Student Resources - Chapter nine
Chapter 9: The British Consitution
SETTING THE SCENE
The previous chapters have dealt with the way in which the people can participate in politics through elections, pressure groups and political parties. We now move on to look at politics from the top, where power is really exercised. Before doing so, it is necessary to look at the curious British Constitution. It is through the Constitution that the people are linked to the governing institutions which form the subject matter for the rest of the book. But how powerful can the British Constitution really be if it is, as will be shown, 'unwritten'?
KEY TOPICS
- What is a constitution?
- The uncodified or unwritten British Constitution
- The sources of the British Constitution
- The chief features of the British Constitution
- The British Constitution is flexible
- The British Constitution is unitary, not federal
- Parliamentary sovereignty
- Is Parliament really sovereign?
- The fusion and separation of powers.
- Do we need a written constitution?
- Labour's constitutional reforms since 1997
- The constitutional monarchy
Are any of the terms below unclear to you? If so, perhaps you should look over this chapter or use the searchable glossary to familiarise yourself with these terms.
- Constitution
- Common law
- Unitary state
- Federal state
- Confederation
- Sovereignty
- Parliamentary sovereignty
- Constitutional monarchy
Matching Exercise: Chapter Nine
| Constitution | An association of states which retain their independence but which join together for their mutual economic or diplomatic benefit. |
| Common law | A form of government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges an elected or hereditary monarch as head of state. |
| Unitary state | A state in which the constitution lays down that sovereignty is shared between the central authority and local and regional authorities. |
| Federal state | A state in which sovereignty is located in one place, concentrated at the 'centre' of the state. |
| Confederation | A set of rules, or constitutional laws, setting out how a political system in a particular state should operate, how the citizen is related to the state and what rights the citizen can claim. |
| Sovereignty | The ultimate political power in the United Kingdom, exercised on behalf of the people by their elected representative body. |
| Parliamentary sovereignty | Supremacy or ultimate political power. |
| Constitutional monarchy | A system where the law is made and/or refined by judges by creating precedent. |
Further reading for Chapter One
W. Bagehot, The English Constitution (Fontana, 1963): surprisingly readable, one of the great 'sources' of our Constitution.
R. Brazier, Constitutional Reform (Clarendon, 1997): intelligent discussion by a constitutional lawyer of how the Constitution works in practice.
A.V. Dicey, An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (Macmillan, 1959): the other great work of authority, also very readable.
R. Hazell, Constitutional Futures (Oxford, 1999): inspiring attempt to suggest reform of the Constitution.
P. Hennessy, The Hidden Wiring (Indigo, 1996): fascinating and highly readable analysis of how the system works.
A. King, Does the UK Still Have a Constitution? (Sweet and Maxwell, 2001): brief essay on the Constitution by one of the country's foremost academic political commentators.
Websites
- www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk (The new incarnation of the constitutional pressure group Charter 88)
- www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit (The Constitution Unit, an independent research body)
- http://www.official-documents.gov.uk (For CM 7170, 'The Governance of Britain' Green Paper, 2007; and other official government documents - free online)
Multiple Choice Quiz 9
Click here to access the Multiple Choice Quiz for this Chapter.
