United

Kingdom

Cicos Psych 1
Sources of Power and
Authority

5.1
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A Brief History
of the UK
5.1a
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 A Brief History of the United Kingdom
● The United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
○ Made up of 4 countries: England,
Scotland, Wales (which collectively
make up Great Britain) and
Northern Ireland
○ Home of Liberalism
■ Magna Carta
■ Protestants vs. Catholics
■ Glorious Revolution

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 A Brief History of the United Kingdom
● Magna Carta → significant first step in
limiting the monarch's power
○ Right to trial by peers
○ Freedom of the Catholic Church
○ Assembly of twenty-five barons that
became the first parliament
○ Guaranteed nobles the right to assemble
to discuss any significant new taxes

The Magna Carta was signed in 1215 by King John under

pressure from feudal lords. The rights it included
preserved the dominance of the nobility.
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 A Brief History of the United Kingdom
● Protestants vs. Catholics
○ Henry VIII broke with the Catholic
Church and established the Church of
England → century of religious conflicts
and a civil war → Protestant dictatorship
under Cromwell.
○ Monarchy was restored 20 years later
but then peacefully removed by
Parliament in the Glorious Revolution of
1688.

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 A Brief History of the United Kingdom
● Glorious Revolution
○ Began a gradual transition in the basis
for legitimacy from the traditional
monarchy to liberal democracy →
expansion of parliamentary power over
the monarch.
○ English Bill of Rights that expanded the
rights of citizenship
○ Parliament gained increasing power over
the monarchy, and the power of the
prime minister grew significantly.

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 A Brief History of the United Kingdom
● Representation of the People Act
○ Granted the right to vote to men 21+ and
women 30+ if they met minimum
requirements for owning property
○ Result of large-scale efforts from social
movements

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 A Brief History of the United Kingdom
● Industrialization + rapid economic
transformation helped the UK become the
most powerful state in the world, controlling a
global empire

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 A Brief History of the United Kingdom
● Civil-service system
○ A method of staffing the bureaucracy
based on competitive testing results,
education, and other qualifications,
shifting away from government
appointments based on patronage

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 A Brief History of the United Kingdom
● Welfare state
○ Government programs to benefit the
health and wellbeing of citizens.
■ National Health Service (NHS) →
universal healthcare
■ Child Allowance → annual, given to
parents (under a certain income)
raising children

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 Democratization
● The UK’s unwritten constitution
○ The constitution in the United Kingdom
is not a unified single document.
○ The constitution is a collection of
documents, such as the Magna Carta and
laws passed by Parliament, along with
unwritten rules that are a part of British
tradition.
■ Civil rights & liberties are
protected because they have
existed for a long time, and there
is a consensus that once rights are
granted, the government should not
take them away.
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 Democratization & A
Unitary Government with
Devolution
5.1b
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 Democratization
● The government is organized based on
parliamentary sovereignty
○ The principle that parliament's power is
supreme and extends over all aspects of
the state.

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 Democratization
Recent changes to the UK’s democracy
● Devolution
○ Power from the central government to
regional governments,
● Creation of an independent Supreme Court
to serve as a final court of appeals
○ Lacks the power of judicial review to
reverse acts of Parliament
○ Has the power to overturn executive and
administrative actions that violate the
rights and liberties of citizens
○ Further enhanced the protection of rule
of law

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 A Unitary Government with Devolution
● Unitary system → all power is held by the
Unitary System w/ Federal System
national government. Devolved Powers
○ Policymaking can be quicker and more
efficient
● The UK Parliament allowed devolution in some The national Regional power is
government has the constitutionally
policy areas (such as education and social
authority, at least in protected
services) to the Scottish and Welsh theory, to take back all
parliaments of its power.

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 A Unitary Government with Devolution
Northern Ireland
● Poor, Catholic minority in a long struggle to
join the Republic of Ireland
○ Irish Republican Army (IRA) engaged in
terror attacks against British targets
● Why didn’t Northern Ireland leave?
○ The wealthy, protestant majority and
the Good Friday Agreement
■ In exchange for an end to
hostilities, power was devolved to a
newly created assembly in
Northern Ireland, which has the
authority to make policy over
issues affecting the region.
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 A Unitary Government with Devolution
Scotland
● Regions welcomed assemblies, but devolution
did not reduce nationalist sentiment
○ Scottish National Party (SNP) → seeks
to create an independent Scotland
● The UK Parliament let Scotland to hold a
referendum on Scottish independence (failed)
○ Did not end Scottish nationalism
○ Brexit
■ Brexit was very unpopular in
Scotland, where 62% supported
remaining in the EU
■ Strengthened independence
movement
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Legitimacy & Challenges
to the State
5.1c
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 Legitimacy & Challenges to the State
● In the 1960s, the UK started to give up ● What was Brexit?
some sovereignty to the European Union (EU)
● What is the EU?
○ Single Market: An area within the EU
where goods, services, capital, and people
can move freely without internal borders
or barriers.
○ Eurozone: A subset of EU member states
that have adopted the euro currency as
their official currency.
○ Schengen Area: A zone within the EU
consisting of 26 European countries that
have abolished passport control at their
mutual borders.
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 Legitimacy & Challenges to the State
● Brexit Context
○ The UK, in comparison to other EU countries,
didn’t give up much of its sovereignty.
■ Example: Didn’t adopt the Euro
● 2016 Brexit Referendum
○ The British people voted in favor of Brexit,
forcing PM David Cameron (Conservative Party)
who opposed the referendum to resign.
○ People who voted leave were concerned about
immigration and trade rules
○ People who voted remain were worried that
leaving would result in economic consequences.

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 Legitimacy & Challenges to the State
● On June 7, 2019, British Prime Minister
Theresa May resigned after failing to secure
parliamentary approval for her Brexit deal.
● The UK officially left the EU on January 31,
2020, under a deal negotiated by Prime
Minister Boris Johnson, beginning a transition
period that lasted nearly a year.
● Main takeaway: Brexit disrupted the UK’s
political stability

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