Everything about the United Kingdom.pdf

Preface

The curriculum of the European Studies Bachelor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at

Maastricht University very much emphasises an interdisciplinary as well as interactive

approach. Whereas the former implies that history, politics, economics, law and social

sciences are mostly looked at simultaneously in order to understand the link between most

relevant developments, the latter demands strong discipline from all students in order to

succeed in the numerous group works. This book – accomplished in the course 2D Area

Studies – is the result of a project combining the interdisciplinary and interactive elements to

the highest degree. Over a period of eight weeks, our group, consisting of ten students,

indulged in the United Kingdom in all possible fields of study, trying to get as deep an insight

into British culture as possible. Hereby the choice of country was due to the personal interest

of all group members, as was the overall formulated research question – “What are the factors

for British reluctance towards the project of the European Union”.

Our acknowledgement goes to Dr. P. Stephenson who supported us during these eight

weeks with detailed knowledge and advise, as well as an ever continuous patience towards

our linguistic inefficiencies. We thank C. Müller for her hospitality and generosity during the

final editing of this paper.

UK Group 1

Maastricht, 1 st of April 2009

Content

Introduction 9

Chapter 1 Establishing Basic Knowledge on the United Kingdom 11

1.1 Introduction 12

1.2 From Empire to Commonwealth of Nations – a Short introduction to UK’s history13

1.2.1 Expansion and Retreat 13

1.2.2 The White Dominions and Decolonisation 15

1.2.3 The Commonwealth and the Constitutional Crisis 16

1.3 From 1945 to 2008 – A short Introduction to Political History 16

1.3.1 Post-War Consensus 16

1.3.2 Thatcherism 18

1.3.3 The post-Thatcher period 19

1.3.4 Summary of the Political History 20

1.4 Traditional Political Institutions 20

1.4.1 Towards a Parliamentary Democracy 20

1.4.2 The Unwritten Constitution 21

1.4.3 The Executive 22

1.4.4 The Legislative: House of Commons, House of Lords and the Committees 24

1.4.5 The Judiciary 25

1.5. The Party Landscape 26

1.5.1 The Labour Party 26

1.5.2 The Conservative Party 28

1.5.3 Parties in the Shadow 31

1.5.4 Regional Parties 31

1.5.5 Discussion 32

1.6 Devolution 33

1.6.1 What is Devolution?! 33

1.6.2 Scotland 34

1.6.3 Northern Ireland 36

1.6.4 Wales 37

1.6.5 England 38

1.7 New Social Movements 39

1.7.1 Theoretical Background 40

1.7.2 New Social Movements in the UK 40

1.8. Conclusion 43

Chapter 2 45

2.1 Introduction 46

2.2 British Economy during the 18 th and 19 th Century 46

2.2.1 The Beginning of the Industrial Revolution 47

2.2.2 Economic and Technical Transformations and Innovations 47

2.2.3 Class Transformation and New Class Emergence 48

2.3 The British Economy from 1900 until 1970 50

2.3.1 The Decline of the British Coal Industry 50

2.3.2 The British Economy during the Great Depression 51

2.3.3. The British Economy during the Second World War 52

2.2.4 The Transformation of the British Capital – A Case Study 49

2.4 The British Economy under Thatcher – 1979 until 1990 54

2.4.1 From Nationalisation towards a Liberal Economic Policy 54

2.4.2 Thatcherism – Changing the UK‟s Economic Structure after the Post-War

Consensus 55

2.4.3 Causes for the Turnaround in British Economic Politics – Privatization 55

2.4.4 Evaluation of Thatcherism 56

2.4.5 The Coal Miner Strike Caused by Thatcher‟s Economic Politics – A Case Study

2.4.6 Thatcherism – Good or Evil for the British Economy? 58

2.5.1 Economic Policy and Development in the New Labour Era 58

2.5.2. Analysis and Evaluation of the Causes and Policies that led to the New Growth

2.5.3 The British Economy Nowadays – The Financial Crisis 60

2.5.4 Actions Taken to Solve the Crisis – State Program Funds 61

2.5.5 Who is responsible for the financial crises? 62

2.5.6 The EU as Saviour in Distress? 63

2.6. What makes the British Economy Sui generis ? 64

2.6.1 London, a “Global City”? 64

2.6.2 Regional Industries and Economies 67

2.6.3. The British Economic Relationship with the EU and its impact 71

2.6.4 Reasons for the Strained EU/UK Relationship 72

2.6.5 Analysis of the British Euro-scepticism 74

2.7 Conclusion 75

Chapter 3 77

2.3.4. Nationalisation of the British Economy 1945-51 53

2.5 The British Economy during the ‘New Growth’ in 1997 until Today 58

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