Little aducational insertion here on my blog. This semester I was supposed to write an essay about any interesting political topic. I went for Brexit. It might be an article based on the facts supplemented by my own opinions. I read few books, did a research, browsed on socia media and here is the result. Enjoy. The exact name of my essay:
What does the Brexit crisis tell us about the UK’s political system? Has it been
affected, for example, by the unwritten constitution, the devolution model of relations with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the electoral system, the colonial past?
There is an interesting opinion of Hudson Meadwell from McGill University to this topic: „Brexit is affected less by contextual factors than by history and structure. It is not the short-term dynamics of the referendum campaign or the machinations of pre- and post-referendum party politics, or the current state of public opinion that need to be accounted for in understanding Brexit, both as event and process in British and UK politics. Rather, we should start elsewhere by examining foundational features of twentieth-century British politics. Brexit is an English problem. Yet the foundations of British politics expose all of the UK to the risks and uncertainties of England’s historical ambivalence toward, and more recently, its rejection of European integration. The national structure of Britain and the UK, and the political organisation and expression of that structure, are the keys to understanding Brexit.“ (Meadwell, 2019)
Here are three basic features of British politics that account for Brexit: English political dominance, a largely unwritten constitution (which does take into account relatively recent changes that have codified certain constitutional features) and party politics. The first feature is fundamental and shapes the other two.
To be more concrete, if England wants out of the Europien Union in order to escape EU-domination, it is unlikely going to be able to continue to dominate the United Kingdom, or the UK it does dominate will not be the United Kingdom we see nowadays. The Irish and the Scots will leave or they will negotiate a constitutional agreement that shares and divides power and that dilutes English dominance.
Post-referendum political dynamics have been organised around two processes: EU-UK negotiations and British ratification of negotiation results in the House of Commons.
In terms of more fundamental features of British politics, Brexit shows the enduring importance of English political dominance in Britain and the UK as the whole.
What is more, there is a huge emphasis on fact that they have the unwritten constitution. Each constitution contributes to the functioning of the country. What is the engine gor the UK than?A
constitution sets out the rules for how a society’s rules are made or changed,
and all constitutions do three things.
First, they establish the authority that different
centres of power have, how they relate to one another, and how these relations
can be changed. This is where the famous separation of powers comes in – or, in
the case of the UK, does not come in: between the executive (the government and
civil service), the legislature (which makes laws but does not administer them)
and the judiciary (which adjudicates what is lawful when this is disputed).
Second, all constitutions define the powers and rights
of citizens, in our case, citizen-subjects. Do individuals have the right to
vote, to assemble, to free speech, to property, to equal treatment; and how are
these rights protected? Can the executive imprison us or invade our liberty
through surveillance without due cause? If not, how must it establish such
cause?
Third, The aspirations of the society is
express in all constitutions. This might be to be nonracist (South Africa), or
Islamic (Iran), or universal (France), or to be liberal and not fascist
(Germany). Aspiration need not be part of the main constitutional document.
Thus, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is the aspiration of the US
constitution but appears in the Declaration of Independence. Historically, the firstborn
nation, England-Britain, felt it had no need of vulgar aspiration: after all,
everyone else aspired to be like us. (Babnett, 2016)
Due to the fact that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty
says that any Member State „may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance
with its own constitutional requirements“. Brexit will caused many effects.
Perhaps the most curious has already occurred, namely its highlighting of the disutable
improvised nature of the UK’s constitution. In other words, the Brexit
referendum forms a political paradox. In general the referendum gives
power to the people, however, in the UK, a referendum reinforces executive
power. The basic principle of UK constitutional practice is one of identifiable
party government, with the governing party responsible to the people through
the elections. Since a referendum determines a broad direction of policy, the
party in government, needs a parliamentary majority. When that majority is
threatened, it will need to enhance its party support by risking a general
election. As it was with Theresa May’s calling a sudden election, in order to
secure support for any likely Article 50 agreement. The large majority failed,
so did not overcome the objections from the opposition and the Lords to those
elements in the EU Bill that enhance executive discretion. The win would mean
the neglect of the contrary voices of the peoples who make up the compound
polity that is the UK nowadays.
To sum up, Brexit is a problem of recent history,
it has no cause in their past or an unwritten constitution. Brexit is an
English problem. It is caused mostly by agruments within the country like
Scotish independence, England dominance or many nations. Therefore, their
problems shapes also in their international membership. After all their
desputes they still want to be strong monarch and solve their misunderstandings
by yourself. On the other hand, the written constitution may it process speeds
up or even figured out.
Bibliography:
WEALE, A. 2018. Brexit and the improvised constitution. In Brexit and beyond . London: UCL
press, 2018. ISBN: 978–1–78735–275–9, p. 28-36.
