strictures. (For more on the rule of law, see Chapter 8.)
l There are numerous examples of foundational equality in practice today, such as
the US Bill of Rights and the UK’s Human Rights Act, both of which legally
protect what liberals consider to be the natural and inalienable rights of individuals.
l Discussing what constitutes foundational equality has been problematic
for classical liberals, who largely ignored (apart from Mill) gender and racial
inequality. Modern liberalism is the strand of liberalism most associated with
supporting full foundational equality.
• Wollstonecraft argued that women were denied equality in terms of property
ownership and political representation.
• Wollstonecraft also argued that women were discriminated against within the
workplace. This theme was continued by Friedan, who later argued for legal
and economic parity and workplace equality of opportunity.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement demonstrated that the
judicial interpretation of the US Constitution was failing to acknowledge all
races equally. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of
1965 began the process of creating true foundational equality and equality of
opportunity for all races within the USA.
l Modern liberals still champion women and racial minorities, but also groups that
the earlier modern liberals would not have considered (such as gay people) or
even imagined (such as trans people).
Key thinker
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97)

Wollstonecraft’s most important publication, A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), is rooted in
liberal philosophy.
Wollstonecraft’s main ideas

l Wollstonecraft had a positive view of human nature,
viewing men and women as equally rational. She
argued that this truth was ignored by contemporary
state and society as women were denied formal
equality under the law, which gave them considerably
fewer rights than men.
l All citizens should enjoy equality under the law and be free from discrimination.
Wollstonecraft campaigned for a change in the law to give women more rights in terms of
employment and property ownership, as well as retaining legal freedoms when they were
married — all areas of difficulty for women at the time.
l Wollstonecraft supported formal equality and the social contract ideas of Locke.
She viewed the divine rights of kings as an ‘absurdity’ and was a vocal supporter of
both the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789, arguing for
republicanism.
l One of Wollstonecraft’s main aims was for women to be granted access to education.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. during
his famous Lincoln Memorial
Address on 28 August 1963
Key thinker
Betty Friedan (1921–2006)

Betty Friedan’s ideas were influenced by
both classical liberalism (the importance of
individualism) and modern liberalism (the
enabling state) for how women can achieve
equality of opportunity with men. Her key works
are The Feminine Mystique (1963) and The
Second Stage (1983).
Friedan’s main ideas

l Friedan argued strongly for individual
freedom. In particular, she believed that
individuals should be free to be able
to achieve their potential. Like Mary
Wollstonecraft, she argued that gender
was a serious hindrance to women as they
were constantly discriminated against.
l She believed that women were victims of restricted opportunities within society because of
patriarchal attitudes. (For a more detailed discussion of patriarchy, see Chapter 14.)
l Friedan was influenced by classical liberalism in her belief that if the state allowed equality
of opportunity, then women’s individual efforts could achieve the successful combination
of marriage, motherhood and career.
l Friedan was also influenced by the ideas of modern liberalism and, like Rawls, she felt
that if utilised properly, an enabling state could assist women in being free. The state
could counter dominant patriarchal values that discriminate against women, and ensure
foundational equality and equality of opportunity in both society and the economy. This
would include state benefits for single, divorced or widowed mothers.
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Modern liberals argue that foundational equality in itself is not enough to guarantee
equality of opportunity, and that to guarantee true social justice individuals must
have access to a full welfare state encompassing education, healthcare, the minimum
wage and welfare provisions. T.H. Green’s ideas directly inf luenced the Beveridge
Report, which was the intellectual basis for the post-war welfare state in the UK.
In his book A Theory of Justice (1971), Rawls described a rational model to demonstrate
not just the need for social justice but the inherent logic of it:
l Using an abstract ‘veil of ignorance’, Rawls claimed that if individuals were asked Key term
to choose what type of society an individual would prefer and were ignorant Meritocracy A principle
of their own circumstances, they would choose a society with little inequality. that suggests that
The veil of ignorance was a rationalistic idea based on what Rawls described as a although inequality is
‘purely hypothetical situation. Nothing resembling it need ever take place’. natural in a free society, in
l Rawls’ conception of social justice (he used the term ‘distributive justice’) was that a just society those with
inequality in a modern capitalist-based society could be justified as long as those who greater abilities, drive,
do well economically do not do so at the expense of the least well-off in society. In creativity and work ethics
other words, individuals should not be allowed to prosper at the expense of others. deserve more rewards
l Although society was a meritocracy and would produce unequal outcomes, all than those without those
individuals would have an equality of opportunity as the state would intervene, qualities.
via a welfare state, to allow everyone equal life chances.
Knowledge check
20 What does rationalism mean?
21 Give an example of how classical liberalism has been influenced by rationalism.
22 Give an example of how modern liberalism has been influenced by rationalism.
23 How did Rawls’ veil of ignorance work?
24 What did Rawls mean by social justice?
Key thinker
John Rawls (1921–2002) l To the traditional idea of foundational equality, Rawls

added the need for social and economic equality.
Rawls is considered the most important advocate of modern
He argued that a just society must provide equality
liberalism of the twentieth century. His key work was A Theory
of opportunity for everyone and this could only be
of Justice (1971).
achieved by the state taking a larger role within society.
Rawls’ main ideas This would be funded from progressive taxation.
l Rawls’ key idea was ‘justice as fairness’, and he believed l Robert Nozick (1938–2002) (see Chapter 10) argued that
that everyone would agree to an enabling state (and Rawls’ ideas were a betrayal of liberalism and that Rawls’
positive freedom) if they were in a position of ignorance. demands for an interventionary state had more in common
l An enabling state would provide a welfare state (including with socialism than liberalism. Nozick’s ideas are part
health and education). Rawls’ theory implies that classical neo-liberalism, which can be seen as a modern version of
liberals (oblivious to their personal circumstances) would classical liberalism and as a reaction to modern liberal and
choose an interventionary state that guaranteed equality socialist ideas.
of opportunity, rather than a limited state that did not.
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Choose principles of justice as though you don’t know your…
Interest group Conception of the

• Race good
• Gender • Religion
• Income • Morals
• Age • Lifestyle preferences
• Health
Rawls’ veil of ignorance
Liberal democracy
When Locke was writing in the seventeenth century, many governments in Europe
were monarchies and the state was run by authoritarian elites. Locke’s ideas were a
reaction to his perception of illegitimate government enforced on the people. The
concept of liberal democracy is underpinned by the social contract theory of Locke,
whereby the government only holds power in trust for the people whom it serves.
Government, Locke argued in his book Two Treatises of Government (1689), should be
by consent as this was the only legitimate basis for authority.
Liberal democracy was initially representative democracy, which offered only a very
limited form of democracy. This was the case in the early years of the USA, where
only male property owners were allowed to vote.
l Edmund Burke, who many claim was as much a liberal thinker as he was a
conservative thinker, also argued for the importance of representative democracy,
asserting that a voter elected a representative to make decisions based on his own
judgement and not that of the electorate. (For more on the Burkean principle, see
Chapter 1).
l Mill, like the US Founding Fathers, feared the dominance of the working class if
they were given the vote. In his work Considerations on Representative Government,
he argued for plural votes for the educated and wealthy to prevent his own class
being swept aside by the proletariat.
l Mill, like Locke and Wollstonecraft, has therefore been categorised as favouring
elite democracy, whereby the Establishment exercises the real power and has
significantly more inf luence than the ordinary voter.
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Such ideas have given way to full emancipation in Western democracies, and
modern liberals accept that each individual should have a vote. However, the
defining feature of liberal democracy, both classical and modern, is that it
involves more than just free and fair elections. It also includes constitutionalism
(the rules by which the state operates) and safeguards of civil liberties and
individual freedoms, particularly against the tyranny of the majority. Political
writer Barbara Goodwin argues that there are six key points of liberal democratic
theory and the inf luence of both classical and modern liberal thinkers is clearly
evident (Table 9.5).
Table 9.5 Key points of liberal democratic theory
Supremacy of the people • While classical liberals accept this as a broad
concept of the social contract, this does not
equate to full democratic representation
• Modern liberals are insistent that supremacy of
the people means that every adult should have
the vote
• However, the US Electoral College remains as a
filter against the ‘tyranny of the majority’ in the
USA (see Chapter 17)
The consent of the governed as the • A concept that unites both forms of liberalism —
basis of legitimacy elections provide frequent opportunities for the
governed to register their consent
The rule of law and peaceful • The rule of law forms part of the social contract
methods of conflict resolution between the governed and the governors
The existence of a common good • Classical liberalism struggles with such concepts Knowledge check
or public interest as it views society as atomistic and therefore any
collective will is difficult for classical liberals to 25 What is a
support
meritocracy?
• The developmental individualism of Mill and T.H.
26 Why do classical
Green and the social justice of Rawls base their
version of society on more collective aims such as liberals prefer
a welfare state representative
The value of the individual as a • Both strands of liberalism can accept this democracy?
rational, moral, active citizen definition 27 What is meant by
Political equality and equal civil • Classical and modern liberalism are united on this supremacy of the
rights for all individuals • Friedan championed the rights of women in both people?
respects, while Rawls’ theory of justice argued that 28 How is consent given
not only were such rights a necessity, this was also in liberal democratic
a rational choice for individuals to make when
theory?
attempting to ascertain the principles of a society
Different views and tensions within

liberalism
The ideological nature of classical and modern liberalism means that these ideas are
difficult to reconcile as each posits a fundamentally different understanding of what
constitutes:
l freedom and the individual
which in turn informs:
l the role of the state in regard to society and the economy.
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Freedom and the individual
Liberalism’s attitudes towards freedom are polarised, as classical liberalism and
modern liberalism have fundamentally different definitions of what constitutes
freedom.
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism views freedom in a negative sense, which involves freedom from
constraint and interference where possible.
l J.S. Mill argued that an individual’s actions should be unencumbered unless they
directly negatively affect others, in a theory that has become known as the ‘harm
principle’.
l This led Mill (like Locke) to support tolerance of the views and actions of
Key term others. Mill therefore advocated a society where there was freedom of thought,
Tolerance Requires a discussion, religion and assembly.
willingness to accept the
Locke and Mill advocated egotistical individualism, whereby individuals were self-
existence of opinions
reliant, self-interested and rational. Mill argued that individuals were sovereign
or behaviour that one
beings capable of free will and therefore should organise their own lives. They would
dislikes or disagrees with.
not only be freer in a negative freedom-based society, but minimal encroachments
Locke argued for a need
would facilitate their development as individuals. These ideas inf luenced the
to tolerate diversity of
Founding Fathers in their creation of the US Constitution, with the saying ‘when
spiritual belief because
government grows, our liberty withers’ being attributed to Thomas Jefferson.
one cannot force another
human being to have faith. Locke argued that individuals’ lives were their own and arbitrary government would
J.S. Mill went further in enslave them. This idea was developed by Isaiah Berlin, who argued that when modern
advocating freedom of liberals expand the role of the state for paternalistic functions, they do so at the expense
speech as essential for the of individual liberty. The paternalistic aspect of state intervention, for classical liberals
discovery of truth. (and neo-liberals), is therefore oppressive, as the examples below illustrate:
l Compulsory welfare states require taxation, and while individuals are free to opt
out of these services, they cannot opt out of paying the taxation that funds them.
l J.S. Mill argued that the individual had the right to non-interference, even if
their actions caused them individual harm. This is as relevant now as in Mill’s
time, with neo-liberals such as Robert Nozick arguing that individuals have the
right to consume drugs or end their own life if they so wish.
l Perhaps the most memorable example is the so-called Spanner Case (1990),
which was named after the arresting officer. Fifteen gay men were convicted
of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, even though all the injured parties
were engaged in acts of consensual sadomasochism. One doubts that J.S. Mill
had such trysts in mind when he wrote, ‘Over himself, over his own mind and
body, the Individual is sovereign’, but this case illustrates the state encroaching
on individual freedom.
Modern liberalism
Modern liberalism can be seen as both a continuation of and a contradiction to
classical liberalism. J.S. Mill has sometimes been called a transitional liberal, as his
later ideas advocated aspects of developmental individualism, which implies positive
freedom as the state would have to facilitate such a development. However, it is T.H.
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Green and Rawls who are most associated with the development of modern liberalism
and the broader understanding of freedom and individuality. Green asserted that
freedom was not just to be left alone but should also be viewed positively, with the
creation of constructive assistance to encourage individual freedom.
Modern liberals broadly agree with classical liberals on the concept of self-reliance,
but argue that the state must offer a ‘hand up’ if every individual is to achieve this
goal. The problem with negative freedom is that the lack of assistance from the
state only compounds social and economic disadvantage. Positive freedom evens the
playing field, so that all individuals can enjoy similar equality of opportunity and
social justice.
Green’s ideas provided the ideological and intellectual template for the UK’s post-
war welfare state. They also informed Rawls’ A Theory of Justice argument, in
which Rawls maintained that societal position and particular circumstance (race,
gender, social class, innate intelligence) were of huge importance in whether an
individual thrived or failed. Rawls advocated a substantial increase in the role of
the state.
For liberal feminists such as Friedan, both strands of liberalism
have been cited in terms of women achieving parity with men in
society. Citing Mill’s harm principle, she successfully built on the
ideas of Wollstonecraft to demonstrate that the freedoms of
women were being harmed by sexual discrimination inconsistent
with the social contractual agreement made in the US Constitution.
Knowledge check
29 Which two thinkers are most associated with the development of
modern liberalism?
30 How were the Founding Fathers influenced by Locke?
31 Why do classical liberals think the expansion of the state is an
infringement of liberty?
32 Why do modern liberals believe in state intervention?
Neo-liberalism
While modern liberals can argue that their version of liberalism is a continuation The enabling state offers a
of classical liberalism in classifying freedom and individualism, neo-liberals, best hand up
described as contemporary versions of classical liberals, would disagree. To them,
modern liberalism is a betrayal of the core values of the limited state and egotistical
individualism. Both Nozick’s and Rand’s ideas (see Chapter 10) were inf luenced by
the classical liberal Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), a German Enlightenment thinker
who argued that individuals in society should not be treated as a thing or a resource.
Neo-liberal ideas of reducing the size of the state, free markets and laissez-faire
economics were aspects of both Thatcher’s and Reagan’s administrations. However,
it would be incorrect to describe these politicians as neo-liberal, as both were also
inf luenced by neo-conservative ideas. (For a more detailed discussion of both
neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism, see Chapter 10.)
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The role of the state in economy
and society
All aspects of liberalism subscribe to a mechanistic
theory of the state, as if it were a machine to serve
the individual. Classical liberals believe that the role of
the state should be strictly limited to maintaining law
and order, property rights and securing the society
from invasion. The optimal size of the government
is therefore small. Modern liberals, on the other
hand, argue that the state should create conditions
of freedom to allow individuals to reach their full
potential.
The ideas of J.S. Mill are often associated with classical
liberalism and he remains a much quoted philosopher
for contemporary neo-liberals. However, his later
Sir William Beveridge’s report was inspired by modern liberalism ideas also anticipated modern liberalism, and as a key
thinker he illustrates the tensions within liberal thought
when attempting to balance human individuality and autonomy while furthering
Key term developmental individualism in relation to a more interventionist state (Figure 9.3).
Mechanistic theory of the
Negative freedom Positive freedom (Mill’s modern liberal
state The idea that the (Mill’s classical liberal ideas) exceptions to his classical liberalism)
state is not organic but
Atrophy
was created by individuals Atrophy argument counterarguments
to serve them and act in If the state interferes and restricts The state must supply public goods
individual autonomy it will arrest (things with a collective consumption
their interests. Classical individuals’ development (in the necessity) in default of private provision.
and modern liberals differ way a child’s development is Examples include clean air and water,
arrested if a parent overprotects defence, official statistics
in their definitions of what them) The state must interfere to protect
these best interests are. children
The state must provide education for its
citizens
There must be poor law support (basic
welfare)
Overload argument
Adding further Overload
responsibilities burdens an counterargument
already overloaded state
The extra responsibilities
of the state are necessary
to maintain freedom
Initiative argument Initiative

counterarguments
Overzealous government There must be a regulation of
intervention will sap working hours
commercial enterprise Individual consumers must be
protected from unfair and
unscrupulous marketing
Corruption argument
Extension of powers to the state Corruption
Figure 9.3 J.S. Mill and the adds to the likelihood of abuses of counterargument
power. Mill anticipated Lord Acton, The exceptions to classical
role of the state — negative who famously argued: ‘Power tends liberalism will not lead to abuses
freedom (classical liberal to corrupt and absolute power of power as they are altruistic in
corrupts absolutely’ nature
ideas) vs positive freedom
(modern liberal exceptions to
his classical liberalism)
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Based on Mill’s ideas, modern liberalism can be seen as the natural continuation and
evolution of classical liberalism. This is very much what thinkers like T.H. Green
believed, arguing in the latter half of the nineteenth century that the main question
for liberalism was no longer about state and society leaving the individual alone, but
whether the state was assisting the individual in fulfilling their potential.
Green argued that liberty as defined by classical liberalism was worthless if individuals
lacked the capacity to exercise those liberties. The social constraints on freedom
were manifest and the state must recognise the existence of common duties as a
way of promoting individuals’ capacities. Modern liberalism therefore advocates an
enabling state, which helps individuals to be truly free by reaching their potential.
Such ideas were inf luential on Asquith’s Liberal government:
l The Old-Age Pensions Act 1908
l The Labour Exchanges Act 1909
l The National Insurance Act 1911
l The Trade Unions Act 1913.
Table 9.6 Beveridge’s ‘five giants’: the five evils that plague society (and impede individual freedom)
Want Extreme poverty
Ignorance Due to a lack of formal education
Disease Exacerbated by the lack of free healthcare
Squalor Poor living conditions
Idleness Exacerbated by unemployment
All are examples of the state trying to facilitate the freedom of the individual: be it in
providing old-age pensions, assisting the unemployed into employment, providing
welfare benefits or improving workers’ rights.
Modern liberalism inspired the Beveridge Report (1942), which was the intellectual
foundation for the post-war welfare state and went even further than Asquith, as it
proposed that the state tackle the five giants that were impeding the freedom of the
individual within the UK (Table 9.6).
The development of the welfare state transformed the UK state from a limited state
to an enabling state, and state intervention within society was dramatically increased.
Compounded to this intervention in society (funded by increased taxation), the role
of the state was also transformed by modern liberalism’s preference for the state
economic management of John Maynard Keynes over the laissez-faire economics of
Adam Smith. Keynes argued that government could prevent economic slumps and
the devastating unemployment that followed by managing demand and stimulating
the economy.
Modern liberalism seemed to be dominating, with this transformation of the role of
the state becoming the norm in post-war Europe and the USA. John Rawls’ Theory
of Justice (1971) added a sophisticated rational argument that built on the work of J.S.
Mill and T.H. Green. Rawls made this clear in his three principles of justice:
1 Individuals had to have the same set of absolute liberties.
2 There must be equal opportunities for all.
3 Although some inequalities were inevitable, there must be a priority to help the
disadvantaged.
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The difference principle
Rawls called the last principle the ‘difference principle’. As we have discussed, Rawls
proposed, via hypothetical construct, that citizens veiled from knowledge of their own
circumstances would choose a society that recognised a common good, meritocratic
excellence and fairness. So, while Rawls recognised that a meritocracy would mean
some individuals were well rewarded for their efforts, the state would have to ensure
equality of opportunity, be it by supporting a minimum wage, ensuring society
was free from discrimination or increasing state spending (and taxation) to fund an
enabling welfare state. The difference principle has become Rawls’ dominant legacy.
He made a deliberate effort to avoid the rigid egalitarianism found in socialism,
where everyone’s outcomes are equal, by allowing that some variation can be just.
For example, if the inventors of a vaccine became billionaires but helped save the lives
of lots of people, that would be an inequality that would be justified.

The classical liberal John Locke and the modern liberal John Rawls had different visions for the role of
Knowledge check the state within society and the economy. Consider these quotations from them and other liberals:
‘Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.’
33 What is the
John Locke
mechanistic theory of
‘The only purpose for which power can rightfully be exercised over any member of a
the state?
civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.’
34 How did modern
J.S. Mill
liberalism inspire the
Beveridge Report? ‘Historically one of the main defects of constitutional government has been the failure
35 What were Rawls’ to insure the fair value of political liberty. The necessary corrective steps have not
been taken, indeed, they never seem to have been seriously entertained.’
three principles of
John Rawls
justice?
36 What was Rawls’ With reference to the quotes above, why do you think liberals disagree about the state’s
difference principle? involvement within society and the economy?
A cartoon depiction of Beveridge’s ‘five giants’
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Classical liberalism vs modern liberalism
The relationship between the two strands of liberalism is complex. Both seek to
enhance individual freedom, provide equality of opportunity and support private
ownership, while opposing a state-controlled economy. It is possible to argue that
modern liberalism is just a logical development of classical liberalism, a rational
response to the demands of the industrialised world. This was certainly the perception
of Mill, T.H. Green and Rawls, among others.
However, this is not the interpretation of neo-liberals, who are the intellectual
descendants of classical liberals. Neo-liberals such as Robert Nozick, Friedrich von
Hayek and Milton Friedman all opposed the ideas of modern liberalism on classical
liberal terms:
l Modern liberalism’s belief in an expanded enabling state limits individual liberty
and erodes individualism. Rather than relying on themselves, individuals become
Key thinkers?
dependent on a state that supports them from ‘cradle to grave’. Hayek argued While Nozick and Hayek
that state paternalism created a dependency culture which arrested individual are important thinkers
development and initiative. for both liberalism and
l Hayek also argued that the exponential cost of and demand for welfare provision conservatism, neither
would eventually bankrupt state and society. In the developed world today, many are key thinkers for the
countries, including the USA and the UK, are running huge deficits because liberalism specification of
they spend more than they receive in taxation. See these real-time world debt this examination. Students
clocks as an illustration: www.usdebtclock.org/world-debt-clock.html are strongly advised that
l Nozick argued that the taxation the state demanded from its citizens infringed when writing essays on
their freedom, and he believed that ‘tax, for the most part, is theft’. Nozick liberalism they should
maintained that Rawls’ principles of redistribution and social justice were make explicit reference to
essentially socialism and a betrayal of liberalism’s core idea of egotistical prescribed key thinkers in
individualism. the first instance.
l Nozick believed that modern liberalism betrayed the classical liberal notions of
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), who had argued that an individual should not be
treated as a thing or resource. Modern liberalism opposes such self-ownership as
its enlarged state goes against negative freedom and oppresses individuals to pay
taxes, obey its intrusive laws and fight its wars.
l Milton Friedman was critical of the supposed efficacy of Keynesian economics.
The state was ill-equipped to plan or intervene in the economy, and this was as
true for state planners in Western democracies as it was for communist societies.
l Neo-liberalism therefore sees the role of government as limited to controlling
inf lation, via a policy called ‘monetarism’, which emphasises the need for
governments to show restraint in their role as monopolists over the supply of
money. For monetarist economists like Friedman, the state’s tendency to print
money (as an easier alternative to raising revenue through taxes) leads only to
inf lation, eroding the value of private citizens’ wages and savings.
l The ideas of classical liberalism inform (in part) the modern US Republican
Party, while modern liberalism has a similar inf luence over the Democrat Party.
Somewhat confusingly, when the term ‘liberal’ is used by politicians or the media,
what they are actually referring to is modern liberalism. Even more confusingly,
classical liberal ideas are often referred to as conservative (because Republicans
wish to hark back to ideas that existed prior to modern liberalism).
While it is possible to argue that modern liberalism emerged like a butterf ly from
the larva of classical liberalism, in practical terms they are two distinct visions of
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liberalism. Updated by more recent thinkers and now known as neo-liberalism,
the ideas of classical liberalism and modern liberalism are very much autonomous.
Fundamentally these two strands of liberalism are irreconcilable in how they define
freedom and the individual and the role of the state within society and the economy.
Knowledge check
37 Why do neo-liberals think that modern liberalism limits an individual’s development?
38 Why did Nozick think that modern liberalism had betrayed the key principles of Kant?
39 Which types of liberalism have most influenced the Republican and Democratic parties of
the USA?
40 What was Nozick’s view on taxation?
Debate
To what extent do liberals agree and disagree on human nature?

Evaluation: How do classical and modern liberals differ in their conception of individualism?
Human nature Agreement Disagreement/Tension

• The two branches of liberalism broadly agree • There are noticeable disagreements and
on human nature tensions between the two branches of
• Classical and modern liberals have an liberalism concerning human nature
optimistic view of human nature. Individuals • Classical liberals view human nature as far
are rational, morally equal and independent, more individualistic than modern liberals.
each wishing to pursue their version of the Locke and early Mill view society as atomistic
good life in nature. The social justice of Rawls is more
• Classical liberalism (Wollstonecraft and Mill) collective in its understanding of human
and modern liberalism (Friedan) have both nature, with individuals’ interactions with
argued that women are as rational as men, society more interconnected and organic
calling for enfranchisement and equality of • Classical liberals argue for a minimal state free
opportunity in the public sphere of society of government interference. Classical liberals
• Classical and modern liberals agree that argue for negative freedom allowing individuals
individualism needs to be protected and freedom from government interference wherever
encouraged and that there should be a possible. Modern liberals prefer positive
toleration of different values, beliefs and freedom to assist individual development, such
versions of what constitutes the ideal life as state funded education systems
• Classical and modern liberals share concerns • Wollstonecraft and Mill considered classical
about popular democracy conflicting with liberalism to be concerned primarily about
individual rights. Mill conceptualised this men. Wollstonecraft argued that rationalism
concern with his tyranny of the majority defined both genders, concluding that women
theory: that the interests of the few could be were as intellectually capable as men
subjected by the interests of the majority • Liberals disagree on what constitutes the
common good. Classical liberals such as Locke
argue for formal equality while modern liberals
such as Rawls argue that human nature has a
clear social dimension, with his ideas of social
justice and that formal equality is not enough
and the state must offer equality of opportunity
• Liberals differ on how best to deal with the
conflict between popular democracy and
individual rights. Classical liberals prefer
representative democracy, which allows filters
to control the ‘tyranny of the majority’, while
modern liberals insist that liberal democratic
theory means every individual should vote
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Debate
To what extent do liberals agree and disagree on the role of the state?
Evaluation: Which version of the state is more popular with Western governments: the minimal state or the enabling state?
The state Agreement Disagreement/Tension

The two main branches of liberalism broadly There are noticeable disagreements and tensions
agree on the role of the state: between the two main branches of liberalism concerning
• Classical and modern liberals agree that the role of the state:
the autonomy of the state should be • Classical liberals such as Locke and Mill in his early
limited by constitutionalism, such as the writing think the state should play a nightwatchman
US Constitution role, informed by negative freedom whereby
• Classical and modern liberals agree upon intervention is restricted to the rule of law, preventing
the separation of powers between the actions harmful to others, and protecting borders
executive, the legislative and the judiciary • Modern liberals such as Rawls argue that the state
• Classical and modern liberals agree that should be an enabling state, intervening to create
ideally, individuals should be citizens conditions where individuals could help themselves,
within a republic rather than subjects in a such as a state funded education system. Neo-liberals
monarchy/constitutional monarchy (the modern equivalent of classical liberals) argued
• Classical liberals and modern liberals that the taxation required to fund such initiatives
infringed individual freedom
agree that the state should support the
rule of law and the recognition of human Classical liberals such as Mill and Locke favoured
rights and formal equality entrenched representative democracy, with Mill advocating plural
within higher law, such as the Bill of voting for educated elites to counteract the single votes
Rights in the Constitution of the United of the largely uneducated populous and the problem of
States of America tyranny of the majority
Modern liberals such as Rawls and Friedan favour
representative democracy based upon universal suffrage
for men and women. Modern liberals view education as
being a crucial tool in the wise use of the ballot
Debate
To what extent do Liberals agree and disagree on society?

Evaluation: What are the key agreements that classical and modern liberals have concerning society?
Society Agreement Disagreement/Tension

• Liberals broadly agree on the nature of • There are noticeable disagreements and tensions
society between the two branches of liberalism concerning
• Classical and modern liberals broadly how society should be organised
agree that human society predates the • Classical liberals, such as Locke, advocated a more
state, and all liberals see society as atomistic society whereby individuals are minimally
a collection of diverse and potentially constrained by a nightwatchman state, focusing on
autonomous individuals negative freedom
• Classical liberals and modern liberals • Modern liberals argue that in industrialised societies,
both stress that society should be individual autonomy is curtailed and the state must
arranged to allow individuals to flourish. act as an enabling state to assist individual freedom
Constitutionalism creates the best via positive freedom. Modern liberals argue for a
conditions for such a society state-funded welfare state
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Society Agreement Disagreement/Tension
• Classical liberals and modern liberals argue • Liberals such as Wollstonecraft and Friedan view
that the foundational equality and human liberalism through the role of women in society.
rights should be formally recognised within Wollstonecraft argued that society ‘infantilised’ women
society. The Universal Declaration of Human and stifled female individualism, while Friedan argued
Rights agreed by the United Nations in 1948 that post-war America remained chauvinistic towards
laid down the obligations of governments women
to promote and protect human rights and • Rawls argues that it is rational for individuals to
fundamental freedoms of individuals or choose a society that offers opportunities for the less
groups fortunate to improve their condition
• Classical and modern liberalism agree with • Neo-liberalism (the modern version of classical
Mill that the ideal society would be one where liberalism) disagrees with Rawls’ assessment
‘individuality’ co-existed with tolerance and of society. Nozick views Rawls’ principles of
self-improvement redistribution and social justice as socialism
and as betraying the core idea of egotistical
individualism
Debate
To what extent do Liberals agree and disagree on the economy?

Evaluation: What is the biggest difference between classical and modern liberals in the preferred role of the state in handling the
economy?
The
economy Agreement Disagreement/Tension
• The two main branches of liberalism broadly • There are noticeable disagreements and tensions
agree on the organisation of the economy between the two main branches of liberalism
• Classical and modern liberals are all concerning the organisation of the economy
influenced by Locke’s idea that the state • Classical liberals view the role of the state as
should respect the ‘natural right’ to private being limited to protecting property, enforcing legal
property. Private property is an essential tenet contracts. Moreover, the state’s attitude towards
of freedom and protecting the individual from the economy should be laissez-faire, free from
the state government interference
• Classical and modern liberals are all • Modern liberalism, while supportive of free-market
enthusiastic supporters of the free-market capitalism, has deviated from Smith’s ideas by
economy ideas of Adam Smith for being the supporting Keynesian economics, where the state
best route to protect wealth directly intervenes to stimulate the economy
• Classical and modern liberals broadly support • Modern liberalism favours managing capitalism to
the state intervening to ensure that tariffs facilitate social justice, with progressive taxation
and duties are removed from trading between funding a welfare state. Neo-liberal thinker Robert
nation states and commercial classes to Nozick argued that the taxation demanded from the
maximise wealth state infringed upon individual freedom and was
• Classical and modern liberals can both essentially ‘theft’
broadly accept that capitalism will lead to • Modern liberalism’s belief in modern capitalism
unequal outcomes for individuals within the has seen a growth in the state that neo-liberals
economy are uncomfortable with, both at state level and
supranational level. Supranational organisations
like the European Union are, for many neo-liberals,
an obstacle to global free trade and incompatible
with the classical liberal idea of limited state
involvement in the economy
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Summary
Key themes and key thinkers
Human nature The state Society The economy
John Locke Humans are guided The state should only Natural laws and Private property is a natural
by self-interest but govern by consent natural rights of right and the state’s role is
are concerned for society predate the merely to arbitrate between
others state individuals competing for
trade and resources
Mary Both men and Monarchical states Society ‘infantilised’ Liberated women would
Wollstonecraft women are capable should be replaced women and this thrive in and enhance the
of rational thought by republican states inhibited female free-market economy
that entrench women’s individualism
rights
John Stuart Mill Human nature is The state should Individuality should Laissez-faire capitalism
rational but not be a representative coexist with tolerance promotes both individual
fixed and is capable democracy and be and self-improvement initiative and progress
of progressing to mindful of minority
higher levels rights
John Rawls Humans can be An enabling state will Rawls’ rationalistic The state’s obligation to
selfish and value assist developmental ‘veil of ignorance’ disadvantaged citizens
individual freedom. individualism via public argued that would temper free-market
However, they are spending on services individuals would capitalism
sympathetic to choose a society that
those less fortunate offered opportunities
than them for the less fortunate
to improve their
condition
Betty Friedan Culture has evolved The state should Society is patriarchal Liberated women would
so that human intervene in the public and needs reforming thrive in and enhance the
nature is patriarchal sphere to prevent free-market economy.
and discriminatory discrimination against Legislation must prevent
towards women (see women (see Chapter 14) women being discriminated
Chapter 14) against in the workplace
Practice questions
1 To what extent do liberals agree about the economy? You must use
appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer and consider
both sides in a balanced way.(24)
2 To what extent does liberalism’s attitude to human nature inform its
attitude to the role of the state? You must use appropriate thinkers you have
studied to support your answer and consider both sides in a balanced way.(24)
3 To what extent is there more to unite rather than divide classical and
modern liberalism? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to
support your answer and consider both sides in a balanced way.(24)
4 To what extent do liberals agree on individualism? You must use
both sides in a balanced way.(24)
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Further reading
Egan, M. (2020) ‘Liberalism and freedom’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 1.
Egan, M. (2021) ‘Liberal thinkers and feminist thought’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 2.
Gallop, N. and Tuck, D. (2021) ‘Liberalism: influences of UK and US politics’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 3.
Grant, M. (2022) ‘John Locke and social contract theory’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 4.
Hardy, J. (2019) ‘Liberalism and natural rights’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 1.
Tuck, D. (2018) ‘Classical v modern liberalism’, Politics Review, Vol. 28, No. 1.
Tuck, D. and Egan. M. (2021) ‘Do liberals believe in state intervention?’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 4.
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10 Conservatism
Conservatism has traditionally sought to conserve society and has been distrustful of
ideological thinking. As a political idea, conservatism has developed considerably:
l Traditional conservatism emerged, in part, as a reaction to the rational
principles of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. It argued that
pragmatism (a practical attitude), empiricism (evidence and experience) and
tradition were vital in maintaining society.
l One-nation conservatism developed in the late nineteenth century and
evolved further in the twentieth century. One-nation conservatism supported
During the Covid-19
more state interference in both society and the economy to preserve society.
pandemic Boris Johnson
l The New Right emerged as a force in the 1970s. A marriage between neo-
was compared to Hobbes’
liberalism and neo-conservatism, it argued that one-nation conservatism had
Leviathan, such was the
encouraged too many changes to the role of the state, and had lost touch with
increase in state involvement
true conservative values.
in both society and economy.
Illustration by Ben Jennings
(originally published by the
Guardian, March 2020)
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Human imperfection
Human imperfection is a core feature of most
aspects of conservatism. Thomas Hobbes
(1588–1679), in his famous work Leviathan
(1651), argued that humans are imperfect and
self-interested. Political writer Noel O’Sullivan
argued that traditional conservatism views human
imperfection in three distinct categories:
l
Morally imperfect: humans are selfish and
motivated by base impulses.
l Intellectually imperfect: reality is beyond
rational understanding. Consequently, abstract
ideas or theories will always be f lawed.
l Psychologically imperfect: humans are security
driven and socially dependent. We rely on
On the 1651 cover of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, the king represents tradition and culture for an identity.
the state and his body represents a society made up of sovereign
individuals who have willingly surrendered liberty in return for Hobbes argued that human imperfection cannot
societal order be avoided.
l Humans desire power and material gratification and are distrustful of others.
This is what Hobbes calls the ‘state of nature’ — a violent, fearful place where
humans are in never-ending conf lict as they pursue their selfish desires.
l The ‘state of nature’ describes society before the existence of the state, where
individuals live without laws. Here, life would be little more than a struggle for
power, a ‘perpetual and restless desire for power and power that only ceaseth
Knowledge check in death’. Existence would be bleak — a violent anarchy where life would be
1 What did Hobbes ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’.
mean by ‘the state of
Although Hobbes thought humans intellectually imperfect, he did not think them
nature’?
completely irrational. Humans would recognise the ‘state of nature’ as a hell on
2 Why was Hobbes so
Earth and would realise that they needed protecting from themselves. Hobbes
against the English
theorised that individuals would seek a social contract: surrendering individual
Civil War?
autonomy to a sovereign monarch, who in return would provide order through
3 What powers does
their authority. This would allow society to develop, and humans to live
Hobbes give the
collectively and without fear. (See page 278 for a more detailed discussion of social
sovereign as part of
contracts.)
the social contract?
4 Define the three
ways that traditional
Key term
conservatives have Authority Those in higher positions of society who are best positioned to make decisions on
viewed human society’s behalf. Their legitimacy comes from being high up in the social hierarchy, and those
imperfection. below them in the hierarchy are obliged to obey.
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Key thinker
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)

Hobbes was a philosopher linked to both conservative and l The social contract between the people establishes a
liberal traditions. His work and ideas were written in response sovereign and when the contract is complete, individual
to the anarchy associated with the English Civil War (1642–51). autonomy ceases and all power is transferred to the
His main ideas were discussed in his key work, Leviathan sovereign. The sovereign alone determines the rights and
(1651). Hobbes was a royalist and spent the English Civil War laws of the people. Society cannot exist before the creation
in exile for fear of the reaction of Parliament to his pro-royalist of the state.
position. During this time he worked out the ideas that became l The sovereign is not bound by the social contract, they
Leviathan. Hobbes returned to England in 1660, with the receive the obedience of the people who freely gift their
restoration of the monarchy and the crowning of Charles II as autonomy in the hope that the sovereign will maintain
King of England. order. The sovereign is not bound by any law and is free to
govern as they see fit.
Hobbes’ main ideas are based on how he imagined state and
l Hobbes recognises that the sovereign may behave in a
society to have formed.
corrupt manner, but insists that such behaviour would be
l Humans are imperfect and selfish, with a relentless desire
incredibly unwise since if the subjects no longer feel safe,
to acquire goods and self-gratification where existence
they could deprive the sovereign of power.
would be a hellish chaotic world of constant warfare.
l Hobbes never believed there was an actual historical
l Humans are rational enough to seek order, which can only
event in which there was mutual promise to delegate self-
be achieved by a social contract where individuals give
government to a sovereign. Rather, Hobbes argued that the
up freedoms (which are meaningless in a chaotic ‘state of
best way to understand the state was to imagine that it
nature’) to an all-powerful sovereign. In return the sovereign
had resulted from such an agreement.
grants legal and physical protection to their subjects.
In focus
The English Civil War (1642–51)
The English Civil War was fought by the supporters of the
monarchy of Charles I and opposing groups, primarily
Parliamentarians.
l In Behemoth (1681), Hobbes argued that a crucial cause of
the Civil War was the issue of absolute monarchy.
l Parliament opposed absolute monarchy and wanted the
monarch to consult and be guided by Parliament in the
running of state and economy, while Charles I believed in
the divine right of kings and saw his actions as monarch to
be answerable only to God and not to Parliament.
l The violence and chaos of the Civil War, which culminated
in victory for Parliament and the execution of Charles I,
played a crucial role in Hobbes’ thinking, leading to him
writing Leviathan (1651), which advocated absolute
monarchy.
l In Hobbes’ opinion it was unjust for Parliament to have
risen against their rightful sovereign. Parliament, of course,
came to a very different conclusion, arguing that Charles I
had ruled unjustly and had betrayed his subjects. Depiction of the execution of Charles I
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Edmund Burke (1729–97) agreed with Hobbes that humans are imperfect but
disagreed considerably on the extent of this imperfection.
l Burke did not think humans are ruthlessly individualistic; rather, they are
naturally communal, as their imperfection compels them to band together in
supportive communities.
l Burke agreed with Hobbes that humans are capable of making mistakes, but not
to the same destructive levels. The scope of human reason and understanding is
Key term poor, so people are more likely to fail than succeed.
Empiricism The idea that l Burke thought that decision making based on rationalistic ideas of abstract
knowledge and evidence thought is ill-advised. According to him, change should only be cautiously and
come from real experience empirically considered: ‘Politics ought to be adjusted not to human reasonings
and not abstract theories. but to human nature, of which reason is but a part and by no means the greatest
part’. (See page 284 for rationalistic ideas and abstract thought.)
Key thinker
Edmund Burke (1729–97)

Edmund Burke was a Whig MP, whose ideas have influenced blueprint. Rather, those in power should be mindful of the
both liberals and conservatives. He is now regarded by many society that they have inherited and their duty extends to
as the father of conservatism. Burke opposed the French preserving society for their descendants.
Revolution which, in turn, influenced his political thinking and l Society is organic, but it is not static and sometimes it must
ideas. This is reflected in his key work, Reflections on the ‘change to conserve’ itself. These changes should be guided
Revolution in France (1790). by history, tradition, pragmatism and above all empiricism.
l Unlike Hobbes, Locke (see page 279) and Rousseau (page
431), who all believed in a social contract theory among
the living, Burke argued that society was a social contract
between not only the living but also those who were
dead and those yet to be born. Consequently, the state’s
changes to society must be extremely cautious.
l Burke believed that modern states were so complex that
attempting to reform them based on rationalistic ideas
alone could lead to disaster and tyranny. The French
Revolution, based on abstract principles, discarded
empiricism and tradition for utopian idealism and
‘philosophical abstractions’ that quickly descended into
violence and chaos. ‘Politics ought to be adjusted not to
human reasonings but to human nature, of which reason is
but a part and by no means the greatest part.’
l Burke viewed society as hierarchical and while he argued
that society’s elite had specific duties, he opposed
any attempts to extend the franchise and thought that
universal suffrage would lead to mob rule.
l Burke’s ideas have proved influential, not only to traditional
Burke’s main ideas
conservatism but also to one-nation conservatism and neo-
l Political power does not give those in charge the right to conservatism — in particular, his belief that the organic society
remodel society according to an untested and abstract is not static and sometimes it must ‘change to conserve’ itself.
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The beliefs of Michael Oakeshott (1901–90) have more in common with Burke
than with Hobbes.
l Oakeshott argued that humans are ‘fragile and fallible’ but that they are capable
of benevolence.
l Like Burke, Oakeshott argued that society is organic and consists of intricate
customs and traditions that provide consolation, comfort and happiness.
l However, the nirvana promised by utopian societies is unobtainable, as perfection
cannot be created by imperfect creatures.
Key thinker
Michael Oakeshott (1901–90)

Michael Oakeshott was a twentieth-century philosopher. His main ideas were discussed in his
key essay, ‘On Being Conservative’ (1956).
Oakeshott’s main ideas

l Conservatism is as much a disposition as it is a set of political ideas. The security of long-
standing customs and traditions is at the core of Oakeshott’s conservatism.
l ‘The politics of faith’: rationalism is beyond the ability of human beings because they are
intellectually imperfect. Oakeshott argues for the ‘politics of faith’, where decision making
is grounded in empiricism and not rationalism (Table 10.1).
l Government should govern in the best interests of the people, grounded in pragmatism
and empiricism and not guided by abstract concepts of what should be.
l Oakeshott argued for ‘the politics of scepticism’, which concluded that the implementation
of abstract ideas often leads to unintended negative consequences. Rationalists
underestimate the complexity of reality. They don’t understand that in attempting to
improve society or the economy they may make matters worse. Oakeshott warns us to be
mindful that when trying to make improvements, the ‘cure is not worse than the disease’.
Table 10.1 Definitions of empiricism and rationalism

Empiricism Rationalism
• If the state subscribes to empiricism, • If the state subscribes to rationalism,

the changes it makes are informed by the changes it makes are informed
past experience. For example, Peel’s by abstract ideas. For example,
decision to remove the corn tariff in the Harold Macmillan adopted Keynesian
Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 put economics, which were based on a
the good of society above tradition. This rational economic blueprint of state
was the time of the Irish potato famine management rather than the long-
and Peel saw from this that food must standing tradition of laissez-faire limited
be made cheaper. Peel was informed by government
Burke’s maxim of ‘change to conserve’
Knowledge check
5 Define empiricism.
6 Define rationalism.
7 Why did Burke and Oakeshott prefer empiricism to rationalism?
8 Why was Burke so against the ideas of the French Revolution?
9 What does Oakeshott mean by the ‘politics of faith’ and the ‘politics of scepticism’?
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Organic society or state
Conservatives believe that society is not created but emerges and grows, developing
like an organism (Figure 10.1). Hobbes’ belief that the state precedes society is vital
in understanding how conservatives see reality. The natural rights and laws favoured
by John Locke (see Chapter 9) are a rationalistic conceit, as individual rights need
a state to maintain them. Burke agreed with Hobbes, arguing that these ‘pretended
rights are all extremes and in proportion as they are metaphysically true, they are
morally and politically false’. Individual rights are dependent upon law and order
and only the state has the authority to give individual rights a practical meaning.
Ironically, given that conservatism is so grounded in empiricism, Hobbes’ idea of a
social contract is rationalistic in origin.
l Traditional conservatives such as Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott believed that
once the state provides the necessary order, society will emerge organically,
maturing into a complicated organism of traditions and customs.
l Burke wrote of ‘little platoons’ of localised communities that retain their identity
and enable wider integration within the nation. Such communities are bound
by affection and cooperation and give structure and meaning to our lives. The
organic state, with its history, customs and tradition, is vital for informing both
the present and the future.
l Burke argued that the landed aristocracy performed a crucial cultural role in
maintaining this social order and he was particularly critical of the French
nobility for abandoning the responsibilities of their aristocratic ‘platoon’, the
consequence of which was a withering of organic society that culminated in
the French Revolution. Burke was keen to remind the British nobility of the
disastrous consequences of such neglect, urging them to maintain the organic
‘subdivisions’ that bind society.
l Burke wrote: ‘To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we
belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections.
It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country
and to mankind.’
Figure 10.1 An organic
society or state grows and Classicism
Natural and high culture;
develops naturally like a hierarchy of Customs Hebraic, Greek,
living organism; everything is classes Roman cultures
interconnected inform ours
Property
Rule of
Heterosexual History rights
law
marriage
Culture
Christian Tradition Empiricism
Authority
morality
Agrarianism
Pragmatism Paternalism
The Religion
state
Localism
Importance of
Noblesse Human
nation state
oblige imperfection
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Maintaining society
The multiple traditions, customs and institutions of an organic society give
individuals a sense of ‘rootedness’ and belonging, and in return individuals have
Key term
duties and obligations to maintain society. Change to conserve
Society should adapt to
The state is an organism that must evolve if it, and society, are to continue to
shifting circumstances
f lourish. Burke’s idea of ‘change to conserve’, where the state maintains society,
by making small changes
has inf luenced not just traditional conservatives but also one-nation conservatives
rather than rejecting
and neo-conservatives in the practicalities of statecraft.
change outright. These
l The past is to be revered and ancient institutions should not be tampered with, compromises will preserve
but if there are defects or abuses that harm the workings of the organic society, the essence of society. If
they must be removed. society does not change,
l Inaction can damage the organic society; the French and Russian revolutions it risks rebellion and/or
were the consequence of disorder in society. It is for this reason that Burke revolution.
argued that ‘a state without the means of some change is without the means of its
conservation’.
An unequal society
Some parts of the organism are more important
than others and inequality is natural. The organic
society is hierarchical: there is a natural order in
where each individual has their place. Individuals
are of unequal talents and ability, and for Hobbes,
Burke and Oakeshott this was a practical reality
of human existence.
l For Hobbes, society was to be ruled
by an absolute monarch governing a
‘commonwealth’ arranged by rank and
inf luence.
l For Burke, the aristocracy should lead as
they were wiser and stronger than their
inferiors and they had a responsibility for
the lower orders.
Since the mid- to late nineteenth century, all
current conservative thinkers, starting with
one-nation conservatives, have accepted the
concept of democracy. However, society
remains hierarchical, even within a modern
democracy, and the paternalism of noblesse
oblige can be found in post-war one-nation
conservatism and neo-conservatism.
Key term
Noblesse oblige The duty of the society’s elite,
the wealthy and privileged, to look after those less
fortunate.
The ‘Great Chain of Being’ by Didacus Valades, 1579, illustrates the
conservative view (influenced by Christianity) that all life and matter
is hierarchical
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Pragmatism
Pragmatism is a core value of conservatism. Pragmatic thinkers are informed by
empiricism and have a deep distrust of the abstract theories favoured by political ideas
such as liberalism and socialism. As Burke argued, ‘Example is the school of mankind,
and they will learn at no other.’
Knowledge check
l Burke’s idea of ‘change to conserve’ inf luenced Conservative prime minister
10 What do Benjamin Disraeli (see page 314).
conservatives l These changes were derived from empiricism with the aim of making society
mean by an organic more stable as well as being an example of paternalism (see page 309).
society? l It can be argued that later one-nation conservatism, embodied in Conservative
11 Why did Burke argue governments from 1951 to 1979, pragmatically accepted and continued the
that ‘little platoons’ radical changes made to British society by Attlee’s Labour government, such as
play a key role in the state intervention in the economy and the creation of the welfare state.
maintenance of the l Neo-liberals reject pragmatism as they have a more positive view of human
organic society? nature and they prefer rationalism.
12 What did Burke
mean by ‘change to Tradition
conserve’? Traditions are seen as the accumulated wisdom of the past that underpin society. As
13 Define noblesse G.K. Chesterton argued:
oblige.
‘Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is
the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant
oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking around.’
l Traditions are represented by the institutions of state and customs of society that
have proven their worth and are fit for purpose. This is why conservatives in the
UK revere monarchy and the House of Lords, while Republicans in the USA
revere the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
l Religion is perhaps the most important tradition. Burke perceived religion as
‘our comfort, and one great source of civilisation’. Moreover, religious traditions
bind society together to the extent that Burke argued atheism must be supressed
as it was destabilising. Oakeshott argued that with the decline of religion (since
the 1960s social revolution) those who would once have embraced its values are
now inclined towards abstract ideas and potentially harmful rationalist thinking
as a kind of intellectual replacement.
For Burke, traditions were vital as they encouraged continuity and peace: the
ultimate political goal.
l Burke argued that society was a ‘partnership between those who are living, those
who are dead and those who are to be born’. Tradition, custom and habit should
govern human action, not abstract thought.
l Accumulated wisdom is found within long-standing institutions such as the
monarchy, ancient schools and universities, and communities, as well as the
aforementioned religion. Humans should trust traditions to guide them. Burke
called this ‘wisdom without ref lection’. Traditions allow individuals to feel
belonging, a sense of identity reinforcing the social cohesion of society.
l Abandoning traditions is dangerous. As Oakeshott argued, ‘What has stood the
test of time is good and must not be lightly cast aside.’
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Conservatives can cite numerous examples to demonstrate the damaging
consequences of when long-standing traditions are abolished in favour of rationalist
Knowledge check
replacements, such as the French and Russian revolutions. 14 What do conservatives
mean by tradition?
Paternalism 15 Give examples of why
Burke and Oakeshott
Conservatives believe society is unequal and arranged in a natural hierarchy, in
thought traditions
which the ruling class has a noblesse oblige relationship to the people below them.
were so important.
This paternal responsibility is designed to help those less fortunate and who cannot
act in their own interests.
Traditional conservatives favoured a kind of localised
paternalism that can be traced back to the feudal period,
whereby squires ‘took care’ of their tenants and farmers, in
the tradition of noblesse oblige. Industrialisation transformed
both society and economy and was, as Marx and Engels
demonstrated, extremely exploitative (see Chapter 11).
Paternalism was in many ways the early one-nation
conservative response to the possibility of revolutionary
socialism. Disraeli’s Crystal Palace speech of 1872 spoke of
‘the elevation of the condition of people’ and foreshadowed
laws such as the Artisans’ and Labourers’ Dwellings
Improvement Act 1875 (see page 314). The ruling elite of
the late nineteenth century accepted their obligations to
the new industrial working class by enacting social reforms
and limited welfarism to help the poorest in society and to
preserve stability.
After the Second World War, paternalistically motivated one-
nation conservatives increasingly intervened in both society
and economy. Macmillan advocated more state intervention
and a larger welfare state than any other conservative prime
minister, accepting and supporting the concept of a free
National Health Service and universal state education. Such
paternalism was beyond anything imagined by Burke or
Disraeli and is an example of soft paternalism, where power One-nation conservatism was first conceived by
still rests with elites but where their decision making is Benjamin Disraeli
informed by listening carefully to what non-elites want.
Neo-conservatives argued that the paternalistic welfarism of the post-war period
had unintended consequences. Those they were trying to help became hopelessly
dependent on the state and the societal obligations of traditional conservatism had
been forgotten. Neo-liberals go even further, as we discuss in the next section.
Libertarianism
Libertarianism is a political philosophy that emphasises negative freedom (freedom
Key term
from interference) and minimal state intervention.
Laissez-faire A preference
Libertarianism was inherent in traditional conservatism as Burke supported Adam
for minimal government
Smith, the champion of laissez-faire economics. The traditional conservatism of
intervention in the
the eighteenth century saw a minimal role for the state in society and the economy.
economy.
It was only with the growth of the state and welfare spending that income tax in the
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UK became a compulsory requirement of the state on its citizens. In the modern
era, libertarianism within conservatism is found via neo-liberalism, which is a
modern updating of classical liberalism (see page 316). Neo-liberals formed an uneasy
ideological union with neo-conservatives in the 1970s to form The New Right.
Neo-conservatives admired the classical liberal ideas that were consistent with Burke’s
brand of traditional conservatism such as the small state and laissez-faire economics.
Neo-liberals (also known as libertarians) believe in an atomistic society made up
of self-interested and self-sufficient individuals. Ayn Rand (1905–82) is associated
with the term ‘atomistic individualism’, where autonomous individuals seek
rationalised self-fulfilment. On Rand’s terms, society does not exist as we are but
as a loose collection of independent beings. Neo-liberals’ view of human nature is
quite different from the thinking of traditional conservatives.
l Neo-liberals reject pessimistic human imperfection, preferring the rationalism of the
Enlightenment, that people are able to order their lives on a moral and logical basis.
l Neo-liberals like Robert Nozick (1938–2002) and Rand reject empiricism,
which puts them at odds with traditional, one-nation and neo-conservatives who
are all inf luenced by this concept.
l Neo-liberals believe in egotistical individualism, whereby the rights of the
individual are more important than those of the state.
l Neo-liberals believe in negative freedom, whereby the individual should be free
from as many external constraints (including the authority of religion) as possible.
Neo-liberals argue for a massive reduction in tax and state spending on society as
both a moral and an economic imperative for individual freedom. Nozick argued
that the state encroaches on the lives of citizens and that welfarism creates a
dependency culture, with the state ‘owning’ individuals.
l Neo-liberal economist Friedrich Hayek argued that expensive welfare states
should be abolished as they will eventually bankrupt society. He and his disciples
Key term point to the huge deficits that developed Western economies are running. Nozick
Atomism A society that and Rand called for a rolling back of the state’s involvement in society to achieve
exists as a loose collection atomism.
of self-interested and self- l Nozick’s neo-liberal ideas of individual freedom led him to support the legalisation
sufficient individuals. of hard drugs and prostitution — two ideas that offend the religious morality of
neo-conservatives and go against long-standing conservative traditions.
In focus
Knowledge check Paternalism, pragmatism and Covid-19
16 Why are most Covid-19 demonstrated the importance of society to conservatives in both the UK and the USA.
conservatives One-nation conservatism influenced Prime Minister Johnson and neo-conservatism influenced
paternalists? President Trump. Both agreed to huge state interference in society and economy that at any
17 Why was Boris other time would have been completely unacceptable to their conservative values. Such was
Johnson compared the extent of the state’s control of society and economy by the enforcement of lockdowns and
to Hobbes’ Leviathan the massive furloughing of the workforce in the UK economy that Johnson was compared to
character during the Hobbes’ Leviathan (see page 301). Neo-conservatism, like one-nation conservatism, remains
Covid-19 crisis? committed to the preservation of the organic society. This led to Republicans supporting a
18 Define laissez-faire Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in 2020. This demonstrates a fault
economics. line within the New Right, as neo-liberals would argue against such massive state involvement
19 Define atomism. since they perceive state and society as atomistic.
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Key thinker
Ayn Rand (1905–82)

Rand is an unusual political thinker as many of her philosophical ideas are found in works of
fiction, in particular Atlas Shrugged (1957), as well as in her philosophical work The Virtue of
Selfishness (1964). Rand was born in Russia and her family lost everything during the Russian
Revolution. Rand emigrated to the USA in 1926 and her formative experiences of tyrannical
collectivism that sacrificed the freedom of the individual proved to be a key influence on her ideas.
Rand’s main ideas

l Individuals are rational and their highest moral purpose is the achievement of personal
happiness. Rand rejected human imperfection and loathed any kind of collectivism
because the obligations demanded from individuals eroded their freedom.
l The only moral purpose of the state is to protect individual rights. In an atomistic society,
individuals have the right to maintain property and income without being taxed for welfare
spending. Individuals should maintain their lives through their own efforts; Rand opposed
state-sponsored welfare provision, favouring voluntarism.
l Rand’s championing of the individual meant she supported same-sex relationships and
abortion, which were still illegal in the USA when she began writing.
l Rand believed in ‘objectivism’, which is where individuals who experience negative freedom
are best able to comprehend reality and achieve self-realisation and self-fulfilment.
Individuals should therefore be guided by self-interest. Rand argued that there is a logic
and virtue in selfishness.
l Rand’s neo-liberalism, like Robert Nozick’s, should not be confused with individualist
anarchism (a complete loss of government), as both require a small state to maintain free
markets and social freedoms and to defend borders (see page 354).
l Rand espoused a racist ideology and belittled the rights of Native Americans. Her ideas
have been used to justify white supremacy.
Key thinker
Robert Nozick (1938–2002)

Robert Nozick was an American academic whose most famous work, Anarchy, State and Utopia
(1974), describes his libertarian ideas. Nozick’s ideas began as a rebuttal of John Rawls’
modern liberal ideas. Nozick argued that the state forcibly taxing the rich violated their intrinsic
Knowledge check
freedom. Governments had no right to encroach upon the rights of individuals by taking their
money and giving it to others. 20 What does Rand
mean by objectivism?
These libertarian beliefs led him to two broad conclusions:
21 What did Rand and
l ‘Minarchist’ government with minimal interference in the lives of individuals makes for the
Nozick see as the
best society.
primary purpose of
l The state’s primary function is to protect individual human rights.
the state?
Nozick’s minarchist society would allow communities to be free to practise their own 22 What does Nozick
particular moral codes rather than have political or religious values imposed upon them by mean by the
the state. minarchist society?
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Differing views and tensions within
conservatism
Traditional conservatism
Traditional conservatism is best understood as a set of political ideas that developed
as a response to the French Revolution of 1789, which challenged the hierarchical
aristocracy of European society. Initially, traditional conservatism had reactionary
and pragmatic branches, but it can also be seen as a psychological disposition within
all of us (Figure 10.2).
Traditional conservatism — reactionary

Traditional conservatism can be understood as a reactionary doctrine, partially
Key term inf luenced by the ideas of Hobbes, which believes in a feudal hierarchic order
Reactionary Opposing of society. In the eighteenth century these ideas were challenged by the ideas
change in a social, of the Enlightenment and the events of the French Revolution as well as by the
economic or political changing dynamics of state and society caused by the consequences of the Industrial
system and preferring the Revolution. Traditional conservatism was therefore a defensive ideology resisting
society to remain as it is. the decline of aristocratic rule.
Individuals can also be
reactive in that they would Reactionary traditional Non-reactionary Traditional conservatism:
prefer for things to stay conservatism traditional conservatism a natural disposition
the same and not change.
Hobbes Burke Oakeshott
Oakeshott’s dispositional
Figure 10.2 The three aspects of traditional conservatism
conservatism is a good
example of the latter.
Traditional conservatism — non-reactionary

Burke was clear that conservatism must counter Enlightenment ideas, as such
rationalist delusions had led to the French Revolution. Conservative ideas of
hierarchy, empiricism, tradition and authority, all of which had been undermined
by the ideas of the Enlightenment, must be defended as they help maintain societal
equilibrium.
Unlike its reactionary strand, pragmatic or non-reactionary traditional conservatism
was capable of change, but only after careful consideration. As Burke argued:
‘It is with infinite caution that any man ought to venture upon pulling down an
edifice which has answered in any tolerable degree for ages the common purposes
of society.’
The spirit of Burke’s ideas can be seen throughout the conservatism of the nineteenth
century, which saw the adoption of moderate reforms to keep society stable and a
commitment to the free market. Outmoded traditions that could spark revolutionary
unrest were changed by careful empirical deliberation, as we discuss in more detail
in the pragmatism section (see page 308).
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In focus
The French Revolution 1789
The French Revolution was a crucial event in modern European history that saw French citizens
abandoning centuries-old institutions such as absolute monarchy and the feudal system with
the execution of Louis XVI.
l The French Revolution was based on abstract principles, and discarded empiricism and
tradition, such as monarchy and Christianity (which was abolished) for utopian idealism
and ‘philosophical abstractions’ that quickly descended into violence and chaos.
l The ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity challenged the long-standing status quo, that
elites deserved to maintain power.
l Elites in the UK and the rest of Europe feared this challenge to their legitimacy, which was a
consequence of liberal ideas, and were worried about popular discontent and demands for
radical change.
l The Whig MP Edmund Burke (1729–97) rebutted liberal ideas, which became hugely
influential on conservatism. Burke argued that the egalitarian principles of the French
Revolution were rationalist delusions and throwing out the traditions of monarchy, the rule
of law, religion and concepts such as private property for rapid and idealistic change was
dangerous.
Key term
l For his supporters, Burke was justified when the French Revolution descended into a reign Radical Belief in ideas
of terror between 1793 and 1794, with mass executions of the remaining aristocracy and that favour drastic
anyone deemed to be an ‘enemy of the revolution’, and the rise of Napoleon. This ultimately political, economic and
led to the destructive wars that engulfed Europe between 1803 and 1815. social change.
Depiction of the execution of

Louis XVI
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Traditional conservatism — a natural disposition
Knowledge check Michael Oakeshott focuses on the psychological and intellectual aspects of human
23 What does imperfection (implied in the ideas of Hobbes and Burke) when attempting to
reactionary mean? describe conservatism. Conservatism can also be a natural disposition rather than a
24 Why was Burke so political idea or ideology.
critical of the French
l Translating his view into practical politics, Oakeshott would prefer the trusted
Revolution?
practised methods of imperfect institutions and traditions not to change, arguing:
25 Why does Oakeshott
‘What has stood the test of time is good and must not be lightly cast aside.’
argue that
l Oakeshott’s politics of faith argues that humans’ intellectual inability to comprehend
conservatism is a
reality means that any abstract thought, divorced from experience, will be flawed.
natural disposition?
This is why rationalistic blueprints of perfect societies and state planning fail and why
governments must rely on empirical informed pragmatism to govern.
Early one-nation conservatism

By the latter half of the nineteenth century, governments were beginning to face the
consequences of mass industrialisation and the call for socialist reform.
l Traditional conservative policy has always been laissez-faire within the economy
and society, with minimal state intervention by government. However, mass
industrialisation caused social inequality, which fanned the f lames of possible
revolution. New ideas such as revolutionary socialism and anarchism emerged as
rational alternatives that scared traditional conservatives.
l Conservative prime minister Benjamin Disraeli admired Burke’s ideas of
hierarchical aristocracy and organic society. Disraeli also admired noblesse oblige,
the wisdom inherent in traditions and the varied institutions that underpin the
organic society, in particular property ownership and the Church of England.
l Like Burke, Disraeli loathed doctrines and abstract ideas replacing empiricism.
One-nation conservatism was first demonstrated in one of Disraeli’s novels,
Sybil, or The Two Nations (1845), and is sometimes described as an updating of
traditional conservatism in response to the emergence of capitalism (see page 48).
Disraeli’s ultimate aim was to make society secure. To do this the tensions between
rich and poor must be addressed while simultaneously renewing a sense of national
identity and community. Nationalism up to this point had been strongly associated
with revolution: in France in 1789 and across the continent during the revolutionary
upheavals of 1848.
l Disraeli offered a form of nationalism, based on organic conservatism, where all
societal classes were part of a family that was ‘the nation’ (see page 48).
l The elite landed class had a noblesse oblige responsibility to care for the rest of
the people. Paraphrasing his policy, Disraeli argued that ‘the palace is not safe
when the cottage is not happy’. Disraeli’s reforms are inf luenced by empiricism
and Burke’s belief that society must ‘change to conserve’.
l Early one-nation reforms were the Representation of the People Act 1867 and
the Artisans’ and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act 1875.
Later one-nation conservatism

One-nation conservatism from 1945 to the present day is still influenced by the paternal
ideas of Burke and Disraeli and is most commonly associated with Harold Macmillan.
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As prime minister between 1957 and 1963 Macmillan championed a conservatism that
steered a course between traditional conservative laissez-faire economics and the socialist
collectivism of state planning, which he had first discussed in The Middle Way (1938).
l Macmillan shared Burke’s belief that preserving society was of paramount
importance and he viewed the debilitating effects of unemployment as a terrible
threat to stability.
l Macmillan rejected empiricism and chose the rationalistic ideas of economist
John Maynard Keynes to combat this threat (for a discussion of Keynesian
economics see page 283). His governments attempted to manage the economy in
a way that no conservative administration had previously attempted.
l These ideas were as much informed by modern liberalism and the enabling state
(see page 282) as they were by traditional conservatism or Disraeli’s empirical
one-nation conservatism. However, Macmillan and successive one-nation
conservatives who have used Keynesian style economics, such as Boris Johnson,
would argue that they are behaving pragmatically (see page 308).
l Michael Oakeshott disapproved of this style of conservatism, as state management
is rationally informed and ignores the limits of human reason. Modern one-
nation conservatism has also embraced social liberalism, putting it at odds with
traditional conservative values. Conservative governments since 1970 have
supported the legalisation of same-sex relationships and abortion, while David
Cameron, as prime minister of a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition
government, passed the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act in 2013.
l This could be seen as an example of pragmatism and how conservatives are able
to adapt to new traditions of social behaviour. Neo-conservatives would disagree
with such an assessment.
What is the difference between early one-nation and modern

one-nation conservatism?
Disraeli’s one-nation conservatism was empirically based on and One-nation One-nation
inf luenced by the ideas of Burke, advocating cautious change and conservatism: conservatism:
limited state interference in society and laissez-faire economics. Disraeli Macmillan
Macmillan’s version of one-nation conservatism was rationalistic and
saw the state taking a more proactive role in society while advocating
the state management of Keynesian economics. Succeeding one-
nation conservative prime ministers, Edward Heath, David Cameron, Theresa May Figure 10.3 Macmillan’s
and Boris Johnson, have all adopted Keynesian economics in their administrations. one-nation conservatism
However, all of these prime ministers would also acknowledge the inf luence of envisaged a much larger
Burke’s ideas of ‘little platoons’ and cautiously ‘changing to conserve’ society. role for the state in society
Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ policies in the early 2010s were particularly inf luenced by and the economy than
Burke (Figure 10.3). However, given the amount of rational inf luence on modern did Disraeli’s one-nation
one-nation conservatism, it is more indebted to Harold Macmillan and modern conservatism
liberalism’s ideas of the enabling state than it is to Disraeli and his modest state
interventions. In the post-Covid era, Rishi Sunak’s one-nation conservatism has Knowledge check
seen the state grow to levels similar to those of Macmillan and is equally informed
by rationalism (see page 284).
differences between
early and modern one-
The New Right nation conservatism?
By the 1970s, economic state management based on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes 27 When was the French
was beginning to fail in both the USA and the UK. A mixture of high inf lation, low Revolution?
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economic growth (known as ‘stagf lation’) and high unemployment plagued Europe
and the USA. For traditional conservative thinkers this was not surprising. Burke
had advocated free trade and laissez-faire government as the natural condition for
the economy, while Oakeshott was openly sceptical as to whether politicians and
economists had the intellectual capacity to successfully state manage a mixed economy.
The New Right emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in the USA but its inf luence spread
around the world. It is most associated with the governments of Reagan in the USA
and Thatcher in the UK.
l It is a marriage of neo-liberalism, which draws ideological inspiration from
classical liberalism, and neo-conservatism, which draws its inspiration from
traditional conservatism.
l Although the ideas are diverse and sometimes contradictory, they share an
enthusiasm for free markets and an antipathy for Keynesian state planning.
Neo-liberalism
Neo-liberalism differs from all other aspects of conservatism in two important
respects:
1 It views society as being atomistic (not organic).
2 It has a positive view of human nature, which posits that humans are capable of
rational thought.
Neo-liberals are therefore principally concerned with atomistic individualism and
free-market economics.
Atomistic individualism
Neo-liberals disagree with Hobbes’, Burke’s and Oakeshott’s core conservative belief
that the state has the legitimacy to interfere in society via a social contract or noblesse
oblige. Neo-liberals believe that rather than reinforcing individual freedoms, state
interference restricts freedom. As Nozick argued, ‘The state’s claim to legitimacy
induces its citizens to believe they have some duty to obey its edicts, pay its taxes,
fight its battles, and so on.’
Therefore, neo-liberalism, unlike the other forms of conservatism, has deep
antipathy towards the state and abhors its interference in the life of the individual.
l Nozick argued for self-ownership, whereby individuals retained their bodies,
talents, abilities and labour and were under minimal obligation from the
state.
l Nozick’s ideas were inf luenced by John Locke’s rationalism (see Chapter 9),
which focuses on the individual rights of men, as well as Immanuel Kant’s belief
that an individual in society cannot be used as a thing or a resource.
Neo-liberals argue for a miniaturist government, similar to the governments of
the eighteenth century. The primary function of the state, Nozick argued, is to
protect human rights, with state involvement ‘limited to the narrow functions of
force, theft, enforcement of contracts and so on’. To preserve individual freedom the
government should ‘roll back’ the state.
The organic society, so cherished by other aspects of conservatism, is, for Rand,
a construct that limits the development of the individual. Rand believed the
individual’s thinking was often restricted because they absorbed the dominant
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beliefs of society regardless of whether those beliefs were scientifically correct or
morally right. Rand argued:
Knowledge check
28 Why does Rand
l Society, as history has demonstrated, is capable of making individuals believe
argue that altruism is
unquestioningly that the world is f lat or that the ruthless and discriminatory
misrepresented in an
policies of the Nazi and communist regimes were justifiable.
organic society?
l The heroes of history are those who can break such harmful groupthink and
29 Why does Rand
retain a capability for original rational thought that challenges the traditions and
think that individuals
customs of so-called received wisdom.
should be selfish?
l Only with atomistic individualism can individuals experience negative freedom,
30 Why do neo-liberals see
develop their full rational potential, comprehend the true nature of reality and
selfishness as a virtue?
achieve self-realisation.
Nozick is less clear than Rand on the extent of atomistic liberalism. He allows that
humans are ‘pack animals’ who enjoy and need social and economic interactions.
In his later work, The Examined Life (1989), he retreated from the unambiguous
libertarianism that he famously championed in his most famous work, Anarchy, State
and Utopia (1974), conceding:
‘There are some things we choose together through government in solemn marking
of our human solidarity, served by the fact that we do them together in this official
fashion.’
Rand was a pure libertarian and called her theory ‘objectivism’, a philosophy based
on the rationalism of reason and scientific fact.
l The traditions that Burke, Oakeshott and all other types of conservatives cherish
are, for Rand, a nonsense.
l Objectivism argues that truth is found not in the collective beliefs of society or
the unproven myth of religion but in scientific fact.
l Rand argues for a ‘virtue of selfishness’ and praises egoism. For Rand, it is
morally right for individuals to pursue their dreams and objectives.
l Religious, socialist, fascist and democratic organic societies all demand that the
individual sacrifice their personal values for some greater good. It is wrong for
any society to demand that individuals compromise their core values for some
collective truth. Unsurprisingly, Rand loathed communism, with its inherent
collectivism, more than any other political idea.
Rand also argues that altruism is misrepresented in an organic society, as it should
not be a duty dictated by the state but the rational action of an individual pursuing Key term
their own values. Altruism The belief that
l If individuals choose to donate money to charities providing social welfare humans are not born to
(known as ‘voluntarism’), this should be as an individual’s choice and not a state be self-seeking but can
obligation. display fellow feeling,
l Neo-liberals argue that state-sponsored welfare spending prevents the sympathy for others and
development of atomistic individualism by making individuals dependent on the an instinct to help and
state. cooperate with others.
l Nozick viewed welfare spending, funded by taxation, as an example of the state
unfairly encroaching on individual liberty. ‘The illegitimate use of a state by
economic interests for their own end is based upon a pre-existing illegitimate
power of the state to enrich some persons at the expense of others.’
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Abolishing state intervention would allow society to rediscover its atomistic
individualistic mindset. Rather than asking ‘What will the government do for me?’
individuals would be forced to ask ‘What can I do for myself?’
Neo-liberalism views ‘selfishness’ as not a vice but a virtue. When viewed through
the prism of atomistic individualism, self-interest is the most rational and moral
course of action that one can take. Free from the obligations of state and society,
neo-liberals such as Rand and Nozick argue that human potential will be fully
realised and a natural harmony will exist within human interactions.
Free-market economics
By the late 1960s and 1970s, with Keynesian state planning beginning
to falter, neo-liberalism offered clear explanations for this failure,
arguing that only the free market could properly allocate resources.
l The state, neo-liberals argued, was ill-equipped to plan or intervene
in the economy, and this was as true in Western democracies as it
was in communist societies.
l Nationalised industries, such as those common in the UK at this
time, were inefficient, lacked free-market dynamism and were
artificially protected from free-market competition, which in
turn distorted the whole market.
According to economist Milton Friedman, the state planning
inspired by Keynesian economics was inf lationary, and this in turn
reduced economic activity. State or government management would
always lag behind and underperform in the free market. As Friedman
famously quipped: ‘If you put the federal government in charge of
the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.’
Neo-liberalism sees the role of government as being limited to
controlling inf lation, via a policy called ‘monetarism’, which
emphasises the need for governments to show restraint in their role
as monopolists over the supply of money.
l For monetarist economists like Friedman, the state’s tendency to
British Railways was the state-owned company print money (as an easier alternative to raising revenue through
that owned most of Great Britain’s railways, taxes) led only to inf lation, eroding the value of private citizens’
until it was gradually privatised in the 1990s wages and savings.
l This neo-liberal insistence on monetary restraint heavily
inf luenced the policies of Margaret Thatcher in the UK and
Ronald Reagan in the USA during the1980s.
Neo-liberalism’s belief in minimal government intervention dictates
that individuals should rise and fall on their own abilities. For neo-
liberals, state intervention is flawed while the natural efficiency of the
market is unquestionable. This leads neo-liberals to advocate that public
services be exposed to the competitive forces of the market economy.
In the UK, Thatcher viewed nationalised industries as inefficient and
she privatised gas, electricity, water and telecoms so they could thrive
in their natural habitat, the free market. This reduced role of the state
The American economist Milton Friedman, who caused tension with one-nation conservatives, as Thatcher’s neo-liberal
advocated for free-market capitalism economic ideology made her indifferent to high unemployment.
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In focus
Neo-liberal influences have attempted to limit the welfare state. Friedrich von Hayek’s key
neo-liberal work, The Road to Serfdom, argues that unchecked welfare spending will bankrupt
societies. Modern neo-liberals such as US Senator Rand Paul have been concerned about
increasing deficits across the Western world for this very reason. In the UK the overall deficit
stands at £3.4 trillion while in the USA it is currently $31.2 trillion. The world debt clocks
demonstrate why Hayek’s ideas continue to resonate today (usdebtclock.org).
Neo-conservatism
While neo-liberals are inspired by classical liberalism, neo-conservatives are more
inf luenced by traditional conservatism and focused on:
l maintaining organic society from social fragmentation
l upholding public morality and authoritarian law and order. Key term
While neo-liberalism is concerned with reducing the involvement of the state to Moral relativism
preserve individual liberty, neo-conservatives will increase state involvement and Questions whether there
curtail individual freedom if they feel that it is for the good of society. are any universal values
in terms of individual
Neo-conservatism, state and society: a fear of social fragmentation behaviour. This challenges
Neo-conservatives, like neo-liberals, celebrate capitalism as the natural economic the traditional moral
condition. However, the free market in itself does not provide a set of values on rights and wrongs of
which to base a society. Likewise, neo-conservatives have been critical of neo- conservative thought,
liberal ideas that fragment society by failing to defend core conservative values such which are informed by the
as religion, tradition and societal responsibility. traditions and customs
l For neo-conservatives, the unease started with the social and sexual revolution of religion. For example,
of the 1960s, which ushered in an age of moral relativism that has fragmented sex before marriage,
society ever since. sexual promiscuousness,
l The secular rejection of religion in the West, Irving Kristol (1920–2009, the legalised same-sex
‘godfather of neo-conservatism’) has argued, depleted the moral and spiritual relationships, divorce,
stock that binds society. legalised abortion and a
tolerance for recreational
Neo-conservatives value organic society and reject the neo-liberal vision of atomistic drug taking have all
individualism, which has undermined core societal values. Neo-conservatives, like challenged the societal
traditional conservatives, believe religion, tradition, authority and duty are vital norms of behaviour since
parts of the organic society. Agreeing with Burke, they argue that the preservation the 1960s.
of society is vital.
One-nation One-nation
Traditional conservatism: conservative:
Neo-
conservatism Neo-conservatism liberalism
Disraeli Macmillan
The New Right

Figure 10.4 Conservatism: the size of the state in relation to society and the economy
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l For neo-conservatives, the welfare reforms of the ‘Great Society’ in the USA and
the post-war consensus in the UK created a dependency culture.
l Neo-conservatives share traditional conservatism’s doubts about the morality of
human nature, arguing that anti-poverty programmes failed because they ignored
human imperfection, and that humans are not naturally moral or hard-working.
l Conversely, neo-conservatives also dismiss neo-liberal ideas of simply dismantling
the welfare state because they are impractical and against the paternalism that is
inherent in conservative thought. A neo-conservative welfare state argues for a
safety net for those who are genuinely struggling, but not handouts that erode
individual responsibility.
l Unlike one-nation conservatives who allowed the welfare state to grow, almost
Key term uncontrollably, neo-conservatives wish to shrink it, simultaneously promoting
Anti-permissiveness conservative ideas of family values and hard work (Figure 10.4).
A rejection, informed
Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme was a neo-conservative attempt to remodel the
by Christian morality,
welfare state, reduce state dependency and foster a conservative-thinking, property-
that there is no right
owning class. Similarly, in both the USA and the UK, neo-conservatives promote
and wrong, which was
traditional family structures via taxation and means-tested benefit systems. Neo-
dubbed ‘permissiveness’
conservatives argue that individuals must also take responsibility for poverty and
by neo-conservatives.
help themselves — the state cannot and should not do everything.
Neo-conservatives argue
that sex before marriage,
same-sex relationships,
Public morality and authoritarian law and order
abortion and recreational Underpinning the desire to reverse social fragmentation is a desire to uphold public
drug taking, for example, morality and law and order. Neo-conservatives argue that the post-1960s’ decline led
are wrong. Modern to immorality, leading them to promote anti-permissiveness and more authoritarian
one-nation Conservatives policing.
are more accepting of
Neo-conservatives are critical of neo-liberalism’s atomistic individualism, arguing
same-sex relationships
that it has led to the rejection of communal customs and values and so helped
and marriage and
transform Western society into a materialistic moral vacuum that ignores the ethical
abortion.
rights and wrongs of Christian society. Neo-conservatives, especially in the USA,
are pro-religion, as religion provides an alternative to a moral vacuum.
l This counters Rand’s idea that religion limits rationality and individual liberty.
l It also counters neo-liberals, who argue that same-sex relationships, abortion
and recreational drug taking should be choices for the individual and should not
be determined by the state. For neo-conservatives, these are all
morally wrong and should be opposed.
l Thatcher and Reagan both had a neo-conservative-inspired ‘war’
on recreational drug use and advocated strict prison sentences as
both a moral punishment and an authoritarian deterrent.
l Neo-conservatives support a tough approach to law and order,
and an extension of the state to enforce this policy.
Society must be protected from external forces as well as from
internal ones. Neo-conservatism advocates aggressive foreign
policy and military intervention to protect the security of the
state. Examples of this include the aggressive anti-Soviet (and
therefore anti-communist) foreign policy during the Cold War.
More recently, President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony
Blair’s neo-conservative-inspired foreign policy saw the USA and
Neo-conservatives argue that recreational the UK invade Afghanistan and Iraq to combat terrorism.
drug taking is wrong
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In focus
Neo-conservatism and
public morality
Neo-conservatives fear that young people will be
corrupted if they abandon tradition and societal
customs. Reefer Madness (originally entitled Tell
Your Children) is a 1936 propaganda film, originally
financed by a church group in the USA. It follows a
fictional group of high school students who become
addicted to marijuana and go on to commit various
crimes and even descend into insanity. The film
was intended to be shown to parents and families
to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use,
but it has since gained a cult following and today is
largely considered satire.
Knowledge check
31 Why do neo-liberals prefer free-market economics to Keynesian economics?
32 Why are neo-liberals so fearful of welfare spending in Western democracies like the UK
and the USA?
33 Define anti-permissiveness.
34 Why do neo-conservatives believe in anti-permissiveness?

Ronald Reagan was the fortieth president of the USA (1981–89) and was heavily influenced by
the policies of the New Right. Read some of his most well-known quotations:
‘We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-
dollar debt because we spend too much.’
‘Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it

moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.’
‘The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m
here to help.’
‘I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.’
With reference to these words, state which areas of Ronald Reagan’s ideas were influenced by
neo-liberals and which were influenced by neo-conservatives.
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The New Right: an uneasy marriage
Ayn Rand and Robert Nozick’s neo-liberal ideas contradict many traditional aspects
of conservatism. Rand and Nozick thought rationalism and logic infinitely superior
to empiricism and the wisdom of traditions preferred by Burke and Oakeshott.
Rand explicitly stated that she was not a conservative and like Nozick she advocated
for a minimal state that ignored conservative paternalism. Both perceived society
as atomistic and not organic. So why is neo-liberalism now taught as an important
part of conservative thought?
Divisions within both liberal and conservative ideas and the peculiarities of party
politics perhaps offer the best answers. Modern liberalism’s idea of the enabling state
usurped the classical liberal version of the minimal state, provoking a philosophical
reaction. Nozick’s Anarchy, State and Utopia was a rebuttal to John Rawls’ hugely
inf luential modern liberal work, A Theory of Justice (see page 287).
Neo-conservatives were already worried that conservative thought was being
polluted by modern liberal ideas in the USA (Rockefeller/moderate Republicans)
and socialism in the UK (one-nation conservatives) and so they were highly receptive
to Rand and Nozick’s ideas. However, neo-conservatives could not reconcile
themselves to all of neo-liberalism’s ideas concerning human nature, state, society
and economy.
l Neo-liberals believe in negative freedom and an atomistic society and so the
organic society of neo-conservatism is an infringement of individual liberty and
autonomy. Neo-conservatives will sanction the positive freedom of a limited
welfare state for societal stability, a price neo-liberals see no purpose in paying
given their atomistic view of society.
l While neo-liberals wish to reduce the extent of state interference in society,
neo-conservatives are willing to expand the state’s authority where this might
preserve stability, e.g. via authoritarian law and order policies (such as war on
drugs initiatives) and hawkish foreign policy.
l Nozick’s neo-liberal ideas of individual freedom led him to advocate the
legalisation of hard drugs and prostitution, two ideas that offend the religious
morality of neo-conservatives and contravene long-standing conservative
traditions.
The New Right is a marriage of political convenience between neo-liberals and
neo-conservatives that focuses on the efficacy of the free market and a loathing of
the collectivist ‘big state’ ideas inherent in modern liberalism and socialism. In the
Cold War years, the New Right was particularly united in its mutual loathing of
communism. While being described as ‘a conservative’ angered Rand and bemused
Nozick, neo-liberal ideas inform conservatism as much as they inform liberalism.
Knowledge check
35 In what areas do neo-conservatives and neo-liberals agree?
36 In what areas do neo-conservatives and neo-liberals disagree?
37 What is moral relativism?
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Debate
To what extent do conservatives agree and disagree on human nature?

Evaluation: Which strands of conservatism are the most positive and negative on human nature?
Human One-nation
nature Traditional conservatives conservatives Neo-conservatives Neo-liberals
• The ideas of Hobbes, • Early one-nation • Neo-conservatives • Neo-liberals have a

Burke and Oakeshott conservatives were believe in a much more optimistic
dominate conservative similar to traditional Hobbesian view of view of human nature
understanding of human conservatives in moral imperfection than the other branches
nature, i.e. that humans their understanding and advocate tough of conservatism
are morally, intellectually of human nature law and order to • Neo-liberals see the
and psychologically and preference for maintain societal human nature in similar
imperfect pragmatism and stability. Their terms to Hobbes, in that
• Hobbes thought humans organic society understanding people are autonomous
were individualistically • Later one-nation of human nature individuals
driven and rational enough conservatives leads them to
conclude that the
• However, unlike
to recognise they needed are more open to Hobbes, neo-liberals
an absolute monarch to rationalistic ideas state is required to have a positive view of
enforce order • Successive ensure an organic human nature, arguing
• Burke and Oakeshott’s one-nation society that humans are
view of the rational and conservative prime • However, neo- rational and motivated
psychological fragility of ministers ranging conservatives to pursue their own
human nature explains, in from Macmillan are also open self-interests
part, why most traditional to Johnson to rationalism
and state-
• Neo-liberals’
conservatives view have adopted interpretation of human
humans as communal rationalistic- management, with nature means that an
creatures and view society inspired policies neo-conservative individual’s first loyalty
as organic such as Keynesian governments in is to their personal
• Burke’s belief in economics the UK and the
USA embarking on
happiness within an
intellectual imperfection atomistic society
rationally inspired
has influenced traditional
welfare and
• Neo-liberals prefer
conservatives’ approach scientific fact and
to statecraft, with a education reforms logic to the empiricism
preference for empiricism and pragmatism
and pragmatism over of traditional
the abstract principles conservatism
favoured by classical
liberalism
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Debate
To what extent do conservatives agree and disagree on the role of the state?
Evaluation: Which strand of conservatism argues for the most intervening role for the state?
One-nation
The state Traditional conservatives conservatives Neo-conservatives Neo-liberals
• Traditional conservatives • One-nation • Neo-conservatives • Neo-liberals argue

believe in a natural conservatives are influenced by for what Nozick
hierarchy, so the state are influenced by Hobbes and Burke called a miniaturist
should be governed by Burke’s ideas of in that they also see government, similar
a natural ruling class. noblesse oblige the primary function to governing with
For Hobbes, this was and paternalistic of the state being to minimal state
a monarch; for Burke, state intervention preserve society interference in the
aristocratic government. to preserve society. • Neo-conservatives lives of individuals
All traditional Like traditional believe in a • Of all the branches
conservatives see the conservatives, one- less generous of conservatism,
primary purpose of nation conservatives welfare state neo-liberals are the
the state as being to believe the primary than one-nation most hostile to state
preserve organic society purpose of the conservatives interference in society
• Burke influenced state is to preserve but agree that and the economy
traditional conservatives society there must be a • Neo-liberals like
into accepting that • Early one-nation welfare provision to Nozick see the
society was not static conservative reforms maintain societal primary role of the
and that to preserve were influenced by order state being to protect
society, the ruling empiricism and saw • However, they also human rights, with
class must accept that only small-scale believe that the anti- state involvement
the state must enact state intervention poverty programmes ‘limited to the narrow
changes from time to • Later one-nation advocated by one- functions of force,
time. Such paternally conservatives have nation conservatism theft, enforcement of
inspired changes should favoured more in the UK and contracts and so on’
be informed by cautious
pragmatism informed
radical, rationally modern liberalism- • Consequently, neo-
inspired state inspired policies liberals do not believe
by empiricism. However, intervention that in the USA failed in a state-sponsored
the preference for has seen the size of because they welfare state. Nozick
traditional conservatives state involvement ignore human argued that state
is minimal state increase dramatically imperfection and taxation to pay for
involvement in society when compared that humans are not such schemes was
and economy to traditional naturally moral or ‘legalised theft’
• Traditional conservatives conservatism hardworking
• Unlike the other
argue that society • In times of crisis, • In times of crisis, branches of
must be protected they will advocate they will advocate conservatism, neo-
from external forces as huge state huge state liberals oppose the
well as internal ones interference to interference to idea of a natural
and advocate hawkish preserve society and preserve society hierarchy and instead
foreign policy and economy. Example: and economy. favour meritocracy
military intervention. the Conservative Example: neo- where the most able
Traditional conservatives government’s conservative lead
also favour insular introduction of Republican support
nationalism and state furloughing during for the CARES Act
autonomy in foreign the Covid-19 crisis 2020 during the
policy Covid-19 crisis
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Debate
To what extent do conservatives agree and disagree on the nature of society?

Evaluation: Which key thinker was the most influential on the conservatism view on society?
Society Traditional conservatives One-nation conservatives Neo-conservatives Neo-liberals
• Traditional • One-nation • Neo-conservatives • Neo-liberals such

conservatives view conservatives view believe that society as Rand and Nozick
society as organic. society as organic. is organic and are argue that society
Society cannot exist Society cannot exist sympathetic to is atomistic and
before the existence of before the existence of Burke’s concept of that individuals are
the state the state ‘little platoons’ and self-interested and
• Burke argued that • Early and modern one- Oakeshott’s belief self-sufficient. Like
society was built of nation conservatives that utopian society is all other branches of
‘little platoons’ that are sympathetic to unobtainable conservatism they
bind to form the nation. Burke’s belief in ‘little • Neo-conservatives are agree that society
Traditions and customs platoons’ religious and prefer cannot pre-exist the
also form part of the • Modern one-nation ‘Christian values’ creation of the state
organic state that conservatism is to secular values. • Rand and Nozick
gradually evolves over paternal and influenced They are critical of both loathed
time. Burke argued that by modern liberalism, what they describe collectivism and
society must change if and advocates as permissiveness. argued that there
it is to be conserved, extensive state Neo-conservatives needed to be a
and advocated intervention in society are unsympathetic to rolling back of state
cautious, empirically more than any branch LGBTQ+ issues such influence in society
based change when of conservatism. as same-sex marriage and the economy
necessary Oakeshott was critical and trans-sexualism • Neo-liberals do not
• Traditional of such rationalism • Neo-conservatism believe in a state-
conservatives also • However, modern one- is paternal and funded welfare
favour upholding nation conservatism advocates a welfare state, as the state
public morality and is far more secular state. However, state- compels individuals
authoritarian law than traditional sponsored welfare to pay taxation to
and order. Hobbes, conservatism or one- is far less generous fund such projects,
Burke and Oakeshott nation conservatism. than one-nation which negates
all believed in the It is also far conservatism individual freedom.
importance of religion, more inclusive on Rand argued for
alongside other same-sex relationships voluntarism, whereby
traditions, in helping and marriage and individuals are free
bind society LGBTQ+ issues to donate if they
• Oakeshott argued that choose to
the nirvana promised
by utopian societies
is unobtainable, as
perfection cannot be
created by imperfect
creatures
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Debate
To what extent do conservatives agree and disagree on the economy?

Evaluation: Why do conservatives’ views on the management of the economy sometimes change in times of crisis compared with
when there is no crisis?
The One-nation
economy Traditional conservatives conservatives Neo-conservatives Neo-liberals
• Traditional • Early one-nation • Neo-conservatives • Neo-liberals only

conservatives are conservatism under favour a free-market require the state to
ambivalent about Disraeli favoured economy as the best act as a referee in
capitalism and the the free market method for wealth, making sure the rule
role of the state but understood employment and of adhered to in the
in the economy. that unregulated reducing the costs of economic sphere
Some favoured capitalism can lead goods and services • Neo-liberals are
protectionism to to societal tension • However, neo- committed to the free
preserve the interests and division. One- conservatives are still market and oppose
of the elite and the nation conservatism informed by traditional interventionary state
nation state therefore favoured conservative management such as
• Edmund Burke moderate state values such as Keynesian economics
influenced traditional intervention to pragmatism. This
conservatism by his regulate the economy was demonstrated
support for the free • One-nation by neo-conservative
market and the ideas conservatism since Republican president
of Adam Smith the 1960s has had George W. Bush
a varied attitude to when he supported
state intervention Keynesian-style
in the economy. intervention during
Macmillan and the economic crisis of
Heath’s Conservative 2008 that neo-liberals
governments favoured naturally opposed
a mixed economy and • Another example of
Keynesian economics. neo-conservative
Conservative pragmatism is the
governments in CARES Act 2020
the twenty-first introduced by
century prefer President Trump. The
privatised companies Act was a $2.2 trillion
to nationalised economic stimulus
companies and are package in response
sympathetic to the to the economic
free market, but since damage caused by the
2010 have opted for Covid-19 pandemic
an economic policy
that has largely been
inspired by Keynes
• One-nation
governments will
sanction massive
state intervention in
the economy during
emergencies, as
demonstrated during
the furloughing of the
UK economy during
the Covid-19 crisis
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Summary
Thomas Extremely negative: The state arises from Society did not exist Economic activity is
Hobbes selfish humans are a ‘social contract’ before the creation of possible only after the
individualistically driven between sovereign the state. The sovereign creation of the state.
by self-interest and subjects. Subjects brings order and The sovereign brings
cede freedoms to an authority. Before the order and authority,
autocratic monarch to creation of the state, life allowing the economy to
guarantee the rule of was ‘nasty, brutish and develop
law and to avoid ‘a state short’
of war’
Edmund Somewhat negative: The state emerges and Society is like a The free market is the
Burke humans are morally and grows like an organism. multifaceted organism. natural organic state
intellectually fallible Hierarchical in nature, Communities, traditions, of the market and the
the hereditary elite rules customs, etc. have a state should protect
with paternal noblesse symbiotic relationship laissez-faire capitalism
oblige for the interests
of all. The state should
‘change to conserve’
society guided by
empiricism
Michael Somewhat negative: The state should be Society is like a The free market is
Oakeshott focused on intellectual guided by tradition and multifaceted organism. the natural state of
imperfection. Decisions experience. Sceptical of Communities, traditions, the market. State
should be grounded rationalist state action. customs, etc. have a involvement should be
in empiricism, not Change, if it must symbiotic relationship limited to pragmatic
rationalism occur, should be guided moderation. State
by pragmatism and management or
empiricism economic policies
underpinned by
rationalism should be
avoided because of
intellectual imperfection
Ayn Rand Positive: humans are The state should play a Society pursues Free-market
capable of rational minimal role in the life of atomistic individualism. A capitalism with no
thought and should be the individual. The state collection of autonomous state intervention
‘objectivist’ in pursuing should secure a free individuals motivated and a privatised and
self-interest market, law and order by self-fulfilment. These deregulated economy
and national security individuals resist state
or societal obligations
as they restrict individual
freedom. No welfare state
Robert Positive: individuals A minarchist state: Society is essentially A minarchist state
Nozick are rational and driven the state should be atomistic. A collection of will be one of free-
by the idea of self- limited to law and order, autonomous individuals market capitalism
ownership of their enforcement of contract with libertarian values. with a privatised and
talent, abilities and and defence of the These individuals deregulated economy
labour realm resist state or societal
obligations as they
restrict individual
freedom. No welfare state
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Practice questions
1 To what extent do conservatives disagree about paternalism? You must use
differing views in a balanced way.
2 To what extent is there more to unite rather than divide traditional
conservatism from one-nation conservatives? You must use appropriate
thinkers you have studied to support your answer and consider differing views
in a balanced way.
3 To what extent do conservatives disagree about human nature? You must
use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer and
consider both sides in a balanced way.(24)
4 To what extent do conservatives agree about the economy? You must
Further reading
Chesterton, M. and Tuck, D. (2021) ‘Do conservatives believe in society?’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 3.
Gallop, N. and Tuck, D. (2020) ‘Conservatism and the Conservative Party’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No.1.
Jones, E. (2020) ‘Edmund Burke and the American and French Revolutions’, Politics Review,
Vol. 29, No. 4.
Tuck, D. (2018) ‘Conservative views on human nature’, Politics Review, Vol. 28, No. 2.
Tuck, D. (2019) ‘“Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes’, Politics Review, Vol. 29. No. 1.
Tuck, D. (2021) ‘Paternalism and conservatism’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 2.
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11 Socialism
The term ‘socialism’ was first used by Charles Fourier (1772–1837) and Robert
Owen (1771–1858) in the early nineteenth century. Socialism is traditionally
defined as being opposed to capitalism. In a capitalist society, economic systems are
owned privately for profit, but socialism was originally based on ideas of collective
ownership of economic and social systems.
Like liberalism, socialism is a set of political ideas that grew out of the rationalism
of the Enlightenment (see page 284). It has two broad traditions: revolutionary and
evolutionary socialism.
Revolutionary socialism
The most common and inf luential form of revolutionary socialism is derived from
the ideas of Karl Marx (1818–83) and Friedrich Engels (1820–95) and is known
as Marxism. It argues that socialist values cannot coexist within capitalism and there
must be a revolution to transform society and the economy. Marx (foreground) and Engels
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Evolutionary socialism
In contrast, evolutionary socialism argues that change should happen gradually.
Key terms Democratic socialism, social democracy and the ‘third way’ are all types of
Evolutionary socialism evolutionary socialism.
Rather than a radical
l Democratic socialism comes from the ideas of Beatrice Webb (1858–1943) and
change, via a revolution,
the Fabian Society, which inf luenced the Labour Party from its birth in 1900 and
socialism is achieved
Clement Attlee’s post-war government.
gradually within the pre-
l Social democracy emerged in the 1950s. It viewed Marxism as irrelevant and
existing parliamentary
democratic socialism as outdated. Inspired by the ideas of Anthony Crosland
structure. Socialism will
(1918–77), it values social justice above the common ownership advocated by
therefore emerge in a
revolutionary socialism and democratic socialism. It seeks to achieve this by
gradual, piecemeal fashion
working within existing capitalist systems through a redistributive welfare state.
via the state.
l The ‘third way’ was developed in the 1990s and inspired by sociologist Anthony
Capitalism An economic Giddens (b. 1938). Giddens saw his ideas as a renewal of social democracy and
system, organised by added a neo-liberal (see Chapter 9) element to socialism. The third way inspired
the market, and based New Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the UK Labour
on private property, free Party and US President Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party.
enterprise and competition
between individuals and
companies. Core ideas and principles
Cooperation Individuals
working collectively to
achieve mutual benefit,
Common humanity
with the fraternal belief Most socialists have an optimistic view of human nature, believing individuals share
that humans perform best a common humanity, are rational and are predisposed to cooperate. Socialists agree
when working together. that human nature is not fixed but is shaped by an individual’s environment. Unlike
classical and neo-liberals, who see society as a loose collection of individuals, or
Fraternity Humans
conservatives, who see society as an organic hierarchy, socialists view society as a
regarding each other as
collection of broadly equal individuals with a common identity and purpose.
siblings rather than rivals.
Relationships are not l Socialists find pleasure and fulfilment in work that focuses on cooperation and
based on competition or collectivism rather than individualism and competition.
enmity but on generosity l Underpinning this common humanity is a belief in fraternity and community.
and solidarity. l Socialists are united (albeit to differing degrees) in their concern about the effect
that unchecked capitalism can have on the individual. This leads them to argue
for an interventionist role of the state.
l Revolutionary socialism and democratic socialism are the most hostile to
capitalism, while social democracy and in particular the third way argue that
capitalism can be harnessed for the greater good.
Each branch of socialism shares a distinct vision of what common humanity looks
like (Table 11.1).
Table 11.1 Different views of humanity within socialism

Branch of socialism Vision of a common humanity
Revolutionary socialism Marx and Engels argued that individuals were ‘deformed’ by capitalism, as money
corrupts those who possess it. Capitalism must therefore be abolished by a revolution
started by the exploited working class. After a transitional period, a classless
communist society would emerge, based on absolute equality (see page 333), in which
all social and economic activities would be done collectively. Society could then enjoy a
common humanity
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Branch of socialism Vision of a common humanity
Democratic socialism Webb argued for a socialist state via the ballot box. This would include common ownership
of the means of production, achieved by extensive state nationalisation run by a
socialist bureaucratic elite
Social democracy Social democracy argued that capitalism should be reformed and not replaced, which
was a significant break with democratic socialism, which envisaged a fully socialist
state. Crosland had a vision of:
• supporting a mixed economy of both nationalised state industry and privately owned
companies
• economic state intervention based on Keynesian economics to ensure permanent full
employment and economic growth
• the welfare state used to redistribute wealth and challenge poverty and social
inequality
The third way By the 1990s, Giddens argued that developed economies faced new challenges for the
twenty-first century. Giddens argued for:
• increased emphasis on equality of opportunity via public services, specifically
education and twenty-first-century skills
• neo-liberal ideas such as the free market and self-reliance
• moving away from universal welfare to means-tested welfare (such as higher
education students contributing towards the cost of their education)
Knowledge check Key terms

1 Define revolutionary socialism. Common ownership The
2 Define evolutionary socialism. state and the public have
3 What three branches of evolutionary socialism are Beatrice Webb, Anthony Crosland and ownership of property and
Anthony Giddens associated with? the economy. The opposite
4 What do socialists mean by common humanity? of private ownership that
exists with the free-market
capitalist economy.
Collectivism Mixed economy
Socialism’s positive view of human nature perceives people as naturally social An economic system that
creatures. Generally speaking, collectivism prioritises the group over the individual. combines private and
Socialists believe individuals: state enterprise.
l prefer to work together rather than independently Keynesian economics

l will work far more effectively within groups than by their individual actions. Economist John Maynard
Keynes argued that
Collectivism has been used in a variety of ways across socialist thinking and means governments should
different things to different socialists. stimulate economic
Utopian socialists Charles Fourier and Robert Owen argued for small-scale demand in times of
cooperative communities organised collectively as a way of promoting socialist values recession via state
(see page 340). Marx and Engels argued on a larger scale, saying workforces would spending. Governments
collectively own all industry and all agencies of society would be communal. The should also state manage
Soviet Union, which was inf luenced by the ideas of Marx and Engels, nationalised the economy by using
its industry, embarked on centralised state planning and collectivised its agricultural tax and interest rates to
land in the 1920s and 1930s. influence demand and
prevent recessions.
Democratic socialist Beatrice Webb and the Fabian Society informed many of
the collectivist policies of Attlee’s Labour governments of 1945–51, in particular
nationalisation and top-down state management. However, Attlee’s governments
accepted the existence of free-market capitalism, in the form of private industry, so
a fully collectivised economy and society did not come to pass.
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Table 11.2 Two socialist positions on collectivism
Collectivist examples Social democrat solution Third way solution
Industrial relations Workers belong to trade unions that have Unions should exist to preserve fair practice
strong bargaining rights to stop exploitation in the workplace. However, there must be a
recognition that wages are market driven
Healthcare A national health service provides universal The third way advocates healthcare reform,
care according to need. This service is ‘free’, recognising that the cost of universal
paid for by general taxation healthcare is unsustainable. It supports
prescription charges and private healthcare
for the rich to ‘jump the queue’ for non-
essential healthcare
Education Widespread comprehensive state education There should be more equality of opportunity
is available for all, providing an equality of and spending in education. New Labour
opportunity introduced academies and life-long learning
courses but expected university students to
help fund their tuition via fees
Key industries The key utilities (but not private industry) The free market is the most efficacious
are brought under government control and way to run business. No support for
operate in the collective interest of all renationalising state utilities
Social democrat Anthony Crosland was suspicious of the collectivism favoured by

Marx, Engels and Webb, while Giddens’ third way view of collectivism was partly
inf luenced by neo-liberal ideas (Table 11.2).
Equality
For socialists, equality is a multifaceted concept that causes tension and disagreement.
However, there are three aspects of equality that socialists can agree on:
l Foundational equality Like liberals, socialists believe that all individuals are
born with innate human rights that translate to political and legal equality.
l Rejection of natural hierarchies Each individual has the potential to take up
any position within society to which they may aspire.
l Equality of opportunity All individuals should have access to the same life chances.
However, socialists disagree about the nature of equality (Table 11.3).
Table 11.3 Socialists’ ideas on various types of equality
Type of equality Differences among socialists
Equality of opportunity Revolutionary socialism
Individuals are entitled to equal chances Marx, Engels and Rosa Luxemburg argued that equality of opportunity can
to make the best of their abilities. Positive be achieved only after a revolution (capitalism is so corrupt and pervasive
steps should be taken to eliminate that it is beyond reform)
artificial barriers to the progress of Democratic socialism
individual groups Webb argued that equality of opportunity could be achieved only by reforming
capitalism to the point that it is a truly socialist (common ownership) society
Social democracy
Crosland believed in a mixed economy with state management based on
Keynesian ideas. He wished to break down class barriers so that they
were irrelevant. He argued for progressive taxation and to allow an even
distribution of opportunities via an expansive welfare state
The third way
Equality of opportunity needs to target the neediest in society: the
underclass. Giddens advocated abandoning the universal welfare of
Crosland’s social democracy for means-tested benefits
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Type of equality Differences among socialists
Equality of outcome Revolutionary socialism
This proposes that economic rewards Marx, Engels and Luxemburg dismissed equality of outcome as it
should be distributed to the value of an presupposed that capitalism could be rid of exploitation, which they believed
individual’s contribution. In such a system to be impossible
the difference in rewards will be far Democratic socialism
smaller than it would be in a free-market Webb argued for a gradual incremental process so that income would
economy eventually be far more evenly distributed. This would not be absolute
equality, but any income inequality that remains would be much fairer
Social democracy
Crosland was against pure equality of outcome as he felt it would weaken
the economy by acting as a disincentive to wealth creators
The third way
Like Crosland, Giddens argued that wage equality of outcome was
impracticable and a disincentive and would damage the economy
Absolute equality Revolutionary socialism
This suggests that all individuals should Marx, Engels and Luxemburg believed that in an economy based on common
receive the same rewards as long as the ownership and collectivisation, material rewards would be based on needs.
contributions they make to society are Each individual would contribute to society and take what they needed
made to the best of their ability (absolute Democratic socialism
equality is also understood in terms of Although Webb believed in high taxation to flatten the differences between
equality of outcome, where ‘fairness’ is classes, she did not advocate absolute equality, envisaging some wage
distributed to all citizens) differences
Social democracy
Crosland dismissed absolute equality as utopian (as it presupposed
abundant wealth). He accepted that in a meritocratic mixed economy,
those who contributed more would be rewarded accordingly
The third way
Giddens dismissed absolute equality as a flawed concept and, like
Crosland, accepted that inequality was a natural consequence of society
Equality of welfare Revolutionary socialism
This aspect of equality perceives society Marx, Engels and Luxemburg rejected equality of welfare for its failure to
as inevitably unequal but argues that remove capitalism
everyone should be entitled to an equal Democratic socialism
minimum standard of living, enabled by Webb argued that equality of welfare would be achieved by mass
the provision of state welfare nationalisation of industry. She argued that proper state management
would ensure equality of welfare by redistributing resources
Social democracy
Crosland saw the state as a neutral force that could reduce class conflict
by breaking down barriers and widening opportunities: universal public
services would help achieve this. He married social democracy with modern
liberalism and supported nationalised utilities and the free-market economy
The third way
Giddens argued that high levels of social security and welfare were a
disincentive to work and created a dependency culture. Benefits should be
targeted at the most needy
Knowledge check
5 Define collectivism.
6 Define foundational equality.
7 Define equality of opportunity.
8 Define equality of outcome.
9 Define absolute equality.
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Social class
Socialists believe that capitalism creates and reinforces harmful social class divisions
that result in societal hierarchies. While socialists can agree on a broad critique of
social class, they disagree on how best to rectify the problem:
l The revolutionary socialism of Marx/Engels and Luxemburg argues that
problems of social class can be resolved only via a revolution.
l The evolutionary socialism of Webb (democratic socialism), Crosland (social
democracy) and Giddens (third way) all have different ideas for reconciling social
class division.
Marx and Engels’ ideas placed social class as a core idea of socialism, arguing as follows:
l They perceived capitalists as parasites profiting from the work of an exploited
workforce.
l Differences between social classes could not be reconciled within a capitalist
system and therefore revolution was inevitable.
l The capitalists took the surplus value (the difference between the wages paid to
the workers and the profit taken by the capitalists), alienating workers from their
labour. (Marx and Engels called workers the ‘proletariat’.)
l The state was not neutral but actively reinforced this oppressive relationship via
laws, bureaucracy, police forces and the army — an idea that heavily inf luences
anarchism (see Chapter 12).
Key term Webb shared Marx’s social class analysis. However, she argued that the nature of
the state could be altered from serving capitalism to delivering a socialist state.
Utilitarianism A doctrine The socialist state would introduce universal nationalisation: equality of outcome,
that states that an action progressive taxation and a welfare state that would reduce class division.
is right if it promotes
happiness, and that the Social democrats such as Crosland were critical of the collectively minded
greatest happiness of the utilitarianism of Webb’s ideas and the uniformity of nationalisation, which
greatest number of people Crosland felt compromised the freedom of the individual and would ‘make the
is the most important socialist state’ a ‘dull functional nightmare’. Crosland’s vision of socialism was
principle. focused on a fairer distribution of wealth and equality of opportunity, so that the
individual could thrive in a society that would eventually become classless.
Key thinkers
Karl Marx (1818–83) and Friedrich Engels (1820–95)

Marx and his collaborator Engels are key figures within socialism. The Communist Manifesto (1848)
provided a radical reinterpretation of history and a revolutionary model for a utopian society.
The main ideas of Marx and Engels

l Marx and Engels claimed their theories were empirical and scientifically determined (their
critics dismissed this as nonsense as their theories are scientifically unprovable), so in
addition to explaining historical change, their ideas were inevitably going to occur.
l Class struggle, arising from property ownership, has existed throughout history. History has
a final destination: communism.
l Capitalism, with its crises and recessions, will eventually leave only a tiny minority of the
ruling class (whom Marx and Engels dubbed the ‘bourgeoisie’) benefiting from it. The
vast majority of individuals will form the proletariat, who will realise their exploitation and
achieve class consciousness.
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l Liberal democracy was a ‘democratic swindle’ because the state was controlled by the
bourgeoisie. State and society used religion, patriotism, enfranchisement, parliament
and social reforms to weaken class consciousness and the masses’ mission to overthrow
capitalism. However, Marx and Engels believed socialism was inevitable and that the
proletariat will overthrow capitalism and a transitional phase — the dictatorship of the
proletariat — will occur.
l After this transitional period, the state will wither away and a stateless communist society
will emerge based on common ownership. (See also Figure 11.1, page 342.)
Crosland argued that education reinforced class division. His most famous
attempt to ensure equality of opportunity was to create comprehensive schools
that would cater for all abilities and eliminate the social segregation of grammar
schools. In her biography published in 1982, Susan Crosland said her husband had
told her, ‘If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to destroy every ******* grammar
school in England. And Wales and Northern Ireland.’
Giddens’ position on education merely revises the aims of Crosland, arguing:
‘Investment in education is an imperative of government today, a key basis of the
redistribution of possibilities.’
Social democracy failed to eliminate class divisions. To further complicate the
matter, individuals no longer see themselves in the traditional class roles that they
did in the times of Marx, Engels, Luxemburg, Webb or even Crosland. Political
scientists Geoffrey Evans and James Tilley argue that since the late 1970s, traditional
notions of class do not resonate as they once did. Some, like Giddens, argue this is
due to a breaking down of traditional class-based occupations (factory worker, coal
miner, ship builder); others argue that the working class mistakenly see themselves
as middle class (because many work in offices or call centres) even though they are
lowly paid.
Political scientist Wendy Bottero has argued that there exists a ‘paradox of class’,
whereby class identification is in decline and yet class position still affects life
chances. Sutton Trust research has demonstrated that while only 7% of people attend
independent schools, they dominate the higher-paid professions.
Numerous studies have shown that Crosland and Giddens were correct in claiming
that education is the single most important factor in occupational attainment, but
the chances of obtaining a good education remain strongly inf luenced by class
background. Evans and Tilley’s research shows that private education continues to
be a key predictor of occupational and educational success. In the UK, while 49%
of young people now attend university, poverty and inequality remain difficult to
eradicate.
Such figures would not have surprised Marx, Engels or Luxemburg, who argued
that the inequalities of capitalism were beyond reform. Marxism believes that
materialism dominates societal culture, ideology, politics and religion. Moreover,
it prevents the subjugated from perceiving their exploitation. Whenever socialist
governments have been elected, they are frustrated by the capitalist-supporting
interests of the political elites that dominate the judiciary, the civil service
and big business: the ability to radically change society is beyond their power. For
revolutionary socialists, evolutionary socialism can only disappoint; only a socialist
insurrection on an international scale can erase the injustice of social class.
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A group of local boys look
on in curiosity at Harrow
schoolboys, 1937
In focus
Social justice
Social justice remains a key topic of debate in the twenty-first century. The Sutton Trust Report
(2019) demonstrated the advantage that private education gives to the minority of people —
approximately 7% — who receive it.
Politics, the media and public service all show high proportions of privately educated in their
number, including 65% of senior judges, 59% of civil service permanent secretaries and 57% of
the House of Lords.
David Kynaston and Francis Green’s Engines of Privilege: Britain’s Private School Problem (2019)
argues that independent education ‘buys educational privilege which also buys lifetime privilege
and influence’. Kynaston and Green argue that the state should impose value added tax (VAT)
on school fees, with the proceeds going to state schools, and that leading universities should
exercise positive discrimination to counter the structural advantages of the privately educated.
Knowledge check
10 Define equality of welfare.
11 Why do revolutionary socialists prefer absolute equality?
12 Why do democratic socialists favour equality of outcome and equality of welfare?
13 Why does the third way favour equality of opportunity?
Workers’ control
All socialists agree that in an unchecked free market, the capitalist will exploit the
industrial worker. However, within the different branches of socialism, the concept
of workers’ control (where workers themselves manage the workplace through
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workers’ councils or committees) is multifaceted. Marx, Engels and Luxemburg
advocate workers’ control (at least for a time), whereas Webb, Crosland and Giddens
do not see the worker seizing direct control of the economy or the means of
production.
In the immediate aftermath of a revolution, Marx and Engels imagined a transitional
period where the formerly exploited workers were in control (see Figure 11.1,
page 342). This interim stage would see society and the economy re-embracing
forgotten cooperative, collective and fraternal values while removing destructive
capitalist ideals. Workers’ control would be a short period between the revolution
and the stateless, classless, communist society and economy that would emerge from
the ashes of capitalism. There would be no need for workers’ control, as communism
would be free from the exploitation of capitalistic competition.
Evolutionary socialism
Democratic socialist Webb did not believe in workers’ control, dismissing workers
as incapable of such responsibility:
‘We do not have faith in the “average sensual man”, we do not believe that he can
do more than describe his grievances, we do not think that he can prescribe the
remedies.’
Webb was openly critical of 1920s’ guild socialism, which supported state
nationalisation under workers’ control, as she argued that workers lacked the
intellectual capability to organise such an enterprise.
So, although Sidney Webb, Beatrice Webb’s husband, drafted Clause IV for the
Labour Party constitution with a specific aim of common ownership, the Webbs
never intended that common ownership would entail workers controlling the means
of production. Beatrice Webb had the most negative view of human nature of all the
socialist key thinkers, believing that the working class were innately intellectually
inferior and so in need of guidance from paternal superiors. For Webb:
l the evils of capitalism would not be solved by the workers but by ‘the professional
expert’; the working class would vote for socialism and, gradually, elected socialist
governments would refashion the state so that it could manage, not oppress, the
worker
l the state would ‘silently change its character … from police power, to housekeeping
on a national scale’ — this strategy for achieving socialism would involve a highly
trained elite of administrators and specialists (rather than the workers themselves)
to organise society.
Clause IV
To secure for the workers by hand or brain the full fruits of their industry and the
most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible under the basis of common
ownership and the means of production, distribution and exchange and the best
obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.
Constitution of the Labour Party, 1918
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Key thinker
Beatrice Webb (1858–1943) democracy works in the interests of the working-class

majority.
l Webb’s ideas are as fundamental as revolutionary
socialism, but she sought the overthrow of capitalism via
the ballot box rather than through revolution.
l The working class will vote for socialist parties that will
begin to instigate social, economic and political reform,
resulting in a socialist society.
l The expansion of the state is vital to deliver socialism. The
state will develop a highly trained elite of administrators
and specialists to organise the socialist society. This
technocratic elite would ‘impregnate all the existing forces
of society’.
l Webb’s The Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission
(1909) argued for a ‘national minimum of civilised life ...
open to all alike, of both sexes and all classes, by which
we meant sufficient nourishment and training when
young, a living wage when able-bodied, treatment when
sick, and modest but secure livelihood when disabled or
aged’. Many of the ideas from this report later appeared
in modern liberal William Beveridge’s Beveridge Report
Beatrice Webb was a member of the Fabian Society and (1942) (see pages 293–94), which was the intellectual
believed that socialism would evolve peacefully through a basis for the modern welfare state introduced by the
combination of political action and education. Labour governments of 1945–51. A young Beveridge was
employed as a researcher on Webb’s Minority Report and
Webb’s main ideas later wrote that his own report ‘stemmed from what all of
l ‘The inevitability of gradualness’ is an evolutionary socialist us had imbibed from the Webbs’.
belief that parliamentary democracy and not revolution l Workers’ control will be achieved by evolutionary means.
will deliver the inevitable socialist society. It is inevitable Revolutions are ‘chaotic, inefficient and counter-productive’ —
because universal suffrage leads to political equality, as an ‘unpredictability’ that Webb could not tolerate.
Social democracy and the third way

Social democrats viewed workers’ control and militant class struggle as outdated
notions. Capitalism (they supposed) had largely been reformed of its most exploitative
traits. Crosland was comfortable with a mixed economy, where entrepreneurs could
thrive and pay taxation to fund a welfare state, but he did not approve of further
nationalisation, which would threaten individual liberty and be economically
counterproductive. He supported the Labour leader of the late 1950s, Hugh Gaitskell,
in his attempt to amend Clause IV. Gaitskell was unsuccessful in this endeavour as,
for the left wing of the party, it was a core value.
Knowledge check
14 Define social class.
15 Why is social class so important to Marx and Engels?
16 Why do Crosland and Giddens both see education as an important part of understanding
social class?
17 What does Wendy Bottero mean by the ‘paradox of class’?
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Key thinker
Anthony Crosland (1918–77) l Socialism is best served by the ‘state-managed capitalism’ of

a mixed economy rather than public ownership.
Anthony Crosland was a privately educated Labour Party
l Equality of opportunity can be achieved by giving all
politician and Cabinet minister during the 1960s and 1970s.
state school students the same educational experience.
The ideas from his book The Future of Socialism (1956)
Crosland judged the existing school system in Britain to
influenced social democracy within the UK.
be ‘the most divisive, unjust and wasteful of all the social
Crosland’s main ideas aspects of inequality’.
l Crosland criticised the Marxist view of capitalist l Keynesian economics made state-managed capitalism
development, arguing that it did not drive social change as a reality and society can look forward to permanent
the internal tensions required in Marx’s dialectic of historical economic growth and full employment. This allows
materialism were not present in post-war capitalism. socialists to expand the welfare state and social justice.
Giddens’ renewal of social democracy saw workers’ control as impracticable for

a similar reason to Webb and Crosland: the average worker lacked the skills or
expertise to successfully lead or manage their workplace.
Giddens also argued against the mixed economy because nationalised companies
could not compete with the wealth the free market creates. He shared the neo-
liberal belief that free-market economies are more efficient and prosperous than
state-controlled or mixed economies (see page 318) and that it would be better to
focus on channelling the proceeds of the free market towards ‘the interests of social
solidarity and social justice’.
Labour leader Tony Blair, who was heavily inf luenced by the ideas of Giddens,
amended Clause IV in 1995 so that it dropped the commitment to common
ownership for a vague commitment to social justice. More pertinently, Blair
accepted the neo-liberal reforms of Margaret Thatcher, who had privatised in the
1980s, and did not seek to renationalise the state utilities, nationalised by Attlee’s
post-war Labour government.
Key thinker
Anthony Giddens (1938–) l Neo-liberal ideas of the free market and individualism
could be reconciled with social democracy’s emphasis on
Anthony Giddens is a sociologist, whose political ideas have
community and social justice.
offered a neo-revisionist form of socialism that supports
l Individuals will become stakeholders with both rights and
a third way between neo-liberalism and traditional social
responsibilities within society.
democracy. This third way has influenced reformist socialist
l Third-way socialism prioritises spending on infrastructure
parties in all advanced industrialised democracies. His key
like community services and public transport while focusing
publications are Beyond Left and Right (1994) and The Third
on equality of opportunity, particularly in education.
Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy (1998).
l Greater equality of opportunity would be funded via
Giddens’ main ideas prudent taxation of free-market wealth.
l Free-market capitalism enriches and empowers society l An emphasis on active welfare would facilitate social
and, alongside individualism, is irreversible. Socialism inclusiveness in society to provide wider opportunities
must collect the benefits of the free market while for the disadvantaged, for example increased access
neutralising its negative effects on community and to higher education and replacing comprehensives with
fraternity. academy schools.
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Differing views and tensions within
socialism
We discussed above the different types of socialism in relation to their contribution
to the core ideas. This section provides a more thorough analysis of:
l revolutionary socialism
l social democracy
l the third way
and the tensions between them.
The earliest form of socialism was revolutionary socialism. This sought to abolish
Key terms
the capitalist state, society and economy and to replace them with communism, a
Communism Ideology system where humans work together and share common ownership.
with a society that is
The two main schools of revolutionary socialism were:
communally organised
with an economy built on l utopian socialism
common ownership, in l Marxism.
which goods are held in
Utopian socialism is the weaker of the two traditions, while Marxism has had the
common and are available
greatest inf luence on socialist thought.
to all as needed, at its
core. Utopian socialism
Marxism An ideological Utopian socialists were thinkers who despised the exploitation, greed and selfish
and revolutionary set individualism of capitalism but had a different vision of a utopian society. The two
of ideas explaining the main thinkers were Robert Owen (1771–1858) and Charles Fourier (1772–1837).
inevitable demise of Both men disliked free-market capitalism and proposed that small-scale cooperative
capitalism by communism. communities should replace it.
Engels assisted Marx in
Marx ironically named this branch of socialism ‘utopian’ as he deemed the ideas of
his writings but Marx is
Owen and Fourier to be idealistic, simplistic fantasies with no plan as to how their
often individually credited
proposed societies would be created or maintained. All utopian socialist societies of
for this theory. Marx and
the nineteenth century failed.
Engels advocated it as a
scientific theory of history.
Knowledge check
18 What is meant by ‘the inevitably of gradualism’?
19 What is Crosland’s attitude to the ideas of Marx?
20 What does Crosland mean by state-managed capitalism?
21 What does Giddens mean by the term ‘the third way’?
Marxism
Marxism is named after the most important key socialist thinker, Karl Marx, although
many of his ideas were developed with his great collaborator, Friedrich Engels.
Marx and Engels were responsible for several ‘firsts’ within socialist thinking:
l First to argue that human nature had been distorted by capitalism
l First to critique capitalist economics
l First to place social class at the heart of socialist ideas
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l First to argue that the state was not neutral but
a puppet of the ruling class
l First to articulate the need for and the inevitability
of revolution
Marx and Engels claimed that their political
theories were based on ‘scientific’ explanations of
history and society and that they were inevitable:
that the world would overthrow capitalism and
a communist society would emerge. Marx and
Engel’s theory of revolution was based on the ideas
of historical materialism, dialectic, social class
and class consciousness.
l In historical materialism, economic conf lict is
the catalyst for historical and social development
within society. It has driven the economic
struggle between contending groups within
society, such as slave society (slave vs master),
feudal society (peasant vs landowner) and
capitalism (worker vs capitalist). The economic The new relationship between worker and entrepreneur (1896). The
base (supported by private property, money, artist attempts to demonstrate how the entrepreneurs are physically
supply and demand) forms the superstructure squeezing the surplus value from the workers
(culture, politics, law, ideology, religion, art
and social consciousness) that is the foundation
of the entire society and is reinforced by the state.
l Historical development is driven by a dialectic — a continuing chain of
contradictions between two opposing forces, the exploited and the exploiters.
History had already passed through the first four stages of dialectic change
(see Figure 11.1, page 342) when Marx was writing and he predicted that it would
inevitably proceed to the final five stages, leading to revolution, the destruction
of capitalism and the emergence of a socialist society.
l Social class is central to the perception of human history, which is described as a
series of economic phases and consists of two main classes. The capitalist stage sees
the ruling class take the surplus value of the workers, thereby exploiting them.
l The emergence of class consciousness among the proletariat will start the
revolution. History will then pass through several stages, ending with the
disappearance of the state and a perfect communist society, which marks the end
of history.
Key terms
Historical materialism A theory which argues that economic factors are the driving force for
changing events. This economic base forms and shapes the superstructure, which is made up
of culture, politics, law, religion, ideology and social consciousness.
Dialectic A clash of ideas and perceptions between each stage of history. It occurs when the
pre-existing set of values of society, as understood by the ruling class, are no longer valued by
the majority. A new society will be born from these two opposing tensions.
Class consciousness The moment when the proletariat realises that capitalism is exploiting
them, thus empowering them to begin the collective struggle of revolution, after which
communism, the perfect socialist society, will be established.
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Primitive societies with no Revolution and destruction of
economic organisation capitalism
Slave societies as the principal Dictatorship of the proletariat

means of production
Feudalism with its rigid system Withering away of the state

of class relations and emergence of communism
Primitive capitalism; emergence Communism (effectively the

of small-scale capitalist enterprise end of history)
Capitalism
Figure 11.1 A summary of

historical materialism and Emergence of proletariat and
class consciousness
dialectic change, according
to Marx and Engels
How Rosa Luxemburg revised the ideas of Marx and Engels

Numerous social thinkers adapted Marx and Engels’ ideas during the twentieth
century. Rosa Luxemburg was heavily inf luenced by them. Like Marx, Luxemburg
was a determinist (believing that individuals are slaves to the forces of history
outside of our control) and disagreed with Lenin’s voluntarism (that people make
history and that historical change is not inevitable). During the Russian Revolution,
Lenin argued that there needed to be a ‘vanguard elite’ to guide the population.
Luxemburg argued that the proletariat’s struggle for reform and democracy would
create the class consciousness necessary to overthrow the capitalist society and state.
However, she offered important variations on the conclusions of Marx and Engels:
l Luxemburg disagreed with Marxist historical materialism. She argued that less
economically developed societies could have communist revolutions and did not
need to wait until capitalism had reached a final stage. These ideas would be
especially inf luential with socialist internationalism (see page 433).
l Luxemburg disagreed with the Marxist view that there would be no need for
democracy after the revolution, arguing: ‘Without general elections, without
unrestricted freedom of the press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion,
life dies in every institution.’
l Luxemburg is often praised for anticipating the dictatorship of the party that
occurred in countries that had Marxist-inspired revolutions, such as Russia and
China.
Marxism was adapted by Lenin and later by Stalin in the USSR, by Chairman
Mao in China and by Castro in Cuba. None of the countries ever attained the
communism that Marx and Engels envisaged. In each case the state grew rather than
withered, and in communist Russia and China, the state used extreme violence to
enforce socialist ideas. Finally, in all of these cases, the communism was nationalist
in nature, rather than internationalist as Marx and Engels had proposed and as
Luxemburg advocated.
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Key thinker
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) adapted the ideas of Marx and Engels for the early twentieth
century and sometimes disagreed with their conclusions. She insisted that democracy and
free elections must continue in a post-revolutionary communist society
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919)

Rosa Luxemburg was heavily influenced by Marx and Engels but her main contribution to
socialism was to modify their ideas and to offer differences to the Marxism practised by Lenin
and Trotsky in communist Russia. Her key work was The Accumulation of Capital (1913).
Luxemburg’s main ideas

l Evolutionary socialism is flawed as capitalism cannot be reformed.
l Marx’s historical materialism idea is flawed as capitalism does not need to reach a
‘final stage’ before it can be abolished. Like Lenin, Luxemburg argued that communist
revolutions could happen in less economically developed societies.
l Lenin’s belief of a ‘vanguard elite’ needed to guide the population towards revolution is
also flawed. Class consciousness will develop ‘spontaneously’ as the proletariat struggle for
workplace reforms and democracy. Mass strike action will help develop the revolutionary state.
l Socialism must be internationalist rather than nationalist, which is consistent with what
Marx and Engels had argued.
Knowledge check
22 What is utopian socialism?
23 What did Marx mean by historical materialism?
24 What did Marx mean by class consciousness?
25 How does Luxemburg disagree with Marx over historical materialism?
26 Why did Luxemburg argue that democracy would still be necessary after the revolution?
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Social democracy
Social democracy was the revisionism of Webb’s democratic socialism and had
Key terms its origins in Germany and the UK after the Second World War. Socialism faced
Revisionism To review hostility in the West as the Cold War unfolded, and revisionist socialists had to accept
and change a political that the post-war economic boom was increasing prosperity and living standards.
theory. For example, Rather than alienating the working class, capitalism was delivering tangible benefits.
social democracy revised
the ideas of democratic Social democracy: a form of revisionism
socialism. To differentiate Social democrats such as Crosland argued that capitalism should be reformed and
between types of not replaced, which was a significant break with the ideas of Webb. Crosland
revisionism the term ‘neo- argued that social democracy represented a socialism that recognised the world as
revisionism’ is sometimes it was and not what more traditional socialists might wish it to be. He argued
used — for example the that ‘Marx had little or nothing to offer the contemporary socialist’ and disagreed
third way, a revision of with Marx, Engels, Luxemburg and Webb when he stated that the inherent
social democracy, is contradictions within capitalism (between the exploiter and the exploited) did not
sometimes called neo- drive social change.
revisionism.
After the Second World War, the Attlee Labour government nationalised the
Social justice A moral
major utilities: coal, steel, the railways, electricity and gas. Webb’s ideas proposed
justification to redistribute
continual nationalisation of UK industry in order to achieve common ownership
wealth so as to limit
with a society and economy coordinated by technocrats of a socialist state. Such
inequality and provide
collectivism was necessary because, as Labour politician Douglas Jay argued, ‘the
equal opportunities for
gentleman in Whitehall really does know better what is good for people than the
everyone in society.
people know themselves’. For Crosland, these high levels of collectivism threatened
individual freedom and initiative, and his version of socialism abandoned trying to
replace capitalism in favour of reforming it.
Social democracy’s key ideas were as follows:
l The mixed economy A blend of free-market capitalism (in the form of privately
owned industry) and state collectivism (nationalised companies).
l State management Facilitating the mixed economy via state management
of the economy to deliver continual growth and full employment that would
incorporate the ideas of Keynes.
l The welfare state When capitalism has been suitably reformed, the state funds
a welfare state that promotes social justice and equality of opportunity.
Social justice
Crosland believed that managed capitalism, rather than the laissez-faire economics of
pre-war governments, could deliver social justice, a core value of social democracy.
‘I came to hate and loathe social injustice because I disliked the class structure of
our society, because I could not tolerate the indefensible differences of status and
income that disfigure our society.’
Social democracy proposed distributing the wealth created by the free market more
evenly across society. Crosland argued: ‘The socialist seeks a distribution of rewards,
status and privileges egalitarian enough to minimise social resentment, to secure
justice between individuals and to equalise opportunities.’
Social justice would be promoted through progressive taxation and by ensuring that
the proceeds were fairly distributed across the welfare state. For Crosland, social
justice meant tackling the inequality of opportunity, especially within education.
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l He argued for state-sponsored social engineering to ensure an egalitarian society.
Grammar schools, in his view, favoured middle-class children while most working-
class children received an inferior education at secondary modern schools.
l Crosland broadly succeeded in creating comprehensive education (merging
grammar and secondary modern schools) which, he argued, would decrease class
division.
By embracing a mixed economy, social democracy abandoned Webb’s fully socialist
state, which would have eradicated free-market capitalism, and settled instead for
reforming it.
l Social democracy became the first branch of socialism to recognise a role for the
free market and privately owned companies, which Marx, Engels, Luxemburg
and Webb would all have opposed.
l Economic state intervention, via Keynesian regulation of the economy, would
ensure continual full employment and economic growth.
l Crosland argued that Keynesianism ‘legitimised the doctrine of equality’ and
was a powerful attack ‘on the free market of the day’.
l Inf luenced by the liberal ideas of Rawls, Crosland would not accept vast
inequality and advocated progressive taxation.
However, Keynesianism should not be equated to socialism. Social democracy
favoured collective state intervention and management of the economy, as Keynes (a
liberal) wanted to preserve capitalism rather than radically change it.
Social justice vs economic management

Social democracy was a marriage between economic efficiency and egalitarian
social justice. From 1945 to the early 1970s there was a period of sustained growth,
full employment and low inf lation. Historian Edmund Dell has been critical of
Crosland for assuming that this economic profusion was permanent:
‘Crosland was convinced that the economic problem, if not yet solved, would be
solved in the course of the next decade or at most two. He wrote as if the age of
abundance was almost upon us.’
It was not. Keynes’ demand management ideas were no longer effective when the
1973 oil crisis led to a global recession and Western governments could not spend
their way out of an economic downturn. James Callaghan’s Labour government had
to ask for an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund in 1976. For
neo-liberals this demonstrated the hubris of social democracy in believing that the
state could control the economy. As Labour chancellor (and later prime minister)
James Callaghan told the Labour Party conference in 1976:
‘The cosy world we were told would go on forever, where full employment would be
guaranteed by a stroke of the Chancellor’s pen … is gone.’
Generous pay rises to workers of nationalised state utilities were now impossible.
The welfare state faced a crisis, tax revenues decreased as businesses struggled,
and mass unemployment re-emerged (with a sharp increase in demand for welfare
benefit) for the first time in a generation. Rising public spending on social justice
could not be maintained with a struggling economy, and Crosland concluded that
for state spending ‘the party was over’.
Labour’s perceived economic ineptitude helped usher in Margaret Thatcher’s New
Right-inspired Conservatives in the 1979 general election. By the mid-1990s, after
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four successive election defeats, it appeared that socialism, in both its evolutionary
and revolutionary forms, might have become a political irrelevance.
Knowledge check
27 Define revisionism.
28 What are the three key ideas of social democracy?
29 Define social justice.
30 How did Crosland argue that the state could promote social justice?
The third way

First way: Second way: Anthony Giddens argued that social democracy needed to
classical liberal social democratic
free-market state-managed be renewed if it were to remain relevant. This revisionism
capitalism capitalism/society (sometimes referred to as neo-revisionism) was a ‘third way’
between the social democracy of Anthony Crosland and the
neo-liberalism of Robert Nozick (Figure 11.2). It proposed:
l recognition of the free market over state planning
l embracing the competitive state
l embracing community, moral responsibility and social
Third way:
a synthesis of
inclusion
both traditions l the importance of equality of opportunity over other
forms of equality.
Figure 11.2 The third way Recognition of the free market over state planning
Giddens rejected the ‘cybernetic model’ of socialism, whereby the state acts as the
artificial brain that manipulates organic society and economy. He also dismissed
Webb’s common ownership and Crosland’s Keynesian state management for a
dynamic free market that maximised wealth creation.
Giddens believed that market capitalism empowered society. Blair put these ideas
into practice, rebranding his party as ‘New’ Labour, and he finally broke with the
Webbs’ public ownership commitment by amending Clause IV of the Labour Party
constitution (see page 55).
For Giddens, globalisation significantly weakened the Keynesian-inspired economic
solutions favoured by Crosland and reinforced the importance of the free market:
‘Globalisation “pulls away” from the nation state in the sense that some powers
nations used to possess, including those that underlay Keynesian economic
management, have been weakened.’
The third way retreated from the high levels of taxation favoured by social democracy
(which reached 83% for high earners in 1974 under the Labour Party), recognising
that such taxation limited economic growth. New Labour governments reduced
business taxes and kept higher-rate income taxation to 40% (until 2010, when the
latter rose to 50% in response to the financial crisis).
Giddens argued that neo-liberal economies generated greater revenues than state-
managed ones, which could fund public spending to help society’s poorest. New
Labour followed Giddens’ ideas and the economy grew by 2.4% annually in the
years Blair was in power, which was a period of higher consecutive economic
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growth than in the previous 50 years. This allowed public spending to grow from
39% of GDP in 1997 to 47% by 2010.
Accepting the virtues of the free market meant that, for many, the ideas of the third
way were not socialist at all. For Giddens, the Crosland argument of economic
state management and Webb’s socialist state were both redundant and discredited.
If social democracy was to renew itself, it had to embrace the global free market.
Embracing the idea of the competitive state

Giddens argued that the state needed to ‘promote investment in education and
infrastructure’ to facilitate the competition state. New Labour’s commitment to
infrastructure further demonstrated the marriage of neo-liberal and social democratic
ideas. From 1997 to 2010 New Labour increased public spending to build what
Giddens called ‘social capital’: schools, hospitals and public buildings, as well as
Crossrail (which delivered the Elizabeth line on the London Underground) and
the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. However, rather than being state managed,
New Labour commissioned the building work using the free market — via private
finance initiative (PFI) and public–private partnerships (PPPs).
Embracing community, moral responsibility and social inclusion

Giddens was critical of an atomistic society and advocated ‘communitarianism’,
which coupled individualism with social responsibility. Unlike the top-down style
of social democracy, Giddens believed government should help foster civic society
(representing the needs of the local community). However, unlike social democrats,
who argued for automatic welfare, Giddens argued ‘no rights without responsibilities’,
meaning that ‘unemployment benefits … should carry the obligation to actively
look for work, and it is up to governments to ensure that the welfare system does
not discourage an active search’.
A station on the Elizabeth line
of the London Underground
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If social democracy offered a ‘cradle to grave’ welfare state, the third way offered, to
quote Tony Blair, ‘a hand-up not a hand-out’ and a very different vision of equality of
welfare. Giddens saw no contradiction between self-reliance (a neo-liberal concept) and
mutual dependence (a socialist one) and argued that they could coexist. Rather than a
welfare state, Giddens imagined a ‘welfare society’ and ‘positive welfare’ where the state
helped the socially marginalised ‘underclass’ (sometimes described as the ‘passive poor’).
In focus
How third way ideas influenced New Labour
The ways in which Giddens and the third way influenced New Labour policy are set out in Table 11.4.
Table 11.4 Third way influence on New Labour
Giddens’ idea New Labour policy
Positive welfare A national minimal wage
Tax credits for workers
10% tax band for those on low incomes
Educational maintenance grants for poorer students
A ‘New Deal’ to help the unemployed find employment
Welfare society Commitment to social justice in New Labour Party constitution
Targeting areas that specifically affected the ‘underclass’, such as poverty, low
educational attainment, drug addiction, poor housing and poor parenting, via the
welfare-to-work programme
Education — Giddens Introduction of academy schools in 2000:
called for a ‘redistribution Blair argued it would ‘improve pupil performance and break the cycle of low expectations’
for all’ Schools were encouraged to compete with each other in league tables (a neo-liberal
idea) to improve efficiency, and parents were free to choose which school their child
attended (encouraging civic engagement)
Blair’s pro-education policies increased university participation. In 1950 just 3.4% of the
population attended university, in 1970 it was 19.3% and by 2017 it had reached 49%
New Labour championed the Giddens belief of life-long learning so individuals could
adapt to the ever-changing workplace of the twenty-first century: ‘Education needs to be
redefined to focus on capabilities that individuals will be able to develop through life’
Self-reliance (remodelling Introduction of university tuition fees
the welfare state) Welfare assistance conditional on individuals actively seeking work
Attitudes to crime Justice system that was both authoritarian and reformist by being ‘tough on crime and
tough on the causes of crime’
Rejection of state Clause IV of the Labour Party constitution was amended, ending Labour’s commitment
management to public ownership
Benefits of the free market Accepting the privatisations of national utilities by the Conservative governments of
1979–97 by not returning to a mixed economy
Principle of community Devolution of Scotland and Wales and directly elected mayors
Webb, Crosland and Giddens had differing views on how large the state should be
(Figure 11.3). Crosland preferred a mixed economy to Webb’s fully nationalised one.
This meant a smaller state, although it still practised economic state management
and ran an extensive welfare state. The third way accepted a free-market economy
and preferred a less extensive welfare state than social democracy.
Giddens offered opportunities for education and training so people might escape
poverty. Interestingly, Webb’s position was more similar to that of Giddens than of
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Crosland, as she had been critical of the welfare aspects of the Beveridge Report that
had inspired the welfare state, concluding:
‘The better you treat the unemployed in the way of means, without service, the
worse the evil becomes; because it is better to do nothing than to work at low Democratic
socialism:
wages and conditions.’ Webb
Giddens was inf luenced by modern liberalism in his version of equality of
opportunity and quotes extensively from early twentieth-century liberal L.T.
Hobhouse, who had argued that government and state should not ‘feed, house
or clothe’ the population, ‘but should secure conditions upon which its citizens
are able to win by their own effort all that is necessary to a full civic efficiency’.
Knowledge check
Social
31 Give five examples of how Giddens’ ideas influenced New Labour. democracy:
Crosland

Tony Blair was Labour leader between 1994 and 2007 and was heavily influenced by the ideas
of Anthony Giddens. Read some of Blair’s most famous quotations: The third
way:
‘What modernisation to me is about is not dumping principle. It’s the opposite. It’s
Giddens
retrieving what the Labour Party is really about.’
‘We are a party committed to social justice.’ Figure 11.3 Different

‘Ask me my three main priorities for government and I tell you: education, education, socialist views on the size of
education.’ the state
‘Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.’
‘Britain needs successful people in business who can become rich by their success,
through the money they earn.’
With reference to these words, identify which areas of Tony Blair’s policies were influenced by
the ideas of Anthony Giddens.
Debate
To what extent do socialists agree about human nature?

Evaluation: Which branch of socialism has the most collective understanding of human nature?
Agree Disagree
• The different branches of socialism broadly agree on • There are noticeable disagreements and tensions
human nature between the different branches of socialism concerning
• Most socialist thinkers have an optimistic view of human nature
human nature, believing that individuals possess a • Webb is the least optimistic key thinker on human
common humanity and gravitate towards cooperation nature, arguing that the working class lacked the
and sociability rational and intellectual sophistication to take
• Socialists believe that human nature is malleable, like control of industry themselves and therefore required
plasticine, and is moulded for good or for bad by social guidance by an intellectually superior and paternal
circumstances. Socialists argue that unreformed capitalism middle class
has had a negative effect upon human nature as it • Different branches of socialism disagree about the
indoctrinates selfish, individualistic and greedy behaviour effect of capitalism:
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Agree Disagree
– Marx and Engels argued capitalism corrupted human
• Socialists believe that humans are rationally capable nature to the extent that only a revolution and a
of creating new forms of society and economy that can
create ‘socialism’ communist society could restore a positive state of
human nature
• Socialists do not believe that all individuals have
– Crosland argued that capitalism was not as
identical abilities or needs
corrosive on human nature, arguing that equality of
opportunity and the reform of society and economy
would lead to greater cooperation and fraternity
– While other socialists focus on understanding human
nature in a collective sense, Giddens focused on
communitarianism, which viewed human nature from
both an individual and a communal sense
Debate
To what extent do socialists agree about the state?

Evaluation: Which key thinker is the most positive on the role of the state?
Agree Disagree
• The different branches of socialism broadly agree on • There are noticeable disagreements and tensions
the role of the state between the different branches of socialism concerning
• All socialists agree that an unreformed state the role of the state
facilitates the naturally exploitative nature of • There is a fundamental disagreement on the future of
capitalism. Socialists agree that the exploitative the state among socialists. Revolutionary socialists
state cannot be allowed to continue as it plays such broadly wish to remove the state, while evolutionary
a crucial role in driving economic, political and social socialists wish to reform the state
change • Marx and Engels are the most influential revolutionary
• All revolutionary socialists agree that the state is socialists and argue that after the communist
merely a committee for the ruling classes. It is a tool revolution the state will wither away and a stateless
of the bourgeoisie that reinforces capitalism. Marx and communist society will emerge. However, Luxemburg
Engels argue that the state is so corrupt it cannot be disagreed with Marx and Engels about the role of
reformed and only a revolution will create the perfect the state after a revolution. Luxemburg argued that
communist society a capitalist state should be replaced by a socialist
• All evolutionary socialists argue that the state can state, complete with democratic elections and free
remodel society without a revolution. All would agree speech
with Webb that the state can change its character • Evolutionary socialists disagree about how the state
to promote equality, cooperation and community. should reform society:
Admittedly, evolutionary socialists disagree on – Democratic socialism: Webb argued that the state
exactly how the state should remodel society and could be reformed via parliamentary democracy,
economy bringing the economy under common ownership,
allowing equality of outcome
– Social democracy: Crosland argued that the state
should play a role in managing the economy via
Keynesian economics. Unlike Webb, Crosland saw a
positive role for private enterprise and believed in a
mixed economy and equality of opportunity
– Third way: Giddens’ revision of social democracy
rejected the centralised state model, whereby the
state manipulates society and economy. Instead
Giddens argued that the state should invest in
social investment and infrastructure
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Debate
To what extent do socialists agree about society?

Evaluation: What is the socialist view on capitalism’s effect upon society?
Agree Disagree
• The different branches of socialism • There are noticeable disagreements and tensions between the different
broadly agree on society branches of socialism concerning how society should be organised
• Society should be based on equality • Revolutionary socialists and evolutionary socialists disagree over
as this ensures economic fairness, whether the state can reform capitalism and society
reinforces collectivism and satisfies • Revolutionary socialists argue that capitalist society is too exploitative
everyone’s basic human needs. Socialists to be reformed. Marx and Engels argue that the state used religion,
see individuals as the products of the patriotism and parliamentary democracy to weaken class consciousness
society in which they live and that only a revolution could create the perfect society
• Socialists broadly agree that society • Evolutionary socialists disagree:
must respond to the negative effects of – Democratic socialism: Webb argued revolutions were chaotic
capitalism and be remodelled. Economic and that society could be gradually reformed via parliamentary
relations and the unequal redistribution of government. The state would develop a highly trained elite of
wealth play a key role in corroding human administrators to organise a socialist society and a nationalised
nature and framing society economy
• All socialists argue that society directly – Social democracy: Crosland thought Webb’s vision limited
affects the individual and that the working individual freedom and would be economically counterproductive.
conditions and unequal distribution of Crosland focused less on collectivism and more on reforming
wealth can have a harmful effect upon capitalism so that society can share the benefits of economic
human nature. Socialists have traditionally growth. Crosland also argued for equality of opportunity, such as
focused on how social class and societal comprehensive education
inequality play a significant role in an – Third way: Giddens argued for a narrower focus of equality of
individual’s progress opportunity than social democracy, concentrating on social
• All socialists believe that society can be investment in infrastructure and education. Giddens believed
remodelled so that it embraces greater that free-market capitalism could be positive for society when
equality, cooperation and social justice reconciled with community and social justice
Debate
To what extent do socialists agree about the economy?

Evaluation: Which branch of socialism is the most positive on the benefits of the free market?
Agree Disagree
• The different branches of socialism broadly agree • There are noticeable disagreements and tensions between
on the economy the different branches of socialism concerning how the
• All forms of socialism are critical of the negative economy should be organised
effects of capitalism • Revolutionary socialists think capitalism is beyond reform.
• All forms of socialism are, to differing degrees, Evolutionary socialists think capitalism can be reformed (but
critical of the wasteful competition inherent disagree on how to reform it)
within capitalism and emphasise the need for • Revolutionary socialists such as Marx and Engels think
cooperation only mature economies can experience revolution, while
• All forms of socialism are committed to an Luxemburg argues that less mature economies are also
economy that creates a fairer society capable of successful revolutions
• Socialists disagree on the role of the state in organising the
economy. Revolutionary socialists think the state will wither
away, while evolutionary socialists disagree on how active
the state must be in managing the economy
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Agree Disagree
• All forms of socialism envisage equality of • Evolutionary socialists disagree on how to manage the
opportunity within society economy. Webb favours nationalisation; Crosland, a mixed
• Evolutionary socialists all agree that capitalism can economy; and Giddens prefers a neo-liberal free market
be reformed of its most exploitative tendencies • The third way argues for far less equality of outcome than
either social democracy or democratic socialism
Summary
Karl Marx Humans are naturally Capitalism must be Capitalism corrupts Capitalism is corrupt and
and Friedrich altruistic. However, destroyed by revolution. society and the elite inefficient and should be
Engels capitalism instils The state will be oppress the working replaced by an economy
them with a false temporarily replaced class, creating class where resources are
consciousness of by the dictatorship conflict. A communist collectively owned and
‘bourgeois values’ of the proletariat society will have distributed according to
and will wither away absolute equality and need
when communism is societal harmony
established
Rosa Human nature has Capitalism should be Capitalism corrupts Marx’s historical
Luxemburg been damaged destroyed by revolution society and the elite materialism idea is flawed
by capitalism. and replaced by a oppress the working as capitalism does not
However, humans genuine democracy class, creating class need to reach a ‘final
are not perfect conflict. A democratic stage’ before it can be
and parliamentary communist society abolished. Communist
democracy is needed will provide absolute revolutions could happen
to prevent tyranny equality and social in less economically
harmony developed societies
Beatrice Webb Capitalism has The state should Society under The free-market economy
damaged the human be used to create a socialist state would be gradually
psyche. However, socialist society. This management will nationalised as the
Webb believed in would be achieved via produce equality of workers obtain common
intellectual and moral universal suffrage and outcome ownership of the means
human imperfection, would be a gradual of production
particularly of the process
working class
Anthony Human nature The state should State management Rejected Webb’s
Crosland is innately fair. be managed by will affect societal gradualism and argued
Inequalities of outcome ‘meritocratic managers’ change and create for a mixed economy and
and opportunity hinder and ‘classless social justice and Keynesian capitalism.
collective human technocrats’ equality of welfare Believed capitalism had
progress largely been reformed
of its exploitative
tendencies
Anthony Human nature is The state should invest Society will A neo-liberal economy
Giddens shaped by in social investment embrace equality with a free market is more
socioeconomic and infrastructure and of opportunity efficient than all socialist
conditions. More refrain from economic and communal economic models and
focus on humans as and social engineering responsibility instead the tax revenues they
both individual and of class conflict generate can finance
collective creatures greater equality of
opportunity
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Practice questions
1 To what extent do socialists disagree about equality? You must use
appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer and
2 To what extent is there more to unite than to divide social democracy
from the third way? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied
to support your answer and consider both sides in a balanced way.(24)
3 To what extent do socialists disagree about the economy? You must
4 To what extent do socialists agree about common humanity? You must
Further reading
Gallop, N. and Tuck, D. (2020) ‘Socialism and the Labour Party’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 4.
Hardy, J. (2021) ‘What does Keir Starmer stand for?’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 1.
Kavanagh, M. (2021) ‘Beatrice Webb’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 3.
Kavanagh, M. (2021) ‘Karl Marx’s theory of history’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 1.
Kavanagh, M. (2021) ‘Social democracy and the third way’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 4.
Kavanagh, M. (2022) ‘Rosa Luxemburg and revolutionary socialism’, Politics Review, Vol. 31,
No. 4.
Tuck, D. (2020) ‘Socialism and the economy’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 4.
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12 Anarchism
Anarchism is often misunderstood by those who have not studied its political ideas.
‘Anarchy’ is derived from the Greek anarkhos, which means ‘without rule’. However,
its most common usage in everyday speech is for a movement that propagates
disorder, violence, lawlessness, confusion and chaos.
A drawing depicting the Anarchists themselves would argue (with some justification) that this is a
Haymarket bombing and misrepresentation of their ideas, which are positive and beneficial. Anarchism is
riot, 1886. Key thinker a collection of ideas and movements, but a core belief of all of them is that people
Emma Goldman’s sympathy should be free from political authority in all forms, most notably state control.
for anarchism was ignited
There are two broad types of anarchism:
when four anarchists were
convicted (and executed) l Collectivist anarchism is committed to common ownership and a belief that
for throwing a bomb into a human nature is rational, altruistic and cooperative.
crowd of policemen during a l Individualist anarchism argues for a society where self-interested individuals
workers’ rally at Haymarket are largely free to make judgements that they feel are in their best interests.
Square in Chicago
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Core ideas and principles Key terms
The state The authority
Rejection of the state that is set up via a series
Anarchism is united in its loathing of the role of the state in governing humanity. of institutions such as
Democratic states offer only an illusion of freedom; the people are not sovereign — sovereign, executive,
power is given away at the ballot box as political sovereignty lies with the ruling legislative and judiciary
elite. As Emma Goldman (1869–1940) famously argued, ‘If voting changed to make laws and enforce
anything, they’d make it illegal.’ order. Anarchists argue
that the state uses its
Authority is compulsory and the state’s laws must be obeyed under the coercive
powers coercively to deny
threat of punishment. The state restricts liberty and is oppressive, as Pierre-Joseph
individuals their liberty.
Proudhon (1809–65) argued:
Power Anarchists argue
‘To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, that the exercise of
regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated, power by one person over
censored, commanded all by creatures that have neither the right, nor the wisdom, another is unacceptable.
nor the virtue.’ The state uses its position
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–76) argued that the state enslaves the governed and to exploit individuals and
that ‘every command slaps liberty in the face’. Max Stirner (1806–56) bluntly this should be resisted.
stated, ‘We two, the state and I, are enemies.’ Anarchists are therefore clear that a Anarchists believe
prerequisite for human society to thrive is that the state be removed. In the words individuals should be free
of Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921), ‘no ruling authorities … No government of man to exercise power over
by man, no crystallisation and immobility’. All would agree with Stirner’s sentiment themselves.
that ‘I am free in no State’.
Power corrupts those who wield it

Anarchists have a broadly positive view of human
nature, but the state and power have a corrosive effect
on individuals, as Bakunin argued: ‘The best of men,
the most intelligent, unselfish, generous and pure,
will always inevitably be corrupted.’
The state/government is unjust and is based on
economic exploitation that reinforces and legitimises
economic inequality.
Liberty
Anarchism is united in the core idea that liberty can
be achieved only by abolishing the state, although
collectivist and individualist anarchists differ on
specific definitions of liberty.
Individualist anarchism’s version of liberty

Individualist (or egoist) anarchism views the liberty/
freedom of the individual from state interference
as of paramount importance. Stirner pioneered this
position in the nineteenth century, but anarcho-
capitalists in the twentieth century had more success
in popularising its ideas (Table 12.1).
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Table 12.1 Egoist and anarcho-capitalist anarchism
Key terms Egoist Max Stirner argued that individuals are self-interested egoists.
To be totally free, the individual must be utterly autonomous.
Authority The term is Individuals are sovereign, and for liberty to exist individuals must
be free of all external influence or obligation
related to government and
the state. Authority is the Anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard and David Friedman argue that liberty can be
experienced only through the abolition of the state, whereby
right to exercise the power individuals can enjoy negative freedom (see Chapter 9) and an
granted to the state and atomistic society (see Chapter 10). The current functions of the
government to carry out state, such as the welfare state and law and order, would all be
its duties. Anarchists view administered within an unregulated free market
the authority exercised by
the state as coercive, as
individuals should be free
Knowledge check
to exercise authority over 1 How do anarchist thinkers view the state?
themselves. 2 What do anarchists think that power does to those who wield it?
Government The name 3 How do individualist anarchists view liberty?
of the body that controls 4 Define ‘authority’.
the state. Governments
can be a traditional
monarchy, a dictatorship Key thinker
or a democracy.
Anarchists view all forms Max Stirner (1806–56)
of government as corrupt, Johann Kasper Schmidt had a brief and unsuccessful career as a teacher and died in poverty
to differing degrees, and and obscurity. His contribution to anarchism was his book The Ego and its Own (1844), written
believe that governing under the pseudonym Max Stirner, which cries out against the state’s distortion of our
corrupts those who govern. perceptions. Stirner’s main ideas are as follows.
Government denies
individual autonomy. The ego
Autonomy Represents l Philosophical ideologies and concepts
the absence of artificial such as the state, society and religion
are artificial constructs that act like Laws
external constraints, Habits
though not necessarily ‘wheels in the head’, causing individuals Religion
the absence of internal to misunderstand reality. These illusions Customs
and morality
restraints. All anarchists are as insubstantial as ‘spooks’ and yet Hierarchy
believe that humankind they haunt the individual as they distort
The state
should be able to exercise their experiences and perceptions.
autonomy. l Stirner argues that individuals must cut
through the deceipt of state and society
Nihilistic Rejecting
to discover the truth: that the self-
all religious and moral
interested and rational individual is the
principles in the belief that
centre of their own moral universe. Stirner’s ‘wheels in the head’
life is meaningless.
Insurrection A term used The union of egoists
by revolutionaries to l The state must cease to exist if the sovereignty of the individual is to be guaranteed.
describe direct action. It Individual sovereignty would be achieved when people gain their personal ‘ownness’ and a
can be violent or a form of realisation of the state’s manipulations.
passive resistance. l Stirner’s strand of anarchism is the most individualistic and nihilistic. It argues for
insurrection, via withdrawal of labour, so that the state would wither and die.
l Stirner also argued for ‘propaganda by the deed’, as violence would help shake the delusion of
the state’s autonomy. Bakunin and Goldsmith also favoured this strategy.
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Collectivist anarchist versions of liberty
Collectivist anarchism views liberty/freedom very much as a communal
Key terms
phenomenon, but there are several collectivist versions of liberty. Propaganda by the
deed A tactic advocated
Debate by most radical and
revolutionary anarchists.
What are the similarities and differences in how collectivist When they challenge the
state via general strikes
anarchists view liberty?
or violent acts of protest,
Evaluation: Which strand of collectivist anarchism is the most individualistic?
the state will show its
Mutualism • Proudhon believed that as the human race developed it true nature by practising
became capable of rational thought and an innate sense vehement oppression.
of justice. An individual’s liberty was curtailed by both
Altruistic Focused on
the state and religion
part of human nature that
• Liberty was a hybrid of socialism and individualism. The
leads individuals to care
socialist aspect envisaged an altruistic decentralised
society where individuals unite to form cooperative for others and act in their
working groups that together become communities interests.
of workers. The individualist aspects made clear that
Anomie If isolated from
workers could freely enter into contracts in exchange for
labour and goods society, humans will feel
• Proudhon imagined a nationalistic element to liberty in intense loneliness and
that native citizens would receive preferential treatment to experience feelings of
foreigners in all transactions emotional dislocation.
• Proudhon’s idea of liberty was a very male-orientated vision
Collectivisation The
and would be described by feminists as patriarchal (see
Chapter 14) as he perceived women as inferior, subservient organisation of peasants
and generally second to men into large production units
where there is no private
Collectivist anarchism • Bakunin believed that individuals were born with equal property. Individuals
intelligence, moral sense and a capability for rational
thought. Individual development was dictated by produce goods collectively
environment. The state threatened individual liberty by and equally share the
distorting human nature and the natural arrangement of rewards for their labour.
society
• Bakunin argued that natural laws were grounded in a
belief in community. For Bakunin, society is ‘the tree of
freedom and liberty is its fruit’. All humans, regardless
of gender or nationality, are equally free. The society
that these state-emancipated individuals will choose will
be collective because humans are communal creatures
and suffer anomie if isolated. ‘Man is born into society,
just as an ant is born into an anthill or a bee into a hive.’
Liberty can only be found with the solidarity of others,
as there is an innate ‘mutual interdependence’ that
manifests as a kind of communal individuality
• Bakunin’s intense belief in the sociability of individuals saw
him advocate an idea of society where private property was
replaced by collectivisation. This collectivist anarchism
essentially saw liberty in socialist terms and has
sometimes been described as socialism without a state
Mutual aid — • Kropotkin argued that human nature is positive and
anarcho-communism predisposed to cooperation or, as he dubbed it, mutual
aid. Liberty was rooted in nature and the dominant
characteristic of all creatures within a society was solidarity
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Key term • Kropotkin’s anarchist theories were underpinned by
anthropological empirical research of successful species.
Mutual aid A term used by He argued that mutual aid was present in early settlements
many anarchists to mean to the free cities of the Middle Ages. However, the rise of
that communities should the state and capitalism distorted this natural condition,
cooperate with each other, crushing ‘individual and local life’
largely in terms of trade, • Once the state was abolished, liberty would be celebrated
in an anarcho-communist society of voluntary associations
on mutually beneficial
in the form of communes, governed with equality, direct
terms rather than through democracy and high levels of participation. Communes would
a free-market mechanism. be small, allowing individuals to have regular interactions and
to avoid large, impersonal, centralised entities. Individuals
would be free to join whatever community they wished
• Goldman preferred a communal individuality that echoed
Kropotkin and Proudhon, whereby liberty exists via
cooperation but acknowledges individualism
• Goldman also viewed liberty in feminist terms, rejecting
gender stereotypes and ‘refusing to be a servant of God,
the state, society, the husband, the family, etc.’
• Goldman advocated free love, sex outside marriage and
non-conventional relationships such as ménage-à-trois
and lesbianism. Such behaviour was taboo at the time
and saw her isolated from other contemporary feminists
Knowledge check
5 What do anarcho-capitalists believe in?
6 What did Max Stirner argue that ‘wheels in the head’ were and what did they do to an
individual’s perception?
7 What did ‘ego’ mean according to Max Stirner?
8 What was the ‘union of egoists’?
9 Define collectivisation.
Key thinker
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–65)

A brewer’s son, Proudhon is credited with the first
use of the word ‘anarchist’ in a positive sense. In his
seminal text What Is Property? (1840), he asserted
that ‘property is theft’. Proudhon’s main ideas are as
follows.
l Proudhon distinguished between property, which the
elite used to exploit others, and the ‘possessions’ of
ordinary peasants and workers.
l Proudhon has been described as a libertarian
socialist. His contractual system of mutualism
balanced individual liberty with the rights of the
Opposition to private property
commune. These ideas saw him oppose as oppressive
and collectivisation
the collectivisation favoured by Bakunin.
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The rejection and overthrow of the state
l Proudhon is unique among the key thinkers as he argued for a peaceful transition to a new
society rather than transition by revolutionary means.
l Proudhon’s mutualist society would exist in the shell of the existing state, with
interconnected institutions such as a people’s bank and a federation of communities
cooperating with each other. Rather like Marx, he saw this as a temporary arrangement and
he expected the state to decline and die as mutualism took root.
Key thinker
Emma Goldman (1869–1940)

Emma Goldman was born in Russia in 1869. Her
sympathy for anarchism was ignited when four
anarchists were convicted (and executed) for
throwing a bomb into a crowd of policemen during
a workers’ rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago in
1886. The judge openly conceded that there was
no evidence against them but that they were on trial
simply because they were anarchists. Goldman’s key
work was Anarchism and Other Essays (1910). Her
main ideas are as follows.
l Goldman viewed the state as a cold monster at
the core of societal violence through the twin
evils of militarism and patriotism.
l Militarism includes the state’s use of the police
to threaten violence or imprisonment to those Goldman viewed the state as a cold
who dare question its law; Goldman deemed monster — it should be rejected, as it
soldiers the state’s indoctrinated killers. is immoral
l Patriotism fuels militarism, leading to war between competing states and ‘the road to
internal slaughter’. Goldman argued patriotism should therefore be replaced by universal
brotherhood and sisterhood.
Political participation in the state and society is corrupting and futile

l Goldman argued that all political participation by the state towards society was corrupting.
She viewed Soviet communism in these terms, as society was not voluntary but a
‘compulsory state communism’.
l The lack of liberty was also inherent in Western democracies, as Goldman saw the
corrosive corrupting effect of power on those who wielded it.
l Goldman advocated violence and civil disobedience, industrial sabotage and general
strikes, discounting reform in favour of revolution.
Anarchy is order
Anarchist society will be stateless (or, in Proudhon’s case, existing in the ‘shell of
the state’).
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Why do anarchists differ in their understanding of order (Table 12.2)?
Table 12.2 Anarchists’ perceptions of order
Max Stirner Once free of the artifice of the state, individuals would be free
to assert their own rational individualism, which would mean
self-realisation based on self-interest
Pierre-Joseph Humans have an innate sense of justice and are naturally
Proudhon inclined to cooperate. Mutualism combined collectivism and
individualism, allowing individuals to opt out if they so wished.
Proudhon thought this would be an irregular occurrence but
argued that a federal assembly could assemble (only when
required) to mediate disputes and then disband again. The
individuals of Proudhon’s society would have a ‘collective force’
and this would underpin the success of society
Peter Kropotkin Mutual aid communes would be drawn to each other by similar
interests, becoming an ‘interwoven network, composed of an
infinite variety of groups’
Mikhail Bakunin Bakunin only gave a sketch of how his collectivist anarchism
would work, but its foundation was built on an optimistic view
of human nature. He saw humans as naturally social beings,
who would experience communal individuality in a federation
of communes that were decentralised so no one had too much
power, practising collectivisation
Emma Goldman Goldman never attempted to plan her anarchist society, but her
ideas were consistent with the Kropotkin and Proudhon strands
of anarcho-communism
Economic freedom
Economic freedom means different things to collectivist and individualist anarchists.
Collectivist anarchism
Proudhon argued that ‘property is theft’ and that the entire concept of property
is a social construct to exploit the masses. The vast majority of private property is
owned by the elite, while everyone else is forced to participate in an exploitative
capitalist system just to pay rent. Collective anarchists seek to abolish private
property for communal ownership. This would allow economic freedom to
f lourish, as goods and services would be priced at their true labour value and
not their market value:
l Proudhon argued for mutualism (see page 364), where all the means of production
would be owned collectively by the workers and society would be organised
within small communities.
l Kropotkin argued for mutual aid, which although subtly different from
mutualism, required common ownership and a federation of communities.
l Bakunin viewed economic freedom via collectivisation (which limited individual
freedom too much for Proudhon and Kropotkin to favour).
l Anarcho-syndicalism (see page 365) would see the means of production controlled
by the workers rather than by individual exploitative owners.
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In focus
Black blocs
Black bloc groupings are associated with anarchism and consist of individuals clad in black
to conceal their identities and to appear as a unified mass. Their tactics are consistent with
propaganda by the deed and include rioting and the destruction of property. Black blocs target
property associated with the state and capitalism, such as government buildings, banks, fast-
food outlets and the offices of multinational companies. Such protests have occurred all over
the world, most notably at G20 summits and Trump’s presidential inauguration.
Black bloc activists gather to protest against a march held by the English Defence League
Key thinker
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–76)

Born an aristocrat, Bakunin became interested
in radical ideas as a young man. He was initially
influenced by Marx, but broke from socialism
as he disagreed with the concept of a worker’s
state (even if it was transitional), perceiving
such an arrangement as corrupting. He left no
detailed ideas of a perfect society, just a general
blueprint. His key work, God and the State, was
published after his death, in 1882. Bakunin’s
main ideas are as follows.
Propaganda by the deed

l Bakunin believed in propaganda by the deed to
bring about revolution. This direct action would
take the form of general strikes, non-payment
of taxes and rent, as well as violent acts.
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Human sociability
l Bakunin argued that humans are naturally sociable. He proposed abolishing society and
forming collectivised communes with total economic equality.
l He believed in the concept of natural law to which all people are subject. In a stateless
society, natural law would take over.
l He advocated a system of federalism in which workers and peasants would band together
in voluntary communities (communes) that would vary in size.
l Communes would trade with each other on mutually negotiated terms, based on the labour
value of goods instead of their market value.
Knowledge check
Individualist anarchism
10 Why was Proudhon
Egoism
opposed to both
Stirner’s egoism asserts that individuals possess a sovereignty akin to a nation state.
private property and
Individuals are materialists, who wish to satisfy their needs. Free of the exploitative
collectivisation?
state, these rational individuals, of similar powers and abilities, will, as autonomous
11 Why did Goldsmith
creatures, reorganise the economy fairly as it will be in their self-interest to avoid
think that political
social conf lict.
participation was
corrupting?
12 Why do anarchists Anarcho-capitalism
argue that ‘anarchy is Anarcho-capitalism, unlike collectivist anarchism, favours both private property
order’? and the free market as this will ensure atomistic economic freedom. The free
13 What did Bakunin market will provide (more efficaciously than the corrupt and incompetent state)
mean by propaganda all public goods, including education, healthcare and infrastructure. Rational and
by the deed? self-interested individuals are far better at deciding what is in their best interests
than the state is.
Different types of anarchism

There are several distinct subdivisions within the two broad categories of anarchism:
collectivist and individualist.
Collectivist anarchism
Collectivist anarchism is committed to common economic ownership, which will
nurture the altruistic and cooperative aspects of human nature that have so far been
distorted by the oppressive state. This would end the ‘surplus value’ exploitation
(see Chapter 11) that had oppressed workers in the capitalist system.
Collectivist anarchists believe that the free market associated with capitalism,
coupled with the oppressive hierarchal nature of state/society, reinforces
inequality and oppression. The free market determines the value of labour in
the form of wages via supply and demand, which fails to recognise the intrinsic
worth of an individual’s labour. This ‘exchange value’ is exploitative as the
state’s capitalist class (who own and control the means of production) reaps the
benefits of economic activity while workers receive substantially smaller rewards.
Collectivist anarchism has three variations: anarcho-communism, mutualism and
anarcho-syndicalism.
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Anarcho-communism
Kropotkin opposed private property and viewed communism as the most natural
form of economic society, as wealth results from a collective effort. Thus ‘all
belongs to all’ and ‘anarchy leads to communism and communism leads to anarchy’.
Key term
Kropotkin’s anthropological expertise informed his political ideas, as he made
scientifically derived parallels between state/society/economy and the natural Solidarity A feeling
world. Kropotkin disputed Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ hypothesis and argued of common harmony
the reverse: that the species that cooperated thrived, whereas those that did not and cohesion among
struggled to survive. This conclusion allowed Kropotkin to rebut Social Darwinists, individuals, leading
such as Herbert Spencer, who had argued that the competitive nature of society and them to form mutually
the economy was a natural state. beneficial communities
and to have a communal
Kropotkin dubbed such cooperation ‘mutual aid’ and argued that this form empathy. Anarchists such
of existence occurred both in Ancient Greece and in the city states of medieval as Kropotkin believe this
Europe before capitalism corrupted human nature. He argued that if both the state is the natural state of the
and capitalism ceased to exist, the human race would revert to its natural state of human race.
altruistic mutual aid and communal solidarity.
l Kropotkin, viewing private property as theft and a means of exploitation,
would therefore replace it with common ownership. Communes of voluntary
associations practising mutual aid would band together and then form an
‘interwoven network’ of a wide variety of different groups.
Key thinker
Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921)

Kropotkin was an aristocrat who grew up to despise
the cruel autocracy of the tsarist state. In 1872 he
converted to anarchism after observing the Jura
Federation’s watchmaker community, who pooled
resources to live in collective harmony. His ideas
were described in Fields, Factories and Workshops
(1898) and Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
(1902). Kropotkin’s main ideas are as follows:
l Kropotkin, a respected geographer/biologist,
argued from scientific observation that much
of the animal kingdom was cooperative and not
competitive.
l He argued that the state was beyond gradual
reforms and nothing short of revolution could
transform society and economy.
l The state would be abolished. It would become
an anarcho-communist society of voluntary
association in the form of communes governed with equality, direct democracy and high
levels of popular participation.
l Law would be replaced by regulated relationships within the commune, where customs and
free agreements would ensure harmony.
l The means of production would be collectively owned by the commune, and private
property and the wage system would be abolished.
l Goods and services would be freely available and based on individual need.
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l Unions of communes would produce a network of cooperation that would replace
Key terms the state. Laws would no longer be necessary, as a combination of customs and
Direct democracy free agreements would create a common consensus.
A system of government l Direct democracy would produce unanimous decisions, but if it did not and the
where the people make minority felt oppressed, they would be free to leave and start a new community.
key decisions on behalf l Kropotkin argued that there would be a free availability of goods and services
of the community. A and no compulsion to work, though he believed that mutual aid and the feeling
decentralised process of community would make such free-riding unlikely.
organised by small-scale
communities and not the Stretch and challenge
state.
Peter Kropotkin was an anarcho-communist who believed that humans were naturally inclined
Mutualism Associated
to cooperate with each other. Read some of his most famous sayings:
with Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon, the concept ‘The mutual-aid tendency in man has so remote an origin, and is so deeply interwoven
of an independent with all the past evolution of the human race, that it has been maintained by mankind
association of workers up to the present time.’
cooperating and trading ‘Don’t compete! — competition is always injurious to the species, and you have plenty
with each other on of resources to avoid it!’
mutually beneficial terms.
‘By mutual confidence and mutual aid — great deeds are done and great discoveries
are made.’
With reference to the above, explain why Kropotkin preferred communal cooperation to
Knowledge check
individuals competing for the basis of a society and economy.
14 Why did Kropotkin
argue for anarcho-
communism? Mutualism
15 What did Kropotkin Proudhon’s theory of mutualism is another form of communist society. Like Kropotkin’s
mean by ‘mutual aid’? anarcho-communism (mutual aid), society and the economy would not be organised
16 How did Kropotkin by the state but would organically f lourish as small communities. Capitalism would
view the role of cease to exist and the means of production, land, factories, etc., would be commonly
communes in his owned by the workers. Proudhon distinguished between property, which the elite
anarcho-communist used to exploit the others, and possessions, which were not exploitative.
society? Mutualism was a form of contractualism. Goods and services would be exchanged
via a voucher system that ref lected the value of labour inherent within each product
or service. Pay would not be based on supply and demand, which determine wages
within a capitalist society — workers would have to earn their wages by contributing.
Proudhon proposed a ‘people’s bank’ to establish and oversee the mechanics of such a
system. Proudhon’s contractual system would mostly protect an individual’s liberty.
The individual’s rights would be restricted only so that they did not intrude on the
rights of the commune.
Mutualism therefore required a detailed series of explicit contracts. The economy
that Proudhon imagined would be a ‘brotherhood’ of small collective organisations
exchanging goods and services, which would eradicate poverty as the system would
provide enough for all.
Bakunin famously argued that individuals were only free if they lived in groups.
However, his vision was more socialist than those of Kropotkin and Proudhon, as
he conceived of the economy as being organised by collectivisation.
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In focus Key terms
Syndicalism A revolutionary
Communes version of trade unionism
that proposes a stateless
The Twin Oaks Community is a commune in the United States that has been influenced by the
society where workers are
ideas of ‘mutual aid’ and ‘mutualism’. The community in non-hierarchical and makes decisions
grouped into syndicates,
via collective decision making. Twin Oaks is also influenced by deep green ecologism (see
based on industrial
Chapter 13) so the commune attempts to be environmentally friendly. Explore its website here:
occupation, which
www.twinoaks.org
cooperate freely with each
other for mutual benefit.
Anarcho-syndicalism Direct action Individuals
Anarcho-syndicalism was a revolutionary form of anarchism that drew upon taking proactive steps to
the trade unionism found in socialism. Anarcho-syndicalists believed in a stateless undermine and ultimately
society based on syndicates (trade unions) that cooperate freely with each other for destroy the state. Such
mutual benefit. methods include violence,
Georges Sorel is seen as the most important thinker within this branch of anarchism. civil disobedience and
Sorel argued that working-class solidarity would find a meaningful expression with propaganda. Of the key
trade unionism and he advocated direct action and ‘propaganda by the deed’. thinkers, only Proudhon
This would involve non-payment of taxes, bills and rents and also violence and thought it could be
spontaneous insurrection, via a general strike, initiating a social revolution. achieved via peaceful
means.
Once capitalism and the state were abolished, the syndicates would become the
Utopianism An idealised
owners of their own particular means of production. As with anarcho-communism,
and perfect society that
goods and services traded between syndicates would be priced at their true labour
individuals will inhabit in
value and not their market value.
the future. Utopianism can
Utopian criticism of collectivist anarchism also be used in a critical
Collectivist anarchism has been criticised for its utopianism, principally that its sense to refer to something
theories are rationally f lawed and inconsistent (Table 12.3). as being impractical and
not rational.
Table 12.3 Criticisms of collectivist anarchism
Criticism Explanation
Mutualism: a flawed Proudhon’s ‘mutualism’ argued that liberty would exist in the
Knowledge check
perception of the role shell of the state. However, despite safeguards (such as a 17 What did Proudhon
of the state federal assembly) to ensure larger communities could not mean by mutualism
dominate smaller communities, it is difficult to disagree with
and how did he
Peter Marshall’s assessment that such an arrangement would
not see the re-emergence of the state envisage it working?
18 What was anarcho-
Mutualism: Proudhon struggles to reconcile the individualist and collectivist
not reconciling aspects of his ideas. Ultimately, the collectivist vision takes syndicalism?
individualism and precedence as the federal assembly decision would take 19 Define direct
collectivism precedence over citizens’ wishes, which undermines individual democracy.
autonomy
Mutual aid: an Kropotkin’s ‘mutual aid’ has been accused of being scientifically
unscientific theory selective and omitting examples that do not fit his theory. Likewise,
his pre-capitalistic history of the ancient world and medieval
city states is idealised to fit his overall hypothesis. Kropotkin’s
anthropological examples are also highly selective, only considering
empirical evidence that fits his mutual aid theories
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Criticism Explanation
Mutual aid: Kropotkin assumes mutual aid will re-emerge once the
unconsidered state collapses. He does not consider that humans could
assumptions well be conditioned into being state dependent after being
psychologically dominated for so long. Kropotkin also fails to
consider that individuals conditioned by the state to be selfish
may not act altruistically once the state is vanquished
Anarcho-syndicalism: Anarcho-syndicalism has been criticised for being too narrow in
more socialist than its objectives. It is more preoccupied with democratic socialism-
anarchist style struggles over wages and conditions than a more holistic
anarchist vision of society
Federalism Bakunin’s ideas are mere sketches and lack explicit detail of how
his blueprint for a new society and economy would actually work
The Christiania commune,

created as a utopian
community in the heart of
Copenhagen
Individualist anarchism
Individualist anarchism, like classical liberalism and neo-liberalism,
argues for negative freedom and individual autonomy. However, both
of these strands of liberalism require a ‘nightwatchman state’ to uphold
law and order and to enforce legal contracts. Individualist anarchists go
one step further and argue that the state is no longer required.
Individualist anarchism has two broad strands: egoism and anarcho-
capitalism.
Egoism
Stirner’s egoism posits that each individual is akin to a sovereign state,
possessing an ‘ownness’ that means they should enjoy complete autonomy.
This is the most extreme form of individualism. Unlike other anarchist
key thinkers who differentiate between state and society, Stirner detested
both. Egoism feared collectivist anarchism, as one’s individualism would
This sketch of Stirner was drawn by Engels be compromised by the collective expectations.
from memory, 40 years after they met
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Stirner did not believe conventional state and society would cease by revolution,
rather their end would occur by a spontaneous insurrection as individuals became
conscious egoists and recognised the false values of state and society. The ‘wheels
of the mind’ that distort reality would cease to turn and liberated individuals
would see the world as it really is. Individuals would withdraw their labour and
support from the economy, state and society. Stirner also argued for ‘propaganda
by the deed’ as individuals broke free from their collective shackles.
l Stirner rejected conventional capitalism, arguing that work should be useful
and fulfilling to the individual and that aspects of capitalism such as the factory
system were akin to slavery.
l Society and the economy should be formed on voluntary agreements that are
non-binding, whereby a union of egoists would form and cooperate only to the
extent that it satisfied their individual wishes.
l Stirner saw it as logical for conscious egoists to make peaceful contracts and argued
that this would produce harmony: ‘they care best for their welfare if they unite with
others’. Altruism (see Chapter 10) exists only if it is in the individual’s best interest.
l Egoism is materialist and Stirner argues that individuals are driven to obtain
possessions and property. Stirner maintains that the union of egoists would
organise their atomistic society in such a way that everyone had enough and
poverty would be eradicated. This would be done by conscious egoist bargaining
and not via collective bargaining.
l Individuals are selfish, but in appealing to their selfishness it will be in everyone’s
interest to avoid conf lict.
Anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism has been inf luenced by the ideas of classical liberalism
and neo-liberalism. Murray Rothbard and David Friedman are most closely
associated with these ideas, which champion negative freedom and atomistic
individualism. Anarcho-capitalism would see the dismantling of the state
and with it the exploitative use of taxation. Rothbard, like Robert Nozick
(see Chapter 10), viewed taxation as theft and argued that the state was attacking
political and economic freedom. Rothbard and Friedman were both inf luenced
by Friedrich Hayek’s warnings in The Road to Serfdom (1944) of the dangers of
the collective state bankrupting society.
Anarcho-capitalists view the world purely in free-market terms and argue that
competition and the pursuit of individual self-interest give capitalism its dynamism.
Private entrepreneurs are more than capable of fulfilling the state’s functions: schools,
hospitals, pension provision, policing, the judiciary and communal infrastructure
will all be maintained by the private sector. The competition inherent in free
markets will lower costs, increase choice and provide better services. Social evils
such as pollution would be controlled via fines.
Rothbard saw ‘greed’ as individuals rationally trying to maximise their potential
in a world of scarce resources. David Friedman perceived humans as economic, not
social, animals. Inf luenced by Nozick’s entitlement theory, Friedman contended
that individuals have a natural sense of economic entitlement and if they work
hard enough they should be free to enjoy the material rewards of their efforts.
The unregulated free market is therefore the perfect habitat for the rational self-
interested individual. Society does not need an overarching state, as rational, self-
interested individuals will ensure ‘a balance of interests’ that will maintain order.
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Utopian criticism of individualist anarchism
Individualist anarchism has been criticised for its utopianism, and its theories for
Knowledge check being rationally f lawed and inconsistent (Table 12.4).
20 How was anarcho- Table 12.4 Criticisms of individualist anarchism
capitalism influenced
by neo-liberal thinkers Criticism Explanation
like Nozick and Egoism’s internal Stirner’s egoist ideas and arguments are not intellectually
Hayek? contradiction coherent. He criticises abstractions, ‘wheels in the head’
which induce illusions, without realising/acknowledging that
21 Does anarcho-
his own theories on individuality and ‘ownness’ are another
capitalism believe in abstraction
atomistic or organic Egoism is vague and Stirner has been criticised for the lack of practical detail
society? implausible in how the union of egoists would actually work, relying on
22 Why do anarcho- generalised assumptions rather than explicit explanations. It
capitalists go one is also difficult to imagine a society of sovereign individuals
step further than not resorting to violence to settle disputes, with the powerful
under no obligation to not dominate the weak. Society would
neo-liberals in terms
resemble the ‘war against all’ that Hobbes described (see
of state and society? Chapter 10)
23 What are the two Anarcho-capitalism is Anarcho-capitalism has been criticised for being implausible,
criticisms of egoism? implausible as even neo-liberals argue for a small ‘nightwatchman
24 Explain why some state’ to enforce the rule of law. Neo-conservatives, who
argue that anarcho- share an antipathy towards state-managed welfare states,
capitalism is argue that simply dismantling the state and putting all of
the responsibility in the realm of the free market would be
implausible.
practically impossible
Debate
To what extent do the different types of anarchism agree and disagree?

Evaluation: Why is anarchism’s disagreement on human nature so important to understanding the different strands of this
political idea?
Agree Disagree
• Both view the state as a coercive institution that must • Collectivists and individualists disagree on the nature
be removed (or, in Proudhon’s case, exist in the shell of of liberty. Individualist forms of anarchy view collectivist
the state) anarchy’s demands as an infringement of liberty
• Collectivist and individualist anarchism both have a • Although both sides agree on a positive view of human
broadly positive view of human nature and believe that nature, individualist anarchists argue that humans are
society and the economy can function without a state individualistic egoists whereas collectivist anarchists
argue that humans are communal
• Both claim that they can restore liberty • Individualist anarchists argue that collectivist
anarchism is a denial of an individual’s ego
• Collectivist and individualist anarchists argue that • Individualist anarchists are suspicious that collectivist
people will be able to cooperate in their particular anarchism will lead to the return of the state and
visions of anarchist society oppression
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Table 12.5 gives a comparison of different anarchist views on human nature, the
state, society and the economy.
Table 12.5 A comparison of anarchist views
Anarcho- Anarcho- Anarcho-
communism Mutualism syndicalism capitalism Egoism
Human • Kropotkin • Proudhon had a • Positive view of • Humans are • Stirner argued
nature argued that positive view of human nature naturally self- individuals were self-
humans are human nature, with with emphasis interested and interested, unsociable
naturally particular emphasis on social self-serving and naturally
cooperative, on the cooperative solidarity and wish to individualistic. Driven
sociable and spirit of solidarity • A collective maximise their by their egos they
empathetic that exists within view of human economic lacked morality and
• A collective humans nature gains their ultimate desire
view of human • A collective view of • An atomistic was to maximise their
nature human nature view of human personal autonomy
nature • An atomistic view of
human nature
State • Kropotkin • Proudhon argued that • The state should • The state • The state would be
argued that the the state would be be abolished. would be abolished. Each
state would abolished. Mutualist Self-governing abolished and individual would be
be abolished. communities would syndicates all its functions autonomous and
Laws would form a federation would form would be taken sovereign. Stirner
be replaced by operating a bottom-up federations over by the envisaged a ‘union
self-regulated system of decision with other free market of egoists’ that
relationships making based on syndicates. would cooperate
within the voluntary agreements. Decisions would only to the extent
commune Proudhon argued that be made at local that it satisfied their
liberty would exist in grassroots level individual wishes
the ‘shell of the state’
Society • Society would • Society would be • Society would • Society would • Self-interested
be made up of made up of small resemble be ordered individuals would
communes communities that trade union solely by the form a voluntary
• Communes were bound by organisation free market, ‘union of egoists’
would make mutually beneficial as groups including when they needed to
collective social and economic of workers education and cooperate
decisions relations based in similar healthcare. • Society would be
using direct on contractual professions Rational self- atomistic
democracy agreement would form interested
• Society would • Society would be self-governing individuals
be organic organic federations would ensure
• Society would a balance
be organic of interests
that would
maintain order
• Society would
be atomistic
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Table 12.5 continued
Anarcho- Anarcho- Anarcho-
communism Mutualism syndicalism capitalism Egoism
Economy • Communal • The economy would • The syndicates • The economy • Stirner argued that
ownership be based with small would become would be the accumulation
would replace worker associations the owners completely of property
private engaging in mutually of their own unregulated. and material
property. All beneficial work particular Anarcho- possessions is the
property and exchanges. A non- means of capitalists primary economic
means of profit People’s Bank production. believe this motivation.
production would make credit Each syndicate would lead to Individuals free of
and wealth available to the would engage efficacious the exploitation of
would be held associations in a mutually levels of state-controlled
under common • The economy beneficial competition, capitalism would be
ownership by would be based on exchange of innovation and free to trade with
the community. cooperation goods and distribution each other to their
Capitalism services of goods and mutual advantage
would therefore • The economy services • The economy
be replaced by would be based • The economy would be based on
communism on cooperation would be competition between
• The economy based on individuals
would be competition
based on between
cooperation individuals
Summary
Max Stirner Human nature The state both Society is a false construct. The accumulation of
is fundamentally denies and inhibits Humans are all sovereign property and material
self-interested and individualism and possession is the
individual liberty is therefore must be primary economic
sacrosanct abolished motivation
Pierre-Joseph Humans are The state supports Society would operate by Individuals would
Proudhon naturally communal capitalism and must be ‘mutualism’, whereby people trade with each
destroyed, preferably by are bound by social and other on a mutually
peaceful means but by economic relations that are beneficial basis
revolution if necessary mutually beneficial
Mikhail Humans are The state supports Society should be federal The free market
Bakunin intensely social capitalism and must be and national boundaries would be replaced by
creatures and prefer destroyed by revolution would be abolished. an exchange-based
collective activities Society would be based system that recognised
on cooperation and not the true value of labour
competition and goods
Peter Human nature is The state supports Kropotkin envisaged a Capitalism would
Kropotkin social, preferring capitalism and must be stateless society based be replaced by a
collective activities destroyed by revolution on small independent communist system
and internally democratic
communes
Emma Humans need The state is part of Goldman deliberately did Goldman’s ideas were
Goldman individual liberty to an interlocking set of not plan an anarchist essentially communist
be truly free aspects of oppression, society but she did wish for
including religion and economic, gender and racial
property ownership equality
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Practice questions
1 To what extent do anarchists agree on the nature of an anarchist
society? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support
your answer.(24)
2 To what extent do anarchists disagree on human nature? You must use
appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer. (24)
3 To what extent do anarchists disagree on how the economy should be
organised? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to
support your answer.(24)
4 To what extent is anarchism a united movement? You must use
appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer.(24)
Further reading
Lemieux, S. (2019) ‘Anarchism: unity within diversity’, Politics Review, Vol. 28, No. 4.
Walker, M. (2021) ‘Peter Kropotkin’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 1.
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13 Ecologism
Ernst Haeckel coined the term ‘ecology’ in 1879 as a neutral scientific term
describing the relationships between living organisms and their organic and non-
organic environment. Ecologism describes a set of political ideas that are concerned
with humans’ harmful interaction with the environment and how this might be
rectified.

Ecology
The natural world consists of a wide variety of interconnected ecosystems. Humans
treat the planet’s finite resources as if they were unlimited, destroying and polluting
the environment in a pursuit for economic growth. The human race, Aldo Leopold
Environmental activist Greta (1887–1948) asserts, ‘hammered the artefact called civilisation’ from the planet’s
Thunberg addresses a rally natural state.
at COP26
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Ego vs Eco. Ego represents
the dominant anthropocentric
world view where humans
dominate the ecosystem and
are of primary importance.
Eco represents the ecocentric
world view of deep green
ecology, which argues that
humans are merely part of
the ecosystem and that no
creature dominates
There are three strands of ecological thought:

l Deep green ecology asserts that the environment is a complex holistic web of
interrelations between the organic and the non-organic. The interconnectedness
Key terms
of our holistic ecosystem sustains life, and humans must develop an ecocentric Ecocentric A nature-
vision respecting both organic and non-organic life to preserve biodiversity. based rather than a
human-centred system
Key thinker of values. It therefore
gives priority to ecological
Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) balance over human wants
and needs.
Leopold was an early pioneer of ecological thought and
a holistic thinker. His key work, A Sand County Almanac, Biodiversity The belief that
was published after his death, in 1949. Ecology, Leopold as many species of plants
argues, is a study of a ‘world of wounds’, such is the and animals as possible
extent of environmental damage. His main ideas were must survive and flourish
as follows. to maintain the richness
of nature. This will bring
The land ethic health and stability to the
l Humans should accept that the land, which broad eco-community.
incorporates ‘soils, waters, plants and animals’, does
not belong to them. There should be biocentric equality
where all beings and the community have equal value.
l Biodiversity is essential to conserve endangered
species and their habitats.
l ‘Wilderness’ landscapes free from human interference
must be preserved in their natural state.
Conservation fails
l Conservation fails because it is based on an economic model where land is valued merely as
a commodity of monetary worth.
l Human nature must change to recognise that nature is not only a resource to be exploited.
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l Shallow green ecology is an ‘enlightened anthropocentric’ vision whereby
Key terms humans act as environmental stewards to protect the planet.
Anthropocentric The idea l Social ecology argues that environmental degradation is linked to specific
that human interest is of social constructs that must be overturned before radical ecological change
primary importance. can occur. Aspects of social ecology are eco-socialism, eco-anarchism and
Mechanistic world view eco-feminism.
In the post-Enlightenment The difference between deep green and shallow green ecology is that in shallow
era, the dominant view green, anthropocentrism’s ego thinks it dominates the ecosystem, while deep green
in science is that nature has an ecocentric view and perceives humans as but an aspect of the environment.
is like a machine where
parts can be repaired or
replaced in isolation from
Holism
each other. Holism is a core idea of deep green ecologism and perceives every aspect of nature
as being interconnected. The whole is therefore greater than the sum of its parts and
the environment self-regulates beyond human understanding. Holism argues for
biological diversity and biospherical egalitarianism, as a wide variety of species of
both f lora and fauna is needed to preserve the ecosystem.
Rationalistic Enlightenment thinkers disputed the idea of holism in two key ways:
1 Mechanistic world view Nature could be reduced to its constituent parts and
then examined in isolation as if it were a machine.
2 Dominion over nature If nature is understood, it can be dominated by humans,
Francis Bacon, the Enlightenment thinker, concluded.
Carolyn Merchant (b. 1936) views such a paradigm as destructive and hubristic.
Likewise, E.F. Schumacher (1911–77) argued that modern living has facilitated
this myth of human ascendency as city dwellers are dislocated from the ecosystem,
reinforcing the idea that humans dominate nature.
Holism’s rebuttal of Enlightenment thinking

Holistic thinkers dispute these ideas as incorrect. Leopold described holism as a
land pyramid that embraces both the complexity and the interconnectedness of the
environment. Human ability to understand this complexity is limited, so we are
best advised to practise biotic preservation, which Leopold stresses will ensure a
‘harmony’ within the environment.
Actions guided by a mechanistic dominance have often been disastrous for the
environment. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) documents how American
farmers mistakenly believed that the pesticide DDT was harmful only to insects and
inadvertently poisoned farmland and woodland, with a devastating effect on humans
and animals as well as on plant life. The failure to understand that ‘everything in
nature is connected to everything’, as Carson explained, demonstrated the hubris of
post-Enlightenment thinking:
‘We poison the caddis flies in a stream and the salmon runs dwindle and die. We
poison the gnats in a lake and poison travels from link to link of the food chain
and soon the birds of the lake margins become its victims. We spray our elms and
the following springs are silent of robin song, not because we sprayed the robins
directly but because the poison traveled step by step through the now familiar
elm leaf–earthworm–robin cycle … They reflect the web of life — or death — that
scientists know as ecology.’
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Holism holds that the natural world cannot be separated into constituent parts because
of this interconnectedness. Leopold articulates that humans are only one aspect of
the holistic system and that humans need to consider all species and ecosystems and
recognise the complexity of our environment.
Key thinker
Rachel Carson (1907–64)

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) arguably
altered environmental consciousness in the
USA, initiating the contemporary environmental
movement, which is now global. Carson’s main
ideas were as follows.
State and society do not have the

authority to dominate nature Knowledge check
l The state and society are complicit in putting 1 What is meant by deep
economic concerns above ecological issues green ecology?
by facilitating big business dominating 2 What is meant
nature, anthropocentric industrialism and by shallow green
consumerism. Carson describes them as ‘the ecology?
gods of profit and production’. Nature should be seen holistically 3 What is social
l This domination has been devastating. Silent Spring gives numerous examples of the ecology?
damage to rivers, lakes, fauna and flora from the use of the pesticide DDT. 4 What are ecocentrism
l Humans are not superior to nature and they need to develop a holistic, enlightened and biodiversity?
environmental consciousness. 5 What is
l Although Carson did not live to see it, DDT was finally banned in 1969. anthropocentrism?
Environmental ethics
The anthropocentric focus on conventional ethics takes precedence in guiding
human interactions with the environment. Ecologists therefore seek to develop
environmental ethics that are shallow green (enlightened anthropocentric) and deep
green (ecocentric) in nature.
There are three broad aspects to environmental ethics: animal liberation, obligations
to future generations and holistic ethics.
Animal liberation
Bioethical philosopher Peter Singer argued for extending the moral community from
humans to animals. Animal liberationists are not holistic as their moral extension
does not extend into the whole biotic community. They focus on individual species
for protections — such as whales, rhinos and pangolins — rather than whole
ecosystems. Animal liberation led to debate about the ethics of animal research,
veganism and hunting for pleasure.
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In focus
In the developed world, veganism has been the biggest dieting trend in the last decade, along
with the development of ‘flexitarians’ who eat both meat and plant-based alternatives. In April
2022 Tesco introduced both meat and plant-based alternatives in the meat aisle in its stores.
With initiatives such as Meat-Free Mondays, Kantar Worldpanel reported that 21% of UK
households had reduced their meat intake in 2018.
Key term
Biocentric equality
The radical idea that all
beings within the biotic
community have equal
intrinsic value, which
contradicts conventional
anthropocentric society.
Environmental
consciousness A state
of being where humans’
sense of self is fully Mary, Paul and Stella McCartney are keen animal rights activists and vegetarians
realised by a deep promoting Meat-Free Mondays
identification with the
non-human world. This
consciousness will be the Obligations to future generations
basis of a new foundation Moral philosopher Derek Parfit argues for further enlightened anthropocentrism, where
of environmental ethics today’s decision makers preserve the environment for future generations. The actions
and social organisation. of today affect those yet to be born; there is a moral responsibility to focus on climate
change, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, pollution and preserving ecosystems.
Holistic ethics
l Holistic values Leopold’s land ethic stresses the
preservation of ‘the integrity, stability and beauty
of the biotic community’. Ecologist philosopher
Arne Naess stresses the intrinsic value of all life
forms, which have a richness, diversity and worth
independent of their utility for human purposes.
l The moral implications of holistic values
Leopold’s land ethic states moral obligations must be
extended to the whole community, including ‘soils,
waters, plants and animals, or collectively the land’.
Arne Naess and fellow ecologist philosopher George
Sessions state that humans have no right to reduce
The pangolin is the most trafficked mammal in the world as it biocentric equality to satisfy anthropocentric
is highly prized for its meat and unique scales needs.
Environmental consciousness
The development of environmental ethics led ecologists to argue for a new
environmental consciousness, although they have conf licting ideas about the
nature of this consciousness.
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Deep green (ecocentric) ecology
Key terms
Holism
Schumacher argued that we humans must see ourselves as part of, rather than estranged Industrialism A system
from, nature. Leopold’s ‘land ethic’ stresses that humans must become stewards of of large-scale production,
the land rather than seeking to dominate it for economic and materialistic benefit. supported by a belief in
Humans are not separate from nature but merely another strand of a complex and limitless economic growth
unfathomable web. and a faith in science and
technology to deliver it.
Biocentrism Decentralisation
Holism leads to biocentrism (respecting the inherent value of all living things) In ecological terms, refers
and environmental egalitarianism (treating every facet of nature equally). Murray to societies that are based
Bookchin (1921–2006) believed ‘ecology recognizes no hierarchy’: no ‘king of the on small settlements such
beasts’ or ‘lowly ants’. Leopold’s land thesis reiterates the prime importance of the as communes, villages or
biotic community. Naess and Sessions argued that human interference in the non- bioregions that achieve
human world is damaging and is increasingly weakening biocentrism. sustainability through a
l A new environmental consciousness will see humans abandon industrialism high level of self-sufficiency.
and consumerism for small-scale decentralised bio-communities. Consumerism
l These societies would see a decline in the standard of living measured by consumer A psychological and
consumption, but a higher quality of life as part of a new environmental consciousness. cultural belief system
There are examples of such societies existing like oases in the industrialism desert. focusing on the
consumption of goods
Shallow green ecology and services to achieve
Shallow green ecology’s environmental consciousness tends to be single-issue based: individual fulfilment and
banning pesticides, habitat conservation, recycling, energy conservation, green drive economic growth.
energy, pollution control.
Social ecology
Social ecology’s political dimension argues that humans need liberating from oppressive
Knowledge check
practices and structures before an environmental consciousness is possible. Eco-socialists 6 What did Aldo
focus on the removal of capitalism (see Chapter 11); eco-anarchists require the removal Leopold mean by
of the state (see Chapter 12); eco-feminists the removal of patriarchy (see Chapter 14). ‘the land ethic’ and
‘conservation fails’?
Post-materialism and anti-consumerism 7 What is ‘holism’ and
the ‘mechanistic world
A new environmental consciousness will redefine how humans understand happiness.
view’?
Schumacher argued that modern society equates insatiable materialism with happiness
8 Why does ecologism
and the encouragement of such consumption is a major function of economic activity.
reject Enlightenment
Conventional economics is unconcerned with the ecological integrity of the land.
thinking?
9 What were Rachel
Consumerism Carson’s core beliefs?
Consumerism falsely concludes that happiness is achieved via material acquisition.
Ecologists believe that consumerism offers a false consciousness and that economic
activity is wasted chasing this mirage, with little thought to the ecological costs
involved.
All ecologists argue, to differing degrees, for a post-materialist future.
Deep green ecologists

Schumacher’s Buddhist economics argues for a radical consumer post-materialist
society, maximising wellbeing with minimal consumption. Humans must be
liberated from their attachment to wealth and material possessions. Schumacher
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argues for a ‘small is beautiful’ descaling of the economy away from large-scale
production. Similarly, Bookchin advocates bioregions and argues that a radical
change of economy will facilitate a post-material society.
Small-scale societies will nurture ecological citizenship.
The ‘self-regarding’ individual only interested in material
gain is transformed into the ‘other-regarding’ citizen who
cares for the environment. Although materially poorer,
the other-regarding citizen is spiritually and ecologically
happier than their materialistic predecessor. The economic
system will not be based on material accumulation.
Shallow green ecologists

Shallow green ecologists advocate a conserver rather
than a consumer society. Individuals would consume
less, lowering production and preserving resources. A
more sustainable economy free of the relentless pursuit
of possessions would redefine happiness in spiritual terms
Schumacher argued that ‘small is beautiful’ rather than material ones and preserve the environment.
Key thinker
E.F. Schumacher (1911–77)

Ernst Friedrich Schumacher influenced ecological thinking by attacking traditional economics
and providing a decentralised alternative with strong environmental ethics. His key work is Small
Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics if People Mattered (1973). His main ideas were as follows.
Traditional economics
Traditional economics are based on false premises:
l Obsession with GDP growth fuels a harmful human consciousness of consumerism and
materialism. Schumacher argued ‘there is more to life than GDP’.
l Humans treat natural resources as if they were infinite, which is unsustainable.
Buddhist economics
Key term l Buddhist economics is based on wellbeing rather than consumption — humans’
‘enoughness’, which is essentially post-materialism.
Limits to growth The
l Schumacher imagined small, self-sufficient communities and small-scale organisations
planet has only finite
with an economy based on strong sustainability.
resources and this scarcity
places limits on industrial
growth. If the human
race continues to plunder Sustainability
these finite resources to The global economy is built on industrialism’s belief in unlimited growth, which
satisfy anthropocentric assumes that resources are infinite. In 1972, The Limits to Growth (aka the
industrialism and Meadows Report) predicted an exhaustion of resources and ecological devastation
consumerism, we risk the within a hundred years. Although this was later found to be too pessimistic, it was a
ecosystem no longer being catalyst for global debate on sustainability.
capable of homeostasis,
which would cause In 1983, the United Nations formed the World Commission on Environment and
ecological catastrophe for Development (WCED), headed by Norwegian prime minister Gro Brundtland.
all life on Earth. In 1987, in the Brundtland Report (actually entitled Our Common Future),
sustainability had finally made the mainstream.
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Exact definitions and methods of sustainability differ between deep green and shallow
green ecologists, but broadly speaking, sustainability is committed to homeostasis
and sustainable development that allows the ecological system to maintain its health
over time. Homeostasis is an ecological balance where the natural world is no longer
degrading (losing its natural resources) and the environment is successfully renewing
itself. Sustainability therefore requires the following:
l Biodiversity This requires the preservation of natural habitats so that the world
can remain in a natural state for plants, animals and whole ecosystems.
l Preservation of natural resources Sustainability argues for a moving away from
fossil-based fuels. Mining causes habitat devastation and coal use causes atmospheric
pollution. Renewable energies such as wind, wave, tidal and thermal systems are more Knowledge check
holistic resources. Increased recycling will also act as a counter to human consumption.
l Preservation of the ecosystem Conservation reduces the degradation of the natural 10 Give three examples
environment via measures such as strict quotas to prevent overfishing, planning laws of environmental
and preventing the cutting down of the rainforest for industrialism objectives. ethics.
l Pollution control Strict limits are needed on emissions into the atmosphere and 11 Define environmental
on the pollution of seas and rivers. consciousness.
12 What are post-
Such sustainability is an example of shallow green managerialism, which requires materialism and
the state to regulate society and economy at national and international levels, anti-consumerism?
managing environmental problems via reform to achieve homeostasis. Deep green 13 How do deep green
ecologists dismiss this as weak sustainability and remain convinced that there needs and shallow green
to be a radical transformation of society. Greta Thunberg has been very critical over ecologists view
the pace of environmental progress, most recently in her now famous 2021 ‘blah, materialism?
blah, blah’ speech: ‘But they’ve now had 30 years of blah, blah, blah and where has 14 Why was E.F.
that led us? We can still turn this around – it is entirely possible. It will take Schumacher critical
immediate, drastic annual emission reductions. But not if things go on like today. of traditional
Our leaders’ intentional lack of action is a betrayal toward all present and future economics?
generations.’
Different types of ecologism

Shallow green ecologism
Shallow green ecologists, unlike deep greens, do not require humans to undergo
a dramatic shift in environmental consciousness. Shallow ecologism is reformist in
nature, with ideas focused on enlightened anthropocentrism and weak sustainability.
Enlightened anthropocentrism
Enlightened anthropocentrism is the belief that humans can live in harmony with
nature through the state reforming society and the economy. This accepts limits to
growth and an intergenerational responsibility on the present generation to act as a
steward of nature for the benefit of future generations.
Shallow green ecologists argue for ‘weak sustainability’, whereby states regulate
society and the economy at national and international levels, mitigating environmental
problems. This interpretation of sustainability puts its faith in managerialism (see
below) and green capitalism. Destructive elements of industrialism will be transformed
so that market solutions can facilitate (and not hinder) environmentalism.
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Managerialism and green capitalism
Supporters of ecology
Developed countries need to readjust their consumption patterns to enable
protested against Trump
the environment to meet present and future needs. Environmental priorities
withdrawing the USA from the
coexist with anthropocentric social and economic needs. Examples include the
Paris Climate Agreement in
following:
June 2017
l The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
which has sponsored more than 300 sustainable development
partnerships.
l A string of global conferences and agreements, following
the UN’s formation of the WCED in 1983, designed to
achieve sustainability to control air pollution, emissions,
ozone depletion and global warming — like the 2015 Paris
Agreement to combat climate change, the United Nations
Climate Change Conference in 2021, more commonly
referred to as COP26 (see page 383).
l Government tax breaks and investment to utilise wind,
wave, thermal and nuclear power, none of which uses finite
resources.
l At state and local levels, widespread introductions of recycling
schemes.
l Green capitalism has demonstrated that the market can play
a positive role in preserving the environment. For example,
companies are starting to market sustainable products from
food to clothing to non-plastic materials.
l The free market will realise that future profit is only
sustainable if environmental sustainability is achieved.
l Pressure from ethical consumers can encourage sustainable
capitalism, for example Nestlé’s announcement that its palm
oil supply chain will have a zero-deforestation policy.
l At state level, governments have used laws and policies to facilitate green
capitalism. For example, with taxes on air emissions, the market economy
incentivises industry to become sustainable, which is happening in some countries
with electric cars.
l Finite resources such as oil and coal will increase in price and the result will be a
Knowledge check reduction in their use and industry switching to renewables.
l The Brundtland Report argued persuasively that poverty in the developing word
15 Define the four is correlated with environmental resource depletion, concluding that sustainable
requirements to development is impossible where such human suffering exists.
ensure sustainability. l Managerialism and green capitalism facilitated the establishment of the Fairtrade
16 Why do deep green label, which has sought to alleviate poverty by allowing small producers in
ecologists argue for developing countries to compete globally and achieve a fair price for their products.
limits to growth? l The improved economic wellbeing of workers in the developing world has
17 What does shallow facilitated better conservation of habitats in those countries.
green ecologism
mean by ‘enlightened
anthropocentrism’?
Deep green ecologism — environmental
18 Why do shallow green consciousness, ecocentrism and strong sustainability
ecologists advocate The ‘failure’ of weak sustainability
managerialism and The managerialism of shallow green weak sustainability is treated with scepticism
green capitalism? by deep green thinkers. Academic Ingolfur Blühdorn has argued that the sustainable
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development agenda championed by the Brundtland Report has withered as there
is little political appetite for any substantive transformative action. The 1992
Kyoto Protocol on climate change saw only limited participation from developed
countries. Similarly, the reaction by global leaders to the 2008 global financial crisis
demonstrated unf linching commitment to the existing socioeconomic order rather
than to a sustainable one. Critics of the slow pace of change, even after the Paris
Accord and COP26 (see page 383), argue that this demonstrates the dominance of
the industrialism paradigm over a new environmental consciousness.
Why do deep green ecologists oppose anthropocentrism and shallow green’s
‘enlightened anthropocentrism’? There are several reasons.
Continued dominance of industrialism paradigm

Shallow ecology and weak sustainability have not delivered, showing that
there is no coherent environmental consciousness: fossil-fuelled industrialism,
exponential economic growth, the growth of fracking, and continuing materialism
and consumerism remain the dominant paradigm. The world economy remains
dependent on fossil fuels and industrialism and consumerism.
Conservation fails due to anthropocentrism

The arguments for why ‘conservation fails’ have not changed since the time Leopold
was writing: the human–environment relationship is still dictated by economic
concerns. Carson’s assessment that the state dominates nature and that society is in
the thrall of the ‘gods of profit and production’ still holds true today.
Ecocentrism not anthropocentrism

Ecocentrism places nature rather than humans at the centre of the world view. Deep
green ecologists argue that shallow ecologism wastes its time focusing on single
issues such as animal rights or fracking and should focus on promoting a radical
holistic environmental consciousness.
Deep green solutions

Deep green ecologists argue that the human race must develop an environmental
consciousness. This will facilitate a dramatic change in how humans choose to
organise themselves, resulting in a decentralised state, society and economy, which
will ensure long-term environmental sustainability.
Environmental consciousness
An environmental consciousness based on holism will lead to a radical shift in
environmental ethics. When this occurs, everything in the biosphere will have an
intrinsic value. Humans will be aware of their relationship with the land. Leopold
argued that once an environmental consciousness was achieved, humans would
respect ‘soil, waters, plants and animals’ but also understand the precarious nature
of the ecosystem. Humans are not masters or stewards of nature — an enlightened
anthropocentrism is a contradiction in terms.
Decentralised communities/bioregions
Deep green thinkers have argued for decentralised communities/bioregions that
adhere to Schumacher’s ‘small is beautiful’ theory. Such communities would
practise pastoralism — extensive livestock production in the rangelands. This would
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safeguard natural capital and help maintain soil fertility and soil carbon, ensure
water regulation and protect biodiversity, as well as significantly lowering emissions.
This simpler way of living, Schumacher argued, would allow a more natural relationship
with rural life. Such communities would be possible only if a dramatic shift of a
new environmental consciousness were achieved and the human race transcended its
addiction to consumerism and industrialism. Such communities would shift the power
from the central to the local, allowing collective ecological concerns to be recognised.
Bioregions would be built around whole ecosystems rather than nation states.
Buddhist economics
Schumacher argued for Buddhist economics, which rejects the accumulation
Key term of wealth. In practical terms this would probably involve a local exchange trading
Buddhist economics system (LETS) where goods, skills and services would be exchanged within the local
E.F. Schumacher’s idea community. This would rebalance the focus from accumulation to exchange and trade.
which argued that people
should find simpler ways Population growth
of living and working, Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb (1968) illustrated the simple fact that population
with limited desires for growth is unsustainable and a clear threat to the biosphere. As Figure 13.1
goods and a more natural illustrates, the planet’s population is growing exponentially. The world population
spiritual relationship with in November 2022 stood at 8 billion; if human behaviour continues unchecked, this
the environment. figure will reach 11.2 billion by 2100. (This real-time website estimates population
growth: www.worldometers.info/world-population)
Figure 13.1 Global 12
11.2bn
population growth forecast
to 2100 9.7bn
10
8.5bn
7.3bn
8
Billions
5.3bn
6
3.7bn
4
2.5bn
0
1950 1970 1990 2015 2030 2050 2100
Source: United Nations
Many countries are using more natural resources than their ecosystems can
regenerate. The current level of population growth and natural resource depletion
is unsustainable, and the situation is worsening as the developing countries continue
to industrialise. Paul Ehrlich has argued that when ‘a population becomes more
wealthy it tends to consume more resources per person per year’. Many deep green
ecologists shy away from population control, which contravenes individual freedom,
but they are adamant that the human race must find an ecocentric way of living or
else risk the planet’s very existence.
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In focus
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change
Conference: COP26
This was the 26th UN Climate Conference and it was held in Glasgow in 2021. The summit’s
agreements offered both positives and negatives for ecological thinkers:
l Positive: 197 countries agreed to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above
pre-industrial levels and since 2019 it was reported that more than 150 countries have submitted Knowledge check
new or updated climate strategies, which is a 5-yearly requirement under the Paris Agreement.
l Negative: There were concerns about the feasibility of this target, with Climate Action 19 Give three reasons
Tracker (CAT) arguing that the existing pledges put the planet on course for an increase why deep green
in temperature to at least 2.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the twenty-first century. The ecologists think that
consequences of missing these targets for the most at-risk global regions were underlined weak sustainability
by Shauna Aminath, environment minister of the Maldives, who argued, ‘We have 98 months fails.
to halve emissions. The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees is a death sentence for us.’ 20 What does
l Positive: India, the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, pledges to achieve zero environmental
carbon emissions by 2070. It means that all the world’s major emitters now have a net-zero consciousness mean
commitment in place. to a deep green
l Negative: Most other countries have pledged to go carbon neutral by 2050 or 2060. ecologist?
l Positive: More than 140 countries that between them possess 90% of the world’s forests 21 Describe three
have pledged to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030. solutions to the
l Negative: Concern over ‘greenwashing’, which means that an initiative might sound green and environmental crisis
environmentally friendly but in practice it is not. In the case of deforestation pledges there proposed by deep
are concerns that without annual reporting on progress, these promises lack accountability. green ecologists.
Debate
Can green capitalism solve the sustainability problem?

Evaluation: Why are green capitalism’s critics so sure that it does not work?
Yes No
• With a more environmentally conscious public, • Capitalism always prioritises economic growth over
consumer choice models suggest that companies will environmental concerns. Capitalism is motivated by
react to this demand by responding in a sustainable profit, and sustainability is expensive
manner • Business pressure groups are wealthier than
• If the market favours ethical environmentalism, environmental pressure groups and have more influence
companies will adopt sustainable activities on government policy, which prioritises economic growth
• State managerialism can regulate capitalism and • The human race in both the developed and the developing
facilitate sustainability via laws and taxation that world’s prioritises material gain over sustainable
encourage environmentalism environmentalism
• The Paris Accord and COP26 demonstrate that nations • The Paris Accord and COP26 demonstrate that nations
can cooperate on a supranational basis to reduce are not working fast enough to deal with climate
climate change change
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Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson and E.F. Schumacher are three key thinkers of ecology. Read their
words below.
‘One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of
wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen.’
Aldo Leopold
‘Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept
of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see
land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.’
Rachel Carson
‘Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of
genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.’
E.F. Schumacher
‘The real problems of our planet are not economic or technical, they are philosophical.
The philosophy of unbridled materialism is being challenged by events.’
E.F. Schumacher
With reference to the quotes above, consider why ecologists argue that the human race needs
to develop a new environmental consciousness.
Social ecology
Social ecology argues that environmental degradation is linked to existing
social structures and norms of behaviour. Therefore, before there is any radical
environmental change there must be societal transformations. There are three forms
of social ecologism: eco-socialism, eco-anarchism and eco-feminism.
Eco-socialism
Eco-socialists argue that capitalism is the root cause of environmental problems.
Capitalism creates a paradigm where the environment’s finite resources are plundered
to satisfy the insatiable demands of industrialism, consumerism and materialism.
Capitalism commoditises nature so that natural resources are reduced to an economic
value, which ignores their intrinsic worth.
Eco-socialism is critical of the green capitalism advocated by shallow green ecologists,
which it dismisses as bourgeois ecology — it does not change the environmental
consciousness, as profit and continual growth are prioritised over ecological concerns.
What would an eco-socialist future look like?

Eco-socialist John Bellamy Foster’s reinterpretation of Marxist writings led him
to conclude that there will be a ‘metabolic rift’ between nature and capitalist
production. Foster argues that capitalism is creating a proletariat that is being
oppressed economically and environmentally. A scarcity of resources would lead to
an eco-socialist revolt. The new society would be based on collective and not private
ownership, which would encourage humanity to use the land for the communal
benefit of everyone, rather than being exploited by the few.
Eco-anarchism
Eco-anarchists disagree with eco-socialists on one important aspect — they believe
that societal transformation must include the abolition of the state as well as capitalism.
Anarchists are utterly opposed to the state, which they perceive as corrupt, whoever
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is in charge, meaning that society becomes an exploitative hierarchy designed to
benefit a corrupt elite (see Chapter 12). They argue that communist governments
have failed because their leaders, once in charge, are corrupted by power.
Key thinker
Murray Bookchin (1921–2006)
Bookchin coined the term ‘social ecology’ and discussed this concept in Towards an Ecological
Society (1980) and Remaking Society (1989). His main ideas were as follows.
The environmental crisis emerges from existing social structures

of oppression
l Bookchin argues that hierarchies, inherent in human state and society, facilitate ecological
domination. These must be removed before ecological change can occur.
l A new anarchist society — ‘ecotopia’ — is needed to replace the traditional capitalistic society.
l This revolutionary approach is anarchist in nature — so no state all — based on commonly
owned, small communities run with an egalitarian ethos (see Chapter 12).
Lessons should be learned from ecology

l Replacing capitalism would end the unsustainable consumption of resources, negating
ecological degradation.
l Ecotopia would create a new rational environmental consciousness, whereby humans live
in harmony with nature rather than trying to dominate it.
l Anarcho-communism would establish a new environmental ethics, abolishing private property
and redistributing wealth according to need. Society would no longer be about industrialism’s
unsustainable pursuit of economic growth; rather, society would become non-capitalist.
Eco-anarchism is most closely associated with Bookchin, who argued that the state’s
innate desire to dominate has led to the disastrous treatment of nature. Bookchin
argues that this exploitation of the environment for selfish anthropocentric reasons
has dramatically worsened since the Industrial Revolution and the expeditious
development of capitalism. According to him, nature and anarchism share parallels,
as both are egalitarian and non-hierarchical.
What would an eco-anarchist future look like?

Bookchin championed a spontaneous popular revolution in support of anarcho-
communism, which would focus on small-scale productions in the form of bioregions.
Bookchin’s anarcho-communist society would be an ‘ecotopia’ where humans are
naturally cooperative. (See Chapter 12 for more on anarcho-communism.) Such a
decentralised society would be organised by direct democracy, which would ensure
‘living democracy’ where decisions would be made locally and focus on strong
sustainability. The bioregions would be naturally defined with a strong emphasis
on labour-intensive organic agriculture. Peter Berg challenged nation-state borders,
arguing that bioregion boundaries must be governed by environmental features.
New environmental ethics will mean that humans will enjoy a symbiotic relationship
with the natural environment. Anarcho-communism would abolish private property
and redistribute wealth on a needs basis. Anarchy will therefore inform the new
environmental ethics, which will transform humans’ environmental consciousness.
Bioregions will transcend existing society’s obsession with the consumerism and
industrialism that have led to the domination of society.
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Eco-feminism
To solve ecological problems, society must first remove patriarchy (see Chapter 14).
As Merchant has argued, men are exploitative and attempt to dominate nature as they
dominate women. Male Enlightenment thinkers use rationalism and science to justify
their exploitation of nature. The reception of Carson’s Silent Spring illustrates the hostility
of men towards women. Her empirically correct study was dismissed as ‘emotion-
fanning’ and Carson herself was dismissed by hostile male critics as ‘an hysterical woman’.
William Bean, a contemporary critic, wrote, ‘Silent Spring … kept reminding me of the
difficulty of trying to win an argument with a woman. It cannot be done.’
Key thinker
Carolyn Merchant (1936–)

Merchant is an eco-feminist. Her most influential work is The Death of Nature (1976). Her main
ideas are as follows.
Gender oppression is linked to ecological oppression

l Merchant links the domination of nature with patriarchy, man’s wish to dominate women
(see Chapter 14).
l Only by patriarchy being overthrown, facilitating an egalitarian relationship between men
and women, can a new environmental consciousness be created.
Opposition to the mechanistic male view of science

l Merchant blames the Enlightenment ideas of Francis Bacon, René Descartes and Isaac
Newton for altering human consciousness from a coexistence with nature paradigm to a
domination of nature paradigm.
l Enlightenment ideas have led to the belief that science is superior to nature. Bacon argued
that nature should be subservient to humanity.
Merchant is critical of male Enlightenment thinkers who subverted the

concept of Mother Nature and remodelled environmental consciousness
such that science was perceived as superior to nature and subservient to
the domination of humans, which, when coupled with the demands of
capitalism, has led to ecological devastation.
Merchant uses the metaphor that nature is female and nature’s ‘womb’
has yielded to the intrusive ‘forceps’ of science. She equates this triumph
of science over nature as akin to a death, hence the title of her book The
Death of Nature (1980). In the same vein, she argues that the allegorical
sculpture by Louis-Ernest Barrias, Nature Unveiling Herself Before Science
(1899), is a useful metaphor for how the mystery of nature has apparently
been revealed to humankind. Nature’s resources are exploited to facilitate
capitalism, its resources are plundered, and women are trapped by
patriarchy and forced to breed the next generation of workers.
What would an eco-feminist future look like?

Louis-Ernest Barrias’ Art Nouveau Merchant is explicit that ‘nature’ is female in character. This ‘difference
sculpture Nature Unveiling Herself Before feminism’ (see Chapter 14) argues that women’s distinct feminine values are
Science. Carolyn Merchant uses the better suited to caring for nature than the dominance of patriarchal
metaphor that nature’s ‘womb’ has yielded culture. Women have also endured patriarchal dominance and male
to the intrusive ‘forceps’ of science
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oppression, and therefore have an empathy with nature. To solve ecological problems,
society must remove patriarchy, which will reform societal structures. With
Knowledge check
patriarchy overthrown, there can be new environmental ethics, based on an 22 What are the key
egalitarian relationship between men and women. This new equal status between ideas of Murray
genders will allow the creation of new environmental ethics, with humans treating Bookchin?
the environment as an equal, which will encourage coexistence and end humankind’s 23 What are the key
domination over nature. Merchant describes this as a ‘partnership ethic’ and a ‘social ideas of Carolyn
reconstruction’. Merchant?

Complete this table.
Social ecology strands Beliefs Solutions
Eco-socialism
Eco-anarchism
Eco-feminism
Debate
What are the key areas of disagreement among the core principles of ecology?
Evaluation: Which strand of ecology has had the most influence on Western governments and why do you think this is so?
Shallow greens Deep greens Social ecologists
Anthropocentrism Endorse an enlightened Argue that anthropocentrism All argue for a more holistic
anthropocentrism that is incompatible with core society that preserves
proposes humans act as ecology and advocate holism biodiversity
environmental stewards to preserve biodiversity
Environmental Are guided by enlightened Support the holistic values Advocate the overthrowing of
ethics and anthropocentrism. Humans of Aldo Leopold where all existing materialistic/industrial
consciousness must practise intergenerational living and non-living nature consciousness for one that
stewardship in these has intrinsic value. There restores harmony between
key areas: biodiversity, must therefore be a radical humans and nature
animal liberation, climate change of environmental
change, resource depletion, consciousness for humans to
pollution and preserving embrace biocentric equality
ecosystems
Materialism Argue for a post-materialist Totally oppose materialism and Agree with deep green
future that advocates a consumerism and argue that thinking on materialism and
conserver rather than a the ‘green growth’ of shallow consumerism
consumer society. They do greens is not a solution.
not completely break from Influenced by Schumacher’s
materialism but instead ideas of ‘enoughness’ and
emphasise the role of Bookchin’s belief in post-
managerialism and technology materialism
to deliver green economic
growth
Sustainability The organisation of society The organisation of society The organisation of society
and economy by the state and economy by the state and economy by the state
should be based upon weak should be based upon should be based upon strong
sustainability strong sustainability sustainability
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Debate
What are the main disagreements among the different branches of ecology?
Evaluation: Why does Western society find the ideas of deep green and social ecologists so difficult to adopt?
Deep green Shallow green Social ecologists

Human nature
• Believe in ecocentrism, • Believe in enlightened • Eco-socialists argue that
which argues that nature anthropocentrism, which human nature is distorted by
has an intrinsic value that argues that human nature capitalism and the insatiable
is independent of humanity. can change and adapt so demands of materialism
It opposes all forms of that humanity can act as a blind humans to the effects
anthropocentrism and argues steward of nature. However, of economic degradation.
that nature has its own value, shallow greens still perceive Only a radical change of
which is independent from its the human race at the top consciousness, via an eco-
value to humanity of nature’s hierarchy socialist revolution that
• Merchant blames • Argue that human abolishes capitalism, can lead
Enlightenment ideas for nature must change to an equilibrium between
making humanity think that it its environmental nature and the human race
can dominate nature consciousness for self- • Eco-anarchists such as
• Argue that human preservation. Carson Bookchin agree with eco-
nature must undergo argued that if humanity socialists on the abolishment of
a radical change to continues to destroy the capitalism, but also argue that
achieve an environmental environment, it will end up the state must be abolished
consciousness. Naess destroying itself too if an ‘ecotopia’ can exist
argued that this could occur • Eco-feminists such as
via self-realisation, while Merchant argue that nature
Leopold argued that bicentric is inherently female and that
equality could be built around when patriarchy is overthrown
the land ethic there will be new environmental
ethics, with humans treating
the environment as equal.
Merchant called this a
partnership ethic
The state
• Argue that the state is • Believe that the state • Eco-socialists agree on
the problem and advocate at both national and overthrowing the existing state
decentralisation of power supranational levels for something approaching eco-
to bioregions (self-sufficient should frame national and communism
communities) international legislation and • Eco-anarchists are the most
• Dismiss managerialism agreements to protect the closely linked to deep greens.
as futile, as the state is environment The stateless society would
still overseeing economic • Examples of such be an ecotopia (Bookchin) and
activity that is damaging the managerialism would Peter Berg argued for a similar
environment involve capping emissions, concept of bioregions
and quotas on fishing and • Eco-feminists would
finite natural resources reconstitute the state by
ridding it of patriarchy. The
state would be remodelled so
that it exhibited a partnership
between humans and nature
Society
• Reject the conventional ethics • Argue that society should • Eco-socialists argue for a post-
of society and argue for a seek to protect the natural capitalist society that would
break from consumerism, world rather than exploit it encourage humanity to use the
materialism and the land for the benefit of everyone
mechanistic world view rather than the few
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Deep green Shallow green Social ecologists
Society
continued
• Society would be • Accept a limited concept of • Eco-anarchists argue that the
decentralised and based on holism and are influenced hierarchical nature of society
self-sufficient bioregions. by the ideas of Carson, has seen humans dominate
Society would have a radically who argued for the each other and nature. With
different environmental interconnectedness of human the removal of the state,
consciousness. Happiness society and natural society society will become more
would be equated with • Enlightened anthropocentrism egalitarian and ‘localised’
creative communal work that accepts limits to growth society will be cooperative,
brings humanity closer to and that society must move as in Bookchin’s vision of
nature rather than through beyond traditional ethics ecotopia
the consumption and the and accept the principle of • Eco-feminists argue that
insatiable acquisition of intergenerational equity with the new environmental
material possessions ethics based on a remodelled
• Peter Singer has argued that relationship between men
animals should receive the and women, humans will
same rights as humans coexist with nature. Merchant
describes this as ‘social
reconstruction’
The economy
• Opposed to capitalism, which • Argue that green capitalism • Eco-socialists endorse post-
it regards as consciousness can use market forces capitalism with collective
that is singularly destructive to change environmental ownership and communality
to the environment. The ideas behaviour via green to prevent economic and
of Schumacher and Bookchin consumerism and green environmental exploitation
revolve around small-scale capitalism (e.g. taxes on air • Eco-anarchists are also
production and localism emissions and tax breaks essentially communist, but
• Bioregions will recognise the on wind, wave, thermal and the difference is that the
limits of local ecosystems. nuclear power) economy would be run not by
Deep greens view green • Managerialism at state and the state
capitalism as futile international level has seen • Eco-socialists and eco-
the creation of recycling anarchists both argue that
schemes. The UN has private property should be
sponsored 300 sustainable abolished and replaced with
development policies common ownership
• Eco-feminists argue that a
non-patriarchal economic
structure will liberate nature
as the economy will no
longer be exploitative and
will be more nurturing
Summary
Aldo Leopold Humans are now largely The role of the state Industrialisation The insatiable drive
detached from the is to protect the and subsequent for economic growth
natural world and it is environment urbanisation have has led to a degraded
vital to re-establish an separated humans natural environment
affinity with nature from nature and
damaged the natural
environment
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Rachel Carson Humans do not The state must protect Society should seek An unregulated
recognise the intrinsic the environment, to protect the natural economy will pollute
value of nature particularly rivers and world rather than to avoid ‘unnecessary’
seas exploit it costs. To prevent
this, industry must be
regulated
E.F. Humans are now largely The state is Small-scale societies The economy needs to
Schumacher detached from the overbearing and will facilitate a stronger be reorganised so that
natural world and it is political systems connection to and small-scale sufficiency
vital to re-establish an should be decentralised relationship with the replaces large-scale
affinity with nature natural world consumer capitalism
Murray Humans have lost The state is the enemy By abolishing the state, Modern capitalism
Bookchin their individualistic of both nature and traditional society is exploitative and
relationship with nature liberty and should be would be replaced by damaging to the
abolished an anarchist non- environment. It must
capitalist society that be replaced by an
would be close to the anarchist economy that
natural world will operate in harmony
with the natural world
Carolyn Human nature is The state is controlled Men and women Capitalism is
Merchant patriarchal and exploits by men whose need to form equal patriarchal and exploits
both women and nature patriarchy exploits, relationships to natural resources. A
dominates and harms negate patriarchy and non-patriarchal state
nature facilitate a positive and society will lead to
environmental the liberation of both
consciousness the natural world and
women
Practice questions
1 To what extent does ecologism agree on the development of new
environmental ethics? You must use appropriate thinkers you have
studied to support your answer.(24)
2 To what extent does ecologism reject existing social structures within
society? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support
your answer.(24)
3 To what extent is ecologism incompatible with the modern industrial
economy? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support
your answer.(24)
4 To what extent does ecologism agree on the role of the state? You must
use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer.(24)
Further reading
Alcoe, A. (2020) ‘Extinction Rebellion’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 3.
Murphy, R. (2022) ‘Climate change and global governance’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 4.
Tuck, D. (2020) ‘The three strands of ecology’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 4.
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14 Feminism
Feminists argue that men have oppressed women throughout history and this must
stop. As a set of political ideas there have been four waves since 1790:
l First-wave feminism (1790s to 1950s): liberal feminism
l Second-wave feminism (1960s to 1980s): liberal feminism; radical feminism;
socialist feminism
l Third-wave feminism (1990s to early 2000s): emergence of postmodern feminism
and transfeminism
l Fourth-wave feminism (early 2000s to date): further development to postmodern
feminism; liberal feminism; radical feminism; transfeminism; intersectional
feminism

Sex and gender
Feminism differentiates between sex and gender.
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Sex
Key terms Sex refers to biological differences between men and women. Humans are assigned
Difference feminism their sex at birth: male or female. Biological differences have observable physical
Perceives women as attributes such as external and internal anatomy, chromosomes and hormone
biologically and culturally prevalence. Within feminism there are two main debates concerning sex:
different from men.
l difference feminism vs equality feminism
Difference feminists argue
l transfeminism vs transfeminist sceptics.
that these differences
need to be recognised and
Difference feminism vs equality feminism
celebrated and that women
Difference feminists argue that the biological differences between women and
need to value their distinct
men are important and they believe in essentialism. Carol Gilligan, a prominent
gender characteristics.
difference feminist, argued that biological differences affect the way men and
Equality feminism Argues women think: there are specific male and female characteristics and each sex has
for an elimination of a specific ‘nature’. However, most feminists are equality feminists, arguing that
cultural differences in women’s ‘nature’ is socially constructed — determined by society, not biology.
the pursuit of absolute
equality. Liberal, radical, Transfeminism vs sceptics
socialist and postmodern ‘Transgender’ refers to people whose gender identity differs from the biological
feminists all have different sex that they were classified with at birth. Until the 1990s there was very little
visions of how this will be academic debate within feminism (or anywhere else) about sex, as biological
achieved in practice. differences seemed to be scientifically undeniable. However, since the turn of the
Essentialism The belief century, this has changed with the rise of transgenderism and the development of
that biological differences transfeminism. Transfeminism argues that sex is socially constructed. However, this
between men and women is a minority viewpoint within global society, and trans people face demonisation
lead to distinct differences and discrimination, with significantly adverse effects on their mental health.
in their fundamental Prominent, radical second-wave feminist Germaine Greer has explicitly stated
natures. The fundamental that transgender women are ‘not women’, while feminist writer Sheila Jeffreys
natures of men and women has asserted that feminism should only be for ‘womyn-born-womyn’. In 2021,
are therefore ‘natural’ rather Professor Kathleen Stock of the University of Sussex resigned after protest when
than socially constructed. she published a book questioning transfeminism’s argument that sex is socially
constructed.
Transgender weightlifter
Laurel Hubbard celebrates at
the Tokyo Olympics
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In focus
Save Women’s Sports Act
In May 2022, South Carolina’s Governor Henry McMaster signed the Save Women’s Sports Act Key terms
banning transgendered students from girls’ or women’s sport in South Carolina’s public schools Gender stereotype The
and colleges. The law requires school sports teams to be designated based on athletes’ sex argument that men’s
assigned at birth. and women’s roles are
McMaster commented, ‘I think the girls ought to play girls and the boys ought to play boys. predetermined by society
That’s the way we’ve always done it.’ Asked if he meant biological boys, he responded, ‘Are so that they are socialised
there any other kind?’ to behave in a certain way.
Otherness Women are
Supporters of the ban have argued that transgender females have an unfair biological
treated as an inferior
advantage by being biologically born male. They argue that transgender athletes would
minority who are
dominate female school sport. Opponents argue that the Act is an example of how trans
subordinate to men in a
people are demonised, and singles out transgender students who are not elite athletes and
patriarchal society.
just want to enjoy friendly competition.
Androgyny The possession
South Carolina joins other conservative states requiring transgender students to compete with of male and female
the gender listed on their birth certificate. Governors in Oklahoma and Arizona signed similar characteristics to imply
laws at the end of March 2022. Idaho was the first state to pass such legislation, in 2020. that humans are sexless
‘persons’ and the
differences between men
Knowledge check and women are so minimal
1 Define equality feminism. that they should have no
2 Define difference feminism. impact on their role in
3 Define essentialism. society or economy.
Gender
Gender is used to explain the ‘gender roles’ of men
and women. The majority of feminists argue that
gender roles are socially constructed and form gender
stereotypes. Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) argued
that the biological differences between men and women
had been used by a male-dominated state and society
as a justification for predetermining the gender roles of
women. Men, de Beauvoir asserted, had successfully
characterised themselves as the norm whereas women
were the other, and this ‘otherness’ left women
subordinate to men in society. ‘Otherness’ is imposed
on women by men. De Beauvoir made this distinction
clear when she argued that men’s domination meant
that they were the ‘first sex’ while women were the
‘second sex’. De Beauvoir famously claimed, ‘One is
not born, but rather becomes a women’ as gender is
socially constructed by society. Equality feminists argue
that human nature is androgenous and that feminism
should aspire to genderless personhood.
Equality feminists argue that human nature is androgenous
and that feminism should aspire to genderless personhood
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Key thinker
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86)

Drawing on her unhappy childhood experiences,
de Beauvoir offered a powerful critique of sex and
gender in The Second Sex (1949). De Beauvoir
used existentialism to pose the question, ‘What
is a woman?’ Existentialism argues that humans
have no natural essence and de Beauvoir argued
that men thus have created a feminine myth
through which to oppress women. De Beauvoir
viewed oppression through a synthesis of
biological, psychological and socialist analysis.
Her main ideas were as follows.
Sex and gender

l De Beauvoir argued that femininity was an artificial societal construct.
l De Beauvoir was in some ways as much a humanist as she was a feminist. ‘The fact that
we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish
human beings from one another.’
Otherness
l ‘Otherness’ is imposed on women by men. Male domination meant that men were the ‘first
sex’, while women were the ‘second sex’.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) argued that gender roles are socially
constructed from a young age, subordinating women to the will of men. Women
are socialised into thinking themselves naturally frail and weaker than men. Kate
Millett (1934–2017) and bell hooks (1952–2021) both perceived social construction
as beginning in childhood within the family unit, meaning gender roles are neither
natural nor inevitable (Table 14.1).
First-wave feminism
First-wave feminism extended classical liberalism’s ideas about human nature and
freedom of the individual to explicitly include women. The two key texts at the
heart of first-wave liberal feminism are Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman (1792) and Harriet Taylor Mill’s Enfranchisement of Women (1851).
Wollstonecraft argued that women were just as rational as men and should receive
the same educational opportunities. Taylor Mill argued that women should have the
same voting rights as men and participate in the making of law.
Table 14.1 Examples of traditional gender stereotypes
Feminine Masculine
Passive Aggressive
Gentle Tough
Sensitive Insensitive
Emotional Logical
Tactful Blunt
Submissive Dominant
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman argued that women should have equal opportunities in
the workplace and introduced the idea of economic independence for women.
Knowledge check
4 What are gender stereotypes?
5 What did Simone de Beauvoir define ‘otherness’ as being?
6 Define androgyny.
Second-wave feminism
The key texts of second-wave feminism are Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique
(1963), Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics (1970), Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch
(1970) and Sheila Rowbotham’s Woman’s Consciousness, Man’s World (1973).
Second-wave feminism was united by one idea: that women were being oppressed
by men, a concept that became known as patriarchy. However, second-wave
feminists had divergent solutions for this problem:
l Liberal feminists, inf luenced by Friedan and first-wave feminism, argued for the
state to reform society and economy, allowing women equality within the public
sphere.
l Radical feminists, inf luenced by Millett and Greer, saw the state as part of the
problem and wanted radical changes to the public and private spheres of society.
l Socialist feminists, influenced in part by the ideas of Marx/Engels and Rowbotham,
argued that only under a socialist feminist revolution could the inequalities of
capitalism and female oppression be solved.
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is derived from the Greek patriarches, meaning ‘head
Private sphere: patriarchal family
of the tribe’. Feminism uses the term to describe a social system
supporting male domination and female subordination. Most The father/husband dominates wife and children. This
feminists engage with the concept of patriarchy, but Kate is the socialisation process for men/boys and women
and girls that socially constructs gender roles
Millett is credited with the first analysis of the concept and
with popularising it within radical feminism. She argued that it
means the ‘rule of men’ in both the private and public spheres
of society (Figure 14.1).
Public sphere: society and economy
l Liberal feminists argue that discrimination (rather than
patriarchy) within society and economy can be reformed Male dominance over women is reinforced in all aspects
by the state, and in Western society there are numerous of society: education, literature, culture, politics,
workplace and public life
examples: female emancipation, access to education,
workplace equality, legalisation of abortion, changes in Figure 14.1 Private and public spheres of society
marriage and divorce laws.
l Radical feminists focus on patriarchy in both the public and private spheres
and believe that patriarchy is too pervasive to be reformed. Instead, there must
be a revolutionary change, but revolutionary feminists have different suggestions
for what that change might be. (For a further discussion of radical feminism’s
analysis of patriarchy, see pages 404–05.)
l Socialist feminists believe that female consciousness is created by men as part of
the capitalist machine. Sheila Rowbotham concluded that women have always
been oppressed and that a revolution was needed to destroy both capitalism and
patriarchy.
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Women are often underpaid
when they are in the same
role as men
Third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism expanded on the work of Millett. Sylvia Walby identified six
Key term overlapping patriarchal structures that promote discrimination (Table 14.2).
Discrimination Treating a
group or an individual less Postmodern feminism/fourth-wave feminism
favourably than another bell hooks argued that feminist discussions have primarily been from a white
group or individual. middle-class perspective and that women of different ethnicities and socioeconomic
Feminists argue that classes were neglected by mainstream feminism.
women are treated less
favourably than men. Table 14.2 Walby’s overlapping patriarchal structures
The state Under-represents women in power
Household Society conditions women to believe that their natural role is as mothers/
homemakers
Violence One in four women in the UK will suffer domestic violence from men
Paid work Women are often underpaid when they are in the same roles as men.
Women-centric careers also tend to be linked to gender stereotypes of
nurturing, such as nursing or teaching
Sexuality Women are made to feel that their sexual feelings are abnormal, wrong or
deviant
Culture Society reinforces roles of women, from woman being the primary carer to
objectifying how women should look
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Debate
To what extent do feminists agree over the concept of

patriarchy?
Evaluation: Which group of feminists have the most complicated view of patriarchy?
Agree Disagree
• Most feminists agree that women • Liberal feminists tend to discuss

are discriminated against in the discrimination rather than patriarchy and
public sphere of society focus on the public sphere of society.
• Gilman and de Beauvoir were Radical feminism conceptualised patriarchy
among the first to identify gender and argues that it must be challenged in
stereotyping, and feminists such both the public and private spheres of
as Friedan and Millett explicitly society
defined discrimination as a cultural • Liberal feminists believe state, society
and not a biological phenomenon and economy can be reformed of
• There is agreement among equality discriminatory tendencies, while radical
feminists that patriarchy is not a feminists often argue that there must be
static concept a revolutionary change in both the public Key terms
• The majority of equality feminists and private spheres of society (although
there is no consensus on what this Public sphere The visible
agree that patriarchy must be
change should be) area of society where
opposed in the public sphere of
society • Post-feminists (see page 406) argued relationships are public,
that most feminist goals have been such as the workplace and
achieved, that discrimination does not within civic life.
exist and that patriarchy is an inaccurate
conceptualisation of male and female Private sphere The area of
relations society where relationships
• Postmodern feminists (see page 406) argue are seen as private. These
that patriarchy is far more complicated than relationships are less
radical or socialist feminists have imagined visible and centred on the
because of intersectionality
home and domestic life.
The personal is political

Liberal feminists focus on the public sphere of society
(such as equal pay and conditions in the workplace),
arguing that the private life of women is outside the remit
of political analysis. Radical feminists refute this, arguing
that ‘the personal is political’ as patriarchy is prevalent in
the private sphere of family life.
Gilman berated the misery of women’s private lives
and the exploitative nature of domestic roles. Societal
pressure forced young girls to conform to motherhood,
with gender-specific clothes and toys; Gilman argued
for gender-neutral garments and playthings.
Rowbotham argued that marriage was like feudalism,
with women akin to serfs paying feudal dues to their Equality feminists argue that gender stereotyping starts in
husband. De Beauvoir championed contraception infancy
as it allowed women control of their bodies and the
chance to avoid endless childbearing. Millett believed
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‘family’ was a social construct and not a natural arrangement. Millett’s main points
were as follows:
l Patriarchy granted men ownership over their wife and children, entrenching
sexism with the idea of male superiority.
l The family socialised the young into recognising masculine authority and female
marginalisation within society.
l Marriage saw women lose their identity by taking their husband’s surname.
l Radical feminists opened private life to public scrutiny.
Knowledge check
7 What is meant by ‘the personal is political’?
8 According to Sylvia Walby, what are the six patriarchal structures that promote
discrimination?
9 Give three examples of gender stereotypes.
Key thinker
Kate Millett (1934–2017)

l Kate Millett was an American academic and her most famous work, Sexual Politics (1970),
is regarded as the first systematic analysis of patriarchy. Perhaps the most influential
radical feminist, she challenged liberal feminism by arguing that ‘the personal is political’.
Her main ideas were as follows.
Family
l Millett saw the family unit as the foundation of patriarchal thought, as children were
socialised into gender roles that they grew up perceiving as normal. Marriage also saw
women lose their identity by taking their husband’s surname. Underpinning Millett’s
proposed solutions to patriarchy was the dismantling of the family unit for communal living
and childrearing.
l Patriarchy reinforced heterosexualism as superior to bisexual or same-sex relationships.
The portrayal of women in art and literature

Key term l Women’s gender roles were stereotyped in art and literature. Millett’s analysis included a
Misogyny A dislike of and feminist deconstruction of the work of influential male writers D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller
contempt for women. and Norman Mailer, whom she branded sexist, misogynistic and phallocentric.
Equality feminism and difference feminism

Feminism is a splintered ideology, with its different branches disagreeing on the
exact nature of patriarchy and how women should best achieve equality with men
in the state, society and economy. However, most aspects of feminism can be housed
in either equality feminism or difference feminism.
Equality feminism
The majority of feminists, be they liberal, radical, social or postmodern, are equality
feminists, who believe that biological differences are inconsequential and that
gender differences are socially constructed, thus holding that there are no specific
feminine traits. De Beauvoir dismissed the idea of innate female characteristics and
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argued that women had been dominated in part because of their bodies, ‘her ovaries
condemn her to live for ever on her knees’. De Beauvoir argued that contraceptives,
abortion, rejection of the family and monogamy would allow women to compete
with men in society.
Difference feminism
A minority of feminists, difference feminists, believe in essentialism, whereby
biological differences are consequential and do determine gender differences.
l Difference feminism can be traced back to first-wave feminists who, while believing
that women were men’s intellectual equals, also believed in gender-specific
characteristics. Gilman is the only one of the key thinkers who thought that there
were innate female qualities, while also believing in the societal conditioning of
women of gender roles.
l In the 1980s, difference feminism emerged as a rebuttal to equality feminism.
Carol Gilligan, a prominent difference feminist, stated that sex was one of the
most important determinants of human behaviour, positing that women are
naturally more nurturing, caring and communal than men. Gilligan argued that
equality feminism misunderstands these differences, leading to women attempting
to replicate male behaviour while neglecting their own feminine nature.
l Gilligan argues that there has been an assumption that there is ‘a single mode of
social experience and interpretation’, when in fact men and women experience
and interpret the world in different ways and speak with distinct voices.
In focus Key term

Cultural feminism is a more extreme version of Cultural feminism
difference feminism and challenges the dominance A radical version of
of men in society, asserting that women’s values are difference feminism,
superior and should be promoted. Cultural feminists seeking to challenge the
believe in a distinct ‘female essence’, which is caring dominance of male culture
and nurturing as opposed to the aggressiveness and by promoting female
competitiveness of masculinity. A small number of values.
cultural feminists, particularly eco-feminists, have
advocated replacing patriarchy with matriarchy on the
grounds that societies run on feminine values would
function better. For example, eco-feminist Vandana
Shiva has argued that women have a greater connection
to nature than men do and are better qualified to
protect the environment. Critics argue that this is
inverted sexism and if patriarchy cannot be defended,
neither can matriarchy. Eco-feminist Vandana Shiva
Knowledge check
10 What is meant by equality feminism?
11 What is meant by difference feminism?
12 What is meant by cultural feminism?
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Intersectionality
bell hooks criticised second-wave feminists for conceptualising feminism from a
white middle-class perspective and college-educated background, arguing that
both liberal and radical feminists largely excluded the concerns of minority
groups such as women of colour. hooks demonstrated the hitherto unexamined
complexity of patriarchy facing black women. Black American men wanted
racial equality but also to assume their ‘proper place as patriarch in the home’.
hooks argued:
‘individual black feminists despaired as we witnessed the appropriation of feminist
ideology by elitist, racist, white women … organised and controlled by white women
… black feminists found that sisterhood for most white women did not mean
surrendering allegiance to race, class and sexual preference.’
hooks’ ideas inspired Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, which
Key term
challenged the notion that gender is the most important factor in understanding
Intersectionality Women women’s lives.
have multiple, overlapping
identities as well as
gender, including race,
In focus
class, age, sexuality and Crenshaw cites the DeGraffenreid v General Motors case as a figurative example. In 1976, five
religion. Generalising about black employees sued General Motors for wrongful dismissal based on discrimination. The
the female experiences district court viewed discrimination through the distinct lens of race and gender and dismissed
of patriarchy is pointless the case because General Motors continued to employ black men and white women. It failed
when middle-class women to recognise the overlapping identities that had resulted in black women being discriminated
will have a very different against.
experience from black
working-class women and Individuals can be oppressed on multiple overlapping areas, such as their gender,
other ‘types’ of women. class, race, sexuality, disability or transsexuality (Figure 14.2). Multiple identities of
women meant that the singular notion of ‘sisterhood’ gives way to a more communal
concept of ‘solidarity’ according to hooks.
Figure 14.2 Intersectionality:
women have multiple, mental
health
overlapping identities as well ability sexual location
education
as gender orientation
marital status
gender
expression
race personality
language political affiliation
class
physical health culture
age
occupation nationality
hobbies
gender
identity
religion appearance ethnicity fertility
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bell hooks argued that
liberal and radical feminists
largely excluded the
concerns of minority groups
Key thinker
bell hooks (1952–2021)

hooks believed that society is full of complex relationships between different minorities. Her
key work is Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (1981).
hooks’ main ideas

l Women of colour: hooks broadened the feminist debate as she felt it was too focused on
middle- and upper-class, college-educated white women. She focused on women of colour
and all social classes.
l Intersectionality: hooks’ ideas greatly influenced the idea of intersectionality — a term
coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw — which challenged the feminist assumption that gender was
the most important factor in determining a woman’s life experiences.

The ideas of bell hooks and Kimberlé Crenshaw have highlighted the great diversity of women
across cultures and the idea of intersectionality.
‘Once you do away with the idea of people as fixed static entities, then you see that
people can change and there is hope.’
bell hooks
‘No other group in America has so had their identity socialised out of existence as have
black women … when black people are talked about, the focus tends to be on black men;
and when women are talked about, the focus tends to be on white women.’
bell hooks
‘Sexism isn’t a one-size-fits-all phenomenon. It doesn’t happen to black and white

women in the same way.’
Kimberlé Crenshaw
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‘Cultural patterns of oppression are not only interrelated but are bound together and
influenced by intersectional systems of society. Examples of this include race, gender,
class, ability and ethnicity.’
Kimberlé Crenshaw
‘Some of the worst racist tragedies in history have been perfectly legal.’
Kimberlé Crenshaw
With reference to these quotes, explain how the idea of intersectionality has expanded the
feminist debate.
Different types of feminism

Liberal feminism
Liberal feminism is reformist and argues that, via democratic pressure, gender
Key terms stereotypes can be eliminated. Unlike radical feminists and socialist feminists,
Reformist Believing liberal feminists do not believe that there needs to be a revolutionary change in the
that society can be way state, society and economy are organised. Liberal feminists focus on the public
reformed. In a feminist sphere (society) rather than on the private sphere (family).
context this means that
Liberal feminists are inf luenced by the liberal values of individualism, foundational
negative consequences
equality and equality of opportunity (see Chapter 9). First-wave feminists like
of oppression can, by
Mary Wollstonecraft, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, argued for political
legislation, gradually alter
equality and that women should have the vote. The assumption was that political
until equality is achieved.
emancipation would lead to gender equality and legal equality, particularly in
Equality of opportunity relation to the economic sphere of property ownership.
Everyone, regardless of
their gender, should have Betty Friedan’s ground-breaking book The Feminine Mystique (1963) kick-started
the same life chances second-wave feminism. It highlighted the dissatisfaction experienced by many
within society. women living domestic lives as wives and mothers: ‘Is this all?’
Political equality Women Like De Beauvoir, Friedan emphasised the concept of otherness and that women
should have the same should be free to choose the roles they took, be it the working world dominated
rights as men to vote and by men, traditional domestic roles or a combination of the two. Liberal feminists
to hold political office. campaigned for:
Gender equality Men and l an end to discrimination and inequality in the workplace and a belief in gender
women should be treated equality
the same within society. l an end to outdated cultural attitudes via education and an opposition to sexist
It refers to full cultural language
equality, which outlaws the l changes in the law to facilitate legal equality in all public spheres of society.
idea that men are superior
to women. Knowledge check
Legal equality Everyone 13 Define intersectionality.
should be treated the 14 What are some of the overlapping identities women have?
same in the eyes of the 15 What did liberal feminists want to achieve?
law. For feminists this
means women should have
exactly the same lawful Socialist feminism
rights as men. Socialist feminists argue that economics leads to gender inequality and that capitalism
causes patriarchy. However, socialist feminism cannot be described as coherent
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as there are different branches, revolutionary and reform, and each has differing
solutions and disagreements.
Reformist socialist feminism

Gilman thought of herself as a humanist and was not a socialist feminist; however,
some of her ideas, such as collectivism and cooperation being female qualities, were
later co-opted by socialist feminism. Gilman believed that capitalism’s exploitative
qualities reinforced patriarchy and that socialism would gradually succeed, allowing
women and men to coexist in egalitarian society and economy.
Key thinker
Charlotte Perkins Gilman

(1860–1935)
Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ (a short story) was
influenced by her postnatal depression and unhappy
marriage. Gilman thought of herself as a humanist,
but her ideas were influential to the radical and
socialist feminism of the twentieth century and she
anticipated ‘the personal is political’ decades before
it was formally conceptualised.
Gilman’s main ideas

l Sex and domestic politics: For Gilman, sex
and the capitalist economy were interlinked.
Women were reliant on their sexual assets to
gratify their husbands, who in turn would support
them financially. Gilman viewed marriage as
comparable with prostitution, ‘the transient trade
we think evil. The bargain for life we think good’.
l Societal pressures: Gender roles are socially constructed from a young age, and Gilman
argued that children should play with gender-neutral toys. She wished to reverse this false
consciousness so women would no longer see themselves as naturally frailer and weaker
than men.
l Proposed solutions: Gilman sought economic independence for women and advocated
centralised nurseries and co-operative kitchens to give women freedom and autonomy.
Revolutionary socialist feminism

Friedrich Engels was the first to argue that economics caused gender inequality
and capitalism created patriarchy. Engels argued that capitalism altered pre-existing
societal structures, which meant that women were needed as unpaid helpers to
enable male workers to be employed in the workplace. He claimed that women
were complicit both in reproducing the workforce and in socialising their children Key term
in the continuing cycle of capitalistic oppression. Women were also a reserve army Reserve army of labour
of labour, to be cast off when they were no longer needed. The idea that women
Rowbotham’s book Hidden from History (1973) expands on Engels’ theories: constitute a spare
workforce that can be
l Working-class women found employment in factories where they were paid less called on as and when
than men, had no childcare provision and were worked ‘like cattle’ both at home needed.
and in the workplace.
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l Rowbotham argued that men do not fully understand the nature of oppression
of women: ‘Men will often admit other women are oppressed but not you.’
l Rowbotham adapted Marxist historical materialism, arguing that women had
always been oppressed and that their alienation from capitalism and patriarchy
meant that there needed to be a ‘revolution within a revolution’ to destroy
capitalism and patriarchy.
De Beauvoir argued that the consumptive materialism (the idea that society has
become addicted to purchasing consumer goods) inherent within capitalism had
weakened women’s position within society. Juliet Mitchell has argued that even the
destruction of capitalism may not be enough to end patriarchy. She argues that there
are four social functions that women must liberate themselves from and reframe:
1 Their role in the workforce and production
2 Their childbearing role
3 Their socialisation of children
4 Their societal position as sex objects
Mitchell therefore adds a cultural dynamic to complement the economics arguments
of socialist feminism.
Key thinker
Sheila Rowbotham (1943–)

Rowbotham is an academic feminist who wrote the
influential book Woman’s Consciousness, Man’s World
(1973).
Rowbotham’s main ideas

l Capitalism: Rowbotham was influenced by Marx
and Engels, who inform her socialist feminism.
Capitalism worsened the oppression of women,
forcing them to sell their labour to survive in the
workplace and to cede their labour in the family
home.
l Family: Rowbotham stresses that the family
performs a duel function: to subject and discipline
women to the demands of capitalism and to offer
a place of refuge for men from the alienation of
capitalism.
Radical feminism
Liberal feminism began the second wave of feminism and was quickly joined
by radical feminism, the ideas of which rebutted liberal thinking. While liberal
feminists’ focus was on the public sphere, radical feminists argue that both public
and private spheres must be addressed, as ‘the personal is the political’, which was
first conceptualised by Carol Hinsch.
Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics (1970) took a psychoanalytical approach to feminism.
Millett was critical of romantic love and monogamous marriage (as aspects of
patriarchy) and argued that children were socialised via the family unit and that
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Public man
Private woman
Dominates in politics,
In charge of domestic matters: the
education, arts,
family, child-rearing, caring and
literature and the
supporting
workplace
Figure 14.3 The public man/
private woman paradigm
these norms of behaviour were reinforced by religion, education, myths, art and
literature. Millett’s solution to ending this false consciousness was to abolish the
nuclear family and replace it with communal living and childrearing.
Radical feminism argues that patriarchy’s social construction creates a society where
men dominate the public sphere of society whereas women play a supportive role in
the home, creating the public man/private woman paradigm (Figure 14.3).
Radical feminists have all focused on different aspects of patriarchy and sexism,
advocating different solutions that would be revolutionary in how they would
change society (Figure 14.4).
Figure 14.4 Radical feminists
have a variety of focuses and
solutions for patriarchy
Kate Millett
Shulamith Firestone Focuses on patriarchy in
Had a revolutionary culture, specifically on family
vision of an androgenous art and literature. Millett argued
society that would minimise for a change in social consciousness,
physical gender distinctions. Also a revolution in the head, whereby
regarded childbirth as barbaric and patriarchy would be eliminated
advocated artificial insemination, from people’s minds so
arguing that when technology that there was gender equality
advanced, men be implanted in the home, the workplace
with wombs and and within culture.
bear children.
Germaine Greer
Advocated the Charlotte Bunch
abandonment of traditional Advocated lesbian separatism,
marriage because of the male arguing that women
domination this entails, favouring should reject heterosexuality to
communal living and childbearing effect a complete separation
to negate the effects of patriarchy. from patriarchal society
and its institutions.
Andrea Dworkin
Focused on the patriarchal
nature of pornography and was
very negative on heterosexual
relationships because of the
exploitative nature of patriarchy.
‘Under patriarchy, every woman’s
son is her potential betrayer and
also the inevitable rapist or
exploiter of another
woman.’
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Knowledge check
16 How did Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ideas influence socialist feminism?
17 How did Sheila Rowbotham expand upon Engel’s socialist theories?
18 Does radical feminism have a single solution to patriarchy (give examples to illustrate your
answer)?
Post-feminism
Post-feminists writing in the late 1980s and early 1990s argued that most feminist
goals have been achieved and that women should move on. Writers such as Camille
Paglia criticised feminism for portraying women as ‘victims’ and argued that women
needed to take responsibility for their own life and sexual conduct.
Post-feminism has been roundly criticised for examining feminism solely through
a white, middle-class framework that ignores the complexity of female experience
that postmodern feminism explores.
Postmodern feminism
Postmodern feminism (sometimes called fourth-wave feminism) rejects as simplistic
the broad generalisations of earlier feminist traditions. There are numerous interacting
factors in addition to gender. Kira Cochrane argues that intersectionality ‘seems
to be emerging as the defining framework’ of fourth-wave feminism. Patriarchy
continues to adapt and find new ways to oppress women. Jennifer Baumgardner and
Amy Richards argued in their Manifesta (2000) that successive generations will need
to establish what feminism means to them. Figure 14.5 gives just some of the themes
of postmodern feminism.
Rape and sexual

Black feminism Cyber-patriarchy Gender mutilation Honour killings Transfeminism
assault
Influenced by bell Kira Cochrane argues Nimko Ali set up Honour killings are One Billion Rising This argues that
hooks, it argues that that technology the Daughters of Eve intersectional in at is a campaign against individuals should be
intersectionality reinforces patriarchy. in 2012 to prevent least three aspects: violence against allowed to legally
means women of Natasha Walker gender mutilation. gender, race and women. Soma Sara, change their sexual
colour face distinct argues that modern Gender mutilation culture founder of Everyone’s gender
discrimination women and teenage
because of their is intersectional in Invited, has argued
gender, race and girls now face at least four aspects: that rape culture is
social background. hyper-sexualisation gender, race, prevalent in
Work in this sphere from the internet religion and culture UK schools and has
of feminism has been and social media campaigned for
diverse, ranging from students to be
criticising the explicitly re-educated
misogyny of rap
music to oppression on issues such as
of women in the consent
recent Black Lives
Matter movement
Figure 14.5 Some themes of postmodern feminism
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Debate
To what extent do feminists agree and disagree on human nature?

Evaluation: Why do equality and difference feminists have such different views on human nature?
Agree Disagree
All equality feminists would agree Difference feminists disagree
that the understanding of sex with equality feminists in their
and gender is crucial if one is to understanding of human nature, as
understand human nature they believe in essentialism. Women
should embrace and not reject their
natural femininity
Equality feminists argue that Difference and cultural feminism is a
human nature is androgynous, and more extreme version that challenges
that gender is a cultural and not a the dominance of male values in
biological construct. ‘Masculinity’ and society and argues that ‘women’s
‘femininity’ should not be considered values’ should be promoted as they are
as natural but are artificially created superior
Liberal, radical, socialist and Transfeminism argues that sex (and not
postmodern feminists are all equality just gender) is socially constructed. Liberal
feminists, believing that biological feminists, radical feminists, socialist
differences are inconsequential and feminists and difference feminists argue
women are just as rational as men that sex is a biological fact
Most feminists agree with de Postmodern feminists are influenced Kimberlé Crenshaw is famous for
Beauvoir and Millett that these by the ideas of bell hooks, Kimberlé conceptualising intersectionality
gender roles are imposed upon Crenshaw and intersectionality.
women, socialising them to believe Postmodern feminism’s analysis of
that gender roles are natural human nature is therefore far more
complex and varied than the more
generalised analysis of the other
branches of feminism
Debate
To what extent do feminists agree and disagree about the role of the state?
Evaluation: Which strand of feminism argues for the most proactive role for the state in society?
Agree Disagree
Feminism lacks a distinctive theory of the state but there Radical feminists are more critical of the state than liberal
is general agreement that historically the state has been feminists and many see the state as promoting and
complicit in making women subordinate to men sustaining patriarchy. Liberal feminists argue that the state
should only intervene in the public sphere of society while
radical feminists argue that the state must also intervene in
the private sphere of society
Feminists can broadly agree that the state can be There is no consensus within feminism about the role
restructured to enhance the position of women within of the state intervening in personal issues. Different
society and economy branches of radical and socialist feminism focus on
different aspects of women’s personal lives in which the
state should intervene
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Agree Disagree
The majority of feminists agree with liberal feminists that Socialist feminists like Sheila Rowbotham argue that the
the state should be a conduit for reform and tackling state must be abolished so that women can be free from
patriarchy in the public area of society and economy. In the both capitalist and patriarchal oppression
UK and the USA, for example, the state has intervened in
a number of ways over the last 150 years to grant formal
equality to women and improve their position in society and
the economy
Postmodern feminists argue that there is a complexity
to state oppression that other branches of feminism
miss because of their tendency to view gender as
the only variable for female identity. Generalising
about the female experience of patriarchy is therefore
pointless. Postmodern feminists tend to focus on state
involvement in specific areas of patriarchy within both
the public and private spheres of society
Debate
To what extent do feminists agree and disagree on society?

Evaluation: Why do feminists not have one unified vision for society?
Agree Disagree
All feminists agree that women face Liberal feminists argue that there is discrimination within the
discrimination in society and that this is an public sphere of society. However, radical feminists go further,
historical problem arguing that patriarchy is pervasive and is present in every facet
of society: politics, religion, culture, education and media and the
private sphere of women’s lives
While other branches of feminists might not Feminists have different views on patriarchy within society:
always agree on the exact definition of patriarchy, • Liberal feminists prefer the term discrimination rather than
they would broadly agree with bell hooks’ patriarchy and argue that society can be reformed via the state
assessment that eliminating patriarchy would
remove ‘the single most life-threatening social
• Radical feminists agree on Millett’s definition but have numerous
solutions for how a patriarchal society can be eliminated
disease’ that blights society
• Socialist feminists, such as Rowbotham, argue that society
is economically determined by male capitalism and that a
revolution is needed in order to change the status of workers
and women
Societal attitudes have seen women play a Postmodern feminists argue that it is simplistic to view the
subordinate and supporting role to men in society problems women face in society by looking only at gender.
to the extent that women see these gender roles Intersectionality argues that gender interacts with multiple other
as natural, as de Beauvoir has argued factors such as race, class and age to disadvantage women in
myriad different ways
Equality and advancement within society have Post-feminists such as Camille Paglia argued that most feminist
been difficult for women because of the innate, goals have been achieved and patriarchy has largely been
institutionalised cultural disadvantages defeated within society. This viewpoint is rebutted by postmodern
feminists who argue that post-feminism is white, middle-class
centric and ignores the struggles of women of colour and/or
women of a lower social class
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Debate
To what extent do feminists agree and disagree about the economy?

Evaluation: How are feminists in agreement in understanding what women’s role in the economy should be?
Agree Disagree
Feminists are united in their belief that the economic Equality feminists argue that biological differences are
world discriminates against women in the workplace. of no consequence in the workplace, while difference
Wollstonecraft and Gilman both argued that economic feminists argue that biological differences do matter.
independence was a fundamental part of female Difference feminists argue that women are biologically far
emancipation and that there must be equality of more likely to favour certain professions that align with
opportunity within the workplace femininity
The labour market is divided because of gender roles, Liberal feminists argue that the workplace can be
with women being employed in professions that are seen reformed by the state, but socialist feminists such as
as feminine and men in roles that are seen as masculine. Rowbotham argue that women’s place in the economy
Male-dominated professions tend to be better paid than and sexual equality can only be achieved via a
female-dominated professions Marxist-style revolution
Senior roles in business are dominated by men because Radical feminists argue that patriarchy is essentially
stereotypically men are perceived as being more logical cultural and psychological and that socialist feminists are
and better at decision making. Women are hindered by unduly fixated on economic concerns
a glass ceiling where the cultural ethos of the workplace
means that they can only reach a certain level in a
business organisation
Feminists all agree that with the breakdown of gender Postmodern feminists argue that liberal feminists,
stereotypes, women can achieve equality in the radical feminists and socialist feminists fail to appreciate
workplace and be no longer economically dependent intersectionality and that race when intersected with
on men gender delivers a different kind of economic oppression
Table 14.3 highlights some of the differences within feminism.

Table 14.3 Differences within feminism
Liberal feminists Radical feminists Socialist feminists Postmodern feminists

Sex and gender Sex is a biological Sex is a biological fact, Sex is a biological fact, Some postmodern
fact; however, gender but gender roles are but gender roles are feminists think sex is
roles are artificially artificially constructed. artificially constructed. a fact, trans-feminists
constructed. Women Gender roles are a Gender roles are a think it is socially
are as rational and product of patriarchy to requirement of capitalism constructed. Gender
capable as men and subjugate women. Women as it requires women to roles are also
should be granted are as rational as men accept domestic work socially constructed
equality of opportunity and should be granted and their supportive and extremely
equality of opportunity status to men if it is to varied because of
function intersectionality
(race, class, age, etc.)
Personal is Traditionally rejected Conceptualised by radical Agree that the personal Support the concept
political the personal is feminist Carol Hinsch, is political. Rowbotham that the personal is
political argument the ‘personal is political’ argues that capitalism political but argue that
as they are focused is adopted by all radical forces women into the private sphere of
solely on the public feminists. It focuses on domesticity to help society is far more
sphere of society and female oppression by men reproduce the labour complicated than
the economy in both the public and force and provide comfort radical feminists
private spheres of society for men believe because of
and economy intersectionality
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Liberal feminists Radical feminists Socialist feminists Postmodern feminists
Reformist vs Reformist Revolutionary Revolutionary Reformist/
revolutionary Society can be A societal revolution is Only a Marxist/feminist- Revolutionary
changed gradually as needed to rid society of style revolution will rid Postmodern feminists
the state enforces entrenched patriarchal society and economy of argue that oppression
equality of opportunity values. However, radical capitalism and patriarchy is a multifaceted
for men and women feminists are divided concept because of
in both society and over what format this intersectionality and
economy revolution will take consequently have
multiple solutions,
some revolutionary
and some evolutionary
Summary
Charlotte Women are equal to Gilman expresses no Women have Men dominate the
Perkins Gilman men and biological explicit views on the historically been economy because
differences are largely role of the state assigned inferior roles societal norms obligate
irrelevant in society women to a domestic
role
Simone de Gender differences are The state reinforces a Societal norms restrain Men dominate
Beauvoir not natural but are the male-dominated culture both men and women economic life, which
creation of men that limits women’s from achieving limits the life choices
autonomy and freedom self-realisation and true open to women
freedom of expression
Kate Millett Women are oppressed The state facilitates Society is patriarchal in Millett’s ideas on the
by men (patriarchy) and patriarchy both the public and the economy resemble
should free themselves private spheres socialism but are
by engaging in lesbian peripheral to her
relationships feminism
Sheila Female consciousness The state facilitates Capitalist society Women’s main role
Rowbotham is socially constructed capitalism, which in reinforces the in the economy is to
by men turn oppresses women dominance of provide a reserve army
establishment males to of labour
the detriment of women
(and the average male
worker)
bell hooks Women have multiple White men dominate Society is a Women face different
identities and therefore the state at the multifaceted levels of oppression.
experience multiple expense of women arrangement between For example, white
forms of oppression different minority middle-class,
groups. Women who college-educated
are of lower class and women face oppression
of a racial minority are but are more liberated
oppressed on several than black working-class
levels, e.g. black women
working-class women
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Practice questions
1 To what extent do feminists agree on sex and gender? You must use
appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer and
consider any differing views in a balanced way.(24)
2 To what extent does feminism disagree on how women are oppressed
in society and economy? You must use appropriate thinkers you have
studied to support your answer and consider any differing views in a
balanced way.(24)
3 To what extent do feminists agree over the conception of patriarchy?
You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your
answer and consider any differing views in a balanced way.(24)
4 To what extent do feminists agree over the best ways to achieve social
change? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support
your answer and consider any differing views in a balanced way.(24)
Further reading
Egan, M. (2020) ‘Feminism and patriarchy’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 2.
Egan, M. (2021) ‘Kate Millett on the portrayal of women in literature’, Politics Review,
Vol. 31, No. 3.
Egan, M. (2021) ‘Liberal thinkers and feminist thought’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 2.
Gallop, N. and Tuck, D. (2021) ‘Feminism’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 2.
Grant, M. (2020) ‘Feminism: the personal is political’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 3.
14 Feminism 411
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15 Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is a set of political ideas that became popular in the 1960s.

Increased migration from former colonies to both the UK and France after the
Second World War, and the Quebec question in Canada, led to a debate on how the
nation state should react to multiple cultures living in one society. Globalisation and
the freedom of movement within the European Union contributed to an increase
in mass migration and a continuation of the multicultural debate. At its core,
multiculturalism explores the relationships between majority and minority cultures
and their attempts to coexist within single societies.

Politics of recognition
Colin Kaepernick (centre) Recognition relates to how cultural identities are categorised within society.
and his teammates take the Charles Taylor (b. 1931) was the first to recognise that ‘nonrecognition or
knee in protest against the misrecognition can inf lict harm’. Taylor used the example of the way that Africans
oppression of black people
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have had a negative and demeaning image projected
upon them by a dominating Caucasian society:
‘… since 1492, Europeans have projected an image
of such people as somehow inferior, “uncivilized”, and
through the force of conquest have often been able to
impose this image on the conquered.’
Multiculturalists believe that the state should
reinforce formal equality to remove the political,
legal and social discrimination of cultural minorities
by cultural majorities within society and the
economy. Taylor’s ‘politics of recognition’ requires
acknowledgement of equal dignity and equal
recognition. Taylor argued that there is a universal A bilingual sign in Quebec:
right for all to have their identity recognised and that cultural majorities should the Canadian Constitution
express an ‘openness and generosity of spirit’ to minorities. protects French as an official
language
Equal dignity
Equal dignity requires different races and cultures to be evenly respected. A recent
example in the UK is the Muslim national holiday of Eid ul-Fitr being recognised
Key terms
and respected. Despite it not being a holiday that the majority culture celebrates, Formal equality Where
Muslims may take a day off work or school to celebrate. the state imposes legal
equality for all individuals
The civil rights movement in the USA during the 1960s and the Civil Rights Act
and groups in society. Also
1964 are examples of equal dignity in action — guaranteed integration in education
described as ‘equal rights’.
and the ending of public segregation. (See Chapter 20 for more detail).
Segregation Where the
Equal recognition diversity of different
communities has led to
Equal recognition is where the state recognises with laws a minority group’s
separation rather than
particular identity to enable an equal standing with the majority. Will Kymlicka
integration. Consequently,
(b. 1962) argued that this is important because otherwise aspects of minority groups’
communities develop
ethnic heritage would be lost. Below are two examples:
defensive attitudes and
l Muslim women in Europe wish to wear the niqab and/or the burqa as this is their become increasingly
tradition. While this is recognised in the UK, it is banned in public places in France. geographically segregated.
l In Canada, where English is the dominant language, Quebec has attempted to Segregation can be state
maintain the cultural integrity of its mainly French-speaking population. It has driven, as in South Africa
been successful in retaining its distinct heritage: French is the official language of in the twentieth century,
government, business and education (for those with French heritage). Quebec is a or the result of minority
good example of a culture that has achieved the politics of recognition, although groups preferring not to
this has recently become more complicated. integrate.
In focus
Controversy: Quebec and Bill 96
French is the main language of just over 20% of Canadian citizens and most native French
speakers live in Quebec. The Canadian Constitution protects the French language as an official
language. In 2021, the Quebec government announced Bill 96, which will strengthen the use
of French, by adding clauses to the Canadian Constitution stating that Quebec is a nation and
that its common language will be French. Bill 96 is designed to stop the slow decline in the use
of French language, especially among younger people.
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The bill has been controversial. On the one hand it attempts to protect the unique Quebec
culture by protecting the French language. Conversely, it limits the right of individuals to
communicate with state officials in English, and it restricts the use of English before the
courts. Furthermore, the linguistic rights of indigenous peoples have been most ignored in the
debate and are barely mentioned in Bill 96.
Key term Culture and identity

Culture Relates to the The politics of recognition inform a cultural identity and also an individual identity.
dominant values, beliefs, Bhikhu Parekh (b. 1935) argued that human nature and identity are socially constructed,
heritage and lifestyle of a and that factors like race, ethnicity, religion, class and gender are vital. Quantitative research
particular community. (via surveys) carried out by Tariq Modood (b. 1952) has statistically demonstrated high
levels of ethnic self-identification within different ethnic cultures.
Key thinker
Tariq Modood (1952–) Modood’s main ideas

l A successful diverse society can promote unity rather than
disunity, a ‘unity through diversity’.
l By stressing the strength of various cultural identities,
society can be enriched. Practical examples are faith
schools and community groups.
l Cultural diversity and tolerance of various cultures have
become part of the dominant British culture. Moreover, in
Modood’s view, British culture can be seen as ‘superior’ on
the grounds of such diversity.
l The strength of British society is that there are now many
separate local communities which foster a sense of
vibrancy and dynamic individualism.
l Modood therefore interprets ‘Britishness’ in a pluralistic
Modood is a British–Asian academic who has acted as an fashion which people with diverse cultural identities can
adviser to UK governments on issues such as multiculturalism embrace.
and racial integration. His key work is Multiculturalism (2007).
Key terms As Taylor states:

Identity politics A belief ‘It is impossible to understand ourselves and others … without understanding the
and aspiration that states communities in which we function.’
policy makers should see
This is because:
individuals in terms of their
multiple identities and l culture is a vital component in constructing individual identity; individuals are
should take into account culturally embedded
diversity rather than seek l culture informs identity politics, where individual beliefs are collectively
to suppress it. constructed within the community that they belong to — this is often described
Communitarianism People
as communitarianism.
see themselves in terms of Kymlicka and Tariq Modood have argued that communal identity is increased when
the multiple communities individuals are confronted with communities different from their own. Modood
of which they are a part. concluded: ‘To be among those of a very different culture makes one aware of what
These may be based on one is not, and thereby sharpens our understanding of what one is.’
religion, culture or ethnicity.
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Parekh has also argued that the state must take into account identity politics when
negotiating with minority cultures to understand how belonging to specific and
Knowledge check
ethnic cultures can inform an individual’s thinking. See Table 15.1 and below for 1 Describe the politics
examples of identity politics. of recognition.
2 What is meant by
In many cultures, identity politics has seen oppressed minorities reappropriate
equal dignity?
discrimination and use it to strengthen their collective identity. There are numerous
3 What is meant by
examples of this:
equal recognition?
l African Americans have turned the term ‘black’ into a positive statement,
reappropriating the word to become a term of pride rather than derision. The
1968 Olympics saw the famous black power salute, while more recently American
Key terms
footballer Colin Kaepernick ‘taking the knee’ to the US national anthem has
been a contemporary protest against ‘a country that oppresses black people and Value pluralism The belief
people of colour’. that liberal views in society
l The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe protested in 2017 against the North Dakota hold no more moral
Pipeline being routed through reservation land. authority than illiberal
l Muslim women in France have repeatedly taken to the streets to protest the views.
banning of the niqab and the burqa in recent years. Group-differentiated
Table 15.1 Types of identity politics with examples rights Specific rights
granted to minority groups
Identity politics Examples (rather than to individuals)
Religion Islam; Judaism and not universally applied
Ethnicity The Chinese; the Japanese to all.
Negative historical experience African Americans; Native Americans; Jews Positive discrimination/
Affirmative action Where
minority groups, or women,
Minority rights find themselves suffering
Minority rights address the needs of specific groups within a multicultural society discrimination in fields
to be allowed preferential or specifically different treatment to facilitate their such as employment,
requirements as a culture. Kymlicka offered a liberal defence of minority rights business, politics and
inf luenced by the value pluralism of Isaiah Berlin (1909–97). Kymlicka advocated education, the state may
group-differentiated rights whereby some groups might have separate rights of create legal assurances to
their own, as long as these rights do not harm others or interfere with the rights of give a positive advantage
other groups. to such groups in order to
Kymlicka conceptualised three types of ‘group-differentiated rights’, which protect create more equality of
different types of minority groups in different contexts (Table 15.2). outcome.
Table 15.2 Kymlicka’s types of group-differentiated rights

Representation rights Definition To allow minority groups who have been victims of
discrimination access to public life via positive discrimination
Knowledge check
(sometimes called affirmative action) 4 Why is culture
Example important to identity?
• In the USA the executive order (see Chapter 19) of John 5 What is meant by
F. Kennedy in 1961 created affirmative action for minority
identity politics?
ethnic groups, initially to combat racism within employment.
Affirmative action later spread to education and voting 6 Define
communitarianism.
Rationale Kymlicka argued that ‘group representation rights
7 Why did Colin
within the political institutions of the larger society make it less
likely that a national or ethnic minority will be ignored’ Kaepernick ‘take the
knee’?
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Polyethnic rights Definition The state assists immigrant groups in maintaining
their cultural rights
Examples
• Exemptions from law, including dress codes that conflict
with religious beliefs, and specific methods of animal
slaughter: shechita for Jews, zabiha for Muslims
• Educational initiatives, including funding immigrant language
programmes
Rationale Kymlicka argued it will ‘protect specific religious and

cultural practices which might not be adequately supported’
Self-government rights Definition Self-government for minorities or indigenous people
if they have been historically disadvantaged, but only if this is
the will of the group and is geographically practical
Example
• There have been claims for self-government ranging from
Scotland (see Chapter 5), to Catalans in Spain, Aborigines in
Australia, Native Americans in the USA
Rationale Kymlicka argued that this will ‘devolve powers
to smaller political units so that a national minority cannot
be outvoted or outbid by the majority on … such issues as
education, immigration … language’
Key thinker
Will Kymlicka (1962–)

Kymlicka and his fellow Canadian Charles Taylor have been drawn into the multicultural
controversy over whether the French-speaking minority in Quebec should be allowed to retain
a separate identity or should be integrated into wider Canadian society. His key work is
Multicultural Citizenship (1995).
Kymlicka’s main ideas

l Modern liberal principles are applicable in all societies and communities and at all times.
Cultural choice is important. In a monocultural society, choices are too limited.
l Kymlicka developed the idea of group differential rights, whereby cultural groups might be
granted rights separate from those enjoyed by society in general. When such rights are
granted, members of minority groups are more likely to become ‘good citizens’.
l Kymlicka therefore suggests that it is possible to accommodate disparate minority group
rights within a cohesive and unified society.
l Kymlicka’s more recent work has discussed extending group rights to animals.
Opposition to minority rights

Minority rights have been criticised for the following reasons:
l Liberal rights: Members of the majority culture in liberal democracies often
oppose minority groups whose cultural practices restrict individual freedom.
France banned Muslim headscarves and resists the idea that wearing the headscarf
(or burqa) is a cultural norm that many Muslim women desire.
l Reverse discrimination: The idea of reverse discrimination is usually used
to refute racism against minority ethnic people and undermine anti-racism
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efforts. This idea maintains that positive discrimination is counterproductive
as rather than empowering minorities, it conveys that they can only succeed
Key terms
via state-sponsored social engineering. Positive discrimination also counters the Essentialism Different
liberal value of meritocracy, often alienating the majority. Supreme Court Justice communities contain
Clarence Thomas has argued that positive discrimination ‘harms the people it specific characteristics,
claims to help’. which means that
l Isolation of minority groups: Modood argued that cultural groups must not be their values will be
closed and should be built on anti-essentialism. deeply entrenched. The
entrenched nature of
Diversity cultural, ethnic or gender
identities means that there
Globalisation and international migration have made diversity a way of life for many
will always be a strong
countries. Freedom of movement within the EU means that a number of member states,
sense of cohesion within
and especially their capital cities, are culturally diverse.
the various communities.
Within multicultural thought, opinions differ as to how multicultural states should Individualist integration
deal with diversity. Kymlicka advocates ‘shallow diversity’, which maintains that the Where the state
national values of the dominant culture should remain and that minority cultures recognises that some
must adapt. Parekh prefers ‘deep diversity’, where the values of all communities allowances in the law can
within society are given equal respect and validity. Ensuring this may involve the and should be made to
state changing laws to ensure individualist integration that will accommodate accommodate cultural
the values of minority cultures. differences, for example
exemptions from Christian
Debate worship in schools for
members of other faiths.
Are there differences between shallow diversity and Universalism A liberal

idea associated with
deep diversity? shallow diversity that
Evaluation: How does the role of the state differ between shallow and deep diversity? believes some values
Shallow diversity Deep diversity should be applied to all
societies, whatever their
• Universalism is an important • Deep diversity supports identity politics, belief system or heritage.
principle: some social values are so which suggests that individuals’
vital that they must be compulsory for identities are formed by the culture in
all societies and communities which they live rather than by society as
a whole
• The laws and customs of minority • The laws and customs of minority
cultures must conform to national law cultures should be allowed to coexist
(wherever possible) alongside national
laws
• The customs of diverse cultures • Diverse cultural customs should be

should be respected and celebrated. actively encouraged and not suppressed
However, there remains a stress on
national values
• The role of the state is to promote • The key to social cohesion is dialogue
social harmony. A diversity of between different cultures — a ‘dynamic
culture will enrich society and this multiculturalism’. Diversity will take
development should be directed by from the strength of all cultures and the
the state weaknesses will be marginalised
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Different types of multiculturalism
Key terms Liberal multiculturalism
To understand liberal multiculturalism, we must explore three distinct ideas:
Tolerance Liberals see
different lifestyles as l The neutral state
having equal value, so l The principle of tolerance
they should be tolerated l Multicultural integration
and respected equally.
By introducing tolerance, The neutral state
diversity in society can John Rawls (see Chapter 9) argued that the state must remain ‘neutral’ in its
be encouraged and can treatment of different cultures and must not promote one as superior to another.
become a positive force. However, Rawls had one condition: that when a culture practised its distinct views
Multicultural integration and freedoms it did not trespass on the views and freedoms of other cultures. In the
The idea that even in public sphere, individuals are expected to sign up to universalism, recognising that
culturally and racially some values apply to the whole society, while in the private sphere individuals are
diverse communities, there free to cultivate cultural diversity (Table 15.3).
can be a strong degree This shallow diversity is associated with the likes of Kymlicka and Modood.
of integration, leading to Liberalism can therefore be seen as being difference-blind, where factors such
social harmony. as race, ethnicity, culture, gender and religion are immaterial as individuals are
Ethnicity A term viewed as morally autonomous.
associated with racial
Table 15.3 The public and private spheres in a neutral state
identity. It stresses one’s
origin rather than one’s The state has no right to interfere in The state may interfere in the PUBLIC SPHERE (the
specific race. It is also the PRIVATE SPHERE (the individual’s individual’s public life)
often used to refer to personal life)
a people who are living This is the personal or private This is the communal aspect of social life such
aspect of societal life. It involves an as the workplace and public institutions. All
among a people of a
individual’s engagement with their individuals, regardless of their culture, must
different origin. native language, custom, religion respect the norms of the liberal public sphere, such
and culture as formal equality and anti-discriminatory laws
Knowledge check The principle of tolerance

All liberals accept tolerance as a fundamental virtue. In accordance with J.S. Mill’s
8 What are minority harm principle (see Chapter 9), liberal multiculturalists believe that all forms of
rights? activity, belief and lifestyle should be tolerated as long as they do no harm to others.
9 Why is there Liberal multiculturalists refuse to acknowledge ‘deep diversity’ and individualist
opposition to minority integration if they endanger individual autonomy and personal liberty. So whereas
rights? liberal multiculturalists could accept individualist integration that allowed someone
10 Define value to be exempt from Christian worship, they would not accept the likes of:
pluralism.
11 Give three l female circumcision — illegal in the UK since 1985; and since 2003, an offence
examples of group- for UK residents to have their children taken abroad to receive female genital
differentiated rights. mutilation (FGM)
12 What does positive l forced marriage — legislation in 2007 and 2014 has made forced marriage illegal
discrimination/ in the UK.
affirmative action However, within liberalism, there is debate over what constitutes harm. Taylor argues
mean? that the state can be guilty of harming minority-group citizens by ignoring the
importance of their cultural identity within society. Taylor’s ‘politics of recognition’
argues that liberalism focuses on the individual at the detriment of group identity.
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Liberal democracy
Liberal multiculturalists regard liberal democracy as the only system to defend the
core values of liberty, tolerance and formal equality. Groups that are overtly illiberal
or wish to replace liberal democracy are not tolerated. The acknowledgement of
some aspects of sharia law in the UK demonstrates the ‘politics of recognition’ that
Taylor advocated, while remaining within liberal parameters.
Sharia law
Sharia law is a set of wide-ranging principles that Muslims use to organise their daily
lives within the Islamic tradition. It includes guidance on worship, marriage,
economics and even hygiene, derived from the Qu’ran (Islam’s central religious text)
and the rulings of Islamic scholars. Like most judicial systems, sharia law is so
complex that only specific legal experts are able to guide and judge.
Some aspects of sharia law upheld in Muslim-dominated countries create obvious
tensions with liberals, for example the illegality of same-sex relationships and the
punishments for blasphemy. Within the UK there has
been some acceptance of sharia law, such as the sale
of halal meat and financial products (Muslims are not
allowed to profit from lending or receiving money)
that complement Muslim traditions. Sharia councils
are allowed to deal with business disputes and family
disagreements, but crucially they cannot overrule
the decisions of UK courts. The 2018 independent
review into the application of sharia law in England
and Wales made quite clear that:
‘Sharia councils have no legal status and no legal binding
authority under civil law. Whilst sharia is a source of
guidance for many Muslims, sharia councils have no legal
jurisdiction in England and Wales.’
The same independent review, while noting the many examples of good practice of
the sharia councils, also raised concern over the lack of women council members and
cases of women being treated unfavourably. One of the report’s key recommendations
was that the sharia councils should be brought under a traditional liberal framework so
that they could be regulated as all public institutions in liberal democracies are.
Key thinker Knowledge check

13 What is essentialism?
Charles Taylor (1931–) 14 What is individualistic
Charles Taylor is a liberal Canadian philosopher. integration?
He is a critic of multiculturalism, preferring his 15 What is universalism?
own version of the doctrine, communitarianism. 16 Define shallow
His key work is Multiculturalism and the Politics diversity.
of Recognition (1994). 17 Define deep diversity.
Taylor’s main ideas
l Our sense of identity derives from our
relationships with social groups, for
example family, religion, occupation and
social activities.
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l Political engagement tends to stress the idea of a ‘national culture’, whereas humans
actually view their identities in terms of smaller, specialised communities.
l States and their policy makers should take into account diverse identities, the ‘politics of
recognition’.
l Taylor criticises the liberal tradition for concentrating on individual rights and ignoring
group rights.

Charles Taylor has argued that the state should take into account diverse identities that exist within many societies via a ‘politics
of recognition’.
‘We define our identity always in dialogue with, sometimes in struggle against, the things our significant others want to
see in us. Even after we outgrow some of these others — our parents, for instance — and they disappear from our lives,
the conversation with them continues within us as long as we live.’
‘My discovering my own identity doesn’t mean that I work it out in isolation, but that I negotiate it through dialogue,
partly overt, partly internal, with others.’
‘... dominant groups tend to entrench their hegemony by inculcating an image of inferiority in the subjugated.’
‘Little countries do not have this luxury of defending themselves. We have to do it before the fact and not after the fact.’
‘... it is reasonable to suppose that cultures that have provided the horizon of meaning for large numbers of human beings,
of diverse characters and temperaments, over a long period of time — that have, in other words, articulated their sense of
the good, the holy, the admirable — are almost certain to have something that deserves our admiration and respect, even
if it is accompanied by much that we have to abhor and reject.’
What do these quotes from Taylor tell us about his view of human nature and how society should be constructed?
Pluralist multiculturalism
Isaiah Berlin advocated ‘value pluralism’ and coexistence of cultures, which has
been called the ‘politics of indifference’. As a liberal, Berlin thought that these
pluralistic values should coexist within a dominant liberal structure. However,
pluralist multiculturalism goes further, arguing that if liberal values are not morally
superior, they should not be the dominant guiding ideology.
Key thinker
Isaiah Berlin (1909–97)

Berlin was one of the most prominent twentieth-century modern liberal philosophers in the
Western world. His analysis of liberalism is seen by many as the ultimate expression of the
ideology. His key work is Two Concepts of Liberty (1958).
Berlin’s main ideas

l The idea of ‘moral pluralism’ asserts that there are some moral values that are common to
all communities, such as liberty, equality and honesty, while other moral values vary from
one community to another.
l Berlin argued that some values are ‘absolutes’ and common to all cultures: truth, liberty,
equality, compassion, honesty and courage.
l Such pluralist societies would be bound by common agreement over what constituted
absolute values and these would be protected by the state.
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Bhikhu Parekh stressed the diversity of the human condition and emphasised the need
for the state to listen to a variety of voices, so that society might represent and respect
Knowledge check
a pluralism of views. Parekh has been especially critical of cultural assimilation, where 18 What did Rawls mean
minority cultures would be expected to replace their cultural practices with liberal ones by the neutral state?
as if they were merely changing clothes. Parekh concludes that attempting to impose 19 What is the principle
liberal values is futile and risks alienating minority citizens. Pluralist multiculturalism of tolerance?
advocates cultural relativism, recognising that individuals perceive customs and justice 20 What is multicultural
depending on their culture and that each perspective is equally valid. integration?
21 What role does the
Such a position has caused tensions with liberals, and Anne Philips has argued that
liberal state play in
‘multiculturalism has promoted a cultural relativism that can no longer distinguish
the public sphere vs
between right and wrong’. Liberals are influenced by J.S. Mill’s writings on toleration,
the private sphere of
the idea of not using one’s power to interfere with another’s action, even when one might
society?
morally disapprove of that opinion or action. However, there are limits to toleration.
22 How does liberal
For Philips, the ‘wrongs’ she opposes are impossible for her to tolerate because they
multiculturalism both
transgress another of Mill’s ideas: the harm principle. Examples of cultural norms that
recognise and not
are unacceptable to liberals because they are deemed harmful to individuals would be:
recognise Sharia law?
l female genital circumcision
l non-consensual arranged marriages
l child marriage
l incestuous relationships.
Parekh’s solution to this ethical dilemma has been to argue that multicultural society
should accept contextual cultural relativism, so minority practices can exist as long
as they do not contradict the fundamental values of the majority. The UK follows
this logic and all of the above are illegal in the United Kingdom.
Parekh maintained that ‘deep pluralism’ (or diversity) is needed to ensure a truly
inclusive society, involving state intervention to allow a ‘politics of recognition’.
This would entail:
l legal pluralism — variations in the law to respect cultural differences on divorce,
polygamy, abortion, same-sex relationships; aspects of religious law, such as sharia
law, coexisting with secular law
l public funding for minority education and cultural associations to facilitate the
sustainability of minorities’ cultural heritage within society.
Key thinker
Bhikhu Parekh (1935–)

Bhikhu Parekh was formerly the chairman of the
Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain. He is
an appointed Labour peer in the House of Lords and is
on the extreme left of the multiculturalist movement.
His key work is Rethinking Multiculturalism (2000).
Parekh’s main ideas

l Parekh rejects universalism, arguing that the
individual is always culturally embedded.
l Unlike most liberals who propose ‘shallow diversity’,
Parekh’s ideas are often described as ‘deep diversity’
(see Debate on page 426).
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l Parekh believes that attempts to create a single value system in society, to which all
cultures can subscribe, are doomed to failure at best and may cause social conflict at
worst. He argues instead for a ‘community of communities’.
l Parekh argues that different legal systems can coexist. For example, Islamic sharia law can,
with some restrictions, coexist with UK national law.
l Parekh argues that there is a ‘cultural embeddedness’, which suggests that individuals
largely, though not exclusively, view the world in terms of their cultural upbringing.
Such ideas have led to debate over whether this is consistent with liberal
democracy.
Parekh claimed that such a process would be ‘less a competition and more a
conversation … in which each community will learn from each other’. Modood
believed it could lead to a ‘community of communities’ and hence to the development
of a more holistic society.
Cosmopolitan multiculturalism
Cosmopolitan multiculturalism is an extension of liberal multiculturalism. It
Key term advocates cosmopolitan integration and encourages the development of a
Cosmopolitan integration global consciousness, whereby individuals embrace multicultural diversity rather
The idea that integration than retreating into minority groups. Cosmopolitan multiculturalism rejects
should not be confined essentialism in multiculturalism. Modood has conceded that most cultures are
to a single society or already the product of cross-fertilisation and intermixing; cosmopolitan thinker
state but should exist on Jeremy Waldron has gone further, suggesting that preserving culture is a f lawed
a worldwide basis. This concept:
implies that tolerance and
‘To preserve a culture is often to take a favoured “snapshot” of it and insist that
mutual respect should be
this version must persist at all costs, in its defined purity, irrespective of the
universal. It also suggests surrounding social, economic and political consequences.’
that individuals may
choose which cultural Cosmopolitan multiculturalists argue that within multicultural societies individuals
community to join and develop f luid identities that are self-constructed via interaction with multiple
may see themselves as cultures. Individuals are not culturally embedded (in contrast to the ideas of pluralist
members of multiple multiculturalism) but are ‘cultural hybrids’, members of more than one cultural
communities. community, with no strong attachment to any one. Culture becomes something
that individuals can ‘pick and mix’, while identity has become detached from
cultural origins.
Critics have argued that such cultural construction is superficial and unconvincing —
engaging and interacting with different cultures is not the same as belonging —
and misunderstands the complexity of cultural interactions. Kymlicka argues that
cosmopolitan multiculturalism overestimates how much fundamental movement
there is between cultures and has critiqued a key Waldron example:
‘An Irish–American who eats Chinese food and reads her child Grimm’s Fairy
Tales is thereby “living in a kaleidoscope of cultures”. But this is not moving
between societal cultures. Rather it is enjoying the opportunities provided by
the diverse societal culture which categorizes the Anglophone society of the
United States.’
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Parekh asserts that cultures do not coexist peacefully and that the inbuilt advantages
of dominant cultures allow them to overwhelm the rest if unchecked. Traditions,
values and customs of all cultures need to be sustained, and if their members are
not culturally embedded, as cosmopolitan multiculturalists claim, then cultures,
particularly minority ones, will wither and die. Cosmopolitan multiculturalism
therefore threatens the diverse cultures that it is supposed to be celebrating. Likewise,
cosmopolitan multiculturalism assumes that liberal values are superior to other
cultural traditions. Pluralist multiculturalists cannot accept this assumption, as they
disagree that liberal ideas are superior to non-liberal ideas.
Table 15.4 sets out some of the tensions between different views on multiculturalism.
Table 15.4 Tensions within multiculturalism
Pluralist multiculturalists Liberal and cosmopolitan multiculturalists
• Pluralist multiculturalists • Liberal and cosmopolitan multiculturalists see people

such as Parekh see people as individuals pursuing self-interest. Cosmopolitan
as mainly interested in their multiculturalists, in particular, see themselves as
own communities members of multiple communities
• Pluralist multiculturalists • Liberal multiculturalists are uncomfortable with state

argue that some intervention
communities need state • Cosmopolitan multiculturalists (unlike pluralist
intervention to address multiculturalists) believe that attachments to
institutional inequality communities should be weak and therefore see state
within society and economy interventions as unnecessary
Knowledge check
23 What is meant by the ‘politics of indifference’?
24 Give examples of the ‘absolutes’ that Berlin argues are common to all cultures.
25 What do pluralist multiculturalists mean by ‘cultural relativism’?
26 Why is cultural relativism unacceptable to liberal multiculturalists?
27 What do plural culturalists mean by ‘cultural embeddedness’?
Conservative criticism of multiculturalism

Multiculturalism can be seen as incompatible with conservative thought:
l Tradition and nationalism: Conservatives cling to customs, rituals and
long-standing practices. The cultural diversity of multiculturalism threatens
long-standing national identity. Cultural relativism and deep diversity are unacceptable
to many conservatives. For example, many in the UK oppose sharia law.
l Organic society: Conservatives see society as organic and multiculturalism
can potentially fracture that existing culture and make society unstable. This is
an argument used by those who feel that mass immigration has fractured UK
society in recent years.
Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations (published in 1996) ominously argued
that multiculturalism leads to torn countries and ‘cleft societies’. It is argued that the
deep diversity of Parekh, with minority cultures being given differentiated status,
creates ‘ghettos’ where minorities are separate from mainstream society rather than
integrating.
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In focus
Denmark’s anti-ghetto laws
Since 2010 Denmark has annually compiled a ghetto list, whose criteria include higher than average
job loss and poverty rates. Controversially, more than half of the population in these ‘ghettos’ are
first- or second-generation immigrants. Denmark’s government perceives such neighbourhoods as
irredeemable disasters and proposes mass eviction and reconstruction. While current tenants are
offered alternative accommodation, they have no control over its location or quality. Critics of the
policy have argued that ghetto packages are clearly meant to target non-white individuals.
Residents protesting about the Denmark ghetto laws
There are numerous examples in the UK, Denmark, India, the Netherlands and France
where cultural diversity has led to conf lict. As French president Nicolas Sarkozy
argued in 2011: ‘We have been too concerned about the identity of the person who
was arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving him.’
Sarkozy’s complaint is that multiculturalism’s emphasis on minority rights discriminates
against the majority. Therefore, conservatives traditionally argue that minorities must
conform to the dominant culture, adopting a process of assimilation. Assimilation
evaporates cultural difference by persuading minorities to adopt the values, customs
and beliefs of the majority culture of the place where they have chosen to live.
Conservatism’s defence of multiculturalism

It would be unfair to argue that conservative thought is completely critical of
multiculturalism, and untrue to view conservatism as racist.
l Conservatism defends tradition and the multicultural aspect of UK society.
Multiculturalism is so long-standing that it is part of UK traditions and customs.
When William Hague was leader of the Conservative Party in 1998 he attended
the multicultural Notting Hill Carnival, demonstrating modern conservatism’s
acceptance of a multicultural society though this could be criticised as a token gesture.
l Edmund Burke (see Chapter 10) argued that society was bound by and prospered
from active communities (the ‘little platoons’), and the multicultural UK can be
seen as an example of this idea.
l Burke argued that society must be able to ‘change to conserve’ and so conservatism
can accept that society is strengthened by cultural diversity.
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In focus
Sajid Javid became the first Asian
and first Muslim to hold one of
the great offices of state when he
became home secretary in 2018.
The Conservative Party’s first
minority ethnic MP, Mancherjee
Bhownagree, was elected in 1895,
prior to multiculturalism in the UK.
In October 2022 Rishi Sunak
became the first Asian and
practising Hindu to become Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom. The UK’s first British Asian prime minister, Rishi Sunak,
When he first became an MP he was elected in 2022
swore allegiance not on the Bible
but the Bhagavad Gita, the most revered of all the Hindu holy texts. Flexibility and tolerance
underpin the ceremony for when MPs swear allegiance to the Crown. MPs sworn into Parliament
can choose whether to swear on a religious text or simply affirm their commitment to the Crown
and law. The choices are the King James Bible, the New Testament, the Torah, the Qur’an, the
Bhagavad Gita, or the Dhammapada.
Knowledge check
28 Define cosmopolitan integration.
29 Why are pluralist multiculturalists critical of cosmopolitan multiculturalists?
30 Give two reasons why conservatism has been seen as incompatible with multiculturalism.
31 Give two reasons why conservatism is compatible with multiculturalism.
Debate
To what extent do multiculturalist agree on human nature?

Evaluation: What is the biggest division within multiculturalism about human nature?
Agree Disagree
• Multiculturalists have a communal rather than individual • There is division on how communal human nature
view of human nature. This is often described as is with multiculturalism. Liberal and cosmopolitan
communitarianism multiculturalists argue human nature is more
• Human nature is malleable and those who support individualistic. Pluralist multiculturalists perceive
multiculturalism believe humans are the products of human nature as far more collective
the society we live in. This has been described as an • Taylor’s communitarians criticise liberalism’s view
embedded sense of communalism, as is fundamental of human nature and argue that humans cannot be
to human existence understood outside the communities that shape them
• Diverse society helps individuals understand their own • Parekh argues that human nature is ‘culturally embedded’,
identity. The identity of humans is bound up in their culture interpreting the world from within one’s culture
• In each community within society, members share core • Cosmopolitan multiculturalism argues that human
values. This suggests that human nature possesses a nature is not culturally embedded and can evolve with
commonality the mixture of cultures
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Debate
To what extent do multiculturalists agree on the state?

Evaluation: What role should the state play in preserving a culture?
Agreement Disagreement
• Multiculturalists agree that the state can promote cultural • There is disagreement within multiculturalism over
diversity and provides a form of integration how best to protect and support different ethnic
• Multiculturalists reject state-sponsored assimilation as it groups
ignores the importance of cultural belongings • Liberal multiculturalists follow the ideas of Rawls
• The role of the state is to recognise the difference of and argue that the state must remain neutral in its
specific groups and not ignore differences. The state treatment of different cultures
must be sensitive and tolerant to the needs of minority • Pluralist multiculturalists like Parekh argue that
groups all functions of the state have to be reimagined
• The state includes formal equality and anti-discriminatory through multiculturalism, such as the police service,
legislation to protect all grouping that live in a society, education and asylum
including minority groups • Kymlicka offers a less radical vision than Parekh,
arguing for the state to support group-differentiated
rights
• Modood supports another alternative vision: the
state should help create an inclusive national story
that stresses cultural diversity
• Cosmopolitan multiculturalists argue against
preserving a culture and that individuals should
be free to ‘pick and mix’ from different cultures.
Pluralist multiculturalists are very critical of this
idea — Parekh argues that dominant cultures will
overwhelm minority cultures
Debate
To what extent do multiculturalists agree on society?

Evaluation: Why do shallow and deep diversity cause so much disagreement among multiculturalists when considering the nature
of society?
Agreement Disagreement
• Diverse societies offer many benefits for all the • There is a division between liberal/cosmopolitan
different cultures multiculturalists and pluralist multiculturalists
• Multiculturalists can agree on the concept of • Liberal multiculturalists can only extend toleration so far.
cultural recognition and the state countering They oppose cultures that promote gender mutilation and
cultural marginalisation forced dress codes, for example. Berlin supported diversity
• A diverse society allows different cultural groups only as far as it was based on freedom
the opportunity to enjoy their own culture and • Kymlicka wants a society that respects group-differentiated
benefit from being part of a wider culture rights. Taylor goes further and argues for collective rights,
• A diverse society allows society as a whole to which liberals are uneasy about
group and develop, and it also promotes cross- • Pluralist multiculturalism and Parekh’s ideas of deep diversity
cultural toleration clash with liberals’ preference for shallow diversity within
society
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Summary
Isaiah Individuals desire The state should practise Societies with value Capitalism can be
Berlin autonomy but mirror value pluralism. Communities pluralism are tolerant inconsistent with absolute
the absolute values will decide which values are and free moral values such as
admired by cultures most important equality
Charles Human identity The state should practise Society can be a The free market will
Taylor is shaped by ‘politics of recognition’ comprise of a variety of sometimes have to be
communities to support different communities restrained to protect
communities communitarian interests
Bhikhu Individuals Cultural pluralism must be Society should be an Free-market capitalism is
Parekh are culturally recognised by the state, ongoing conversation checked by cultures that
embedded allowing both legal and between the various promote alternative values
governmental diversity cultures that it contains to economic liberalism
Tariq History and culture The state should foster unity Pluralistic societies Free-market capitalism is
Modood provide comfort through diversity allow nations to checked by cultures that
and security to reconcile their diverse promote alternative values
individuals histories to economic liberalism
Will Individuals The state must provide Society contains Capitalism is enhanced by
Kymlicka are provided group-differentiated rights as cultures that transcend the energising effects of a
‘anchorage’ by this facilitates the consent of simple national multicultural workforce
their culture a diverse number of cultures geographical territories
Practice questions
1 To what extent does multiculturalism’s support for minority rights promote
divisions in society? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to
support your answer and consider any differing views in a balanced way.(24)
2 To what extent do multiculturalists agree on the type of society they
wish to create? You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to
support your answer and consider any differing views in a balanced way.(24)
3 To what extent is multiculturalism more divided than united? You must
consider any differing views in a balanced way.(24)
4 To what extent do multiculturalists disagree on the role of the state?
You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your
answer and consider any differing views in a balanced way.(24)
Further reading
Bridges, W. and Marchant, J. (2020) ‘Is humanitarian intervention a form of Western
imperialism?’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 4.
Heywood, A. (2016) ‘Multiculturalism: a recipe for tension and conflict’, Politics Review,
Vol. 25, No. 4.
Kelly, R. (2019) ‘Multiculturalism’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 2.
Mogridge, A. (2020) ‘Black Lives Matter: race in contemporary US politics’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 1.
Tuck, D. (2022) ‘Cosmopolitan Multiculturalism’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 3.
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16 Nationalism
Nationalism is a set of political ideas focusing on the concept and advancement of

the nation state.
l Liberal nationalism: Liberal nationalism emerged in the eighteenth century as
part of the Enlightenment. It sought to replace the monarchy with democratic
political communities that were based on the nation state.
l Conservative nationalism: Conservative nationalism emerged around the same
time, as a number of thinkers saw the world naturally divided into nations based
on a common language and culture.
l Expansionist nationalism: Expansionist nationalism emerged in the nineteenth
century. Some European countries viewed their nation as superior to others
and they sought to colonise Africa, Asia and South America. In the twentieth
century, Nazi Germany and fascist nation states sought to dominate Europe.
l Anticolonial or postcolonial nationalism: When European powers
dominated Africa and South America and parts of Asia, indigenous populations
rejected colonial rule and conceptualised anticolonial or postcolonial nationalism.

The Spanish colonisation of
the Americas involved Spain’s
Nations
conquest, settlement and All branches of nationalism stress the importance of nations, but what characteristics
rule over much of the western constitute a nation? Figure 16.1 describes different traits that nations possess. Some
hemisphere nations possess more of these traits than others.
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A common language helps organically A common culture and shared
bind a nation and implies a long common history history can create a collective
Examples: France, Germany and Italy identity and values
Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803) The USA is a multinational people
argued that a nation was defined by a common who share core traditions and values.
language and that this allowed it to express a The US flag is an important
common culture totem around which the nation can unite.
Likewise, its Constitution and racial history
inform US identity today. Despite
The classic example of a diverse ethnicity, the people of the USA
nation that can exist have been able to create a national
even when the people Language
consciousness
lacked a nation state is
the Jews, whose religion Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) argued
fed directly into a cultural that only people who share a national
history that sustained their identity can create a single consciousness
national identity until the Culture/ robust enough to form a nation state
Religion
founding of Israel in 1948 history Herder argued that cultural nationalism
Catholicism remains an Nation trait means that every nation is different, with its
important aspect of own unique cultural character
Spanish and Italian Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72) recognised
national identity, as does the importance of a romantic idea of national
Islam in many nations spirit that is common in so many cultures
of the Middle East Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) pioneered
Ethnicity Geography ‘black pride’, which has helped enable
multinational nations to come to terms with
their colonial pasts and for black people to
articulate their positive cultural contribution
to the various nation states to which they
belong
Mono-ethnic nations (where Physical geography sets
the nation consists primarily of the borders for some nations, Charles Maurras (1868–1952) suggested
one ethnic group) such as China such as Great Britain and that knowledge of a nation’s culture and
and Japan have an exclusive Japan. Some territories long history can also lead to the belief that it is
national identity, which gives associated with a people have superior to others, such as Maurras’
their culture and history a a specific resonance, such as chauvinistic nationalism
distinctness Russia whose inhabitants often
describe it as the motherland
Figure 16.1 Characteristics of a nation
Knowledge check
1 How many of the characteristics of a nation does the UK have?
2 How many characteristics of a nation does the USA have?
3 How many characteristics of a nation does China have?
Nation state
The state can be a nation or collection of territories that are organised in political
community under one government. States that are made up of territories often
incorporate the autonomy and influence of pre-existing nations by force and coercion,
declaring themselves empires. The nation can be a matter of sentiment and self-identity.
Many cultural groups that perceive themselves as nations are stateless and are seeking
statehood and wish to establish a nation state with sovereign territory. The Rohingya
are a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, thought to number about
1 million people. Myanmar does not recognise them as citizens or as one of the 135
recognised ethnic groups in the country.
16 Nationalism 429
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Rohingya refugees at
Shamlapor camp in
Bangladesh
All nation states have geographical boundaries that encompass their sovereign territory.
Key terms In many countries these boundaries have shifted over time, often as a consequence of
Chauvinistic nationalism warfare. A look at a map of Europe before and after the First and Second World Wars,
An emotionally charged and again at the end of the Cold War, will show how the boundaries of states changed,
form of nationalism that how new nation states emerged and old ones ceased to exist.
believes one nation is
Liberal nationalists argue that the world should be made up of democratic nation
superior to other nations.
states that cooperate with each other as equals. Because liberal nationalism favours
Supranationalism individualism and universalism it often looks beyond the nation to embrace
Sovereignty transcending internationalism and supranational bodies such as the EU that exercise a degree
national boundaries. of sovereignty over member states. Chauvinistic nationalism (associated with
Within the EU, nations expansionist nationalism) rejects this idea and argues that some nations are superior
will often pool their to others; these ideas are associated with Charles Maurras, as well as with radical
sovereignty and make nationalists such as Nazis and fascists.
decisions at the European
level as well as at the While this is often overlooked, liberal nationalist nations sometimes contradict their
traditional national level. own liberal beliefs. The USA’s Cold War foreign policy (its invasion and conduct in
Nation states cooperate Vietnam in particular) and its invasion of Iraq (alongside the UK) in 2003 would be
collectively as part of the two good examples of liberal democracies not respecting the sovereignty of other
United Nations and NATO nations (Vietnam) and bypassing the judgement of supranational bodies such as the
(North Atlantic Treaty United Nations (the invasion of Iraq).
Organization).
Self-determination
Self-determination is an important facet of liberal nationalism (see page 433). It means
nations have the right to govern themselves and be free of the internal oppression that
can exist with monarchies and colonial empires. Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued
that the nation state should be based on a ‘general will’, with society and the economy
governed by the collective will of the peoples that make up the community. These
republican ideas inf luenced the creation of France and the USA but were also adapted
by Great Britain, which through reform in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries became a fully enfranchised constitutional monarchy (see Chapter 5).
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For Garvey, self-determination had a racial dimension. As an anticolonialist, he saw
that European imperialism blocked self-determination and liberty in the continent
of Africa. His Universal Negro Improvement Association called for black nationalism Knowledge check
to unite all peoples of African origin. 4 How important
are geographical
Key thinker boundaries to nation
states?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 5 How do liberal
French revolutionary nationalists adopted Rousseau’s rationalist republican ideas at the end of nationalists regard
the eighteenth century. His key work is The Social Contract (1762). other nation states?
6 Are liberal nationalists
Rousseau’s main ideas always consistent in
l Patriotism and civic pride are essential, in both the creation and the reinforcement of the their beliefs?
nation state. 7 How do chauvinistic
l National identity must be the basis of the political community. nationalists regard
l Only individuals who possess such a national identity would enjoy sufficient unity to create other nation states?
a single consciousness necessary for a nation state. 8 What is
l A national ‘spirit’ will unite people and form a basic democracy. supranationalism?
Self-determination is a contentious subject and has led

to many conf licts between those wishing to achieve
it and those wishing to deny it. An example of such
a conf lict would be Yugoslavia, which descended
into violent civil war in the 1990s as different ethnic
groups sought self-determination. At the conclusion
of this civil war, Yugoslavia ceased to exist and seven
separate nation states have emerged from its ashes.
Within the UK, Scottish nationalists wish to secede
and become a fully autonomous nation state. As a
liberal democracy, Scotland was granted a referendum
in 2014, but the people of Scotland chose to remain
with the UK (see Chapter 5). Brexit was in part about
self-determination. Those who wished to leave the
European Union felt that as a member of the EU, the National flags of the various countries that emerged from
UK had lost its sovereignty (see Chapter 8). Yugoslavia
Culturalism
Culturalism maintains that peoples have unique cultural identities that help define
their national identity. Culturalism is grounded in deep emotional ties that are
associated with the ideas of Herder and have been described as romantic and even
mystical (in sharp contrast to the rationalistic ideas of Rousseau’s civic nationalism,
see page 434). It was originally concerned with the common culture of the German
people (Volksgeist).
In the nineteenth century, culturalism was the preserve of those who identified as a
people but lacked a nation state, such as the Germans and the Italians. In the twenty-
first century, culturalism f lourishes among people who feel they have a distinctive
culture that is threatened by the majority culture of the nation state (Table 16.1).
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Table 16.1 Examples of minority cultures within a dominant majority culture
Minority culture Dominant culture
Scots English
Catalans Spanish
Bretons French
In each of these countries, the minority cultures wish for more cultural
autonomy from the dominant culture, so Scottish and Catalan cultural
nationalists wish for full independence, while Bretons wish to be recognised
as a distinct nationality within France.
Cultural nationalism can be destructive when chauvinistic in nature.
l
The British Empire believed its cultural values were superior to those
of other cultures, and it projected its values on to indigenous peoples in
terms of language, law, religion and economic practices.
l The likes of Marcus Garvey were anticolonial because of the derogatory
treatment and lack of respect that Africans had been subjected to by
European colonialists.
l Radical nationalists took chauvinism to the extreme, with the Nazis
destroying cultures they viewed as inferior, most particularly in their
genocide of European Jewry in the Holocaust.
Racialism
Racialism is now very much a minority viewpoint among nationalists. It argues that
biological racial distinction is the most important factor of national identity. For
racialists, race and culture are strongly tied together and it is natural for the world to
be divided into distinct races. It has been argued that racialism can be a neutral idea
in that its exponents do not necessarily perceive one race as being superior to another,
though it is almost always forwarded by proponents of European/white supremacy.
Knowledge check Racialism is probably most recognised when it is not neutral. In the USA there have
9 What does self- been examples of racialism, which in this context is called nativism. Nativism suggests
determination mean? that those who colonised the territory first should receive preferential treatment,
10 Explain why self- forming the political elite of society and dominating social and economic discourse.
determination can In the USA this has traditionally been Caucasian Anglo-Saxon Protestants from
sometimes lead to Europe and ‘inferior groupings’ such as Irish and Chinese immigrants. However,
warfare. Native Americans were there before any of these groups, so nativism doesn’t hold up.
11 Give an example At its most extreme, racialism descends into pure racism and the state openly
of how self- oppresses the racial groups it detests.
determination has
influenced UK politics l In the USA before the civil rights movement in the 1960s, African Americans,
in recent times. Native Americans and other non-white groupings were routinely discriminated
against in society and the economy (see Chapter 20). Discrimination continues
in the present day.
Key term l In South Africa the white minority suppressed the population by a system called
apartheid, denying them civil rights and compounding these indignities with
Apartheid A policy state-sponsored violence and persecution. Key examples are the Sharpeville
of segregation and massacre (1960), when police killed 69 protestors, and the Soweto uprising
discrimination on the (1976), when police killed up to 700 secondary school students who were
grounds of race. protesting peacefully.
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Internationalism .
Internationalism denies the primacy of the nation state and seeks to break down
the divisions that separate peoples of different nations. There are two main types of
internationalism:
l liberal internationalism
l socialist internationalism.
Liberal internationalism
Liberal internationalism perceives the liberal democratic state to be the ideal model
and international cooperation to be the best method of protecting liberal values.
Giuseppe Mazzini’s long-term aspiration was liberal internationalism, where he
envisaged a united and cooperating Europe — which Europhiles today would argue
is what the EU represents.
The UN is the embodiment of liberal internationalism and is not above acting against
illiberal countries that harm their own people and/or threaten the freedom of
another state. Such actions can take the form of economic sanctions and/or
military sanctions.
Socialist internationalism
Marx and Engels perceived nationalism as being part
of bourgeois ideology that fosters an illusionary ‘false
consciousness’ (see Chapter 11). Marx and Engels
believed that the working class had a common cause
that transcended any ideas of national identity (‘the
working men have no country’) and only by uniting
as a class could they defeat capitalism. Socialist The United Nations Conference Centre for Africa in Addis
internationalism seeks to break down national Ababa, Ethiopia
boundaries on the basis that class identity should transcend national divisions
(although postcolonial nationalism is an exception to this rule — see page 440).
Different types of nationalism

Liberal nationalism
In the early nineteenth century, the vast majority of Europe’s states were monarchies
and democracy was limited to the rich property-owning classes. This broad
status quo had been maintained through a mixture of tradition, lack of creditable
alternatives and the fear of retribution if one challenged these autocracies. Liberal
nationalism was inspired by Enlightenment thinkers and based on both romanticism
and rationalism, which challenged the status quo.
Romanticism
Romanticism suggests that the political community (the state) should be based on
national identity. The concept of a national identity was, in part, a romantic idea of
Mazzini. Like Rousseau, Mazzini believed in a ‘national spirit’ that bound people
together. In Mazzini’s words: Giuseppe Mazzini
‘A country is not a mere territory, the particular territory is only its foundation; it
is the sentiment of love, the sense of fellowship, which binds together the sons of
that territory.’
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It is important to remember that Mazzini described himself as a patriot as he viewed
Knowledge check nationalism as chauvinistic and xenophobic. His patriotism was fuelled by the
12 Give an example of a injustice that much of Italy was occupied by the Austrian Empire. He was convinced
minority culture within that if the Italian states could work together with one common goal, they could
a majority culture. defeat the army of occupation and unite as a nation within a democratic republic.
13 Why is culturalism
negative when Key thinker
practised by
chauvinistic Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72)
nationalists? Mazzini was a revolutionary and, for some, a romantic figure willing to fight for his nationalistic
14 Define nativism. beliefs. He is regarded as a key figure in the creation of a united Italy in the 1860s. His key
15 Give two examples of work is On Nationality (1852).
nativism.
16 What is meant by Mazzini’s main ideas
apartheid? l His ‘Young Italy’ movement was republican.
l He argued that a nation could only describe itself as free if it were a pure democracy.
l He rejected intellectualism and rationalism, preferring ‘action’. Ideas had to be acted upon
Key terms so that they affected the physical world, hence his belief in ‘thought and action’.
l He thought that the collective freedom of the nation was more important than the
Rationalism The
establishment of individual liberty. This idea brought him into conflict with liberalism.
formulation of ideas
should be based on
human reason and logic Rationalism
rather than on empiricism. Rationalism suggests that the nation state should limit itself to promoting freedom
Rationalistic thought and democracy for the people. This definition is most closely associated with liberal
underpinned how a nation nationalism and postcolonial nationalism (see page 440).
state should function and
be governed. Rousseau’s
l In Rousseau’s version of civic nationalism, there is no need for a common
ideas were linked to
religion, region, social identity or race.
voluntarism, the idea that
l Rousseau asserted that individuals who self-identify as a ‘people’ and who wish
individuals were free to
to voluntarily establish their own national community could constitute a nation.
choose self-determination. The primary bond among members of a national community should be individuals
agreeing to obey a political authority that they have created themselves: a social
Civic nationalism
contract.
A shared sense of national
l Such ideas inf luenced inclusive nationalism (of which the USA is an example)
pride in the values of a
that simply requires an individual to be committed to the nation’s values to
nation. In most liberal
obtain membership.
democracies these are
l Conservative nationalism and expansionist nationalism, which will be discussed
typically tolerance, liberty
later in this chapter, are sometimes described as irrational, as their supporters’
and equality between all
understanding of nationalism is more emotive than logical.
groups. These ideas are
l Some argue that all forms of nationalism are irrational as nationhood, in all its
associated with Rousseau.
incarnations, is the belief of a connection of one group over another.
Inclusive nationalism The
belief that individuals can Self-determination
assume a national identity l Self-determination is a vital component of liberal nationalism.
without any specific l Rousseau believed that individuals are born with natural rights (see page 279) but
attachment to a nation, that these are restricted by absolute monarchs. Rousseau therefore argued that
such as race, culture or self-determination, in a republic state, governed by the consent of the people,
even language. was the best way of protecting natural rights.
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l Nationalism, individual freedom and government by consent are all intrinsically
linked. A self-determined democratic republic would have a constitution that
guaranteed the rights and liberties of the citizens and clearly demonstrated the
aspects of freedom that would be ceded to the state to guarantee order.
l These ideas are evident in the US Constitution of 1787.
Liberal nationalism demonstrates a clear link between liberty and nationalism. Perhaps
the best example of this in practice was after the First World War, when President
Woodrow Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’ influenced the subsequent peace treaties and led
to the creation of new nation states from the now-defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Liberal nationalism as an idea states that nations are entitled to form a nation state
if they so wish. However, unlike Rousseau, both Mazzini and Wilson argued that
there have to be some real-world considerations in the creation of nation states —
such as size and viability — and such practicalities, in their view, placed limitations
on how many nation states there can be. Once established, nation states should be
organised in a way that is based on self-determination by their people.
Nations
Just as liberals see individuals as having individual rights, so liberal nationalists apply Key terms
the same logic to nations. All nations should mutually respect each other’s autonomy. Progressive nationalism
There are two exceptions to this: A form of nationalism
1 If one nation harms another — the UK went to war with Germany twice in the where the state connects
twentieth century, when the latter invaded another country. national autonomy and
2 If a nation harms its own citizens — the UK and the USA launched air strikes on pride with improvements in
Syria in 2018 when the latter used chemical weapons on its own people. society and the economy.
This does not mean that liberal nations will always intervene in illiberal and Liberal internationalism
tyrannical nations; often to do so is financially and/or militarily impractical. In such A view that there should be
cases liberal nations prefer to use economic sanctions (to damage the economy of the less emphasis on national
illiberal state) — recent examples would be the USA and the UK imposing sanctions boundaries and that
on Russia and North Korea, both nation states with poor human rights records. international cooperation
is crucial to social and
Liberal nationalism’s promotion of democracy and societal self-determination means economic progress.
that it is sometimes called progressive nationalism.
Guaranteeing liberal values

If nation states are like individuals, then the international
community is like a state of nature. In Hobbesian terms,
given an absence of authority to maintain order, liberals
fear that this could lead to conf lict as the strong try to
dominate the weak.
Liberal nationalism seeks to guarantee liberal values in
two main ways:
l Supranational organisations and treaties — such
as the UN, the IMF/World Bank, NATO and the
EU — promote liberal internationalism. In
Hobbesian terms, this provides the vital authority
and structure to maintain international order. The
UN, for example, is the supranational body through
which liberal democracies will often pressure illiberal
and authoritarian states with resolutions to attempt The United Nations building in New York
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to persuade them to change their behaviour. Liberal
nationalism’s fondness for supranational institutions
is therefore somewhat contradictory to their view of
sovereignty and statehood.
l Free trade helps to facilitate interdependence among
sovereign nation states. One of the key arguments
for the creation of the EU was to create a symbiotic
supranational organisation in which nation states’
economies, laws and political relationships were so
entwined that war between member states would be
unthinkable.
Mazzini was an early liberal internationalist and these
The European Parliament is an example of a supranational ideas were more important to him than the establishment
institution of the Italian nation state. Mazzini’s ultimate goal was a
loose federation of European nation states built on liberal
principles. Patriotism must never be allowed to damage ‘the brotherhood of peoples
Knowledge check which is our one overriding goal’. For liberal nationalism, the liberal values of the
17 What is liberal
state are more important than the nation state itself.
internationalism?
18 What is socialist Conservative nationalism
internationalism? Conservative thinkers and politicians in the early nineteenth century were
19 How does alarmed by liberal nationalism, as self-determination challenged the autocratic
romanticism inform status quo and the legitimacy of empire. Conservative nationalism is not a single
liberal nationalism? movement but a collective term for several different forms of nationalism that
20 What did Rousseau splintered from this original conservative unease. Conservative nationalism is
mean by civic linked to human imperfection (see page 302), namely the psychological need
nationalism? for societal familiarity and the emotional security of traditional institutions
21 What is inclusive such as the f lag, the monarchy and the customs of the nation. Conservative
nationalism? nationalists seek to defend the sovereignty of the existing state rather than create
22 What is progressive new ones (like expansionist nationalists wish to). In the UK, the Conservative
nationalism? Party would be classified as conservative nationalist, viewing the UK as one
nation. The Conservative Party’s objection to EU membership was itself partly
driven by a fear that the supranational EU was superseding the sovereignty of
the UK Parliament.
Traditional conservative nationalism

Conservatives such as Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) and Otto von Bismarck
(1815–98) saw that nationalism could be adapted for their own particular aims.
Disraeli wanted to unite Britain under a common consciousness of ‘one nation’,
while Bismarck wished to unify the German states as a nation. Conservatives drew
upon the organic need that they believe human nature has for traditions, customs,
culture, history and language to facilitate a national consciousness.
Johann Gottfried von Herder believed that the world was naturally divided
into distinctive nations, the cultures of which developed via shared historical and
cultural experiences as well as through a shared language. These ideas inf luenced
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conservative nationalism. Herder’s use of the German word Volk (folk) articulated
a shared communal national experience and Bismarck co-opted these ideas
Key term
somewhat when he spoke of a Volksgeist to bring the disparate German states into Volksgeist A German
a unified country. expression, associated
with conservatism, which
Key thinker refers to the spirit of the
nation: a force that unites
Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803) people and gives them a
strong sense of national
Herder was a conservative with a romantic attachment to German nationalism and a
identity.
scepticism of rationalistic ideas. His key work is Treatise on the Origin of Language (1772).
Von Herder’s main ideas

l The national language expresses the common culture of its people, and a nation can be
defined by its culture. The common culture and spirit of a people is their Volksgeist.
l The German people should be defined by their language and this could form the basis of a
united German people in one state. (At that time, ‘Germany’ did not exist as a nation but
was a collection of states.)
Conservative nationalism’s main goal was to preserve the nation, although it is often
accused of viewing its nation and culture as being superior to others.
In focus
Liberal nationalism vs conservative nationalism
In January 2022, liberal nationalist French President Emmanuel Macron decided to fly the EU
flag under the Arc de Triomphe to celebrate the French presidency of the Council of the EU. This
led to a furious reaction from leading French Conservative nationalists, in particular Marine Le
Pen, arguing that ‘replacing’ the French flag was an attack on the country’s national identity.
The row sums up the tensions between liberal and conservative nationalism.
Tradition and a rose-tinted nostalgia are important aspects of conservative

nationalism, reinforcing this idea of the nation state. Some contemporary examples
for the UK are:
l remembering the hardships that the country has faced, such as the annual
remembrance of the war dead
l celebrating the royal family both past and present (the popular TV series The Crown Key term
demonstrating such nostalgia)
l fondly recalling key moments of collective national joy, a recent example being Exclusive nationalism
when the England football team reached the European Championship final in Citizenship of a nation and
2021. national identity require
an individual to enjoy a
Conservative nationalism can sometimes be described as exclusive nationalism common culture, language
as one must be a part of collective experiences to be part of the nation. However, or race with the existing
conservative nationalism welcomes those who integrate the values of the nation members of the nation.
state into their lives.
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England football fans
celebrate reaching the
European Championship
final in 2021
Knowledge check
23 What does traditional
conservative
nationalism believe in?
24 Define regressive
nationalism and
integral nationalism.
Regressive nationalism
Regressive nationalism is a more reactionary and xenophobic variant of
Key terms conservative nationalism. Its key advocate was Charles Maurras, a French nationalist
Regressive nationalism whose views harked back to the bygone age of French glory when the country had
A form of nationalism that been the most powerful nation in the world. Maurras felt France had lost its way
looks back to an age when in abandoning monarchy and embracing democracy. He described his nationalism
a nation was successful as integral nationalism, which was the opposite of liberal nationalism as it placed
and which hopes to the collective nation before individual rights. With integral nationalism, the people
recreate that situation. are merely servants of the nation and owe the monarchy their obedience as subjects.
Integral nationalism
Associated with extreme Key thinker
right-wing nationalism
and the ideas of Charles Charles Maurras (1868–1952)
Maurras, integral Charles Maurras was an ultra-conservative French nationalist whose ideas were imbued with
nationalism denies the racism and anti-Semitism. His movement, Action Française, was intensely xenophobic. His key
identity of the individual in work was For a French Awakening (1943).
favour of the interests of
the whole nation. Maurras’ main ideas
l Maurras supported hereditary monarchy, which he saw as a symbol of national pride and
power, while opposing democracy.
l He advocated a regressive nationalism, which yearned for a bygone age of French glory.
l He believed that the French were a superior people and as such his views were similar to
fascism (and sometimes described as chauvinistic nationalism).
l Like Mazzini, he believed in a collective identity of a people and that this was more
important than individual liberty.
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Nativists
Nativists believe that those who colonise a territory first should receive preferential
treatment. They tend to be populists who oppose political establishments that are
excessively liberal and they share many of the traits of regressive nationalists. In the
USA in the nineteenth century, white Anglo-Saxon Protestants had a strong sense
of superiority over racial and ethnic groups, whom they regarded as inferior, such
as Native Americans, Mexicans, African Americans and Irish, Chinese and Jewish
immigrants. Nativists often favour economic protectionism and they are seen as
anti-free trade and sceptical of globalisation.
Expansionist nationalism
Expansionist nationalism can be seen as a continuation of regressive nationalism. It
has a variety of different aspects, two of which are covered below.
Imperialism
Imperialism possesses elements of chauvinistic nationalism but imperial powers are
now largely confined to history. In the past, national progress was seen in terms of
Key term
the creation of an overseas empire of colonial possessions. Britain, Spain, France, Imperialism/colonialism
Austria–Hungary, the Netherlands, Japan and Germany were all prominent examples A movement involving
of imperial powers. In the 1880s the great European powers stepped up their a nation developing an
colonisation of Africa so that by 1914, 90% of the continent was under colonial rule. overseas empire and
settling its people in these
Radical nationalism conquered countries —
Regressive nationalism was a formative inf luence on radical nationalists such as for example, the Roman
German Nazism, Italian fascism and Japanese nationalism. In each case the ideas Empire; the British Empire.
were racist and used mythology to help create a national identity. Hans Günther’s
work on the ‘purity’ of the Aryan race proved a huge inf luence on Nazism, for
example. Radical nationalists such as the Nazis claimed to be progressive, propelling
the German nation forward into a powerful,
dominant future. However, critics correctly
argue that such nationalism is based on a
distorted obsession with past glories and
illiberal racism.
Radical nationalism, like regressive
nationalism, looks back to the past. Both
German Nazism and Italian fascism have a
nostalgia for a simpler, more rural time and
traditional family values.
Radical nationalism is also highly militaristic
and chauvinistic, and such nations desire
military conquest to rekindle past glories and
create a sense of national unity. The Nazis, for
example, wished to build a Greater Germanic
Reich of the German Nation that would
engulf much of Europe. In such nations the A visual example of the integral nationalist phenomenon of the individual
individual is absorbed into the nation, which being absorbed into the nation — but with one worker able to retain his
is an example of integral nationalism. individuality
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25 What is imperialism? Charles Maurras and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were nationalists who had different attitudes to
26 How did regressive self-determination. Read these quotations:
nationalism inform
‘For monarchy to work, one man must be wise. For democracy to work, a majority of the
radical nationalism?
people must be wise. Which is more likely?’
Charles Maurras
‘Every man having been born free and master of himself, no one else may under any pretext
whatever subject him without his consent. To assert that the son of a slave is born a slave
is to assert that he is not born a man.’
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
With reference to the above, explain why the ideas of Maurras clash with those of Rousseau.
Anti/postcolonialism
Anticolonialism and postcolonialism are forms of nationalism, both reactions to
colonial occupation.
l Anticolonial nationalism emerges when the indigenous population opposes the
illegitimate supremacy of the colonial power.
l Postcolonial nationalism is concerned with the political policies that develop
once independence has been achieved.
Anticolonial nationalism
Running parallel to imperial domination is the growth of the occupied nation’s
sense of patriotism and an emergence of pan-Africanism (political union of all
indigenous inhabitants of Africa) and pan-Arabism (political union and creation
of one Arab nation), which informed postcolonial nationalism. A number of the
anticolonial leaders who emerged to oppose colonial rule after the Second World
War opted for a combination of socialism and nationalism to create an economy that
was independent of global capitalism (Table 16.2).
Postcolonial nationalism
Postcolonial nationalism is not a coherent set of ideas, but there are some common
features:
l Marxist/socialist economic policies
l authoritarian governments and leadership cults
l pan-Africanism.
Table 16.2 Former colonies and their responses to colonialism
Country Political response to colonialism
Ghana Pan-Africanism and Marxism–Leninism
India Liberalism and socialism
Singapore Conservatism
Belgian Congo (now Democratic Social democracy
Republic of the Congo)
Zimbabwe Moderate Marxism
Zambia African socialism
However, it is important to recognise that these features vary and are not applicable
to all postcolonial states.
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Debate
Do nationalists have a positive or a pessimistic view of human nature?

Evaluation: How does nationalists’ attitude to inclusiveness/exclusiveness affect their ideas on human nature?
Nationalism is based on a form of consciousness whereby individuals identify with a nation based on an identity distinct
from that of other nations. It is possible to argue that nationalism contains both positive and negative perceptions of
human nature.
Positive view of human nature Pessimistic view of human nature

• Liberal and anti/postcolonial nationalists have a progressive • Conservative and expansionist nationalists have a
view of human nature. Government is based on the pessimistic and emotive view of human nature. The
consent of the people, which is psychologically a rational racism inherent in expansionist nationalism is not
interpretation. Rousseau argued that self-determination rational
was the best way to protect natural rights
• Liberal nationalist and anti/postcolonialists’ vision of • Expansionist nationalism is based on chauvinism
nation is inclusive with a positive view of human nature. and the feeling of superiority that some nations
Rousseau argued that individuals can live and work have over others. This exaggerated form of
together in harmony with shared values to form a nation nationalism is exclusive and associated with the
idea of Maurras
• Liberal nationalists and anti/postcolonialists’ view of • Expansionist nationalism is associated with
human nature is underpinned by a romanticism that was militarism, conquest and suppression of ‘lesser’
first articulated by Mazzini. National sentiment is built on nations. The belief that their own race is superior
love and fellowship leads expansionist nationalists to the conclusion that
they are entitled to the territory currently held by other
racial groups
• Liberal nationalists’ positive view of human nature makes • Expansionist nationalism is based on both imperialism
them believe nations can work and cooperate with each and racial conquest whereby the interests of one
other supranationally via institutions such as the EU or nation justify it dominating others. Militarism and
NATO. Anti/postcolonialists such as Garvey believed in conquest are used to create a sense of national unity
pan-Africanism
Marxist/socialist economic policies

Until postcolonial nationalism, Marxists had opposed nationalism (preferring
socialist internationalism). Marx and Engels viewed nationalism as a bourgeois
ideology that hindered the development of a socialist consciousness. However, many
postcolonial nationalists chose fundamentalist socialism as they saw it as the best way
to resist international economic oppression by colonial powers. Like other examples
of revolutionary socialism in practice, none of the socialist societies resembled the
utopia that Marx and Engels envisaged.
Features of postcolonial socialism are as follows:
l Postcolonialist leaders were attracted to Leninism (Lenin’s revision of the ideas
of Marx and Engels), which critiqued economic imperialism. What good was
political independence if Western multinational companies were still plundering
and exploiting the resources of their former colonies?
l Postcolonialists were attracted by the cooperative and communal aspects of socialism.
Before colonialism, many African nation states had been riven with internal divisions
as local loyalties (and ensuing warfare) had greater traction than national identity.
Julius Nyerere, former leader of Tanzania, proposed a policy of Ujamaa, which
attempted to foster a sense of value of national kinship and community.
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l
Postcolonial leaders variously called themselves Marxists, post-Marxists or
African socialists, but they all attempted to create an economy that was
independent of global capitalism. Nationalisation of industry and collectivisation
of agriculture were common policies in a number of postcolonial states.
Authoritarian governments and leadership cults

Many postcolonial nations have authoritarian governments on
the basis that there is a need for a strong central authority to help
frame a national identity long suppressed due to colonialism. This
has led to leadership cults, whereby the leader becomes a symbol
of national unity: Idi Amin of Uganda and Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe are examples. Liberal critics have argued that this has led
to corruption, with leaders economically exploiting their countries
for their personal gain and persecuting any internal opposition.
Pan-Africanism
Marcus Garvey’s ideas of black pride and pan-Africanism have
inf luenced postcolonialism in Africa. Garvey was one of the first
to articulate the idea of a ‘black consciousness’ based on both a
common ancestry of peoples in Africa and a common experience
of oppression via colonialism and slavery.
l
Black pride: Garvey believed in encouraging African people
to be proud of their race and to see beauty in their own kind.
‘The black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious
symbol of national greatness.’
l
Pan-Africanism: Garvey argued that Africans in every part of
Marcus Garvey’s ideas of black consciousness still the world must put aside cultural and ethnic differences if they
resonate today are to progress. This would facilitate re-establishing cultural
links within African states but also, and more ambitiously, a
united Africa that could compete on the global stage with the
likes of the USA and Europe.
Key term
Black nationalism Key thinker
A complex set of
conflicting ideas on the Marcus Garvey (1887–1940)
cultural, political and Garvey was Jamaican and staunchly anticolonialist. The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus
economic separation felt Garvey (1986) is an excellent collection of his thoughts.
by African Americans from
white American society. It Garvey’s main ideas
was developed by Marcus l Garvey perceived Ethiopia as the birthplace of all black peoples, which gave them a
Garvey around the idea common identity.
of black pride: a common l He developed a concept of black nationalism to unite all peoples of African origin.
ancestry, culture and l He was anticolonial, viewing imperialism as the main obstacle to the success of black
identity shared by all black nationalism.
Africans. l His ideas were a major influence on the US black consciousness movement of the 1960s.
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Knowledge check
27 Why has Marxism been so popular within postcolonial nationalism?
28 Why has liberal nationalism sometimes been critical of postcolonial nationalism?
29 What did Marcus Garvey mean by black consciousness?
30 What did Garvey mean by ‘black pride’ and ‘pan-Africanism’?
Debate
To what extent do nationalists agree on the core ideas and principles of the
state and society?
Evaluation: How does nationalists’ attitude to equality influence their ideas?
Agree Disagree
• Nationalists argue that the state and society should be • Some nationalists argue for an oppression of other
constructed around people identifying as a cohesive nations. The expansionist nationalism favoured
group with shared race, language, history or values. by Maurras argues that some nation states are
For nationalists, the state is therefore central to the superior to others and society should be based on
construction of the society of a nation shared ethnicity
• Statehood is the key objective for nationalists. As • Nationalists differ in their approach to the state. Liberal
Mazzini argued, the nation should be self-governing and nationalists influenced by the ideas of Rousseau take
able to define itself. Nationalists such as Garvey share a rationalist approach (civic nationalism), while others
a common theme for their own state and society as an such as Herder believe in a state on a more spiritual
expression of self-determination and emotional basis, arguing that the role of the state
is to preserve the nation and its culture
• Liberal and anti/postcolonial nationalism argues that there • Expansionist nationalism is exclusive and believes
will be stability within the society of a nation state when in racial superiority. This can lead to the oppressive
the state respects the boundaries of other nations. The use of force and power with nation states viewed as
supranational United Nations is a way to help enforce this inferior
• The majority of nationalists agree that the states of • A minority of nationalists disagree with this view
nation states should respect the principle of equal rights and seek to dominate nation states they see as
and self-determination of peoples. The UN helps to weaker and inferior. Such ideas are associated with
enforce this expansionist nationalism
In focus
Nationalism and the economy
Liberal nationalists typically favour free trade between nations as part of liberal
internationalism. The free trade within the EU can be seen as example of this. Civic
nationalism within liberal nationalism includes progressive taxation to fund welfare provision.
Conservative nationalists will also sometimes favour economic protectionism, which was
apparent in Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ presidency. Anti/postcolonial nationalism
predominantly favours socialist internationalism, viewing capitalism and globalisation as an
economically exploitative process of the Western world.
16 Nationalism 443
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Summary
Jean-Jacques Rational individuals The nation is the basis Society must be Rousseau did not make a special
Rousseau desire their own of any legitimate state based on political connection between nation and
freedom and is the vehicle for self-determination economy
self-determination
Johann von A collective identity States are legitimate Society is socially Herder did not make a special
Herder based on a cultural only if they are based constructed by a connection between nation and
group with a on the collective people who share a economy
common language identity of a people national heritage
and history who share a common
language and culture
Giuseppe People have a The state is the Freedom and liberty Economic freedom is a
Mazzini romantic perception romantic expression of must flourish within consequence of societal freedom
of their origins and the unity of the people society
desire liberty
Charles Human nature is Some nation states Society is based The hierarchy of states and
Maurras defined by ethnic (and their peoples) are on shared ethnicity societies leads to the economic
identity superior to others and some societies dominance of stronger nations
are superior to over weaker nations
others
Marcus One’s race is an States have been A black society A black state would lead to a
Garvey important part constructed to will be free of capitalism that benefits its people
of individual and reinforce white white suppression, and combats the economic
national identity supremacy. Black allowing the black dominance of international
people should unite to race to thrive capitalism, which has underpinned
form a black state economic imperialism
Practice questions
1 To what extent does nationalism agree on human nature? You must use
2 To what extent is nationalism expansionist in nature? You must use
3 To what extent can nationalism be described as progressive? You must
use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer.(24)
4 To what extent are nationalists in agreement on the core ideas and
principles of state and society? You must use appropriate thinkers you
have studied to support your answer.(24)
Further reading
Floyd, P. (2019) ‘The nationalism of Marcus Garvey’, Politics Review, Vol. 28, No. 4.
Floyd, P. and Grant, M. (2019) ‘Is nationalism defined by race?’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 2.
Gallop, N. and Tuck, D. (2021) ‘Nationalism’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 3.
Grant, M. (2020) ‘How do nationalists view the state?’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 2.
Jefferies, J. (2020) ‘The resurgence of the nation state’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 2.
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ME 3
THE US GOVERNMENT
AND POLITICS
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17 US Constitution and
federalism
The US Constitution has been the governing document in American politics for
Key terms more than 200 years. It contains just over 7,000 words, including the amendments,
Constitution A collection and yet it is the source of all political power in the USA today. It provides an outline
of rules, principles and of the structure for federal government, protects the rights and liberties of US
conventions that outlines citizens, and outlines federalism. Despite its age, it remains significant today, being
the political system, the basis for the power of each branch of the US government and giving them the
location of sovereignty ability to check the power of other branches. Former president Donald Trump and
and relationship between his detractors complained about these limits.
the government and those
To fully understand the US Constitution today and to analyse and evaluate how
being governed.
effective it really is, we must look at how it was created and what the aims were of
Federal government The the Founding Fathers at Philadelphia in 1787.
national government of the
USA, consisting of three
branches — Congress,
the presidency and the
The origins of the Constitution
judiciary. Following the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the 13 colonies under British
rule became 13 states embroiled in war for independence from the British. The states
Federalism A system of
first wrote the Articles of Confederation, which created a weak federal government
government in which power
and prioritised the sovereignty of the states. Following the War of Independence,
and sovereignty are shared
the weakness in these Articles became apparent. Debates were already taking place
between the federal
about the need for a stronger central government and rebellions against the newly
government and individual
formed government catalysed this movement. In Philadelphia in 1787, 55 men from
states.
12 states assembled to try to remedy the political problems evident in the Articles
of Confederation.
446 Theme 3 US government and politics
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The Founding Fathers — a commonly used term for those who helped to shape the newly formed nation of the USA. While
technically those at the Philadelphia Convention were ‘Framers’, many of them also signed the Declaration of Independence and
contributed heavily to the drafting of the Constitution
Figure 17.1 tracks the key events from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to the Bill of
Rights in 1791.
1774 First 1777 Articles of 1787 Philadelphia

Continental Congress 1775 Second Confederation written and Convention
Creates a petition to Continental Congress approved by the Second 55 delegates from 1789 First
King George III for a Manages the war Continental Congress 12 states draft a presidential election
redress of its grievances, effort and accepts Creation of a minimal federal replacement for Results in the election
with a boycott of British the Declaration government while asserting the Articles of of the first US president,
goods in the meantime of Independence state powers and sovereignty Confederation George Washington
1773 Boston 1776 Declaration 1775–83 War 1786 Annapolis 1788 US 1791 Bill of Rights
Tea Party of Independence of Independence Convention (following Constitution (Amendments
Rebels against British Signed by the The 13 colonies Shay’s Rebellion) ratified 1–10) added
rule from Westminster 13 colonies and fight Great Britain A political gathering New Hampshire In order to quell
assert their right to declares them legally that recommends a becomes the ninth the criticisms of the
‘no taxation without sovereign and convention to review state to ratify new Constitution
representation’ independent from the inadequacies of the Constitution,
Great Britain the Articles of making it binding
Confederation
Figure 17.1 Timeline of events in the development of the US Constitution
17 US Constitution and federalism 447
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In focus
The Philadelphia Philadelphia
Convention
Constitutional Convention 55 men from 12 states arrived
To understand the principles of the throughout the summer
Rhode Island did
US Constitution, it is necessary not attend
to know what the Founding
Fathers were trying to achieve at
Philadelphia, and that they did not New Jersey Plan Virginia Plan
all agree on the aims. There were 15 June 1787 29 May 1787
disagreements about the size and Drafted by William Paterson
Drafted by James Madison
Congress of one chamber
scope of federal government, as based on equal
Congress of two chambers
based on the populations
well as debates over slavery representation of
states of the states
(Figure 17.2).
The Founding Fathers at Philadelphia The Connecticut
Compromise
represented the interests of their
‘The Great Compromise’ 17
own states as well as the newly July 1787, proposed by Roger
formed United States of America. Sherman Congress of two
They were not willing to give up vast chambers with one based on
state population (the House of
amounts of state power to a new Representatives) and one
federal government, but recognised based on equal Figure 17.2 Debates
that a stronger federal government representation (the at the Philadelphia
Senate)
was needed. Convention
Knowledge check Synoptic link

1 What does the phrase The development of the US Constitution contrasts with the evolutionary development of the UK
‘federal government’ constitution, which is far more in keeping with Burke’s belief in gradual, organic change. For
mean? more on the development of the UK constitution see Chapter 5. This links with Component 2,
2 What are the Articles UK Government. For more on Burke see page 304. This links with Component 1, Core Political
of Confederation? Ideas.
3 Define the
decision reached
in the Connecticut Stretch and challenge
Compromise.
4 What was the main The Federalist Papers
disagreement at Find a copy of Federalist Paper #51 on the internet and read it. What arguments did Hamilton
the Philadelphia and Madison advance for the necessity of checks and balances? How did they believe that the
Convention? newly written Constitution met these needs?
Table 17.1 The principles and features of the US Constitution

Principles of the US Constitution Features of the US Constitution
1 Limited government 1 Codified
2 Separation of powers 2 Entrenched
3 Checks and balances 3 Vague
4 Federalism 4 Bipartisanship
Table 17.1 summarises the principles and features of the US Constitution.
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Principles of the US Constitution Key terms
The US Constitution follows a number of key principles that were held by the Principle A fundamental
Founding Fathers. Although not named or listed, these principles are woven belief or ideal.
throughout the Constitution and can be seen in the structure and limits placed on Constitutional principles
the new government. may not be named in
the Constitution, but
Limited government they underpin the entire
The 13 colonies had fought for independence from the perceived tyranny of the document and can be
British monarchy and against been taxed without representation by Parliament. The seen throughout the text.
Founding Fathers were therefore unwilling to create a federal government with Limited government
unlimited powers that could resemble Parliament. They feared such a government A government that is
could challenge the authority of the individual states. Instead they wanted the subject to restrictions on
new government to be only as big as was necessary and therefore limited its power the power it can exercise
through the ‘separation of powers’ and ‘checks and balances’. This would prevent over a country or its
any one branch from gaining too much power over the others. citizens. In the USA, these
limits are laid out through
The Founding Fathers were also concerned about the individual freedoms of citizens
checks and balances in
being challenged by a powerful government. Some argued for a Bill of Rights as a
the Constitution.
way to ensure that government could not remove the individual rights of the people,
although ‘the people’ at this time did not extend to everyone in America. While the Separation of powers
Bill of Rights was not part of the Constitution created in 1787, some states agreed to The complete separation
sign the Constitution only on the provision of a Bill of Rights being added to ensure of the three branches of
a limited government. government: Congress (the
legislature), the presidency
Separation of powers (the executive) and the
Supreme Court (the
To achieve limited government, the Founding Fathers drew inf luence from the judiciary). This includes
work of the Baron de Montesquieu, an eighteenth-century French philosopher. separation of their powers,
He argued for three entirely separate branches of government — the executive, buildings and personnel.
the legislature and the judiciary. The US federal government is therefore divided
into three branches that are entirely independent of one another — Congress (the
legislature), the president (the executive) and the Supreme Court (the judiciary),
each with a separate article in the Constitution outlining its power. This is known
as the separation of powers. Article I also forbids any one person from holding
office in more than one branch at any time, to prevent an individual from gaining
too much power. This is known as the ‘ineligibility clause’.
Table 17.2 The differences between separation of powers and checks and balances
Separation of powers Checks and balances
The division of power between branches of The power of one branch to prevent the
government action of another branch
Power is exercised independently by one In order to exercise a power, branches must Montesquieu argued that
branch of government cooperate by dividing political power
For example, the presidential power of the For example, to pass any legislation, both between three branches,
pardon is exercised largely exclusively by houses of Congress must vote to approve it
humanity’s natural tendency
the president and the president must sign it
to abuse given power could
be prevented. He said that to
Checks and balances prevent the abuse of power,
Drawing further inf luence from Montesquieu, the Founding Fathers also included ‘it is necessary from the very
checks and balances in the Constitution. James Madison wrote that ‘ambition must be nature of things that power
made to counteract ambition’, meaning that each branch of the federal government should be a check to power’
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should be given the power to oversee the actions of the other branches and even, in
Key terms some cases, prevent the other branches from acting. Checks and balances ensured
Checks and balances The that each branch of government had the power to oversee the other two.
power of one branch to
Table 17.2 summarises the differences between separation of powers and checks and
directly prevent the action
balances.
of another branch. All
branches of government
can do this, which provides Federalism
a ‘balance’ of power. While the Founding Fathers wanted to defend the rights of their states, they mostly
Bipartisanship The recognised the need for a stronger central government. Federalism is a system of
ability of two or more shared sovereignty, where the federal government would have authority over some
parties to work together aspects of political life while states would remain sovereign over others. This would
to achieve an outcome. ensure that the states’ rights and individual cultures and beliefs were not ignored.
This is enforced by the By embedding federalism in the Constitution, not only would it guarantee states’
supermajorities required in rights, it would also limit both the federal and state governments’ reach by dividing
the Constitution. political power between them.
Knowledge check
The nature of the US Constitution
Using these principles, a new Constitution for the United States was created.
5 What action of the
Following the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Benjamin Franklin supposedly
British government
said, ‘We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately.’ The
frustrated the
new Constitution intended to ensure that a stronger central government would
Founding Fathers?
allow just that, all of the states to ‘hang together’ and defend themselves from foreign
6 Define the ‘ineligibility
threats. How the Founding Fathers applied these principles can be seen in the final
clause’.
document they created.
7 List the ways in which
the Constitution
encourages The US Constitution outlined
bipartisanship.
8 Who shares sovereignty Article I: The Legislative Branch — the structure, powers and elections of Congress
in the USA? Article II: The Executive Branch — the structure, powers and elections of the president
9 List the principles of
the US Constitution. Article III: The Judicial Branch — the structure and powers of the Supreme Court
Article IV: The States — the relationship between states and admittance of new states
Article V: Amendments — the amendment process to the US Constitution
Key terms
Article VI: The United States — the supremacy of the Constitution
Codification A single
written document Article VII: Ratification — the conditions for the ratification of the US Constitution
containing all of the
constitutional rules and
principles. Codification
Judiciable A constitution The new US Constitution was codified, meaning it was written all in one document.
that contains a higher form This means that the Constitution itself is the source of political power in the USA
of law and therefore allows and the key powers that federal or state governments hold are given to them by the
other laws to be judged Constitution. Over time, the meaning of the 7,000 words of the Constitution and its
against it and be deemed amendments has been interpreted and amended, but the original document remains
either ‘constitutional’ or sovereign. As it is codified, the Constitution is judiciable, meaning that judges can
‘unconstitutional’. interpret actions and laws against the Constitution and judge whether or not they
are ‘constitutional’.
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Entrenchment
The new constitution was also entrenched. This means that the document is
protected by law and is therefore difficult to amend. The US Constitution protects
Key terms
itself through Article V, which outlines the amendment process. This ensured that Entrenched A constitution
the Constitution could be changed in response to any emerging need, but would not that is protected from
be so f lexible that it would change frequently. At the time of writing, there have been change through a legal
only 27 amendments, 10 of which were passed together in 1791, as the Bill of Rights. process. For the US
Constitution this is the
Synoptic link two-stage amendment
process, which requires
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) had considerable doubts about whether a codified constitution
supermajority approval
should be able to limit the freedom of action of future generations. The uncodified nature of
from Congress and the
the UK constitution (see Chapter 5) has allowed for far greater evolution and flexibility as time
states.
has advanced than the US Constitution. This links to Component 2, UK Government.
Enumerated powers
Powers that are
Table 17.3 Comparison of enumerated and implied powers specifically and explicitly
written down in the US
Enumerated powers Implied powers
Constitution.
• These are simply powers that are written • These are powers that are interpreted Implied powers Powers
down, in this case in the Constitution from those laid out in the Constitution
• They outline specifically the power a • They are gained from interpretations of that are not specifically
branch can exercise the vague language of the Constitution granted in the Constitution
• The Constitution outlines in Article II that • Following a memorandum from the but are assumed or
‘the President shall be Commander in Justice Department in 1947, the implied from the wording
Chief of the Army and Navy of the United president is accepted as Commander
of this document and the
States’. Obviously, with no air force at the in Chief of the United States Air Force,
time, this was not included as well as of the Marines and the Coast powers that it does grant.
• Other enumerated powers are the Guard ‘Necessary and proper
presidential veto, the pardon, making • Other implied powers are to form a clause’ A clause within
treaties and appointing ambassadors and cabinet, sign executive orders, executive Article I of the Constitution
judges agreements and executive privilege
that allows Congress
to assume any powers
Vagueness of the document which are necessary for
it to be able to carry out
Given the short length of the Constitution, its meaning is often vague. There are
the enumerated powers.
debates as to why this is so, but given that the Founding Fathers had differing views
Also known as the ‘elastic
on the role of states, slavery, the power of central government and the importance
clause’.
of a Bill of Rights, it is most likely that the more vague language allowed for
compromise of the delegates and agreement of the states. This has meant that while
the Constitution is codified, not every power is outlined within it.
Most commonly, the vague nature of the Constitution is seen through the difference
between enumerated powers and implied powers (Table 17.3). Enumerated
powers are easily identified in the first three articles as those powers explicitly
given to each branch of government. In Article I, Congress is explicitly given the
power to ‘lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imports and Excises’. This was an important
development from the Articles of Confederation in which the government had no
power over tax and therefore relied on states for money. Congress is also given
the power to ‘make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
Execution the foregoing Powers’, meaning it has the right to make any law that
allows Congress to carry out their enumerated powers. This vague clause, known
as the ‘necessary and proper clause’, has been used to extend the powers of
Congress over time.
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You can read more about enumerated and implied powers in Chapter 19, on the US
presidency.
In focus
McCulloch v Maryland (1819) for Congress’ actions, effectively granting implied powers to
Congress.
In 1818, the state of Maryland passed an Act which
would impose a tax on banks that were not created by the In this case, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote: ‘… let it
Maryland government. This would have placed a tax on the be within the scope of the constitution … [that] which are
Second Bank of the United States, which Congress had not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the
created only 2 years earlier. The Supreme Court was asked constitution, are constitutional.’ This supported the view that
to judge whether Congress had the right to set up such a Congress and other branches have ‘implied powers’ from the
bank within its constitutional powers. The decision allowed Constitution in addition to those explicitly laid out.
Not all of the Constitution is as vague as the ‘necessary and proper clause’. The
Knowledge check detail and specificity of the 2nd Amendment (the right to bear arms) could be seen
10 Who determines as one of the reasons why achieving meaningful gun control has been difficult for so
whether actions of a many presidents. Article I is more detailed and specific than Article II, which could
government branch be explained by the Founding Fathers’ fears of a strong executive. In Article I, they
are constitutional? gave Congress explicit and specific powers to try to ensure it could not be usurped
11 How many by the president.
amendments have
Ironically, this has resulted in wider interpretation of presidential power over the
been added to the
last two centuries, as the more vague language in Article II has allowed this branch
Constitution since
to expand considerably. Comparatively, Congress has found itself restricted by the
the Bill of Rights?
language of Article I, as it is so specific it allows for little interpretation. However,
12 Which articles of
the Constitution has survived for over 200 years and the vagueness of the document
the Constitution
is important in allowing it to adapt to changing circumstances and remain relevant.
enumerate the
powers of the
branches of Bipartisanship
government? Many of the Founding Fathers were sceptical about the role of parties (or ‘factions’)
13 Outline the in politics and sought to ensure that the Constitution would require compromise.
difference between Alexander Hamilton said, ‘We are attempting by this constitution to abolish
implied and factions, and to unite all parties for the general welfare.’ There is therefore no
enumerated powers. provision for a two-party system in the Constitution. Through the separation of
14 Define the ‘necessary powers, the branches were required to cooperate in order to be able to exercise their
and proper’ clause. power. The different elections and appointments for each branch made it difficult
for any one faction to control all of the branches at any one time, going some way
to ensuring compromise. Some powers of Congress and the amendment process
require supermajorities, which require parties to compromise.
Key term
Supermajority A required
The amendment process
majority of more than half, To ensure that the Constitution did not become outdated, Article V outlined the
usually in a vote. The US process by which the Constitution could be amended (Figure 17.3). The two-stage
Constitution specifies process requires a supermajority in both stages to ensure that the Constitution is
supermajorities of two- neither too f lexible nor too rigid. Madison hoped that the process would ‘guard
thirds and three-quarters equally against that extreme facility, which would render the Constitution too
for a variety of processes. mutable; and against that extreme difficulty, which might perpetuate its discovered
faults’. The ability to amend the Constitution was important in case of problems that
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emerged with it, including any abuse of political power by those who held it, but it
was important it not be changed too easily.
In order to amend the Constitution, the amendment must go through a proposal
stage and a ratification stage. For each one, there are two options for how the
amendment can be passed.
A proposed amendment passes the

A national constitutional convention
Federal
House of Representatives and the

Either … Or … is called on an amendment by two-
level
Senate with a two-thirds vote in

thirds of state legislatures
both
An amendment is ratified by a An amendment is ratified by a state

level
State
Either … simple majority in three-quarters Or … ratifying convention in three-quarters

of state legislatures of states
Figure 17.3 The amendment
process
Most commonly, an amendment is passed by a two-thirds vote in both houses of
Congress and ratified by three-quarters of state legislatures. No amendment has so
far been proposed by national constitutional convention, and how that would even
work is something that the Congressional Research Service has raised questions
about. Only one amendment has ever been passed through a state constitutional
convention. Out of nearly 12,000 proposed constitutional amendments, only 27
have passed through this process successfully, and a further 6 made it only through
the first stage. Many amendments have been proposed over and over again, with no
success. Between 1999 and 2018, a balanced budget amendment was proposed no
less than 134 times, of which 18 were proposed in just the 115th Congress (2017–19).
The key amendments outlined

l Amendments 1–10 (1791) The Bill of Rights protecting free speech, the right
to bear arms, the right to not self-incriminate, freedom from cruel and unusual Knowledge check
punishment, and the rights of states 15 Which Article of the
l Amendments 13–15 (1865–70) The Civil War Amendments ending slavery, Constitution contains
guaranteeing equal protection and due process, and expanding voting rights the amendment
regardless of race process?
l Amendment 16 (1913) Allows Congress to levy income tax 16 How many
l 17th Amendment (1913) Makes the Senate an elected, not appointed, house amendments have
l 18th Amendment (1919) Prohibited the sale, transport and manufacture of alcohol made it through
l 19th Amendment (1920) Expands voting rights regardless of sex the first stage of
l 21st Amendment (1933) Repeals the 18th Amendment (passed by state the amendment
constitutional convention) process?
l 22nd Amendment (1951) Places a two-term limit on the president 17 Which amendments
l 24th Amendment (1964) Disallows non-payment of tax as a reason to deny are contained in the
anyone the vote Bill of Rights?
l 25th Amendment (1967) Allows the vice president to temporarily exercise 18 Name a failed
presidential powers if the president is unable to amendment.
l 26th Amendment (1971) Lowers the voting age to 18
Why are there so few amendments?

Given the clear process, and the number of amendments put forward, it can be
difficult to understand why so few of them get through.
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The requirement for supermajorities is a big stumbling block. At both stages of an
Synoptic link amendment, a supermajority of either two-thirds or three-quarters is needed. In the
The US Bill of Rights, First Congress (1789–91), there were only 65 people in the House of Representatives
ratified by Congress in and 26 in the Senate, meaning that just 44 House members and 18 senators needed
1791, establishes the to agree to a proposal to pass the first stage. Today, the House of Representatives has
rights of the citizen in the 435 members, needing 287 of them to vote to pass an amendment, and the Senate
USA. The entrenched US has 100 members, needing 67 of them to vote to pass an amendment. This level of
Bill of Rights has been the consensus and compromise is very difficult to achieve. The second stage originally
basis of calls for a British needed just 9 of the 13 states to agree; today it needs 38 of 50 states, which is a much
bill of rights. UK rights are more challenging task. For both stages of an amendment, this means just a small
instead currently protected number of House members, senators or states are able to prevent an amendment
by a range of statute law from progressing.
such as the Human Rights
The growth of the USA is also a key factor in explaining the low number of
Act. For more on the
amendments. The USA expanded geographically and in terms of people, from a
protection of rights in the
population of 3.5 million in 1789 to nearly 330 million today. It has expanded
UK, see pages 35–37. This
culturally too, and the states now vary immensely in their beliefs. Research from
links to Component 1, UK
author Colin Woodard breaks the USA down into 11 areas (Figure 17.4) that have
Politics.
distinct cultures, from the libertarian ‘Far West’ and its mistrust of big government
to ‘Yankeedom’ and its acceptance of the ‘common good’ and therefore more
openness to some government intervention. Getting agreement on the need for a
particular amendment is very difficult.
FIRST NATION
(includes much of northern
and western Alaska)
THE LEFT NEW FRANCE

COAST
(includes
Juneau,
Alaska) YANKEEDOM
THE FAR WEST

(includes Anchorage and
Fairbanks, Alaska) NEW NETHERLAND
THE MIDLANDS
TIDEWATER
GREATER APPALACHIA
PACIFIC DEEP SOUTH ATLANTIC

OCEAN OCEAN
EL NORTE
NEW FRANCE
(PART OF THE
SPANISH
CARIBBEAN)
Figure 17.4 Colin Woodard divided the USA into cultural areas. Diversity across the vast geography of the country goes a long way
to explaining the lack of amendments that have passed in the last two centuries
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One way in which Supreme Court cases can be overturned is through the use of Constitutional 19 How many votes
amendments. This has happened on a few occasions in US history, including: are needed in
l The 13th Amendment (1865) overturned the ruling of Dred Scott v Sandford (1857), which Congress to pass an
had said that the Constitution did not include citizenship for people of African descent. amendment?
l The 16th Amendment (1913) overturned the ruling of Pollock v Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co. 20 How many states are
(1895), which had struck down Congress’ right to levy income tax. needed to pass an
l The 26th Amendment (1971) overturned the ruling of Oregon v Mitchell (1970), which had amendment today?
said Congress could set voting age limits only for federal, not state, elections. 21 List the reasons
there are only
What do these occurrences suggest about the power of the Supreme Court? What do they
27 amendments to
suggest about the role and impact of constitutional amendments?
the Constitution.
Disadvantages of the formal amendment process

l Difficulty in ensuring the Constitution remains up to date There are
changes in modern society that are not ref lected in the Constitution due to the
difficulty of the amendment process. The Equal Rights Amendment would
have recognised the rights of women and men equally, yet it only managed
to get the support of a 38th state (Virginia) in 2020, nearly 50 years after the
amendment had been sent for state ratification and long after the deadline for
approving it had passed.
l Outdated aspects of the Constitution still existing There remain a
number of outdated aspects in the Constitution that are still enforced today.
In the centuries since the US Constitution was passed, the USA has changed
dramatically. Its population is bigger, technology has developed, and political
and cultural ideas have moved on. Some of these changes have been ref lected
in constitutional amendments, such as changing the Senate from an appointed
to an elected house, but many outdated aspects remain. Former Supreme Court
Justice Stevens identified six areas of the Constitution he felt needed amending,
including the 2nd Amendment, which he believed should become applicable
only to those serving in a militia.
l Ignoring minority interests The supermajorities needed to pass an amendment
set a high threshold and should prevent the tyranny of the majority. However, as
a result it is difficult for a minority to bring about a change to the Constitution,
meaning their rights can be ignored. The struggle for voting rights continues in the
twenty-first century, with 19 states passing restrictions on voting rights in 2021.
l Power given to the Supreme Court As the final arbiter of the US Constitution,
the Supreme Court has a vast amount of power to interpret its meaning. The
Supreme Court has been able to alter and change the Constitution considerably;
however, it is unelected and unaccountable to the people. The Court’s decisions
can be overturned by a constitutional amendment, but given the extreme
difficulty of the amendment process, this happens rarely. The Supreme Court’s
power is therefore largely absolute, with only limited checks upon it (see above).
l Tyranny of the minority The requirement for supermajorities means that
it is possible for a minority of states or members of Congress to prevent an
amendment from passing. The Equal Rights Amendment, which would have
outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex, passed the House of Representatives
in 1971 and the Senate in 1972. Despite twice extending the deadline for states
to ratify the amendment, first to 1979 and then to 1982, only 35 states ever
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ratified the amendment within the time limit. The 15 states that did not ratify
the amendment accounted for only 28% of the US population at the time.
l Despite the difficulty of the formal process, there have been mistakes
While it is difficult to pass amendments, it is worth noting that some amendments
have made it through that perhaps should not have, bringing into question how
robust the process actually is. Notably, the 18th Amendment was passed in
1920, prohibiting the sale, manufacture and transport of alcohol in response to
prohibition movements that had gathered popularity in the USA. Just 13 years
later the 21st Amendment repealed this, suggesting that the process had failed
in this instance to prevent a short-lived but popular trend from becoming an
amendment.
Advantages of the formal amendment process

l Broad support Given the need for supermajorities, amendments must have
broad support across the USA in order to pass. In a country that is so vast and
diverse, it is crucial that the Constitution should ref lect the political and cultural
beliefs of as many Americans as possible. It is impossible for the Constitution to
please everyone — even the 55 delegates at Philadelphia disagreed — but having
broad support ensures that the Constitution remains as relevant as possible.
l Prevents short-lived trends becoming amendments The difficult nature
of the amendment process helps to prevent amendments in response to unique
or developing circumstances that may not stand the test of time. This can be
especially important in the wake of the increased party polarisation evident in
the USA and in Congress over the past decades. While prohibition was arguably
an error, only one error in more than 200 years suggests the process works quite
well.
l Protects the Constitution and its principles The principles of the Constitution
Key term make the US democracy what it is. The acceptance of separation of powers and
Republican ideals republican ideals is key to the political system of America. The challenging
A prevention of arbitrary amendment process means the political principles are protected. For example, the
rule, such as monarchy or amendment process should result in bipartisanship through the requirement for
a dictator. supermajorities.
l Prevents tyranny of large states or single parties The population of the
USA is large but not evenly spread. As a key principle of the Constitution,
federalism should ensure that the states remain an important part of the US
political system, recognising each state individually rather than simply by its
population. If amendments were made on population alone, the large states could
dominate, making the smaller ones irrelevant and easily ignored. However, the
ratification stage acknowledges each state individually, and each has a recognisable
worth as part of the US democracy. Similarly, by requiring supermajorities at
the proposal level, a single party is prevented from dominating the amendment
process and forcing through amendments favoured only by its supporters, such as
the balanced budget amendment favoured by Republicans.
l Few changes The total of 27 amendments to the US Constitution can be seen
as an advantage of the difficult process. It means that most of the day-to-day
governance is left to Congress or, more likely, to the individual states to decide
what is best for their citizens. It also means that the principles and rights of the
Constitution are clear and relatively unchanging. US citizens are acutely aware
of their rights, as evidenced by the importance of the Supreme Court in the US
political system.
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l It works While the amendment process might be arduous, a simple advantage
is that 27 amendments have made it through. It has allowed amendments to pass
when needed but prevented unnecessary amendments from passing.
In focus
The Bill of Rights continues to protect the rights of US citizens today, although the
interpretation of these amendments can be controversial. The 2nd Amendment continues to
protect the right to bears arms despite the recent outcry over mass shootings in the USA and
even of Members of Congress
Constitutional rights
The Constitution guarantees a series of fundamental and essential rights for US citizens. Most
of these are found in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights.
A number of states pledged to sign the US Constitution only if a Bill of Rights was added to
the Constitution that would prevent the newly formed federal government from challenging the
rights of both citizens and states. The rights guaranteed here are:
l I — Freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press, and right to petition the government
l II — Right to keep and bear arms
l III — No quartering of soldiers in private homes
l IV — No unreasonable searches and seizures
l V — Right to not self-incriminate Synoptic link
l VI — Right to speedy trial and trial by jury, and to know what you have been charged with
Comparatively, UK citizens,
l VII — Common law trials
for example, have no
l VIII — No cruel and unusual punishments
singular document from
l IX — Other rights protected
which to identify their
l X — All other rights given to the states to decide upon
rights and the power of the
These codified amendments have been interpreted by the Supreme Court to clarify the rights UK Supreme Court remains
of US citizens today. For example, Snyder v Phelps in 2011 guaranteed a right to free speech subservient, at least in
even when the speech was controversial, and Glossip v Gross in 2015 clarified that the death theory, to the government
penalty did not constitute ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment. of the day.
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Synoptic link
A belief in the consent of the rule of the governed was a key idea of John Locke in his Two
Treatises of Government, as was the strong belief in a limited government. For more on Locke
see Chapter 9. This links to Component 1, Core Political Ideas (see page 279).
Knowledge check
22 Define ‘tyranny of the minority’.
23 Which state became the 38th state to sign the Equal Rights Amendment?
24 What are supermajorities?
25 Define ‘constitutional rights’.
26 Why did some states require that the Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution?
Debate
Is the amendment process effective today?

Evaluation: Does the amendment process allow for the US Constitution to remain relevant in the modern world? Does it protect
the key principles of the US Constitution or prevent them from being upheld?
Yes No
• It ensures broad support is gained for amendments. • Necessary amendments have been prevented,
Recent mass shootings in the USA mean the suggestion including those on campaign finance reform. The first
of repealing the 2nd Amendment may seem obvious. presidential election costing over $1 billion was in
However, in a 2018 YouGov poll, only one in five 2008, and the 2020 presidential and congressional
Americans wanted the 2nd Amendment repealed. elections cost an estimated $14 billion. These
Ensuring a high threshold for amendments means that massive sums challenge the liberal ideal of ‘one
the Constitution reflects as closely as possible the will of man, one vote’, with money appearing to be crucial to
the US people success
• It ensures that amendments are well thought through. • Outdated aspects of the Constitution remain. In
A balanced budget amendment has been proposed 134 the last five US presidential elections, the Electoral
times since 1999 to try to ensure the US government College has twice returned a different winner to the
spends only what it earns in taxes. Of those, 114 popular vote. While the Founding Fathers included
occasions had Republicans as their lead sponsor, which the Electoral College as a guard against popular
suggests this is a party political issue. Similarly, 68 of the democracy, in the twenty-first century this undermines
72 campaign finance amendments proposed since 1999 the principles of liberal democracy (Chapter 21 covers
have been put forward by Democrats the Electoral College in more detail)
• It protects the principles of the Constitution. In August • It allows for minorities to be ignored. The Defense of
2021, President Joe Biden signed a moratorium on Marriage Act 1996 defined marriage federally as being
evictions but said that ‘the bulk of the constitutional between one man and one woman. While the Supreme
scholarship says it’s not likely to pass constitutional Court invalidated this Act through its rulings in Windsor
muster’. Within the same month, his actions had been v United States (2014) and Obergefell v Hodges (2015),
ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The difficulty the chances of an amendment recognising the rights of
of the amendment process prevents the Constitution same-sex couples is very slim, given that just 7.1% of
being manipulated to suit political ends American adults identify as LGBTQ+
• It prevents tyranny of the majority. The most populous five • A difficult amendment process allows for a powerful
states account for over 37% of the US population. Biden Supreme Court that can seemingly make new laws.
won California by 5 million votes in 2020, contributing to In 2021 alone, the Court ruled to uphold Obamacare,
his victory in the popular vote. The amendment process protect the free speech of students, allow the non-
ensures that such populous states cannot simply amend disclosure of donors to non-profit organisations, and
the Constitution to suit themselves upheld changes to voting legislation in Arizona
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In focus
The necessity of constitutional 5 The anti-commandeering rule, which prevents federal
government forcing states to comply with federal law,
amendments should be abolished.
Former Supreme Court Justice Stevens wrote a book in 6 Citizens of a state should be able to bring a case against
which he suggested six amendments necessary to the US their state government if that government breaks a
Constitution: federal law.
1 The 2nd Amendment should be limited in its application
Each of these proposals challenges a power or right that
to those serving in a militia.
is enforced currently in the USA. Justice Stevens felt these
2 Congress and state governments can impose campaign
powers and rights were out of date and needed to be
finance limits.
modernised by using a constitutional amendment. Justice
3 Capital punishment should be abolished.
Stevens was labelled a liberal justice, meaning that the areas
4 Congressional districts should be compact and
of the Constitution that he believed need to be updated may
continuous, rather than gerrymandered.
differ from a conservative justice’s opinion.
The constitutional framework of government Knowledge check

Under the Constitution, the three branches of government are given individual
27 List one proposed
powers. See Figure 17.5 for more detail.
amendment favoured
Constitution by the Republicans
(provided a separation of powers) and one favoured by
the Democrats.
Legislative Executive Judicial 28 How many Americans
(makes laws) (carries out laws) (interprets laws)
support repealing the
2nd Amendment?
Congress President
29 How does the
Supreme Court
amendment process
Vice president
protect the opinion
House of
Senate of smaller states?
Representatives
Other federal
Cabinet
courts
To set and collect To hold ‘executive To rule on issues

taxes power’ arising from the
To borrow money on Commander in Chief Constitution, on
behalf of the USA of the Army and conflicts between
To regulate foreign Navy two or more states or
commerce To make treaties conflicts between the
To establish the To grant pardons federal and state
rules on citizenship
To appoint judges government
To coin money and
set the standards of and ambassadors
weights and To address Congress
measures on the State of the
To set up courts Union
under the Supreme To veto legislation
Court
To declare war
To raise an army
To make laws
‘necessary and proper’
to achieve these powers
Figure 17.5 The structure and roles of the US federal government
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Table 17.4 Overview of checks and balances in the Constitution
Congress (legislative Checks on the president: Checks on the Supreme
branch) • Write legislation Court:
Article I • Veto override • Impeachment of justices
• Power of the purse • Propose a constitutional
• Declare war amendment
• Impeachment of the president • Creation of lower courts
• Ratify treaties* • Ratify judicial
appointments
• Ratify appointments*
President (executive Checks on Congress: Checks on the Supreme
branch) • Suggest legislation Court:
Article II • Sign/veto legislation • Power of the pardon
• Commander in Chief of the • Nomination of judicial
Armed Forces appointments
Supreme Court (judiciary) Checks on Congress: Checks on the president:
Article III •
Judicial review • Judicial review
* Exercised by the Senate alone
Checks and balances in the Constitution

Knowledge check The Founding Fathers aimed to follow Montesquieu’s principle of ‘separation
30 Define separation of of powers’ but Professor Richard Neustadt has argued that they did not manage
powers. this. He said that the Constitution ‘created a government of separated institutions
31 Define checks and “sharing” powers’. This means that while the three branches of government have
balances. separate personnel and, eventually, buildings, many of their powers require two
32 Name the executive, branches to act together in order to exercise them. There are few truly ‘separated’
legislative and powers in the Constitution that only one branch of government exercises alone. It is
judicial branches of therefore difficult to divide the two principles of ‘separation of powers’ and ‘checks
government in the and balances’ within the Constitution (Table 17.4).
USA.
Checks by Congress
Checks by Congress on the president
Congress has a number of constitutional powers that can limit the actions of the
president, or prevent his action entirely.
l Legislation The key role of Congress is to produce legislation. Much of this
legislation is suggested by the president at his State of the Union Address, which
outlines his legislative agenda for the year. However, as the legislative branch,
Congress can create, amend, delay and even reject legislation. In his 2020 State
of the Union, President Trump said that 100 miles of southern border wall had
been built. However, the US border with Mexico is nearly 2,000 miles long!
Congress had continually refused to fund Trump’s plans for a border wall despite
his campaign pledges. President Biden has similarly struggled to advance his
Build Back Better agenda.
l Veto override Once Congress has passed a law, it goes to the president to sign
and become law, or to veto, which rejects the bill. Congress can override this
veto with a two-thirds vote in both houses, forcing a bill into law. The need
for a supermajority makes the veto override difficult to achieve, as it requires
both parties to support it. Recent presidents have had only a few defeats in this
way, but of George W. Bush’s 12 vetoes, 4 were overridden. President Barack
Obama’s final veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act suffered
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an overwhelming bipartisan defeat, with only the Senate majority leader Harry
Reid voting ‘no’ to the veto override. President Trump’s veto on the National
Defense Authorization Act in December 2020 was overridden with over 80
senators voting for it.
l Power of the purse Congress has the right to raise taxes and spend the money
raised for the national government, known as the ‘power of the purse’. This
should prevent the president from spending without the consent of the elected
representatives. The ‘appropriations clause’ in Article I says, ‘No Money shall
be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by
Law’, meaning that without a congressional law, money cannot be allocated for
federal policies. Article I also states that appropriations bills — those bills that
Key term
deal with tax and spending — should originate in the House of Representatives,
which was originally the only elected house of Congress. Once they have Appropriations bill
introduced a bill, the Senate then has a right to amend it and vote on it. Failure to A proposed law from
pass appropriations bills can leave the government without money and lead to a Congress that authorises
government shutdown. The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 passed with spending of government,
only hours until a midnight deadline, which would have led to a government and therefore taxpayers’,
shutdown. Getting agreement on this $1.5 trillion package, at 2,741 pages and money.
including $13.6 billion for aid to Ukraine, proved very challenging.
l Declaration of war The president is the ‘Commander in Chief ’ and can move
troops but Congress is the only branch that can formally declare war on another
nation. Congress has used this power 11 times. The last formal use followed
the bombing of Pearl Harbor, after which the USA joined the Second World
War, declaring war on six individual nations in 1942. Since then, Congress has
been asked to authorise the use of troops, most commonly through AUMFs
— the Authorization for Use of Military Force. These ask Congress to give
authorisation for the president to use his military and fund it, without formally
declaring war. The AUMF that followed 9/11 was used by every subsequent
president to justify their actions in conf licts in 14 countries since 2001. It was
finally repealed in 2021.
l Impeachment Congress can bring impeachment proceedings against a president
or members of the executive branch for ‘Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or
other high Crimes and Misdemeanors’. The House of Representatives is given
the power to bring charges of impeachment against an individual. To bring
impeachment charges, only a simple majority vote is needed in the House of
Representatives, which then leads to a formal trial in the Senate. For a person
to be found guilty, and therefore removed from office, a two-thirds majority
vote is needed. Only three presidents have been through the whole of this
process and all three were found ‘not guilty’ — President Andrew Johnson
(1868), President Bill Clinton (1997) and President Donald Trump (2019,
2021). However, the House of Representatives has tried to bring impeachment
proceedings against other presidents. Obama was the only president since
Jimmy Carter not to have impeachment articles referred against him to the
Judiciary Committee.
l Ratification of treaties (Senate only) Treaties that are negotiated by a
president require a two-thirds vote (67 senators) in the Senate to be approved.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in 2010 passed the Senate vote
by 71–26 senators. A treaty failing to get two-thirds of votes is not ratified. The
Senate has rejected only 22 treaties ever, the last one in 2012. The Senate can also
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choose not to vote on a treaty. According to the State Department, 37 treaties
Knowledge check have been submitted to the Senate and not voted on, the earliest from 1949 and
33 List the checks the last in 2018.
Congress has on the l Ratification of appointments (Senate only) Presidential appointments to the
president. federal courts, federal government departments and ambassadors are all subject
34 How many of George to Senate ‘advice and consent’. More than 1,200 posts require Senate approval
W. Bush’s vetoes by a simple majority vote. The Senate has voted against nominees, such as the
were overridden? rejection of John Tower as the secretary of defense in 1989 following allegations
35 Which houses of alcoholism and womanising. However, it can also shape appointments through
get to vote on an its advice. President Biden nominated Neera Tanden for director of the Budget
appropriations bill? Office but withdrew the nomination after opposition from Republicans and
36 What does START Democrats because of tweets she had posted in the past. President Trump’s
stand for? education secretary, Betsy DeVos, only secured approval through the tie-
37 Which cabinet breaking vote of vice president Mike Pence after the Senate divided 50–50 on
secretary needed a her ratification — a tie-break had never been used for the appointment of a
tie-breaking vote from cabinet secretary.
the vice president to
be confirmed? Checks by Congress on the Supreme Court
Congress also has constitutional powers that limit the power of the Supreme Court,
or can at least shape the nature of the Court in order to try to inf luence its decisions.
l Impeach justices The process for impeaching justices
is the same as the process for impeaching a president.
This has happened only once for a Supreme Court
justice, with Samuel Chase being found ‘not guilty’
of arbitrary and oppressive conduct of trials in 1805.
In other federal courts, 15 judges have ever been
impeached, of which 8 were found guilty. Only two
cases of impeachment have been brought against
federal judges in the twenty-first century. Samuel Kent
resigned before a verdict could be reached in 2009 and
Thomas Porteous was found ‘guilty’ of bribery and
making false statements in 2010.
Donald Trump was tried on three counts of impeachment l Propose a constitutional amendment In a
— in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Supreme Court case, the Court is required to judge
and in 2021 for incitement of insurrection. He was found whether an issue is constitutional or not. By changing
not guilty on all three counts the Constitution, a ruling of the Supreme Court can
effectively be overturned as it changes the document against which the Court has
to make its judgment. This happened in 1913 when the 16th Amendment was
adopted, allowing for federal income tax to be levied, after the Supreme Court
had ruled to deny this in the case of Pollock v Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. (1895).
l Creation of lower courts Congress has the power to create lower courts, and
the power to regulate the Supreme Court’s role in hearing appeals from these
lower courts. At its extreme, this is known as ‘jurisdiction stripping’, meaning
the constitutional ability of Congress to regulate what cases the Supreme Court
is allowed to hear. This has proven difficult and controversial, as shown in the
Military Commissions Act 2006, which tried to remove from the Court the
power to hear cases from Guantánamo detainees. This was ruled unconstitutional
in Boumediene v Bush (2008).
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l Ratify judicial appointments (Senate only)
Presidential nominations to the Supreme Court can
have a huge impact on the ideological make-up of
the Court. A president will try to choose a nominee
with a similar ideology to their own — either
conservative or liberal — and in doing so may change
the ideology of the Court overall, although not the
power of the Court. When conservative Supreme
Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016,
the Senate did not ratify centrist Merrick Garland
as his proposed replacement, or even allow him to
have hearings at the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Amy Coney Barrett was approved for the Supreme Court by a
Ultimately, Scalia’s seat remained vacant until after
Senate vote of 52–48 in October 2020, with all Democrats voting
the 2016 presidential election, after which President
against her nomination and all Republicans voting in favour
Trump nominated conservative Neil Gorsuch as his
replacement, which was ratified by the Senate.
Checks by the president

Checks by the president on Congress
In line with Madison’s view that ‘ambition must be made to counteract ambition’,
the president was given powers that would allow them to inf luence and prevent
the action of Congress. This was a guard against popular democracy — a way of
preventing the elected representatives acting only in self- or state interest rather than
in the wider interest of the nation.
l Suggest legislation The US president is directly elected (notwithstanding
the Electoral College) and they therefore campaign on a platform of their own
policies. The president has no direct legislative powers, but the Constitution
gives them the right to address Congress through the annual State of the Union,
at which they will often suggest legislation. Biden fought for his three-part Build
Back Better plan throughout his first year in office.
l Sign/veto legislation The president can choose to sign or veto
legislation that is sent to them from Congress. It either becomes
law or it is returned to Congress to be amended, overridden
or fail. Both Bush and Obama used the veto 12 times during
their presidency while Trump used it 10 times. The threat of
the veto alone can be enough to prevent Congress passing a
bill to the president or to make Congress amend a bill before it
passes rather than have it rejected entirely. 75% of veto threats
issued by Obama and Bush led to the threatened legislation not
passing.
l Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces As the
commander in chief, the president decides on the stationing
and movement of troops and the use of military weapons. ‘I’ve long believed that our power is rooted not
When Obama sought approval from Congress for action just in our military might, but in our example as a
in Syria, he clearly stated, ‘I believe I have the authority to government of the people, by the people, and for the
carry out this military action without specific congressional people. And that’s why I’ve made a second decision:
authorization’, but he asked Congress nonetheless in the hopes I will seek authorization for the use of force from
of a stronger and more united decision. In January 2020, the American people’s representatives in Congress.’
Trump ordered an air strike on Baghdad Airport resulting in President Obama requesting authorisation for military
the death of General Qasem Soleimani. force in Syria in a speech in the Rose Garden in 2013
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Checks by the president on the judiciary
The president is given the power to check the judiciary, or at least to try to shape
the ideological balance of the Supreme Court and therefore have an impact on the
rulings it is likely to give.
l Power of the pardon The president has the constitutional right to ‘grant
reprieves and pardons’, allowing them to excuse someone for a federal crime. This
controversial power has few limits or checks upon it. Obama in 2017 commuted
the sentence of Chelsea Manning who had served 7 years for stealing state secrets.
In his final days in office, Trump pardoned 70 people and commuted the sentences
of 73, including Steve Bannon, a key advisor to Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
l Nomination of judicial appointments In the same way that Congress can
shape the Supreme Court through its confirmation or rejection of nominees,
the president can try to shape the Court through their choice of nominee.
Trump’s nominated replacement for the liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was
conservative Amy Coney Barrett. Republicans liked Barrett’s judicial record,
appearing to favour a pro-life stance. This appointment occurred just days before
the 2020 election and resulted in a substantial conservative majority on the Court.
Knowledge check
38 List the checks Congress has on the Supreme Court.
39 List the checks the president has on Congress.
40 What is the name of the annual presidential address given to Congress?
41 What military action did Trump authorise in January 2020?
42 Give an example of an amendment overturning a Supreme Court ruling.
Checks by the Supreme Court

Key term The Supreme Court has only one power: judicial review. It uses this to check both
Judicial review The power Congress and the president. This power is suggested in Article III of the Constitution
of the Supreme Court and fully established in Marbury v Madison (1803).
to judge actions of the
l Judicial review The Supreme Court has the power to rule whether acts or
presidential branch or acts
actions of Congress or the presidency are constitutional. If it rules against
and actions of Congress
Congress or the presidency, their acts or actions become null and void, meaning
against the Constitution.
they no longer have any legal effect. In the case of Boumediene v Bush (2008), the
The Supreme Court can
Court effectively checked both the president and Congress at once, ruling the
declare these acts or
Military Commissions Act passed by Congress unconstitutional and allowing
actions ‘unconstitutional’
detainees held at Guantánamo Bay to challenge their detention in US courts.
and therefore make them
‘null and void’. Constitutional requirements for government office
The Constitution does not only lay down the framework of government in a
structural sense, it also outlines the requirements to be a member of each of the
branches of government.
l In order to be electable as the president, a candidate has to be 35 years old, a
natural-born US citizen and a resident of the USA for the past 14 years. Madison
commented during the Philadelphia Convention that the term ‘resident’ was
vague, and the exact interpretation of this term is still unclear.
l For a person to be appointed to the Senate, they have to be 30 years old, to
have been a US citizen for at least 9 years and must be an inhabitant of the state
that they are looking to represent in Congress. The 17th Amendment made the
Senate fully elected, but these requirements still stand.
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l For a person to be elected as a member of the House of Representatives, they
must be 25 years old, have been a US citizen for 7 years and must also be an
inhabitant of the state that they are looking to represent.
In focus
Government shutdowns
Since the Congressional Budget Act 1974, there have been
21 separate government shutdowns as a result of the
government running out of money.
Length of 1–3 4–7 days 8–11 days 12+ days

shutdown days
Number of 6 6 2 7
shutdowns
Shutdowns in the 21st century

2013 17 days (1 October to 17 October)
2018 3 days (20 January to 22 January) Without this funding, Donald Trump refused to sign the bill
1 day (9 February) and therefore at midnight on 22 December 2018 the US
2018–19 35 days (22 December to 25 January) government went into shutdown and 380,000 federal staff
were furloughed. President Trump ultimately agreed to a bill
The government shutdown of 2018–19 was the longest without funding for a border wall, but threatened Congress
government shutdown in US history. This shutdown occurred they would go into shutdown again if they continued to refuse
as Congress passed an appropriations act but without funding for this project.
funding for Trump’s proposed US–Mexico border wall.
The constitutional key principles today

Although the principles of the Constitution are not referred to by name in the
document, it is possible to see how they have been included (Table 17.5).
Table 17.5 Key principles of the US Constitution
Where can it be seen in the
Key principle Constitution? An example of it working today An example of it failing today
Limited • The inclusion of separation • In the case of Trump v Vance • Despite Biden recognising that
government of powers and checks and (2020), the Supreme Court his eviction moratorium during
balances struck down presidential the Covid-19 pandemic was
• Amendment giving states immunity, saying that Trump likely to be unconstitutional, he
powers did not have absolute immunity issued it anyway
• The Bill of Rights guaranteeing from subpoenas directed at his
private papers
citizens’ rights
Separation of • Articles I, II and III outline • Vice President Kamala Harris • The Paris Agreement on climate
powers the individual powers of each had to leave her seat in the change has not been put before
branch of government Senate to take up her role in the the Senate despite Obama
• The ‘ineligibility clause’ of executive branch signing the USA up to the
Article I, meaning a person agreement, Trump pulling the
can serve in only one branch USA out and then Biden bringing
of government at a given time the USA back in again
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Where can it be seen in the

Key principle Constitution? An example of it working today An example of it failing today
Checks and • Numerous powers within • President Biden tried to pass • In President Biden’s first 100
balances Articles I, II and III provide his Build Back Better agenda, days, he passed 64 executive
checks and balances which consisted of the American orders, 24 of which directly
Rescue Plan, American Jobs reversed executive orders of
Plan and American Families Trump, including expanding
Plan. He managed to get the refugee admissions to the USA
Rescue Plan signed in March
2021, and part of the Jobs Plan
included in the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Plan
Federalism • The 10th Amendment protects • In 2021, 19 states passed laws • Supreme Court rulings are
states’ rights to restrict voting rights while 25 binding on states too and in
• The role of the Supreme Court states passed laws to expand the case of Obergefell v Hodges
as the arbiter between federal voting rights. The power to (2015), same-sex marriage was
and state government control how elections are run effectively legalised in all US
• The need for state approval in belongs to the states based on
Article I of the US Constitution
states, including 13 states in
which it had been illegal before
the amendment process
this ruling
• Equal representation of the
states in the Senate
Whether these constitutional principles are effective or not often depends on political
Key terms circumstances and therefore the extent of their effectiveness varies.
Divided government When
l Is federal government divided or unified? When the branches of federal
at least one of either the
government are controlled by different parties, the ‘checks’ between branches
presidency, the House
are often more commonly used. Since the 1960s, the likelihood of a divided
of Representatives or
government and partisanship have both increased, often leading to ‘gridlock’.
the Senate is held by a
In times of unified government, Congress and the president are more likely
different party from the
to work together, but this could equally be seen to undermine the principles of
others.
limited government, with few checks being effectively used.
Gridlock A situation in l When is the next election? Congressional elections occur every 2 years, with
which both the president the whole of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate being
and Congress have elected at every election. This means that congressional representatives are always
difficulty in exercising their mindful of the views of their constituents and the popularity of the president.
powers, meaning little can When an election is looming, they are more likely to act as their constituents
be achieved. wish rather than as the other branches of government would wish.
Unified government l What are the national circumstances? During times of crisis, Congress is far
When both chambers more likely to act with deference, allowing the president to exercise greater political
of Congress and the control. This may be during a national event like 9/11, a natural disaster like
presidency are controlled Hurricane Katrina in 2005, an economic crisis such as the 2007 recession or a world
by the same party. event such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This can undermine a number of
constitutional principles, allowing the president to act with fewer limits or checks.
When the national circumstances are more stable, Congress is often more assertive.
Knowledge check
43 List the circumstances that might alter the effectiveness of constitutional principles.
44 Which Supreme Court case legalised same-sex marriage in all states?
45 Define the ‘ineligibility clause’.
46 How many of Biden’s executive orders directly reversed policies of Trump?
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The USA passed a $1.5 trillion
spending bill in 2022, which
included $13.6 billion in aid
and support for Ukraine
Federal government
State powers
powers
• To declare war Concurrent • To establish local government
• To make treaties powers • To regulate elections
• To coin money • To make • To maintain a militia
• To establish a military constitutional • To assume powers not listed
• To regulate interstate amendments in the Constitution (10th
and foreign commerce • To levy taxes Amendment), e.g. regulating
• To make all laws ‘necessary • To establish schools, professional
and proper’ to achieve their courts licences and intrastate
constitutional powers commerce Figure 17.6 Federal and
state powers laid out in the
Constitution
The main characteristics of US federalism

As one of the key constitutional principles, federalism is firmly embedded within the
Constitution (Figure 17.6). The newly freed states had fought for their independence
and sovereignty against the British and they were not willing to instantly give it up to
a new federal government. Therefore the Constitution divided sovereignty between
the states and the federal government, giving each their own distinct powers that
were protected by the Constitution itself.
The division of powers laid out in the Constitution was meant to ensure state
sovereignty and to allow for a stronger federal government than the Articles of
Confederation allowed for. The 10th Amendment is crucial in protecting states’
power. While the federal government can only exercise the power it has been
explicitly given, the states are allowed to exercise power over anything that was given
to them plus anything that had not been included in the Constitution. Of course, the
USA has changed vastly since 1787 and this has altered the nature of the state–federal
relationship (Figure 17.7).
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States and federal government were co-equal
Dual federalism and had distinct areas of policy over which they
had power (Figure 17.5). States undertook
1790s to 1930s most of the governing, supported by numerous
Supreme Court rulings
Federal government power was seen as supreme

to the states and there was greater cooperation
Cooperative over policies that had traditionally been directed
federalism and administered by the states alone. The power
that federal government held expanded
1930s to 1960s considerably after the Wall Street Crash in 1929
and the economic depression that followed, the
Second World War and the Cold War
Following Nixon’s call for ‘a New Federalism’,

New federalism respective Republican presidents, and then
President Clinton, looked to roll back the power
1970s to 2000s of federal government and return power to
Figure 17.7 Timeline of the the states
development of federalism
In focus
The vaccine mandate
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Biden administration passed a vaccine mandate.
This would have required employees who worked for companies that had more than 100
workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and would have affected 84 million Americans.
Some states disagreed with this mandate. Kim Reynolds, the Governor of Iowa, said her state
would refuse to follow the vaccine mandate: ‘We are going to continue to protect the freedoms
and liberties of Iowans. The Biden administration continues to ignore the constitutional rights
afforded to all Americans, which our country was built on.’ Other states, such as Arkansas,
acted similarly. Ultimately, nearly half of US states sued the Biden administration over the
mandate, leading to the Supreme Court striking it down in a 6–3 decision.
Knowledge check
47 Define ‘federalism’.
48 Which constitutional amendment protects states’ rights?
49 List the concurrent powers of states and federal government.
50 List the ways the Covid-19 pandemic shows the power of states and the power of federal
government.
The relationship of federal government and the

states in the twenty-first century
Through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and
Joe Biden, the ‘type’ of federalism is somewhat more difficult to define. Each has
given power to states but each has also expanded the reach and impact of federal
government (Table 17.6).
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Table 17.6 Federalism under George W. Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden
President Development of state power Development of federal power
George W. Bush • Gonzales v Oregon (2006) — effectively allowed state- • USA PATRIOT Act 2001 — expanded the
2001–09 sponsored euthanasia, in defiance of the US Attorney rights of federal government to detain
General Alberto Gonzales people and collect information about them
• Medicaid waiver given to Massachusetts to allow • Homeland Security — addition of an
Governor Romney to introduce a universal health entirely new cabinet department
insurance programme • No Child Left Behind Act 2002 — allowed
for uniform school testing
Barack Obama • Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, • PPACA (Obamacare) 2010 — expanded
2009–17 known as Obamacare) 2010 — at the states’ urging, insurance and gave more individual rights
Obamacare included power over the provision of • Arizona v United States (2012) —
medical insurance run by the states themselves overturned Arizona’s SB 1070 law, which
• Texas v United States (2016) — the Supreme Court increased state law enforcement power to
struck down Obama’s DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents enforce immigration laws
of Americans) executive order due to the cost to states • Obergefell v Hodges (2015) — the Supreme
• The Cole memo — the Justice Department said it Court effectively legalised same-sex
would not enforce federal restrictions on marijuana marriage nationally
where states had legalised it except in certain
circumstances, for example if firearms were involved
Donald Trump • Carpenter v United States (2018) — the Supreme • The Cole memo — new Attorney General
2017–21 Court found that the federal government must obtain a Sessions rescinded the Cole memo, saying
warrant for a citizen’s cell phone location records law enforcement would enforce national
• Executive order minimising the economic burden of marijuana prohibitions
the PPACA — aimed at reversing Obamacare and • Executive order stripping federal grants
giving states more control from ‘sanctuary cities’ (later found to be
unconstitutional)
Joe Biden • Abortion and heartbeat bills — a large number of • Build Back Better plan — a three-part plan
states tried to put in place greater restrictions on that included vast spending on Covid-19
2021–
abortion recovery, infrastructure and social security
• Covid-19 rules — each state had its own response to • The national Covid-19 response —
the pandemic, including various vaccine rules, mask including attempting to pass the eviction
rules and lockdowns moratorium and vaccine mandate
Stretch and challenge Synoptic link

As tensions are evident within
Marijuana and the federal government federalism, so they are within
Under President Obama, the Department of Justice issued a memo stating it would devolution. While in federalism
not pursue marijuana use in those states that had legalised it, other than in certain power flows from the states
circumstances. These circumstances included where the sale or use of marijuana involved to the federal government, in
gang violence or guns. Under President Trump, the Department of Justice rescinded this devolution power flows out to
memo and said it would criminally enforce the Controlled Substances Act 1970, which the regions from the centre.
says that marijuana is illegal. Today, 15 states plus Washington, DC have ‘legalised’ or Both of these systems have
decriminalised recreational marijuana in their state, and 33 states plus Washington, DC experienced recent pushes
have ‘legalised’ or decriminalised the use of medical marijuana. from the states and devolved
bodies for greater power at
How does the debate over marijuana legalisation highlight the tensions between state and
the same time that national
federal laws? To what extent can federal government enforce its will over that of the states
governments have been
and what challenges might it face in doing so?
expanding their own power.
For more on devolution see
Despite the huge public fanfare that accompanied legislation such as the Tax Cuts
pages 163–70. This links to
and Jobs Act or Obamacare, the federal government remains reliant on states to
Component 2, UK Government.
enforce federal law. In 2020 alone, five states had initiatives on their ballot papers
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regarding the legalisation in some form of marijuana. With marijuana ‘legalised’,
recreationally in 15 states and medically in 33, it will be difficult for President Biden’s
Attorney General to enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act 1970 without
considerable expense on federal law enforcement. With 50 state governments, and
nearly 90,000 local governments, federal law may seem like it reduces state powers
but the impact can often be minimised through state interpretation and enforcement.
The extent of federalism today

Despite the importance that the Founding Fathers placed on federalism, its impact
across the USA today is far from uniform. It is easy to focus only on federal
government and the laws and policies it implements. For US citizens, however, the
laws and policies put in by their states are often more important and impactful than
Knowledge check those put in by federal government.
51 What Act of Congress
made marijuana Ways in which states retain their sovereignty
illegal in the USA? l Citizens’ rights In addition to those rights protected by the Constitution, the
52 Define rights of citizens vary widely between states. States such as Alaska allow citizens
‘gerrymandering’. to get a learner’s permit for driving at age 14, while in Massachusetts a citizen
53 List the ways in must be 16 to gain a learner’s permit. Equally, restrictions over issues such as
which states retain abortion, euthanasia, gun control and marijuana vary hugely between the states.
their sovereignty. l Criminal punishment The death penalty alone is a huge difference between
54 Explain what role the states. Currently, 27 states allow the death penalty. Between them they use
states and referral five different methods of execution and each state does not use them all. Also, in
government have over Virginia, Iowa and Kentucky a convicted felon does not necessarily regain their
election regulation. right to vote upon release from prison.
l Electoral regulation Article I allows states to run their own elections. This
has resulted in huge variations in electoral practice, most notably leading to the
Key term controversy over the 2000 presidential election. As of 2018, to vote in elections,
Gerrymandering The states in the USA can use a paper ballot, an electronic ballot with a paper trail,
redrawing of constituency a mail-in ballot or electronic voting alone. State governments are also allowed
boundaries to give a party to set the boundaries for the districts in their states, leading to court cases over
political advantage. ‘gerrymandering’ (see page 484), which became especially significant after the
delayed 2020 census.
l Taxes As well as being taxed federally, citizens are taxed
by their state. This is far from uniform and citizens can
find themselves paying sales tax, income tax, property tax
and more. Seven states have no income tax, 11 have a f lat-
rate income tax and the rest have a graduate tax system.
Ways in which state sovereignty is challenged

l Citizens’ rights Certain rights have been dictated by the
federal government. The drinking age is set federally at
21, and the Supreme Court case of Obergefell v Hodges in
2015 effectively legalised same-sex marriage in every state.
President Biden attends an online briefing on Hurricane Equally, cases such as Arizona v United States even challenged
Ida. The hurricane caused more than $65 billion of the powers of Arizona when enforcing a federal law.
damage in 2021, but Louisiana’s annual budget was only l Criminal punishment The Supreme Court has put
$38 billion. In unforeseeable circumstances such as numerous restrictions on the use of the death penalty
natural disasters, states need the federal government to while upholding the punishment more generally. Cases
step in and help such as Kennedy v Louisiana (2008), Panetti v Quarterman
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(2007) and Roper v Simmons (2005) limit the use of the death penalty. Indeed,
as the final court of appeal, the Supreme Court can challenge the state courts in
cases that it chooses to hear.
l Electoral regulation Numerous federal laws, and even constitutional
amendments, have extended voting rights at a national level, lowering the voting
age and extending voting rights regardless of sex and race. Campaign finance
laws and regulations are also set at a federal level. In 2021, Biden pushed Congress
to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to protect the right to vote nationally.
l Taxes Not only do citizens have to pay federal income tax, states are also reliant
on grants from the federal government when their own finances run low or in
response to unexpected circumstances.
Debate
Is the USA federal today?

Yes No
• A more conservative Supreme Court seems willing to • The Supreme Court appears to be growing in power,
return important decisions, like abortion, to states meaning federal government has more influence
• Election regulations not only remain with the states, • There have been notable pieces of landmark legislation
but since the Covid-19 pandemic, states have from federal government that have not only impacted
increasingly utilised this power to make their own states, but have also been held up numerous times by
electoral regulations the Supreme Court, such as the Affordable Care Act
• Increasing hyperpartisanship in federal government • Rights are uniformly protected at federal level, such
has resulted in gridlock, meaning states have had to as the Respect for Marriage Act 2022. This level of
take on the role of greater governance protection supersedes any state-level law
• While federal law supersedes state law, in instances • Certain national issues demand a national response,
like the legalisation of marijuana, state law has directly for example the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia–Ukraine
contravened federal law and yet remains relatively war or inflation
unchallenged
Debates around the US Constitution

The extent of democracy within the US Constitution
The Founding Fathers were not advocates of democracy in its purest form. They
were sceptical both for idealist reasons, such Madison’s belief that it would allow
the ‘rights of the minor party [to] become insecure’, and for selfish reasons. They
were all men, largely privileged and educated, some were enslavers and most were
wealthy and therefore had a mistrust of popular democracy. This meant that the
Constitution they produced in 1787 does not always ref lect the twenty-first-century
understanding of democracy.
Challenges to democracy in the Constitution

l The Electoral College By having an indirect method of election for the
president, the direct inf luence of the public was limited and could be overturned
by the electors.
l An originally appointed Senate While the House of Representatives was to
be elected, the Senate was to be appointed by the state governments. This was
especially important when the individual powers of the Senate are taken into
account, giving this unelected branch considerable inf luence.
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l Equal representation for the states While having two senators per state served
to ensure that small states could not be ignored, it meant that larger populations
were essentially undervalued in the Senate.
l The three-fifths compromise With the number of members of Congress
being allocated in part based on population, large enslaver states were keen for
enslaved people to be counted but not recognised as whole people. The three-
fifths compromise valued enslaved people at three-fifths of a person.
l The role of supermajorities While these were meant to ensure a simple
majority could not be tyrannous over the minority, they can result in a smaller
minority’s view being completely ignored, or allow for a small minority to stall
major constitutional processes.
The impact of the Constitution on liberal and representative democracy

The Constitution can be assessed in the twenty-first century in terms of how far
it upholds different democratic principles — republicanism, liberal democracy and
representative democracy.
Debate
Does the US Constitution uphold democracy?

Evaluation: What type of democracy does the US Constitution uphold or impinge upon? How does the Constitution compare to
modern expectations of democracy in the USA?
Liberal democracy Representative democracy

Ways in • The Bill of Rights ensures that individual • All appropriations bills must begin in the House
which the rights are upheld. In the case of Snyder v of Representatives, which is the most responsive
Constitution Phelps (2011), the right to free speech of the house due to a 2-year electoral cycle and therefore
upholds controversial Westboro Baptist Church was most directly representative of its constituents
democracy upheld by the Supreme Court • The House of Representatives ensures
• The power of the Supreme Court and the proportionality in representation, with the largest
guarantees of its independence allow further states having the most members
protection of rights. Supreme Court justices • Amendments have extended the number of eligible
have the power to overrule both elected voters in the USA, ensuring that an increasing
branches without fear for their jobs number of Americans can be represented in
• Checks and balances ensure a limited elections
government, with presidents routinely failing to • The Senate is now elected, ensuring a greater
achieve all their goals through Congress degree of popular sovereignty
• Amendments to the Constitution cannot be made
without approval of the states, each of which is
valued equally
Ways in • Checks and balances can serve to limit • The Supreme Court holds vast amounts of power
which the government to such an extent that it ceases to to interpret the US Constitution and overrule the
Constitution be effective. There have been 21 government elected branches, but is unrepresentative of the
undermines shutdowns since 1974 general population and also unaccountable as the
democracy • The Electoral College undermines the principle justices are not elected
of ‘free and fair’ elections, with the loser • The Senate represents the USA by state rather
of the popular vote winning the presidential than population, meaning states with smaller
election twice in the last five elections populations are over-represented
• Not all rights have been effectively protected. • The requirement at numerous points in the
Minority rights have been challenged in cases Constitution for a supermajority allows for tyranny
such as Shelby v Holder and the very existence of the minority
of Guantánamo Bay poses significant questions
over the effectiveness of rights protection
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Knowledge check
55 What is the three-fifths compromise?
56 List the ways in which the Constitution could be considered anti-democratic.
57 Which house of Congress represents the will of the states?
Strengths and weaknesses of the Constitution

Liberals and conservative Americans disagree on their interpretation of what is
desirable from the Constitution. One way to assess the Constitution is to look at
how effectively it has maintained the principles of the Founding Fathers since 1787.
However, it can also be assessed through its features.
Debate
How strong is the US Constitution?

Evaluation: Does the US Constitution still uphold the aims that it set out to achieve? What circumstances might affect the ability
of the US Constitution to function effectively?
The Constitution remains strong The Constitution is now too weak

• The vagueness of aspects of the US Constitution • The vagueness has allowed broader interpretation than
has allowed for interpretative amendments by the the Founding Fathers may have envisaged, as the growth
Supreme Court, which has helped to ensure the of the presidency has demonstrated. Equally, in the
Constitution remains relevant today and allowed it to areas where the Constitution is specific, it has prevented
be reactive to changing circumstances adaptation, most notably in the powers of Congress
• The US Constitution is codified, meaning that it is • The codification of the Constitution has led to outdated
difficult to change. It provides clarity about the rights aspects remaining enforced in the twenty-first century,
of US citizens that can be enforced by the Supreme as well as having the potential to create gridlock in
Court and the powers and limits of government government through checks and balances
• The Constitution outlines the powers of each branch • The Constitution can create gridlock in the case of divided
of government clearly, and through the separation of government and a lack of scrutiny during times of unified
powers, checks and balances and the short election government. In either case, the government can be seen
cycle it should ensure that the government always has to be ineffective
to work in the interests of the people it represents
• The amendment process has worked and allows for • The amendment process has proven immensely difficult
flexibility of the Constitution while preventing frequent to achieve, preventing necessary amendments while also
change in response to short-lived trends having allowed for mistaken amendments to be made
The impact on government today

Trump railed against the Constitution, calling it ‘archaic’. This suggests that it still
has an impact on the government of the USA today. Whether or not it is a positive
impact is up for debate. This is not about strengths or weaknesses but how the
Constitution impacts governance of the USA.
Positive impact on government

The Constitution ensures that each branch of government has very clear roles and
powers. This means, for example, that despite winning an election pledging to ‘build
a wall’, Trump was dependent on Congress to grant the funding for it, ultimately
preventing him from achieving this policy aim. Similarly Biden struggled to pass his
Build Back Better agenda despite having Democrats control of both houses in the
117th Congress. The power of Congress is in part due to the short election cycle that
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it is subjected to. With the House of Representatives being elected every 2 years,
members must be acutely aware of the views of their constituents. Given that Biden
had the lowest ever presidential poll ratings going into his first State of the Union
address, members of Congress may choose to act in line with their constituents rather
than their party. This helps to uphold the legitimacy of government: as Congress is
so frequently elected and so members are responsive to their constituents, they are
more legitimate.
The Constitution also impacts the policy that government produces by trying to
ensure that it should always be a compromise. This is ensured through checks and
balances, and through federalism, as government policy needs to be widely accepted
and the result of considerable scrutiny. The Constitution also allows considerable
power to the Supreme Court and the threat of the Court using its power should help
to produce government policy in line with the Constitution.
Knowledge check
58 Which of Trump’s Negative impact on government
policies did Congress While thoughtful scrutiny of government policy can be a result of the Constitution,
refuse to fund? so too can partisanship and government gridlock. Clear separation of powers can
59 When was the lead to a government being unable to act in an effective way. The January 2019
longest government government shutdown was notable not only for its demonstration of this but because
shutdown in US it happened at a time when one party controlled both Congress and the presidency.
history? The shutdown lasted 35 days and was the longest in US history, at a cost of $11
60 List the strengths billion to the country’s economy.
and weaknesses of
the US Constitution. Even when one party controls the majority of government, it is possible for the
61 Which branch of constitutional framework of government to obstruct it. Equally, as the Supreme
government decides Court decides on the meaning of the Constitution, it is possible for a government
on the meaning of policy that responds to modern problems to be ruled unconstitutional. Campaign
the US Constitution? finance laws that were meant to restrict the role of a few wealthy individuals in an
election were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2010 and 2014.
The federal government
shutdown of 2018–19 was
the longest in US history
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The vagueness of Article II of the Constitution has allowed for presidential
dominance of government in the USA, while the specificity of Article I has meant
that Congress has struggled to interpret its power as broadly. This can mean that
government policy becomes more dominated by the president rather than responding
to the individual needs of the states or districts.
Comparisons with the UK

Comparative theories
When comparing the government and politics of two or more countries, it is
important to try to understand what the differences and similarities are as well as
why these exist. One way to do this is through the use of comparative theories.
These are theoretical approaches to politics that provide a framework for explaining
how differences and similarities came about. The three comparative theories are set
out in Table 17.7.
These theories can only be applied to differences and similarities, not to one
country alone. For each difference or similarity between the UK and the USA, it
is important to consider which theory best explains why it exists. To explain some
comparisons, just one theory may be appropriate. For others, more than one theory
might be applicable and judging which theory is the best fitting is important. In
both cases, there should be an explanation detailing why the theory chosen is the
most appropriate.
Comparing the US and UK constitutions

Superficially, the UK constitution and the US Constitution appear to be so different
that they are not comparable. However, despite the differences in their creation and
features, both fulfil the basic functions of a constitution — to outline the framework
of government and the rights of the citizens (Table 17.8).
Table 17.7 Comparative theories — rational, cultural and structural

Rational Cultural Structural
Political • Focuses on individuals as the • Focuses on cultural norms • Focuses on the system or
meaning key to explaining behaviour and and expectations as the key organisation as the key in
outcomes in a system to explaining behaviour and determining behaviour and
• Belief that individuals will outcomes in a system outcome within a system
evaluate the choices they have • Belief that cultural norms have • Belief that an individual’s
and rationally pick based on the power to influence both the position within this structure
the best outcome for them individual and the system may affect their action
personally • Explains that some actions are • Explains that individuals
• Explains that when due to cultural expectations have limited or no control
circumstances change, • Covers ideas, beliefs, values and over these processes
individuals will respond in a identities within a system
self-interested manner
Meaning for • People are selfish and will act • Some political actions can be • Some outcomes are
students in a way that achieves the best explained by a shared belief or determined by the
outcome for them because people act in accordance institutions and processes
with the expectations of others of political systems
Simply put… • Individuals — e.g. MPs and • Groups — e.g. pressure groups, • Institutions — e.g.
Congressmen, prime minister parties and voting groups Parliament and Congress,
and president political processes
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Table 17.8 Comparing the US and UK constitutions using comparative theories
Rational • Similarity: Individual state and devolved governments fight for their
comparisons own power over federal or central government to create policy for
their region
• Difference: US citizens are used to having their rights protected
through the Bill of Rights and therefore can more easily fight for them
than their UK counterparts, whose rights have been determined by
government and are protected by an unwritten and therefore more
unclear constitution
• Difference: The separation of powers and checks and balances in the
US Constitution allow its citizens greater individual influence and a
greater number of access points than their UK counterparts
Cultural • Similarity: Cultural history explains the evolution of the constitutions
comparisons of both countries — the US Constitution is codified as a result of
a violent uprising and the UK constitution is uncodified, having
remained relatively free from such events
• Difference: Citizens’ cultural expectation of the protection of rights is
far higher in the USA than in the UK
• Difference: Amendments to the UK constitution are a result of
cultural acceptance whereas in the USA cultural acceptance of the
sovereignty of the US Constitution makes changes very difficult
• Similarity: The flexibility of both constitutions is partly a result of
cultural acceptance. In the UK, there is no public pressure for
codification, accepting the status quo. In the USA, the acceptance
and enforcement of Supreme Court rulings as informal amendments
updates the Constitution
Structural • Similarity: Political processes are outlined in the constitutions of both
comparisons countries
• Similarity: The nature and strength of the government in both
countries, and the limitations placed upon them, are a direct
consequence of the political system in each country
• Difference: The vastly different amendment processes of the two
countries are determined by the nature of their constitution
• Difference: The location of sovereignty, both nationally and regionally,
is a direct result of different political processes in the USA and the UK
The nature of the constitutions

In terms of features, the US and UK constitutions are vastly different (Table 17.9).
While the US Constitution is codified, the UK constitution is written across a
vast range of documents, including statute law, authoritative works and European
treaties. This is largely a result of the background to each constitution. In countries
that have codified constitutions, this tends to be a result of a civil, usually violent,
uprising. For the USA this was the War of Independence in which Americans fought
the British for their liberty; the resulting Constitution ref lects the ideals for which
they fought. Despite the civil war in the seventeenth century, the UK political
system has been comparatively stable and therefore the constitution ref lects a slower,
more evolutionary change. For this reason, sovereignty in the USA is shared by
the Constitution between the federal government and state governments, while
Parliament in the UK holds legal sovereignty alone.
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Table 17.9 The US Constitution versus the UK constitution
USA UK
• Written: Single document created in 1787 Sources • Written: Numerous written sources make up
plus 27 subsequent amendments amounting the UK constitution. Most important is statute
to approximately 7,000 words. Supreme law, due to the sovereignty of Parliament.
Court rulings supplement these written However, authoritative works and EU treaties
sources with ‘interpretative amendments’ also form part of the constitution, outlining
• Unwritten: Conventions are still specifically how government works
commonplace within the US interpretation • Unwritten: Conventions are an important part
of the Constitution. While Article II refers to of the UK constitution, from how the prime
‘principal Officer[s] in each of the executive minister is chosen to the expectation that
departments’, it does not refer to the the monarchy will give royal assent to laws
cabinet, yet every president since 1789 has passed by Parliament
had a cabinet
The Founding Fathers firmly embedded the Principles The UK operates on a principle of fused
principles of limited government, separation of powers, with the executive being drawn from
powers, checks and balances, bipartisanship the legislature. Crucially, sovereignty resides
and federalism within the Constitution, even in Parliament, which limits any truly effective
though these are not named within the checks and balances. While devolution has
document been developed in the past decades, the UK
remains a unitary government
The Constitution is sovereign but shares Sovereignty The UK Parliament is legally sovereign and can
political power between the federal and state therefore give out and take back political power.
governments. Over time, the power of the Political sovereignty may be said to reside in
federal government over the states appears to other places however, for example the devolved
have grown governments or important laws such as the
Human Rights Act
While the Constitution aimed to create three Separation of powers The creation of the Supreme Court in 2005 did
entirely separate branches of government, create increasingly separated powers in the UK,
some, like Professor Neustadt, have suggested but the executive and legislative are still firmly
it has in fact created ‘separate institutions fused, allowing executive dominance of the
sharing power’ legislature and politics more generally
Clear checks exist between all branches of the Checks and balances The executive is drawn from the majority party
US federal government. This can allow for well- in the House of Commons. This dominance
scrutinised policy but also for political gridlock allows for minimal chance of political gridlock
but also questionable effectiveness of scrutiny
The Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments Protection of rights The Human Rights Act 1998 has gained
to the Constitution firmly entrench the key moral authority and is judiciable, but the lack
rights of US citizens, with a powerful and of sovereignty of the Supreme Court limits
independent Supreme Court able to rule to the extent to which rights protection can be
uphold these rights enforced
The amendment process for the Constitution Flexibility The lack of codification means that the UK
is arduous but has been used effectively. The constitution is very flexible and therefore can be
interpretative amendments of the Supreme modernised with ease, such as through a new
Court have also allowed the Constitution to be statute law. This does, however, leave it open to
modernised as circumstances have changed abuse by a government with a large majority
Federalism vs devolution
The dispersal of power in the UK and USA looks quite similar — in the USA,
states hold some power, and in the UK, devolved governments in Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland hold some power. However, the basis for these two systems is
entirely different. When Ronald Reagan addressed Congress in 1981, he commented
that ‘all of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the
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States; the States created the Federal Government’. The Founding Fathers were both
representatives of their states and worked to ensure states’ interests in the creation of
the US Constitution. From this a ‘federal’ system emerged, one in which sovereignty
was shared between a central federal government and the local state governments,
each having its own specific powers. Originally, the states were therefore equal
to the federal government. The shared sovereignty in the USA means that power
should theoretically f low from the states to the federal government. Comparatively,
in devolution in the UK power f lows out from the centre and is actively given to the
regions, meaning it can also be taken back again by Parliament.
The UK has for centuries been a ‘unitary’ system. This means that power is
centralised in one place. The centre of power in the UK was originally the monarch,
but over time Parliament gained power. More recently, Parliament has shared its
sovereignty by creating devolved assemblies with jurisdiction over Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland. However, Parliament retains the theoretical ability to recall
these shared powers to Westminster. Unlike US states, the devolved assemblies
remain subservient to Parliament. This has been particularly evident through the
problems that Northern Ireland experienced between 2017 and 2020, leading to a
closure of the Stormont government for 3 years.
There are similarities between these two governmental systems. Both the USA and
the UK allow for their government to be more directly responsible and relevant to
its citizens. The freedom exercised by the Scottish Parliament to remove university
tuition fees is similar to the power of individual states to determine their education
policies. Equally, both devolved assemblies and states find themselves being
challenged by central government. The Scottish Parliament was not entitled to call
Knowledge check a referendum on Scottish independence without consent from Westminster, while
states have frequently found their policies challenged or overruled by either federal
62 Where is sovereignty law or Supreme Court rulings.
located in the USA?
63 Define ‘unitary’. Both systems are also somewhat f lexible and evolutionary. The system of federalism
64 Explain the difference is codified within the Constitution, but the changing nature of federalism over the
between separation past two centuries demonstrates the f lexibility within this framework. States have
of powers in the UK fought for, and gained, powers in landmark legislation such as Obamacare. They
and the USA. have also found themselves challenged through Supreme Court rulings on same-sex
65 List the ways in marriage and the death penalty. Equally, the UK system of devolution is f lexible
which the UK and and continues to develop, with calls for more devolution in the form of a ‘Northern
US constitutions are powerhouse’, Scottish independence, or the Conservative ‘levelling up’ agenda. At
evolutionary. the same time there have been numerous occasions since 1998 when power has been
removed from the Northern Irish Assembly.
Summary
➜ What is the significance of the entrenched and codified nature of the US Constitution?
➜ Is the amendment process effective at protecting the Constitution?
➜ Where are the principles of the Constitution embodied within its text?
➜ To what extent have checks and balances proven effective at limiting government?
➜ Do the strengths of the Constitution outweigh its weaknesses today?
➜ To what extent does the US Constitution obstruct government rather than empower it?
➜ Does the US Constitution support or undermine democratic principles?
➜ How effectively has the principle of federalism been protected?
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Practice questions
1 Examine the way in which the US and UK constitutions protect the rights
of citizens. (12)
2 Analyse the similarities in the principles of the US and UK constitutions.
In your answer you must consider the relevance of at least one comparative
theory.(12)
3 Evaluate the view that the US Constitution has failed to create equality
of power between Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court. You
must consider this view and the alternative to this view in a balanced way.(30)
4 Evaluate the view that federalism is no longer an effective principle of
the US Constitution. You must consider this view and the alternative to
Further reading
Lemieux, S. (2022) ‘The American Constitution: a flexible friend when it comes to change?’,
Lemieux, S. and Birks, G. (2022) ‘The USA: federal in name only?’, Politics Review, Vol. 31,
No. 3.
Tuck, D. (2020) ‘How Democratic is the US Constitution?’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 1.
Comparative: Beeman, R. (2010) The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution, Penguin.
Bodenhamer, D. J. (2018) The US Constitution: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University
Press.
Congressional Research Service (2019) Equal Rights Amendment: Close to Adoption?:
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10163
Lemieux, S. (2020) ‘Comparing Constitutions’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 3.
Stevens, Justice J. P. (2014) Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the
Constitution, Little, Brown and Company.
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18 US Congress
The powers and structure of the US Congress are clearly laid out in Article I of
Key term
the Constitution, which shows the importance that was placed on this branch.
Tyranny Oppressive The USA had fought for its freedom against King George III through the War
or cruel rule. For the of Independence. Feeling that the 1774 petition of grievances had been ignored,
Founding Fathers, this was the Founding Fathers described the king in the Declaration of Independence as ‘a
their experience of British prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is
rule. unfit to be ruler of a free people’.
This fear of tyranny and their experiences under British rule perhaps explain why
the Founding Fathers put Congress first in the Constitution. They were very specific
when outlining its powers so that these powers could not be removed. Congress
was designed to be the most accountable branch to the voters, with a House of
Representatives directly elected every 2 years. It would be able to protect the rights
of the states from within the federal government and it would be able to directly
challenge and limit the power of the newly formed presidency.
The Standard Oil Company was founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1870. This cartoon, published in the satirical magazine Puck in
1904, depicts Standard Oil as an octopus choking state legislatures and reaching for influence in the White House. Concerns such
as these helped to pass the 17th Amendment
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The structure of Congress
Despite the anger towards British oppression, the newly formed US Congress
looked remarkably similar to the UK Parliament. It was bicameral, made up of the
Key terms
House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives would be Bicameral Describes a
directly elected, with each state appointing a number of representatives in line with legislature made up of two
its population. The Senate would be appointed by state legislatures, with each state chambers.
getting two senators. The House should represent popular sovereignty, while the Popular sovereignty
Senate would act as a safeguard against popular sovereignty and ensure that every The principle that all
state had a voice in the new federal government regardless of its size. government authority is
The Senate became an elected chamber following the 17th Amendment in 1913. derived from the consent
There would still be two senators from each state, each serving 6 years. This of the people being
amendment was made partly due to growing concerns over the power of industrial governed, who are the
monopolies to control state legislatures and inf luence the appointment of senators. source of political power.
This is most commonly
Unlike the UK Parliament, the two Houses of Congress are more difficult to define given at election time.
as a ‘lower’ house and an ‘upper’ house, especially since the addition of the 17th
Amendment. Each house has unique powers, such as the House’s right to begin all
appropriations bills and the Senate’s right to ratify treaties and appointments. They
Knowledge check
also share powers, known as concurrent powers. The most important is the power to
make legislation, which both houses exercise equally. Similarly, while the Founding 1 List the unique powers
Fathers make no mention of salary in the Constitution, for almost every year since of the House of
1787 House and Senate members have received equal salaries. Representatives and
the Senate.
Figure 18.1 shows the growing size of Congress since 1789. Given the substantial
2 Who does the House
population growth in the USA over the last 50 years, there are calls today to make
of Representatives
the House of Representatives even larger. This would allow for smaller congressional
represent?
districts and so members can better represent their constituents.
3 What does the Senate
protect against?
Membership of Congress
Aside from the 17th Amendment, the constitutional structure of Congress has not
really changed in the last two centuries. It has, of course, got much larger, reflecting
both the geographical and the population growth of the USA. From the 1st Congress
of 26 senators and 65 members of the House of Representatives, Congress today is
made up of 100 senators and 435 members of the House of Representatives (Table 18.1).
The Apportionment Act 1911 sets the number of members in the House of
Representatives at 435. The country’s population at the time was approximately
500 350 Figure 18.1 The size

450 of Congress, 1st–117th
Membership of Congress
300
US population (millions)
400
350 250 (1789–2023)
300 200
250
200 150
150 100
100
50
50
0 0
1
5
9
13
17
21
25
29
33
37
41
45
49
53
57
61
65
69
73
77
81
85
89
93
97
101
105
109
113
117
Congress number
House of Representatives Senate Population
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Table 18.1 The House of Representatives and the Senate
House of Representatives Senate
435 voting Congressmen and Congresswomen, Total 100 senators with the vice president casting the
plus six non-voting members including the membership deciding vote in the event of a tie
member for Washington, DC and those
representing the US territories such as Guam
Reflective of the population of each state In Number per 2 senators – the longer-serving senator from a
the 117th Congress, seven states have only state state is referred to as the ‘senior senator’ and the
one member as their populations are around shorter-serving as the ‘junior senator’
1 million people or fewer. California has the most
members, with 53 members for its population of
nearly 40 million
Congressional district, as drawn by the state Constituency Every senator represents their whole state
government and redrawn every 10 years after the
census
The whole House is up for election every 2 years. Term length Each senator serves 6 years, with one-third of
There is no limit on the number of terms that can them up for election every 2 years. Senators are
be served. John Dingell (Democrat — Michigan) known as Class I, II or III, with each ‘class’ up for
served for 59 years until retiring in 2015 election at the same time. In 2022, all Class III
senators were up for election. There is no limit on
the number of terms that can be served. Robert
Byrd (Democrat — West Virginia) served for over
51 years until his death in 2010
• Speaker of the House (elected by the whole Key leadership • Vice president (constitutionally, they preside
House from the majority party) roles over the Senate)
• Majority and minority leaders • President pro tempore
• Majority and minority whips • Majority and minority leaders
92 million, meaning an average of one House of Representative member for each

215,000 Americans. Today, with a population of 333 million, each House member
represents an average of around 765,000 Americans.
The election cycle

A congressional election occurs every 2 years, compared to every 4 years for the
president. Each newly elected Congress is known by a number, from the 1st Congress
(1789–91) to the 118th Congress (2023–25). All federal government elections use the
first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system, which helps to explain the two-party
system in the USA today.
In any congressional election, every seat in the House of Representatives is up for
election, in addition to one-third of the seats in the Senate. When these elections
take place in the same year as a presidential election, the elections do not have a
special name. However, when they take place in the middle of a presidential term,
the congressional elections are known as the midterm elections.
Midterm elections
Midterm elections are often seen as a referendum on the performance of the
president so far. It is not unusual for a president to lose one or both houses at
this point. Presidents can struggle to achieve everything they promised in their
campaign in the 2 years between their election and the midterms, especially when
the US government has separation of powers. If government does become divided
during the midterms, this can make it more difficult for the president to pass their
legislative agenda. It also means that Congress has a more recent mandate, which
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Table 18.2 Control of Congress, 1994–2018
Year President House Senate Government
1994 Clinton (D) Lost to Republicans Lost to Republicans Became divided
1998 Clinton (D) Remained Republican Remained Republican Remained divided
2002 Bush (R) Remained Republican Took Republican control Became united
2006 Bush (R) Lost to Democrats Lost to Democrats Became divided
2010 Obama (D) Lost to Republicans Remained Democrat Became divided
2014 Obama (D) Remained Republican Lost to Republicans Remained divided
2018 Trump (R) Lost to Democrats Remained Republican Became divided
2022 Biden (D) Lost to Republicans Remained Democrat Became divided
can mean it is more willing to challenge the president. This happened in 2016,
when the Republican Senate refused to allow confirmation hearings for Obama’s
Supreme Court nominee. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell claimed they held a
stronger mandate than ‘a lame-duck president whose priorities and policies [the
American people] just rejected in the most-recent national election’.
In midterms since 1992, control of Congress has changed significantly (Table 18.2).
Knowledge check
4 What is the current size of Congress?
5 How many House of Representative seats are up for election in any election?
Key term
6 Which amendment made the Senate a fully elected chamber? Incumbent The person
7 When do midterm elections take place? who currently holds
a political office,
usually referring to the
The significance of incumbency president, a senator or a
The incumbent in an election can hold significant advantages over their political member of the House of
challengers. Perhaps most important is the name recognition that being the current Representatives.
office holder brings. Elections are very expensive business — in 2020, congressional
elections cost $7 billion and saw nine of the ten most expensive Senate races ever. To
achieve this level of funding is far easier when the candidate is already well known. Synoptic link
Incumbents have name recognition and therefore they are able to use their money The election cycles in
more effectively. This may mean they have the ability to raise more money as they the USA and the UK are
are well known. It may also mean that they need to spend less in order to get people vastly different. The USA
to vote for them. In 2020, Senate Republican Leader McConnell needed to spend holds elections for the
on average $34 per vote to retain his Senate seat compared to $92 per vote for his legislature independently
Democratic challenger. This is especially notable as McConnell spent nearly $65 of the executive and in
million on his campaign while his challenger spent over $90 million. McConnell an entirely different year,
needed to spend less overall, and less per vote, to retain his seat. leading to greater chances
of creating a legislature
Incumbents also have some congressional advantages. They are provided with a that is willing to challenge
website on which they can explain their policy beliefs, demonstrate their policy the executive. For more on
successes and inf luence, and offer an easy way for constituents to contact them. the relationship between
They also have ‘franking privileges’. This means that the cost of mailings to their the prime minister and
constituents is provided for by Congress. While members may not use this for Parliament see Chapter 8.
electoral purposes, as they are able to contact their constituents and demonstrate their This links to Component
work in Congress, it helps their electoral chances. This is seen through the trend for 2, UK Government (pages
franking requests being far higher in election years — requests had increased from 251–256).
651 in January 2020 to 1,529 by April and continued to increase in 2020.
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The boundaries of congressional districts also help to explain the high re-election
Key term rate of incumbents. The congressional districts for the House of Representatives
Census Every 10 years, are drawn within each state. The party controlling each state’s legislature has the
the Constitution requires opportunity to redraw these constituency boundaries every 10 years, after each
that the population of the census. This has led to a practice known as gerrymandering. This is where a state’s
USA is counted to ensure governing party draws the boundaries of each constituency to give it an electoral
each state has the correct advantage. This produces relatively few swing seats, giving the incumbent a further
number of House of advantage.
Representatives members.
As a result, a candidate running for re-election is more likely to retain their seat
(Table 18.3).
In focus
How does gerrymandering work? success. This has led to very oddly shaped, and sometimes
not even geographically contiguous, districts, which could
In the example shown in Figure 18.2, there are 25 voters: 15
undermine the democratic process.
‘orange’ voters and ten ‘green’ voters. However, depending on
how these voters are divided up, the number of constituencies Following the delayed 2020 census, gerrymandering of state
each party would gain changes substantially. In the USA, districts became so controversial that by March 2022, 58 legal
these boundaries are decided by the state government, which cases had been filed in 21 states to challenge the proposed
is controlled by a party. It is in its interest to ‘gerrymander’ maps (Figure 18.3).
the boundaries to give it the best political circumstances for
3 green 2 green 1 green 0 green

constituencies constituencies constituency constituencies
2 orange 3 orange 4 orange 5 orange
constituencies constituencies constituencies constituencies
Figure 18.2 How drawing the boundaries differently can change the outcome
Who controls redistricting in each state?

Republicans (187 districts)
Democrats (75)
Both parties (71)
Independent commission (96)
Single district (6)
Figure 18.3 Map showing which party controlled the redistricting process following the 2020 census
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Table 18.3 Incumbency rates
Synoptic link
House of Representatives Senate incumbency rate
incumbency rate (%) (%) Boundary reforms in
the UK are carried out
117th Congress (2021–23) 95 84
independently. In the USA
116th Congress (2019–21) 91 84
they are carried out by
115th Congress (2017–19) 97 93
state governments that
114th Congress (2015–17) 95 82
are heavily influenced by
113th Congress (2013–15) 90 91 party politics, leading to
112th Congress (2011–13) 85 84 gerrymandering. Ensuring
111th Congress (2009–11) 94 83 fair boundary sizes is key
110th Congress (2007–09) 94 79 to the liberal principle of
equality, but also helps to
Senate elections ensure the accountability
of the government. The
Every senator is known as a Class I, Class II or Class III senator. This refers to the
importance of limited
year in which their seat will be up for election, with one-third of senators up for
government is discussed by
election every 2 years. Since the 17th Amendment in 1913, senators serve 6-year
liberal theorist John Locke.
terms, having now to be mindful of their next election. Even though only one-third
For more information on
of the seats are up for election, it could change the majority in the Senate and thus
this, see Chapter 9.
drastically alter the political landscape (Table 18.4).
Table 18.4 Senate seats up for election, 2006–22
2010 Cl. III 2012 Cl. I 2014 Cl. II 2016 Cl. III 2018 Cl. I 2020 Cl. II 2022 Cl. III 2024 Cl. I 2026 Cl. II
34 seats 33 seats 33 seats 34 seats 33 seats 33 seats 34 seats 33 seats 33 seats
The Georgia Senate elections in 2020 with Republicans holding 50 seats and Democrats holding
48, and both Georgia seats had Republican incumbents.
Georgia was unusual in 2020. The state had one Class II
Stunningly, in the runoff elections Democrats Jon Ossoff and
Senate seat up for election. However, following the death of
Raphael Warnock won these seats, with 225,000 more voters
a senator in 2019, it also had a special election to fill a Class
turning out than had in November 2020. This enabled the
III seat. In Georgia, to win a Senate seat, a candidate must
Democrats to take control of the Senate, with 50 senators plus
receive more than 50% of the vote. In the November 2020
Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote.
elections, no one achieved this in either race, triggering a runoff
election in January where the top two candidates in each race What do these races suggest about the importance of
competed directly against one another. This became incredibly incumbency? Who are these senators likely to be most loyal
significant as the control of the Senate was finely balanced, to, their constituency or their party, and why?
The impact of the election cycle

With seats in both houses up for election every 2 years, control of Congress and
the presidency, or of the two houses of Congress, can be split between two parties.
This has become much more common in recent history. Between 1901 and 1969,
US federal government was ‘divided’ just 21% of the time, and in just two of the
34 Congresses in this period were the House of Representatives and the Senate
controlled by different parties. Since 1969, however, US government has been
‘divided’ 70% of the time and in seven of these Congresses the two houses were
controlled by different parties. As a result of the last six elections, the US federal
government has been divided five times. Only Obama’s first Congress had a majority
of Democrats in both houses (Table 18.5).
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Table 18.5 The results of recent federal elections
Democrats Republicans Democrats Independents (who Republicans
Congress elected elected elected tend to vote with …) elected President
111th 2009–11 257 178 57 2 (Democrat) 41 Obama
115th 2017–19 194 241 47 2 (Democrat) 51 Trump
116th 2019–21 235 199 45 2 (Democrat) 53 Trump
117th 2021–23 222 213 48 2 (Democrat) 50 Biden
Knowledge check The distribution of powers within Congress

8 Who controls the Article I gives Congress a clear set of powers to be exercised concurrently by both
redistricting process houses. It also gives each house exclusive powers that can be exercised by that house
in each state? alone. It is often assumed the Senate is the more powerful house, being subject to
9 When does fewer elections, often representing more people and having ratification powers.
redistricting take The House of Representatives may have fewer exclusive powers, but they are
place? potentially more significant, holding the power of the purse and being able to bring
10 List the advantages impeachment charges that could remove the president from office. It is crucial to
an incumbent member recognise that the most important powers of Congress are exercised concurrently.
of Congress has.
In addition to these enumerated powers, Congress has assumed a number of
11 How many elections
implied powers over time. Many of these are derived from the necessary and proper
have resulted in
clause and the commerce clause of Article I. The ‘necessary and proper clause’
divided government
is informally known as the ‘elastic clause’ and allows Congress to make any laws
since 2009?
that enable it to carry out its enumerated powers. The commerce clause allows
Congress to regulate foreign and interstate trade. Congress defended its power to
Key term set up a national bank in 1791 by arguing that such a power was implied through
Commerce clause
The clause of the US
Constitution that allows
Congress regulatory power
over trade between states.
It has been used to grant
Congress broad powers
over state governments.
The US Treasury Building

blocks the view of Congress
from the White House. It
was apparently designed to
do so by President Andrew
Jackson, who had feuded with
Congress over money. This
suggests tensions between
these branches have always
been high
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Congress’ power to levy and collect taxes. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton,
in discussing the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States, with reference
to the Constitution and Congress commented that ‘it is not denied that there are
implied as well as express powers’ — effectively that these were powers that allowed
national government to exercise its enumerated powers.
Figure 18.4 shows the distribution of concurrent and exclusive powers in Congress.
Powers of Concurrent Powers of the

the House of powers Senate
Representatives • To create legislation • To ratify treaties
• Power of the purse • To override the • To confirm appointments
• To bring charges of president’s veto • To try cases of
• To propose constitutional impeachment
impeachment
amendments • To choose the vice
• To choose the president
if the Electoral College • To declare war president if the Electoral
is deadlocked • To confirm a College is deadlocked
new vice president
• Investigation
Figure 18.4 The concurrent

and exclusive powers of the
Houses of Congress
Concurrent powers of Congress

Create legislation
The most important power of Congress is the ability to create, amend, delay and
pass legislation. This is not an unlimited power — Congress only has this power
over the areas laid out in the Constitution; the states hold the power to legislate
over other areas. This means that Congress can block, amend or reject legislation
proposed by the president.
Following the global Covid-19 pandemic, Biden put forward his Build Back Better
plan. This consisted of three parts — a Covid-19 recovery plan, an infrastructure
plan and a social security plan. While the recovery plan passed quickly, the other
two parts were held up in Congress, with Democratic Senators Manchin and
Sinema and progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives all objecting to
parts of his proposed package of legislation. To ensure the passage of the Affordable
Care Act (Obamacare), Obama had to issue executive order 13535 guaranteeing that
abortion would not be federally funded to overcome congressional disagreements.
Congress’ refusal to pass legislation funding Trump’s border wall led to the longest
government shutdown in US history.
Override the president’s veto

Once a bill has passed through Congress, it requires the president’s signature to
become law. The president can use their veto to prevent a bill becoming law.
Congress has the power to overturn this with a two-thirds vote in both houses.
The veto and the veto override tend to be more commonly used when Congress
is controlled by a different party to the presidency. All but one of Bush’s 12 vetoes
came after he lost control of both houses of Congress, and there were override
attempts on 10 of these, 4 successfully. All of Trump’s 10 vetoes came after he lost
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control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms. Biden warned the
Knowledge check Democrats who controlled the 117th Congress that if they lost control of either
12 What is the ‘elastic House in the 2022 midterms, ‘the only thing I’ll have then is the veto pen’, referring
clause’? to the difficulty of passing legislation in a divided government.
13 How many vetoes
In 2020, Congress overrode President Trump’s veto of the National Defense
have the last three
Authorization Act (a law authorising the spending and budget of the Department
presidents had
of Defense) with bipartisan cooperation between Republicans and Democrats. 81
overridden by
senators voted to override the veto, with only 13 voting against. Just 2 days before
Congress?
the new 117th Congress was sworn in, the House of Representatives voted 322–87
14 List the concurrent
to override Trump’s veto.
powers of Congress.
15 On what bill did Propose constitutional amendments
Congress override With a two-thirds vote in both houses, Congress can propose constitutional
the veto of Trump? amendments. The last constitutional amendment was passed in 1992, but many more
have been put forward. Representative Cohen (R-Tennessee) proposed limiting the
presidential power of the pardon in the 117th Congress.
Declare war
With the agreement of both houses, Congress has the power to formally declare war
on another nation. This was last used to declare war on Romania (or ‘Rumania’, as
it was in the declaration) in 1942, as part of the Second World War. In 1941, after
the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress,
describing it as ‘a date which will live in infamy’. He finished his speech:
‘I, therefore, ask that Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly
attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between
the United States and the Japanese Empire.’
More commonly today, given the technological development of weapons in the
twentieth century, Congress tries to use the powers it has over money and tax to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt control a president’s desire for military action.
addresses Congress after the
attack on Pearl Harbor Confirm a new vice president
If the office of the vice president becomes vacant during a presidential term, it must
be filled. The 25th Amendment allows for a simple majority vote in both houses to
confirm a new vice president. This power is most commonly used when the current
vice president has to step up to the role of president, leaving their old post vacant.
This may be necessary in a range of circumstances, such as the assassination of the
president, as in the case of John F. Kennedy in 1963, or in the event of a president
resigning, such as Richard Nixon in 1974.
Investigation
Through an implied power of the Constitution, Congress can launch investigations
into areas on which it has created legislation or may need to create legislation, and
into federal programs. Congress has the power to subpoena witnesses in these
Key term investigations, meaning that they must attend hearings. Notable recent investigations
Subpoena The ability have included reviewing the insurrection at Congress on 6 January 2021 and the
of Congress to order response to Hurricane Katrina. In 2017, four different congressional committees
someone to attend a investigated the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
hearing and compel them The Republican chair, Devin Nunes (R-California), of the House Intelligence
to give evidence. Committee concluded that his committee ‘did not determine that Trump or anyone
associated with him assisted Russia’s active measures campaign’.
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While the reports from these investigations can highlight problems and make
recommendations, as this is an implied power there is no requirement that the
reports are acted on.
Exclusive powers of the House of Representatives

Power of the purse
The House of Representatives alone can begin appropriations bills. This gives the
House considerable individual power, and power over the presidency. Each year,
the president submits the annual budget for US government to the House Budget
Committee to begin the approval process. In the 2018 budget, President Trump
requested that the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be cut
by one-third. Despite being of the same party as the president, House Republicans
proposed cutting the EPA budget by just 6%.
As the Senate can amend these bills and must approve them, this limits the importance
of this power.
In focus
6 January insurrection the 2020 election. Some of these supporters then headed
to the US Capitol building, where they overcame security
at Congress and broke into the building. At that time, the confirmation
of the Electoral College vote was taking place in Congress,
overseen by Vice President Pence. He, along with senators
and representatives, were removed to safety while protestors
ransacked offices and broke onto the floor of the Senate and
House chambers. This event led to the second impeachment
of Donald Trump for ‘incitement of insurrection’.
Following this, the 117th Congress established a January 6
Committee to investigate the events of that day. Only two
Republicans served on the committee — Representatives
Cheney and Kinzinger, both of whom were censured by their
own party for doing so. Throughout 2021–22, the committee
investigated whether Trump should face criminal charges for
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the his role on 6 January. In October 2022, Trump was subpoenaed
Capitol in Washington, DC, 6 January 2021 to give testimony before the January 6 Committee. In
November, Trump failed to comply with this subpoena.
On 6 January 2021, supporters of President Trump gathered
In December, the committee recommended that the US
at a rally to hear him speak, on false claims he had won
Department of Justice brought criminal charges against Trump.
Bring charges of impeachment

The House of Representatives alone can bring charges of impeachment against the
president, their officials or justices of the federal courts. If the individual is found
guilty, they are removed from office. This is not a criminal trial — if someone has
broken the law, criminal or civil proceedings may follow, but impeachment simply
removes the person from power. While this power has been used only four times in
US history, it is a threat to any president who holds office, helping to restrain their
actions.
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Knowledge check
16 When was war last formally declared by Congress?
17 Define the ‘power of the purse’.
18 What happened on 6 January 2021?
19 What does the 25th Amendment do?
In focus
President Trump and impeachment
Following the insurrection at Congress on 6 January 2021, Trump become the only US
president to have been impeached twice. For impeachment, the House of Representatives
needs a simple majority to bring charges and the Senate needs a two-thirds vote to convict.
2019 Impeachment
Two charges were brought against Trump — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump
was accused of threatening to withhold military aid from Ukraine and newly elected President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy unless he launched an investigation into Joe Biden and his son.
Charge: 1 Abuse of power 2 Obstruction of Congress

Vote to bring charges in the 230 for 229 for
House of Representatives 197 against 198 against
Vote on the charges in the 48 guilty 47 guilty
Senate 52 not guilty 53 not guilty
2021 Impeachment
One charge was brought against Trump — incitement of insurrection.
Charge: incitement of insurrection

Vote to bring charges in the House of 232 for
Representatives 197 against
Vote on the charges in the Senate 57 guilty
43 not guilty
Choose the president if the Electoral College is deadlocked

In order to win an election, the president needs to gain a simple majority in the
Electoral College. Today, with 535 votes in the Electoral College, a candidate needs
270 to win. If no one manages this, the House of Representatives chooses who is to
become the president. In this eventuality, each state is given a single vote to exercise,
regardless of its size.
With the development of two-party politics in the USA and refinements of the
electoral process, this is a power that is now unlikely to be used. It was, however,
used in both 1800 and 1824 to elect President Thomas Jefferson and President John
Quincy Adams. In the election of 1800, the Electoral College returned a tie between
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. After no fewer than 36 votes in the House of
Representatives, Jefferson eventually secured an outright majority of nine votes and
was declared the president.
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Exclusive powers of the Senate
Ratify treaties
As a check on the president’s power over foreign policy, the Senate scrutinises
proposed treaties from the president and can approve or reject them by a two-thirds
vote. In 2012, the Senate voted to reject the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities, with a number of Republicans expressing concern over
the extra government regulation that it might entail. The Senate does not have to
reject a treaty to be using this power effectively — by scrutinising it and approving
it, the Senate is also demonstrating its power.
Confirm appointments
The Senate can confirm nominees put forward by the president to the federal courts,
the cabinet and ambassadorial posts, among others. This usually entails hearings by a
relevant committee on the qualifications and suitability of a candidate before a vote
of the whole Senate.
President Trump had the opportunity to nominate three justices to the US Supreme
Court. The hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee held for his second
nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, were subject to unprecedented protests objecting to
his nomination after Kavanaugh faced allegations of sexual assault. During the
committee vote on Trump’s final nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, the Democrats
boycotted the vote in protest at the swiftness of the nomination.
During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Biden’s nominee, Judge Ketanji
Brown Jackson, many of the Republican Senators questioned her on her judicial
philosophy. A number of Democrat Senators, such as Cory Booker, used their
questioning time to praise the nomination of the first minority ethnic woman to the
Supreme Court.
Ketanji Brown Jackson
signing the Oaths of Office
in the Justices’ Conference
Room, Supreme Court
Building
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Try cases of impeachment
When the House of Representatives votes to bring impeachment charges, a trial
is then held in the Senate. The House of Representatives acts as the prosecution,
while the person against whom charges have been brought can mount a defence,
both calling witnesses and putting forward arguments. Two-thirds of senators
are required to find the person ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’. This is not a criminal trial,
however, and the verdict simply allows an official to keep their position or to be
removed from it.
The Constitution is remarkably vague about what constitutes grounds for
impeachment. Before he became president, Gerald Ford led a charge of impeachment
for financial misconduct against Justice Douglas in 1970 and commented that ‘an
impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers
it to be at a given moment in history’.
Choose the vice president if the Electoral College is deadlocked

While the House of Representatives can choose the president in the case of Electoral
College deadlock, the Senate chooses the vice president. While this seems like a
lesser power than that of the House, the vice president acts as the president of the
Senate, so it is logical that the Senate would select them in these circumstances. This
has only ever happened twice, in 1800 and 1824.
Knowledge check
20 What majority is needed for the Senate to confirm a treaty?
21 Which Supreme Court nominee did Democrats boycott the Senate Judiciary Committee
vote on?
22 Who decides what an impeachable offence is?
The functions of Congress

Congress fulfils three main functions for federal government — legislative,
representative and providing oversight of the other branches of government.
Legislation
The legislative process
The process of a bill becoming a law in Congress is lengthy and time-consuming
(Figure 18.5). Bills can begin in either house of Congress, except for appropriations
bills, which must begin in the House of Representatives. They can pass through
Congress sequentially (one house after the other) or concurrently (both houses at the
same time with differences reconciled at the end).
The length of the process, coupled with a short electoral cycle of just 2 years, helps
to explain why so few bills get passed by each Congress. As shown in Table 18.6,
the percentage changes little despite the election cycle and regardless of whether
government is divided or united. What this does not show, of course, is the
importance of the legislation passed. The passage of Obamacare had a much more
far-reaching impact than, for example, the renaming of a Detroit post office as the
Aretha Franklin Post Office Building in October 2021.
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Synoptic link
Speaker of the House receives the Presiding officer of the Senate The exclusive powers of
Introduction bill and places it into the relevant receives the bill and places it into the the Senate are far greater
committee/s relevant committee/s
than those of the House
of Lords as senators are
Bills can either be considered by the Bills can either be considered by the
whole committee, by a subcommittee, whole committee, by a subcommittee, elected and therefore
Committee or ‘pigeon-holed’. or ‘pigeon-holed’ accountable. The Senate
consideration If a bill is considered, hearings are
If a bill is considered, hearings are has had these powers
held and the bill is amended held and the bill is amended before
before being ‘reported out’ being ‘reported out’ since 1787, before
which point it was not an
elected chamber. This
House Rules Committee decides on a
The Senate majority leader decides links to Component 2,
Scheduling timetable for debate of the bill and
on the timetable for a debate
the type of debate allowed UK Government (pages
186–194).
Debates take place on the floor of
Debates take place on the floor of the Senate. The bill is usually
Floor action the House and the bill is amended amended and voted on. However,
and voted on this stage can be fast-tracked
through ‘unanimous consent’
The House and Senate often liaise to ensure bills remain similar as they advance
Resolving through this process. If there are minor differences at this stage, they go into
differences conference committee to resolve differences, after which a bill must be
approved by both houses again
Leave the bill for 10 days. If Veto the bill. Reasons

Congress is still in session for the veto must be sent
Presidential back to Congress, which
Sign the bill after 10 days, it becomes
action can either amend the bill
law without the president’s
signature and resubmit it, attempt
a veto override, or let the
bill remain vetoed
Figure 18.5 Overview of the

NEW LAW
legislative process
1 Introduction
The introductory stage of a bill is a formality. In either house, it is received by the
leading member of that house and then placed into committee. Choices made at
this stage, however, can make it more or less likely that a bill will progress through
the whole process. The Speaker of the House can choose to time limit a bill or not,
and which committee that bill will go into. If the speaker chooses to send the bill
Table 18.6 The percentage of legislation passed
Number of bills that Percentage of bills Percentage of
Pieces of legislation got a vote in at that got a vote in at successfully
Congress introduced least one house least one house Enacted laws passed laws
117th (2021–23)* 17,641 748 4% 228 1%
116th (2019–21) 16,601 746 4% 334 2%
115th (2017–19) 13,556 867 6% 443 3%
114th (2015–17) 12,063 662 5% 329 3%
113th (2013–15) 10,637 474 4% 296 3%
112th (2011–13) 12,299 390 3% 284 2%
* Figures accurate to December 2022
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to more than one committee, this can be done sequentially, with the bill finishing
in one committee before beginning in another. This lengthens the process and
potentially makes it less likely that a bill will pass. Alternatively, the speaker can
break up the bill and send bits of the bill to different committees. This is known as
a ‘split referral’ and may serve to speed up the process.
In the Senate, the bill usually goes to the committee that has authority over the
relevant policy area. While the speaker can dominate the process in the House of
Representatives, in the Senate the principle of ‘unanimous consent’ gives power to
each individual senator. Unanimous consent means that procedures in the Senate
can be set aside if no senator objects. To place a bill into more than one committee
in the Senate, unanimous consent is required, limiting the power of the Senate
leadership.
2 Committee consideration
With thousands of bills referred to committee in each Congress, very few actually
Key term make it out. Bills that do not make it out of committee are considered to be
Pigeon-holing A bill that ‘pigeon-holed’, meaning they are received by the committee but little or no
is put into a congressional further action takes place on the bill. Around 90% of bills are pigeon-holed. Of
committee but not those that do make it out of committee, many do not get a vote in either the
given any hearings or Senate or the House of Representatives. Table 18.6 shows that in each of the last
further action, therefore six Congresses, the number of bills that got a vote on the f loor of at least one
effectively ‘dying’ in chamber has been 6% or less. This represents the number of bills that made it out of
committee. committee in order to achieve these votes. Once the current congressional session
ends, these bills simply ‘die’.
Bills that are acted on are subject to committee hearings and are then amended
by the committee. The amendments made to a bill are known as ‘mark ups’. The
final amended bill must pass a vote of the whole committee. On passing a vote, it is
‘reported out’, meaning the amended bill is sent back to the relevant house to allow
for consideration by the whole house.
Knowledge check
23 What percentage of proposed bills have successfully become laws since 2011?
24 List the powers of the Speaker of the House in the introduction phase of the legislative
process.
25 What percentage of bills are likely to be pigeon-holed in committee?
26 Define ‘unanimous consent’.
3 Scheduling
In the House of Representatives, the timetabling is decided by the House Rules
Committee. This committee is dominated by the majority party in a 2:1 ratio and
all majority party members are appointed by the speaker. This should allow for the
majority party to control the passage of legislation. The House Rules Committee
not only decides on when a bill is scheduled but also under what rules it can be
debated. If the debate is ‘open’, amendments can be made to the bill as it is being
debated. Under a ‘closed debate’, no amendments can be made to the bill. In the
Senate, a motion to proceed is voted on and if this receives a simple majority, a bill
is placed on the calendar.
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The 114th Republican House of Representatives set a record for using the closed
rule, with almost no legislation considered using an open rule at all. A Democrat on
the House Rules Committee commented that ‘it’s like the majority is allergic to an
open process’ when it comes to legislation and scrutiny.
4 Floor action
In the House of Representatives, debates are time-limited, as determined by the
House Rules Committee, and dominated by the bill’s sponsor and its leading
opponent. Once this time has elapsed, a vote is taken of all members who are present.
The bill continues its passage only if it passes this vote.
In the Senate, by comparison, there is the right of ‘unlimited debate’. This means
that as long as someone still wishes to discuss a bill, the debate remains ongoing.
Key terms
This led to the use of filibusters. A filibuster is a lengthy speech given by a senator Filibuster A prolonged
with the aim of delaying or entirely preventing the passage of a bill. By continuing speech given on the floor
to talk about a bill, a vote on that bill is prevented. of the Senate aimed at
preventing further action
The longest filibuster in Senate history was given in 1957 by Strom Thurmond,
being taken on legislation.
who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act. More
recently, in September 2013, Ted Cruz spoke for more than 21 hours, including Cloture motion
reading the Dr Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham. During that time he had to ‘remain A procedure used to end
on his feet and in the Senate Chamber to continue to control the f loor’. Cruz’s a filibuster, requiring the
speech was not a true filibuster, as he was not delaying a vote on legislation, but his agreement of 60 senators,
‘fake filibuster’ does demonstrate the Senate’s power of ‘unlimited debate’. except for in the case of
presidential appointments,
Filibusters can be ended by a cloture motion. The motion must be signed by 16 which requires just 50
senators to begin proceedings. This motion is then presented to the Senate and senators.
at least 60 senators must vote to invoke it. If this happens, the filibuster is ended,
allowing the bill to move forward to a vote.
While only a simple majority vote is needed in the Senate for legislation to go forward,
the existence of the filibuster means that anything important or controversial really
needs the support of 60 senators to ensure it can succeed.
5 Resolving differences
Before a bill can be sent to the president, both the House of Representatives and the
Senate must pass an agreed version. The formal way of resolving differences is to set
up a conference committee to create one bill from the versions from each chamber.
The Senate and the House of Representatives are represented in equal numbers
on such committees. The final version of the bill from the conference committee
must go back to each house for approval before it can be sent for presidential action.
The number of these committees has fallen sharply in recent years. This fall can be
explained by the increase in use of two more informal methods of reconciling bills
— ‘ping-pong’ and ‘take it or leave it’.
l In ‘ping-pong’, as a bill passes through both houses amendments are liaised over
by the leadership of each chamber so that the final versions of the bill (one from
each house) are identical.
l ‘Take it or leave it’ is more blunt and more infrequently used. One chamber will
simply adjourn, meaning the other chamber is forced to accept the other’s version
of the bill or drop it entirely.
Only once a bill is reconciled and has been voted on by both houses can it go to the
president.
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In focus
Filibuster reform
The filibuster has long been controversial in the Senate. While it does allow for the protection
of a singular state by just one senator holding up a bill, it also serves to prevent the majority
from passing legislation. There have therefore been numerous reforms to this power:
l 1975 The number of senators needed to pass a cloture motion was reduced to three-fifths
(60) of the whole membership.
l 2013 The number required to end a filibuster during ratification of nominees by the
president was reduced to a simple majority, except for on Supreme Court nominees.
l 2017 The number required to end a filibuster was also reduced to a simple majority for
Supreme Court nominees.
l 2022 The Senate in the 117th Congress was split 50–50 between Democrats and
Republicans. Biden and the Democrats were struggling to advance legislation such as
the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Facing filibuster, majority leader Schumer put forward a
vote to reform the filibuster so it would need only 50 votes for a cloture motion. This was
defeated 48–52, with two key Democrats — Manchin and Sinema — voting against reform.
Figure 18.6 shows the increasing use of the filibuster since the 100th Congress. This growth
corresponds with a growing partisanship in US politics.
350
300
Number of filibusters
250
200
150
100
50
0
Key terms
0
7
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
Congress
Partisanship A political
Cloture motions filed Successful cloture motions
circumstance in which
Figure 18.6 The growing use of the filibuster
a high degree of party
loyalty can be seen in
congressional votes, with
6 Presidential action
members of Congress
The president has a number of options available once a bill is sent to them:
almost always voting with
their own party. l Sign the bill — the bill becomes law and is enforceable across all 50 states.
Pocket veto A president l Leave it on their desk — this has two possible outcomes. If they do not sign the
has 10 days to action bill and Congress is still in session, after 10 days the bill automatically becomes
a bill once it is sent to law. If, however, the congressional sessions ends before these 10 days elapse, the
them. If the congressional bill ‘dies’. This is known as a pocket veto.
session ends during these l Veto the bill — the president can veto the bill and send it back to Congress with
10 days, the bill ‘dies’. their objections. Congress can attempt to override the veto, amend the bill and
send it back to the president, or allow it to ‘die’.
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Knowledge check
27 Define ‘filibuster’ and ‘cloture motion’.
28 How many votes are needed to end a filibuster?
29 What is the role of the conference committee?
30 List the options the president has once he receives a bill from Congress.
In focus
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 2021
One of Biden’s major achievements from his first year in office was the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
This bipartisan bill was the result of congressional compromise and was a considerable challenge to pass. It funded transport
and road building, broadband access and electric grid renewal. Table 18.7 charts the progress of the bill.
Table 18.7 The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 2021
Date Legislative stage What happened?
4 June 2021 Introduction The bill was introduced as the INVEST in America Act, which was
a $547 billion plan. It was sponsored by Representative DeFazio
(D-Oregon), the chair of the House Transport Committee. It had five
co-sponsors who were all Democrats
10 June 2021 Committee The bill was reported out of the House Transport Committee by
38–26 votes
10 June 2021 Scheduling The House Rules Committee set the debate as ‘closed’ and for
1 hour
30 June 2021 Floor action The bill was debated in the House of Representatives along with a
series of amendments
1 July 2021 Floor action The House of Representatives passed an amended $715 billion
Infrastructure Bill
12 July 2021 Introduction The bill was received in the Senate and placed in the calendar
14 July 2021 Committee The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed an
energy bill that is expected to be part of the Infrastructure Bill by
13–7 votes
30 July 2021 Scheduling The Senate voted 66–28 to consider the bill
10 August 2021 Floor action The Senate passed the bill 69–30, with 50 Democrats and 19
Republicans voting for the bill
27 September 2021 Resolving differences Speaker Pelosi delayed a planned vote on the bill in the House of
Representatives with progressive Democrats saying they will not
vote for the bill without progress on the $3.5 trillion social policy
plan. The House Rules Committee set a 2-hour, closed-rule debate
5 November 2021 Resolving differences The House of Representatives voted to pass the bill, 228–205
15 November 2021 Presidential action President Biden signed the bill into law
Strengths and weaknesses of the legislative process

At each stage of the legislative process, Congress has an opportunity to scrutinise,
amend and improve bills. However, with so few bills passed, the effectiveness of
this process can be challenged. Many of these strengths and weakness have been
discussed above.
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Debate
Is the congressional legislative process an effective form of presidential

oversight?
Evaluation: Does Congress always provide enough scrutiny to presidential legislation? What factors affect this? Does Congress
act in accordance with its role or with hyperpartisan party politics?
Yes No
• The lengthy process allows for scrutiny of presidentially • The process is so challenging and the congressional
proposed legislation and should ensure the quality, session is so short that the chance of passing legislation
popularity and workability of laws that are passed is limited, which ignores a presidential mandate
• The equality of both houses in the legislative process • Power is placed in the hands of a few, especially the
ensures that the needs of both the people and the speaker of the House, Senate majority leader and
states are heard, producing broadly acceptable law, committee chairs, rather than allowing the elected
not just what the president wants representatives to scrutinise presidential legislation
• The requirement of supermajorities for the veto • The need for supermajorities and the ability of one
override and a cloture motion helps to prevent the senator to hold up a bill allow for tyranny of the
tyranny of the president’s party, especially in a time of minority, undermining the presidential mandate
unified government
• The challenging nature of the process ensures that • In times of united government, scrutiny is reduced
only law that is necessary passes, rather than law that through party dominance; in times of divided
is favoured by the president government, partisanship can lead to a total lack of
legislation and ineffective government
• The length of the process should prevent knee-jerk • Even after considerable scrutiny and compromise
legislation from passing by Congress, the president alone can prevent a bill
becoming law and their veto is unlikely to be overturned
• The president is unlikely to veto legislation they have • There is an expectation that bills proposed by the
proposed, so Congress can scrutinise and amend it in president should be allowed to pass through Congress
great detail without derailing it given the president’s electoral mandate
• A president can refuse to sign a bill but unless they • Congress has no legislative power to overturn a pocket
veto it, it will still become law veto
Role of the two houses in the legislative process

The legislative power of Congress is shared equally between the two houses.
However, they have different processes and procedures for passing legislation.
l In the House of Representatives, amendments offered to a bill must be relevant
to the topic of the bill. This is known as the ‘germaneness rule’. However, in
the Senate, amendments can be offered on any topic. In the 2020 emergency
Coronavirus Relief and Spending Bill, money was included for new Smithsonian
Museums.
Key term l The process in the House of Representatives is more controlled by the majority
Unanimous consent party than in the Senate. The speaker of the House can choose the committee
Procedures in the Senate a bill is referred to and choose the majority members of the House Rules
may be set aside provided Committee, who set the debate rules. The principle of unanimous consent in
no one objects. If a single the Senate makes party control more difficult and allows for individual inf luence
senator objects, however, through procedures such as the filibuster.
the request is rejected. l Time limits placed on the process are adhered to in the House, whereas the
Senate uses the principle of ‘unlimited debate’.
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Knowledge check
31 How many Republicans voted for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in the
Senate?
32 Define tyranny of the minority.
33 What is the ‘germaneness rule’?
34 Give an example of a Senate amendment that is not ‘germane’.
Policy significance of Congress

While Congress can pass legislation, it does not enforce it. According to Montesquieu’s
principles of separation of powers, the executive branch should enforce legislation.
In the USA, Congress must rely on the presidency and the states to enforce the
legislation that it has passed. With the increased use of the ‘necessary and proper’
clause and the commerce clause, Congress has been able to have extensive legislative
impact. This has not been without difficulty, however.
Debate
Is Congress significant in policy making?

Evaluation: Does Congress have an impact on shaping national legislation or just approving
presidential suggestions? Does Congress shape state legislation? What factors affect its ability
to do this?
Congress is significant Congress is not significant

• Congress can pass laws on a wide • States have been unwilling to allow
range of policy issues, and has used Congress complete control, making
the ‘necessary and proper’ clause and their own legislation on abortion,
commerce clause to expand the areas LGBTQ+ rights and even trying to
over which it can legislate make their own immigration policy
• With landmark legislation such as the No • Being dependent on the states to
Child Left Behind Act and Obamacare, enforce laws, Congress has found
Congress is deepening its role in policy its laws ignored. Marijuana remains
that has often been reserved for the federally illegal, yet an increasing
states number of states have passed state
legislation ‘legalising’ it
• In times of unified government, significant • The difficulty of creating and passing
legislative achievements can be made. legislation means that Congress
For example, the Biden-supported does not pass huge amounts of
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act legislation. Congress failed to pass
passed, even when the Democratic Party any meaningful immigration reform
was not united entirely behind Biden despite bipartisan efforts in the
Senate and support from President
Obama
• The supremacy clause of the Constitution • Laws passed by Congress can be
ensures that congressional law is overturned by both the president
superior to state law. States are (through the veto) and the Supreme
therefore bound to follow legislation that Court (through judicial review)
they do not approve of
• Congress is capable of being bipartisan • The increase in hyperpartisanship in
and passing legislation such as the the twenty-first century has reduced
Emmett Till Antilynching Act and the Congress’ ability to pass legislation,
Sunshine Protection Act which reduces its impact
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The House of Representatives sit-in

‘We’re going to continue to sit in and sit down. By
sitting in and sitting down, we’re standing up. We will
not be happy, we will not be satisfied, we will not be
pleased until we do something in a major way. We’ve
lost too many of our children, of our babies, too many
of our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters.
And we will continue to fight.’
Representative John Lewis (D-Georgia) gave this speech in

2016 when he led a sit-in in the House of Representatives
after failure to pass gun control following the Orlando
nightclub shooting. They chanted ‘No Bill, No Break’, in their
efforts to gain reform on gun control from Speaker Paul Ryan What does such action suggest about the effectiveness of
(R-Wisconsin). They eventually ended the sit-in, having been the legislative process? To what extent does it reflect the
unable to force a vote on gun control. significance of parties and their dominance within Congress?
Representation
Congress represents a number of different groups.
Key term
1 With both houses being elected, they should represent their constituents.
Functional representation
2 Members of Congress are almost all members of a party and usually run in an
The representation of
election as a ‘Democrat’ or a ‘Republican’. It is an expectation that they will vote
social or economic groups
with the basic ideology of their party.
through the membership
3 Members have a functional representative responsibility, ensuring that
of Congress.
socioeconomic groups are represented regardless of state or district lines.
These different types of representation can cause conf lict for members of Congress.
Looking at the groups that a member of Congress might represent can help to
explain their voting pattern in Congress.
Constituency representation
Each member of Congress is elected to represent a number of constituents. Members
of the House of Representatives are allocated a congressional district to represent
— these are areas of a state divided into roughly equal sizes based on population.
The senators represent the entire state. This means that while the members of each
house represent a vastly different number of people, they are able to represent the
interests of their state or district, protecting the cultural, economic or social interests
of these areas. For example, as part of the Brady amendments to the Tax Cuts and
Jobs Act 2018, copyrighted songs were defined as capital assets and subjected to
a lower tax rate. This request was made by Representative Diane Black, whose
district covered parts of Nashville, famed for songwriting and country music. It is
especially important for members of Congress to listen to their state or district, as
the use of primaries in US elections (see Chapter 21) means that the public decides
who will represent their party at each election, not the party itself. Eric Cantor lost
the Republican primary in Virginia in 2014, which was particularly shocking given
his leadership role in the House of Representatives and that his competitor was a
Tea Party member (the Tea Party was a right-wing faction within the Republican
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Party). Cantor was seen as not conservative enough by some in his district, not
vocal enough about his opposition to President Obama and as not listening to his
Synoptic link
constituents. In 2020, seven incumbent House members were defeated in primaries, Representatives in the
the most in a year without redistricting since 1974. USA often have different
priorities from those
For many constituents, what is happening locally may be more important than
in the UK. In the USA,
national politics. In February 2021 Texas faced some of the harshest winter storms it
the citizens control
had seen, leading to days of electricity blackouts. The decision of Texas Senator Ted
who appears on the
Cruz to leave the state for a holiday in Cancun, Mexico during this storm gained
ballot paper through
him extensive bad press.
primaries and caucuses,
whereas in the UK this is
Knowledge check controlled by parties. For
35 List the ways in which Congress has policy significance. more on representation
36 List the different groups that a member of Congress may represent. in Parliament, see
37 Define functional representation. pages 204–05. This links
38 What is the ‘supremacy clause’? to Component 2, UK
Government.
Party representation
Most members of Congress are elected on a party basis. Even when they run in
primaries, they are party-based primaries. In choosing to join a party, a candidate is
likely to pick the party that most closely aligns to their political beliefs. If they are
elected by their state or district, this is likely to be in some part due to their party
allegiance and the political beliefs of their constituents. Some level of party loyalty
can therefore be expected from a member of Congress both due to their personal
beliefs and in order to represent the constituents who elected them.
In recent decades party-line voting and partisan politics have increased, with members
of a party less likely to break ranks and fewer members of either party falling into the
ideological centre between them. This suggests growing importance of the party as
a factor when voting and coincides with a polarisation of the American public.
There is, however, a lack of representation of third parties in Congress. All but
two members of the 117th Congress are either Democrat or Republican. The
exceptions are two ‘independents’ in the Senate, both of whom vote with the
Democrats. The breadth of ideology within the Republicans and Democrats can
make it difficult for a third party to carve out a distinct identity within the US
political spectrum.
While Democrats and Republicans increasingly dominate politics, these parties do
not necessarily have one cohesive ideology (see Chapter 21). Each party is made
up of differing factions, which do not necessarily share a common ideological
platform.
Functional representation
When Bill Clinton was president, he once said that he would have a cabinet that
‘looks like America’; the same could be expected of Congress as the directly
elected, representative body of government. Congress has certainly become more
diverse over the past decades, ref lecting a diverse US population (Table 18.8). The
importance of having such a variety of people in Congress is not just for the variety
of opinions it brings, but also to ensure that there are people in Congress who share
the experience of the people they represent (Figure 18.7).
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Table 18.8 The make-up of Congress in terms of diversity
Women African Americans Hispanics/Latinos
Population in the USA 50.8% 12.4% 18.5%
(2020 Census)
House Senate House Senate House Senate
117th Congress (2021–23) 121 24 57 3 50 7
% of voting members 27.1% 11.2% 10.7%
116th Congress (2019–21) 101 25 52 3 43 5
115th Congress (2017–19) 86 23 47 3 39 5
114th Congress (2015–17) 84 20 45 2 32 4
113th Congress (2013–15) 81 20 42 3 31 4
112th Congress (2011–13) 76 17 43 0 27 2
While the numbers of women, African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos in Congress

have increased, the proportion of each group is still less than the proportion they
make up of the US population (Table 18.8). Of the groups in this table, African
Americans are the most appropriately represented in the 117th Congress, although
they are better represented in the House of Representatives than in the Senate.
Hispanics/Latinos too have seen a notable increase in representation over recent
Congresses. However, for women there is still a gulf between their numbers in the
national population and their representation in Congress, and their numbers are
increasing only incrementally.
In some cases, congressional districts have been drawn to create majority-minority
Key term districts. These are districts in which minority groups form the majority of the
Majority-minority district population, making it more likely that they will be able to elect someone from that
A congressional district group to represent them. Prior to the 2020 redistricting, there were 122 majority-
within which a minority minority districts in the House of Representatives. The 2017 Supreme Court ruling
group makes up the in Cooper v Harris challenged the use of race alone in redistricting as racist. Justice
majority population. Kagan wrote in this ruling that ‘the sorting of voters on the grounds of their race
remains suspect, even if race is meant to function as a proxy for other (including
political) characteristics’.
North Carolina’s 12th district (Figure 18.8), one of the most gerrymandered districts
in the USA, is an interesting case study. Drawn 25 years ago, creating a majority-
minority district of African Americans, it was over a 2-hour drive from one end to
the other. However, in 2016 and 2018, a federal court ruled that such districts were
unlawful and the 12th district was redrawn.
Descriptive representation Functional representation
A political belief that those elected should A political belief that those elected should
not only represent those within their represent economic or social groups within
constituency, but also those with whom the wider community. This might be through
they share descriptive characteristics. This the influence of lobbyists or pressure
might be age, gender, ethnicity, religion and groups which represent the views of
so on under-represented groups in the legislature
Figure 18.7 Comparison of descriptive and functional representation
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Former district
District 12
New district
Figure 18.8 North Carolina’s

12th district before and after
the Supreme Court ruling
Congressional caucuses
In Congress, a caucus is a group of individuals who share a common policy goal.
As a group, they can represent the interests of those citizens who share this goal.
Key term
Congressional caucus
l The Congressional Women’s Caucus works across party lines to achieve
A group consisting of
legislation that advances the rights of women, suggesting that the policy issue
members of Congress who
is more important to these members sometimes than their party ideology. They
share common interests or
publish a weekly legislative update of their action and successes.
policy goals.
l The Congressional Steel Caucus fights for the health of the domestic steel
industry. On President Trump’s introduction of a 25% tariff on foreign steel
imports, the chair of the Steel Caucus, Representative Bost (R-Illinois), issued a
statement saying, ‘I am pleased that the president has heard my call, and the call
Knowledge check
of our steelworkers.’ 39 How many members
l The Congressional Black Caucus represents African American members of of the 117th Congress
Congress. They set up a ‘war room’ to defend Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson after are either Democrat
her nomination to the US Supreme Court. or Republican?
40 Which group of
As a member of a caucus, congressmen and congresswomen can fight for a group
people is least
of people, industry or ideology. They do not necessarily always vote together;
well represented in
however, when the issue at hand affects their caucus, they can be very powerful
Congress?
(Figure 18.9). When the successor to Speaker John Boehner was being chosen,
41 What is the trend
Representative Rangel (D-New York) quipped, ‘The power of the Congressional
in representation
Black Caucus is truly unspeakable. Whatever the Tea Party is doing with votes, the
of minority groups
Congressional Black Caucus could make that look like a kindergarten class.’
in Congress since
Congressional caucuses Caucuses in elections 2011?
A congressional caucus is a group An electoral caucus is part of the ‘primaries 42 Which Supreme
consisting of members of Congress who and caucuses’ element of the election process Court ruling
share common interests or policy goals. (see Chapter 21). It is a town-hall-style meeting challenged the
They do not always vote together, but at which those in attendance can vote on
constitutionality of
may do on policy issues that concern whom they would like to be on the ballot for a
them party in the general election majority-minority
districts?
Figure 18.9 Comparison of congressional and electoral caucuses
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Lobbyists
Knowledge check Lobbyists work behind the scenes in Washington, DC to gain support for their clients’
43 Who did the interests in Congress. Their importance can be inferred from the sheer number of
Congressional Black lobbyists and the vast amounts of money they expend to try to gain inf luence. In
Caucus fight to get 2020, for the first time the National Association of Realtors spent the most money
approved to the US on lobbying Congress, spending over $84 million, pushing the US Chamber of
Supreme Court? Commerce into second place with just under $82 million, and pharmaceutical
44 Which lobbying research and manufacturers into third, spending $26 million. The vast amount
group spent the most of money spent on lobbying the federal government suggests that it must have an
for the first time in impact, but it can be difficult to find examples where direct inf luence can be seen.
2020?
Since 2008, lobbyists have spent a minimum of $3 billion annually, reaching $3.73
45 Define what a
billion in 2021. The most lobbied bills in 2021 are shown in Figure 18.10.
lobbyist is.
Oversight
Congressional oversight of the presidential branch is largely exercised through
Key term the checks and balances they have (see Chapter 17). However, sometimes Congress
Oversight The ability of a appears to be able to oversee the executive branch more effectively than at other
branch of government to times. What are the factors that can inf luence the relationship between Congress
supervise and check the and the president?
action of another branch
l Party control When government is united, the oversight exerted by Congress
of government.
on the president can appear less effective. While the president cannot control
the legislation that Congress passes, historically the president has used the veto
less during times of unified government than when government is divided. This
could suggest that Congress is being more responsive to the president’s wishes
when government is unified. It could also be that when the same party controls
both branches, the shared ideology means they are creating more agreeable
legislation.
l Policy area Congress has more oversight of presidential actions in domestic
affairs than in foreign affairs. Even when the Senate protested angrily that it
should have had more of a say in the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, Obama was able
to enact it with little oversight. Comparatively, Trump failed to get funding to
‘build a wall’ and Biden struggled to get his Build Back Better policy advanced.
Build Back Better Act
American Rescue Plan
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
National Defense Authorization Act 2022
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000
Number of clients lobbying

Figure 18.10 Most lobbied bills in 2021
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l Presidential poll ratings Congress is able to exert more inf luence when a
president’s poll ratings are low. President Obama was able to pass Obamacare
in 2010 with relatively few alterations. Despite the Republicans’ reservations
about the bill, they were unable to ‘repeal and replace’ it in 2018 under President
Trump. One of the key differences was that Obama’s popularity in 2010 was
around 50%, while Trump’s popularity in 2017 was closer to 40% and sometimes
considerably lower. Trump made history with record-breaking low poll ratings
after both 100 days and 1 year, although Biden’s 1-year approval rating was also
very low. Their lack of popularity has made it easier for Congress to defy Trump
and Biden.
l Partisanship The growth of partisanship in the USA has made compromise
in Congress more difficult to achieve. This can strain its relationship with the
president, with moderates in both parties becoming a rarity.
l Election cycle The timing of the next election is crucial to this relationship.
When Congress is gearing up for a midterm election, members are more
likely to be interested in pleasing their constituency than the president. This is
especially true if the president is unpopular, when it can be useful for a member
of Congress to demonstrate some distance from, or sometimes even opposition
to, the president.
l National events In the case of national emergencies, Congress often acts with
deference and in the short term it will look for direction from the president.
Key term
Whether this is a request for a new law to be passed, such as the USA PATRIOT Deference The act of
Act in response to 9/11, or funding following a national or global circumstance, submitting or handing
such as Hurricane Katrina or the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the president over power. Congress
often exercises more power in the event of an emergency. This is often a often acts with deference
short-term change in this relationship, however. towards the president,
allowing them to exercise
The institutional effectiveness of Congress considerable power in
How successful Congress is at carrying out its three main functions depends on times of crisis.
similar factors to those listed above. Every Congress has had the same constitutional
powers, so the fact that differing Congresses have exercised these more or less
successfully must be due to factors other than the powers it has been given. It also
depends on the interpretation placed on its power.
Trump had record-breaking

low poll ratings for much
of his presidency, and
faced multiple calls for
impeachment
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In focus
The effectiveness of
impeachment and interpreting
congressional powers
The history of impeachment in the USA has often been referred
to as ‘unsuccessful’. It has been used only four times — Andrew
Johnson in 1868, Clinton in 1997, and Trump in 2019 and
2021. This lack of use could be interpreted as impeachment
being ineffective:
l In all of these cases, the presidents were found ‘not guilty’.
l Three of the four uses have been in the last 25 years,
suggesting that impeachment has become more of a
partisan tool.
l President Nixon resigned in 1974 following the Watergate
scandal before being impeached.
However, a more challenging interpretation suggests exactly
House of Representatives brought charges, the Senate
the same facts are a marker of success:
heard the case and a verdict was voted upon.
l Impeachment has been used only four times, suggesting
l Nixon resigning suggests that impeachment is an effective
that the process by which someone becomes president
power — he was likely to be removed from office and that
is effective at preventing inappropriate candidates from
he chose to resign rather than face impeachment could
being elected.
demonstrate his belief that he would have been found
l While cases resulted in ‘not guilty’ verdicts, impeachment
‘guilty’ in an impeachment trial.
as a power worked exactly as it should have done — the
Congress is broken
In view of the problems that Congress faces, there are a number of suggestions to ‘fix it’. Some
of these are listed below:
l Reform or abolish the filibuster
l Have a biennial budget rather than annual
l Introduction of term limits for members of Congress
l Question time for the president
l Bipartisan seating
What problems does each of these reforms seek to remedy? Which of these is most likely to be
successful within the constitutional framework of US politics?
Knowledge check
46 List the factors that affect the power of congressional oversight.
47 Which president was the least popular in US history after 100 days and after 1 year?
48 How many times has the House of Representatives voted to bring impeachment charges
against a president?
49 What scandal led to the resignation of President Nixon?
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Debate
Is Congress effective at carrying out its roles?

Evaluation: Which of the constitutional roles that Congress has does it best fulfil? What factors affect this? What have the trends
over time been?
Yes No
Legislation Legislation
• Major legislation has been passed • The process is so lengthy that thousands of bills fail to
pass in each congressional session
• The low pass rate suggests only necessary • The process can be dominated by a few key individuals in
legislation gets through either house, such as the speaker or the majority leader
• The lengthy process ensures scrutiny of the bills • In times of unified government, bills can be rushed through
• A staggered electoral cycle and resulting divided • In times of divided government, gridlock can prevent
government ensure compromise in legislation important legislation passing and result in government
shutdowns
• The requirement for supermajorities (e.g. cloture
motion) ensures broad consensus
Representation Representation
• The representation of minority groups and women • The importance of money in electoral campaigns can allow
has improved in recent decades lobbyists to influence members of Congress more than
their constituents or state
• Caucuses allow under-represented groups to act • Increasingly partisan voting patterns lead to a good
together, thereby increasing their influence representation of the majority at the expense of
representation of, or compromise with, the minority
• Parties are well represented in an increasingly • Representation of minority groups and women remains far
partisan environment and reflect a partisan below their proportion of the national population
American population
• Both the people of a state and the wider state
interests are represented by the two elected houses
Oversight Oversight
• Congress has demonstrated a willingness to use the • Oversight can sometimes appear party political rather than
veto override, in some cases to great effect in the interests of good policy, and this is increasingly true
in the case of party-line votes on appointments
• During times of divided government, the president is • The chances of the veto override being effective
likely to face extensive scrutiny from Congress are outweighed by the chances of failure, given the
requirement for a supermajority
• Committees have overseen investigations into actions • The power to declare war seems largely to have been
such as Benghazi, which have had far-reaching impacts usurped by the president
• Congress has demonstrated its independence from • Presidents have found ways around the constitutional
presidentially demanded legislation powers of Congress, using executive orders to create
pseudo-legislation and pseudo-treaties
• Congress has been willing to challenge the • In times of crisis or unified government, Congress is more
president in the Supreme Court likely to act with deference to the president
• Congress has been able to develop and evolve its • Impeachment has proven difficult to enact to effectively
own powers, attempting to use its financial power to remove someone from office
control the president’s role of commander in chief
• Impeachment has been used four times to its fullest
extent
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Despite a lack of constitutional change, Congress has evolved in the last two centuries
Knowledge check and the political landscape looks very different today. Most notably, the modern
50 How has Congress presidency has expanded its power and has encroached on the powers of Congress,
tried to reclaim despite the separation of powers in the Constitution. Each presidential election sees
power over foreign a range of policies put forward, which are then expected to make their way through
affairs? Congress, impacting the policy’s legislative power. This has led to claims that the
51 What type of president is the chief legislator, as can be seen through major legislation such as
government can lead Obamacare and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
to poor scrutiny of
Equally, the development of modern weaponry has placed greater emphasis on the
bills in Congress?
presidential role of commander in chief and reduced the congressional power of
52 What is a party-line
the declaration of war — in a nuclear age, the likelihood of a declaration of war
vote?
seems slim. While Congress has tried to regain some of this power, passing the
53 List the individuals
War Powers Act and using the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)
who dominate the
facility to justify presidential military action, the balance of power here seems to rest
legislative process.
squarely with the president.

Table 18.9 Comparing the US and UK legislatures using comparative theories
Rational • Difference: The actions of MPs and members of Congress can be viewed through what is best for them
comparisons and their careers — in the UK this may engender party loyalty, while in the USA this means a keen
focus on constituents
• Similarity: The actions of leaders within Congress and Parliament can be determined by likely outcome
and how that outcome might affect their own power — a defeat might weaken their position politically,
if not literally
• Similarity: Both legislatures serve as springboards for future political careers. Therefore, the actions of
individuals may be guided by their aspirations
• Difference: The unelected nature of the House of Lords compared to the elected nature of the Senate
leads to different outcomes in part due to the freedom, or not, that this gives to individuals
Cultural • Similarity: The actions of individuals within both Congress and Parliament are strongly guided by the
comparisons individual’s ideological coherence to their party’s beliefs
• Similarity: The factions within parties, and the addition of caucuses in the USA, can sometimes lead to
voting across party lines due to a cultural belief in an issue — this most likely occurs with moral and
social issues
• Similarity: Both lower and upper chambers can also be compared in terms of the cultural expectations
of how business is conducted. The lower houses are both more adversarial, while there are more
cultural conventions about how business is conducted in the upper chambers
• Similarity: There is a growing expectation in both countries that the representative bodies should reflect
to some extent the make-up of the electorate
• Difference: The elected Senate compared to the unelected House of Lords means the nature of these two
houses is different, as the Lords has far-reduced party allegiance compared to the Senate
Structural • Difference: The processes that guide the legislative output of both houses are fixed and rigid. The
comparisons additional impact of other processes such as the electoral system and the separation of powers within
each country serves to produce vastly different legislative outputs in each country
• Difference: The ability to oversee the work of government is strongly affected by the structure of each
legislature — Congress being directly elected and having direct checks on the president can achieve
more than Parliament, which is dominated by the ruling party
• Similarity: The political processes within both countries limit the influence of third parties, thereby
encouraging an adversarial two-party system within both legislatures
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Comparing the US and UK legislatures
On the surface, the UK and US legislatures look remarkably similar (Table 18.9) —
both are bicameral, both have a two-party system, both have houses with differing
powers and both have oversight of the executive branch. However, not only are the
powers of these two branches somewhat different, their ability to exercise power is
also different. See Tables 18.10 and 18.11 for details.
Knowledge check
54 Which house controls taxation in the UK and the USA?
55 Where does sovereignty reside in the USA and in the UK?
56 What kind of party system do the USA and the UK have?
57 What is meant by separation of powers?
Table 18.10 Similarities and differences between the US and UK legislatures

Similarities Differences
The ‘lower’ house in both legislatures Both houses of Congress are directly
controls taxation and the appropriation of elected by the public, whereas the UK
money for government policies House of Lords remains unelected and
unaccountable
The responsibility for the creation of The chances of ‘divided government’ in the
legislation and indeed the legislative UK are almost non-existent, whereas it is
process is remarkably similar in both increasingly common in the USA
countries
Oversight of the executive branch through a Party unity in the UK is relatively high, aided
range of checks exists for both branches by powerful whips, whereas the US system
of primaries prevents whips from enforcing
strict party discipline
A range of representation exists within The speaker in the House of Commons is
both legislatures — of the people, the in theory an apolitical role, whereas the
constituency, the party and lobbyists — and leadership in both houses of Congress is
both suffer from similar deficiencies in this unavoidably tied up with party politics
area
Power over foreign policy is relatively weak Parliament is more efficient at passing
in Congress and Parliament, but both have legislation owing to the fusion of the
attempted to regain control over this policy executive and legislative branches, whereas
area Congress passes relatively little new
legislation each session
Both legislatures are able to initiate Parliament is sovereign, whereas
constitutional change sovereignty in the USA remains in the
Constitution
The prevalent two-party system has helped The executive of the UK can dominate the
to ensure oversight but has also worked to legislative branch, whereas separation of
deepen partisanship powers in the USA limits the power of the
president in this manner
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Strengths and weaknesses of each of the houses
Table 18.11 The strengths and weaknesses of the two US houses and the two UK houses
Strengths Weaknesses
House of • Two-year terms ensure accountability to the • Power can become concentrated in the
Representatives voters, with most members representing hands of the speaker, committee chairs and
a smaller area and population than their House Rules Committee
Senate counterparts • Partisan politics means that few bills are
• Power of initiation over taxation and passed each session
appropriations bills • Frequent elections mean a focus on
• Effectively has the power to decide on what short-term change and allow for excessive
matter an official can be impeached influence of lobbyists
• The two-party system limits the impact of • Relatively poor representation of women and
third parties minority groups
House of Commons • Dominance by the majority party and fused • Dominance by the majority party can allow
powers, make passing legislation quicker for an ‘elective dictatorship’ and limits the
• The speaker is an independent referee effectiveness of checks on the executive
• Five-year elections give the House the power • It is possible for poor legislation to be rushed
to effect real change through the House
• Use of Parliament Acts and the Salisbury • Strong whips make for only limited
Convention allow for strong government opposition; even increasing backbench
rebellions are relatively rarely successful
• The two-party system limits the influence of
third parties
Senate • Longer terms allow officials to focus on • ‘Unanimous consent’ allows for undue
making good policy and enacting change influence of a single senator
• Unique powers to ratify treaties and • It can only ratify or reject the treaties and
appointments allow for greater oversight of appointments put to it, not create its own
the executive • The use of the filibuster can lead to gridlock
• ‘Unanimous consent’ and ‘unlimited debate’ and is difficult to prevent
result in weaker party control • Each state having two senators under- and
• The power of individual senators allows for overvalues the importance of states across
every state to have a voice that is heard the USA
House of Lords • As an unelected chamber, the Lords can • It is lacking in legitimacy due to its unelected
focus on the long-term interests of the UK nature
• Allows for experts to be included in policy • Its power can be usurped through the
making, rather than charismatic politicians Parliament Acts and the Salisbury Convention
• Being unelected, it is has more freedom to • The large size of the Lords makes it
challenge the will of the government cumbersome
• It is possible to nominate a range of people • The challenge it poses to the Commons is
to the Lords to improve representation of minimal as its suggestions and amendments
minority groups can be ignored
Knowledge check
58 Which country has greater representation of third parties in the legislature?
59 List the different election cycles in the USA and the UK.
60 Define ‘elective dictatorship’.
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Summary
➜ How significant are the constitutional powers given to Congress?
➜ Does Congress effectively represent the various groups in the USA today?
➜ What are the strengths and weaknesses of the legislative process?
➜ To what extent is the election cycle the biggest factor in explaining variation in
congressional power?
➜ Is Congress effective at holding the other branches of government to account?
➜ What are the most significant factors a member of Congress will consider when deciding
how to vote?
➜ Does Congress fulfil the expectations set out for it in the Constitution?
➜ To what extent is the US Constitution the most significant limitation on Congress?
Practice questions
1 Examine the representative function of Congress and Parliament. (12)
2 Analyse the powers of the House of Lords compared with the US Senate.
In your answer you must consider the relevance of at least one comparative
theory.(12)
3 Evaluate the view that the electoral cycle is the most significant limitation
on the power of Congress. You must consider this view and the alternative
to this view in a balanced way.(30)
4 Evaluate the view that policy making in the USA is mostly determined by
Congress. You must consider this view and the alternative to this view in
a balanced way.(30)
Further reading
Couldray, A. (2021) ‘Legislative Logjams in the US Congress’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 4.
Kilheeney, E. (2021) ‘Power and Control in the US Congress’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 3.
Mogridge, A. (2020) ‘Congress vs. the President: checks on power, Politics Review, Vol. 29,
No. 3.
Comparative: Arenberg, R. and Dove, R. (2014) Defending the Filibuster: The Soul of the
Senate, Indiana University Press.
Dodd, L. and Oppenheimer, B. (2016) Congress Reconsidered (11th Edition), CQ Press.
Ritchie, D. (2022) The U.S. Congress: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press.
Smith, P. (2022) ‘Political Parties in Parliament and Congress’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 4.
18 US Congress 511
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19 US presidency
The Founding Fathers wrote about the presidency in Article II of the Constitution.
This ref lected the greater importance placed on Congress in Article I. Article II
outlines the powers of the presidency and the restrictions placed on this branch, most
of which would be exercised by Congress. The Founding Fathers feared tyranny by
a strong executive branch, such as they had experienced under the British. The
Declaration of Independence (1776) had been scathing about King George III,
stating:
‘The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries
and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute
Tyranny over these States.’
When signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, President Biden used the opportunity to pressure Congress for
legislation on social security — part of his Build Back Better agenda — saying he was ‘confident that the House can pass this
bill, and then we’re going to pass it in the Senate’
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Article II therefore opens and closes with restrictions
on the presidential branch, from age limits for holding
presidential office to the threat of impeachment. The
powers of this branch are sandwiched in the middle of
the Article.
The opening line of Article II gives ‘executive Power’
to the President. It does not go on to define ‘executive
Power’, and the vagueness of this article has allowed
considerable growth of the presidency over time. The
Founding Fathers would likely be surprised by the
modern presidency given the strength of this branch
today. Despite the size of the bureaucracy around
them, however, ultimately the president alone holds
constitutional power.
Thomas Jefferson hoped
that Article II would ‘bind
The presidency and the Constitution him [the president] down
from mischief by the
Article II lays out the requirements for someone to be eligible to be president. They
chains of the constitution’
must be at least 35 years old, a US-born citizen and a resident of the USA for 14 years.
Whether residency requirements are consecutive or cumulative is still debated. The
age limit was added at the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention after Founding
Father George Mason commented that ‘his [own] political opinions at the age of 21
were too crude and erroneous to merit an inf luence on public measures’.
Table 19.1 gives a summary of Article II.
Perhaps the most important part of Article II is the opening sentence, in which
power is vested in ‘a President’. This means that executive powers are held by the
president alone and they are accountable for the use of these powers. Despite this,
the presidency today is far bigger than just one person. In order to carry out the
huge number of roles required of them, the president is supported by the federal
bureaucracy.
Key term
Federal bureaucracy The administrative bodies of the US presidency consist of departments,
agencies and commissions. These act under the president’s direction.
Table 19.1 An outline of what Article II includes in each of its four sections
Section I — Nature of the Section II — Powers of the Section III — Responsibilities Section IV —
presidency president of the president Impeachment
• Executive power vested in • Commander in chief • State of the Union address • Impeachment for
‘a President’ • Require the opinion of to Congress ‘Treason, Bribery, or
• 4-year terms heads of departments • Convene special sessions other high Crimes and
• Explanation of presidential • Pardons and reprieves of Congress Misdemeanors’
elections • Make treaties • Receive ambassadors
• Presidential requirements • Appoint ambassadors, • Faithfully execute laws
— must be 35 years old, judges and officials
a US-born citizen and a
resident of 14 years
• Recess appointments
19 US presidency 513
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Knowledge check President
White House
Office
1 Why did the Founding Vice president
Fathers place the
presidency in Article II? Executive Office of Office of Management
2 What four key bodies the President (EXOP) and Budget (OMB)
make up the federal
Decreasing White House control

bureaucracy?
3 What are the three key National Security
bodies in the EXOP? Council
4 List the constitutional
requirements to
be eligible for the Cabinet Departments
presidency. 15 heads of department
plus other officers of
the president’s choosing
Key terms Agencies
Presidency/executive Federal bureaucracy

branch The entire branch Commissions
of government operating
under the direction of the
president, comprising Corporations
those who work in the Figure 19.1 The executive branch
White House, the Executive
Office of the President Figure 19.1 shows the structure of the executive branch of government, which
(EXOP), the cabinet and in 2018 contained approximately 2.1 million civilian employees plus nearly
the federal bureaucracy. 1.5 million uniformed military employees. The president alone may be constitutionally
Expressed powers Powers
accountable, but the workforce required in order to fulfil their constitutional roles
that are specifically laid
and powers is vast.
out in the Constitution. A The Constitution is interpreted to include two types of power for the president —
synonym for enumerated expressed (or enumerated) and implied (Table 19.2). Expressed powers are those
powers. that are explicitly listed, such as the role of commander in chief. Implied powers
are those that a president exercises that are either implied by the Constitution
or are interpreted. For example, Article II expressly allows for the president to
appoint ‘Officers of the United States’, which would include cabinet members.
Implied from this, and from the power to ‘require the Opinion’ of these officials,
is the power of the president to form a cabinet. Every US president has had a
cabinet.
Table 19.2 Comparison of the enumerated and implied powers of the US president
Enumerated powers of the president Implied powers of the president
Powers that are ‘enumerated’ are simply those which are These are powers that are interpreted from those laid out
written down, in this case in the Constitution: in the Constitution:
• Commander in chief • Establish a cabinet
• Negotiate treaties • Executive agreements
• State of the Union address • Executive orders
• Appoint ambassadors, judges, officers of the United States • Executive privilege
• Recess appointments
• Pardon
• Convene special sessions of Congress
• Approve or veto legislation
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In addition to Article II, a number of amendments affect the presidency:
l 12th Amendment Refines the electoral procedure for the president and
vice president
l 20th Amendment Moves inauguration from 3 March to 20 January
l 22nd Amendment Limits any president to two terms
l 25th Amendment Clarifies the line of succession and the procedure for an
incapacitated president
Formal sources of presidential power

Every president since 1787 has held the same constitutional powers. These powers
can be divided into those that affect domestic policy and those that affect foreign
Key terms
policy, although there is some overlap. Some presidents can use these powers more Domestic policy Issues
effectively than others due to the circumstances in which they find themselves. and policies that concern
affairs within the borders
Approve legislation of a nation, such as
Once Congress has passed a law, it is received by the president, who has a number healthcare, immigration
of options (Figure 19.2). and education.
Foreign policy Issues and
Sign a bill policies concerning how
If the president chooses to sign a bill, they often do so in a public ceremony with one country deals with
news media present. Given the relatively small amount of legislation that does pass another, such as treaties,
through Congress in each session, this gives the president an opportunity to show agreements, diplomacy
off their achievements to the American public. and military action.
l When President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 2021,
he did so in a ceremony held outside the White House, surrounded by members
of Congress, the vice president and even a brass band. He used this opportunity
to give a speech about the bill.
l When President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017, many of the
pictures are of Trump alone in the Oval Office, partly due to the rushed nature
Bill is passed by Figure 19.2 The president’s

Congress and given to options on receiving a bill
the president from Congress
Take no Veto the

Sign the bill
action bill
After 10 After 10 Goes back

days, if days, if to
Congress is Congress is Congress
in recess in session
Attempt a Leave the
veto bill
override
Override Fail to
the veto override
with two-
thirds vote
in both
houses
Bill dies
(pocket veto) Bill becomes law Bill dies
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of the ceremony after negative press reports suggesting he would not get the bill
Knowledge check signed before Christmas.
5 Identify an expressed l President Obama had 60 bill-signing ceremonies, fewer than his predecessors.
power of the president
in the US Constitution. Veto a bill
6 Which amendment If the president objects to the legislation, they can veto it. In this case, it is sent back
limits the US president to Congress with their objections. The veto allows the president almost the final
to only serving two say over legislation, given the difficulty of achieving a veto override. However, a
terms? president must be wary of using the veto too often as they must work with Congress
7 What phrase in the to get their legislative agenda passed. If Congress is able to override the veto, it
Constitution implies makes a president look weak.
that a cabinet can be
formed?
l President Bush had 4 of his 12 vetoes overridden; at 33%, this was nearly double
8 What is a ‘signing
the rate of any twentieth-century president.
ceremony’?
l By contrast, President Trump had just one of his 10 vetoes overridden.
As part of the legislative process, the threat of the veto alone can be a power wielded
by the president. In threatening the veto, the president can try to shape legislation
before it gets to them.
l President Trump threatened to veto the National Defense Authorization Act in
2020 as it included a liability shield for social media companies. He did have to
use his veto but Congress used the veto override.
l President Trump also signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill just hours after he
threatened on Twitter to veto it.
Table 19.3 shows the number of vetoes used by selected presidents since 1977. The
use and success of a veto can be partly explained by which party controls each
branch of government. They are more commonly used and overridden in times of
divided government.
Take no action
A president has 10 days to decide what they are going to do with a bill. After those
10 days, action on the bill becomes automatic. If during those 10 days Congress
goes into recess, then the bill ‘dies’. This is known as the ‘pocket veto’. The ability
of the president to use this power depends on the congressional calendar, and dying
bills have become increasingly rare over recent presidencies. If Congress is still in
session after the 10 days have elapsed, the bill automatically becomes law without
the president’s signature. A president may choose this option if they dislike a bill but
fear an override in Congress, which could make them look weak.
Table 19.3 The number of vetoes used by presidents since 1977
President Number of regular vetoes Number of vetoes overridden
F.D. Roosevelt (1933–45) 372 9
Kennedy (1961–63) 12 0
Reagan (1981–89) 39 9
Clinton (1993–2001) 36 2
G.W. Bush (2001–09) 12 4
Obama (2009–17) 12 1
Trump (2017–21) 10 1
Biden (2021–)* 0 0
* as of December 2022
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In 2016, President Obama allowed a renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act 1996 to
become law without his signature. The law allows a president to impose sanctions
on Iran, and while Obama said it was ‘entirely consistent with our commitments
in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’, it appeared inconsistent with the Iran
nuclear deal he had struck just a year earlier.
State of the Union

The Constitution states that the president shall ‘from time to time give Congress
Information of the State of the Union’ and make recommendations for
Key term
congressional consideration. Every president from Thomas Jefferson to Woodrow State of the Union The
Wilson delivered this address as a written report to Congress. Since President annual address delivered
Wilson, it has usually been delivered as a congressional address. Today the address by the president in
is effectively an annual legislative request from the president to Congress. As the Congress outlining their
legislative branch, it is Congress that decides what legislation from this speech is legislative agenda for the
passed, amended or rejected. This often depends on other factors such as the strength coming year.
of the presidential mandate, the timing in the electoral cycle and the popularity of
the president (Table 19.4).
Table 19.4 The success or failure of selected State of the Union addresses
President Selected State of the Union policies Success or failure?
Clinton • Healthcare reform (1994) • Failed to pass Congress — became an issue in the 1994 midterms
• Assault Weapons Ban (1995) • Success — passed a 10-year ban ending in 2004
G.W. Bush • ‘The axis of evil’ and acting against • Debatable — Congress authorised action but the success of
sponsors of terrorism (2002) military actions in the Middle East is questionable
• Healthcare reform (2003) • Success — reform signed, making prescriptions more affordable
Obama • Immigration reform (2016) • Failure — Obama relied on executive actions instead
• Gay rights (2010) • Success — Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act signed
Trump • Called again for repealing • Failure — 2017 attempts failed and the courts were left to decide
Obamacare (2018) many issues
• Called for Congress to pass • Failure — the longest government shutdown in US history resulted
$1.5 trillion infrastructure bill (2018) from unwillingness to fund Trump’s border wall
Biden • Called for support for Ukraine • Success — $13.6 billion pledged within the $1.5 trillion spending
(2022) bill
• Asked for gun control (2022) • Remains to be seen — but previous presidents have failed to
achieve meaningful gun control
Knowledge check
9 Which twentieth-century president has the most
number of his vetoes overridden by Congress?
10 Define the ‘pocket veto’.
11 How long does a president have to decide what action
to take on a bill they have received?
12 List the factors that may determine whether Congress
will pass presidentially suggested legislation.
President Obama delivers a State of the Union address
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Table 19.5 Presidential appointments
President Supreme Court nominees Notable cabinet nominees
Clinton • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Gober (Veteran Affairs) — withdrawn by the president following sexual
• Stephen Breyer misconduct allegations
G.W. Bush • John Roberts • John Bolton (UN ambassador) — eventually a recess appointment
• Harriet Miers (withdrew)
• Samuel Alito
Obama • Sonia Sotomayor • Judd Gregg (Commerce) — a Republican nominee who withdrew over
• Elena Kagan differences with Obama
• Merrick Garland (expired) • Chuck Hagel — a Republican appointed as Defense Secretary
Trump • Neil Gorsuch • Betsy DeVos (Education) — tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President Pence
• Brett Kavanaugh
• Amy Coney Barrett
Biden • Ketanji Brown Jackson • Merrick Garland — he had been Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court;
Biden appointed him as attorney general
Appointments
The president has the power to appoint around 4,000 officials, with roughly 1,200
of these needing Senate confirmation. This includes key appointments such as
Supreme Court justices and cabinet positions, which are confirmed by a simple
majority vote in the Senate (Table 19.5).
The Constitution implies that the president can establish a cabinet. The cabinet
today contains the heads of the 15 executive departments and other officials as the
president wishes. The other officials are often symbolic of policy areas that the
president believes are a priority. See page 528 for more information about the cabinet.
Recess appointments
The president is given the power of ‘recess appointments’. This allows the
Key term president to make temporary appointments to vacancies that have occurred which
Recess appointments would usually require Senate approval but which the president cannot get because
Temporary appointments the Senate is in recess. These appointments expire at the end of the next session of
of the president made Senate. The president must then either formally nominate the person for their role
without Senate approval or pick someone else. This should prevent the president from ignoring the Senate’s
when it is in recess. powers by simply waiting for the Senate to go on recess and then filling any vacancy.
President Clinton made 139 recess appointments and President G.W. Bush made 171,
including John Bolton to the role of US ambassador after his hearings in the Senate were
dragged out with a Democrat filibuster. Obama made just 32 recess appointments, but
his power to do so ended up being challenged in the Supreme Court. In January 2012,
while Senate was in a 3-day ‘recess’, President Obama made four recess appointments.
However, the Senate at this time was holding a ‘pro forma’ session — this meant that
each day a senator would bang the gavel in the Senate Chamber so that technically the
Senate was not in recess, even though no business was taking place. The case of NLRB
v Canning (2014) was heard by the Supreme Court, which found that ‘the Senate is
in session when it says it is’ and invalidated the three recess appointments. These pro
forma sessions were used in 2017 by the Senate to prevent President Trump from
making appointments during the Senate’s August break. The Senate was concerned
Trump would fire his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and replace him with someone
more willing to challenge or even remove Robert Mueller from heading the Justice
Department’s investigation into Russian election interference and collusion.
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In focus Knowledge check
13 How many presidential
President Trump and recess appointments appointments are
subject to Senate
In April 2020, President Trump threatened to use his constitutional power to adjourn Congress.
approval?
This would have forced Congress into a recess and allowed him to make recess appointments.
14 What is a ‘pro forma’
Trump was frustrated with the Senate, which had been unwilling to confirm a significant
session of the
number of his nominees to various posts. No president had ever used the power to adjourn
Senate?
Congress and Trump’s threat to do so was therefore both controversial and also questionable
15 What power did
in how it would work. Trump used the threat as a way to pressure the Senate into confirming
President Trump
his nominees, saying, ‘If the House will not agree to that adjournment, I will exercise my
threaten to use that
constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of Congress.’
no president before
him had?
Executive power (including executive orders) 16 What does EXOP
stand for?
Article II allows a president ‘executive power’. Today, this is interpreted as being able
to organise the EXOP and carry out a range of ‘executive actions’. Executive action
is a catch-all term for the different things a president can do without congressional
approval. Most commonly, this includes executive orders, signing statements and
Key term
issuing presidential memoranda.
Executive order
Executive orders A directive issued to
These are directions to the federal bureaucracy telling them how a law, either new the federal bureaucracy
or existing, should be carried out (Table 19.6). This is a way in which the president regarding how the
can ‘faithfully execute’ the laws that have been passed by Congress and therefore president would like a
these orders have the force of law. However, a president cannot use executive orders piece of legislation or
to create legislation; they are just to give instructions to federal departments and policy to be interpreted
agencies regarding the enforcement of legislation. Today, each executive order is and enforced.
numbered and recorded in the Federal Register.
Many presidents have tried to use executive orders to create policy when Congress
would not pass a law that the president wanted. President Obama proclaimed in his
2014 State of the Union address, ‘I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone, and I can use that
pen to sign executive orders.’ However, these are easily overturned by either a new
law, a Supreme Court ruling or simply a new president signing a new executive order.
Table 19.6 Executive orders
Number Date President Effect
9066 1942 F.D. Roosevelt Allowed for the internment of Japanese-Americans
during the Second World War
9981 1948 Truman Desegregation of the US armed forces
10340 1953 Truman Nationalised the US steel industry
10925 1961 Kennedy Requirement of government contractors to take
‘affirmative action’
12148 1979 Carter Creation of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA)
13491 2009 Obama Ensured lawful interrogations (banning torture)
13813 2017 Trump Removal of federal subsidies underpinning Obamacare
13990 2020 Biden Cancelled the Keystone Pipeline and 100 other
environmental actions of Trump
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President Biden signed 17
executive orders just hours
after his inauguration on 20
January 2021, many of them
reversing executive orders of
Donald Trump
President Biden made headlines signing 52 executive orders by 30 April in his first
year, more than any other twenty-first century president. President Trump railed
against the use of executive orders in 2016, remarking:
‘The country wasn’t based on executive orders. Right now, Obama goes around
signing executive orders. He can’t even get along with the Democrats, and he goes
around signing all these executive orders. It’s a basic disaster. You can’t do it.’
Nonetheless, with the gridlock and hyperpartisanship of Congress, executive orders
can be an important way for a president to try to move forward with their policy goals.
Biden’s flurry of executive actions

Upon taking office, Biden took a huge number of executive actions (Figure 19.3).
What does this suggest about the extent of the power of executive orders? What factors must
a president consider when using one?
Reversals
Coronavirus 2 13 52
Immigration 10 2
Equity 2 8 39
Economy 3 4 34
Environment 2 3
National security 5
Other 1 2 13
Healthcare 1 1
Labor 1 1
Census 1 Biden Trump Obama G.W. Bush
Ethics 1
Regulation 1
Figure 19.3 President Biden’s executive actions
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Executive memoranda
These are similar to executive orders. The key difference is that there is no formal
process for how an executive memorandum is issued by a president. They are not
recorded in the Federal Register and therefore are not numbered. The Obama
2012 memorandum Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) came from
the Department of Homeland Security and was issued to postpone the deportation
of illegal immigrants who met certain criteria. This did not give these illegal
Knowledge check
immigrants citizenship, or even a route towards it; instead, it effectively redirected
the resources (money, manpower and so on) of the department to other areas. Biden 17 Define ‘executive
used a presidential memorandum to secure DACA in 2021 after Trump had tried to order’.
end the programme in 2017. 18 Where are
executive orders
Presidential proclamations and presidential
Proclamations have been historically significant but today many are ceremonial. proclamations
Like executive orders, presidential proclamations are numbered, recorded on the recorded?
Federal Register and have the force of law. Unlike executive orders, they normally 19 What immigration
give directions to people outside of the executive branch. policy did Obama
Famous proclamations have made sweeping changes to the USA, such as Lincoln’s try to shape
Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved people or G.W. Bush declaring a using executive
‘National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks’ in 2001. More memoranda?
commonly, however, they direct f lags to be f lown at half mast following a death, 20 What type of
recognise religious holidays, or highlight days of importance. executive action
was Lincoln’s
According to the Federal Register, President Clinton made 652 proclamations, ‘Emancipation
President G.W. Bush made 937, President Obama made 1227 and President Trump Proclamation’?
made 570. In his first year, President Biden made 194 proclamations.
In focus
Immigration reform from deportation nearly 11 million people who lacked proper
documentation.
President Obama made numerous requests to Congress to
pass immigration reform during his time in office, mentioning The 2014 additions were challenged in the Supreme Court
it in at least five of his State of the Union addresses. in the case of Texas v United States (2016) and were
However, despite bipartisan efforts in the Senate, no such overturned. Obama described this as ‘heart-breaking for the
reform made it through Congress. In 2012, Obama used millions of immigrants who’ve made their lives here’.
an executive memorandum to introduce DACA, protecting In 2017, Trump announced plans to end DACA entirely, but this
those who met certain conditions from deportation. In 2014, was challenged in the courts. Trump’s plans were ultimately
he extended DACA and introduced additional protections struck down by the US Supreme Court in 2020. In 2021, one
for parents of children born in the USA but who were not of Biden’s first executive orders was to reinstate DACA, but this
themselves American — the Deferred Action for Parents of was also challenged in court. This upheld DACA as it was but
Americans (DAPA). Together, these would have protected prevented new applicants being admitted to the programme.
Table 19.7 Increase in the number of signing statements

Number of these statements that
President Statements objected to at least part of the law
Reagan 250 86
G.H.W. Bush 228 107
Clinton 381 70
G.W. Bush 161 127
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Signing statements
Key terms A president can issue a signing statement when they sign a bill into law. It
Signing statement usually points out the positive or negative aspects of the bill as far as the president
A statement issued by the is concerned. The president may even go so far as to challenge aspects of a bill
president regarding a bill on constitutional grounds. When President Obama signed the National Defense
that they have just signed Authorization Act in 2011, his signing statement highlighted the concerns over the
into law. ‘detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists’ and the restrictions
Pardon The power of it placed on the presidency, which conf licted with the separation of powers. His
the president to forgive statement therefore outlined that he and his administration would interpret aspects
a person of a federal of the bill ‘to avoid … constitutional conf lict’. There have been questions as to
crime, erasing it from their whether these statements are constitutional or not — the president is supposed to
criminal record. execute laws ‘faithfully’, not simply ignore the bits they dislike.
Commutation The ability Signing statements were not especially controversial historically as they were rarely
of the president to reduce used. Since President Reagan, the number of signing statements has notably increased
the sentence issued for a (Table 19.7). This raises questions about the power it lends to the president over
crime. legislation. The American Bar Association claimed that such statements ‘undermine
the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers’.
Grant reprieves and pardons

The president has the right to pardon people (Table 19.8), meaning they can
forgive them for a federal (not state) crime, effectively making it as if the crime
had never occurred. The only thing that cannot be pardoned is impeachment,
which helps to explain why President Nixon resigned over the Watergate affair
— in doing so, impeachment proceedings were never brought and he was able to
be pardoned by his successor, President Ford. Whether a president could pardon
themselves has never been tested and is still a matter of debate for constitutional
scholars, especially since claims by President Trump that he had the ‘absolute right’
to pardon himself.
President Ford and President Carter used this power en masse to pardon hundreds
of thousands of men who had evaded the Vietnam War draft.
The granting of reprieves today has evolved to mean ‘commutations’. While
pardons are usually issued after someone has served their sentence, commutations
can be used to free people from a current sentence. Commutations do not change
the guilt of a person but remove or lessen the sentence that person has received.
On his last day in office, President Obama issued 330 commutations to people
convicted of drug offences. This represented his view that ‘the war on drugs has
been an utter failure’ and underlined the calls he had made during his time in office
for reform of laws regarding drugs.
Table 19.8 The use of pardons and commutations by recent presidents — there are almost no
checks on the use of this power, certainly no direct checks by Congress exist
President Pardons Commutations
Clinton 396 61
G.W. Bush 189 11
Obama 212 1,715
Trump (to September 2018) 143 94
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21 What is the
The commutation of Chelsea Manning difference between
In 2010, Chelsea Manning was serving in the US military. She leaked classified military a pardon and a
intelligence to WikiLeaks showing the atrocities of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Manning said commutation?
she released the documents so that Americans could ‘see what I was seeing’ and understand 22 What is the only thing
the realities of the wars. She was arrested and charged with a range of crimes, including the pardon cannot
‘aiding the enemy’, which carried a maximum penalty of death. In 2013 she was acquitted of be used for?
this crime, but she was found guilty of the 21 remaining charges either fully or partially and 23 What is a ‘signing
sentenced to 35 years in prison. Just days before he left office, President Obama commuted statement’?
the sentence for Manning, saying that he was ‘very comfortable that justice has been served’. 24 Which group
Does the use of a commutation in such a controversial case suggest that the president’s power of people did
in this area is largely unlimited? Presidents Ford and
Carter pardon?
Convene special sessions of Congress

The president has the power to call a special session of Congress, calling either
or both houses of Congress back from recess. While rarely used today, it has had
notable use in the past, with the entirety of Congress convened on 27 occasions and
the Senate alone convened a further 46 times. For the Senate, most of these sessions
have been related to its unique powers — a president needing the Senate to confirm
a cabinet nominee or treaty. The whole of Congress has been recalled to deal with
international situations, with F.D. Roosevelt convening a session in 1939 regarding
US neutrality in what would be the Second World War, and for domestic legislation,
last used in 1948 by Truman.
Commander in chief
As commander in chief, the president is constitutionally the head of the army and
navy, although today this also includes the air force, marines, coast guard and space
force. The Constitution is unclear on the extent of these powers except that only
Congress can declare war. The powers given to the president within this role have
broadened over time — given that war was last declared in 1942, the actions of the
US military globally since then have been clearly under the direction of the president.
In 1976, at a question-and-answer session in Dover, New Hampshire, Gerald Ford
was asked about the extent of presidential power. He replied:
‘Our forefathers knew you couldn’t have 535 Commanders in Chief and Secretaries
of State. It just wouldn’t work, and it won’t work. That doesn’t mean that the
Congress and the president shouldn’t consult and work together. We have in many
cases. But in the last year, there has been a tendency on the part of the Congress
to limit and hamstring effective action by the president to move quickly … That is
not good for the United States.’
The development of new weaponry, particularly nuclear weapons, can also have an
impact on this power. When wars were fought between two large armies, it was
easier to understand the division of power between Congress and the president.
However, with nuclear weapons being capable of mass destruction, the need for such
armies has decreased but the need for a swift response has increased. Congress has
tried to regain control in this area, passing the War Powers Act in 1973. This Act
has been widely interpreted as unconstitutional by presidents since then and their
unwillingness to adhere to it has not been challenged.
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Make treaties (including executive agreements)
The president, with the consent of the Senate, has the right to create treaties
with other nations (Table 19.9). Formal treaties, such as the New Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (New START) in 2010, require negotiation by the president and
a two-thirds vote of approval in the Senate.
Executive agreements are similar to treaties, although they do not require Senate
approval. They are often seen as a way around the constitutional difficulties of
gaining Senate approval. President Obama negotiated the Iran nuclear deal and the
Paris Agreement on climate change by executive agreement. Nonetheless, executive
agreements often require congressional approval before they are fully enforceable,
usually through a joint resolution of Congress. Equally, the congressional power of
the purse can also be used to control presidential action.
In focus
The war on terror justifications and authorisation for military involvement
in Iraq.
Shortly after the attacks of September 11 on the World Trade
l March 2003 The USA plus coalition forces invade Iraq.
Center in New York, George W. Bush addressed a joint session
l Supreme Court action The cases of Hamdi v Rumsfeld
of Congress and used the phrase ‘war on terror’. Under this
(2004), Hamden v Rumsfeld (2004) and Boumediene v
guise, the USA has been involved in multiple conflicts in the
Bush (2008) all limited the power of the US government
Middle East in the last two decades.
over the people it held in Guantánamo Bay
l 14 September 2001 Congress passes the Authorization
l 22 January 2009 Obama issued executive order 13492,
for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, granting the
ordering the closure of Guantánamo Bay
president the right to use all ‘necessary and appropriate
l 17 June 2021 Congress repealed the AUMF passed in 2002
force’ against those who planned and committed the
September 11 attacks. Congress tried to control the Iraq War through its power of the
l October 2001 The USA plus coalition forces invade purse (see Chapter 17), but this failed to pass. The Supreme
Afghanistan. Court challenged detentions in Guantánamo Bay at least four
l January 2002 Guantánamo Bay is established, holding times, but the camp remains open and prosecutions remain
suspected terrorists without trial. non-existent, with many detainees being released without
l 16 October 2002 Congress passes the Authorization for charge. The power of the president in these areas is evidently
Use of Military Force Against Iraq (AUMF), outlining the difficult to challenge.
Table 19.9 Treaties and executive agreements

President Treaty/Agreement Vote Outcome
Clinton 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Yeas — 48 Nays — 51 Rejected
Test Ban
Obama 2010 New START Yeas — 71 Nays — 26 Passed
Obama 2012 Convention on the Rights Yeas — 61 Nays — 38 Rejected
of Persons with Disabilities
Obama 2015 Joint Comprehensive As an executive agreement, Enforced as an executive agreement.
Plan of Action (JCPOA) — the no vote needed Trump withdrew the USA in May 2018
Iran nuclear deal
Obama 2015 The Paris Agreement As an executive agreement, Enforced as an executive agreement. Trump
no vote needed withdrew the USA in November 2020 and
Biden re-entered it in January 2021
Obama/Trump 2016/17 Trans-Pacific Trade None — signed but not Trump withdrew the USA in January 2017
Partnership ratified
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Presidents have also used their power over the military within the USA. Federal troops
have been deployed in the case of national emergencies, such as during Hurricane
Knowledge check
Katrina in 2005 and the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. President Trump 25 What did Gerald Ford
signed a proclamation in 2018 to move troops to the US–Mexico border in order say ‘just wouldn’t
to halt the crossing of illegal immigrants, saying that ‘lawlessness’ at the border had work’?
left him with ‘no choice but to act’. Movement of such troops within the USA is not 26 What did Congress
allowed under federal law unless it is authorised by Congress, but both G.W. Bush pass in 1973 to try
and Obama had also sent troops to the US–Mexico border. to regain power over
foreign policy?
While there are constitutional requirements on passing treaties, there is none
27 What does START
regarding leaving a treaty. Even if a treaty has been approved by the Senate, a
stand for?
president retains the right to remove the USA from a treaty without asking the
28 What majority of the
Senate — a considerable addition to their powers.
Senate is required to
ratify a treaty?
Receive ambassadors
As the head of state, the president receives ambassadors to the USA from foreign
nations. By receiving ambassadors, or choosing not to, the president uses this power
to recognise nations and decide with whom the USA is prepared to work.
President George W. Bush recognised Kosovo in 2008, while President Obama
recognised Sudan in 2011, establishing diplomatic relations with these countries.
Such receptions can cause international difficulties. President Obama met with the
Dalai Lama four times in the White House. Given that the Dalai Lama is an exile from
Tibet and a recognised campaigner for Tibetan independence, Obama’s willingness
to meet with him caused considerable anger from the Chinese government. President
Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, becoming the first US president
to cross into North Korea and giving a form of global recognition to the regime.
In focus
The Russian invasion of Ukraine l 26 February 2022 — Biden uses $350 million from
the Defense Department to give aid to Ukraine. No
congressional approval needed.
l 1 March 2022 — Biden addresses Congress at the State
of the Union, announcing he is shutting US airspace to
Russian airlines.
l 12 March 2022 — Biden uses a further $200 million from
the Defense Department to give aid to Ukraine.
l 15 March 2022 — Congress includes $13.6 billion for aid
to Ukraine in a $1.5 trillion spending bill.
l 17 March 2022 — Biden calls Putin a ‘war criminal’ in a
remark at a press conference.
l 26 March 2022 — Biden flies to Poland to attend a NATO
meeting. While giving an address there, he remarks that
Putin ‘cannot remain in power’ in Russia, leading to claims
On 24 February 2022, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin,
he was advocating for regime change.
invaded Ukraine. Anticipating the invasion, President Biden
signed an executive order on 21 February prohibiting certain These selected actions highlight that the vast majority of the
transactions with Russia. By 8 March, Biden announced a ban immediate response to a crisis in foreign policy is conducted
on imports of Russian oil. Most of the actions taken early in this by the presidency, with Congress having only limited control,
conflict demonstrate presidential power over foreign affairs. largely through the use of financial control.
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Presidential powers Areas of Presidential powers
of head of state overlap as head of government
• Power of the pardon • Commander in chief • Chief legislator
• Receiving ambassadors • Recognising countries • Chief executive
• Representing the USA • State of the Union
abroad address
• Ceremonial duties • Making treaties
Figure 19.4 The powers of

heads of state and heads of
government
The role as the head of state and head of

government
The roles of head of state and head of government are separate in many countries
around the world. In the USA, the president fulfils both of these roles. This makes
it difficult to separate the powers neatly into these two roles as the Constitution
does not make a distinction and there is often an overlap (Figure 19.4). Traditionally,
heads of state carry out ceremonial roles, have greater oversight over foreign policy
and hold the highest-ranking position in their state. Heads of government deal with
domestic policy, the national budget and preside over the cabinet and the executive
Knowledge check branch.
29 Which country was
President Trump the The president as head of state
first US president to As head of state, the president attends world summits and events such as the G7 or
visit? the G20 as a representative of the USA and to broker deals and treaties on behalf of
30 List the roles the the USA. They also carry out ceremonial duties such as the annual pardoning of the
president has as the turkey on Thanksgiving or throwing the first pitch on the Opening Day of the US
head of state and baseball season.
head of government.
31 Would pardoning
a turkey be a role
for the head of
state or the head of
government?
32 What key power
does Congress have
to influence foreign
policy?
Every year, the president

pardons one or more turkeys,
which will then not be killed
and served on Thanksgiving.
This is entirely ceremonial and
has no constitutional basis,
but has become an annual
tradition at the White House
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Synoptic link
In the UK, the head of state is the unelected monarch, limited by the 1689 Bill of Rights. The
president in the USA is the head of state, limited by the US Constitution itself. For more on the
British Bill of Rights, see page 32. This links to Component 1, UK Politics.
Debate
Does the president have greater control over domestic or foreign affairs?
Evaluation: Does a president have greater control in the areas enumerated by the Constitution or those over which their role has
expanded over time? What factors might change this?
The ‘two presidencies’ theory is taken from a book by Aaron Wildavsky in 1966. He suggested that ‘presidents have much greater
success in controlling the nation’s defense and foreign policies than in dominating its domestic policies’.
Domestic affairs Foreign affairs

Presidential • It is expected that presidential bills should pass through • The president is the head of state and
strength Congress given the president’s electoral mandate can command the attention of world
• The constitutional requirement to address Congress leaders and the global media
annually about the ‘State of the Union’ gives them a • The president can use executive
platform to suggest legislation agreements to avoid consulting the
• In a time of unified government, the president is likely to Senate
face less scrutiny from Congress • International crises demand swift
• If the president holds a strong electoral mandate, it can be and decisive action; congressional
difficult for Congress to defy them investigations and accountability often
come only after the crisis has passed
• As commander in chief, presidents
have taken military action without
authorisation from Congress
• The president alone can receive
ambassadors and recognise countries
Presidential • The president may not control Congress, making it more • The president is reliant on Congress
weakness difficult to pass their legislative agenda for funding, as Trump found with his
• Individual senators can hold up presidential desires plans for a border wall
through filibusters • Congress has tried to regain power
• A short election cycle for Congress means that members in this area, passing the War Powers
are often more responsive to their states or districts than Resolution and using AUMFs
to national politics • If the president acts alone, they will
• Appointments to key domestic roles, such as the cabinet be held accountable alone. A poorly
or the Supreme Court, are subject to Senate approval executed foreign policy can lead to low
• Hyperpartisanship can make compromise more difficult, poll ratings for the president
often resulting in gridlock • The Senate can, and has, rejected
• In a federal system, states can prevent the president’s treaties
domestic agenda from being effectively enforced • Congress can try to use its legislative
• The president is more likely to be challenged in the powers to control foreign policy
Supreme Court over domestic affairs
The president as head of government

As the head of government, the president heads up the executive branch. They
are responsible for the organisation of the EXOP and preside over the cabinet and
the federal bureaucracy. They can use executive actions to ensure that US laws are
carried out effectively and have the right to sign and veto legislation.
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The overlapping powers
A number of these powers have aspects associated with both the head of state and the
head of government (Figure 19.4), or have an impact on both foreign and domestic
policy.
l Commander in chief As the representative of the USA to the world, this role
allows the president as the head of state to involve the USA in foreign military
action. More in keeping with the head of government role, it has a domestic
impact too, with the president using troops to respond to natural disasters and
crises that emerge within the USA.
l Recognising countries As an extension of the role of receiving ambassadors,
this role is more in keeping with the global role of the president and therefore
as head of state. However, in recognising which countries the USA is willing to
work with, the president effectively opens trade opportunities, which has a direct
impact on the US domestic economy.
l State of the Union address As the chief legislator, this opportunity for the
president to shape domestic policy helps them to fulfil their role as the head
of government. Such speeches in other countries, however, are often given by
the head of state as a more ceremonial function, such as the Queen’s Speech in
the UK.
l Making treaties By making treaties the president is acting as the US
representative to the world, but the treaties made often have a direct impact on
the US domestic economy.
It is difficult to discern an absolute distinction between the two roles for the
president. However, the roles they have as head of state or those to do with foreign
policy often have fewer checks. Those as head of government or to do with domestic
policy often have more checks from other branches of government.
Knowledge check
33 What is meant by the ‘two presidencies’ theory?
34 List the powers that overlap between the roles of head of state and head of government.
35 Define ‘chief legislator’.
36 Which role has fewer checks on it, head of state or head of government?
Informal sources of presidential power

In addition to the powers granted by the Constitution, the president can use current
circumstances and the framework of government to enhance their power.
The cabinet
Constitutionally, the cabinet has no formal power. It is simply an advisory body for
the president. Despite this, every president since 1793 has had a cabinet. Originally
with just four members — State, War, Treasury and Attorney General — it now
consists of the heads of 15 departments, the president, the vice president and other
cabinet-level executives as the president sees fit (Table 19.10). The additional
members that a president chooses are often ref lective either of their policy priorities
or of the national circumstances in which they take over.
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Table 19.10 The cabinet members for each of the last three presidents
Executive departments (15)
• Secretary of State • Secretary of the Interior • Secretary of Health and • Secretary of Energy
• Secretary of Treasury • Secretary of Agriculture Human Services • Secretary of Veterans
• Secretary of Defense • Secretary of Commerce • Secretary of Education Affairs
• Attorney General • Secretary of Labor • Secretary of Housing and • Secretary of Homeland
Urban Development Security
• Secretary of Transportation
President G.W. Bush’s President Obama’s President Trump’s additional President Biden’s additional
additional cabinet members additional cabinet members cabinet members cabinet members
• President • President • President • President
• Vice president • Vice president • Vice president • Vice president
• Chief of staff • Chief of staff • Chief of staff • Chief of staff
• Environmental Protection • Environmental Protection • Environmental Protection • Environmental Protection
Agency Agency Agency Agency
• Office of Management • Office of Management • Office of Management and • Office of Management and
and Budget and Budget Budget Budget
• Office of National Drug • Ambassador to the • Ambassador to the United • Ambassador to the United
Control Policy United Nations Nations Nations
• United States Trade • United States Trade • United States Trade • United States Trade
Representative Representative Representative Representative
• Council of Economic • Director of National • Council of Economic
Advisers Intelligence Advisers
• Small Business • Director of the CIA • Office of Science and
Administration • Small Business Technology Policy
Administration • Director of National
Intelligence
• Small Business
Administration
The cabinet is a source of power for the president in a number of ways. Cabinet
members should be policy specialists and therefore able to offer opinions on policy
and lend support to the president in their policy objectives. Timothy Geithner was
Obama’s choice for secretary of the Treasury, having previously been the president of
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This experience allowed Geithner to make
policy suggestions as the Obama administration dealt with the recession after the
2007 economic crash. Geithner introduced the Financial Stability Plan, committing
billions of dollars to a ‘lending initiative’ to try to boost the economy, while requiring
that banks undergo ‘stress tests’ to ensure that they could withstand and even prevent
a future economic crash. This ability to manage department-level policy is crucial
for the president, who would be unable to manage so many departments alone.
As the cabinet has no constitutional power, the president maintains the final say over
policy. Obama’s policy goals did not always match those of his Secretary of Defense,
Republican Chuck Hagel. In August 2014, President Obama was comparing Islamic
State to a junior varsity basketball team, while Hagel described it as ‘an imminent
threat to every interest we have’. Later in 2014, President Obama was concerned
that Hagel was not transferring detainees out of Guantánamo Bay quickly enough.
Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, sent Hagel a memo requiring him
to send transfer updates regarding detainees every 2 weeks to try to speed up the
process. While Hagel publicly replied, ‘I owe that to the American people, to ensure
that any decision I make is, in my mind, responsible’, by November of that year
he had resigned. After his forced resignation, Hagel complained of White House
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micromanagement, saying he had to deal with White House staff ‘asking fifth-level
Knowledge check questions that the White House should not be involved in’. This example highlights
37 How many heads of the president’s ability to control policy and their choice to rely on their own people
department are in within the EXOP, in this case Rice, rather than their appointed cabinet secretaries.
the cabinet?
38 Who resigned as In focus
Obama’s defense
secretary over Trump fires Michael Atkinson
Guantánamo Bay?
The EXOP, the cabinet and the federal bureaucracy should all help the president to achieve
39 How much
their policy goals but their actions can also harm the presidency. President Trump had a
power does the
remarkable turnover of White House staff during his time in office.
cabinet have
constitutionally? In May 2018, Michael Atkinson was appointed Inspector General of the Intelligence Community. In
40 Why did Trump fire this role, he received a complaint from a member of the EXOP saying that Trump had tried to get a
Michael Atkinson? foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election. The complaint was that Trump had put pressure
on the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Atkinson found the complaint to be credible and so it should have then been sent by the
director of national intelligence to Congress. The Trump administration withheld the complaint
however, and so Atkinson notified Congress about the report, leading to committees
demanding that the administration release it. The complaint ultimately led to the first
impeachment trial of Trump, while Trump fired Michael Atkinson.
Cabinet-level officials can also undertake work and roles on behalf of the president,
but as a representative of the president’s role and power. On the election of a new
president of Mexico in July 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was sent to meet
with him to improve relations between the two countries. The president alone
would be unable to attend every meeting and event required of them, so they use
members of the cabinet as representatives.
In focus
Inside the Obama cabinet President Obama: I want, number one, to make sure that they
know they’ve got my ear. The second thing is to reinforce the
As part of his drive for transparency, the Obama administration
real strong sense of camaraderie that the cabinet members
released a series of videos depicting life within his White
have built around themselves.
House. One of these was Inside the White House: The Cabinet.
In this video, Obama and his staff raise some important points Gary Locke, commerce secretary: These cabinet meetings
about the role and importance of the cabinet, in bold below: are an incredible way for everybody to communicate, for
everyone to really understand what the issues are and to
President Obama: One of the things I am most proud of is
help us all get on the same page so that we can advance the
the cabinet that we have assembled. You have extraordinarily
president’s priorities.
talented people in each of these fields. A lot of them are
doing such a good job that they don’t meet with me much Chris Lu, cabinet secretary: What we’ve typically done is bring
because they’re like the good students in class, they are just the press in at the end of the meeting. The cabinet meeting
handling their business really well. is an important symbol of the government at work.
Chris Lu, cabinet secretary: We try and do a cabinet meeting Hillary Clinton, secretary of state: I think that it’s [cabinet
every 2 months. The meetings run about an hour and a half. meetings] not only as important as it always was … but to
some extent even more so. So that people can look each other
Chris Lu, cabinet secretary: These are closed sessions and
in the eye, they can watch the body language and they can
the president really welcomes frank, unvarnished advice
work together to get to the resolution of whatever the issue is.
from the advisors.
9781398369160.indb 530 15/02/23 10:29 PM

%
% % 100
100 100
Non-white (men and women)

90
90
Women (all backgrounds)
90
80 80 73
80
70 70
70
White men
60 59
60 60 55
50 50 48
50 45 41
40 36 40 40
32 32
30 29 30 29 27 30
20 18 18 20 18 20
10 10 10
0 0 0
h
n
n
n
p
m
m
us
us
to
us
um
de
m
to
de
to
de
um
ba
ba
ba
u
in
in
.B
.B
.B
in
Bi
Bi
Bi
Tr
Tr
Tr
Cl
Cl
Cl
O
O
O
.W
.W
.W
G
G
Figure 19.5 The changing diversity in the US cabinet over time. The general trend has been towards increasing diversity in the
cabinet
Finally, the cabinet has a symbolic value for presidential power. Clinton famously
remarked he wanted his cabinet to ‘look like America’. As a singular executive, the
Knowledge check
president is likely only to appeal to a certain demographic — that might be due to 41 What did Clinton
their age, experience, ideology, race, sex, religion or many other factors. Clinton’s mean by wanting a
aim for greater diversity made the cabinet more representative of America and cabinet that ‘looked
therefore ref lected a government governing for the whole of America (Figure 19.5). like America’?
Presidents G.W. Bush and Obama continued this trend of diversity in their cabinets, 42 Which president had
although President Trump’s cabinet was more male and more white than any cabinet the most diverse
since President Reagan’s. President Biden’s cabinet was the most diverse in history, cabinet in US
with 45% women and 55% non-white members. history?
43 List the reasons
Equally, the cabinet is the symbol of ‘government at work’. The media presence at
that Obama claimed
cabinet meetings allows the president to project the image of their government to
his cabinet was
the public.
important.
Powers of persuasion
In 1960, Professor Richard Neustadt published a book in which he suggested that
‘the power of the presidency is the power to persuade’. This was based on the
Key term
fact that each president has the same constitutional powers and each of these powers Powers of persuasion The
is checked directly by Congress. The president therefore must rely on something power of the president
else to achieve their policy goals — persuasion, reputation and public prestige. A to bargain and persuade
president could use these skills to bargain and persuade the rival centres of power those around them in
within the US political system to do as they wish. order to achieve their
policy goals.
President Harry Truman once commented:
‘I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to have
sense enough to do without my persuading them. ... That’s all the powers of the
president amount to.’
When President Truman’s successor was elected, Truman lamented:
‘He will sit there, and he will say, “Do this! Do that!” And nothing will happen. Poor Ike
— it won’t be a bit like the army.’
Persuasion can be achieved through a variety of methods, which are often reliant on
the image of the president and the benefits the role brings with it:
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l A president can appeal directly and morally to
Congress, often through the media. Obama did
this in his Rose Garden speech of 2013 when he
maintained he was convinced of the need to take
military action in Syria over its government’s use of
chemical weapons. He also said that as the leader of
the oldest constitutional democracy in the world, it
was right that he ask Congress for its approval for
such action. For President Trump, such appeals were
also made through Twitter.
l The White House can be used as a stage, or a ‘bully
pulpit’. As the White House itself is a place of such
importance and gravitas, speaking from it — to
Congress, the press or the public — can put pressure
President Truman receives Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on those with legislative control. An address from
each having represented their country’s interests at the the Oval Office can be particularly effective for
Potsdam Conference of 1945 this, as rather than simply representing the person,
it represents the office of the president. President Obama used this platform to
Key term call for gun control after the San Bernardino shooting in 2015. President Trump
bussed the entire Senate to the White House for a briefing on North Korea in
Bully pulpit A strong 2017 to explain to them why a show of strength was necessary.
and significant platform l The president can use their personal gravitas through methods such as phoning
from which the president congressional leaders or having personal meetings with them. Their ability to
can advance their policy. do this depends on their popularity. This might be achieved by their White
In US politics it usually House staff phoning or liaising with members of Congress. Obama’s deputy
refers to the White House chief of staff Jim Messina called senators to ensure that they would still vote
as a stage from which to ratify Sonia Sotomayor after a controversial quote came to light during her
considerable pressure can confirmation hearings. In trying to get his tax bill passed, President Trump sent
be placed on lawmakers. aide Kellyanne Conway to speak to whips in Congress. President Obama was
Note that the term ‘bully’ known to telephone and have private meetings with Republican speaker John
does not have a pejorative Boehner to try to advance his legislative agenda
meaning in this sense. l The president can use the media to speak to the public, who can in turn place
pressure on Congress. In 2011, Obama asked the public to contact their members
of Congress to ask them to agree on raising the debt ceiling so that the USA
Synoptic link would not default on its debt. In response, Speaker Boehner had 203 calls waiting
While the cabinet is an on one day in July. They can also hold press conferences or give interviews. Biden
important source of power did only nine press conferences in his first year, fewer than his five immediate
for the president, it is not predecessors, and 22 interviews, fewer than his six immediate predecessors.
a collective body as it is l The president might be able to offer inducements to members of Congress in
in the UK. Nonetheless, return for their support. They might offer policy promises to make suggested
both cabinets can both legislation more agreeable, such as Obama’s promises about Syrian intervention
strengthen and weaken being limited and involving no deployment of US soldiers. They might also
the power of their use the actions of the executive branch to gain congressional approval. Obama
respective executives. deported more people than any other president in an effort to show Congress he
This links to Component 2, could be trusted with immigration policy and to gain support for his proposed
UK Government (pages immigration reforms.
220–226). The more popular a president is, the more likely Congress is to listen to them; doing
so may win votes and popularity for members of Congress themselves. A president
with lower poll ratings will often find it difficult to use such powers of persuasion as
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they have less personal capital to expend. Much of the power of persuasion and the
public opinion of a president is also connected to their personal style and charisma.
Knowledge check
Obama was well spoken and intellectual but averse to schmoozing congressional 44 What is meant
leaders, and was often seen as aloof. Trump was more brash and aggressive but by ‘powers of
frequently in touch directly with the people. Both styles have advantages and persuasion’?
disadvantages, determined by how successful a president is at utilising their skills. 45 List the powers
of persuasion a
Stretch and challenge president may be
able to use.
Powers of persuasion 46 Define ‘bully pulpit’.
‘What I didn’t fully appreciate, and nobody can appreciate until they’re in the position,
is how decentralized power is in this system. When you’re in the seat and you’re seeing
Synoptic link
the housing market collapse and you are seeing unemployment skyrocketing and you
have a sense of what the right thing to do is, then you realize, “Okay, not only do I have The UK prime minister
to persuade my own party, not only do I have to prevent the other party from blocking and the US president
what the right thing to do is, but now I can anticipate this lawsuit, this lobbying taking attempt to influence and
place, and this federal agency that technically is independent, so I can’t tell them what control events using more
to do. I’ve got the Federal Reserve, and I’m hoping that they do the right thing — and informal sources of power
by the way, since the economy now is global, I’ve got to make sure that the Europeans, than those given to them
the Asians, the Chinese, everybody is on board.” A lot of the work is not just identifying through their offices alone.
the right policy but now constantly building these ever-shifting coalitions to be able to For more on the influence
actually implement and execute and get it done.’ of the prime minister,
Barack Obama see pages 226–33. This
In order for a president to be successful, whose support might they need according to this
Government.
quote from Obama? To what extent does this suggest the power of the presidency amounts to
nothing more than persuasion?
Vice president
Constitutionally, the office of the vice president has only two powers — to take
over the role of the president if necessary and to cast the deciding vote in the event
of a tie in the Senate. The vice presidency has developed into a bigger role than
this, although their relevance and power vary from president to president. In the
presidential election, the ‘running mate’ is important in ‘balancing the ticket’
(see Chapter 21). However, at that point the ‘running mate’ is not the vice president;
they take over this role only on being elected and inaugurated.
l Al Gore, Jr. (vice president to Bill Clinton) — As one of the president’s ‘most
inf luential advisors’, Gore headed the National Performance Review to reduce
the cost of federal government, worked on immigration solutions and championed
environmental policies.
l Richard B. Cheney (vice president to George W. Bush) — Cheney had a
significant role in responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent
wars, creating ‘a new doctrine in which the president was accountable to no one
in his decisions as commander in chief ’.
l Joe Biden (vice president to Barack Obama) — Biden’s experience of more than
30 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee afforded him expertise
on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as taking the lead on a range of
economic issues.
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l Mike Pence (vice president to Donald Trump) — Pence
made history breaking a tie in the Senate on a cabinet
nomination. Pence held considerable power within the
White House, apparently driving the resignation of
Michael Flynn as national security adviser. However,
Pence publicly disagreed with Trump, who claimed the
vice president could invalidate the election result when
counting Electoral College votes on 6 January 2021.
Reportedly, Trump and Pence did not speak for at least
a week afterwards.
l Kamala Harris (vice president to Joe Biden) — Much
of Harris’ first year was characterised by dysfunction
in the Office of the Vice President. She did cast more
tie-breaking votes in Congress in 1 year than any vice
president in history and was the first woman to hold
presidential powers when Biden underwent a health
check for 85 minutes in November 2021.
The modern vice presidency is certainly very different from
historical quips about the weakness of this role. The power
Biden’s term as vice president was a far cry from Thomas and inf luence of the vice president depend on how much the
Marshall’s quote: ‘Once there were two brothers. One ran president delegates to the holder, but this seems increasingly
away to sea, the other was elected Vice President, and common. The development of the Office of the Vice
nothing was ever heard of either of them again.’ President is therefore another tool that the president can use.
Knowledge check The Executive Office of the President

The Executive Office of the President (EXOP) refers to the agencies that work
47 What are the two
within, or directly for, the White House and are organised by the president
constitutional
themselves. It is often staffed by the people they are closest to and who are highly
roles of the vice
loyal to them. It is often referred to as ‘the West Wing’, although those working in
president?
the West Wing of the White House are more likely to be from the White House
48 Give an example of a
Office rather than from the EXOP as a whole.
recent vice president
who has had a clear
policy impact.
The Office of Management and Budget
49 How long did The key public role of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is to develop
Kamala Harris hold the annual budget for the president for submission to Congress. It also oversees
presidential powers funding and effectiveness of federal programmes and gives advice to the president
for? on policy, budget and legal matters. As a president can only take office in January,
it would be challenging for them to have a budget prepared by the first Monday
in February as required by law. The OMB therefore takes the lead in drafting this,
as well as briefing the president on budget and economic priorities. With such
important roles, and having around 500 staff, the director of the OMB is one of the
few roles within the EXOP that is subject to Senate confirmation.
The White House Transition Project outlines the importance of the OMB:
‘OMB’s knowledge and expertise strengthens the president’s hand in dealings
with the Congress during the annual budget process. OMB communicates with
Congress at many levels through numerous channels. At the top, those Directors
who were armed by mastery of numbers and policy details became the president’s
most effective representative and advocate in negotiations with congressional
leaders. OMB’s leaders have been aided in this by a small legislative affairs staff
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of political appointees. At lower levels, OMB staff have usually been available to
their counterparts on the Hill to provide technical explanation and analysis of the
president’s proposals and other policy ideas.’
National Security Council

The National Security Council (NSC) advises the president on matters of national
security and foreign policy. It is attended by the vice president, the secretaries of
state, treasury and defence, as well as the joint chiefs of staff and the director of
national intelligence, and the national security adviser. It provides advice and a
daily security briefing for the president. The significance of the NSC often depends
on the individual preferences of a president. It may come into conf lict with the
Department of Defense, as seen with the rivalry between Susan Rice, Obama’s
national security adviser, and Chuck Hagel. The NSC operates out of the Situation
Room, a secure conference room in the White House from which the president can
action a response to a crisis.
President Trump was criticised for his treatment of the NSC. His appointment
of Steve Bannon, a senior adviser and campaign strategist, to the NSC led to
accusations of politicisation of this body. In addition, he relegated the chairs of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff to only attending meetings relevant to their experience and
expertise, although the White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said they could
attend at any time. Trump also courted controversy saying that he did not need the
daily security briefing: ‘I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same
thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.’ He did, however,
say that Vice President Pence would be receiving the daily briefing.
White House Office

The White House Office (WHO) is headed by the president’s chief of staff and
contains senior aides and advisers as the president wishes. The press secretary is the
most public figure in the WHO, as they hold press briefings and often appear on
the nightly news. Sean Spicer was often ridiculed by the press in this role, with the
actor and comedian Melissa McCarthy portraying him on the primetime comedy
sketch show Saturday Night Live. Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki became known for Knowledge check
her ‘Psaki bombs’, referring to her quick, sarcastic responses to partisan or leading
50 What is the main
questions from journalists. The president can appoint their ‘senior advisers’ without
role of the Office of
Senate approval and therefore they can surround themselves with people whose
Management and
advice they trust the most.
Budget?
This body can hold extensive power over the president if they allow it. Nixon’s 51 What did Trump
closest advisers were referred to as the ‘Berlin Wall’ as they made it difficult for decline to attend
other advisers or indeed advice to get to the president. Supposedly, key documents each day from the
in the Eisenhower administration first went for approval through his chief of staff National Security
Sherman Adams and Eisenhower would only read documents that bore his approval, Council?
signed ‘O.K., S.A.’. The Trump administration saw a huge turnover of staff within 52 Who is the most
the White House. Trump’s second chief of staff claimed: well-known member
of the White House
‘I’ve been a failure at controlling the president, or a failure at controlling his
tweeting, and all that. I was not brought to this job to control anything but the flow Office to the public?
of information to our president so that he can make the best decisions.’ 53 Who controls the
White House Office
These staff can also create controversy for the president. In January 2022 Biden had for the president?
to defend his chief of staff Ron Klain from claims that he had pushed the White
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House too far to the left. Klain was in the room when bipartisan negotiations took
place on the Covid-19 relief bill. Republican senator Susan Collins remarked, ‘Ron
was shaking his head in the back of the room the whole time, which is not exactly
an encouraging sign.’
The presidency
The changing nature of presidential power
Presidents are rarely ‘strong’ or ‘weak’ for their entire presidency. Their power
f luctuates, dependent on a range of circumstances, only some of which they can
control.
Elections: the electoral cycle, divided government and the electoral mandate
Key terms The success that a president has in an election can be a source of power. If they
Electoral mandate The can claim a sweeping victory, this increases the strength of their mandate and can
authority gained at an make their requests to Congress difficult to ignore. A president with less electoral
election by a political success, or who loses one or both houses of Congress in an election, is likely to find
leader to act on behalf of it more difficult to use their presidential power. Table 19.11 gives a more detailed
their constituents, in force breakdown of votes received in recent presidential elections.
until the next election.
Biden won more votes than any other president in history in 2020, which could
Coattails effect The have leant him a greater electoral mandate. However, Trump gained the second-
ability of a president to highest number of votes in history in the same election.
bring out supporters for
other members of their Part of a president’s strength comes from convincingly winning an election. Some
party, and therefore of this is due to the coattails effect. This means that when a political leader does
helping them to win, due well in an election, it helps other candidates in their party by attracting votes to
to their own popularity. them too. A president elected with a substantial popular vote is more likely to attract
more support from Congress. If a president is unpopular, members of Congress
are likely to distance themselves from the president in the midterm elections,
lessening their inf luence. Trump was mocked for having a short coattails effect
in 2016, with Republicans losing two Senate seats and six House seats. Trump
was not sufficiently popular to help other Republicans gain office. This was later
ref lected in the difficulties he faced getting his legislative programme through
Congress.
Table 19.11 Votes in presidential elections, 1992–2016
Electoral College
Year Party Candidate States carried % popular vote votes
1992 Democratic Clinton, W. 32 + DC 43.01 370/538
Republican Bush, G.H.W. 18 37.45 168/538
2000 Republican Bush, G.W. 30 47.87 271/538
Democratic Gore 20 + DC 48.38 266/538
2008 Democratic Obama 28 + DC 52.93 365/538
Republican McCain 22 45.65 173/538
2016 Republican Trump 30 46.09 304/538
Democratic Clinton, H. 20 + DC 48.18 227/538
2020 Republican Trump 25 46.9 232/538
Democratic Biden 25 + DC 51.3 306/538
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The extent to which a president can push their legislative agenda through Congress
often depends on whether government is unified or divided. In times of divided
government, the president is likely to find it more difficult to get Congress to pass
their desired legislation (see Chapter 18).
National circumstances
National events can significantly help or hinder presidential inf luence (Table 19.12).
In the days after the 9/11 attacks, the poll ratings for George W. Bush increased
substantially, largely due to the fear that made Americans look to the president as
a leader. In contrast, Biden faced criticism over his handling of the US withdrawal
from Afghanistan.
Positive national circumstances can also help to bolster a president’s inf luence, such
as the booming economy under Bill Clinton. This is not always guaranteed —
President Trump had an improving economy in 2018 but a declining presidential
approval rating.
Table 19.12 The effect of events on presidential popularity
President Event Detail Effect (positive/negative/neutral)
Clinton Oklahoma A bomb set off in Oklahoma Clinton used the story of Richard Dean, who re-entered
bombing, 1995 killed 168 people and injured the building four times to rescue people, to highlight
more than 600 Congress’ failings in allowing two government
shutdowns (POSITIVE)
Monica Lewinsky President Clinton was accused Clinton was subjected to impeachment and although
scandal, 1998 of lying under oath about his he was found ‘not guilty’, it embarrassed him on a
relationship with Lewinsky national stage (NEGATIVE)
G.W. Bush 9/11 terrorist Terrorists hijacked airliners, flying Bush’s approval ratings jumped overnight, giving him
attacks, 2001 them into the Twin Towers and a cause to rally around after his poor election result
the Pentagon in 2000 (POSITIVE)
Hurricane A hurricane hit New Orleans, Bush’s perceived slow response to this, and
Katrina, 2005 killing nearly 2,000 people inadequate support by FEMA, made embarrassing
national headlines (NEGATIVE)
Obama Sandy Hook 20 children aged six and seven Obama appeared as mourner-in-chief to the nation
shooting, 2012 were killed in a school shooting and was able to advance a gun control agenda.
However, ultimately little action came as a result
(NEUTRAL)
Hurricane Sandy, Affecting 24 states in total, the As president, Obama was able to use this event
2012 storm badly damaged New Jersey to make media headlines. At the time he was in
and New York the middle of the 2012 presidential race but this
dominated media coverage, allowing Obama to gain
headlines at the expense of his rival (POSITIVE)
Trump Hurricane Maria, The hurricane hit Puerto Rico, A slow response from Trump, and his later description
2017 killing around 3,000 people of the response as a ‘great success’, courted
controversy (NEGATIVE)
Biden Afghanistan The USA withdrew its final troops The withdrawal was chaotic and led to the Taliban
withdrawal, 2021 from Afghanistan after 20 years reclaiming control over the country (NEGATIVE)
Russian invasion Putin ordered Russian troops to The crisis allowed Biden to focus on foreign policy,
of Ukraine, 2022 invade Ukraine and use it to shape his State of the Union address
and visit Poland for a NATO meeting (POSITIVE)
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Knowledge check Relationships with other branches of government
54 Which US president
got the most votes Congress
in an election in US The president’s relationship with Congress is based on a number of factors:
history? l the electoral mandate and the timing of the electoral cycle
55 Define ‘coattails l the manner in which they exercise their constitutional powers
effect’. l their popularity
56 List the factors that l which party controls either House of Congress.
might affect the
The separation of powers in federal government should ensure compromise. When
influence a president
a president is unwilling to compromise, Congress often becomes more entrenched
can have.
too.
In September 2018, Politico ran the headline ‘Congress dares Trump to shut down
the government in new spending deal’. This antagonistic relationship between
the two branches was partly due to the looming midterm elections, but also to
the divisive nature of Trump’s political ideology. His veto threats, attacks on
congressional failure to repeal Obamacare and pressure to confirm Brett Kavanaugh
as his Supreme Court appointment all frustrated Congress and led to it pushing back
against presidential power.
Supreme Court
The president’s relationship with the Supreme Court is perhaps more stable than
their relationship with Congress. Their ability to pressure the Court is limited and
while their nominations can change the balance of the Court, vacancies do not
occur at their will. However, the relationship with the Supreme Court is something
a president may well ref lect upon publicly.
Obama openly criticised the Supreme Court in his 2010 State of the Union address,
arguing its ruling in Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission had ‘opened the
f loodgates’ to huge volumes of money being spent in elections. Biden published
a statement following a Supreme Court ruling on Texas’ abortion law describing
it as ‘an unprecedented assault’ on women’s rights and claiming it ‘unleashes
constitutional chaos’.
Obama suffered further defeats at the hands of the Supreme Court in having his
DAPA executive order and his recess appointments deemed unconstitutional.
However, the Court upheld Obamacare and legalised same-sex marriage across the
entire USA during his time in office. These successes can hardly be attributed to the
president but they do affect the relationship these two branches have.
When Justice Kennedy retired in 2018, Trump was able to move the ideology of
the Court by replacing Kennedy with the more conservative Justice Kavanaugh. He
strengthened this conservative wing of the Court by replacing liberal Ruth Bader
Ginsburg with conservative Amy Coney Barrett in 2020.
Knowledge check
57 Which appointments to the Supreme Court by Trump made it more conservative?
58 Which ruling of the Supreme Court did Obama criticise at his State of the Union?
59 List the factors that could affect the president’s relationship with Congress.
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Debate
How effective is presidential accountability to Congress?

Evaluation: How can ‘effective’ be defined? What factors will predictably change the accountability of the presidency and which
are unforeseen?
Effective Ineffective
• The short election cycle of Congress and the coattails • The president’s enumerated powers give them far greater
effect mean that Congress is highly responsive to power as they are able to exercise powers alone while
presidential popularity. It is more willing to use its congressional powers often require supermajorities and
powers when the president is unpopular bipartisanship, which are difficult to achieve
• In domestic policy, Congress has significant control • In foreign policy, Congress has very few powers to hold
over presidential power, from passing legislation to the president accountable, and those that it does have
deciding on the funding that will be allocated are significantly weaker than its domestic powers
• The Constitution gives Congress a range of checks to • The constitutional powers of Congress are largely reactive,
prevent presidential action, or ultimately to remove the being able only to confirm or deny the president’s choices,
president if necessary and in some cases being circumvented entirely
• In times of divided government, Congress has • In times of united government, Congress is less likely
demonstrated its willingness and ability to use powers to use its powers to limit the president, allowing them
such as the veto override, overriding presidential action considerable power
• National crises can also dent the popularity of the • In times of national crisis requiring a swift response,
president depending on their response, which directly Congress often defers to the president who, as a singular
affects Congress’ willingness to apply checks to their executive, can act quickly. This often gives the president
power large grants of power
Debates of the US presidency

The imperial presidency
In 1973, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. wrote The Imperial Presidency, in which he discussed
Key terms
the growing power of the president and the lack of effective checks by Congress on
this power. A president is referred to as ‘imperial’ when the constitutional checks of Imperial presidency
Congress are either unused or ineffective. If a president is able to evade congressional A presidency that is overly
checks, for example through executive orders, this could also be termed an imperial powerful due to a lack
presidency. of effective checks and
balances.
By contrast, a president who finds it difficult to exercise their constitutional powers
and appears to be weak is often known as ‘imperilled’. Such a president can also be Imperilled presidency
referred to as a lame duck, although this has both a formal and an informal meaning: A president who finds it
difficult to exercise their
l Formally, a ‘lame duck’ president is one who is not continuing in office in constitutional powers in
January but who still holds office. They may have lost their election for a second the face of overly effective
term, such as Trump, or have served two terms, such as Obama. In either case, checks and balances.
between the election in November and the inauguration in January, the president
Lame duck president
is known as a ‘lame duck’ as they continue to hold office and constitutional
Formally, a president
powers but have lost the electoral mandate.
holding office after an
l Informally, ‘a lame duck’ president has come to mean one who is weak and
election that they have not
cannot exercise their powers effectively at any point in their presidency.
won; informally, a weak
It is unlikely that any president would be seen as ‘imperial’ or ‘imperilled’ for the president.
entirety of their presidency. The factors explored above help to explain how the
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powers of the president f luctuate over the course of their
term in office.
A president’s power can often be inferred from their poll
ratings. Popular presidents tend to be more powerful, while
less popular presidents find it more difficult to exercise
power.
The president and foreign policy

There are a number of ways in which the president has
seemingly more power and fewer checks in foreign
policy than in their domestic roles. This is subject to the
f luctuations in presidential inf luence over the course of a
George H.W. Bush and Barack presidency. George W. Bush had huge amounts of power to involve the USA in wars
Obama both formally became in the Middle East in 2001 and 2003. However, the declining popularity of these
lame ducks following the wars, and of Bush himself, meant that Congress was increasingly willing to exercise
elections in the November control over this area by the end of Bush’s term in office.
before they left office
The president can attempt to control foreign policy by exercising a range of their
powers:
Knowledge check l The creation of treaties, although these are Senate-confirmable. The president
60 What is the difference could circumvent this by using executive agreements.
between an ‘imperial’ l The reception of ambassadors, now interpreted as the president’s right to
president and an recognise nations.
‘imperilled’ president? l The appointment of US officials to control foreign policy. While cabinet officials
61 What are the two such as the secretary of defense are subject to Senate approval, appointments such
definitions of a lame as the national security adviser are not. All of these officials have notable power
duck president? in controlling foreign policy.
62 When did President l The role of commander in chief, which has seemingly usurped Congress’ power
Trump become a to declare war. While Congress has tried to remedy this using the power of the
lame duck? purse and AUMF, it has struggled to use this to prevent action. The War Powers
Act has been viewed as unconstitutional by presidents since 1973 and therefore
has not been successfully enforced.
l As the head of state, the president often finds Congress acting with deference
in times of emergencies. Congress allows considerable presidential freedom of
Synoptic link action in response to a crisis. By the time Congress tries to reclaim its power, the
damage is often done.
In organised systems
of government, one For more powers, see pages 515–33.
branch rarely acts alone. Congress can, however, endeavour to control foreign policy using its own powers:
As the US president is
accountable to Congress, l The use of Congress’ powers over appropriations to fund or defund military
the UK prime minister is action. In 2007, Democrats attempted to defund the Iraq War.
held to account by both l The issuing or repealing of an AUMF to secure its role in authorising military
houses of Parliament. For action even if it is not formally declaring war.
more on the relationship l It ratifies treaties and presidential appointments. When a president attempts
between UK branches to circumvent these powers, Congress protests and works to make headlines.
of government see The Senate did this with Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, when Congress not only
pages 251–53. This links demanded a say but also attempted to time-limit his negotiations.
to Component 2, UK l Congress can use its legislative power to try to control foreign policy. Congress
Government. passed laws preventing President Obama allowing Syrian refugees and the release
of Guantánamo Bay detainees on to US soil, thwarting the president’s plans.
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In focus
required, but is given nevertheless! (5 January 2020,
A social media spat 15:25 EST)
President Trump was well known for his use of Twitter. He used
House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign),
the platform to speak directly to the public and try to gather
quote Tweeting Trump: This media post will serve
support with which to put pressure on Congress. Congress,
as a reminder that war powers reside in the Congress
however, was not unwilling to use this medium itself, leading to
under the United States Constitution. And that you
a Twitter spat between President Trump and the House Foreign should read the War Powers Act. And that you’re
Affairs Committee. not a dictator. (5 January 2020, 17:41 EST)
President Trump (@realDonaldTrump): These House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign):
media posts will serve as notification to the Wow, this really blew up. No SoundCloud, but call
United States Congress that should Iran strike your Senator and demand a fair #impeachment trial.
any U.S. person or target, the United States will The American people deserve the truth and it only
quickly and fully strike back, & perhaps in a takes 4 GOP votes to end the Trump-McConnell
disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not coverup, (7 January 2020, 12:54 EST)
Knowledge check
63 List the ways that the Senate can try to limit the president’s power to control foreign policy.
64 What is an AUMF?
65 Which congressional committee had a spat with Trump on Twitter?
Debate
Who controls foreign policy?

Using the example of the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons in 2013, it is possible to see the power of Congress and
the power of the president over foreign policy.
Evaluation: Who has greater constitutional power here and who has more informal power? Does this change through the course
of a crisis, or over the course of a presidency?
The presidency Congress

Presidents can use the White House as a stage, a Congress is able to vote to approve military action.
‘bully pulpit’, lending gravity to their actions. In his Rose Garden speech, Obama said he would allow a
Obama addressed Congress from the Rose Garden, congressional vote to ensure full accountability for action.
laying out his belief in the necessity of a US response Support for military action among members of Congress was
low, potentially explaining Obama’s call to postpone the vote
and avoid an embarrassing defeat
The presidential power of ‘commander in chief’ is Leaders in Congress can use their role and influence to
enumerated in the US Constitution. pressure the president into consulting Congress.
In Obama’s address, he said he did not have to ask for While Speaker Boehner expressed support for the military plans
congressional approval as he was the commander in in Syria, he made it clear that it was Obama’s responsibility to
chief, but he would out of respect for them secure the votes in Congress
As head of state, the president represents the The short election cycle in Congress, and the importance of
USA on an international stage and in international which party controls Congress, means the president must be
organisations. mindful of public opinion.
At the G20 summit in Russia, Obama tried to get other The limited action promised by Obama in Syria, including not
world leaders to support his proposed action in Syria deploying soldiers, reflected the long shadow cast by the Iraq War
and restricted the options available to Obama in this situation
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The presidency Congress
The Defense Department is part of the federal Congress has oversight powers. Congressional committees
bureaucracy, which is controlled by the president, and can hold hearings and investigations on proposed, ongoing or
the president appoints the defense secretary. previous military action.
Obama’s defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, approved In Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on military
plans for the use of Tomahawk missiles against Syria intervention in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry ruled out
‘boots on the ground’, meaning the deployment of soldiers. The
committee approved intervention in Syria by 10 votes to 7
Other powers: Other powers:
• The president can make treaties and nominate • Congress can control foreign policy through the ‘power of
appointees for the cabinets and diplomats the purse’, authorising money for action or not. Usually this
• United States v Curtiss-Wright (1936) recognises is done through AUMFs
the president as ‘the sole organ of the federal • Constitutionally only Congress can declare war
government in the field of international relations’ • Congress approves treaties and ratifies appointments such
as to the cabinet and diplomats
Outcome in Syria: After the US threat of military action, the Syrian government responded aggressively. However, the intervention
of Russia led to the Syrian government handing over its chemical weapons to Russia, while stating this was not due to US threats
of military action. Following this, Syria began the process of joining the UN Chemical Weapons Convention and the destruction of
its chemical weapons.

Table 19.13 Comparing the US and the UK executives using comparative theories
Rational • Similarity: In order to advance their own policy goals, both executives can use a range of formal and
comparisons informal powers — powers over appointments, removing cabinet officers, powers of persuasion
• Similarity: The prime minister is the head of their party and therefore able to advance their own goals
using their party. The president serves as a de facto head of their party and can expect their party in
Congress also to advance their policy goals
• Similarity: To preserve and be able to exercise the political power given to them, executives often act in
a way that secures their own popularity. This means that political decisions (for example, military action)
may be decided on the basis of the possible impact for the executive
• Difference: The prime minister is often in a personally stronger position, usually having a majority in
Parliament, and therefore has more freedom to act as they wish than the president, who often carries
responsibility alone
Cultural • Similarity: Presidents and prime ministers are the individual focus of the electoral system in each
comparisons country and there is an expectation that they are powerful individuals who can control their executive
branch
• Similarity: The role of the cabinet in both countries is a focus of media attention and considered to be a
reflection on the head of the executive
• Similarity: The powers that either executive can gain are often a result of the media attention, poll
ratings and unofficial powers that they can assume. This is especially true when considering the head of
state and head of government roles, which are not clearly delineated
Structural • Similarity: The powers that each executive has are determined by the political processes of their country
comparisons — theoretically giving the president a bigger list of powers but in reality allowing great power of the
prime minister through the likely majority as a result of the electoral system
• Difference: The direct election of the president lends them a stronger mandate than the indirectly
elected office of the prime minister
• Difference: The differing roles of head of state and head of government are a result of the different
political systems used in each country
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Comparing the US president and the UK prime Key term
minister Informal powers
The US president and the UK prime minister have quite different roles, to some Powers that are not
extent born out of the differing personal mandates that they hold and the different granted explicitly by the
constitutional roles they are allocated (Tables 19.13 and 19.14). The president is Constitution but which
directly elected and therefore holds a personal mandate, whereas the prime minister are either taken anyway
is the leader of the winning party in the House of Commons. The prime minister can or enable the president to
dominate the legislature, through having fused powers and controlling discipline in gain power.
their party. The president may find themselves facing a Congress controlled by the
opposition party. Even when it is controlled by their own party, they may find that
the members have greater loyalty to their constituents, as they can be removed in
primaries. The primary system also means it is difficult to enforce party discipline,
further weakening the president’s control over Congress.
These relationships cannot be predicted and often f luctuate over a presidential
term. Boris Johnson and Joe Biden faced similar problems in trying to exercise their
executive power, for entirely differing political reasons.
Accountability to the legislature

This changes over the course of an electoral term in both the UK and the USA.
There are a number of similar mechanisms by which an executive is held accountable:
l The passage of legislation, even when forced through, is subject to scrutiny and
amendments by both houses of each legislature.
l Both legislatures are looking for and finding new ways in which to have some
greater control over foreign policy. When David Cameron gave Parliament a vote
on action on Syria, Obama followed suit, suggesting he would offer Congress a
vote, although this never came to fruition.
l The actions of both governments can be subject to investigations launched by the
legislature.
l Both can remove the executive, either through a vote of no confidence or
through impeachment, although both remain rare.
l Both must retain the confidence of the legislature in order to get their legislative
programme through.
Table 19.14 Similarities and differences between the US president and the UK prime minister
Head of state • The role of commander in chief rests • The president is the head of state in the USA, while the
in theory with both the prime minister monarch formally holds this role in the UK
(through royal prerogative) and the • Having a majority in the House of Commons means the
president, although the legislatures prime minister should be able to easily gain approval for
in both countries have become more any treaty, whereas the president’s treaties are subject to
assertive in trying to challenge this role Senate approval. Their actions to circumvent this power
• Both act as the representative of their are often criticised
country on the world stage, attending • The president has more exclusive powers than would
summits and conferences, negotiating usually be associated with a head of state, such as the
treaties and visiting foreign nations power of the pardon and the veto. These powers, where
• Both the prime minister and the president they exist at all in the UK, are exercised by the monarch,
carry out some ceremonial duties, for example the posthumous pardon of Alan Turing in
although these are increasingly limited 2013
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Head of • Both are able to make nominations to • The prime minister usually has a majority in the House
government their cabinet of Commons, whereas the president is likely to face an
• Both address the legislature with an opposition Congress for at least some of their time in
annual legislative agenda, the president office
at the State of the Union and the prime • The president’s cabinet appointments are subject to
minister through the Queen’s Speech, Senate approval but their cabinet is not a collective
which is written by the government body. The prime minister has far greater freedom over
• Both are seen as the leader of their appointing cabinet secretaries, but their power exceeds
respective parties, even if the president that of their US counterparts as they are a collective body
does not formally hold this role • Rulings of the US Supreme Court can strike down
• Both can find their legislatures a challenge presidential action as they are interpretations of the
to deal with, the president in the event of sovereign Constitution. As Parliament is sovereign,
losing one or both houses, or due to their and the prime minister usually maintains control over
poor popularity, the prime minister due to Parliament, the powers exercised by the Supreme Court
a small majority or the House of Lords are not sovereign. However, the president does have
• Both have little power over the judiciary greater control over the composition of the Supreme
Court, and therefore can possibly influence their rulings
but are subject to rulings from it
Impact on • Both set the legislative agendas for their • The president is able to have a final say over legislation
government country, setting out their policy desires in a way the prime minister is not. Whereas legislation
and reacting to political circumstances not supported by the prime minister is unlikely to pass,
• Both have broad control over foreign the president can make sure this doesn’t happen
policy, including involving their countries • The prime minister is likely to get most of their legislative
in military actions and treaties agenda passed, whereas the president is likely to get
• Both can be challenged by the other only a little of their legislative agenda passed
branches of government, or their own • The prime minister is unlikely to face defeats and
cabinet, in trying to pass their own policy therefore more likely to lead an ‘elective dictatorship’; the
• Both have mechanisms by which they president could be either ‘imperial’ or ‘imperilled’
can endeavour to control their party and • The discipline that the prime minister can use to control
thereby push through their agenda the government is punitive — whips and demotions —
whereas the president is often restricted to more positive
approaches, with only limited party discipline available
• The president is able to have a greater singular impact
on the government, reshaping, hiring and firing within the
executive branch. While the prime minister retains the
ability to reshape the cabinet, its power in post is as a
collective body, reducing the PM’s singular impact
However, the circumstances of the UK and the USA mean that the extent of
accountability does vary:
l The UK prime minister is more likely to command a majority in the legislature
and also, given the fused nature of UK government, along with party control
over elections, to be able to force things through. Primaries for members of
Congress can divide its loyalty, and divided governments for the president have
become more common.
l The extent and effectiveness of many of Parliament’s powers depend on the
government majority. While the ability of Congress to enforce its powers can
vary, the fact that it is protected by the Constitution makes it a much greater
threat to the president.
l The greatly differing length of the electoral cycle allows the prime minister a
greater inf luence as they do not have to be so frequently concerned over the
opinion of the public. The frequent, short election cycle in the USA can give the
effect of the ‘permanent election’, making Congress more reactive and therefore
limiting the inf luence of the president.
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Knowledge check
66 Who is head of state in the UK and the USA?
67 Who has a stronger personal electoral mandate, the US president or the UK prime
minister?
68 What are the annual speeches called in which the US president and UK prime minister
suggest legislation?
69 Which country has a cabinet that acts collectively?
70 What is meant by the ‘permanent election’?
71 Who exercises the power of the pardon in the UK?
Summary
➜ How significant are the constitutional powers given to the president?
➜ Are checks and balances placed on the president ultimately effective?
➜ To what extent is presidential power limited to the ‘power to persuade’?
➜ What is the significance of the electoral cycle in determining presidential power?
➜ How do the various elements of the executive branch lend power to the president?
➜ Can the president control foreign policy?
➜ Are the president’s powers as head of state or head of government more significant?
➜ What are the most significant factors in preventing a president from achieving their aims?
Practice questions
1 Examine the factors that affect the power of the US president and the
UK prime minister. (12)
2 Analyse the similarities in how Congress and Parliament can hold the
US president and the UK prime minister to account. (12)
3 Evaluate the view that the presidency is no longer effectively accountable
to Congress. You must consider this view and the alternative to this view
in a balanced way.(30)
4 Evaluate the view that presidential power is more determined by national
circumstances than by the Constitution. You must consider this view and
the alternative to this view in a balanced way.(30)
Further reading
Birks, G. (2020) ‘Does the US president make foreign policy?’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 3.
Singh, R. (2022) ‘The Biden presidency’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 3.
Tuck, D. (2020) ‘The imperial president?’, Politics Review, Vol. 30, No. 2.
Comparative: Dale, I. (2021) The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership,
Hodder & Stoughton.
Martin, J. and Burns, A. (2022) This Shall Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for
America’s Future, Simon & Schuster.
Sopel, J. (2019) A Year at the Circus: Inside Trump’s White House, BBC Books.
Sugden, L. (2018) ‘UK and US Executives Compared’, Politics Review, Vol. 28, No. 2.
Woodward, B. (2019) Fear: Trump in the White House, Simon & Schuster.
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20 US Supreme Court
and civil rights
The ‘powers’ of the US Supreme Court are laid out in Article III of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has just 369 words written about it in the Constitution,
compared to over 1,000 words for the president and more than 2,000 words for
Congress. There has been debate over whether this was because the Supreme Court
was an afterthought for the Founding Fathers or because it was intended to be the
least important branch of government.
The power of the Supreme Court today is especially significant when compared to
its humble beginnings. In Federalist Paper #78, Hamilton wrote:
l ‘[the rights of individuals] can be preserved in practice no other way than through
the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary
to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.’
l ‘It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgement;
and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the
efficacy of its judgements.’
For some of the Founding Fathers, the Supreme Court provided a final, but limited,
check on government. This is a role the Court still holds today on laws passed by
Congress and presidential action.
Justices of the US Supreme Court. Standing from left: Coney Barrett, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Brown Jackson.
Seated from left: Sotomayor, Thomas, Roberts, Alito, Kagan
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The nature and role of the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court and the US Constitution
The Founding Fathers left Congress to decide upon the infrastructure of the US
Key terms
court systems. Almost as soon as the Constitution was ratified, Congress passed
legislation to fulfil Article III. It passed the Federal Judiciary Act 1789, which Chief justice The presiding
allowed for the creation of the Supreme Court, consisting of one chief justice and member of the Supreme
five associate justices. Court, but who holds no
additional voting power to
This Act also created the lower courts that would sit under the Supreme Court — a
the eight other members
district court in each state and circuit courts. Today, 94 district courts and the trial
of the court.
courts deal with federal trials involving federal laws or crimes, or constitutional issues.
Above them sit the 13 circuit courts. These are appellate courts, meaning courts of Associate justice
appeal. They predominantly hear appeals to the rulings of the district courts. A member of the US
Supreme Court who is not
Figure 20.1 shows the areas over which district and circuit courts have jurisdiction. the chief justice.
Each state has at least one district court; a more populous state might have more
Appellate court A court of
than one district court, shown by the dashed lines. The numbers show the 11 circuit
appeals, accepting cases
courts that cover the states; in addition, Washington, DC has a circuit court and
for review from the courts
there is a federal circuit court, making a total of 13. The Supreme Court sits above
beneath it.
all of these courts.
Original jurisdiction
The Supreme Court is also an appellate court, hearing appeals to the rulings made The right of the Supreme
by the circuit courts. It has original jurisdiction in certain cases. ‘Original Court to be the first court
jurisdiction’ is the right for a case to be directly heard by the Supreme Court, to hear a case in certain
without going through lower courts. This usually happens in cases involving public circumstances, rather than
ministers, two or more states, citizens of different states or the USA. These kinds of a case needing to be an
cases are rare, with the Court having heard fewer than 200 since its creation. Most appeal.
of the work of the Court is created through hearing appeals from lower courts.
The number of cases that the Supreme Court hears each year has been declining in
recent years. The Court receives between 7,000 and 8,000 cases a year, of which it
1
2
8
9 7
3 Knowledge check
6 1 Which article in the
10
4 DC circuit Constitution is about
Federal circuit the power of the
Supreme Court
courts?
2 What act of Congress
5
11 set up the Supreme
Court?
3 What is a circuit
court?
Figure 20.1 US circuit courts (numbered) and district courts
20 US Supreme Court and civil rights 547
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will hear only around 1%. In the last decade, the Court had fewer cases than at any
time since the Civil War (Figure 20.2). As the Court decides which cases it wishes to
hear, most cases referred to it will be ‘disposed of ’. There is no right that guarantees
a case will be heard by the Supreme Court.
This cartoon from Puck in 1885, captioned ‘Our overworked Supreme Court’, depicted the huge caseload being sent up to the
Supreme Court from the lower courts. To try to reduce the workload of the Court, the Judiciary Act 1891 established the nine
circuit courts, the US courts of appeals, to hear cases from the lower courts
300
280
260
240
220
200
Signed decisions
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
92
98
04
10
16
22
28
34
40
46
52
58
64
70
76
82
88
94
06
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
66
72
78
84
90
96
02
08
14
20
17
17
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
20
Term
Figure 20.2 The signed decisions by the Supreme Court over time
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Independence of the Supreme Court
The Constitution aimed to make the Supreme Court independent, appearing to follow
Montesquieu’s advice that ‘there is no liberty if the judiciary power be not separated
from the legislative and executive’. There are a number of ways in which this is achieved:
l Justices are appointed for life. This means that the president or Congress cannot
remove them if they make decisions that they do not like. This is important
given the comments made by different presidents expressing their displeasure at Knowledge check
voting habits of a justice they appointed. Truman declared that ‘whenever you 4 What is ‘original
put a man on the Supreme Court, he ceases to be your friend’, referring to two jurisdiction’?
of his own appointees voting against him in a Supreme Court decision. 5 How many cases does
l Vacancies on the Supreme Court occur only if a current justice dies, retires or is the Supreme Court
impeached. The Constitution allows Congress to change the number of justices, hear annually?
and there have been nine since the Judiciary Act 1869. This prevents the other 6 List the ways in
branches of government packing the Court with their allies. which Supreme Court
l The Constitution prevents the salary of the justices being lowered during their independence is
time in office. In 2022, Supreme Court associate justices were paid $274,200 a protected.
year, while the chief justice was paid $286,700. With their salary being fixed, the 7 What is the role of the
justices do not have to be concerned about repercussions from the president or ABA?
Congress if they vote against them in a case. 8 Which case gives
l Justices are nominated by the president and approved by the Senate. This prevents the Supreme Court
one branch from dominating the Supreme Court and filling it with people of an the power of judicial
ideology similar to theirs. It also lends legitimacy to the Court, being appointed review over federal
by elected representatives, but protects it from the whim of public opinion. laws?
l Separation of powers protects the Court’s independence by giving judges their 9 Which case gives
own power. Judicial review allows the Supreme Court to check the power of the the Supreme Court
president and Congress. The Court itself has no power to enforce these decisions, the power of judicial
relying on the other branches to carry out its rulings. This makes the three review over state
branches of government independent but co-dependent. laws?
l The American Bar Association (ABA) rates the suitability of each of the justices 10 How can a Supreme
nominated. Comprised of industry experts who are not politically motivated, the Court ruling be
ABA helps to ensure that the Court is composed of people who understand and overturned?
carry out the letter of the law rather than the will of the nominating party.
Synoptic link
The independence of judiciaries is crucial to their operation and to ensuring the power of
government can be limited. The UK Supreme Court has independence guaranteed in similar
ways to the US Supreme. For more detail, see pages 243–44. This links to Component 2,
UK Government.
Judicial review
The Constitution allows for the power of the Supreme Court to ‘extend to all cases,
in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States,
and treaties made, or which shall be made’. Beyond this, Article III is remarkably
vague. It makes no mention of the power of judicial review (see page 464). Judicial
review is the power of the Supreme Court to review the laws or actions of Congress
and the president and to judge whether they are constitutional. If the Court finds
them to contradict the US Constitution, these laws or actions become null and void,
meaning they are no longer enforceable. This power is effectively granted to the
Court by itself in the cases of Marbury v Madison (1803) and Fletcher v Peck (1810).
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In focus
Marbury v Madison (1803) Fletcher v Peck (1810)
Shortly after its creation, the Supreme Court heard two cases Just seven years after Marbury v Madison came a second
in which it would grant itself the power of judicial review. As landmark case which extended the Court’s power of judicial
President Adams prepared to leave office in 1801 he appointed review. The case of Fletcher v Peck arose out of a dispute over
a number of men to positions within the courts. Once President a law from 1795 passed in Georgia, which allowed for the
Jefferson took office, he found that the commissions for some sale of 35 million acres of land. Most of this land was sold
of these men had not been delivered and told his Secretary to just four companies at a bargain price. It soon became
of State, James Madison, not to allow their delivery. William apparent that many of the Georgia legislators involved in
Marbury, to whom one of these commissions had been passing the law had been bribed. Following public outcry, the
promised, challenged Madison over this action. The Supreme legislature repealed the law in 1796 and removed the land
Court found in favour of Marbury, but also decided that it did from those who had bought it.
not have the power to force his commission to be issued,
Fletcher had purchased 13,000 acres of land from Peck in
ruling that part of the Federal Judiciary Act 1789 conflicted
1803. Fletcher then discovered that the land he had bought
with the Constitution and was therefore unconstitutional. This
had originally been part of the 1795 sale that had been
was the first use of judicial review over a federal law.
repealed. Fletcher therefore brought charges against Peck,
‘IT IS EMPHATICALLY THE PROVINCE AND DUTY OF THE claiming he had lied to him over the land.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT TO SAY WHAT THE LAW IS.’
The Supreme Court decided that the repeal of the 1795 law
In the above excerpt from the Marbury v Madison ruling, Chief was unconstitutional. This was the first time the Supreme
Justice John Marshall effectively grants to the Supreme Court Court ruled against a state law, extending its power of judicial
the power of judicial review over federal law. review to state law as well as federal law.
The power of judicial review is the only power the US Supreme Court holds today but
it is a very important one. In deciding whether an Act or action is unconstitutional,
the Supreme Court justices are responsible for interpreting the meaning of the
Constitution. As they are interpreting a sovereign document, their decisions on the
meaning of the Constitution are effectively final — the only formal way to overturn
a Supreme Court decision would be to change the document itself. It is so difficult
to pass a constitutional amendment that this happens rarely (see Chapter 17). As the
future chief justice Charles Evans Hughes said in 1907, ‘We are under a Constitution,
but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.’ The power of judicial review is
the cause of much conf lict in US politics, between the branches of government
and regarding how much power the unelected and therefore unaccountable justices
should be allowed to hold.
The appointment process for Supreme

Court justices
While the Supreme Court is independent from the president and Congress, both
of these branches of government play a significant role in shaping the Court.
Congress controls the infrastructure of lower courts and it sets the number of
justices on the Supreme Court. Since the Judiciary Act 1869, this has been one
chief justice and eight associate justices. Constitutionally, the president must
nominate justices for the Senate to either confirm or reject. The appointment
process is shown in Table 20.1.
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The Supreme Court building,
Washington, DC
Synoptic link
The roles of judicial review are quite different in the UK
and the USA. As the relatively new UK Supreme Court
becomes more embedded, its power is becoming more
widely recognised and understood. In both countries,
it can be used to check the power of the government.
For more on judicial review in the UK, see pages 245–50.
This links to Component 2, UK Government.
Table 20.1 Stages in the appointment process for Supreme Court justices
Stage Explanation Examples
Vacancy arises A vacancy on the Supreme Court can • Death — Scalia died in April 2016 and was not replaced
only arise through death, retirement until April 2017. Bader Ginsburg died in September 2020
or impeachment of a current and was replaced by Barrett
Supreme Court justice • Retirement — Breyer announced in January 2022 that he
would retire at the end of that Supreme Court term
• Impeachment — the only Supreme Court justice to face
impeachment was Samuel Chase in 1805, but he was
found not guilty
Presidential The president can choose whomever • George W. Bush and Trump both nominated justices who
nomination they like to fill a vacancy. It is were likely to be conservative in their rulings (Roberts,
expected that the nominee will have Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett), while Obama
judicial experience and will be able to and Biden appointed those with a likely liberal outlook
pass the Senate vote. The president (Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson)
is likely to pick someone who shares
their ideology. The president may
• George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers, who had
previously worked with him but had no experience as a
consider the Court’s demographic judge
• Douglas Ginsburg withdrew his nomination in 1987 after
allegations surfaced of him smoking marijuana as a student
ABA rating Not a constitutional requirement, • All but one of the current justices on the Court hold a ‘well
but the ABA offers a rating of qualified’ rating
‘unqualified’, ‘qualified’ or ‘well
qualified’ for judicial nominees, in its
• Thomas was only deemed to be ‘qualified’. This, along with
allegations of sexual harassment, made it very difficult for
professional opinion Thomas to get confirmation from the Senate
Senate Judiciary Not a constitutional requirement, but • During the hearings of both Kavanaugh in 2018 and
Committee the Senate Judiciary Committee holds Thomas in 1991, allegations of sexual misconduct were
hearings hearings in which it can question the levelled at nominees
nominee. At the end of the hearings,
the committee holds a vote. As it is
• Robert Bork was rejected by the Committee 9–5 and
subsequently faced defeat in the full Senate vote
not constitutional, this vote serves
only as a recommendation to inform
• The vote on Barrett was boycotted by Democrats on this
committee in protest at the speed of her confirmation to
the whole Senate vote replace Bader Ginsburg, resulting in a 12–0 vote
Senate floor vote Following the recommendatory • Bork was rejected in 1987 by a 42–58 vote
vote from the Senate Judiciary
Committee, the whole Senate must
• Thomas was narrowly approved to the Supreme Court by a
52–48 vote in 1991
vote to confirm an appointment.
Following the 2017 reforms, this vote
• The votes of all nominees since 2006 have been
dominated by party politics, compared to votes confirming
can no longer be filibustered and justices such as Bader Ginsburg in 1993, who was
requires just a simple majority confirmed 96–3
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In focus
The appointment of Brett l 4–7 September 2018 Senate Judiciary Committee hearings
are held — these are dogged by protests in the committee
Kavanaugh room following Professor Blasey Ford’s allegations
Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement in June l 17 September 2018 The Senate Judiciary Committee
2018, allowing Trump 2 Supreme Court nominations in his announces the nomination will not proceed until interviews
first 2 years. The appointment of Neil Gorsuch in 2017 had of Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh have been conducted
courted controversy as he replaced Antonin Scalia, who l 27 September 2018 Both Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh
had died in April 2016 and whom President Obama had appear to give evidence before the Senate Judiciary
nominated Merrick Garland to replace. Garland’s appointment Committee
was held up by the Senate and it wasn’t until a year after l 28 September 2018 Kavanaugh is approved by the
Scalia’s death that Gorsuch was appointed. committee 11–10. Trump orders an FBI investigation into
the allegations
Kennedy was known as the ‘swing justice’ — the informal title
l 4 October 2018 The FBI delivers its findings to the
for the justice who sits in the ideological centre of the nine.
Senate Judiciary Committee
By comparison, Kavanaugh was more conservative and the
l 6 October 2018 The Senate approves Kavanaugh’s
resulting Court would therefore be more conservative in its
appointment 50–48, with one Democrat and all of the
outlook.
Republicans voting for him.
During Kavanaugh’s appointment process, Professor Christine l 8 October 2018 Kavanaugh is sworn in as the 114th
Blasey Ford alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by justice of the US Supreme Court
Kavanaugh while at college. This was especially significant
More than 200 protestors were arrested during the Senate
given the #MeToo campaign of the preceding year. Protests
hearings, with more arrests made when protesters occupied
took place inside and outside of Congress, across the nation
the offices of Republican senators in the days after the
and in the constituency offices of members of Congress.
hearings. Following the evidence session on 27 September,
Interest groups such as pro-choice NARAL organised protests
the comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live opened with a
and media headlines around the globe speculated about the
13-minute sketch mocking Kavanaugh. A US primetime show
suitability of Kavanaugh’s appointment.
dedicating so much time to this sketch speaks to the cultural
l 10 July 2018 Kavanaugh is nominated to the Supreme
impact and importance of the appointment process.
Court by President Trump
Knowledge check
11 What circumstances
create a vacancy
on the US Supreme
Court?
12 What is the role of
the Senate Judiciary
Committee in the
appointment process?
13 Why was the
appointment of
Brett Kavanaugh
controversial?
14 How are the Senate
votes to approve
justices different
since 2006? The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings into sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh led
to protests both inside and outside of Congress
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Presidential considerations for a judicial nominee
When a vacancy arises on the Supreme Court, the president has a number of factors
to consider when choosing their nominee:
l Judicial experience It is expected that the nominee should have experience as a
judge and be qualified in law. This was one of the key reasons that the nomination
of Harriet Miers faced criticism in 2005 as she lacked experience as a judge. The
ABA rates candidates as ‘well qualified’, ‘qualified’ or ‘unqualified’ for the role.
The only current member of the Supreme Court who was not serving on the
circuit courts when appointed is Elena Kagan, who was the solicitor general for
President Obama.
l The outgoing justice The president may be expected to replace a justice on
a ‘like-for-like’ basis in terms of ideology as this is likely to face less opposition
in the Senate. However, since 2005 these Senate votes have become more
partisan and the ‘like-for-like’ standard is less commonly applied. Alito (2006),
Kavanaugh (2018) and Barrett (2021) were not ‘like-for-like’ replacements, all
being more conservative than their predecessors.
l The demographics of the Supreme Court A president may wish to widen the
representative nature of the Supreme Court through their appointments. Obama
appointed two women, doubling the number that have ever served on the Court,
and appointed the first Hispanic person to the Court, Sonia Sotomayor. Biden
nominated the first African American woman to the US Supreme Court, Ketanji
Brown Jackson.
l The ideology of the nominee Almost all nominees are qualified in law and have
usually been a judge on a lower court. From their previous rulings, it is possible
to try to ascertain their ideology and whether it fits with the president’s. This is
not always successful, but it would be rare for a president to be entirely wrong —
Justice Kennedy remained a conservative, just a moderate one. The president may
listen to advice from those close to them. Kavanaugh appeared on a list of the
right-wing think-tank the Heritage Foundation before Trump nominated him.
Key term
The current Court Swing justice A justice
While the role of the judiciary is to be neutral, in analysing Supreme Court decisions who is in the ideological
it is possible to determine an ideology of an individual justice. It is unlikely that middle of the nine justices
a justice would describe themselves as ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’; however, some on the US Supreme Court.
of the rulings they make can be categorised in this way. Traditionally, the justice
who is ideologically in the middle of the nine
is commonly referred to as the ‘swing justice’.
In cases that seem to have an ideological split on
the Court, the majority decision is often a result
of which way the ‘swing justice’ votes. Kennedy
was the swing justice following the appointment
of Alito to the Court in 2006. Before this, Day
O’Connor sat ideologically in the centre of
the Court, while Kennedy was considered to
be on the conservative wing, highlighting the
shifting ideology of the Supreme Court. Since
the replacement of Bader Ginsburg with Barrett,
the role of the ‘swing justice’ has been reduced,
as the Court now has a substantial conservative
majority of six justices.
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Table 20.2 The make-up of the US Supreme Court, 2022
Length of
Nominated nomination ABA Senate Judiciary Senate
Justice Role Year by process rating Committee vote floor vote Ideology
Roberts Chief justice 2005 G.W. Bush 62 days Well 13–5 78–22 Conservative
qualified
Thomas Associate 1991 G.H.W. Bush 99 days Qualified 7–7 52–48 Conservative
justice
Alito Associate 2006 G.W. Bush 82 days Well 10–8 58–42 Conservative
justice qualified
Sotomayor Associate 2009 Obama 66 days Well 13–6 68–31 Liberal
justice qualified
Kagan Associate 2010 Obama 87 days Well 13–6 63–37 Liberal
justice qualified
Gorsuch Associate 2017 Trump 65 days Well 11–9 54–45 Conservative
justice qualified
Kavanaugh Associate 2018 Trump 91 days Well 11–10 50–48 Conservative
justice qualified
Barrett Associate 2020 Trump 30 days Well 12–0* 52–48 Conservative**
justice qualified
Jackson Associate 2022 Biden 38 days Well 11–11 53–47 Liberal**
justice qualified
* The Democrats on the committee boycotted the vote
** Ideology has yet to be substantiated through decisions in the Supreme Court
The current Supreme Court includes justices who have been appointed by five
Knowledge check presidents. Justice Clarence Thomas has served since 1991. This raises concern over
15 List the factors a the power justices hold when they are appointed for life yet the president who
president might appointed them has long since lost their political mandate.
consider when
The current composition of the Court is detailed in Table 20.2.
choosing a judicial
nominee for the The justices on the Supreme Court can often be viewed as having different ideologies
Supreme Court. but there is considerable overlap between some of these definitions. For each of the
16 What are the ‘pairs’ of ideologies in Table 20.3, a justice would be described as only one of them.
expectations of However, it does not necessarily follow that a conservative justice would also be a
the experience of restrained one (see page 566).
a Supreme Court Figure 20.3 shows how judicial ideologies can be inferred based on the rulings that
nominee? have been made. However, justices have been known to defy the expectations of
17 Who is the longest their ideology.
serving justice on the
Supreme Court? Despite these ideological divisions, the current Supreme Court is not divided on
18 What ratings can the every case. In fact, only around 20% of cases are decided with a 5–4 vote and the most
ABA issue about a common decision issued by the Court is 9–0. This suggests the ideological divisions
nominee? that are commonly cited are not the deciding factor in a plurality, if not a majority,
19 Who had the shortest of cases (Figure 20.4). Therefore, there are factors other than personal interpretation
nomination process? and ideology that affect a justice’s decision. Most important among these would be
the Constitution itself. With the only power of the Court being judicial review, the
only thing the Supreme Court can base a ruling on is the Constitution.
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Table 20.3 Comparison of the ideologies on the Supreme Court
Conservative Conservative vs liberal Liberal
A justice who is more likely to try to achieve A justice who is more likely to try to
rulings that produce a more limited federal achieve rulings that produce greater
government and uphold conservative ideals equality for all and uphold liberal
such as pro-gun rights and pro-life. Likely to ideals, which may mean a larger federal
interpret the Constitution more literally government, such as LGBTQ+ rights
and gun control. Likely to interpret the
Constitution more broadly
Loose constructionist Loose constructionist vs strict Strict constructionist
A justice who is more willing to interpret the constructionist A justice who will stick to the wording of
wording of the Constitution broadly, which the Constitution as the text is written,
might include giving more power to the without interpretation. This therefore
federal government includes protecting state power
Judicial restraint Judicial restraint vs judicial Judicial activism
A justice who believes in a limited role for activism A justice who is likely to use their position
the Supreme Court, deferring to the elected on the Court to achieve rulings that give
and accountable branches where possible desirable social ends for their ideology.
This may overturn previous Court rulings
Living Constitution Living Constitution vs Originalism
A belief that the Constitution is a living, originalism A belief that the meaning and
organic and evolutionary document that interpretation of the US Constitution
can be changed through reinterpretation are set by the original principles of the
over time. Closely linked to loose document. It should not be subjected to
constructionism broad interpretation in light of modern
advances
–0.5 +0.5
Sotomayor Kagan 0 Barrett Alito
Kavanaugh
Breyer Roberts Thomas
Gorsuch
Jackson
Figure 20.3 The ideology of the current justices based on Judicial Common Space scores, with a
score of –1 being the most liberal and a score of 1 the most conservative
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
9–0 8–1 7–2 6–3 5–4

Figure 20.4 Majority decisions in the Supreme Court, 2010–21
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Knowledge check Strengths and weaknesses of the appointment
20 How will Justice process
Ketanji Brown Jackson The appointment process to the Supreme Court comes under particular scrutiny
affect the ideological each time a vacancy occurs. Many of the strengths and weaknesses that are advanced
balance of the are interpretations of the same point.
Supreme Court?
21 What is the The length of the process
difference between The process from nomination to Senate ratification usually takes between 2 and
a loose and a strict 3 months. This is not a problem if the vacancy has been caused by a retiree who
constructionist? remains on the Court during the process. However, when the vacancy is caused
22 What is the most by a death (or, in theory, by an impeachment), the Court would be left with only
common ruling eight justices. In the event of a tie, the ruling of the Court from which the case was
reached on the appealed would stand.
Supreme Court?
When Obama’s executive order regarding DAPA (see Chapter 19) was challenged in
the Supreme Court, the death of Antonin Scalia meant there were only eight justices
to hear the case. The 4–4 tie resulted in Obama’s executive order being struck
down as the decision of the lower court stood. Had he been able to appoint Merrick
Garland to the Court, perhaps Garland would have voted with the ‘liberals’ on the
Court and Obama’s policy would have been saved.
The length of the process does help to ensure that candidates undergo vetting
and that they are fully suitable for the post on the Supreme Court. Harriet Miers’
withdrawal was in part due to criticism against her lack of experience as a judge. It
was therefore unlikely that she would make it through the rigorous process. Given
the power that judicial review gives to the Court, it is vital that the justices are well
qualified.
Politicisation of the process

The Constitution recognised the importance of an independent Supreme Court.
However, with the president nominating justices and the Senate confirming them,
the process has become politicised. The appointments since 2006 have seen party-line
votes in the Senate, with relatively few defections across the aisle. As Table 20.4 shows,
those nominees put forward by Republicans have been supported by Republicans
and opposed by Democrats and vice versa, irrespective of the qualifications of the
candidates. The confirmation of Bader Ginsburg is included for comparison.
Table 20.4 Recent appointments to the Supreme Court
Nominating Senate votes for Senate votes against

Justice Year president Republicans Democrats Republicans Democrats
Bader Ginsburg 1993 Clinton (D) 40 56 3 0
Roberts 2005 George W. Bush (R) 55 22 0 22
Alito 2006 George W. Bush (R) 54 4 1 41
Sotomayor 2009 Obama (D) 9 59 31 0
Kagan 2010 Obama (D) 5 56 36 1
Gorsuch 2017 Trump (R) 51 3 0 43
Kavanaugh 2018 Trump (R) 49 1 0 48
Barrett 2021 Trump (R) 52 0 1 47
Jackson 2022 Biden (D) 3 50 47 0
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The role of the Senate Judiciary Committee can also be questioned. During the
hearings of Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan and Gorsuch, the nominees only spoke for an
average of around 33% of the time over the 4 days of hearings. The rest of the time
was taken up with senators talking. Given that the aim of the nomination process is
to determine the suitability of a candidate, its success can be questioned when the
nominee is speaking for such a relatively short time.
In focus
The appointment of Amy Coney
Barrett
On 18 September 2020, just weeks before the 2020 election,
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. This left a vacancy on the
Court, which President Trump and the Republican Senate
moved quickly to fill. This was particularly controversial as
the Senate had held up Obama’s nominee of Merrick Garland
for 8 months, with Senate Leader McConnell claiming the
vacancy should be filled after the election. He was accused
of hypocrisy in 2020 for agreeing to fill Bader Ginsburg’s seat
with only 7 weeks until the election.
The controversy deepened when Trump nominated Amy
The Democrats boycotted the vote of the Senate Judiciary
Coney Barrett, a conservative Catholic, to fill the seat.
Committee, hoping to invalidate the result. In their seats they
Bader Ginsburg had been a staunch liberal and defender
left pictures of people who had benefited from Obamacare,
of minority rights on the Court. The appointment of Barrett
which they were concerned could be struck down under a
would give the Court a substantial conservative majority,
more conservative court. Ultimately, Barrett was approved
likely for decades to come, which Democrats and liberals
12–0 by the Committee and her appointment was ratified
objected to.
52–48 by the Senate just 8 days before the 2020 election.
The president also plays a role in politicising the process. Presidents invariably
try to pick someone with an ideology that aligns with their own. This is not
Knowledge check
always successful. 23 What happens in the
event of a tied vote on the
l Kennedy was a Reagan nominee to the Supreme Court. Kennedy proved
Supreme Court?
to be a moderate during his time on the Court, often voting with both the
24 Which justice had the
liberal and conservative wings of the Court in defiance of Reagan’s own
closest confirmation vote
conservatism.
in the Senate since 2005?
l Theodore Roosevelt said of his own appointment, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
25 Which nominee withdrew
Jr., ‘I could carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone than that’
from the process due
after Holmes voted in a way with which Roosevelt disagreed.
to a lack of judicial
l Eisenhower referred to his appointment of Chief Justice Earl Warren as ‘the
experience?
biggest damned-fool mistake I ever made’ as Warren had been far more
26 Which justices defied
liberal than Eisenhower had anticipated, being responsible for some notable
Trump in the 2021
liberal rulings including the decision of Brown v Board of Education of Topeka
unsigned statement
(1954).
allowing Congress access
l In January 2022, a short unsigned note from the Supreme Court defied
to White House documents
President Trump’s request to prevent Congress from accessing White House
from 6 January 2021?
documents from 6 January 2021. The only dissent was Thomas, not any of
the three appointments Trump made to the Court.
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The appointment of Sonia Sotomayor

‘I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of
her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better
conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.’
This quote from Sotomayor, given in a 2001 lecture, caused

controversy over her appointment process in 2009. It also
spoke to her belief that having greater representation on the
Supreme Court would be of benefit.
Why did this quote cause controversy? What does the quote
suggest about Sotomayor’s view of the role of the Supreme
Court? What type of justice would such a view make Sotomayor?
In focus
A new Supreme Court packing making the legislation unnecessary. Justice Roberts switching
sides in West Coast Hotel v Parrish became known as ‘the
plan? switch in time that saved nine’ — protecting the relative
In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was attempting independence of the nine justices on the Court.
to deal with an economic depression. He introduced the New
In 2020, the appointment of Barrett secured a conservative
Deal but the Supreme Court struck down various aspects
majority on the Supreme Court. This led to calls for newly
of this plan. In 1937, Roosevelt introduced the Judicial
elected President Biden to expand the number of justices
Procedures Reform Bill, which would allow the president to
on the Court. In April 2021, he signed an Executive Order to
appoint an additional justice for each justice currently aged
create a Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, which
over 70 on the Court. This would have allowed Roosevelt to
would be made up of legal scholars who would investigate
appoint six new justices. This was viewed as a way for him to
possible reforms to the Court, such as term limits, age limits
‘pack’ the Court with those favourable to his New Deal. When
or the number of justices. It reported in December 2021 and
a New Deal case came before the Court again, one justice
suggested there was bipartisan support for 18-year term limits
switched his support to the side that favoured the president,
but no consensus on expanding the size of the Court.
The role of the media and pressure groups also serves to politicise the process.
The media circus that surrounds the nomination process has grown in recent years.
The protests against the nomination of Kavanaugh, and coverage they garnered,
underlined just how political appointments have become. During the appointment
of Gorsuch, donors to the Judicial Crisis Network gave $10 million to support his
appointment, having given $7 million to oppose the appointment of Merrick Garland
a year earlier. Demand Justice launched a $1 million campaign to support Jackson’s
nomination. Even the role of the ABA can be questioned. It has no constitutional
standing and its members are unaccountable, yet their rating of a candidate can have
a huge effect on that candidate’s chances.
This politicisation can be defended, given the unelected and unaccountable nature
of the Supreme Court. The only mandate justices could claim to have is that they
were appointed by the representatives in two branches of government that they
had elected. This lends them legitimacy, meaning that even the more controversial
Court decisions have been enforced by the other branches of government.
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The Supreme Court and public policy
Public policy is simply the policy created by federal government, whether by
creating new laws or through executive actions. As the Supreme Court is interpreting
Key term
the Constitution, which is sovereign, its rulings are effectively sovereign. This gives Public policy Policy
it considerable power and inf luence over the policy that government creates, either and law created by the
by upholding it, striking it down or, in some cases, choosing not to hear a case at branches of government
all. The outcome could be that a Supreme Court ruling allows an existing policy to that have an effect on the
continue, removes a policy, or in some cases even creates new policy. US population.
Table 20.5 lists some areas of public policy on which the Supreme Court has ruled.
There are other areas of public policy too, such as free speech, gun control, capital
punishment, abortion, immigration and LGBTQ+ rights; these are all dealt with
later in this chapter.
l In some of these cases the Supreme Court ruling creates a new policy — Citizens
United v FEC (2010) allowed for the development of Super-PACs, which would
previously have been impossible due to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act,
also known as the McCain–Feingold Act. Nine unelected justices thus had a Knowledge check
substantial role in shaping the policy surrounding elections in the USA and 27 Define ‘public policy’.
overturning a law created by elected representatives. 28 List the ways in
l The Court can have a huge impact by upholding legislation or policy. In the which the Supreme
two healthcare cases, the Court ruled in favour of Obamacare. This allowed the Court can influence
continued enforcement of this legislation, but also lent a degree of sovereignty to public policy.
the law. 29 What is a ‘court-
l The Court can have an impact on public policy in choosing not to hear a case. packing plan’?
If the case has been heard by a lower court, then the ruling of that court stands.
Table 20.5 Some recent Supreme Court rulings and their impact
Policy area Case/s Ruling Impact
Elections Citizens United v Some provisions of the The ruling created a new policy allowing for the development
and election FEC (2010) Bipartisan Campaign of Super-PACs, which could raise unlimited amounts for
spending Reform Act violate the campaigning, by striking down part of a law from Congress. It
1st Amendment was heavily criticised by President Obama at the 2010 State
of the Union address but still enforced
Americans for Requiring charities to The ruling raised concerns that ‘dark money’ — money that
Prosperity v disclose the identity of influences elections but which is difficult to trace — would
Bonta (2021) donors violated the 1st become more prevalent
Amendment
Healthcare NFIB v Sebelius The individual mandate The ruling upheld Obamacare, allowing it to continue. The
(2011) functions as a tax and law was already in place by this point, however, so the Court
therefore is within merely upheld a law already in existence. This decision only
Congress’ power to levy narrowly passed, with the four liberal justices joined by the
chief justice
California v The individual mandate By a ruling of 7–2 the Court again upheld Obamacare, but it
Texas (2020) being reduced to $0 did not rule on the constitutionality of the individual mandate
by the Tax Cuts and (the requirement for individuals to have health insurance or
Jobs Act 2017 did not face a fine)
invalidate Obamacare
Environment Michigan v The EPA must consider This ruling by the Supreme Court limited the interpretation
Environmental the cost implications of allowed by the executive branch when enforcing legislation.
Protection enforcing the Clean Air Rather than simply regulating for clean air, the EPA now had
Agency (EPA) Act, rather than simply to consider whether the costs could be justified, undermining
(2015) the need to regulate Obama’s environmental policy
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In 2018, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case of Planned Parenthood of
Arkansas v Jegley, which challenged Arkansas’ strict regulation of the ‘abortion
pill’ and would have left the state with one abortion provider. The Supreme
Court thus allowed this law to come into force in Arkansas, thereby shaping
public policy through its inaction. In 2020, it refused to hear challenges to the
election result, allowing the result to stand.
The Supreme Court and protection

of rights
The rights that are protected in the Constitution are known as ‘constitutional
Key term rights’. The federal or state governments will have passed laws regarding additional
Constitutional rights The rights of US citizens, such as the driving age, drinking age and age of consent.
rights that are explicitly However, the Supreme Court can only rule on rights for which it can find a
identified within the constitutional basis. Given the vague nature of the Constitution, the Court has been
Constitution and its able to rule on a range of rights over time, supporting abortion, same-sex marriage
amendments. and gun rights, to name but a few.
The most notable protection of rights in the Constitution comes in the Bill of Rights.
This is the first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified in 1791. Subsequent
amendments have added more rights. Supreme Court interpretation of all of these
amendments has served to protect, extend or, in some cases, challenge individual
rights (Table 20.6).
Table 20.6 Amendments to the Constitution concerning rights
Right Case Ruling Impact
Free speech Snyder v Phelps Free speech in public, This 8–1 ruling protected free speech. Justice
(2011) even if considered Alito disagreed, saying, ‘Our profound national
offensive or causing commitment to free and open debate is not
emotional distress, is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that
limited occurred in this case.’ That this was the only
1st Amendment
dissent suggests that justices consider the

constitutionality of a case rather than their
personal ideology
Religion Burwell v Hobby The government cannot This was a challenge to Obamacare. All three
Lobby Stores require employers to female justices dissented, claiming that it limited
(2014) provide insurance cover women’s rights. While the ruling applied to only
for birth control if it a specific type of company, called ‘closely held’,
conflicts with the religious this type of business makes up more than 90% of
beliefs of the employers American businesses
Gun control D.C. v Heller (2008) There is a right to This was one of the first major gun control cases
individual gun ownership taken up by the Court in recent years, striking
without a connection to a down a 1975 Act by the District of Columbia.
militia, and for use in the However, the Court also ruled that the 2nd
2nd Amendment
home for self-defence Amendment, or this ruling, was not a ‘right to

keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any
manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose’
Chicago v The right to keep arms The ruling clarified the D.C. v Heller ruling, which
McDonald (2010) for self-defence is also applied to Washington, DC, which is not a state.
applicable to the states, The justices in the majority also used the 14th
as well as federal Amendment to justify their decision
government law
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Right Case Ruling Impact
Caetano v The Court ruled that the After being arrested for possession of a stun
Massachusetts Amendment extends gun, Caetano’s case ended up in the Supreme
(2016) to ‘all instruments that Court under the 2nd Amendment. This shows a
constitute bearable arms, considerable interpretation of what is meant by
even those that were not ‘arms’
4th Amendment
in existence at the time of

the founding’
Searches Carpenter v U.S. To acquire cell phone In a digital age, this was one of the first landmark
(2018) location data amounts to cases that the Supreme Court has ruled on
a 4th Amendment search regarding privacy. It was notable also as a 5–4
and therefore a warrant is decision in which four liberal justices — Bader
required to access it Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan —
were joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, a
conservative
Right to silence Berghuis v A suspect remaining This ruling said that staying silent was not the
(Miranda rights) Thompkins (2010) silent in an interrogation same as invoking the right to remain silent. For
does not invoke their some, this was seen as a challenge to the Court’s
5th Amendment right to 1966 ruling on Miranda v Arizona, from which the
5th Amendment
silence ‘Miranda rights’ originate

Salinas v Texas Remaining silent before Having willingly answered police questions, a
(2013) being read your Miranda murder suspect fell silent when asked about
rights can be used as his shotgun. He had not been read his Miranda
evidence in a court of law rights, so the police used this silence as evidence
of guilt. The Supreme Court agreed, building on
the case 3 years earlier and further eroding the
Miranda rights
Capital Glossip v Gross Lethal injection using Following the botched lethal injection of Clayton
punishment (2015) midazolam does not Lockett 1 year earlier, Glossip argued this method
violate the ‘cruel and of capital punishment was against the 8th
unusual punishments’ Amendment. Lethal injection had already been
8th Amendment
outlawed in the 8th upheld in Baze v Rees (2008), but many other
Amendment Supreme Court cases placed limitations on the
use of capital punishment
Bucklew v Precythe If a convict claims This continued to uphold the right to use capital
(2018) a method of capital punishment by states as not violating the 8th
punishment is excessively Amendment. It placed the burden on the convicts
painful, they must show to show that there were alternative methods of
alternatives capital punishment if they claimed the one their
state used was excessively painful
Women’s rights Whole Woman’s The requirements placed The ruling was notable for the Supreme Court
Health v Hellerstedt on abortion centres by continuing to uphold the 1973 decision in Roe v
(2016) Texas law H.B. 2 were Wade but also for overturning a law of a state,
an ‘undue burden’ and challenging the principles of federalism
therefore unconstitutional
14th Amendment
Dobbs v Jackson RE: Mississippi 15-week Overturned Roe v Wade and returned decisions
Women’s Health abortion ban law on abortions to states. Trigger laws were ready to
Organization (2022) go in many states. Notably in their confirmation
hearings, Coney Barrett, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh
all said Roe was ‘settled’ but voted against it
LGBTQ+ rights Obergefell v The right to marry is This ruling furthered the 2013 ruling of United
Hodges (2015) guaranteed to same-sex States v Windsor, before which same-sex
couples by the 14th marriage was legal in only 12 states. This ruling
Amendment made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states,
overturning the law in the 12 remaining states in
which it was outlawed
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In focus
The controversy of abortion rights A number of US states had ‘trigger laws’ in place – this
meant that in the event Roe v Wade was ever overturned,
In the 2021–22 Supreme Court term, the Court heard one
abortion bans would almost immediately come into effect in
of the most controversial cases in recent history: Dobbs v
those states. Many of these preceded the Dobbs case quite
Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case concerned the
considerably, but the ruling allowed for abortion restrictions
constitutionality of a Mississippi law that banned abortion after
or bans to take place at state level across the USA. By
15 weeks of pregnancy. It was controversial not only due to the
December 2022, abortions were almost entirely banned in
topic, but also because of Trump’s conservative appointments
13 states and legal in 15 states with relatively few limits. The
to the Court and because the right to abortion was protected
remaining states have varying restrictions in place.
by the 1973 Supreme Court ruling of Roe v Wade.
The case resulted in mass protests outside of the Supreme
This controversy was heightened when, in February 2022,
Court, both by pro-life and pro-choice groups. Outside Justice
a full draft of the Court’s opinion was leaked, the first time
Coney Barrett’s house, activists dressed in Handmaid’s Tale
a full draft was leaked in the Court’s history. It showed that
costumes to protest. This led to the passage of legislation by
the Court supported Mississippi by a vote of 6–3, but also
Congress to increase security for justices and their families,
that, by 5–4, the Court did not believe that abortion was
which was signed by President Biden in June 2022.
constitutionally protected. This meant it appeared that the
Court was going to overturn Roe v Wade. The ruling also demonstrated the impact of presidential
appointments to the Supreme Court — as well as the lack
In June 2022, with few changes to the leaked draft, the
of reliability of such appointments (Roberts voted not to
opinion was issued. All six conservative justices – Alito,
overturn Roe v Wade despite being a conservative justice
Roberts, Thomas, Coney Barrett, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh – all
appointed by President G.W. Bush). The Court’s opinion
voted in favour of Mississippi, and all of these justices except
suggested that other rights established by the Supreme Court
Roberts also voted against the constitutionality of abortion,
could also be reviewed, such as same-sex marriage, and this
returning the issue to states for them to decide upon. While
led to the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act in late
Democratic leaders such as Biden, Pelosi and Schumer
2022, signed by Biden in an effort to protect these rights at
criticised the ruling, Republican leaders such as McConnell
federal level.
and McCarthy praised it.
Synoptic link Knowledge check

The strong link between 30 Which Supreme Court case protected free speech even if it was controversial?
the Supreme Court and 31 Which Supreme Court case legalised same-sex marriage nationally?
the protection of rights is 32 Which Supreme Court case explored the issue of digital privacy?
not necessarily reflected 33 Which Supreme Court case had to decide between religious rights and women’s rights?
in the politics of the
UK. In the UK, it is more
common to expect the The effectiveness of rights protection
legislature to protect rights The role of an independent and neutral judiciary in protecting rights is crucial to a
as Parliament is sovereign. liberal democracy. Free of accountability to the public, a judiciary can rule to ensure
This links to Component 1, the protection of rights for all. However, the extent to which it is effective is the
UK Politics (see pages subject of debate.
32–33).
l In a number of cases, while the rights of one group may be protected, this may
be to the detriment of another. In the case of Obergefell v Hodges (2015), the rights
of the LGBTQ+ community were protected while the religious rights of people
like Kim Davis, a clerk in Kentucky, were arguably infringed. Davis refused
to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, saying it violated her religious
beliefs. She was brief ly jailed for this by a district court in Kentucky. Prior to
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this ruling, same-sex marriage had been illegal in Kentucky and yet the state was
willing to jail one of its own citizens to carry out the Supreme Court ruling.
Conversely, in Burwell v Hobby Lobby (2014), the religious rights of employers
were placed above the rights of women.
l There is a debate about how much power the Supreme Court has to protect
rights. The Court hears only about 1% of the cases put to it in any year. The
cases of the vast majority of people who feel their rights have been infringed
will never be heard by the Supreme Court. In June 2018, the Court declined
to hear an appeal from a f lorist who had refused to make an arrangement for a Protests outside the office
same-sex couple, referring it back to the lower court. In doing so, it shied away of Kim Davis after she had
from involvement in this controversial issue, arguably leaving the rights of some refused to issue marriage
people unprotected. licences to same-sex couples
l The Court has no power to enforce its rulings. It relies on the power of the president following the ruling in
and Congress, or the states, to enforce its decisions. Controversial decisions that Obergefell v Hodges (2015)
a president has not liked have still been enforced, such as Citizens United v FEC
(2010). However, in other cases the rulings of the Court appear to have been Knowledge check
circumvented or ignored. In the four cases regarding Guantánamo Bay between
2004 and 2008, the Court always found in favour of the detainees. That these cases 34 Who enforces
kept coming back to the Supreme Court highlights the weakness of its ruling. Supreme Court
Congress even passed a new law, the Military Commissions Act, to try to work rulings?
around a ruling. This Act then also had to be struck down by the Supreme Court. 35 How does the
l All judicial action from the Supreme Court is bound by the Constitution. It may Constitution limit
find it difficult to protect rights as its rulings have to be rooted in the wording of the rulings that the
this document. In the case of Snyder v Phelps (2011), the actions of the Westboro Supreme Court can
Baptist Church may have appeared insensitive to the rights and feelings of the make?
grieving family, but the Constitution clearly protects the right of free speech. 36 What rights has
the Supreme Court
A majority of the cases heard by the Supreme Court are those of significant interpreted that are
constitutional impact, allowing the Court to use its power to try to protect rights. not stated in the
It is unlikely that a ruling of the Court would be ignored or unenforced, given the Constitution?
importance of the Constitution. The vagueness of the Constitution allows a good 37 What percentage of
deal of breadth in the Court’s interpretation, so it can use the Constitution to protect cases put to it does
rights even when they are not explicitly identified — the right to an abortion and the Supreme Court
the right to same-sex marriage have been protected in this way. The effectiveness of hear annually?
the Court in this area can be challenged through the use of examples, but there are
more that suggest it has been largely effective.
The Living Constitution and originalism

In deciding any case, the Supreme Court may only use the US Constitution to
judge against. How it believes the Constitution should be interpreted is crucial to
the rulings it will make.
l Justices who believe that the Constitution is a living, evolving document believe
in interpreting the text more widely in the context of modern society and
expectations.
l Justices who believe in ‘originalism’ see the meaning of the Constitution as
fixed at the time of its writing, at least for judicial interpretation. They believe
that it does not evolve and interpreting it as evolving undermines the principles
codified within it.
Both those who believe in the ‘Living Constitution’ and those who believe in
‘originalism’ often agree that the Constitution should evolve in some way. For ‘living
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constitutionalists’, this can be done by the judiciary, whereas for ‘originalists’ this
should be done through politically accountable elected branches. Sometimes a justice
may appear to favour broader interpretation in one case but a stricter interpretation
in another.
In focus
The judicial philosophy of Ketanji Brown Jackson
In January 2022, Breyer announced he would retire from the Court at the end of that term.
Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to fill his seat, the first nomination of an African
American woman to this role. During her Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Republicans
pressed her repeatedly on her judicial philosophy:
l ‘I am acutely aware that as a judge in our system I have limited power and I am trying in
every case to stay in my lane.’
l ‘I believe that the Constitution is fixed in its meaning. I believe that it’s appropriate to look
at the original intent, original public meaning of the words.’
She outlined that the philosophy was her methodology when approaching a case — clearing
her mind of preconceptions, taking evidence and then interpreting the law within her judicial
role. Many Republicans were not happy with her answers and her unwillingness to identify with
a specific judicial philosophy. Senator Sasse (R-Nebraska) highlighted this when he expressed
his disappointment in her answers about her philosophy, saying, ‘It is important for us to
unpack that [her judicial philosophy] … I wish I’d made more progress [during the hearings].’
Debate
How should the Constitution be interpreted?

Evaluation: What is the role of the Supreme Court, constitutionally or today? Can the Constitution ever be interpreted entirely
neutrally?
As a ‘Living Constitution’ In an ‘originalist’ manner

• The Constitution will quickly become out of date if it is • Interpreting the Constitution makes the Supreme Court
not interpreted in the light of modern developments, a political institution, undermining its independence
for example the changing beliefs on slavery, women’s and legitimacy in checking the other branches of
rights or LGBTQ+ rights government
• Elected and accountable branches often favour the • Changes required can be left to the elected and
will of the majority and therefore interpretation of accountable branches rather than risking the
the Constitution can ensure minority rights are also misinterpretation by nine unelected judges
protected
• The Founding Fathers could not have predicted the • People are accountable for their actions according to
world that exists today and some of the words in the the law. If this law is constantly evolving and changing,
Constitution are meaningless without interpretation. For it is not possible for them to know what the law is
example, the Founding Fathers were not writing about until after a judge has decided, which is confusing for
semi-automatic rifles in the 2nd Amendment citizens
• The amendment process is now too difficult to allow • The amendment process exists and has been used
the development of the Constitution through elected successfully; this is the method through which
branches of government amendments should come about
• The principles of the Constitution can be upheld despite • The principles of the Constitution are not as significant
the wording of the document as the words and text when determining meaning, and it
is this meaning that should be adhered to
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38 Define what is
An originalist interpretation meant by ‘Living
On Day 2 of her Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Amy Coney Barrett was asked to explain, Constitution’.
‘in English’, what was meant by originalism: 39 Define ‘originalism’.
‘In English that means I interpret the Constitution as a law, and that I interpret its 40 What was Justice
text as text, and I understand it to have the meaning that it had at the time people Jackson’s judicial
ratified it. So that meaning doesn’t change over time and it’s not up to me to update it philosophy according
or infuse my own policy views into it.’ to her?
What is Barrett suggesting about the work of the Founding Fathers and the nature of the
US Constitution? Given the codification of the US Constitution, what are the dangers of
interpreting the document beyond the meaning advanced by Barrett? Is it possible for a judge
to be entirely neutral in their interpretation of the Constitution?
Judicial activism and judicial restraint

The debate over what role the Supreme Court should have in US government stems
from the unelected and unaccountable nature of the Court. This has led to two
definitions being created for how justices act — ‘activist’ and ‘restrained’.
Activism
According to President Obama, ‘an activist judge was somebody who ignored
the will of Congress, ignored democratic processes, and tried to impose judicial
solutions on problems instead of letting the process work itself through politically’.
Any justice on the Court could therefore be activist. Whether they are considered
to be conservative or liberal, if they are ruling in a way that gives a judicial solution
to a problem, rather than letting Congress or the president solve it, they are ‘activist’.
l Liberal activism Obergefell v Hodges is a good example of liberal judicial activism.
It essentially created a new policy under which same-sex marriage was legal
nationally. This ruling ignored the laws of 13 states in which same-sex marriage
was not allowed, but also struck down the congressional law known as DOMA,
or the Defense of Marriage Act. The Court therefore overruled both state- and
federally elected officials. In creating this right for the LGBTQ+ community
nationally, the Court embodied liberal ideals of protecting rights.
l Conservative activism Citizens United v FEC similarly shows activism from
the conservative justices. It too overturned at least part of a congressional law,
the McCain–Feingold reforms. In allowing money to be seen as a form of free
speech, this fits in with more conservative ideals that embrace meritocracy and
a reduction in government interference in individuals’ lives. Having earned the
money, the individual should be free to spend it as they see fit. It is also notably
an ‘activist’ decision as it directly contradicts a Supreme Court case from just
7 years earlier, which ruled the opposite.
Trump was vocal on the role of judicial activism, saying before his nominee of
Kavanaugh in 2018:
‘We reject judicial activism and policy making from the bench ... judges are not
supposed to rewrite the law, reinvent the Constitution, or substitute their own
opinions for the will of the people expressed through their laws.’
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Restraint
Key term Judicial restraint is when a justice sees their role on the Supreme Court in a far more
Stare decisis A judicial limited fashion. They believe that, where possible, they should allow the policy
principle meaning ‘let the created by Congress and the president to stand. They are more likely to look to past
decision stand’. It means Court decisions to guide their current decision making. This is a principle known
that justices should refer as stare decisis, or ‘let the decision stand’, and is based on the view that a neutral
to, and where possible and independent Court, interpreting the same Constitution, should reach the same
adhere to, previous Court decision. Therefore, past Court cases should set precedents for current cases.
rulings when making their
l Liberal restraint Whole Woman’s Health v Hellerstedt (2016) demonstrated a
decisions.
continuing defence of the 1973 decision of Roe v Wade, which initially established
a woman’s right to an abortion. Cases on abortion have been heard since then,
and while some have placed limitations on it, or allowed individual states to
Knowledge check decide on those limitations, the Court has not overturned this decision.
41 Define judicial l Conservative restraint Glossip v Gross (2015) builds on previous cases to allow
activism. the continued use of lethal injection. The case suggested that prisoners could
42 Define judicial only challenge the method of execution by providing an alternative method
restraint. of execution. The Court argued it was the responsibility of the prisoner to
43 How does the demonstrate that the execution method caused severe pain, not the responsibility
Supreme Court apply of the state.
the principle of stare
Criticisms of judicial activism and judicial restraint are listed in Table 20.7.
decisis?
Checks and balances

The relationship of the Supreme Court with the other branches of federal government
has fewer checks and balances than the relationship between the president and
Congress. The Supreme Court’s only power is judicial review and while this allows
it to strike down Acts of Congress or actions of the president, it hears relatively few
cases a year. The president’s power to appoint justices is dependent on a vacancy
occurring, something they cannot control. Congress could in theory alter the
number of justices, or pass a constitutional amendment to overturn a Court decision,
but both seem unlikely — the last time the number of justices changed was 1869 and
constitutional amendments are very difficult to achieve.
Table 20.7 Criticisms of judicial activism and judicial restraint

Criticisms of judicial activism Criticisms of judicial restraint
• The Supreme Court is unelected and is therefore • If the Supreme Court defers to elected branches of
unaccountable for the decisions that it makes government, this might allow laws and policies that directly
• Allowing the Supreme Court to strike down Acts of contravene the Constitution to stand
Congress and actions of the executive branch, with • Given the frequent election cycle, elected branches often
only limited checks on its own power, breaches the shy away from dealing with controversial policy issues or
separation of powers focus only on the will of the majority. The Supreme Court is
• Allowing the Supreme Court to strike down state laws therefore the only branch that can deal with controversial
ignores the constitutional principle of federalism and issues or minority rights without fear of public reprisals
the differences that exist across the USA • The codified Constitution would be outdated if the Supreme
• The Court can overrule its own decisions, even when Court were not willing to interpret it with reference to modern
the Constitution has not changed, suggesting that the issues
Court is acting politically rather than neutrally • The power of judicial review, while not explicit in the
• Judicial review interprets the Constitution, meaning Constitution, could be implied. The Court should therefore act
there are few effective checks on the Court’s power to limit the government as the Founding Fathers intended
as constitutional amendments are so difficult to pass • The Constitution is vague and meaningless without
interpretation
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However, this relationship is not without tension.
l President Obama expressed anger at the Court numerous times during his
presidency, notably after the rulings regarding campaign finance and his DAPA
executive order.
l In 2018 the Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act 1965, stating
‘our country has changed in the past 50 years’. It did allow for the possibility of
Congress passing legislation to recognise the changing political circumstances,
though the chance of Congress being able to do so was very limited in this
partisan era. Senator Schumer recognised this difficulty, saying: ‘Make no
mistake about it, this is a back door way to gut the Voting Rights Act.’
l In 2020, while the Supreme Court heard an abortion case, Senator Schumer held
a pro-choice rally outside the Court, saying, ‘I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to
tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price.
You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.’
l In 2021, Biden accused the Court of an ‘unprecedented assault on women’s
constitutional rights’ following its unwillingness to strike down a Texas abortion
law.
Nonetheless, the Court has supported and even extended the powers of these branches
of government. In historic cases such as NFIB v Sebelius (2011), the Court defined Knowledge check
the individual mandate as within Congress’ power to levy tax. More recently, in 44 What power does
upholding President Trump’s ‘travel ban’, the Supreme Court decision noted that the Supreme Court
‘the proclamation is squarely within the scope of presidential authority’. have to check the
president and
The Supreme Court and Guantánamo Bay Congress?
Guantánamo Bay detention camp was established by President Bush in 2002. Suspected 45 Which Senator led
terrorists have been held here; however, the rights of detainees have caused controversy, a pro-choice rally
with indefinite detention, military trials and even torture having been a feature of the on the steps of the
camp. The situation has led to considerable tension between the executive branch Supreme Court?
(looking to protect the interests of the nation) and the Supreme Court (looking to 46 When did Congress
uphold the Constitution). Table 20.8 identifies the key cases heard by the Supreme last amend the
Court over the issue of detention at Guantánamo Bay. Each time, the Court ruled number of justices
against the president and for the detainees. However, each time either Congress or the on the Supreme
president tried to find a way around these rulings. This highlights the tension between Court?
the branches of government and also the limits on the power of the Court.
Table 20.8 The issue of detention at Guantánamo Bay: cases heard by the Supreme Court
Policy area: foreign policy/due process
Case Ruling Impact
Rasul v Bush (2004) Foreign detainees in Guantánamo can petition The British men involved in this case were
the federal government for habeas corpus, transported to the UK before the decision was
reviewing the legality of their detention handed down
Hamdi v Rumsfeld Detainees held in Guantánamo Bay have a right Hamdi was released without charge following the
(2004) to due process ruling. He was then deported to Saudi Arabia on
the condition of giving up his US citizenship
Hamden v Rumsfeld Using military commissions to try detainees The detainees could still be tried but must be
(2006) in Guantánamo Bay was unconstitutional, as tried by a court. It led to the passing of the
were congressional Acts or presidential actions Military Commissions Act 2006 to authorise the
authorising them use of military commissions in Guantánamo Bay
and overcome the Supreme Court ruling
Boumediene v Bush Detainees in Guantánamo Bay have a right to This not only struck down a congressional Act,
(2008) try their cases in the US courts, and the Military it also asserted the Court’s right to rule over
Commissions Act 2006 was unconstitutional presidential actions in this policy area
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Guantánamo Bay detention
camp was established by
President G.W. Bush in 2002
Key term An imperial judiciary?

Imperial judiciary While the debate over the Court being political or judicial (below) is about its
A judiciary that is overly role, the debate over whether the Court is imperial is about its power — these
powerful due to a lack two debates should not be confused or conf lated. For example, the president and
of effective checks and Congress’ role in appointing justices has no impact on the power of the Court but is
balances placed on its hugely important for debates on the political nature of the Court. For the Supreme
power. Court to be considered ‘imperial’, like the ‘imperial presidency’, this would mean
that the Court is subject to few effective checks and balances.
Debate
Is the Supreme Court an ‘imperial judiciary’?

Evaluation: How can ‘imperial’ be defined? What are the factors that affect the power of the Court? Has the Court’s power
changed in recent years?
The Court is ‘imperial’ The Court is not ‘imperial’

• The Court is able to make decisions with huge impact on • The Court has no way to enforce its own rulings and
US government and citizens and yet it is unelected and is entirely dependent on other branches of federal
almost entirely unaccountable government or states to enforce them or, in some
cases, effectively ignore them
• While justices can in theory be impeached, this process • The Court cannot choose cases to investigate that have
has only ever been used once, in 1805, and has never not been brought before it. Even if there are Acts or
been used to remove a justice. This further advances actions that it considers unconstitutional, it must await
the unaccountable nature of the Court a case before being able to rule on it
• The Court’s power of judicial review often amounts to • The Court’s rulings can be overturned, for example the
the final say on any issue as it is so difficult to overturn 16th Amendment shows that it is possible to achieve
a decision. The use of constitutional amendments to this
achieve this is very rare
• The Court’s decisions can overturn the laws and actions • The Court has often shied away from hearing cases
from branches that are both accountable and have a in which public opinion is closely divided, such as gun
mandate from the people to carry out these actions control cases
• These decisions have gone far beyond the original text • The Constitution provides the single biggest limit on the
of the Constitution and created entirely new rights, Supreme Court. Regardless of the justices’ personal or
with the Court having broad powers to interpret the political opinions, cases and decisions must be rooted
Constitution in the Constitution. Even with the power to interpret this,
they can only interpret what is there
• Despite being able to hear only a limited number of • Justices are subject to the threat of removal as they
cases each year, the fact that around 8,000 cases are only hold their offices during times of ‘good behaviour’.
annually brought to the Court allows it a vast choice on This should prevent justices from acting in a reckless
what it wishes to rule upon manner
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The role of the Supreme Court
The role of the Supreme Court should be judicial — acting neutrally and with
independence, it should act as an arbiter of the Constitution. However, the Court’s
decisions invariably have political consequences. Furthermore, its decisions seem to
be politically rather than judicially motivated.
Debate
The Supreme Court — judicial or political?

Evaluation: How do judges reach their decisions? Is it possible for them to make decisions that have no political impact?
Judicial Political
• The Supreme Court can only take cases with a • The impact of many rulings is inherently political,
constitutional basis and make decisions on the wording striking down actions or acts of the elected branches
of the Constitution. The justices’ personal political of government or even, in the rare case of Bush v
opinions are irrelevant to the decision-making process Gore (2000), effectively deciding who will be the next
president
• Members of the Court have legal rather than political • The appointment process to the Supreme Court is
expertise. Almost all of them have come from circuit inherently political and seems to be getting more
courts so. Since 2006, appointment votes have been more
obviously divided on party lines
• The Court lacks any power to enforce the decisions it • Justices can be identified, and labelled, as ‘liberal’ or
makes. Only Congress and the president, the directly ‘conservative’. That it is possible to do this suggests
elected branches of government, can enforce the the actions of justices are politically rather than
decisions. The Court decisions must therefore be seen judicially motivated, given that they are all interpreting
to be legitimate for them to be enforced the same evidence and the same Constitution yet
reaching different conclusions
• A substantial number of cases are decided 9–0. • The Court accepts amicus curiae briefs — these are
As the Court is broadly divided into ‘liberals’ and documents written to the Court from pressure groups
‘conservatives’, this suggests the justices must be trying to influence the outcome. That groups do this
basing their decisions on something other than their suggests they must believe it has some impact, but it
personal opinion. There have been numerous cases also politicises the role of the Court
where a justice has seemingly voted against their
known labelled ideology in a case decision
• The Court adheres to legal principles such as stare • The Court appears to shy away from hearing some
decisis, which helps to lend legitimacy to the decisions of the more controversial cases, such as gun control
it makes cases or cases about gerrymandering, suggesting its
recognition of the importance of public opinion
Knowledge check Key term

47 How many Supreme Court Justices have ever been impeached? Amicus curiae Literally
48 What amendment of the Constitution overturned a Supreme Court ruling? means ‘friends of the
49 What are amicus curiae briefs? Court’. An amicus curiae
50 How can pressure groups try to influence the nomination process? brief is a brief submitted
51 In which case did the US Supreme Court effectively choose the US president? by a party with a vested
interest in the case to try
to advance their view on
the case decision.
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Race and rights in contemporary
US politics
The history of race rights in the USA has often been controversial. From the three-
Key terms fifths compromise in the Constitution, to the Civil War, to modern-day affirmative
Affirmative action action policies, minority groups in the USA have often found they have not had the
A policy that allows freedoms afforded to them that were afforded to their white counterparts.
minority groups to be
Calls for racial equality have led to substantial changes within this policy area over
intentionally advantaged
time, through legal, legislative and public action.
in order to begin to correct
historic disadvantages. Figure 20.5 shows the total percentage of minorities in the USA according to the
Racial equality The idea census. Projections into the future show that by the middle of the twenty-first
that all races should be century, minority groups will make up more than half of the US population. The
regarded and treated two biggest minority groups are African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos.
equally and be given the The timeline in Figure 20.6 shows major landmarks in the advance of rights for
same legal, moral and African Americans. It is difficult to trace a similar timeline for the Hispanic/Latino
political opportunities. population. The fight for African Americans’ rights revolved around slavery and
its abolition. Hispanics/Latinos have no such rallying cause and therefore the fight
for their rights has been characterised by debates over immigration and citizenship.
Methods of achieving change

Regardless of the group, the methods used to advance rights are similar and have not
changed much over time. Mass protesting and bringing Supreme Court cases are used to
achieve change, just as they were decades ago. That these methods are still needed today
gives an indication that inequality is still a part of everyday life for many Americans.
Legal action
Groups trying to effect change can and have used the US legal system in a number
of ways.
l Groups can appeal cases to the Supreme Court. The Coalition to Defend Affirmative
Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality By Any Means
Necessary (or BAMN, ‘by any means necessary’, for short) brought a case in 2014
challenging a ban on affirmative action in the Michigan state constitution.
Figure 20.5 Percentage Millions
of minorities in the USA, 60
1970–2042
49.2 50.1
50
44.5
40.3
40 36.3
30.9
30
24.4
20.4
20 16.5
10
0
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2042
Decennial census Population projections
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9781398369160.indb 571
1954
1787 The Supreme
The three-fifths 1857 Court case of 1964
compromise allows The Supreme 1948 Brown v Topeka Civil Rights
for the counting of Court case of Dred 1865 President Board of Education 1958 Act is passed,
enslaved people as Scott v Sandford The 13th Truman overturns the 1896 Loving v prohibiting
three-fifths of a rules that Congress Amendment signs Executive ruling of ‘separate Virginia discrimination 1965 2003
person when does not have the constitutionally Order 9981, but equal’, legalises on the Voting Grutter v Bollinger
determining state power to ban abolishes desegregating desegregating inter-racial basis of race Rights allows the continued
populations slavery in the USA slavery the US army US schools marriage or colour Act use of affirmative action
1808 1861–65 1868 1870 1896 1963 1978 2020 2022

Congress The US Civil The 14th The 15th The Supreme Martin Luther The Supreme George Floyd Emmett Till
bans the War leads Amendment Amendment Court case of King, Jr.’s March on Court case of and Black Lives Antilynching Act
further to the revokes the three- prohibits the Plessy v Ferguson Washington for Regents of the Matter global signed into law
importation abolition fifths compromise, right to vote allows for Jobs and Freedom University of protests
of enslaved of slavery guarantees equal being denied separation of becomes the largest California v Bakke is
20 US Supreme Court and civil rights
people into rights of US citizens on the basis white and protest in the capital, upheld: the use of
the USA and includes the of colour African American with over 250,000 affirmative actions
due process clause or race facilities provided attending within limited
and equal they are ‘separate circumstances
protection clause but equal’
Figure 20.6 Changing African American rights

571
15/02/23 10:29 PM
l Individuals can bring such cases, which can have a wide-ranging impact. Cases
Knowledge check on affirmative action have been heard and reheard by the Supreme Court, such as
52 When was the ruling desegregating schools in Brown v Topeka Board of Education in 1954 and university
that desegregated admissions in Fisher v University of Texas in both 2013 and 2016.
schools in the USA? l Groups can submit amicus curiae briefs, which express their opinions on
53 Define ‘affirmative a case directly to the Supreme Court for consideration in a case. More than
action’. 60 amicus briefs were filed in the case of Trump v Hawaii (2018) regarding the
54 Which state ‘travel ban’, including briefs from groups such as the National Association for
banned affirmative the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and individuals such as Khizr
action in its state Khan, the father of a Muslim US army captain who had been killed in action
constitution? in Iraq.
55 When is it projected
that minority ethnic Mass demonstrations and direct action
Americans will make Mass demonstrations are organised to try to achieve change by showing politicians
up a majority of the the weight of public opinion. In a representative democracy, where elected officials
US population? are dependent on the public vote for their job, such protests encourage politicians
to listen in order to gain votes. Even smaller-scale direct action can achieve this by
raising the media profile of a movement with a view to winning public sympathy.
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 was not only famed for
being one of the largest ever protests in the capital, it was also the demonstration at
which Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech:
‘Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro
needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the
nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquillity in
America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.’
This march was followed by a meeting between President Lyndon B. Johnson and
King and others, and ultimately helped ensure that the Civil Rights Act 1964 and
Voting Rights Act 1965 were passed.
The March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom, 1963
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In focus
George Floyd protests, 2020
When George Floyd was arrested in May 2020, he was
pinned to the ground and a police officer knelt on his neck
for over nine minutes. Passers-by filmed the arrest and on
the footage Floyd can be heard repeatedly telling the officer,
‘I can’t breathe.’ George Floyd lost consciousness and was
pronounced dead at a Minnesota hospital. The terrible events
sparked worldwide protests and gave more evidence to the
Black Lives Matter movement of police brutality against
African Americans. Days of protest against police brutality
followed in Minnesota, with peaceful protests, riots and
arson. Across the USA, numerous other protests began
— by June, nearly 14,000 arrests had been reported and
27 states had activated the National Guard to try to quell
unrest. Donald Trump was accused of inflaming the situation,
tweeting, ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts’, seen
as a threat to protestors.
The police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest were sentenced
to between 3.5 and 22.5 years in prison for Floyd’s murder.
The event led to changes in police forces, such as the banning
of chokeholds, and to both Democrats and Republicans
introducing police reform bills into Congress, including one
named after Floyd. However, a Harvard study in 2020 claimed
that African Americans are still 3.23 times more likely to be
killed by police than white Americans.
This method of protest is still used today, often for very similar causes:
l The Black Lives Matter movement held a number of protests after the deaths of
young African American men at the hands of the police.
l The Hispanic/Latino community led protests against Trump’s executive order
separating families.
l The 2017 Women’s March drew approximately 200,000 people to Washington,
DC to protest after the inauguration of President Trump and to fight for women’s
rights.
Methods such as these are often characterised as ‘mass movements’. Direct action
involving fewer people has also been successful in raising the profile of issues, from
Rosa Parks’ Montgomery bus protest to the interruptions in the Senate committee
room during the appointment process of Brett Kavanaugh.
Groups fighting for equality may use more formal methods such as the annual
conferences of pressure groups. Due to the more than 2 million people Obama’s
administration had deported since taking office, the National Council of La Raza
(now UnidosUS) dubbed him the ‘deporter-in-chief ’ at its annual conference
in 2014.
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Media and social media
In the modern age, technology has allowed for pressure to be placed on those in
power through more indirect methods. Twitter allowed for the growth of notable
movements, with #BlackLivesMatter starting on the platform, and the #MeToo
campaign gaining considerable attention through this medium. It has also aided in
the organisation of mass protests such as the Women’s March in 2017 and provided
a free platform to convey the turnout and aims of these movements. Figure 20.7
suggests the importance of social media in political activism. For black social media
users, the high rates of use to encourage activism can help to explain the quick
emergence of movements such as Black Lives Matter.
Affirmative action
Affirmative action first appears as a phrase in President Kennedy’s Executive Order
Knowledge check 10925, which required government contractors to ‘take affirmative action to ensure
that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment,
56 What is the Black without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin’. There is no singular
Lives Matter ‘affirmative action’ policy, rather it allows for disadvantaged groups to be given
movement? advantages to try to create a more equal society, whether this is through the
57 What pressure group recognition of race in university admissions or the use of ‘busing’, through which
represents Hispanic/ children were transported to schools outside their neighbourhoods to ‘remedy’ past
Latino Americans? racial segregation.
58 What pressure group
represents African In the twenty-first century, however, affirmative action has increasingly been the
Americans? subject of scrutiny (Table 20.9). Chief Justice John Roberts commented in 2007
59 What is meant by that ‘the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating
‘busing’? on the basis of race’, suggesting that affirmative action could itself be considered a
discriminatory policy.
% of Black social media users who say they have ___* on social media in the past month
Black
Ages 50 + Ages 18–49
social
media
users
* Posted a picture to show 36 55 48

their support for a cause
* Encouraged others to take

action on issues that are 31 52 45
important to them
* Looked for information

about rallies or protests 34 51 45
happening in their area
* Used a hashtag related to

13 44 33
a political or social issue
* Performed any of the

59 79 72
above behaviours
0 20 40 60 80 100
Note: Black adults include those who report being only one race and are not Hispanic /Latino.
Those who did not give an answer are not shown.
Source: Survey of US adults, 16–22 June 2020, Pew Research Center
Figure 20.7 Social media users and political activism
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Table 20.9 The issue of affirmative action: cases heard by the Supreme Court
Case Ruling Impact
Schuette v The ban on affirmative action in the The immediate impact was limited, reversing a lower court
Coalition to Defend Michigan state constitution was not decision but upholding the Michigan state constitution’s
Affirmative Action unconstitutional ban. It was one of an increasing number of cases
(2014) challenging the legitimacy of affirmative action as a policy
Fisher v University Fisher I (2013) — the Court ruled that The ruling of Fisher I upheld the 2003 decision in Grutter
of Texas (2013 while race could be a consideration in v Bollinger, which allowed the use of race as one factor in
and 2016) university admissions, a court would university admissions. However, Scalia’s dissenting opinion
need to confirm this was ‘necessary’ said he would have overruled this decision if asked.
(also known as ‘strict scrutiny’). Fisher II upheld the use of affirmative action for university
Fisher II (2016) — the Court found that admissions. Justice Kennedy cited an amicus curiae brief in
the University of Texas admissions policy the majority decision, showing how important they can be
met the requirements of ‘strict scrutiny’
A study in failure: the Supreme Court segregation, despite the Supreme Court ruling. In 2016 a
judge ruled:
or the policy of affirmative action?
The case of Brown v Topeka Board of Education in 1954 ‘The delay in segregation has deprived generations of
ordered schools to desegregate on the basis that they were students of the constitutionally-guaranteed right of an
integrated education. Although no court order can right
not ‘separate but equal’, as demanded by the 1896 case
these wrongs, it is the duty of the District to ensure
of Plessy v Ferguson. In 2016, a federal judge ordered a
that not one more student suffers under this burden.’
school district in Mississippi to desegregate the schools
in its area as it had so far failed to do so. The Cleveland What does this case study suggest about the power of the
school district in question had used policy measures to Supreme Court in protecting rights? Does racial equality amount
allow segregation and did not have much will to prevent to legal equality, or are there other factors to be considered?
Immigration reform
Reform of the immigration system in the USA has been the campaign pledge of
numerous presidential elections. President Obama failed to achieve immigration
reform through Congress, passing neither the DREAM Act nor the Gang of Eight’s
(four Democratic senators and four Republican senators) bipartisan Border Security,
Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act 2013, which would
have reformed the immigration system and given undocumented immigrants a
pathway to citizenship.
He used executive orders to achieve at least some reform. Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 allowed illegal immigrants who met certain
conditions to remain in the USA free from the fear of deportation. Obama extended
this in 2014 and introduced the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), but
key aspects were struck down in 2016. Trump tried to repeal what remained of DACA
in 2017, while one of Biden’s first executive orders in 2021 was to strengthen it.
Trump has been criticised for his promise to ‘build a wall’ and increase the funding
for border security. His 2018 State of the Union address, however, like that of many
of his predecessors, talked extensively about the need for immigration reform,
planning to give undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship alongside
more conservative policies restricting family-based immigration. Table 20.10 details
some recent Supreme Court rulings in the area of immigration.
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Table 20.10 The issue of immigration reform: cases heard by the Supreme Court
Policy area: immigration
Case Ruling Impact
Arizona v U.S. The Court struck down key aspects of Arizona’s The law was notable for the clash of state power
(2012) SB 1070 law, including the provision that versus federal power, in which Arizona was on the
immigrants must carry registration documents losing side. It set the precedent that opportunities for
because it conflicted with a federal law state action over the issue of immigration were limited
Texas v U.S. The Court split 4–4, which meant the ruling President Obama had little success achieving
(2016) of the lower court stood, which struck down immigration reform through Congress during his time in
Obama’s DAPA executive order office, and this ruling struck down what he had achieved
Trump v Hawaii The Court ruled that Trump’s so-called ‘travel Immigration activists had hoped this ruling might curb
(2018) ban’ was not unconstitutional and fell within presidential power in this area and believed it violated
the remit of executive power the 1st Amendment. The liberal justices on the Court
argued this was religiously motivated
Equality
Table 20.11 shows the successes and failures of measures to promote equality.
Table 20.11 Measures to promote equality

Success Failure
President Obama’s DACA executive order allowed some Presidents have failed to get any meaningful immigration
undocumented immigrants to be free from the threat of reform legislation passed, despite bipartisan support in the
deportation Senate
Numerous Supreme Court cases have upheld the frequently Segregation remains an issue in the USA due to housing
challenged policy of affirmative action, including Fisher v patterns. George W. Bush was accused of racism in 2005
Texas and Grutter v Bollinger when the federal government responded slowly to the
disaster left by Hurricane Katrina, which overwhelmingly
affected the minority ethnic population of New Orleans
The election of President Obama, Vice President Harris and The Black Lives Matter movement demonstrates the depth
the appointment of Justice Jackson as well as increasing of inequality still felt in the USA, evidenced by the death of
numbers of ethnic minorities represented in Congress George Floyd and resulting worldwide protests
shows an increasing diversity in government in the USA
The focus on the growing Hispanic/Latino population, The state ban on affirmative action in Michigan was upheld
including projections that it will make up around 25% of the in Schuette v Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014).
US population by 2045, has meant increased attention on In states where affirmative action has been banned, the
minority issues number of minority ethnic people attending college has
fallen, despite an increase in the population
Generally, minority ethnic voting turnout has increased over The wealth gap in the USA continues to widen between
the past two decades, despite a slight drop more recently white households and minority ethnic households
Knowledge check Representation

Representation of minorities in the federal government has increased in recent
60 What do DAPA and
years, with many more minority groups represented in Congress and the cabinet.
DACA stand for?
The 2008, 2016 and 2020 elections saw female candidates on the presidential ballot,
61 What case tied 4–4
Obama was the first African American president of the USA, Harris the first woman
allowing DAPA to be
of colour to hold the vice presidency and Jackson the first African American woman
struck down?
nominated to the US Supreme Court. However, while representation has improved,
62 Who was the first
it is far from representative of the demographic make-up of the USA today.
woman of colour
to be the US vice
president?
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Kamala Harris (right), the
first woman of colour to hold
the vice presidency, and
Ketanji Brown Jackson (left),
the first African American
woman nominated to the US
Supreme Court
Knowledge check
63 In which years did the US presidential ticket have a woman on the ballot?
64 Who was the first African American woman nominated to the US Supreme Court?
65 What year was the Voting Rights Act passed in the USA?
Some recent Supreme Court rulings in the area of voting rights have seemingly
made it more difficult for people to exercise their voting rights (Table 20.12).
Table 20.12 The issue of voting rights: cases heard by the Supreme Court
Policy area: voting rights
Case Ruling Impact
Shelby County v Holder The ruling struck down aspects of the Voting Some states used this ruling to make changes
(2014) Rights Act 1965, which required areas with to their voting regulations. North Carolina made
historic records of making it difficult for it a requirement that photo ID was presented
minorities to vote to gain federal clearance when voting; low-income and minority groups
before changing their electoral practices disproportionately lack such ID, making it
impossible for them to vote
Husted v Randolph The ruling allowed Ohio to continue its practice This meant in the 2018 midterms, people
Institute (2018) of ‘voter caging’. That is if someone has not turned up to vote only to find they had been
voted for a while, they are sent a notice through struck from the voting register. It also affects
the mail. If this is returned undelivered and the minority voters far more than white voters,
voter does not vote in the next two federal according to a brief by the NAACP
elections, they are struck from the voting register
Brnovich v DNC (2021) Arizona’s laws on ballot collect and banning The president of the NAACP called it a ‘frontal
out-of-precinct voting did not violate the Voting attack on democracy’, saying it would lead to
Rights Act and were not racially discriminatory more states enacting restrictions that would
‘disproportionately impact voters of colour’
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Table 20.13 compares the US and UK judiciary using the three comparative theories.
Table 20.13 Comparing the US and UK judiciary using comparative theories
Rational comparisons • Similarity: Justices in both countries are guided by their
personal judicial philosophies. This may include advancing
their own political philosophy through their rulings too
• Similarity: Those fighting for rights are often doing so from a
point of personal inequality and using whatever access points
are available to them to do this
• Similarity: Justices in both countries should be aware of
potential legitimacy questions posed by an unelected and
unaccountable Supreme Court and they may therefore act to
ensure their own power is protected
Cultural comparisons • Difference: The cultural expectation of the protection of rights
is far higher in the USA than in the UK
• Similarity: In the USA, there is an acceptance that Supreme
Court rulings are a way of informally updating the US
Constitution. This is a growing feature of UK Supreme Court
rulings
• Similarity: Neither Supreme Court has any power to enforce
its rulings; the acceptance of the rulings is therefore largely
based on cultural acceptance of the power of each Court
even though it is unelected
Structural comparisons • Similarity: The power that each Court has is highly determined
by the constitutional framework in the country, as is the
independence and neutrality of the Supreme Courts
• Difference: The ideology and neutrality of the justices in both
countries are in part determined by the process by which they
are appointed to the Supreme Court
• Difference: The entrenched and codified Constitution in the
USA gives a far stronger protection of rights than the statute
law that protects rights in the UK
Comparing the US and UK Supreme Courts

Powers of the Supreme Court and the impact on politics and government
The powers of the UK and US Supreme Courts are identical — the power of
judicial review. However, the location of sovereignty in each country is different,
which affects the impact the Courts can have.
l In the USA, the Constitution is sovereign. As the US Supreme Court is created by
the Constitution and then interprets this document, the rulings that it issues have
the effect of being sovereign. This makes them difficult to ignore or overturn
and gives the Court extensive power.
l In the UK, sovereignty resides in Parliament. While Parliament may choose to
share this sovereignty, it also retains the ability to take it back. The UK Supreme
Court was set up by an Act of Parliament and therefore in theory Parliament
retains the power to remove it. Certainly, the Court could be ignored by
Parliament given its sovereignty.
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The reality of the Courts’ power, however, appears to be quite similar.
l While the UK Supreme Court has only been operating since 2009, its role in
judicial review and the acceptance of its rulings have become a part of everyday
political life. This was evident in the R (Miller) v Prime Minister in 2020. Gina
Miller’s challenge to the government’s prorogation of Parliament was upheld by the
Court and despite his outrage, Prime Minister Johnson followed the Court’s ruling.
l Rulings of the US Supreme Court have at various times been met with anger
and outrage from the president, Congress and/or states. Yet almost always, the
Court’s rulings are upheld.
l Both the UK and US Supreme Courts have some freedom in interpreting their
country’s constitutions and creating new precedents. Knowledge check
The breadth of impact of the US Court is currently far wider than that of its UK 66 What case in the
counterpart. UK found the
prime minister had
l The UK Court can be overruled by passing a new Act of Parliament. Given the illegally prorogued
fused nature of UK powers, this should not be particularly difficult to do. Parliament?
l Overturning a US ruling is hugely difficult, effectively granting it more power 67 How was the UK
than the UK Court. Supreme Court
l The extent of impact on government and policy of the UK Court has so far been created?
more limited than in the USA. Some of this is due to the young age of the UK 68 How can a Supreme
Supreme Court. Court ruling be
l This is also due to the more political role of the US Supreme Court. Justices overturned in the UK
in the USA are more easily divided into ‘conservatives’ and ‘liberals’ than UK and in the USA?
justices, referencing the impact they have on government policy.
Independence of the Supreme Courts

There are similarities between the USA and the UK that ensure the independence
of the judiciary. Both countries allow the justices security of tenure, meaning that
they cannot be removed by the executive or legislative branches, except in rare and
limited circumstances. In both countries, the Court’s independence is protected
through the separation of powers — both Courts have independent buildings,
personnel and powers — allowing them to cast decisions over the actions of the
other branches without interference. In the UK, however, this separation was not
complete despite the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. It left the role of the Lord
Chancellor somewhat unclarified; the holder of this role today acts as the secretary
of state for justice, responsible for the funding of the Supreme Court.
However, the vast difference in appointment processes
serves to undermine the US Supreme Court’s independence
far more than in the UK.
l The highly politicised nature of the US appointment
process has meant that judicial ideologies have become
confusingly political. The UK judges by comparison do
not have a high-profile political understanding of their
personal ideologies.
l The vast funding differences have also caused
controversy. The US Supreme Court bid for an annual
budget of nearly $87.7 million in 2021, which allows it
to operate with judicial clerks and relatively free of the
concern it may lose money for a decision that is disliked The UK Supreme Court building in London, with a statue of
by the government. The UK Court has been mired in Abraham Lincoln in the foreground
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difficulty almost since opening, however. The 2017 funding was around just
£12 million; Lord Phillips, the first president of the UK Supreme Court, argued
that the Court’s budget should be ringfenced and not dependent on what the
Ministry of Justice felt was appropriate.
Effectiveness of rights protection

The US Supreme Court has a wide ability to protect rights of US citizens. It can use
the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments to strike down congressional laws or
presidential acts that do not protect rights and it is able to interpret the Constitution
to create new rights. As its rulings have the effect of being sovereign, it can exercise
considerable power in this area. The UK Court is less well established in this role. It
does not have the extensive power that the US Court has and therefore the rulings
that it issues are easier to circumvent, most simply by the creation of a new Act of
Parliament. While this has not happened in any landmark cases, the number of such
cases so far in the UK has been far fewer than in the USA.
However, the UK Court has a far greater breadth of law to interpret and protect
rights. In the USA, the Supreme Court is bound by the Constitution. This can
mean that in some cases the Constitution allows for little interpretation, such as in
the 2nd Amendment, or in other cases it requires considerable interpretation to be
made relevant, such as in the case of Carpenter v U.S. (2018). In the UK, however,
the Human Rights Act and Equality Act alone allow the Court a much broader basis
to protect rights, let alone the vast array of other statutes that protect rights. Equally,
while the US Court is the final court of appeals, UK citizens can also appeal to
the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, which
somewhat limits the significance of the UK Supreme Court.
Effectiveness of interest groups in the protection of civil rights

The key role of pressure groups in trying to protect rights is similar in both countries
— they can bring cases or they can try to inf luence cases, directly or indirectly.
The access points available to these groups, both through the judicial process and
through the political process more generally, are more numerous and established
in the USA. In both countries, however, groups have brought important cases to
the Court to challenge their rights; numerous examples are noted above, such as
BAMN, Citizens United and Whole Woman’s Health. Similar patterns have begun
to emerge in the UK, with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
challenging the current abortion provision in Northern Ireland or the case of Ashers
Baking Company, which was backed by the Christian Institute’s Legal Defence
Fund.
However, groups in the USA have a greater range of accepted methods of inf luence
over the courts and therefore over the protection of rights. The ABA has a direct
inf luence over which justices get appointed through its provision of a rating, and
groups have been active in campaigning for and against the appointment of both
Kavanaugh and Garland in recent years. Groups are also well versed in using amicus
curiae briefs to try to inf luence the Court, with Kennedy even referencing one in
his authorship of the majority decision in Fisher v Texas (2016). In the UK, pressure
group action in this way is less established.
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Knowledge check
69 Who argued that the UK Supreme Court funding should be ring-fenced?
70 What laws can the UK Supreme Court use to protect rights in the UK?
71 What part of the Constitution does the US Supreme Court mostly use to protect rights?
72 List the ways a pressure group can try to influence the UK and US Supreme Courts to
protect rights.
Summary
➜ What is the basis for the power of the US Supreme Court?
➜ Has the Supreme Court appointment process become ineffective?
➜ To what extent does the Supreme Court control public policy in the USA?
➜ What is the significance of judicial activism and judicial restraint?
➜ How effectively are the Supreme Court’s neutrality and independence protected?
➜ To what extent is ideology an important factor in Supreme Court decisions?
➜ Has the Supreme Court effectively protected rights in the USA?
➜ How far has the goal of racial equality been achieved?
Practice questions
1 Examine the ways in which pressure groups can influence the Supreme
Courts of the USA and the UK. (12)
2 Analyse the ways in which judicial neutrality and independence are
protected in the USA and the UK. (12)
3 Evaluate the view that the power of the Supreme Court cannot be
justified in a modern democracy. You must consider this view and the
4 Evaluate the view that the rights of minority ethnic groups are well
protected in the USA. You must consider this view and the alternative
to this view in a balanced way.(30)
Further reading
Bennett, A. and de Souza, N. (2020) ‘Does the US Supreme Court wield too much power?’,
Gallop, N. (2021) ‘Affirmative Action in the USA’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 2.
Kilheeney, E. (2021) ‘Judicial Restraint in the Roberts Court’, Politics Review, Vol. 31, No. 2.
Comparative: Bader Ginsburg, R. (2016) My Own Words, Simon & Schuster.
Breyer, S. (2021) The Authority of the Court and the Perils of Politics, Harvard University Press.
Crawford Greenberg, J. (2008) Supreme Conflict: The Insider Story of the Struggle for Control
of the United States Supreme Court, Penguin Press.
Lakin, M. (2020) ‘Power and protections: comparing the US and UK Supreme Courts’, Politics
Review, Vol. 30, No. 2.
O’Brien, D. (2017) Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics, WW Norton & Co.
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21 US democracy and
participation
Since the ratification of the Constitution in 1787, debates have raged over what
‘democracy’ in the USA means. As James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper #10,
the Constitution created a ‘republic’, not a ‘democracy’. He argued that:
l a large republic could guard against the tyranny of the majority by having a
significant number of elected representatives
l the free vote of the people would prevent elections being won through ‘vicious
arts’
l a large republic would ‘render factious combinations [parties and interest groups]
less to be dreaded’. The Founding Fathers warned time and again of the perils of
parties.
As with many issues at the Philadelphia Convention, the outcome was a result of
compromise. So the Electoral College served as a compromise between congressional
power and popular sovereignty. The Founding Fathers who argued against parties
became the organisers and leaders of the first US parties.
The right to vote is central to
US democracy
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12
1
3 VT 3
3
3
7 10 NH 4
4 10 MA 11
3 29
3 RI 4
16 CT 7
4 6 20 NJ 14
6 1 18
6 20 11 DE 3
55 9 5 MD 10
6 10 13 DC 3
8
15
11
11 5 7
6 9
9 16
6
Biden
38
8 Trump
3
29
Figure 21.1 The 2020 election saw Joe Biden win 25 states and Washington, DC and Donald
Trump win 25 states. With 306 Electoral College votes, Joe Biden became the 46th president
of the USA. The number in each state represents the number of Electoral College votes that
particular state has
In a much-misquoted letter of 1816, Thomas Jefferson warned about the role of

money to challenge, inf luence and even subvert government:
‘I hope we shall take warning from the example [of England] and crush in it’s [sic]
birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge
our government to a trial of strength, and to bid defiance to the laws of their
country.’
Despite Jefferson’s hope, large corporations and wealthy organisations in the
twenty-first century exercise considerable inf luence over the government and
voters alike.
Electoral systems in the USA

The Constitution establishes, although does not name, the Electoral College as a
Key term
method for electing the president every 4 years (Figure 21.1). States were to appoint
electors who would vote for the president on behalf of that state. Together, these Electoral College
electors form the Electoral College and the president would be whoever gained a A body of people who cast
majority of their votes. However, the Constitution left Congress and the states to votes on behalf of their
decide how these elections would work in practice. In 1845, Congress allocated the states to formally elect
national Election Day as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, but the president and vice
the election is effectively 50 state-run elections rather than one national election. president of the USA.
(For more details on congressional elections, see Chapter 18.)
The process for presidential election

Other than Election Day, there is little fixed timing in the presidential election
process. The process has developed into an elaborate, lengthy and expensive event
that begins years before the term for the current president has expired.
21 US democracy and participation 583
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Table 21.1 The presidential election process
Month Time until Election Day Stage of the electoral process
Candidates within a party 18–24 months before Election Day The invisible primary
compete to be the party’s February 9 months before Election Day Early state primaries and caucuses
nominee
March 8 months before Election Day ‘Super Tuesday’
April–June 5–7 months before Election Day Late state primaries and caucuses
July 4 months before Election Day National Party Conventions
The nominated candidates August–October 1–3 months before Election Day The election campaign, including
from different parties presidential debates
compete against each November First Tuesday after the first Monday Election Day
other in November
December 1 month after Election Day Electoral College ballots cast
January 2 months after Election Day Inauguration of a new president
Table 21.1 is an overview of the presidential election process. The dates of primaries,
rules of elections and allocation of electors are decided by each state, leading to a vast
array of electoral rules and procedures in each presidential election.
Key terms Knowledge check

Invisible primary The 1 List the advantages Madison claimed a republic would have.
time between a candidate 2 What is the Constitution timing for Election Day?
formally announcing 3 Who decides how elections are run?
their intention to run for
president and the first
official primary or caucus. Synoptic link
Primary An intraparty The USA is a presidential democracy, in contrast to the UK’s parliamentary system of democracy.
election held within This means that the president of the United States is directly elected and has their own electoral
an individual state, mandate. Congress is elected separately and so the executive is detached from the legislature.
determining who will See Chapter 6 for more detail. This links with Component 2, UK Government (pages 183–84).
compete on the ballot
for that party in the
presidential election. Stretch and challenge
Caucus An intraparty
town hall-style meeting The 2020 election campaign
in which voters physically Research and create a timeline for Joe Biden’s and Donald Trump’s campaigns in 2020 using
exercise their preferences Table 21.1.
in order to decide who
What is the most significant step in need of reform when reviewing this timeline? What is the
will represent their party
most significant strength of the system?
on the ballot in the
presidential election.
Table 21.2 explains the differences between primaries and caucuses.
Table 21.2 Comparison of primaries and caucuses
Primaries Caucuses
• An intraparty ballot to nominate the • An intraparty town hall meeting to
candidate for a party nominate the candidate for a party
• Secret ballot • Voting often takes place in public
• Often conducted on a state-wide basis • Often conducted in small local areas
• Used by 46 states within a state
• Used by 4 states
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The invisible primary
There is no ‘official’ beginning to the invisible primary. It is the period during which
potential candidates for a party compete with each other to attract attention, money
and endorsements for their campaign. The competition at this point is intraparty,
meaning it is a competition of candidates within a party. The growth of the media
and social media, and the importance of money in elections, have made this an
increasingly important part of the presidential campaign.
In 2016, 17 candidates aimed to be the presidential nominee of the Republican
Party. Of these, five withdrew during the invisible primary, before the first official
primary had even taken place. A further seven withdrew in the 20 days following
the first primary on 1 February 2016. In 2020, a record 29 candidates ran to be the
Democratic nominee, with 11 dropping out before the primaries and not appearing
on the ballot, seven withdrawing before the primaries but appearing on the ballot,
and ten dropping out during the primaries (Table 21.3).
Candidates have to use the invisible primary to attract public attention. This means
gaining ‘name recognition’, being a candidate whose name is recognised by voters
as a viable candidate. The success of this is often judged by the polls, and a lack of
good polling can lead to a candidate withdrawing. Candidates can raise their profile
through a range of events, starting with the announcement of their candidacy, which
is often a big occasion drawing media attention that can help them gain recognition.
Jeb Bush, for example, announced his candidacy to great fanfare in 2015. However,
he suffered bruising criticism from Donald Trump during the invisible primary,
being attacked by Trump on Twitter more than all of the other Republican
candidates combined. He withdrew from the race on 20 February 2016.
There are also televised debates between candidates of the same party, giving them
a platform to advance their views and policies while highlighting f laws in the other
candidates. In 2016, the Republican Party announced there would be 12 debates,
in contrast to the 20 held during the 2012 election. The first debate in August saw
ten candidates competing; in the debate before the first primary there were seven
candidates and by the final debate the following March, just four remained. In 2020,
the Democrats had 11 debates. The first debate had 20 candidates and had to be split
into two debates of ten. By the final debate, just two candidates remained — Biden
and Sanders.
The invisible primary also allows candidates to raise money. This might be donations
directly from the voters themselves, which candidates call targeting the ‘grassroots’.
Table 21.3 Candidates withdrawing from the race to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for
the presidency, 2020
Entered the Withdrew from the
Candidate presidential race presidential race Reason for withdrawal
Bernie Sanders 19 February 2019 8 April 2020 Acknowledged he had
no path to victory
Elizabeth Warren 9 February 2019 5 March 2020 A poor performance on
Super Tuesday
Michael Bloomberg 24 November 2019 4 March 2020 A poor performance on
Super Tuesday
Pete Buttigieg 14 April 2019 1 March 2020 Little chance of winning
the nomination
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Increasingly, however, it is from Political Action Committees (PACs) or
Key terms Super-PACs. PACs can donate directly to a candidate but only to a limit of $5,000.
Political Action Super-PACs can spend unlimited amounts of money for or against candidates, but they
Committee (PAC) A group cannot coordinate directly with the candidate while doing so. Attracting this money
that can raise money to early is important for a candidate to be able to survive the long presidential campaign.
support a candidate in
The rising cost of presidential elections means the invisible primary season is
an election, donating a
increasingly important — the 2020 presidential election cost nearly $6 billion. The
maximum of $5,000 to
data in Figure 21.2 do not take account of either inf lation or the role of ‘free’ media
their campaign directly.
attention gained by candidates — or, in 2012 and 2016, of Super-PAC spending,
Super-PAC A group which may account for the drop in 2016 in official campaign spending — but this
that can raise and send does highlight the vast cost of an election and the necessity to gain significant
unlimited amounts of financial backing.
money to support or
oppose a candidate but
which is not allowed
to donate directly to a
campaign or coordinate
with a campaign.
The 2020 presidential

election was the most
expensive ever, costing nearly
$6 billion
1,100
1,000
900
800
Spending ($million)
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
80
92
00
08
12
60
64
68
72
76
84
88
96
04
16
20
19
19
20
20
20
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
Election year
Republican candidate Democratic candidate
Figure 21.2 Spending in presidential elections, 1960–2016
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Biden
1,000
800
Trump
600
£million
400
200
0
April December October July February May July October
2017 2017 2018 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020
Figure 21.3 Spending in the Biden and Trump campaigns, 2020
Knowledge check
4 Define the invisible primary.
5 What is the difference between a PAC and a Super-PAC?
6 List the reasons that the invisible primary is important for presidential candidates.
7 How does a caucus work?
Traditional wisdom suggests that the person who raises the most money is most
likely to win in an election. Figure 21.2 shows the amount of money raised by
candidates between 1960 and 2016. Although Hillary Clinton raised more than
Donald Trump in 2016, estimates suggest that Trump benefitted from nearly
$2 billion worth of ‘free’ media attention due to his controversial comments, while
Clinton gained just $746 million. In 2020, Michael Bloomberg spent more than
Joe Biden, spending $1,096 million, and yet failed to have any significant success.
Nonetheless, Biden did outspend Trump, his closest rival, on his way to victory.
Hillary Clinton spent

considerably more on her
presidential campaign in
2016 than Donald Trump, yet
went on to lose
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In focus
The importance of incumbency weeks of the election, Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of
the USA. The media coverage of this disaster gave Obama
in a presidential election a huge advantage — he could act ‘presidentially’. He toured
For any candidate running in an election, there is a disaster-hit areas and was photographed talking to those
considerable advantage if they are the current president affected. By comparison, Romney faced a media blackout,
running for re-election (the ‘incumbent’). Allan Lichtman, a with the focus pulled away from the electoral campaign.
presidential historian, has commented on the substantial He also faced scrutiny of his policies regarding the Federal
advantages that an incumbent has: Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as he had previously
suggested that FEMA, the agency responsible for coordinating
‘name recognition; national attention, fundraising
and campaign bases; control over the instruments
a response to such disasters, should be shut down. In
of government; successful campaign experience; a the wake of Hurricane Sandy, his campaign team found
presumption of success; and voters’ inertia and themselves having to review his comments.
risk-aversion.’ It is likely that the incumbent will not face a primary
Having been the president for a number of years, the challenger. This means that they do not have to spend time
incumbent has the benefit of considerable name recognition. exposing any divisions within their own party to win the
This can make it easier for them to attract funding far earlier nomination. This creates a more united party going into the
than their competitors. Incumbents can also demonstrate election and reduces the amount of money a candidate must
policy successes during their first term to try to broaden their spend in the early stages of the election, giving them a large
appeal and show their ability to govern, something which ‘war chest’ to spend later on.
competitors may struggle to do. However, as Lichtman points out, ‘Incumbents are difficult,
Incumbents also have a fundraising advantage, shown in but not impossible, to beat.’ Incumbents can find themselves
Figure 21.4. In 2012, the incumbent Obama’s ability to judged for their failures during their time in office, as George
raise campaign funds earlier gave him a notable financial H.W. Bush did for the weaknesses in the economy during
advantage over Romney, who would ultimately be his the 1992 election and as Trump did in 2020. Equally, their
Republican competitor. 2020 was rather unique as both experience on the campaign trail can mean they are held to
Biden and Trump had extensive name recognition. higher standards. In the 2012 presidential debates, Obama
was criticised for appearing tired and his performance being
The incumbent president can dominate media coverage in a unconvincing compared with his performance in 2008, while
way that other candidates cannot, and take advantage of it, Romney’s performance was not only praised but also these were
particularly in national situations. In 2012, in the final few his first debates, meaning he was free of any such comparison.
70
Knowledge check
60
8 What is an
incumbent? 50
9 How much ‘free’
$ millions
media was Trump 40

given in 2016?
30
10 List the advantages an
incumbent president 20
has in an election.
10
0
January February March April May
Obama campaign Romney campaign
Figure 21.4 Campaign funds raised, 2012
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Primaries and caucuses
In order to choose a single presidential candidate for each party, primaries and caucuses
are held across the country. These are organised by individual parties within each state
between February and June of an election year. This means there are 50 Republican
primaries and caucuses and 50 Democratic primaries and caucuses each election year,
plus those of any third parties. In a primary or caucus, the public vote for the presidential
candidate they prefer for that party. In reality, they are voting to determine who the
delegates to the National Party Convention from their state will vote for.
A primary or a caucus?
In 2020, four states held caucuses and the rest held primaries. These are different
ways of working out how many delegates will be allocated to each candidate.
l A caucus is a public meeting in which people vote either by moving to a part of
the room for a certain candidate or through a show of hands.
l A primary is a state-wide election in which people cast a ballot for their candidate
of choice.
Within each state there are further differences, most notably who is allowed to take
part in a primary or a caucus.
l Open primaries and caucuses allow all voters in a state to take part, even if they
are not a registered member of a party. Voters can take part in only one primary. Key terms
Therefore they would have to decide whether to vote in the Democratic or Open primary A primary in
Republican (or third party) primary or caucus. This means that a Democrat voter which all voters in a state
could choose to vote in the Republican primary and vice versa. can take part, regardless
l Closed primaries and caucuses allow only voters who are registered as a party of party membership or
member to take part. Registered Democrats would be allowed to take part in the registration.
Democratic primary or caucus. Voters are sent a ballot only if they are registered Closed primary A primary
party members and no one else can take part. in which only registered
l Semi-closed primaries and caucuses are a hybrid of open and closed. Registered party members can take
party members are allowed to take part only in their party’s primary or caucus. part.
Unregistered voters, however, are allowed to choose which party primary or
Semi-closed primary
caucus they want to vote in.
A primary in which
There are also differences in how the delegates are allocated: registered party members
and unregistered voters
l Proportionally — In all Democratic primaries and caucuses and some of the
can take part.
Republican ones, the delegates are allocated proportionally to the vote that a
candidate receives.
l Winner-takes-all — In some Republican primaries and caucuses, the candidate
with the biggest share of the vote is allocated all of the delegates for that state.
l Proportional unless a threshold is reached — In some Republican primaries and
caucuses, the delegates are allocated proportionally unless one candidate wins an
overwhelming amount of the vote. If one candidate reaches the ‘threshold’ in a state,
which is 50% of the vote in most cases, they are allocated all of that state’s delegates.
How do they work?
In a primary, the entire state goes to the polls, the results are counted and delegates
are allocated accordingly.
Caucuses are organised differently between states and parties. In Iowa in 2020, there
were 1,678 voting precincts. The votes cast in these meetings were used to work out
the allocation of delegates to candidates. In 2020, the Democrats had 3,979 delegates
to allocate for their National Party Convention and the Republicans had 2,551.
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When do they happen?
The timing of primaries and caucuses is spread between February and June in an
Key term election year. Traditionally, New Hampshire’s primary and Iowa’s caucus are always
Frontloading The the first to happen. There is an increasing trend for primaries and caucuses to be
movement of primaries moved ever earlier — a process known as ‘frontloading’. The reason is that for those
to an earlier point in the states later in the calendar, the decision for each party’s candidate has often been
calendar in order to give finalised by the time they get a say. In 2020, Trump gained a majority of delegates
more significance to a on 17 March but 25 states had not held their primaries at this point, including highly
primary or caucus within populated states such as California.
a state.
The process of frontloading has led to lots of primaries and caucuses happening on
the same day — this is known colloquially as ‘Super Tuesday’. The largest of these
was in 2008, with nearly 47% of delegates for the Democrats decided in 24 primaries
Knowledge check and caucuses on this day, leading to it being dubbed ‘Super Duper Tuesday’.
11 What is an open
It can seem that states with earlier primaries can be more inf luential — by the time
primary?
California voted in the 2016 Republican primary, all candidates except for Trump
12 What is ‘Super
had suspended their campaigns.
Tuesday’?
13 When did Trump
secure enough In focus
delegates to be the
Republican nominee The Iowa caucus in 2020
in 2020?
The Democratic caucus that took place on 3 February 2020 in Iowa was chaotic. The results
14 Where do delegates
from the rounds of voting were supposed to be sent to the party chief so they could be worked
cast their vote
out and the winner announced. Being the first caucus, TV channels had planned hours of
for a presidential
coverage and the winner should have gained considerable media exposure. However, a new
candidate?
electronic system had been introduced to report the results and the technology failed — 16
days after the caucus, the results were still being awaited, allegations of vote inaccuracy were
being cast, recounts were being demanded and the state Democratic chairman had resigned.
The final result was not certified by the state until 29 February. As one of the few remaining
states that uses caucuses, the chaos raised questions over the continued effectiveness of
caucuses for presidential elections.
It proved challenging to
organise the 2020 National
Party Conventions in the
middle of the Covid-19
pandemic. Mostly, they
were conducted virtually.
Unusually, President Trump
spoke every night at the
Republican convention
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National Party Conventions
National Party Conventions are multiday events held for each party and attended
by the delegates allocated in the primaries and caucuses. They formally nominate
Key term
the presidential and vice-presidential candidate for their party and hold discussions National Party
on the party policy for the coming election. Following a disastrous National Party Convention
Convention in 1968, the Democrats established the McGovern–Fraser Commission A national convention
to review the nomination process. The result was a system with greater importance, of the Republican and
emphasis and openness placed on the primaries and caucuses, which previously Democratic parties in
had been of little significance. The importance of the party convention decreased which they formally
as a result. Today, by the time conventions are held, both the presidential and nominate their presidential
vice-presidential candidates are already well known. The process does retain both candidates and affirm
formal and informal roles, however (Table 21.4). their party platform for the
coming election.
In 2016, it took the convention just 6 minutes to confirm the Republican Party
platform despite concerns expressed by some of its members at the anti-LGBTQ+ Party platform The
rhetoric and policy contained within it. It passed with just a voice vote and very few principles and policy goals
objections from the f loor. Similarly, despite a #NeverTrump effort by some of the of a political party. Similar
Republican delegates in 2016, Trump was approved with more than 1,700 delegates to a party manifesto.
(69.8%) on the first ballot — comparatively, Romney had won over 90% on the first
ballot in 2012. In 2004, one Republican was moved to remark, ‘I don’t frankly see
the point of spending millions and millions of dollars that amounts to a TV set that
gets used for one night.’
The election campaign

The period between the National Party Convention and Election Day is dominated
by extensive fundraising, campaign events in states and nationally televised
presidential debates. As part of the campaign, events are organised for candidates
across the USA. These events may not be in every state. The states identified as
battleground states, where the result is not easily predictable, are likely to see far
more events and far more spending by each campaign. ‘Bellwether states’ are those
Table 21.4 Formal and informal roles of National Party Conventions

Formal roles Informal roles
Selecting the party candidates for presidency Selling the candidate
While most party delegates are bound by party rules as As a multi-million-dollar event with extensive television
to whom they have to vote for, this is still a process that coverage, the convention allows the candidate considerable
takes place at conventions and formally acknowledges media coverage, especially of their acceptance speech.
the party’s nominee for president and vice president. In Obama’s 2007 speech had an audience of around 39 million
the vote of delegates, a simple majority of votes cast is television viewers. In this speech, the nominee can talk directly
needed to approve a candidate to the voters and set out their campaign narrative. It can also
allow some of the rising stars of the party to speak and make
their mark for future campaigns, as Obama did in 2004
Adopting the party platform and policies Party unity
Theoretically the party convention allows for discussion The invisible primary and primary season can be bruising.
on, and amendments to, the party platform — this is the With candidates from the same party battling it out for
US equivalent of a party manifesto. While parties do take supremacy, they often do so by pointing out the flaws in the
account of their members’ views, the party convention other candidates, thereby exposing divisions within the party.
today is little more than a rubber stamp for the platform. The convention affords an opportunity to repair some of this
Most of the platform policy is created by ‘platform damage and prepare instead to compete against an opposing
committees’ of each party in the days before the party. Having lost to Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton opened
convention and today often this is done in collaboration her convention speech with, ‘I am honoured to be here
with the presumptive nominee. The platforms are then tonight. A proud mother. A proud Democrat. A proud American.
simply agreed to at the convention in a vote And a proud supporter of Barack Obama’
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2
9
4
18
21
5 47
11 1
1 13
25
13
3
31
Figure 21.5 Number of campaign events in each state by Trump, Pence, Biden or Harris, showing
the concentration of campaigning in 12 states, 2020
that historically have tended to vote for the candidate who ultimately will win
the presidential election — for this reason these states see far more interest from
presidential candidates.
In 2020, 96% of events by either Trump, Pence, Biden or Harris took place in just 12
states. (Figure 21.5 shows the number of their campaign events in each state.) This
makes Governor Scott Walker’s 2015 comments scarily prophetic: ‘The nation as a
whole is not going to elect the next president. Twelve states are.’
Televised debates
The 2020 debates between

Trump and Biden got
heated at times, with Trump
interrupting Biden and Biden
referring to Trump as a clown
and saying, ‘Will you shut up,
man?’
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Since 1976, there has been an expectation for candidates to take part in televised
debates. Candidates who are polling at an average of 15% in national polls are
eligible to take part in presidential debates. For all recent debates, this has meant
there have been only two candidates — one Democrat and one Republican, with
third parties failing to meet the polling requirement. Despite the hype around these
debates, numerous studies have concluded, ‘When it comes to shifting enough
votes to decide the outcome of the election, presidential debates have rarely, if ever,
mattered.’ In 2016, Hillary Clinton appeared to have ‘won’ each debate according
to polling conducted afterwards but went on to lose the election.
Knowledge check
15 List the formal and informal roles of the National Party Conventions.
16 What is a ‘bellwether state’?
17 What percentage of polling does a candidate need to participate in televised debates?
Election Day and the Electoral College

After months of campaigning, Americans finally go to the polls in November.
As with primaries, what really happens on Election Day is 50 separate state-run Key term
elections, all with different rules and processes. In each state, voters cast their ballot Electoral College vote
for the candidate of their choice. However, what they are in fact voting for is which (ECV) A vote allocated
candidate their state’s Electoral College votes (ECVs) get allocated to. For all to a state, based on its
but two states, this is decided on a winner-takes-all basis — the candidate with the population, which is cast
plurality of a vote in each state gets all of that state’s ECVs. by an elector to elect
The method of voting is a decision for each individual state, as is how they allocate the president and vice
the Electoral College votes for their state (Table 21.5). The use of ‘butterf ly ballots’ president.
in 2000 caused such confusion that the election ended up being decided by the Absentee ballot A ballot
Supreme Court. These ballots have names down both sides and punch holes down cast by a voter unable to
the centre, making it difficult for people to work out how to vote for their preferred attend the polling station,
candidate. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 22 states changed their voting usually sent in by mail.
rules (Table 21.5 shows some examples).
Table 21.5 Changes to voting procedures in 2020
State Change made Electoral College vote allocation
Delaware Absentee ballots sent to all registered Winner-takes-all
voters
Maine Voter pre-registration deadline Two votes given to the state-wide
extended winner, one vote given to the
winner in each of Maine’s two
congressional districts
Minnesota Mail-in ballot postmark deadline Winner-takes-all
extended and witness requirements
suspended
New Anyone unable to vote due to Covid-19, Winner-takes-all
Hampshire or feared exposure to Covid-19 was
allowed an absentee ballot
Ohio Elections officials told to accept Winner-takes-all
absentee ballot applications received by
fax or email
Pennsylvania Absentee ballot deadline extended to Winner-takes-all
6 November (but ballots required to
have a postmark of 3 November)
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How does the Electoral College work?
The Electoral College was included in the Constitution as a compromise. It prevented
a direct election of the president by the population, which was feared by some of
the Founding Fathers. It also served the purposes of federalism, ensuring that both
low- and high-population states would have a voice at national level, in much the
same way the Senate would protect this in Congress.
Each state was allocated a number of ECVs. The number for each state would be
the same as the number of people representing that state in Congress. This meant
every state had a minimum of three ECVs, as every state had at least one House of
Representatives member and two senators. The number of House of Representatives
members that a state is allocated is proportional to its population, therefore allocating
ECVs in this way meant that it was broadly proportional.
Before Election Day, each party selects people who cast the ECVs in each state.
These are often faithful party activists for whom this is a reward. Following Election
Day, the state declares which presidential candidate will be allocated its ECVs. The
electors cast their vote in the state capital on the first Monday after the second
Wednesday in December. While 33 states have laws that require their delegates to
cast their vote for the candidate who won the state vote, the rest do not. Delegates
who do not vote as their state did are called ‘faithless electors’. The likelihood of
these voters having any effect on the outcome is minimal. In 2016 there were ten
faithless electors of the 538 — three of these had their votes invalidated as they broke
state law and had to vote again, but seven successfully cast their ballot for someone
other than their state intended.
To win in the Electoral College, a candidate needs a majority of ECVs. Today,
with 538 ECVs available, a winning candidate needs at least 270 to win. While
the winner of the election should be evident after the national vote has been cast,
it is not technically official until the ECVs have been cast in December and are
certified by Congress in January. On 6 January 2020, Congress was certifying the
2020 election ECVs when rioters broke into Congress in an effort to prevent the
certification.
In the 48 states that allocate their ECVs on a winner-takes-all basis, it does not
matter by how much a candidate wins. Biden won California by over 5 million
more votes than Trump, but this received no recognition in the number of ECVs
he received.
Key terms
Elector A person who is nominated to cast an ECV on behalf of their state.
Faithless elector A person who was nominated to cast an ECV on behalf of their state but who
cast their ballot for someone other than the person their state voted for.
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In focus
The 2020 election and the Electoral College
In the 2020 election, Joe Biden won 25 states and Washington, DC and Donald Trump won 25 states. However, Biden won 306
Electoral College Votes while Trump won only 232 (Figure 21.6). In Figure 21.6, 'Win' means the candidate won a state (the paler
colours). 'Flip' means they won it and took it from the other party (the darker colours).
The Covid-19 pandemic had led to many states changing their voting procedures. In many states, this meant much higher levels
of mail-in ballots than usual; however, many states did not allow these to be opened at all before results day. This, coupled with
over 155 million Americans turning out to vote, meant that the national result took nearly a week to be confirmed. Battleground
states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada were so close that Trump contested the result in the media. Trump
even called the secretary of state in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, telling him, ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes.’ Raffensperger
recorded the call and released it to the press. Trump claimed frequently on Twitter that the election was ‘rigged’, culminating in
the events of 6 January 2021 when protestors invaded Congress to try to prevent the congressional certification of the Electoral
College Vote.
306 232
Joe Biden Donald Trump
81,268,924 (51.3%) 74,216,154 (46.9%)

270
to win New
Hampshire
Maine
Vermont
Washington
North Minnesota
Dakota Michigan Massachusetts
Idaho Montana Wisconsin
Connecticut
South Rhode
Wyoming Dakota New York Island
Oregon Nevada
Utah Colorado Nebraska Indiana Pennsylvania
Iowa
Ohio New Jersey

Illinois
Arizona West
Kansas
New Virginia
Mexico Missouri Maryland
Oklahoma Delaware
California Arkansas Kentucky
Virginia
Washington, DC
Georgia
Tennessee
North Carolina
Texas Mississipi Alabama
Louisiana South
Carolina
Hawaii Florida
Biden
Alaska Trump
Win Flip
Figure 21.6 Electoral College votes in the 2020 presidential election
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In focus
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC)
Given the vast criticisms that can be levelled at the Electoral College, reform of this institution
is often debated. In the absence of reform, however, several states have taken it upon
themselves to effect reform. They have created the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact,
in which those states that are members pledge all of their ECVs to the winner of the national
popular vote, regardless of the outcome in their own state. This has been adopted by 15 states
and Washington, DC, which together represent 195 ECVs. All of these states were won by Biden
in 2020.
Debate
Should the Electoral College be reformed?

Evaluation: What is the purpose of the Electoral College and does it still fulfil that purpose? Is there a place for the Electoral
College in a modern democracy?
Given the flaws in the Electoral College and the advances in popular democracy since the time of the Founding Fathers, there are
many arguments for and against the reform of this institution.
Yes No
• In two of the last six presidential elections the winner • The Electoral College ensures that small states remain
of the popular vote has lost in the Electoral College, represented. With the US population heavily concentrated
undermining modern principles of popular sovereignty in a few big states, the role, culture and traditions of
and underlining the outdated nature of the institution smaller states could be ignored without the Electoral
College. It also helps to maintain federalism by allowing
differing electoral procedures in each state
• It effectively excludes third parties from the electoral • The Electoral College guards against tyranny of the
process as the ECVs are not allocated proportionally majority nationally. The Founding Fathers were not
and third-party votes tend to be thinly spread across convinced about the wisdom of popular sovereignty and
the nation this indirect form of election disperses power away from
the public
• Small states are over-represented in the Electoral • There is no consensus on what should replace the
College. California has 54 ECVs and a population Electoral College. There are slight reforms suggested,
of nearly 40 million. Wyoming has three ECVs and a such as the proportional allocation of ECVs, right up
population of nearly 600,000. That means each ECV to abolition and replacing it with a national popular
exercised by Wyoming represents around 200,000 vote, plus more variations in between. This is
people, while a Californian ECV represents over three especially problematic given the difficulty of passing a
times as many people constitutional amendment generally
• The bellwether states are effectively over-represented • Broadly, the Electoral College has produced a clear
as it is their votes that can change the election. A winner. Given the use of FPTP for US elections, the
majority of states are thus almost ignored throughout resulting two-party system means the winner has a clear
the electoral process as their result is more majority of ECVs and therefore has a strong mandate to
predictable govern
• That faithless electors exist undermines the very basic
principles of democracy. Reform is therefore needed
to maintain legitimacy in US elections
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Knowledge check
18 What is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?
19 How is the number of Electoral College Votes that a state receives determined?
20 Why did states change their voting procedures in 2020?
21 Define the term ‘faithless elector’.
22 List the arguments for reforming the Electoral College.
Synoptic link
There are questions over the effectiveness of the electoral process in the USA and the UK. In
the USA, the failure of the president to win the popular vote in two of the last six elections has
sparked controversy over the use of the Electoral College. A similar thing happened in the UK in
1951, with the Conservatives gaining fewer votes but more seats than Labour. For more on the
UK voting system, see Chapter 3.
The two-party system

The outcome of the US electoral process is a two-party system, which is difficult
to overcome. Even state-level politics is dominated by two parties. It is not only the
Key term
electoral system that leads to a two-party system. Party system The number
of parties that have a
l The use of winner-takes-all This disadvantages third parties as they gain
realistic chance of forming
nothing unless they come first in a state or district. Therefore, despite the
government.
threefold jump in third-party votes in 2016 to more than 7 million votes, they
gained nothing for their achievements (compare first-past-the-post in the UK).
l The nature of the USA The federal nature of the USA, and the guarantee of
a state’s right to run its own elections, make every election a small, single-seat
election. Using a winner-takes-all electoral system in itself causes a two-party
system. However, given that the USA effectively conducts a series of mini-elections
on any Election Day, this problem is exacerbated.
l Party ideology The two main US parties have a broad ideology and it is
difficult for a third party to carve out any distinct policy area that is not already
covered by them. If it were able to, it would not take much for one of the two
main parties to simply assume this policy, a process known as co-optation. This
means that candidates running as independents struggle to carve out a distinct
policy platform.
l The expense of politics US elections have become so expensive that the only
parties able to really compete are those with money. Most smaller parties lack
the finances or membership to gain success, thus reinforcing the two-party
system.
l The electoral rules The rules of the presidential debate serve to exclude third
parties who struggle to achieve the popularity needed in the polls. This restricts
their access to what amounts to free media and undermines their legitimacy as
serious parties.
Synoptic link
Two parties dominate the political landscape in both the USA and the UK, often for broadly the
same reasons, including the use of a similar electoral system. For more information on the UK
party system, see pages 64–67. This links to Component 1, UK Politics.
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1974
FECA reformed
after Watergate
The amendment creates 1979 2010
the Federal Elections Commission Congress amends FECA Citizens United v FEC
to oversee and regulate election Through further amendment Effectively determines
spending. It limits individual of the Act, it allows for the that money is free speech,
donations to a single campaign to development of soft money — and therefore campaign limits
$1,000 (with a capped aggregate money donated to placed on organisations
total of $25,000 to all federal and spent by a party rather than are unconstitutional.
campaigns). It also limits a candidate and therefore is not This gives rise to the
campaign spending bound by campaign limits creation of Super-PACs
1971 1976 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act 2014

Federal Elections Buckley v Valeo (McCain-Feingold) McCutcheon v FEC
Campaign Act (FECA) in the Supreme Court • Bans soft money donations to national parties Rules that the aggregate cap
passed This ruling upholds • Raises individual contribution limits to $2,000 placed on individuals limiting
This lays out requirements the donation limits for (or ‘hard money’) per candidate per election the number of candidates
for the disclosure of elections but rules • Corporations and labour unions are banned they can donate to within
donations received by that spending caps from funding issue advertisements an election cycle is
candidates (of over $100) amount to a • Prohibits ‘electioneering communications’ unconstitutional
and sets spending limits violation of free referring to federal candidates within 60 days
for candidates and their of a general election by corporations and labour
speech
families ($50,000 for unions
presidential elections). It • ‘Stand By Your Ad’ (SBYA) provision requires
also establishes candidates to endorse campaign adverts to
matching funds discourage attack adverts or controversial claims
Figure 21.7 The history of campaign finance reform
Key terms Campaign finance

In Aaron Sorkin’s fictionalised drama series The West Wing, it is remarked that
527s Tax-exempt
money in politics is like water on a pavement — ‘it finds all the cracks and crevices’.
organisations created
The role of money in US politics is well documented and there is little chance of
to influence electoral
it receding, given recent electoral spending. However, there have been numerous
outcomes but that cannot
attempts to limit the inf luence of money in elections to ensure a fairer and more
call for the election or defeat
democratic campaign (Figure 21.7).
of a specific candidate.
Campaign finance The Contribution limits for individuals to candidates in 2021–22 were set at $2,900. Yet
funds raised by a candidate there are other ways in which individuals can spend their money to try to influence
or their party to support an election.
their campaign for office.
A vast array of groups developed throughout US electoral history to raise money
Soft money Money and try to inf luence elections. The most common today are shown in Table 21.6.
donated to a party, The 2010 ruling in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission effectively allowed
rather than a candidate, for the creation of Super-PACs and since then their role and the money they have
and used for ‘party- raised have exploded.
building activities’, rather
Table 21.6 The most common methods of raising campaign money today
than endorsement of a
candidate directly. It is Group Can raise … Campaign restrictions
subject to few limits. PACs A $5,000 donation per campaign Can donate directly to a campaign
Hard money Donations 527s Unlimited amounts Cannot call for the election or defeat
of a candidate
directly to an electoral
campaign and subject to Super-PACs Unlimited amounts Can call for the election or defeat of
a candidate but cannot coordinate
strict limits.
with those campaigns
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Difficulty in achieving reform
Achieving campaign finance reform has proved difficult partly because those in
Knowledge check
power have benefited from the current system and can be reluctant to reform it. 23 List the reasons the
Where legislators have created legislation, groups have simply found ways to work USA has a two-party
around this — PACs, 527s, Super-PACs all demonstrate a willingness for groups system.
to get their voice heard through money in elections one way or another. Supreme 24 What was the outcome
Court rulings have also made reforming finance difficult. On numerous occasions of the Citizens United
the Court has struck down legislation limiting finance as being a challenge to the 1st v FEC case in 2010?
Amendment free speech rights. As the Constitution is entrenched and it is difficult 25 What is the difference
to change, the power of these Supreme Court rulings is relatively unchallenged. between ‘hard money’
There is a lack of consensus about what campaign finance reform would look like. and ‘soft money’?
Without bipartisan agreement, the chance of making effective legislation, let alone 26 Define ‘co-optation’.
considering a constitutional amendment, is highly unlikely.
Debate
Is the presidential election process effective?
Evaluation: Does the process ensure legitimacy for those elected and choice for voters? Are there reforms that would improve the
process today?
Yes No
• The lengthy process ensures that candidates are • The Electoral College has proven to be increasingly out of
resilient enough to withstand the demands of being step with popular sovereignty and therefore needs reform
the president
• The Electoral College has served to produce a clear • The primaries calendar effectively disenfranchises some
winner able to govern effectively despite the split states while over-representing the views of others, thereby
nature of US political opinion creating an uneven form of federalism
• The primary calendar ensures that the voice of • The expected presidential televised debates have limited
smaller states is upheld, protecting the principle of impact on the outcome of the election and are therefore a
federalism sideshow
• The ability to attract large amounts of money • The National Party Convention, while no longer taxpayer
speaks to the character and breadth of appeal of a funded, serves little democratic purpose for the voters at
candidate, making them more suited to the job large
• The expectation of an acceptance speech at the • The amount of money required to become the president
National Party Conventions, plus a good performance makes the process inherently elitist
in televised debates, highlight a skill that a president
would be expected to have — commanding and
persuasive public speaking
• It broadly works — controversies have been quickly • The volume of money required also gives undue influence
overcome and President George W. Bush and to interest groups and corporations over the voice of the
President Trump, who both won the Electoral College general population
but not the popular vote, have been able to lead while
being kept in check by opinion polls and Congress
• Third parties can have a role, whether in the share of • The length of the process creates political apathy among
the national vote (as with Ross Perot in 1992) or in the voters, which can lower turnout and undermine the
trying to shape the debates of an election (as with Jill legitimacy of an election
Stein and Gary Johnson in 2016)
• Primaries allow voters a genuine choice. Neither • The variety of voting methods has been criticised and
Obama nor Trump was the frontrunner when the caused controversy over election results
invisible primary began and yet they triumphed
• In terms of actual power, third parties are effectively
excluded from the election, with the entire process
creating a two-party system
• Increasingly, the role of the media is more influential than
money spent and yet this area is relatively unregulated
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Parties
The Founding Fathers seemed wary of the idea of parties, or factions, and yet
resigned to their existence. In 1824, Jefferson shared the opinion that ‘men by their
constitutions are naturally divided into two parties’, an opinion that seemed to be
shared by Madison in the Federalist Paper #10. In fact, the Founding Fathers were
the creators of the first American parties. Hamilton’s Federalists on one side favoured
a strong national government and a relationship with England, with Jefferson and
Madison’s Democratic-Republican Party opposing them. This two-party system
has become a hallmark of US politics, embodied today by the Democratic Party,
with roots in the party of Jefferson and Madison, and the Republican Party founded
in 1854.
The two main US parties do not have a distinct, coherent ideology platform. All of
US politics is conducted within a more conservative part of the political spectrum
than in the UK, but there is still a breadth of ideas and opinions across this range.
Within each party there exists a range of views on any issue. Senator Susan Collins
is a pro-choice Republican who sits on the left-hand edge of her party. Senator
Marsha Blackburn, in contrast, sits on the very right-hand edge of the Republican
Party and sees very few circumstances in which abortion should be allowed.
The two major parties have a national infrastructure — the Republican National
Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). These
committees head their respective parties, developing and promoting the party
platform and organising fundraising. Each general election, the RNC and the DNC
produce the party platform, which is then agreed at the National Party Convention.
Parties are also organised at state level. Each state has its own Democratic and
Republican parties with their own party platforms that are both relevant to and
ref lective of the culture and traditions of that state. This means that although two
candidates in different states might both run as a ‘Democrat’, their policy priorities
might be entirely different.
The key ideas and principles of the

Democratic and Republican parties
There are still identifiable trends within the two main
parties that can be seen to be their ‘principles’ or ideology.
This might not apply equally to every party member but
it does give a broad understanding of the parties. One
of the main ways in which we can identify these trends
is to look at the party platforms from a general election
(Table 21.7).
Knowledge check
27 List the reasons that campaign finance reform is difficult
to achieve.
28 Which amendment has been used to defend less
Both parties’ symbols, the Republican’s elephant and the regulation of campaign finance spending?
Democrat’s donkey, were in popular use by the end of the 29 What are the DNC and the RNC?
nineteenth century
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Table 21.7 National-level policy principles from the 2020 party platforms
Democrats Republicans
Ideology Generally liberal, believing in progressive rights Generally conservative, believing in individual rights and
and some level of government intervention in a limited role for the government in the economy and
both social and economic policy social policy, although a larger role in homeland security
General Believe in: Believe in:
ideological • ‘We never stop trying to build a more perfect • American exceptionalism (the idea that the USA is
principles union’ uniquely ‘free’)
• ‘Out of many, we are one’ — a responsibility • the rights of the individual, ‘life, liberty and the pursuit
of society to ensure that government works of happiness’
for everyone • an originalist interpretation of the Constitution
• liberty and equality for all • limited government, separation of powers and
• government intervention to ensure equality federalism
for all, in both the economy and social • ‘political freedom and economic freedom are
welfare indivisible’
• being strong enough to defend the nation • being strong enough to defend the nation while seeking
while seeking peace peace
General Support: Support:
policy belief • women’s right to choose in the case of • restrictions on provision of and funding for abortion
abortion • opposition to same-sex marriage
• same-sex marriage • stricter immigration policy
• social welfare (including healthcare) • pro-business policies
• reform of immigration • gun rights
• pro-environmental policies • smaller government to allow greater rights of individual
• gun control states
• larger government, even if that occasionally • state- and parent-run education
encroaches on states’ rights • tax cuts over the provision of social welfare including
• access to free, or debt-free, education universal healthcare
• abolishing the death penalty • the death penalty
The principles listed in Table 21.7 were taken from the 2020 party platforms. For
the Republicans, this was quite unique as they decided in 2020 not to produce a new
party platform. Instead, they re-used their 2016 platform. They demonstrate what
appears to be a clear-cut division between the two major parties. These, however,
are national-level policy principles. Not all elected Democrats or Republicans will
agree with all of their party’s principles — it will largely depend on what their
constituents believe.
The 2020 party platforms provide a useful insight into specific policy differences
between the Republicans and the Democrats. The ideological principles of a
party often inform its policy. In explaining why the Republicans oppose universal
healthcare, it is important to note that they believe in individual freedom. The
provision of such healthcare would therefore remove this choice from the individual
and go against the Republicans’ ideological beliefs.
Synoptic link
The ideologies of the major parties in both the USA and the UK are underpinned by political
philosophy. The Republican and Conservative parties draw heavily on key conservative thinkers;
for more information, see Chapter 10. The Democratic Party draws more heavily on the liberal
thinkers, as does the Labour Party to some extent; for more information see Chapter 9. The
Labour Party also draws on key socialist thinkers; for more information see Chapter 11. This
links to Component 1, Core Political Ideas.
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Table 21.8 Party policy stances on key social and moral issues in 2020
Issue Democrats Republicans
Death penalty ‘Democrats continue to support abolishing the ‘With the murder rate soaring in our great cities, we
death penalty’ condemn the Supreme Court’s erosion of the right of
the people to enact capital punishment in their states’
LGBTQ+ rights ‘Democrats applaud last year’s decision by ‘Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage
the Supreme Court that recognized that LGBT between one man and one woman, is the foundation
people — like other Americans — have the right for a free society … We condemn the Supreme Court’s
to marry the person they love. But there is still ruling in U.S. v Windsor, which wrongly removed the ability
much work to be done’ of Congress to define marriage policy in federal law’
Abortion ‘We believe unequivocally, like the majority of ‘We assert the sanctity of human life and affirm
Americans, that every woman should be able that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life
to access high-quality reproductive healthcare which cannot be infringed. We support a human life
services, including safe and legal abortion’ amendment to the Constitution’
Environment Build a globally competitive clean energy ‘We support the development of all forms of energy
economy that are marketable in a free economy without
Rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change subsidies, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear
power, and hydropower’
‘We oppose any carbon tax’
Guns ‘Democrats will enact universal background ‘We support firearm reciprocity legislation to recognize
checks, end online sales of guns and ammunition, the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms to
close dangerous loopholes … and adequately protect themselves and their families in all 50 states
fund the federal background check system’ … We oppose ill-conceived laws that would restrict
Ban the sales of assault weapons and high- magazine capacity or ban the sale of the most popular
capacity magazines and common modern rifle’
Immigration ‘Reinstate, expand and streamline protections ‘Our highest priority, therefore, is to secure our borders
for Dreamers and parents of American-citizen and all ports of entry and to enforce our immigration
children’ laws’
Social and moral issues

Democratic and Republican stances on various social and moral issues are shown
in Table 21.8. These policies represented very little change from the 2012 and 2016
party platforms.
A protest over gun control

after the Santa Fe High
School shooting, 2018
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Knowledge check
30 What is the general ideology of the Republican Party?
31 What is the general ideology of the Democratic Party?
32 Define ‘party platform’.
33 What was unique about the Republican party platform in 2020?
34 Why do Republicans oppose universal healthcare?
Economic issues
Democratic and Republican stances on various economic issues are shown in Table
21.9.
Table 21.9 Party policy stances on key economic issues
Tax ‘Democrats will take action to reverse the Trump ‘Republicans consider the establishment of
Administration’s tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest pro-growth tax codes a moral imperative …
Americans and rewarding corporations for shipping tax rates penalize thrift or discourage
American jobs overseas’ investment, they must be lowered’
Minimum wage ‘We will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and ‘Minimum wage is an issue that should be
guarantee equal pay for women’ handled at the state and local level’
Banking ‘Democrats will work to reverse the over-financialization ‘Republicans believe that no financial
of the American economy and curb Wall Street institution is too big to fail. We support
speculation by maintaining and expanding safeguards legislation to ensure that the problems of any
that separate retail banking institutions from more financial institution can be resolved through
risky investment operations, and ensuring Wall Street the Bankruptcy Code’
investors pay their fair share in taxes’
Social welfare
Democratic and Republican stances on healthcare and education are shown in
Table 21.10.
Table 21.10 Party policy stances on healthcare and education
Healthcare ‘Democrats will keep up the fight until all ‘It is time to repeal Obamacare and give America a
Americans can access secure, affordable, much-needed tax cut … we will reduce mandates
high-quality health insurance — because as and enable insurers and providers of care to
Democrats, we fundamentally believe healthcare is increase healthcare options and contain costs’
a right for all, not a privilege for the few’
Education Authorise $10,000 debt relief on student loans ‘The federal government should not be in the
Forgive student loans that have not been repaid business of originating student loans. In order
after 20 years to bring down college costs and give students
access to a multitude of financing options, private
sector participation in student financing should be
restored’
The changing significance of the parties

While parties in the USA have a broad ideology, their role and significance are clear
when looking at their actions in Congress. It is easy to identify party-line voting
on significant issues, such as the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 and
Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022. When averaged, the voting trends of members of
both the Senate and the House of Representatives fall increasingly into party blocs.
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As hyperpartisanship increases in Congress, parties become more important and less
bipartisan action is seen in congressional law-making. This ref lects the ideological
shift of the US public, which also has become more polarised in recent decades.
There are factors that can limit the significance of parties in Congress, however:
l Constituents In a short election cycle, members of Congress must be mindful of
the views of their constituents as well as their party if they wish to be re-elected.
This is especially true given the nature of primaries in the USA, which allow
constituents to control who makes it on to the ballot paper.
l Congressional caucuses These are groups of Congress members who share a
specific common interest and come together when voting on that issue, irrespective
of party lines. There is, for example, a Women’s Caucus, a Black Caucus and
a Steel Caucus for representatives of states in which heavy manufacturing is a
crucial part of the economy.
l Interest groups It would be rare that the role of an interest group would be the
publicised reason a member of Congress voted against their party. However, in
an age of such expensive elections, the role of interest groups in funding both
parties and individual candidates is crucial and can sometimes explain voting
behaviour.
The general trend remains that since the middle of the twentieth century, the
divisions between parties have widened. This suggests that parties as a vehicle for
ideologies have grown in importance.
Synoptic link
While UK party conferences are held annually, compared with every 4 years for conventions in
the USA, these events in both countries have a key role in debating and confirming the policies
that will be adopted by a party. For more about UK party policies and profiles, see pages 47–64.
This links to Component 1, UK Politics.
Knowledge check
35 Define ‘hyperpartisanship’.
36 Name three congressional caucuses.
37 Why do interest groups have influence over members of Congress?
Intraparty conflicts and factions

Given the broad ideology of US parties, it is not surprising that factions develop
Key term within them. These factions change over time and often overlap. The emergence
Factions Groups within a and disappearance of factions changes over time in response to the key policy issues
political party that share of the day.
an ideological agreement
Broadly, each party can be divided into three blocs or factions that share common
which might be different
ideas:
from other groups within
the same party. l Democrats: liberals, moderates and conservatives.
l Republicans: moderates, social conservatives and fiscal conservatives.
It is often possible to see where an individual sits within a party by looking both at
their voting record and their support from interest groups. From time to time, named
factions occur. Within the Republican Party, the Tea Party movement and the Freedom
Caucus both represented the more right-wing element of the party’s ideology.
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In focus
The Freedom Caucus
The Freedom Caucus is a group of right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Formed in 2015, they launched vocal challenges to Obama’s immigration policy and
fought to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In 2022, 43 of the 209 Republics in the House
of Representatives were members of the Freedom Caucus. Republican Speakers Boehner
(2011–15) and Ryan (2015–19) tried to control this faction, but it was so disruptive that
ultimately both speakers left this post.
John Boehner resigned in 2015, having battled with the Freedom Caucus, which considered
him too moderate. Boehner described the leader of the caucus: ‘Jordan was a terrorist as
a legislator going back to his days in the Ohio House and Senate. A terrorist. A legislative
terrorist.’
John Boehner found the Freedom
When Paul Ryan took over the role of speaker, dealing with the Freedom Caucus proved
Caucus difficult to work with,
just as problematic. They battled with him over immigration and healthcare policies and he
despite both him and the Caucus
ultimately left the role in January 2019.
members being drawn from the
That this faction is a well-known political entity in the media highlights its significance. Republican Party
Democratic factions
Looking at the ratings that interest groups give to members of Congress can help
to illustrate their views and where in the party they belong. The 2021 ratings
in Table 21.11 demonstrate that the conservative wing of the Democrat Party is
more business friendly, while the liberal wing is more focused on rights and the
environment. Interest groups can issue ‘ratings’ to members of Congress that show Knowledge check
how sympathetic each representative is to the cause of that group. In Table 21.11, the
38 Name a progressive
higher the percentage, the more sympathetic a member of Congress is to a group.
Democrat.
39 What is the Freedom
Liberals Caucus?
Liberals, or progressives, within the Democratic Party are those who are on the 40 List the broad
left of their party. They are more comfortable with government intervention if factions in the
it can help achieve equality and fight for the protection of the rights of everyone. Democratic Party.
Notable recent figures in this wing of the party have been Bernie Sanders and 41 List the broad
Elizabeth Warren, who ran against Biden in 2020. Sanders’ 2020 campaign saw factions in the
him advocate for free education, universal healthcare and a green new deal. In Republican Party.
2018, 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez caused a ‘political earthquake’ within
Table 21.11 Factions and ratings within the Democratic Party, 2021
Faction
Liberal Moderate Conservative
Rating by: Bernie Sanders Dianne Feinstein Joe Manchin
(Vermont) (California) (West Virginia)
United States Chamber of Commerce — supporting business 33% 50% 81%
Americans for Prosperity — supporting conservative values 0% 0% 0%
American Civil Liberties Union — supporting individual rights 100% 75% 100%
League of Conservation Voters — supporting environmental issues 97% 100% 85%
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the Democrats by defeating the incumbent
Congressman Joe Crowley in the New York
14th district Democratic primary. Ocasio-
Cortez had worked on Sanders’ campaign and
described herself as a socialist.
In 2021, progressives in the Democratic Party
held up Biden’s infrastructure bill, which was
a key part of his Build Back Better agenda.
They refused to vote for the bill alone, hoping
to combine it with a large social security
package, or at least get a guaranteed vote on the
social security package. The infrastructure bill
eventually passed but only after guaranteeing
a social security vote by mid-November. Even
then, six progressive Democrats would not vote
for the infrastructure bill.
Moderates
Moderates are those Democratic members who
sit in the centre of their party. This group is
likely to hold liberal values but be willing to
compromise on some of the specifics. Dianne
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Feinstein and Charles Schumer sit almost in the centre of their party. Feinstein, a
is the youngest woman ever
senator from California, opposes the death penalty and supports the environment
to serve in the US Congress
but does not support the government takeover of healthcare. In a 2017 town hall
and is a member of the
meeting, Feinstein was booed by attendees when she suggested she did not support
Democratic Socialists of
single-payer healthcare.
America
Conservatives
Conservative Democrats are those on the very right of the party. In an era of
hyperpartisanship, they are increasingly uncommon. These are members who would
tend to be socially and morally conservative but share agreement with the Democrats
on fiscal and economic policy. Joe Manchin, the senator for West Virginia, has
advocated for a measure of gun control despite his right-leaning state, but was the
only Democratic vote for Brett Kavanaugh to be appointed to the Supreme Court in
2018. Manchin caused continuous issues for Biden in his first 2 years. The Senate was
evenly split between Democrats and Republicans but Manchin routinely challenged
Biden’s policies on social welfare, spending, voting rights and abortion.
Republican factions
The 2021 ratings in Table 21.12 demonstrate that the moderate wing of the
Republican Party is more willing to compromise over the issue of rights as viewed
by liberals, while the social conservative wing is more focused on rights from a
conservative standpoint, such as anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage. In Table
21.12, the higher the percentage, the more sympathetic a member of Congress is to
a group.
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Table 21.12 Factions and ratings within the Republican Party, 2021
Faction
Moderates Fiscal conservatives Social conservatives
Rating by: Lisa Murkowski Ben Sasse Ted Cruz
(Alaska) (Nebraska) (Texas)
United States Chamber of Commerce — supporting business 88% 65% 62%
Americans for Prosperity — supporting conservative values 89% 100% 100%
American Civil Liberties Union — supporting individual rights 100% 75% 25%
League of Conservation Voters — supporting environmental 47% 18% 3%
issues
Moderates
Moderates within the Republican Party tend to favour more conservative fiscal
policy, looking for lower taxes and more business-friendly policies. This is often
balanced, however, with more liberal views on the issue of rights. In February 2022,
Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) introduced a bill to codify in
law the right to an abortion guaranteed in Supreme Court case Roe v Wade (1973).
Like conservative Democrats, however, there are increasingly fewer moderate
Republicans.
Fiscal conservatives
Fiscal conservatives have a keen focus on the size and cost of government, mostly
with a view to cutting it down to reduce taxes and allow greater economic freedom
for businesses and Americans. Social and moral issues do not concern them in a
significant way. It was these Americans who were strongly represented by Trump’s
promises to free the economy from government regulation, lower taxes and
renegotiate those trade deals that were not in the best interests of the USA. Senator
Sasse (Nebraska) said in 2021, ‘Here’s the sad reality: almost nobody in Washington,
Republican or Democrat, cares much about the debt, but lots of grandstanders care
a lot about who racks up that debt. Most folks are OK with deficits just as long as
it’s their party that gets the short-term political advantage of claiming to be saviours
shovelling cash. I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, the math is the
math.’
Social conservatives
Social conservatives have a keen focus on social and moral policy issues. They are
sometimes known as the ‘religious right’ or the ‘Christian right’. They take a
Key term
conservative view on social matters, supporting the death penalty and gun rights Religious right A faction
and opposing abortion and social welfare. Their opposition is based on the moral usually associated with
implications of these issues. As the 2020 Republican platform identifies, they the Republican Party that
believe in the sanctity of life, including that of an unborn child. Ted Cruz’s 21-hour advances conservative
faux-filibuster of 2013 was staged in opposition to Obamacare on an ideological, views on social issues
rather than a cost, basis. In May 2022, Republicans voted together with Democrat such as abortion and
Joe Manchin to block the codification of abortion rights in the USA, following the same-sex marriage.
leak of a Supreme Court decision that seemed to overturn these rights.
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Coalition of supporters for each party
When choosing how to vote, a voter is likely to consider which party has policies
Synoptic link that will be most beneficial to them. This depends on a range of socioeconomic and
Parties divide into factions demographic factors.
due to variation within a
The voter data from the last five presidential elections (Table 21.13) show common
political ideology and the
trends in which groups vote either Democrat or Republican.
importance of individual
aspects within that Table 21.13 Breakdown of voter data from four presidential elections, 2004 to 2016 (all figures
ideology. Parties in both are percentages; bold text for majority opinion)
the USA and the UK not
2004
2012
2008
2020
2016
only have factions, but
these factions change and Year
G.W. Bush
evolve over time. For more
H. Clinton
Romney
McCain
Obama
Obama
on UK party factions, see
Trump
Trump
Biden
Kerry
pages 47–64. This links to
Candidate
Component 1, UK Politics.
Overall vote 51 47 51 49 51 47 53 45 48 51
Men 48 50 41 52 45 52 49 48 44 55
Gender
Women 55 45 54 41 55 44 56 43 51 48
White 43 55 37 57 39 59 43 55 41 58
Knowledge check African American 92 8 89 8 93 6 95 4 88 11
Race
42 Name a moderate Hispanic/Latino 59 38 66 28 71 27 67 31 53 44
Democrat. Asian 72 28 65 27 73 26 62 35 56 43
43 Name the
18–29 59 35 55 36 60 37 66 32 54 46
Republicans who
30–44 55 43 51 41 52 45 52 46 46 53
introduced pro- Age
choice legislation 45–64 47 53 44 52 47 51 50 49 47 52
into Congress. 65 and over 48 52 45 52 44 56 45 53 47 52
44 What do social Protestant 40 59 39 58 42 57 45 54 40 59
conservatives Catholic 49 50 45 52 50 48 54 45 47 52
believe? Religion
Jewish 76 22 71 24 69 30 78 21 74 25
45 What policies of
Other 64 32 62 29 74 23 73 22 74 23
President Biden
<$50,000 57 42 53 41 60 38 63 35 57 42
did Joe Manchin
oppose? Income $50,000–90,000 56 43 46 49 46 52 50 49 44 56
$100,000 & over 43 54 47 47 44 54 49 49 41 58
Gender
In every election since 1980, women have voted in higher proportions than men.
Traditionally, they have been more likely to support the Democratic Party than the
Republican Party, although the division is not extreme. Usually between 40% and
49% of women vote Republican, while a little over 50% vote Democratic. One of
the reasons that might explain this is the Democratic policies on women’s issues —
not only abortion but also the gender pay gap and employment equality. It could
also be because the Democratic Party has more female representatives in both houses
of Congress and typically has more female candidates running for office. The ability
to vote for someone who can descriptively represent women is therefore higher in
the Democratic Party.
In 2016, 41% of women voted for Donald Trump, a notable drop on recent years.
This could be attributed to his more conservative social policies that were advanced
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during the campaign, arguing with Hillary Clinton over abortion rights in the final
presidential debate. Trump’s controversial statements about women may also have
served to lessen his vote from women.
Clinton offered an explanation for this:
‘[Women] will be under tremendous pressure — and I’m talking principally about
white women. They will be under tremendous pressure from fathers and husbands
and boyfriends and male employers not to vote for “the girl”.’
Race
Turnout of the two biggest minority groups in the USA — Hispanics/Latinos and
African Americans — in general elections is typically lower than among white
Americans. Like women, racial minorities in the USA have typically been more
likely to vote for the Democrats in recent elections, but a significant minority of
these groups do vote Republican. This was highlighted in 2018, with Kanye West
tweeting in support of Donald Trump and Chance The Rapper also tweeting, ‘Black Knowledge check
people don’t have to be Democrats’. Because of Kanye West’s support, he was received 46 List the reasons more
in the Oval Office by Trump in late 2018. At this meeting West commented: women may vote for
‘But there’s times where, you know, it’s something about, you know, I love Hillary. I love the Democratic Party.
everyone, right? But the campaign “I’m with her” just didn’t make me feel as a guy, that 47 Which groups of
didn’t get to see my dad all the time, like a guy that could play catch with his son.’ people are more
likely to vote for the
Nonetheless, policies that have typically been perceived as important to minority Republican Party?
groups have often been championed more by Democrats than Republicans. Voting 48 Which groups of
rights and affirmative action have traditionally been seen as particularly relevant people are more
to African Americans. For Hispanics/Latinos, the typically significant policy was likely to vote for the
assumed to be immigration. This, however, as Figure 21.8 shows, was not borne out Democratic Party?
by research in 2016, which placed immigration only fifth in a list of policy priorities
for Hispanics/Latinos.
Democrats have also been more representative of minority groups in terms of the
people who run in elections. There are far more Democratic African American and
Hispanic/Latino members of Congress than Republican.
%
90
80 76
80
72
70 66
63 62 60 58
59
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Economy Health- Coronavirus Racial Violent Supreme Climate Immi- Guns
care inequality crime Court change gration
appointments
Percentage of Hispanic /Latino registered voters saying each is ‘very important’ to their
vote in the 2020 election; data from Pew Research Center
Figure 21.8 Top issues for Hispanic/Latino voters, 2020
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140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
$
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
1983 1989 2001 2007 2010 2016 2019
White Black Hispanic /Latino
Data from Edward N. Wolff, 'Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1962–2019'
Figure 21.9 The ever-growing gap: black, Hispanic/Latino and white mean household income,
1983–2019
Of huge concern for both of these minority groups is the economy (Figure 21.9).
While there is an increasing number of African American and Hispanic/Latino
millionaires, the wealth gap between these groups and white Americans continues
to grow. It would be oversimplistic to attribute minority groups’ voting behaviour
to ethnicity alone.
In 2020, for the first time, over half of eligible Hispanic/Latino voters turned out
to vote. Equally notable was that Trump increased the Republican share of the
Hispanic/Latino vote compared with 2012 and 2016. Despite the media rhetoric,
twice as many Hispanic/Latino voters in 2016 considered immigration policy in the
USA to be too lax rather than too strict — therefore Trump’s hardline immigration
policies in fact won him support.
Education
Traditionally, educational qualifications alone may not have been discussed by
political pollsters and pundits. Age, race, gender and religion were all common
delineators of how people voted in elections, but education was more commonly
viewed as part of ‘class’. However, in 2016, voters’ level of education became
a big headline and this continued in 2020. The key trend appeared to be that
those who had a higher level of education were more likely to vote for Clinton
Synoptic link and Biden, while those without a college-level degree were more likely to vote
for Donald Trump. Much of this difference was down to whether voters felt
Socioeconomic factors
each candidate understood the issues facing them. Far more white working-class
play a significant role in
Americans believed Trump understood their challenges better than Clinton or
elections in the UK and the
Biden did.
USA. For more information
on factors that influence
voting in the UK, see
Religion
pages 112–124. This
Religion can become a factor in voting with regard to some of the moral issues
posed by government policies — abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty and laws
Politics.
surrounding marriage all have a moral importance. For voters who have a religious
affiliation, party stances on these matters can therefore inf luence their vote.
9781398369160.indb 610 15/02/23 10:29 PM

l Protestants are more likely to be Republican voters, with congressional members
of the social conservatives supporting the views that these voters hold.
Knowledge check
l Catholics have more split voting patterns, with issues such as abortion causing 49 What were the top
their votes to swing between Democrats and Republicans over the last four three issues for
elections. Hispanic/Latino
l Jewish Americans are reliable Democratic voters, traditionally being far more voters in the 2020
liberal in their views and sharing sympathy with minority groups. elections?
50 Why did some
There was little change in these trends in 2020 — Trump took a majority of the
Hispanic/Latino
Protestant and Catholic vote, while Biden took a majority of Jewish and ‘other’
voters vote for
votes. However, in 2016 political journalist Frances Fitzgerald argued that the
Donald Trump?
explanation of why Protestants would vote for Trump was less about religion and
51 List the policy
more to do with the sympathies that these voters shared with the Tea Party and fiscal
issues that may be
Republicans: ‘The Trump victory had shown,’ Fitzgerald argues, ‘that the Christian
important to voters
right had lost its power.’
with a religious
affiliation.
Interest groups
In arguing for the ratification of the Constitution, Madison made an impassioned
plea:
‘Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous
citizens…that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is
disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often
decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but
by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority. However
anxiously we may wish that these complaints had no foundation, the evidence of
known facts will not permit us to deny that they are in some degree true.’
He was lamenting the role of factions and interests over the government and the
impact this has on citizens, especially those not in the majority. The role of interest
groups in US politics seems as significant today as it was in 1787, if not more so, given
the rising costs of elections, the growth of popular sovereignty and the increasing
diversity of the US population. Significance and power must not be confused,
however — the final Senate vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh was interrupted by a
disturbance from the Senate gallery of a female protestor shouting, ‘I do not consent.
I do not consent. Where is my representation?’ Nonetheless, once the vote resumed,
Kavanaugh was confirmed. This was a significant protest, but ultimately had little
inf luence.
Types of interest groups

Interest groups seek to inf luence decision makers to create policy that is sympathetic
to their cause. The codified Constitution means that rights are protected, and it
allows groups to use this and the Supreme Court to enact change. The federal
nature of the USA means groups can choose to target districts, states and federal
government in trying to achieve change.
In a political system with a vast array of access points, groups will often use whatever
means they can to be heard, which can make categorising them a challenge. There
appear to be three broad types of groups — single-issue, professional and policy —
although there is overlap between these definitions.
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Single-issue interest groups
A single-issue group tries to gain inf luence over a specific issue that is narrow in
Key terms scope. This does not necessarily mean the group has a singular campaign, but any
Single-issue group An campaigns that it does have will be on a very small area within government policy.
interest group that tries to The National Rif le Association (NRA), for example, fights for the rights of gun
influence change over a owners in the USA. That might be over storage of weapons, as in the Supreme
very narrow policy area. Court case of District of Columbia v Heller (2008), or fighting against restrictions
Professional interest on magazine capacity or against an assault rif le ban. A group’s campaigns may
group An interest also evolve. In 2017, after the mass shooting in Las Vegas in which 58 people
group that represents died, a national discussion began about the regulation of ‘bump stocks’, which can
the interests of its achieve a far higher rate of fire from semi-automatic weapons. All of these relate
members. Often these are to the single-issue area of guns, under the protection of the 2nd Amendment.
professional associations. In 2022, the NRA complained on Twitter that Biden’s executive order banning
‘ghost guns’ (untraceable guns made from a kit) would ‘burden law-abiding gun
Policy interest group An
owners.’
interest group that tries
to influence a wide policy
area.
Professional interest groups
Professional interest groups seek to represent the interests of a group of
workers or professionals, or of an industry as a whole, in government legislation.
They may cover a wide array of areas within a field relevant to their industry.
The American Farm Bureau Federation represents farmers across the USA. The
issues that they consider to be relevant to their group, however, are more than
just agricultural policy. They also campaign on immigration reform, tax and
energy, to name but a few. Of course, the infrastructure needed to make the
farming industry successful is far more than just agricultural policy. It is this
broader approach in representing a professional section of society or industry that
makes these ‘professional’ groups.
Policy interest groups

Policy interest groups are similar to single-issue groups but
Single issue: Its focus on with greater breadth over the issues they care about. Rather
positive outcomes for Israel than a single, small issue, these groups are interested in an
could arguably define AIPAC
as single issue
entire policy area and in exercising inf luence over it. These
groups are likely to represent issues such as the environment
or foreign policy. Members of such groups may not be direct
beneficiaries of any successes the group might have, but they
share an ideological belief in their goals. Environment America
Professional: In
representing many in
Policy: The breadth seeks inf luence over the whole government policy concerning
of its campaigns across the environment, from renewable energy and global warming
the Jewish community
the area of foreign
and the goals they wish
affairs could mean to wildlife conservation and clean air and water.
to obtain, AIPAC could
it is defined as a
be classed as a
policy group Some groups seem to fit into more than one of these categories.
professional group
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), for
example, looks to promote the relationship between the USA
Figure 21.10 Categorising the American Israel Public and Israel while also campaigning on other Middle Eastern
Affairs Committee (AIPAC) interest group concerns, such as the war in Syria and defence issues. It could
arguably fit all three group categories. This is shown graphically
in Figure 21.10.
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Knowledge check Synoptic link
52 List the three types of interest groups. UK pressure groups can be
53 What kind of gun did Biden ban in 2022? divided into sectional and
54 What does AIPAC stand for? causal categories. Such
55 What is the difference between a single-issue group and a professional interest group? groups in the USA are
known as ‘interest groups’
and can be divided into
Resources of interest groups single-issue, professional
and policy interest. For
The resources that interest groups have at their disposal inf luence their chances of more information on
success: pressure groups in the UK,
l Money A group with large amounts of money is able to contribute to election see pages 23–31. This
campaigns, hire expensive lobbyists and organise grassroots campaigns more links to Component 1, UK
effectively. The NRA spent $4.2 million supporting Trump in 2020, $12.2 Politics.
million opposing Biden and $12.2 million in 145 congressional races. This
included $4 million in spending on the two special elections for the Georgia
Senate. This money may be from a few big donors or from a vast membership,
Key term
but without money it can be difficult to sustain inf luence. Grassroots The basic
l Membership The larger a group is, the more likely it is to have an inf luence or lowest level of an
due to the short election cycle in the USA. This means a group that can mobilise organisation. In US
many voters can pose a significant threat to a member of Congress up for re- politics, this often refers to
election. Who is in their membership is also important. Those with expertise in the citizens themselves.
the field can help to shape campaigns, as can big donors, lawyers or professional
experts.
l Access A group that has either access to, or the support of, a politician is more
likely to be heard. This may come from a retired member of Congress or it may
be that former congressional staff members move into these groups. This tends
to be more relevant to professional groups and lobbying groups. In 2022, 453
former members of Congress worked as lobbyists or senior advisors, offering
these groups valuable information on the legislative process but also bringing
with them access to the people they used to work with.
Tactics of interest groups

Each group is likely to use a range of methods to try to ensure that its voice is heard.
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of seeking the ear of government. All interest group methods
could be defined as ‘lobbying’. In US politics, lobbying is a multi-million-dollar
professional industry. Professional lobbyists can provide groups with access to
politicians or with information that makes a group useful to politicians. A group
could hire individual lobbyists or a lobbying firm. When John Boehner left his role
as Speaker of the House of Representatives, he took a job at law firm Squire Patton
Boggs where he now serves as a senior strategic advisor.
There are many different forms of lobbying. It could be something as simple as
arranging a meeting with a member of Congress to try to convince them of the
arguments. It could equally be something as significant as drafting legislation and
trying to win a congressional sponsor to introduce the legislation into Congress.
9781398369160.indb 613 15/02/23 10:29 PM

l In 2013, a bill passed the House of Representatives that would have rolled back
part of the Dodd-Frank Act, allowing banks to use savers’ money to trade in riskier
things such as stocks. Significantly, the language in the bill was almost identical to
language suggested by lobbyists for Citigroup, one of the USA’s largest banks.
l In 2016, Representative Scott Tipton introduced a bill to allow drilling in an
environmentally sensitive area. The language of the bill appeared to have been
written by oil company SG Interests, which was also one of his top donors.
While this might not be the norm for most interest groups, it gives an example of
just how powerful they can be, especially as some members of Congress did not
even know the language was drawn up by lobbyists.
Lobbying can also involve providing information to Congress to try to get it to change
or create favourable legislation or appointments. Cabinet appointments are a frequent
target for groups as these will be the top government officials that determine policy in
the areas relevant to them. President Trump’s pick for attorney general was Jeff Sessions.
At his hearings, both the NAACP and the National Fraternal Order of Police gave
evidence on his credentials for this role. At the hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson,
Eleanor McCullen gave testimony against her appointment. McCullen was a sidewalk
counsellor, speaking to women outside abortion clinics to try to persuade them against
abortions. Groups might try to influence the appointment or rejection of a candidate,
or they might try to build a relationship with that candidate, thereby giving them
greater influence once they are appointed. Either way, the expertise these groups offer
can be valuable to Congress both in legislating and in ratifying appointments.
l The NRA is so large and well organised that it has its own lobbying arm within
its structure — the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). Wayne
LaPierre is the CEO and executive vice president of the NRA. He is also listed as
a lobbyist on OpenSecrets, which tracks lobbying and spending in US politics, and
has lobbied Congress on hundreds of issues. In 2013, he gave evidence directly to
Congress at a hearing titled ‘What should America do about gun violence?’. There,
he publicly advocated for better education about gun safety, better instruction in
the use of firearms by qualified instructors and better safety in schools following
the massacre in Sandy Hook. He also advocated for the proper enforcement of
existing firearms laws rather than the addition of new ones. These messages all
supported the goals of the NRA, and having this status and access to Congress
gave LaPierre an unparalleled stage on which to make his arguments.
The open secret of lobbying

Soft money and hard money are well documented and one way in which interest groups can
gain influence. Using the website OpenSecrets, research ‘dark money’.
www.opensecrets.org/dark-money
What does dark money suggest about the role of interest groups in the American democracy?
Does this suggest that money is the only significant factor in a group gaining influence at all?
Report cards
Interest groups try to place pressure on politicians by issuing annual report cards on
them. Members of Congress are ranked on how well they have supported an issue
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in their voting record and this is publicised to the membership of an interest group
and the media more widely. While these have no direct effect, the hope is that for
constituents who place a high value on specific issues, if their politicians are getting
poor grades, it will cost them votes.
How important a Congress member’s grade is will depend on their district (Table
21.14). Senator Sanders was given a D– from the NRA in 2016 while he was
campaigning for the presidency. After Sanders proudly referenced this grade during
a campaign event, Politico wrote ‘[he] is wearing a bad grade as a badge of honour’.
Knowledge check
56 How much did the NRA spend in the 2020 election cycle?
57 As of 2022, how many former members of Congress worked for lobbying companies?
58 Which oil company wrote a bill introduced by Representative Tipton?
59 List the ways lobbyists may try to influence Congress.
60 What is a ‘report card’ from an interest group?
Campaign finance and electioneering

One way in which interest groups can try to gain inf luence is through donations
to a campaign. Direct donations are limited by campaign finance legislation and
therefore these sums are far smaller than the amounts many groups spend on
lobbying. Wall Street reportedly spent nearly $3 billion on lobbying during the
2020 election.
Interest groups can offer their ‘endorsement’ to candidates. This electioneering
offers an outward sign to voters that a candidate is supportive of their issue. The
Key term
pro-choice group NARAL has a list of candidates it endorses on its website. If Electioneering Take part
this issue is important to a voter, they can quickly see which candidates they in a political campaign.
should vote for. In 2018, the NRA publicly advocated against the re-election of
Joe Manchin (D–West Virginia) due to his stance on gun control. The League
of Conservation Voters has published a ‘dirty dozen’ list since 1996 featuring 12
incumbent members of Congress who they believe to be the worst environmental
candidates that can be defeated in an election. Six of these 12 were defeated in
2020, as was Trump, whom they had labelled the ‘dirtiest of all time’ and spent $14
million campaigning against.
Table 21.14 Interest group report cards from 2021 showing the support of each member of Congress for a specific issue
Congress member
Interest group Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) Rush (D-IL) Kinzinger (R-IL) Gosar (R-AZ)
ACLU — supporting rights 100% 100% 63% 0%
Americans for Prosperity — supporting conservative 10% 10% 80% 100%
values
National Cannabis Industry Association — 3/3 3/3 1/3 0/3
supporting the cannabis industry
League of Conservation Voters — supporting 96% 100% 26% 0%
environmental issues
US Chamber of Commerce — supporting business 41% 66% 91% 49%
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Grassroots activity: protests, demonstrations and direct action
Organised protests are one of the simplest and visually most effective forms of
interest group action. A large number of people turning up in one location to voice
their opinion not only gains media attention, it also demonstrates to politicians the
depth of support among the public. This can also be achieved through encouraging
constituents to email or write to their member of Congress to express their opinion.
Thousands of protestors attended the Women’s March in October 2020 to campaign
against the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Many of
the protestors dressed up in Handmaid’s Tale-themed costumes to highlights Barrett’s
pro-life ideology.
Legal methods
If they have the money, and a legal reason, interest groups can launch court cases
to try to advance their cause. The most significant examples are from groups that
have fought their case in the Supreme Court. Citizens United challenged the
FEC’s campaign finance laws, while the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action
challenged Michigan’s ban on affirmative action. This requires a significant amount
of funding as well as a constitutional challenge if it is to be heard by the Supreme
Court. If groups do not bring the cases themselves, they can submit amicus curiae
briefs to the Supreme Court on cases that are relevant to them. (For more detail, see
Chapter 20.)
Influence and significance of interest groups

The ability of a group to achieve its goals entails far more than gaining headlines
in the media. Equally, a group is unlikely to have used only one method to try to
advance its cause, so it is difficult to assess which methods are the most successful.
However, there have been some notable interest group successes, failures and clashes.
Single-issue interest groups — abortion

NARAL, a pro-choice interest group, organised mass protests through its website
against the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, as well as
organising online campaigns under the banner #StopKavanaugh. It also occupied
the state office of Senator Chuck Grassley in Iowa, and stormed the Senate and
packed the offices of Senators Donnelly, Murkowski, Corker and Grassley to lodge
its objections to Kavanaugh. Despite the group making headlines on MSNBC and
other major news outlets, Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed.
Knowledge check Professional groups — pharmaceuticals

This industry is one of the biggest collective spenders in lobbying, spending over $300
61 What is the ‘dirty
million in 2020, with OpenSecrets reporting that ‘Congress delivered massive windfalls
dozen’ list?
to hospitals and federal government awarded lucrative contracts to pharmaceutical
62 Whose appointment
and medical device manufacturers’. The inf luence of this money mostly goes unseen
to the Supreme Court
by the public, and members of Congress would not want to suggest that their votes
did the Women’s
had been bought. However, in deciding what drugs will and will not be funded and
March oppose?
preventing cheap overseas competitors, the money spent is hugely inf luential and
63 Name an interest
allows the industry to set the prices for drugs provided to Medicare and Medicaid.
group that has
brought a case to the
Supreme Court. Policy groups — the environment
64 Define ‘electioneering’. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) opposed the Keystone XL Pipeline,
an oil pipeline that would run thousands of miles from Alberta in Canada to
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A protest against the
Keystone Pipeline in
California shows a good deal
of public support for the issue
Houston in Texas. It spent millions of dollars on adverts advocating for and against
candidates in the 2010 election cycle and thousands of dollars directly lobbying
Congress on the issue. It passed Congress and was stopped in 2015 by a presidential
veto. In 2017, when Trump became president, he used his presidential powers to
allow Keystone to advance once again, before Biden signed an executive order to
revoke the permit for the pipeline in 2021. Later that year, the pipeline project was
abandoned.
It is rarely obvious whether an interest group’s successes and failures are a direct
result of its actions or simply a case of legislators acting in accordance with their
own beliefs.
The cost of an initiative Table 21.15 The cost of a petition signature, 2017–2021
An initiative is similar to a referendum in the UK. However, Year Lowest (excluding $0) Average Largest
in the USA, these take place within states, they take place 2021 $6.97 $14.74 $32.49
during a normal election (such as a midterm) and they are 2020 $1.30 $8.09 $24.20
placed on the ballot by citizens of a particular state. In order 2019 $2.15 $2.69 $3.22
to get an initiative on the ballot, states require a certain 2018 $0.07 $6.52 $25.86
number of supporting signatures, ranging from 13,000 to over
2017 $0.02 $15.40 $43.97
300,000. In the 2022 elections, there were 85 initiatives
on the ballot, including upholding a ban on floured tobacco What patterns can be identified from the data in Table 21.15?
in California and having no right to an abortion in Kansas. Do these data suggest that pressure groups are a help or a
To get the number of signatures required, companies can hindrance to democracy in the USA?
be employed to try to acquire the necessary signatures.
This allows a ‘price per signature’ to be calculated for each
initiative (Table 21.15).
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In focus
Interest group activities US Chamber of Commerce
Safe and Smart Arizona

One of the ways interest groups can enact change is to get
an initiative on the ballot in an election. An initiative is a
question put on the ballot if enough people in the state sign
a petition to include it. In 2016, the Marijuana Policy Project
collected enough signatures to get an initiative included on
the 2016 ballot paper to legalise marijuana. This failed by
51% to 49%. In 2020, Safe and Smart Arizona sought to
gain the 237,645 signatures required to put an initiative on
the 2020 ballot to legalise marijuana. The group gained over
400,000 signatures and the initiative passed by 60% to 40%.
The US Chamber of Commerce headquarters
Teachers’ unions
As Covid-19 spread in March 2020, Ohio was the first The US Chamber of Commerce is the annual biggest spender
state to close schools, followed quickly by 48 other states. in Washington, DC lobbying, although its impact is seldom
Most schools remained closed throughout the summer. The visible. An instance in 2004 demonstrates its influence,
reopening of schools in the autumn was not a state matter however. Two businesses in Iowa had been told by the courts
but a local one. Teaching unions were heavily involved in this to pay billions of dollars for mislabelling products or deceiving
process, expressing concerns for the safety of their members customers. These cases were being appealed, and on the
and children if schools were opened too early or without appeal court there was one — locally electable — vacancy. The
proper safety precautions. This delayed the reopening of Chamber poured money into the judicial election with the aim
many schools. The Chicago Teachers Union was negotiating of getting a business-friendly justice elected. Having achieved
the opening of the city’s schools even as late as February this, when the two cases were heard, the new justice was the
2021 and members threatened to strike if they were forced to deciding vote on throwing the cases out.
return to in-person teaching before it was safe to do so.
The impact of interest groups on government

The impact of interest groups on government is not always apparent. It would be
unlikely for any member of one of the branches of government to overtly state that
the reason for their vote, decision or legislation was the result of pressure from one
group. This could appear undemocratic or unrepresentative, and it could also lead
to tensions with conf licting groups. However, interest groups do have a number of
methods and access points they could use to try to inf luence government. These are
listed in Table 21.16.
Table 21.16 Methods and access points available to interest groups
Influencing Congress Influencing the president Influencing the Supreme Court

• Lobbying • Lobbying • Bringing a case to the Supreme Court
• Proposing legislation • Campaign donations • Submitting amicus curiae briefs
• Giving evidence in Congress • Attack/endorsement adverts • Some groups have a direct role in the
• Record cards • Protesting nomination of justices (the ABA) and others
• Campaign donations lobby on this issue
• Attack/endorsement adverts
• Organising grassroots activism
• Protesting
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Knowledge check
65 What is an initiative?
66 List the methods a pressure group might use to influence Congress or the president.
67 Name an interest group that has campaigned for the legalisation of marijuana.
Debate
Are interest groups good for democracy in the USA?

Evaluation: What kind of democracy are interest groups good for and do they undermine other
types of democracy?
Any debate surrounding democracy depends entirely on which type of democracy is being
discussed.
Good for democracy Bad for democracy

Representative Interest groups can represent Interest groups can undermine
minority groups and their the power of legitimately elected
interests, which might be ignored local representatives
or overlooked in a winner-takes-all The power of interest groups
system over the legislature can work
Interest groups can encourage in the interest, and even over-
their members to turn out representation, of the minority,
in elections, increasing the rather than the majority
legitimacy of those elected
Liberal Interest groups can raise issues Free and fair elections can
about rights and work to protect be undermined by the money
them. This can include bringing that interest groups pump into
cases to the Supreme Court elections
Interest groups raise issues that Tolerance of more extremist
hold government to account, groups can appear to undermine
thereby limiting its power the rights of other groups
A wide range of interest groups Interest groups that use illegal
on directly competing issues is methods undermine the rule of
tolerated law
Pluralist The nature of US politics gives Interest groups with more money
interest groups a greater number seem to have a disproportionate
of access points, dispersing amount of influence
power The same interest groups
Smaller interest groups have annually seem to retain influence
had success in gaining national over the political process
attention for their issues, even The focus of interest group
if not in managing to achieve action in Washington, DC
legislative change centralises power
The issues raised by interest
groups provide an important
link between the people and
government, and ensure the
government is responsive
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Table 21.27 is a comparison of democracy and participation in the USA and the UK,
using the three comparative theories.
Table 21.17 Comparing democracy and participation in the USA and the UK using comparative theories
Rational comparisons • Similarity: Voters’ choices are most commonly determined by the party that is offering
policies that will give the best outcome for them, demonstrated through some level of
partisan dealignment as experienced in both the USA and the UK
• Similarity: Party-line voting is often determined by the career aspirations of those within a
party
• Difference: Third parties are more successful in the UK due to the specific interests of
devolved regions
• Similarity: Factions within parties are often a reflection of the personal beliefs of individuals
within a party
• Similarity: Pressure group action in both countries is characterised by many groups or
lobbyists trying to achieve the best outcome for them personally through whatever access
point is available to them
• Similarity: The methods of pressure groups are often determined by the resources available
to them and what they need to do to achieve influence for their cause
Cultural comparisons • Similarity: There is some expectation that certain socioeconomic groups should vote for a
certain party based on political history
• Similarity: The expectation of party unity is high in both countries. Even in the USA where
historically this has not been as strong, there is a striking and growing polarisation between
the two major parties
• Difference: UK parties are more ideologically coherent than US parties
• Similarity: The degree of internal party unity is often determined by national issues of the
day, especially those which are of greatest concern to the public generally
• Similarity: The difficulty in achieving campaign reform in both countries is due to a lack of
political motivation from those in charge
• Difference: Hyperpartisanship and polarisation is a more pronounced issue in the USA than
in the UK
• Similarity: Party policies in both countries are influenced by ideological belief in certain
political principles
• Similarity: The growing media presence in pressure-group action and vast numbers of people
taking part in these group activities suggest not only shared beliefs in certain issues but
also a shared belief in the influence that such groups can have
Structural comparisons • Similarity: The number of access points for pressure groups is determined by the political
structure of each country, which also determines the methods and influence that the groups
may be able to achieve
• Difference: The number of access points is far greater in the USA than in the UK
• Similarity: The voting behaviour of party members can be determined by the process
in which they find themselves, including party discipline, and legislative and electoral
processes
• Similarity: The constitutional framework of both countries determines the electoral process
and the resulting mandate gained from it for elected representatives
• Difference: The whips are stronger in the UK than in the USA and are able to enforce party
discipline far more effectively
• Similarity: Parties in both countries hold conventions or conferences to inform, develop and
legitimise the policies they will go on to advance
• Difference: Lobbyists spend considerably more in the USA than in the UK due to differences
in campaign finance regulations
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Comparing democracy and participation in the UK
and the USA
The different nature of the party systems
The nature of the party system in the USA and the UK makes for an interesting
comparison. On the face of it, both countries appear to be dominated by two main
parties. However, closer inspection reveals a more f luid situation. Third parties
have had more success in the UK in recent years. However, the breadth of ideology
within the two US parties means both that there are notable factions within each
party and that at state level the Democratic and Republican parties in one state may
look very different from their own party in another state.
A two-party system?
The national legislatures of both countries are dominated by elected politicians from
the Labour and Conservative parties in the UK and the Republican and Democratic
parties in the USA. The inability of third parties to gain a foothold — as a product
of the electoral system, high electoral costs and co-optation of policies — has been
a sustained feature of both countries.
As Table 21.18 shows, the two major parties have held a vast majority of the seats
in the national legislatures in all recent elections. Even the slightly decreasing trend
in the seats held by the Conservatives and Democrats still gives both parties clear
dominance overall.
A two-and-a-half-party system?
Third parties in both countries have had a notable effect even if they have not been
viable candidates for power at national level. In the UK, the Liberal Democrats won
enough seats in 2010 to form a coalition with the Conservative Party, while the
DUP in 2017 formed a confidence-and-supply agreement to allow a Conservative
minority government to be functional. In the USA, the vote for third parties tripled
in 2017, although the impact of this was limited. However, in 2000, the campaign of
Ralph Nadar had a ‘spoiler effect’. The votes Nadar attracted in 2000 would likely
have gone to Al Gore if Nadar had not stood. Splitting the more liberal vote made
it easier for George W. Bush to win.
The growing media recognition of third parties has been a marked trend in both
countries. In 2010, the first televised leaders’ debates in the UK featured the leaders of
Table 21.18 Two-party majorities in the national legislature, UK and USA (1992–2020)
Total seats for Conservatives and Total seats for Democrats and
Year Labour in the House of Commons Year Republicans in Congress
1992 607/651 1992 534/535
1997 583/659 1996 533/535
2001 578/659 2000 533/535
2005 553/646 2004 533/535
2010 564/650 2008 533/535
2015 562/650 2012 533/535
2017 579/650 2016 533/535
2019 567/650 2020 533/535
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three parties not two. The number of parties involved in these debates has increased
in subsequent years. In the USA, the discussion over whether the Green Party and
Libertarian Party leaders should be allowed to be involved was more prominent than
ever in 2016.
A multiparty system?
Both the USA and the UK have a variety of third parties that play a prominent role
Key term in their political landscape. At regional level, these parties tend to enjoy greater
Gubernatorial Relating to success. In the 2015 UK general election, a different party ‘won’ in each region —
a governor — in this case, the Conservatives in England, Labour in Wales, the SNP in Scotland and the DUP
the election of a state in Northern Ireland. In the devolved bodies, third parties have done especially
governor. well. While not as dominant generally in the USA, progressive and independent
candidates have won in recent gubernatorial races, while a range of third parties
has had success in being elected for state legislatures.
Knowledge check
68 What is the ‘spoiler effect’?
69 Which US parties argued for inclusion in the 2016 televised presidential debates?
70 Name third parties that have had electoral success in the UK.
Degree of internal unity within parties

The nature of the party structures in the UK allows them to create a far greater
level of party unity than in the USA. The party controls the candidate selection for
constituency seats, and party leaders and whips control career progression, making
it far easier to exercise party discipline in the UK. In the USA, the use of primaries
allows voters control over who gets a place on the ballot, with the short election
cycle making this even more significant.
All parties suffer from some lack of internal unity. This is due to the ideological
breadth of the parties — the broader they are, the more disagreement is likely to exist
within them, and the two major parties in each country are quite broad. Recently, all
of the major parties seem to have been embroiled not only in intraparty disagreements
over specific issues but over the very ideological direction of their party.
l Both Labour and the Democrats have seen notable political figures trying to pull
their parties more towards the left — Corbyn in the UK and Sanders in the USA.
l The Republicans and Conservatives by comparison have seen controversy over
figures trying to pull their party to the right — Johnson in the UK and Trump
or even notable senators like Ted Cruz in the USA.
In both countries, the development of partisanship has meant that internal divisions
within a party can become masked when one party is pitted against the other over
a policy issue.
l Despite fractures in the Republican Party over the presidency of Donald Trump,
almost all Republicans voted for the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy
Coney Barrett and against Ketanji Brown Jackson, while the Democrats did the
opposite.
l Despite the deep divisions in the Conservative Party, in January 2019 when
Jeremy Corbyn brought a motion of no confidence against Theresa May’s
government, all 314 Conservative MPs voted for the government and the motion
was defeated by 325–306 votes.
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There does seem to be a common trend that despite internal disquiet, one’s own
party is better than the other one in controversial issues.
The policy profiles of the two main parties in each country

The main parties in the USA and the UK are not easily comparable — it would
be inaccurate to liken the Democrats to Labour and the Republicans to the
Conservatives. The entirety of the US political landscape is to the right of that in
the UK. Nonetheless, there are similarities and differences that can be identified on
specific policy areas.
Table 21.19 summarises the policy commitments in the 2020 US election and the
2019 UK election. There are clearly areas in which the two main US parties agree
on one view, while the two main UK parties agree on another, such as defence,
or where the more left-leaning parties share a different view to that of the right-
leaning parties, such as education. But there are also some broad similarities, such as
immigration, and notable differences, such as healthcare.
Knowledge check
71 Who controls which candidates get onto the ballot in the USA?
72 List the reasons UK parties can be more united than US parties.
73 Identify an example of a right-wing policy from the Conservative and Republican parties.
74 Identify an example of a left-wing policy from the Labour Party and the Democratic Party.
Table 21.19 Policy commitments in the 2020 US election and the 2019 UK election
Policy area Conservatives Democrats Labour Republicans
Social welfare Increase to NHS budget Healthcare is a right for Increase the NHS budget Repeal and replace
and means-tested all, not a privilege for by 4.3% Obamacare and place
pension benefits the few Cut privatisation of the limits on government
NHS funding for senior
healthcare
Education Increase overall schools Student loan debt relief Abolish university tuition Restoration of private
budget and introduce a Forgiving student loans fees and provide 30 sector in student
new funding formula after 20 years hours of free childcare financing
for 2-year-olds
Defence Spend 0.7% of GDP Believe that the US Spend 0.7% of GDP on Commitment to rebuilding
on international aid military should be the international aid and the US military to ‘the
and lend support to strongest in the world spend 2% on defence strongest on earth’
international institutions
Environment Net zero emissions by Rejoin the Paris Bring forward the net Description of climate
2050 Agreement on climate zero emissions target to change as a ‘political
Plant 30 million trees a change 2030 mechanism’
year until 2024
Economy Postpone the Ensure the wealthy pay Top 5% of earners should Where taxes work to
corporation tax cut (of their fair share of taxes pay more tax — 50p tax prevent economic growth,
17% from 19%) rate on earnings above they must be changed
£125,000 — and raise
corporation tax to 26%
Immigration Immigration control Reinstate, expand and No fixed cap on net Embrace Trump’s ‘build a
and the end of free protect the rights of migration wall’ programme
movement after Brexit Dreamers and parents
of American-citizen
children
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Debates around campaign finance and party funding
There have been controversies surrounding the issues of money in politics and
lobbying in both the USA and the UK in recent years. The Conservative Party
was fined £17,800 in 2021 for its financial accounting in the 2019 general election,
while the Obama campaign was fined $375,000 in 2013 for violating federal laws
surrounding the disclosure of donations. Yet these figures pale into insignificance
when compared with the spending of these parties in a general election — the
2020 presidential and congressional elections cost more than $14 billion, while the
Conservatives spent over £17 million in 2019. The fines seem to be a small price to
pay, literally, for breaking campaign finance laws.
Reforming laws has proved a challenge in both countries, however. In the UK,
electoral spending is limited by a number of laws:
l Representation of the People Act 1983, which limits individual spending —
updated in 2014 to increase the maximum spending limits to £30,700 for
‘pre-candidacy expense’ (the ‘long campaign’) and £8,700 for general election
spending (the ‘short campaign’).
l The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 — requires the
reporting of donations to the Electoral Commission.
l Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 — requires declarations as to the source
of donations over £7,500.
l Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union
Administration Act 2014 — requires the registration of professional lobbyists
and requires charities spending more than £20,000 to try to inf luence votes to
register with the Electoral Commission.
l Elections Bill 2021 — includes five measures to improve the transparency of
campaign finance in the UK.
These seem to ref lect similar concerns to those expressed in US politics over the
costs of elections and the source of money inf luencing elections. However, the
success of UK legislation seems to be relatively higher, despite the fines issued by
the Electoral Commission, given the substantially lower election cost.
Party funding
In both the USA and the UK, a debate has been raised
over whether parties should be state funded to level the
political playing field.
l In the USA, ‘matching funds’ tried to achieve this
— the government matching dollar for dollar the
donations a party receives if it acts within certain
spending limits. Recent presidential candidates of
both parties have found it more lucrative to ignore
both the limits and the matching funds.
l In the UK, so-called ‘Short money’ is given to
the opposition in Parliament but this is for the
opposition’s parliamentary expenditures rather than
for elections. A share of the Policy Development
Following the referendum campaign in 2016, the Vote Grant of £2 million is available for UK parties to
Leave campaign was fined by the Electoral Commission for help them develop manifesto policies, but to be
coordination with another Brexit campaign group eligible a party must have at least two sitting MPs,
so it does not help to promote new parties.
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The arguments surrounding state funding for parties, rather than having party
donors, are similar in both the USA and the UK — allowing greater third-party
access, reducing the cost of elections and reducing the role of lobbying and interest
groups. However, what party funding would look like in either country is far from
agreed.
The methods and influence of interest groups

Interest-group methods are similar in the USA and the UK — actions can be broadly
broken down into direct action (small or large scale), legal action, electioneering
and lobbying. Which of these methods is more successful in either country varies
because although the actions might be similar, the political landscape is not.
Supreme Court
l The entrenched political understanding of the US Supreme Court and the
power it wields make it much more inf luential than the UK Supreme Court and
therefore a more attractive proposition for interest groups to target.
l Comparatively, the weakness of the UK judiciary is that Parliament remains
sovereign, therefore targeting lawmakers in Westminster is a more successful route.
Constitution
Coupled with this is the important difference in constitutions:
l The codified nature of the US Constitution guarantees individuals’ rights and
this can be used to mount legal challenges.
l The UK constitution is far more f lexible, making it more difficult to successfully
challenge legislation, when Parliament retains the power to simply rewrite it in
the face of a negative ruling.
Access points
l There are a greater number of access points in the USA than in the UK, giving
interest groups either the chance to exert pressure on a wider basis or more
specifically target their campaign. The federal nature of the US political system
means interest groups can try to exert inf luence directly on lawmakers in the
USA. They can choose to target individually one of the three branches of
government, or go directly to state legislatures and enact change at a state level.
l Interest groups in the UK can target the devolved bodies, but as with the UK
Supreme Court, ultimate power rests with Parliament.
Election cycle
l The short US election cycle creates greater opportunities for interest groups.
They can directly electioneer by donating and supporting candidates, but they
can also mobilise voters, which can be a threat to candidates if their policies are
not seen to be in sync with those voters.
l The 5-year UK election cycle gives parties and candidates greater freedom to
ignore groups between election years.
Interest groups are usually defined by their unwillingness to hold political power or
office themselves; instead, they seek to inf luence those who do have power. Their
inf luence can be seen in their successes and failures in promoting their issues and
winning favourable legislation or court rulings for their cause. In both countries, the
9781398369160.indb 625 15/02/23 10:29 PM

inf luence of individual groups often waxes and wanes with the changing fortunes of
political parties and ideologies, but they are a fact of modern political life.
Knowledge check
75 List the ways in which the UK has tried to achieve campaign finance reform.
76 Define ‘matching funds’.
77 Why does the USA have more access points than the UK?
78 Outline the difference between the UK and US election cycles.
Summary
➜ Is the presidential electoral process in need of reform?
➜ Is incumbency the most significant factor in explaining electoral outcomes?
➜ Have the attempts at campaign finance reform come to an end?
➜ To what extent are the two major US parties ideologically coherent?
➜ What is the significance of factionalism within US political parties?
➜ How significant are socioeconomic factors in explaining voting patterns?
➜ To what extent are interest groups beneficial for US democracy?
➜ What factors determine the methods that an interest group may choose to use?
Practice questions
1 Examine the factors that affect party unity in the USA and the UK. (12)
2 Analyse the similarities in methods of pressure groups in the USA and
the UK. In your answer you must consider the relevance of at least one
comparative theory.(12)
3 Evaluate the view that the Electoral College is the most significant flaw
in the US presidential election process. You must consider this view and
the alternative to this view in a balanced way.(30)
4 Evaluate the view that the Republican Party is now more united than the
Democratic Party. You must consider this view and the alternative to this
view in a balanced way.(30)
Further reading
Lemieux, S. (2021) ‘Why Trump lost: analysing the ‘firecracker’ election’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 3.
Mogridge, A. (2020) ‘Black lives matter: race in contemporary US politics’, Politics Review,
Vol. 30, No. 1.
Wigler, M. (2021) ‘A House divided: political polarisation in the US’, Politics Review, Vol. 31,
No. 1.
Comparative: Anderson, C. and Bolden, T. (2019) One Person, No Vote: How Not All Votes Are
Treated Equally, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Dawkins, M. (2019) ‘Comparing US and UK pressure groups’, Politics Review, Vol. 29, No. 2.
Geoghegan, P. (2020) Democracy for Sale: Dark Money and Dirty Politics, Apollo.
Klein, E. (2020) Why We’re Polarized, Profile Books.
Mason, L. (2018) Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity, University of Chicago
Press.
9781398369160.indb 626 15/02/23 10:29 PM

Acknowledgements
With thanks to Professor Bob McKeever for his assistance with p.321 Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo, p.329 philipk76/Adobe
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p.467 Picture Alliance/TopFoto, p.470 Avalon/TopFoto, p.474 Picture
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Acknowledgements 627
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Index
Note: Page numbers in bold refer to key term definitions.

anarchist thinkers 370 Bakunin, Mikhail (1814–76) 355, 357,
# Bakunin, Mikhail (1814–76) 361–2 360, 361–2, 370
527s, 598 Goldman, Emma (1869–1940) 359 Ballot Act (1872) 22
Kropotkin, Peter (1842–1921) 363 Barrett, Judge Amy Coney 462, 557,
A Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph (1809–65) 565
abortion rights, US 562, 602 358–9 Begum, Shamima, Supreme Court
absentee ballots 593 Stirner, Max (1806–56) 356 case (2021) 249
absolute equality, socialist views 333 anarcho-capitalism 356, 362, 367, Belmarsh case (2004) 159, 250–1
accountability 77 369–70 Berlin, Isaiah (1909–97) 420, 427
of president to Congress 539 anarcho-communism 363–4, 369–70, Beveridge Report (1942) 292, 293,
of UK executive to Parliament 251–2 385 294, 338
UK–US comparison 543–4 anarcho-syndicalism 365, 369–70 bicameral 481
Act of Settlement (1701) 149, 243 androgyny 393 Biden, Joe (2021–) 469
Act of Union (1707) 149, 163 anomie 357 2020 election 536, 595
activism 12, 29, 361, 376 anthropocentrism 374, 375, 381, 387 executive orders 520
judicial, US 555, 565, 566 enlightened 379, 381, 387, 388, 389 national events, effect on popularity
social media inciting 15, 574 anti-consumerism 377 537
additional member system (AMS) 91–5 anti-permissiveness 320 and Russian invasion of Ukraine 525
adversary vs consensus politics 41–2 anti-Semitism rumours, Corbyn 135, televised debate with Trump 592
affirmative action 415, 570, 574–5 142–3 as vice president to Obama 533–4
African Americans anticolonial nationalism 428, 440 Bill of Rights (1791), US 447, 453
representation 502, 503, 576–7 apartheid 432 Bill of Rights Act (1689) 32, 149, 153,
rights of 570–7 appellate court 547 180
voting behaviour 609–10 appointments bills, legislative 183
age and voting confirmation by Senate 491 House of Lords amendments
EU referendum 144–5 House of Lords 45, 156–7, 187, 193 188–90
Votes at 16 Coalition 17–18 presidential 518–19 most lobbied 504
and voting behaviour 116–17, 608 ratification by Senate 462, 463 passage of through Congress 492–8
altruism 317, 357 UK Supreme Court 243 process of becoming law 195–9
AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State US Supreme Court 550–8 US president’s options 496, 515–17
for the Home Department (2020) appropriations bills 461, 489 biocentric equality 376
248–9 associate justices 547 biocentrism 377
amendments to US Constitution 452–9 asylum seekers 34 biodiversity 373, 379
and rights 560–1 Supreme Court case (2010) 35, bipartisanship 450, 452
American War of Independence 278, 159, 248 black bloc activists 361
476, 480 atomism 310 black feminism 400, 406
amicus curiae 569, 572 atomistic individualism 310, 316–18 Black Lives Matter 28, 573, 574
Amnesty International 36 authoritative works 153 black nationalism 442
anarchism 354–71 authority 302, 355–6 ‘black pride’, Garvey 429, 442
eco-anarchism 384–5 of the PM 226–9 Blair, Tony (1997–2007) 236
economic freedom 360–2 and sovereignty 266, 267 and the 1997 election 140–2
liberty 355–8 vs power 79, 355 and constitutional reform
and order 359–60 autonomy 356 (1997–2007) 154–60
and rejection of the state 355 and his cabinet 223, 224
anarchism types B and New Labour 54–5
collectivist 362–6 presidentialism 230–1
backbenchers 181, 184, 195
comparison of views 368–70 Bookchin, Murray (1921–2006) 377,
increase in influence of 161, 205, 254
individualist 366–8 385, 390
rebellions 197–8
628 Index
9781398369160.indb 628 15/02/23 10:29 PM

Brexit Marxist critique of 334–5, 340–3 collectivisation 357
conflicting loyalties posed by 204 reform of, Crosland 344–5 collectivism 331–2
and the constitution 174 socialist feminists’ views 402–4 collectivist anarchism 354, 362–5
EU referendum (2016) 107, 263–5 Carson, Rachel (1907–64) 374–5, and economic freedom 360
Gina Miller case (2017) 174, 247, 384, 386, 390 utopian criticism of 365–6
266, 268–9 case law 151–2 views of liberty/freedom 357–8
impact on the UK 265–6 caucuses 503, 584, 589–90, 604–5 vs individualist anarchism 368
Johnson’s government 238, 253 cause pressure groups 23 colonialism 439
legislation 149, 197 census 484 anti/postcolonialism 440–2
May’s government 222, 237, 253 ‘change to conserve’, Burke 304, 305, commander in chief, presidential
UKIP Party 61–2 307, 308, 314, 424 power 461, 463, 523, 528, 540
British Bill of Rights 37, 160 chauvinistic nationalism 430 commerce clause 486
broadcast media 131–2 checks and balances 449–50, 460, common law 151–2
ensuring ‘due impartiality’ 127 466 common ownership 331, 337, 346
influence on public attitude 134 by Congress 460–3 communes 358, 360, 362, 363, 365,
Brown, Gordon (2007–10) 55, 133, by the president 463–4 366
236 by the Supreme Court 464, 566–7 communism 340 see also Marxism
Buddhist economics, Schumacher vs separation of powers 449 anarcho 363–4, 369–70, 385
377–8, 382 chief justice 547 communitarianism 347, 414, 425
bully pulpit 532 Churchill, Winston 2, 122, 136, 184 commutations 522–3
Burke, Edmund (1729–97) 4, 304–5, civic nationalism 434 comparative theories 475
327 civic responsibility 33–4 constitution 475–6
model of trusteeship 204 civil liberties and rights 32–3 democracy and participation 620
non-reactionary traditional and anti-terrorism laws 34, 175–6 executive 542
conservatism 312, 313 Human Rights Act protecting 35–6, judiciary 578
one-nation conservatism influenced 158–9 legislature 508
by 315 negative rights protecting 150 compulsory voting 15–17
and organic society/state 306–7 pressure groups protecting 36–7 concurrent powers, Congress 487–9
on pragmatism 308 restriction of 33–4 confidence-and-supply agreement 64,
tension between collective and 79, 80, 253
C individual 35 Congress, US 480–511
Civil Rights Act (1964) 413, 571, 572 functions of 492–508
the cabinet 209
civil rights, US 570–7, 580 power distribution within 486–92
centrality of 222–6
class consciousness 341 president’s relationship with 538
functions of 220–1
class dealignment 113 structure of 481–6
prime ministers’ approach to 224–6
classical liberalism 57–8, 274–5 vs UK legislature 508–10
selection of 221–2
attitudes towards individualism congressional caucuses 503, 604
cabinet government 222
276–7 consensus vs adversary politics 41–2
cabinet ministers 211
and freedom 280, 290, 292 conservatism 301–27
Callaghan, James (1976–79) 130,
and rationalism 284 criticism and defence of
138, 227, 252, 345
and the state 282–3 multiculturalism 423–5
Cameron, David (2010–16) 49, 228
vs modern 295–6 and human imperfection 302–5
coalition government 58, 122, 123,
Clegg, Nick 31, 58, 70, 123, 219 libertarianism 309–11
218, 222
closed primaries 589 neo-conservatism 319–21
commitment to EU referendum 73,
cloture motion 495, 496 neo-liberalism 316–19
174, 264
coalition 84–5 the New Right 315–16, 322
constitutional reforms 162–3
coalition government (2010–15) one-nation 314–15
and electoral reform 161
collective ministerial responsibility organic society/state 306–8
and military strikes in Syria 253
219 paternalism 309
political cronyism 188
and constitutional reform 160–2 pragmatism 308
suspending collective ministerial
and legitimacy 79 traditional 312–14
responsibility 219
limiting PM’s authority 228 and traditions 308–9
use of media 134, 231
coattails effect 536 conservative Democrats 606
campaign finance, US 588, 598, 599,
codified constitution 150, 450 conservative nationalism 436–9
615, 624
arguments for and against 173–6 Conservative Party 47–53
capital punishment, US 561, 602
collective ministerial responsibility 216 and constitutional reform 162–3
capitalism 330
instances of non-resignations 218 current ideas and policies 49–52
anarcho 356, 362, 367, 369–70
resignations 217–18 issue conflicts 52–3
eco-socialists’ views 384
suspension of 218–20 the New Right 48–9
effect on society, socialist view 351
collective rights 35, 175 one-nation principles 48
green 380, 383, 389
Index 629
9781398369160.indb 629 15/02/23 10:29 PM

origins 47–8 debates, parliamentary 184–5, 191–2, discrimination 396
conservative thinkers 253 legislation 33, 54, 118, 151
Burke, Edmund (1729–97) 304–5 decentralisation of power see racial 400, 413, 415, 416–17
Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679) devolution sexual 277, 284, 285, 392, 397
302–3 decentralised bioregions 377, 381–2 Disraeli, Benjamin (1804–81) 48,
Nozick, Robert (1938–2002) 7, 310, deep diversity 417, 426 198, 309, 314
311, 322 deep green ecology 373, 380–2 diversity, cultural 417, 424
Oakeshott, Michael (1901–90) 305 argument for post-material society divided government 466, 536–7
Rand, Ayn (1905–82) 310, 311, 377–8 domestic policy 515, 527, 528
316–17 disagreement on core ideas 387 donations
constituencies 81 disagreement with other ecologists to candidates 585–6
constitution, UK 148 388–9 to election campaigns 615, 624
development of 148–50 holism and biocentrism 374–5, 377 to political parties 598
development since 1997 154–63 deference 505 donations to political parties 45–6
further reform of 170–6 democracy see also social democracy;
impact of devolution 163–70 voting E
sources of 151–4 digital voting 14–15
e-petitions 7, 11, 13
Constitution, US 446–66 direct 6–9, 364
eco-anarchism 384–5
amendment process 452–9 and interest groups 619
eco-feminism 386–7, 399
debates around 471–5 liberal 288–9, 419–20
eco-socialism 384
nature of 450–65 multiparty 66–7
ecocentrism 373 see also deep green
origins of 446–8 origins of 20–3
ecology
principles of 449–50, 465–6 participation in 9–12
vs anthropocentrism 381
and Supreme Court 547–8 pressure groups 23–9
ecological thinkers
vague nature of 451–2 reform proposals 12–17
Bookchin, Murray (1921–2006) 385
vs UK constitution 475–8 representative 3–6
Carson, Rachel (1907–64) 375
Constitutional Reform Act (2005), UK rights and civil liberties 32–7
Leopold, Aldo (1887–1948) 373
160, 243, 245 role of lobbyists and think-tanks
Merchant, Carolyn (1936–) 386
constitutional rights 457, 560 30–1
Schumacher, E.F. (1911–77) 378
constitutionalism 279 UK–US comparison 621–6
ecologism 372–90
consumerism 377 and the US Constitution 471–2
anthropocentrism 374, 375, 379,
conventions 152–3 democratic deficit 12
381, 387
cooperation 330 Democratic Party, US 600
disagreement about core ideas 387
COP26 Climate Change Conference factions 605–6
environmental consciousness
(2021) 383 policy principles and stances 600–3
376–7, 380–1, 387
Corbyn, Jeremy (2015–20) 56, 124, democratic socialism 330
holism 374–5, 376
135, 142–3 role of the state 350
materialism 377–8, 387
core executive 210 on society 351
sustainability 378–81, 383, 387
cosmopolitan integration 422 on types of equality 332–3
ecologism types 379–87
cosmopolitan multiculturalism 422–3 vision of a common humanity 331
deep green ecologists 380–3
Covid-19 pandemic 185, 201, 213–14, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 63–4
shallow green ecologists 379–80
255, 259–60, 310 democratisation 155
social ecologists 384–7
US response, vaccine mandate developmental individualism 277
the economy
468 devolution 149, 150, 155–6
anarchists’ ideas 370
Crenshaw, Kimberlé, intersectionality extension to England 171–2
conservatives’ views on 326, 327
400, 401–2, 407 impact on the UK 163–70
ecologists’ views of 389–90
Crosland, Anthony (1918–77) 330, proposals for further 14, 161–2
feminists’ views on 409, 410
334–5, 339, 344–5, 352 and sovereignty 267–8
Liberal Democrat policies 59
cultural feminism 399 success–failure debate 173
Liberals’ views on 298, 299
culturalism 431–2 see also dialectic change 341, 342
modern-day Conservative policies 51
multiculturalism difference feminism 392, 399, 407
modern-day Labour policies 57
culture 414 difference principle, Rawls 294
multiculturalists’ view 427
culture and identity 414–15 digital democracy 14–15
nationalists’ views on 443, 444
direct action 365
socialists’ views on 351–2
D pressure groups 25–6, 29
stances of US parties 603
and race rights, US 572–3, 616
De Beauvoir, Simone (1908–86) education
suffragettes 22–3
393–4, 398–9, 403, 410 Crosland’s ‘comprehensive’ 332,
direct democracy 6, 364
death penalty, US 470–1, 561, 562, 335, 345
advantages and disadvantages 8–9
602 liberals’ views on 280, 283, 297
types of 7–8
630 Index
9781398369160.indb 630 15/02/23 10:29 PM

party policy stances, US 603 Entick v Carrington (1765), trespass executive orders 519–20
privilege of private 336 case 32, 152 executive powers 513, 519–22
third way views 331, 332, 335, 348 entrenched (constitutions) 150, 451 expansionist nationalism 439–40
and voting behaviour 119, 610 enumerated powers 451, 514 expressed powers 514
egoism, Stirner 362, 366–7 environmental consciousness 376–7, Extinction Rebellion 29
criticisms of 368 380–1, 387
and liberty 356 environmental ethics 375–6 F
views on the economy 370 anarcho-communism’s new 385
factions 604
views on human nature 369 equal dignity 413
democratic 605–6
views on state and society 369 equal recognition 413–14
republican 606–7
egotistical individualism 276, 290, equality 332–3
Factortame judgment 263
310 biocentric 376
faithless electors 594
election cycle, US 482–3 formal 277, 413
Farage, Nigel, UKIP Party 61, 123
impact on Congress 485–6 foundational 276, 285, 332
federal 150
electioneering 615 gender 25, 402
federal bureaucracy 513
elections see also turnout; voting legal 402
federal government 446
behaviour measures to promote, US 576
federalism 446, 466, 467–71
by-elections 8, 86, 162 political 402
feminism 391–410
presidential 583–98 Equality Act (2010) 33, 151
differences within 409–10
in the UK 77–80 equality feminism 392, 393, 398–9,
eco-feminism 386–7
Elections Act (2022) 77, 176 407
equality and difference 398–9
elective dictatorship 251 equality of opportunity 283, 402
intersectionality 400–2
elector 594 socialists’ differing views 332
patriarchy 395–7
Electoral College 583 essentialism 392, 417
sex and gender 391–5
2020 election 595 ethnicity 418
feminism types 402–6
deadlock 490 identity politics 414–15
liberal feminism 402–4
on election day 593–5 and minority rights 415–17
post- and postmodern 406
reform of 596 and voting behaviour 118–19,
radical 404–5
Electoral College votes (ECVs) 593, 609–10
socialist 402–4
594, 596 European Communities Act (1972)
feminist thinkers
electoral systems, UK 80–105 149, 154
De Beauvoir, Simone (1908–86)
FPTP vs other systems 101–2 European Court on Human Rights
393–4
impact of 102–5 245–6, 270
Gilman, Caroline Perkins
majoritarian 80, 99–101 European Union (EU) 257
(1860–1935) 403
plurality 80–91 2016 referendum 263–5
hooks, bell (1952–2021) 400–1
proportional 80, 91–9 arguments against membership
Millett, Kate (1934–2017) 397–8
reform 15, 89, 158, 161, 170–1 262–3
Rowbotham, Sheila (1943–) 404
electoral systems, US benefits of membership 261–2
filibusters 198, 199, 495
campaign finance 598–9 impact of Brexit on the UK 265–6
first-past-the-post (FPTP) 80–2
concentration in a few states 591–2 institutions of 261
advantages and disadvantages of
presidential election process objectives of 257–60
86–9
583–98 evolutionary socialism 330 see also
effects of using 82–6
spending in presidential 586–7 democratic socialism; social
and the Elections Act (2022) 176
electronic petitions 7, 11, 13 democracy; third way, Giddens
possibility of reform 89, 161
empiricism 304, 305 and workers’ control 337–8
recent developments 89–91
enabling state 281, 282, 283, 291, exclusive nationalism 437
unfairness of 15
297 exclusive powers
vs other electoral systems 101–2
Engels, Friedrich (1820–95) 334–5, House of Representatives 489–90
first-wave feminism 394–5
340–3, 352 the Senate 491–2
First World War, role of women in 22
English Civil War (1642–51) 20, 47, the executive 209 see also the
fiscal conservatives 607
303 cabinet; prime minister (PM)
Fixed-term Parliaments Act (2011) 81,
English Constitution (Bagehot, 1867) clash with Supreme Court 265–6
160–1, 205, 256
153, 192, 221 comparison of UK and US 542–4
Floyd, George, protests (2020) 573
English devolution 171–2 interaction with Parliament 195–207
foreign policy 515
enlightened anthropocentrism, shallow relationship with Parliament 251–6
Congress vs presidential control
greens 379, 381, 387, 388, 389 structure and role of 209–10
540–2
the Enlightenment 275 executive branch, US 514 see also
Conservative policies 51
Enlightenment thinking presidency
Labour policies 57
critique of male, Merchant 386 Executive Office of the President
Liberal Democrat policies 59
holism’s rejection of 374–5 (EXOP) 514, 534
Index 631
9781398369160.indb 631 15/02/23 10:29 PM

vs domestic, president’s control 527 2019 general election 142–5 holistic ethics 376
formal equality 277, 413 ‘gerrymandering’ 470, 484 hooks, bell (1952–2021) 394, 400–1,
foundational equality 276, 285, 332 North Carolina’s 12th district 502–3 410
four freedoms (of the EU) 258, 265 Giddens, Anthony (1938–) 330, 339, House of Commons 181
Fourier, Charles (1772–1837) 329, 346–9, 352 composition 181–3
331, 340 Gilman, Caroline Perkins (1860–1935) functions of 183–6
fourth-wave feminism 396, 406 403, 410 parliamentary influence 252–4
franchise 21, 22, 76 Gina Miller case (2017) 174, 247, 266, powers of 192, 194
historical background 20–3 268–9 scrutiny role 199–204, 255
recent debates on extension 17–20 Gladstone, William Ewart (1892–94) House of Lords 186
fraternity 330 57–8, 76 composition of 186–8
free-market economics globalisation 270, 346 functions of 188–92
neo-liberalism 318 Goldman, Emma (1869–1940) 355, opposing government legislation
vs state planning, Giddens 346–7 358, 359, 360, 370 256
freedom governing competency 120–1, 138, powers of 192–4
economic, anarchist views 360–2 144 reform of 14, 156–8, 170
four freedoms of EU 258 government 356 see also the executive House of Lords Act (1999) 151, 157,
liberalism’s attitudes to 277–81, bills, UK 196–8 180
284, 290–3 impact of US Constitution on 473–5 House of Lords Reform Act (2014)
Freedom Caucus 605 shutdowns, US 465 158, 199
Freedom of Information Act (2000) 33, types of, UK 82 House of Representatives 481–2
155 government departments 211 comparison with UK 510
French Revolution (1789) 278, 312, grassroots activities 613, 616 exclusive powers of 489–90
313 green capitalism 380, 383, 389 incumbency rates 485
Friedan, Betty (1921–2006) 277, 284, Green Party 62, 66 role in legislative process 493, 498
286, 299, 395, 402 Green, T.H. (1836–82), positive sit-ins 500
frontloading 590 freedom 276, 280, 283, 287, human imperfection 302, 304
functional representation 500, 501–2 291, 293 human nature
vs descriptive 502 gridlock 466 anarchists’ views 369, 370
funding group-differentiated rights 415–16 conservatives’ views on 323, 327
of Supreme Court, UK and US Guantánamo Bay detainees 524, 567 ecologists’ views 388, 389–90
579–80 gubernatorial 622 feminists’ views on 407
US campaign finance 598–9, 615, gun control issues, US 500, 537, liberals’ views on 296
624 560–1, 602, 615 multiculturalists’ view 425
US political parties 624–5 nationalists’ views on 444
funding of political parties 45–7, 71–2 H socialists’ views on 330–1, 349–50
Human Rights Act (1998) 33, 151,
hard money 598
G harm principle 279
158–9, 176, 245–6, 250, 269
Garvey, Marcus (1887–1940) 429, Hayek, Friedrich von 295, 310, 319,
432, 442, 444 367 I
gender 393–4 see also feminism head of government and head of state identity politics 414–15
and voting behaviour 119–20 areas of overlap 526, 528 ideology 30, 41 see also political
and voting, US 608–9 president as 526–7 ideologies
vs sex 391–2 UK–US comparison 543–4 US political parties 600–1, 604
women’s rights, US 561 healthcare, US US Supreme Court judges 553–5
gender equality 25, 402 stances of US parties 603 immigration
gender stereotypes 393, 394, 397 Supreme Court rulings 559 Democrat vs Republican views 602
general election campaigns, UK 124 Heath, Edward (1970–74) 227 from EU to UK 261–2, 264
1979 general election 139–40 hereditary peers, House of Lords 156, reform policy, US 521, 567, 575
1997 general election 141 187 UK vs US policy commitments 623
2019 general election 142–3 Hispanics/Latinos, US impeachment 461, 489
candidates and methods 72 in Congress 502 effectiveness 506
and election results 125 voting behaviour 609–10 of justices 462
and the manifesto 126 historical materialism 341, 342 Senate powers 492
opposition leaders 122–3 Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679) 302–3, Trump, Donald 490
televised leader debates 134, 231 327 imperial judiciary 568
general election case studies, UK and organic state/society 306 imperial presidency 539–40
1979 general election 138–40 and the social contract 278 imperialism 439
1997 general election 140–2 holism 374–5 imperilled presidency 539
632 Index
9781398369160.indb 632 15/02/23 10:29 PM

implied powers 451, 452, 486–7 2018 resignation as foreign legal equality 402
investigations 488–9 secretary 217 legal sovereignty 266
of the president 514 backbench rebellions 197 legislation, UK 151–2
inclusive nationalism 434 and cabinet debate 224, 225 anti-terrorist 34, 159, 175, 250–1
incumbency 483–4, 588 ideas and policies 34, 50, 51, 52, controversial 175
individual ministerial responsibility 212 80 defeated 197
administrative failure 212–13 media image 68, 69, 129, 134 House of Commons role 183
dependent on PM’s support 215–16 ministerial code revision 216 House of Lords role 188–90
policy failure 213–15 presidential approach 232 protecting rights 33
individual rights 35, 175, 276, 306 judiciable 450 secondary 190, 210
individualism 276–7 judicial activism 565, 566 legislation, US 492–500
atomistic 316–18 judicial appointments 550–8 Congress checks on president 460
classical vs modern liberals 296 judicial independence 244 effectiveness of Congress 507
developmental, Mill 280, 283, 292 criticism of 244–5 president’s powers 515–17
egotistical 276 UK–US comparison 579–80 signing statement 522
individualist anarchism 354, 366–7 US Supreme Court 549 legislative bills 198
and economic freedom 362 judicial neutrality 244 legislative process 195–9
utopian criticism of 368 criticism of 244–5 in the US 492–500
views of liberty 355–6 judicial restraint 566 legitimacy 12, 79
vs collectivist 368 judicial review 246–9, 464, 549 legitimation 186
individualist integration 417 US Supreme Court 464, 549–60 Leopold, Aldo (1887–1948) 372, 373,
industrial action, UK 25, 121, 227 376, 377, 389
industrialism 377 K LGBTQ+ rights, US 561, 562–3, 602
continued dominance of 381 Liaison Committee 202–3, 255
Kant, Immanuel (1724–1804) 291,
informal powers 542, 543 liberal democracy 288–9
295
of the president 528–36 impact of US Constitution on 472
Kavanaugh, Judge Brett 552, 616
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act multiculturalism and 419–20
Keynesianism/Keynesian economics
(2021), US 497 Liberal Democratic Party 57–9, 65, 66
283, 331
initiatives, US 617, 618 leadership 123
social democracy’s version of 345
instrumental voting 126–7 regional support 113–16
vs free-market economics 318, 346
insurrection 356 liberal feminism 402–4
King, Martin Luther Jr. 285, 286, 572
integral nationalism 438 on state, society and economy 407,
Kinnock, Neil (1983–92) 9, 70, 122,
integration 408, 409
124, 129
cosmopolitan 422 views on patriarchy 395, 397
Kropotkin, Peter (1842–1921) 355,
European 257, 258–9 vs other feminists 409–10
357–8, 360, 363–4, 365–6, 370
individualist 417 liberal internationalism 433, 435, 436
Kymlicka, Will (1962–) 413, 415–16,
multicultural 418 liberal multiculturalism 418–20
427
interest groups, US 607–19 liberal nationalism 428, 430, 433–6
and civil rights protection 590
impact on government 618–19
L vs conservative nationalism 437
liberal thinkers
influence and significance 616–18 Labour Party 53–7 Friedan, Betty (1921–2006) 286
resources of 613 Clause IV 55, 140–1, 337, 339 Locke, John (1632–1704) 279
tactics 613–16 laissez-faire (capitalist) economy 278, Mill, John Stuart (1806–73) 279–80
types of 611–13 309–10 Rawls, John (1921–2002) 287
UK–US comparison 625–6 ‘lame duck’ president 539 Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759–97) 285
interest pressure groups 23 law and order liberalism 274–300
internationalism 433 current Labour policies 57 classical 274–5, 295–6
intersectionality 400 Liberal Democrat policies 59 equality and social justice 285–7
investigations, Congress 488–9 neo-conservatism 320 individualism 276–7
Investigatory Powers Act (2016) 34, Thatcherite approach 51 liberal democracy 288–9
51, 175 leadership 121–4 liberty and freedom 277–81
invisible primary 584 celebrity 25 modern 276, 295–6
issue voting 126–7, 144–5 cults 442 and rationalism 284
minority parties 123 and the state 282–4, 292–4
J opposition 122–3
party leader elections 8, 42–3
Liberals, Democratic Party 605–6
libertarianism (neo-liberalism) 309–11
Jackson, Judge Ketanji Brown 491, party leader popularity 68–9, 124 liberty
564, 577 ‘spatial’ 68, 230 anarchism’s views on 355–8
Johnson, Boris (2019–22) 228, 238, and voter support 121–4 liberalism’s views of 277–81
253 left wing 41 Liberty, pressure group 36
Index 633
9781398369160.indb 633 15/02/23 10:29 PM

limited government 278, 449, 465 newspapers 128–31 views on the economy 298
classical liberalists’ ideas 282–3 political parties 70 views on society 297–8
limits to growth 378 television 131–4 vs classical 295–6, 322
Living Constitution 555, 563–4 media, US politics see also social Modood, Tariq (1952–) 414, 427
lobbyists/lobbying 5, 30, 31, 504 media monarch/monarchy 20–1, 148, 210,
US interest groups 613–14 incumbent president dominating 211
Locke, John (1632–1704) 279, 299 588 absolute 179, 277, 303, 307
on freedom/liberty 277, 278, 290 politicising judicial appointments during a national emergency 269
and individualism 276, 277 558 monetarism 295, 318
and liberal democracy 288 members of parliament (MPs) see also monetary union 258
on limited government 149 backbenchers moral relativism 319
and rationalism 284 outside interests/earnings 5 morality issues see also religion
on the state’s role 282 Private Members’ Bills 198–9 environmental ethics 375–6
Luxemburg, Rosa (1871–1919) 342–3, public (mis)trust in 9 neo-conservatists 319–21
352 representative function 4, 185–6, ‘religious right’ 607
204–5 stances of US parties 602
M scrutiny and debate function 184–5 multicultural integration 418
select committees 200, 201 multicultural thinkers
Maastricht Treaty (1993) 258, 259
voting for bills 183, 195, 196–7 Berlin, Isaiah (1909–97) 420
Macmillan, Harold (1957–63) 121,
Merchant, Carolyn (1936–) 374, Kymlicka, Will (1962–) 415–16
132, 226, 227, 314–15
386–7, 390 Modood, Tariq ((1952–) 414
Magna Carta Act (1215) 20, 32, 149,
meritocracy, Rawls 287, 294 Parekh, Bhikhu (1935–) 421–2
153
metro mayors 162–3, 171–2 Taylor, Charles (1931–) 412–13,
Major, John (1990–97) 124, 140,
midterm elections 482–3 419–20
227–8
migration 259, 261, 262, 264 multiculturalism 412–27
majoritarian electoral system 80,
Miliband, Ed (2010–15) 68, 123, 133 Conservatism’s defence of 424–5
99–101
Mill, John Stuart (1806–73) 276, 279– Conservative criticism of 423–4
majority 78
80, 283, 288, 290, 292, 299 culture and identity 414–15
majority-minority district 502
Miller, Gina, Supreme Court case diversity 417
managerialism 380, 388, 389
(2017) 174, 247, 266, 268–9 equal dignity and recognition
mandate 42, 43, 78, 536
Millett, Kate (1934–2017) 394, 395, 413–14
manifesto 126
397–8, 404–5, 410 minority rights 415–17
commitments 54, 61, 72, 73, 87
Mind, pressure group 28–9 politics of recognition 412–13
policy formulation 43
minimal state 282, 283, 322 multiculturalism types 418–23
Salisbury Convention 194, 256
libertarianism 309–10 cosmopolitan multiculturalism
marginal seats 85, 86
ministerial questions 201–2 422–3
marijuana, US 469, 470, 618
ministerial responsibility liberal multiculturalism 418–20
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act
collective 216–20 pluralist multiculturalism 420–2
(2013) 151, 315
individual 212–16 multiparty democracy 66–7
Marx, Karl (1818–83) 329, 334–5,
minority ethnic groups UK–US comparison 622
340–3, 352
equal recognition of 413 mutual aid, Kropotkin 358, 360, 363,
Marxism 340–2
rights of 415–17, 424 364, 365–6
economic policies 441–2
voting behaviour 118–19, 609–10 mutualism, Proudhon 357, 358–9,
Rosa Luxemburg 342–3
minority government 81, 82 364, 365, 369–70
and social class 334–5
confidence and supply 64
mass demonstrations 572–3
materialism 377–8, 387
minority party leaders 123 N
Miranda rights, US 561
Maurras, Charles (1868–1952) 429, nation states 429–30
misogyny 398
430, 438, 440, 444 liberal values 435–6
mixed economy 331, 339, 344, 345
May, Theresa (2016–19) 219, 237, self-determination 430–1, 435
moderates
253 national events/emergencies
Democratic Party 606
mayoral elections 11, 99–100, 155–6 Congress deferring to president 505
Republican Party 607
metropolitan mayors 162–3, 171–2 and presidential influence 537
modern liberalism 58, 276
Mazzini, Giuseppe (1805–72) 429, National Party Conventions 591
attitudes towards individualism
433–4, 436, 444 National Rifle Association (NRA) 612,
276–7
mechanistic theory of the state 292 614, 615
foundational equality 285, 287
mechanistic world view 374 National Security Council (NSC) 514,
and freedom 281, 290–1, 292
media influence, UK politics 127–36 535
Giddens influenced by 349
and impartiality 127–8 nationalism 428–44
and rationalism 284
negative coverage 129, 138 internationalism 433
and the state 283–4, 292–4, 297
634 Index
9781398369160.indb 634 15/02/23 10:29 PM

nations 428–30 powers of persuasion 532, 533 multiparty 64–7
racialism 432 State of the Union policies 517 UK–US comparison 621–2
self-determination 430–1 treaties and executive agreements vs elections and electoral systems
nationalism types 433–43 524 77
anti/postcolonialism 440–2 objectivism, Rand 31, 311 party unity 222, 591, 622
conservative nationalism 436–9 Office of Management and Budget party whips 181–2
expansionist nationalism 439–40 (OMB) 514, 534–5 paternalism 309, 310
liberal nationalism 433–6 Old Labour 53–4 patriarchy 395–7
nationalist thinkers one-nation conservatism 48, 301, patriotism 359, 431, 434, 436, 440
Garvey, Marcus (1887–1940) 442 314–15 peers, House of Lords 156–7, 158,
Maurras, Charles (1868–1952) on human nature, state, society and 187, 188, 256
438 economy 323–6 people’s referendums 12–13
Mazzini, Giuseppe (1805–72) 434 open primaries 7, 589 persuasive powers, US president
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712–78) opinion polls 136–7 531–3
431 the opposition (party) 206 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention
von Herder, Johann Gottfried funding of 45 (1787) 446–7, 448
(1744–1803) 436–7 opposition days 204 pigeon-holing 494
nations 428–30, 435 role of leader of 183 Plaid Cymru 61
nativists 439 role and significance 206–7 pluralist multiculturalism 420–2, 423
‘necessary and proper clause’ 451 voter support for leader 122–3 plurality electoral systems 80–91
negative freedom 280, 281, 291, 292, ordinal voting 96 pocket veto 496
309–10, 322 organic society/state 306–8, 319, 423 Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts
neo-conservatism 310, 319–21, 322 original jurisdiction 547 Act (2022) 34, 51, 175
and the economy 326 originalism 555, 563–4, 565 policy interest groups 612
on human nature 323 otherness 393, 394 policy, US
role of the state 324 outcome equality, socialists’ views of foreign, control of 527, 540–2
views on society 325 333 significance of Congress 499
neo-liberals (libertarians) 309–10, oversight 504–5, 507 stance of parties 600–3, 623
316–19 Owen, Robert (1771–1858) 329, 331, Supreme Court shaping 559–60
and the economy 295, 326 340 Political Action Committees (PACs)
on human nature 323 586, 598, 599
and individual freedom 291 P political cronyism 14, 157, 188, 193
and the New Right 322 political equality 402
pan-Africanism 440, 442
on the role of the state 324 political ideologies
pardons 464, 522
neutral state, Rawls 418 anarchism 354–71
Parekh, Bhikhu (1935–) 421–2, 427
New Labour 54–5, 346–9 conservatism 301–27
Parliament Acts (1911 and 1949) 149,
New Right 48–9, 301, 315–16, 322 ecologism 372–90
151, 180, 189
newspapers 128–31 feminism 391–411
Parliament, UK 180
lack of impartiality 127 liberalism 274–300
comparative powers of the houses
nihilism 356 multiculturalism 412–27
192–4
noblesse oblige 307, 309, 314 nationalism 428–44
House of Commons 181–6
Northern Ireland socialism 329–53
House of Lords 186–92
devolution 155, 168–70 Political Parties, Elections and
interaction with executive 195–207
legislation 169 Referendums Act (2000) 46
origins and development of 179–81
political parties 63–4 political parties, UK 40–75
parliamentary privilege 201
protocol, Brexit 169, 266 Conservative Party 47–53
parliamentary sovereignty 150
STV electoral system 96–9, 102 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 63–4
and EU membership 262, 263, 264,
Nozick, Robert (1938–2002) 295, emerging and minority 59–64
269–70
310, 311, 316, 317, 322, 327 established 47–59
and the Supreme Court 250–1
factors in party success or failure
participation 79
O in the US 582–626
68–73
features of 40–2
Oakeshott, Michael (1901–90) 305, participation crisis 11
functions of 42–5
314, 327 voter turnout, UK 9–12
funding of 45–7
Obama, Barack (2009–17) 469 partisan dealignment 112, 115
Green Party 62
cabinet members 529, 530 partisanship 496
Labour Party 53–7
and foreign policy 540, 541 party platform 591
Liberal Democratic Party 57–9
and immigration reform 517, 521 party systems 40, 597
membership 11
national events, effect on popularity impact of electoral systems on
multiparty system development
537 103–4
64–7
Index 635
9781398369160.indb 635 15/02/23 10:29 PM

Plaid Cymru 61 success factors 24–7 views on state, society and economy
Scottish National Party (SNP) 60–1 wealthy 24, 30 407, 408, 409
Sinn Féin 64 primaries 584–5, 589–90 vs other feminists 409–10
UKIP/Brexit Party 61–2 prime minister (PM) radical nationalism 439
political parties, US 600 authority, sources of 210–11 radicalism 313
changing significance of 603–4 and the cabinet 220–6 Rand, Ayn (1905–82) 310, 311,
coalition of supporters 608–11 as dominant force in politics 226–9 316–17, 322, 327
intraparty conflicts and factions media relationship 130 rationalism 284, 305, 434
604–7 powers of 211 Rawls, John (1921–2002) 276, 287–8,
key ideas and principles 600–3 presidentialism 229–33 291, 293–4, 299
political sovereignty 266 prime minister (PM) case studies reactionary 312
politicisation, judicial appointments Blair, Tony (1997–2007) 236 Reagan, Ronald (1981–89) 48, 321
556–8 Johnson, Boris (2019–22) 238 Recall of MPs Act (2015) 8, 13–14,
politics of recognition May, Theresa (2016–19) 237 162
Parekh’s version of 421–2 Thatcher, Margaret (1979–90) 235 recess appointments 518–19
Taylor 412–13, 419–20 Wilson, Harold (1964–70; 1974–76) referendums 105
popular sovereignty 481 234 advantages and disadvantages
popularity of US president 505 Prime Minister’s Question Time 108–9
effect of national events on 537 (PMQT) 202 consequences of 107
effect on power of 540 extracts from 254 direct democracy 5, 6, 8–9
and persuasive powers 532–3 media coverage of 133–4 on EU membership (2016) 263–5,
population growth 382 questions from opposition 183 266
positive discrimination 415, 417 prime-ministerial government 222 as form of direct democracy 7, 8–9,
positive freedom, Green 276, 280, principles 449 267
281, 284, 291, 292 print journalism 128–31 reasons for calling 105–6
post-feminism 406 prisoner voting 19–20 reform proposals 12–13
post-materialism 377–8, 387 Private Members’ Bills 198–9 since 1975 106–7
postcolonialism 440–2 private sphere (family life) 395, 397, thresholds 107–8
postmodern feminism 396, 406 402 vs elections 108
on the economy 409 proclamations, presidential 521 reform
and human nature 407 professional interest groups 612 campaign finance, US 598, 599
on the role of the state 408 progressive nationalism 435 constitutional 151, 170–6
vs other types of feminism 409–10 promotional pressure groups 23 Electoral College 596
power 355 propaganda by the deed 356–7, 361, electoral spending, UK 624
power of the purse 461, 489 365, 367 electoral system 15, 89, 158, 161,
powers of persuasion 531–3 proportional electoral systems 80, 170–1
pragmatism 308, 310 91–9, 102–3 filibuster 496
presidency 512–45 protests 572–4, 616 immigration, US 521, 575–6
comparisons with UK 542–4 in the UK 28, 29, 253, 361 Parliamentary 21–2, 161, 180
and the Constitution 513–15 Public Accounts Committee 201, 255 UK democracy 12–17
factors that can change power of Public Bill Committee 183, 195, 196 reformism 402, 403, 410
536–7 public opinion 136–7 region and voting behaviour 113–16
and foreign policy 540–2 public policy 559 regressive nationalism 438, 439
formal sources of power 515–28 public sphere (of society) 395, 397, religion 308, 319, 320, 419, 429
imperial vs imperilled 539–40 402 factor in voting, US 610–11
informal sources of power 528–36 US Constitutional right 560, 562–3
relationship with other branches Q ‘religious right’ 607
538–9 report cards, interest groups 614–15
Qatada, Abu, deportation of 35, 245
presidential governments 233 Representation of the People Acts
presidentialism of prime ministers
229–33
R (1918, 1928, 1969) 22, 23, 32, 151
representation, US
pressure groups 23–9 race Congress 500–4, 507, 576–7
case studies 28 and rights, US 570–7 Supreme Court 553
categorisation 23 and voting behaviour, US 609–10 representative democracy 3–4 see
celebrities helping 25 racial equality 570 also elections
civil rights groups 36 racialism 432 advantages and disadvantages 4–6
direct action by 25–6 radical feminism 404–5 reform issues 12–17
insider status 24 the personal is political 397 role of political parties 44–5
social media mobilising support for views on patriarchy 395, 405 in the US 472
25 reprieves, president granting 464, 522
636 Index
9781398369160.indb 636 15/02/23 10:29 PM

republican ideals 456 election results 66, 102, 114, views on equality 332–3
Republican Party 165–6 vision of a common humanity 331
factions 606–7 scrutiny social ecology 374, 377, 384–7
policy principles and stances 600–3 House of Commons 184–5, 199– areas of disagreement 387–9
reserve army of labour 403 204 social issues, US party stances 602
resignations of ministers 214–15, House of Lords 190–1 social justice 287, 336, 344–5
217–18, 226 second-wave feminism 391, 395 vs economic management 345–6
revisionism 344 secondary (delegated) legislation 190, social media 15
and the third way 346 210 access to news 135
revolutionary socialism 329, 340–3 sectional pressure groups 23 lacking impartiality 127–8
feminism 403–4 segregation 413 and political activism, US 574
Marxism 340–3 select committees 199–200 political impact 136
utopian socialism 340 effectiveness debate 205 and pressure group support 25
views on equality 332, 333 Liaison Committee 202–3, 255 Trump’s use of Twitter 541
vision of a common humanity 330 Public Accounts Committee 201, social welfare issues
and workers’ control 337 255 stances of US parties 603
right wing 41 reform of 254–5 UK–US comparison 623
rights protection, US self-determination 430–1, 434–5 socialism 329–52
Constitutional amendments 560–1 semi-closed primaries 589 collectivism 331–2
effectiveness of 562–3 Senate, US 481, 482 and common humanity 330–1
interest groups 580 approval of treaties 524 equality 332–3
rights, UK 32–7 comparison with UK 510 evolutionary 330
British Bill of 37, 160 confirmation of appointments 518 revolutionary 329, 340–3
collective 35, 175 elections 485 social class 334–6
individual 35, 175, 276, 306 exclusive powers of 491–2 social democracy 344–6
legislation 33, 151, 158–9, 176, legislative role 493, 494, 495, 498 the third way 346–9
245–6, 250, 269 role in appointment of justices workers’ control 336–9
minority 415–17 551–2 socialist feminism 395, 402–4
natural, Locke 277, 278, 279 separation of powers 449, 460, 465, views on state, society and economy
rights, US 477 408, 409
African American 570–7 Serious Organised Crime and Police vs other feminist views 409–10
Constitutional 457 Act (2005) 34, 175 socialist internationalism 433
romanticism 433–4 sex and gender 391–5 socialist thinkers
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712–78) shallow diversity 417, 418, 426 Crosland, Anthony (1918–77) 339
429, 430–1, 434, 440, 444 shallow green ecology 374, 379–80 Engels, Friedrich (1820–95) 334–5
Rowbotham, Sheila (1943–) 395, on consumerism 378 Giddens, Anthony (1938–) 346–9
403–4, 410 disagreement about core ideas 387 Luxemburg, Rosa (1871–1919)
royal prerogative 160, 211, 252, 268 enlightened anthropocentrism 379 342–3
rule of law 150, 245 managerialism and green capitalism Marx, Karl (1818–83) 334–5
380 Webb, Beatrice (1858–1943) 337–8
S Sharia law 419 society
signing a bill, president 515–16 anarchists’ ideas 370
safe seats 85
signing statement 522 conservatives’ views on 325, 327
Salisbury Convention 152, 194, 256
Single European Act (1986) 154, 257, ecologists’ views 388–90
same-sex marriage, legalised 151,
258, 259 feminists’ vision for 408
175, 186, 315
single-issue interest groups 612 fragmentation fear, neo-
scandal, ministerial 214–15
single-member constituencies 81, 93 conservatives 319
Schumacher, E.F. (1911–77) 374, 377,
single transferable vote (STV) system liberals’ views on 297–8
378, 381–2, 384, 390
96–9 multiculturalists’ view 426
Scotland 164–6
Sinn Féin 64, 98, 169, 170 nationalists’ views on 443, 444
AMS electoral system 91–5, 102
smaller parties, barriers to entry 64–5 organic 306–8
devolution 163, 173, 267–8
Smith, Adam (1723–90) 49, 278, 284, socialists’ views on 351
election results 67, 93, 114, 116,
298 soft money 598
145, 166
social class 334–6 solidarity 363
independence referendum (2014) 7,
and Marxism 341 Somerset v Stewart (1772), slavery 32,
11, 19, 105, 107, 137, 164
voting based on 112–13, 139, 142 152
legislation 151, 164–5, 268
social conservatives 607 Sotomayor, Judge Sonia 558
referendums 106–7, 231, 267, 431
social contract 277, 278, 302–3, 306 sovereignty
voting age 17, 19
social democracy 330, 344–6 legal and political 266–7
Scottish National Party (SNP) 60–1
and the third way 338–9, 346, 348
Index 637
9781398369160.indb 637 15/02/23 10:29 PM

movement between branches
267–71
T supporters and insurrection at
Congress 489
parliamentary 150, 250–1, 269–70 TaxPayers’ Alliance 30–1 televised debate with Biden 592
popular 481 Taylor, Charles (1931–) 412–13, use of Twitter 541
of states in the US 470–1 419–20, 427 veto of bills 487–8, 516
Speaker televised leader debates, US 585, Truss, Liz (2022) 50, 52–3, 129–30,
House of Commons 182, 185, 188, 592–3 226, 229
255 television 127, 131–4 turnout 79
House of Representatives 493–4, party leader debates 104, 123, 125, age factor 17, 18–19, 117
605 134, 231 devolved bodies 11, 172, 173
spoiled ballot 86 terrorism 34, 159, 175–6, 250 general elections 9–10, 17
stare decisis 566 Terrorism Act (2006) 34, 197 mayoral elections 11, 156, 171
Starmer, Sir Keir 56–7, 207, 254 Thatcher, Margaret (1979–90) 48, national elections 10
the state 355 50–2, 235 police and crime commissioners
anarchism’s rejection of 355 campaign tactics 112–13, 139 162
conservatives’ views on 324, 327 leadership 121, 123 referendums 11, 13, 106–7, 161
ecologists’ views of 388, 389–90 presidentialism 230–1 trends 125–6
feminists’ views on 407–8 think-tanks 30, 31 two-and-a-half party system 66
liberals’ views 282–4, 292–4, 297 third-wave feminism 396 UK–US comparison 621–2
multiculturalists’ view 426 third way, Giddens 54–5, 330, 339, two-party system 65 see also first-
nationalists’ views on 443, 444 346–9 past-the-post (FPTP)
socialists’ views on 350 influence on New Labour 348 supplementary vote (SV) 100–1
State of the Union 517 social democracy and 338 UK–US comparison 621
statute law 151 view of collectivism 332 in the US 597
Stirner, Max (1806–56) 355, 356, views on equality 332, 333 tyranny 480
360, 366–7, 370 vision of a common humanity 331
Sturgeon, Nicola, SNP 60, 63, 166, tolerance 290, 418
individual tolerance 277
U
268
trade unions 24, 332 UKIP/Brexit Party 61–2, 66, 83, 123,
subpoena 488
1979 general election 113, 138, 124
suffrage 21
139 Ukraine, Russian invasion of (Feb
suffragists, suffragettes 22–3
anarcho-syndicalism 365 2022) 192, 193, 260
Sunak, Rishi (2022–) 209, 425
donations to Labour Party 46 Johnson’s response 135, 224, 225,
Super-PACs 586, 598, 599
industrial action/strikes 25, 121, 232, 238
supermajorities 452, 472
227 US response 525
supplementary vote (SV) system
tradition 308–9, 423, 437 ultra vires 246
99–101
traditional conservatism 47–8, 301, unanimous consent 498
supranational bodies 261, 430,
312–14 uncodified constitution 149–50
435–6
and the economy 326 arguments for and against 173–6
Supreme Court, UK 242
and human nature 323 unentrenched (constitution) 150
determining law’s meaning 249–50
libertarianism of 309–10 unequal society 307–8
independence and neutrality 243–5
nationalism 436–7 unified government 466
judicial review cases 247–9
state’s role, views on 324 unitary state 150
limiting government’s power 245–6,
views of human imperfection 302 universalism 417
268–9
views of society 325 urgent questions 185, 255
and parliamentary sovereignty
transfeminism 392–3, 406 utilitarianism 334
250–1
treaties 153, 154, 257–9 utopian socialism 340
role and composition 241–3
created by presidents 524–5 utopianism 365
Supreme Court, US 546–626
ratification by Senate 461–2, 491 collective anarchism 365–6
appointment process 550–8
Trump, Donald (2017–21) 469 individualist anarchism 368
comparison with UK 578–80
and the 2020 election 536, 595
effect of inaction 560
nature and role of 546–50 cabinet members 529 V
president’s relationship with 538 firing of Michael Atkinson 530 valence factors 120
and protection of rights 560–9 impeachment 462, 490 governing competency 120–1
and public policy 559–60 low poll ratings 505 value pluralism, Berlin 415, 420
voting rights cases 577 national events, effect on popularity veto of bills, US presidents 463,
sustainability 378–81, 383, 387 537 487–8, 493, 496, 516
failure of weak 380–1 and recess appointments 518–19 veto override, Congress 460–1, 487–8
swing justice 553 State of the Union policies 517 vice presidency 533–4
syndicalism 365 Volksgeist 437
638 Index
9781398369160.indb 638 15/02/23 10:29 PM

von Herder, Johann Gottfried (1744– devolution 155, 162, 163, 164, 171, West Lothian question 163
1803) 429, 431, 436–7, 444 173 Westland affair (1986) 226, 235
voting see also turnout election and referendum turnout 11, whips 181–2, 196–7
16-year-olds 17–19 106, 172 White House Office (WHO) 514, 535–6
digital 14–15 election results 67, 102, 115 Wilson, Harold (1964–70 and 1974–
history of 20–3 legislation 151, 162, 166, 167, 268 76) 234
by prisoners 19–20 minor and third parties 103–4 ‘winner’s bonus’ 83, 84
rights in the US 471, 567, 572, 577 Plaid Cymru 61 Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759–97) 277,
voting behaviour 111–37 war on terror, US 524 281, 285, 299
and education 610 Webb, Beatrice (1858–1943) 330, Women’s rights, US 561
and gender 608–9 337–8, 348–9, 352 abortion controversy 562, 602
media influence 127–37 welfare equality, socialist views 333 Congressional Women’s Caucus 503
political context 120–7 welfare state 293, 309, 310 workers’ control 336–9
and race 609–10 current Conservative views 51 workers’ rights 259, 262
and religion 610–11 debt created by, Hayek 295, 310,
social factors 112–20 319
Voting Rights Act (1965), US 285, 567, modern-day Labour policies 57
572 modern-day Liberal Democrat
policies 59
W neo-conservative views 320
neo-liberal views 317
Wales 166–8
social democracy 344, 345
AMS electoral system 91–3
the third way 347–9
Index 639
9781398369160.indb 639 15/02/23 10:29 PM

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Theme 1 UK government and politics 1

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2 Theme 1 UK government and politics

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Advantages of representative democracy

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Disadvantages of representative democracy

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How unrepresentative is the Westminster Parliament?

1 Democracy and participation 5

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Direct democracy in the UK

6 Theme 1 UK government and politics

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1 Democracy and participation 7

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Advantages of direct democracy

Disadvantages of direct democracy

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