1. EUROPE

2. • Europe is the world's second’s-smallest
continent by surface area
• 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000
sq mi)

3. 2% of the Earth's surface and about 6.8% of its
land area

4. • 50 states
• Russia is the largest by both area and population
(although the country has territory in both
Europe and Asia)
• Vatican City is the smallest

5. • Third-most populous continent after Asia and
Africa
• Population of 733 million or about 11% of the
world’s population
• Among the continents, Europe has a relatively
high population density, second only to Asia. The
most densely populated country in Europe is the
Netherlands, ranking third in the world

6. • Europe, in particular Ancient Greece, is the
birthplace of Western Culture.
• It played a predominant role in global affairs
from the 16th century onwards, especially
after the beginning of Colonialism

7. • the economy of Europe is currently the largest
on Earth and it is the richest region as
measured by assets under management with
over $32.7 trillion.
• In 2009 Europe remained the wealthiest
region. Its $37.1 trillion in assets under
management represented one-third of the
world’s wealth.

8. • Between the 16th and 20th centuries,
European nations controlled at various times
the Americas, most of Africa, Ocenia, and
large portions of Asia.

9. Guide for Oral Presentation
• At a glance – geography, demographics,
population, etc…
• Recent History
• Political System/Elections
• Political Parties
• Branches of Government: Executive,
Legislative and Judiciary
• Current Issues and Trends

10. GREAT BRITAIN

11. OFFICIAL NAME:
United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland
(United Kingdom)

13. • UK’s four constituent
countries: England, Northern
Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

14. • England, Scotland and Wales together with
the province of Northern Ireland, form the
country officially known as "The United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland" or simply the United Kingdom.
• Northern Ireland is a self-governing
jurisdiction within the United Kingdom with its
own parliament and prime minister.

15. • The Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the
political union of the kingdoms of England and
Scotland with the Acts of Union 1707 under
Queen Anne.
• In 1801, under a new Act of Union, this kingdom
merged with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• After the Irish War of Independence, most of
Ireland seceded from the Union, which then
became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland

16. Geography
• Location – North West Europe
2
• Area - 229,848 km (88,744.8 sq mi)
th
• Area rank - 9 in the world
• Largest in the European island
• Capital - London
• Population - 60,003,000 (mid-2009 est.)
• 3rd most populous island in the world
• Ethnic groups: British, Cornish, English,
Scottish, Welsh

17. Capital cities of Great Britain
• England: London
• Scotland: Edinburgh
• Wales: Cardiff
Other largest cities by urban area population:
Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool,
Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and
Sheffield.

18. Government and Politics of
the
United Kingdom

19. • The United Kingdom is a unitary
state governed under a constitutional
monarchy and a parliamentary system, with
its seat of government in the capital
city of London
• The Monarch is the head of state
• The Prime Minister is the head of government

20. The British (unwritten) Constitution:
Its Main Principles
• 1. Constitutional Monarchy
• 2. The Supremacy of
Parliament
• 3. The Unitary State
• 4. The Flexible Constitution

21. • The British Constitution is not written in any single
document (“uncodified or unwritten constitution”)
• Sources: 1. written--statutes, court, judgments, treaties;
2. unwritten: parliamentary constitutional conventions,
royal prerogatives
• The bedrock of the British constitution has traditionally
been the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty,
according to which the statutes passed by Parliament are
the UK's supreme and final source of law.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_conventions_of_the_United_Kingdom

22. The
MONARCHY

23. The Monarchy in Britain:
What Powers do they have???
•to be consulted, to
encourage and to
warn the
government

24. Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II
(reigned since 1953)
• The Queen is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth
realms.
• The elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
• Born in 1926 and became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned
through more than five decades of enormous social change and
development.
• The Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and has four
children and eight grandchildren.

25. -Had 8 PMs
served under her
-Head of the
British state
-Act as unifying
national symbol

26. Pledge of Loyalty to the Queen
"I swear by Almighty God that I will
be faithful and bear true allegiance
to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth,
her heirs and successors, according
to law. So help me God."

27. Government of UK
• The UK has a parliamentary
government based on the Westminster
system
The Houses of
Parliament are
situated within
the Palace of
Westminster, in
London.

28. Legislative
• Legislative Power is vested in both the
government and the two chambers (2-house
system) of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:
1. House of Commons (elected)
2. House of Lords (appointed)
Note: Any bill passed
requires Royal Assent
to become law.

29. Parliament’s Role
• Examining and challenging the work of
the government (scrutiny)
• Debating and passing all laws
(legislation)
• Enabling the government to raise taxes
*************
Note: The UK is one of 27 member states of the
European Union and is subject to European Union
(EU) legislation.

30. Law-making
• A bill (a proposal of a new law) must pass through the Houses and
then is sent to the Queen for Royal Assent
What is Royal Assent?
• the final step required for a parliamentary bill to become law.
• Once a bill is presented to the Sovereign or the Sovereign's
representative, he or she has three formal options:
Firstly, the Sovereign may grant the Royal Assent, thereby making the
bill an Act of Parliament.
Secondly, the Sovereign may withhold the Royal Assent, thereby
vetoing the bill.
Finally, the Sovereign may reserve the Royal Assent, that is to say,
defer a decision on the bill until a later time.

31. HOUSE OF COMMONS HOUSE OF LORDS
• Democratically elected house, • Public do not elect the Lords.
makes laws and checks the work Appointed by the Queen on the
recommendation of the Prime
of Government Minister or of the House of Lords
• 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) Appointments Commission.
Propose new laws, and scrutinize • A forum of expertise, making laws
government policies by asking and providing scrutiny of
Government
ministers questions about current
issues either in the Commons • 830 Members, and there are three
different types: life Peers, bishops
Chamber or in Committees and elected hereditary Peers.

32. Committee Work
• Much of the work of the House of Commons and the House
of Lords takes place in committees, made up of around 10 to
50 MPs or Lords.
• These committees examine issues in detail, from
government policy and proposed new laws, to wider topics
like the economy.

33. Committee Calendar
• This calendar provides advance information
about all public committee meetings,
publication dates of reports and debates on
select committee reports in Westminster Hall.

34. UK’s head of government:
PRIME MINISTER
• How is he chosen?
-a member of parliament who can obtain the
confidence of a majority in the House of Commons,

35. Executive power is
exercised by the
prime minister and
cabinet

36. Powers and Functions of the PM
• 1. Chairs the cabinet
• 2. Acts as the national leader
• 3. Acts as diplomat
• 4. Speaking for the gov’t in the Parliament
• 5. Party leader-it is the leadership of the party
that makes him/her the PM

37. POWERS OF PM
• 1. Appoint and dismiss cabinet members
• 2. Dissolution of Parliament (terminate the
gov’t)—(upon recommendation to the
monarch, then call for a general elections)
• 3. Summon, chair & summarize cabinet
meetings

38. David Cameron
Prime Minister
since May 11, 2010
• David William Donald Cameron
• Born 9 October 1966
• Leader of the Conservative Party
• Represents Witney as its MP
• Studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford gaining
a first class honours degree

39. Youngest British PM
• In the 2010 general election held on 6 May, the Conservatives won
307 seats.
• After five days of intense negotiations, Cameron formed
a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. (the first coalition
government since WW2)
• The 43-year-old Cameron became the youngest British Prime
Minister

40. UK Elections: HC vs. HL
• General elections to The House of
choose MP´s are
held every five years. Lords is made up
Voting is not of hereditary
compulsory and is and life peers,
from the age of 18.
two archbishops
• The House of
Commons has 650 and 24 bishops
constituencies, of the Church of
elected and paid England.
Members of
Parliament.

41. HC and HL: Compare and contrasted
House of Commons House of Lords
-legislation -the other “crown in the
-sustaining the parliament”
government -may delay a bill passed by
-controlled finance the HC (“power of
amendment & delay”)
-”the poodle of the
Conservative party”

42. • General elections are called by the
monarch when the prime minister so
advises. The Parliament Acts 1911 and
1949 require that a new election must be
called within five years of the previous
general elections.

43. British Elections
• Qualifications: age, citizenship, duly registered
• British election campaigns are short (PM is
free choose to the date of elections w/n the 5
yr period)
• Britain is divided into 650 constituencies: 1
constituency=1 MP
• First-past-the-post majoritarian electoral
system: the candidate with the most votes in
the constituency wins

44. Features of the British Party System
• 1. They are programmatic-platform-based;
policy oriented vs. personality
• 2. They are disciplined-vote along party line
• 3. They are centralized-decisions about a
party’s policies, election strategies & political
tactics are decided at the center (HQ)

45. THE PARTY SYSTEM
• Major Political Parties:
• Conservative Party
• Labour Party
• Liberal Democrats

46. The CONSERVATIVE and UNIONIST PARTY
• a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that
adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British
unionism.
• largest party in the United Kingdom:
-being the largest single party in the House of
Commons with 304 MPs,
-the largest party in local government with 9,391 councilors,
-the largest British party in the European Parliament with 25
MEPs.
It governs in coalition with the Liberal Democrats,
with party leader David Cameron as Prime Minister.

47. Known Conservative PMs
Sir Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher,[Prime
twice Prime Minister of the Minister of the United
United Kingdom. Kingdom (1979–1990).

48. Known Conservative PMs
John Major, Prime Minister David Cameron, Prime
of the United Kingdom Minister of the United
Kingdom(2010-present).
1990–1997

49. UK Labour Party
• a centre-left political party
• Having won 258 seats in the 2010
general election, the party currently
forms the Official Opposition in
theParliament of the United Kingdom.
• a member of the Socialist
International and Party of European
Socialists
• The current leader of the party is Ed
Miliband MP.

50. Known Labour PMs
Ramsay MacDonald: First Labour Tony Blair: Labour Prime
Prime Minister, 1924 and 1929–31 Minister, 1997–2007

51. Known Labour PMs
Gordon Brown: Labour Prime
Minister, 2007–2010

52. Leader of the OPPOSITION
Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December
1969) is a British Labour Party politician, currently
the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the
Opposition.

53. Harriet Harman
Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom

54. The LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
• a social liberal political party which supports
constitutional and electoral reform,
progressive taxation, wealth taxation,
environmentalism, human rights laws, cultural
liberalism, European integration, banking
reform and civil liberties

55. Nick Clegg: Leader from 2007 to present, and current
Deputy Prime Minister

56. “SHADOW CABINET”
• a senior group of opposition spokespeople in
the Westminster system of government who together
under the leadership of the Leader of the
Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the
government's, whose members shadow or mark each
individual member of the Cabinet.
• Members of a shadow cabinet are often but not always
appointed to a Cabinet post if and when their party
gets into government. It is the Shadow Cabinet's
responsibility to pass criticism on the current
government and its respective legislation, as well as
offering alternative policies

57. • The Shadow Cabinet is made up of frontbench MPs
and Members of the Lords from the second largest
party, or official Opposition party.
• The Opposition party appoints an MP to 'shadow'
each of the members of the Cabinet. In this way the
Opposition can make sure that it looks at every part
of the Government and can question them
thoroughly.
• It also means that the Opposition has MPs and Lords
that are ready to take specific jobs in the Cabinet if
they win at the next General Election. In the House
of Lords the term "spokesperson" is used instead of
"shadow".

58. Judiciary
• The Judiciary is independent (doctrine of separation of
powers) of the executive and the legislature, the
highest national court being the Supreme Court of the
UK
• The Judiciary is not a single body. Each of the separate
legal systems in England and Wales, Northern Ireland
and Scotland have their own judiciary.
• The judges of the Supreme Court of the UK, the Special
Immigration Appeals, Employment Tribunals,
Employment Appeal Tribunal and the UK tribunals
systems do have a UK-wide jurisdiction.

59. Role of the UK Supreme Court
• is the final court of appeal for all United Kingdom
civil cases, and criminal cases from England, Wales
and Northern Ireland
• hears appeals on arguable points of law of general
public importance
• concentrates on cases of the greatest public and
constitutional importance
• maintains and develops the role of the highest court
in the United Kingdom as a leader in the common
law world

60. • The Supreme Court hears appeals from the following
courts in each jurisdiction:
England and Wales
• The Court of Appeal, Civil Division
• The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division
• (in some limited cases) the High Court
Scotland
• The Court of Session
Northern Ireland
• The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland
• (in some limited cases) the High Court

61. The Supreme Court and Europe
• The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in the United
Kingdom. However, The Court must give effect to directly applicable
European Union law, and interpret domestic law so far as possible
consistently with European Union law. It must also give effect to the
rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.
• Under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (article
267), The Court must refer to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in
Luxembourg any question of European Union law, where the answer is
not clear and is necessary for it to give judgment.
• In giving effect to rights contained in the European Convention on
Human Rights, The Court must take account of any decision of the
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. No national court
should “without strong reason dilute or weaken the effect of the
Strasbourg case law”
• An individual contending that his Convention rights have not been
respected by a decision of a United Kingdom court (including The
Supreme Court) against which he has no domestic recourse may bring
a claim against the United Kingdom before the European Court of
Human Rights.

62. Assignment for Wednesday
Please choose one current issue (this year 2012) confronting the UK
and briefly discuss the salient points. Please write in a piece of
recycled paper. To be submitted.
• Poverty/Housing
• Environment
• Politics and Governance
• Economics
Sources:
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk/
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian
• http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/