Author : Great Britain: Office of the Leader of the House of Commons
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 16 pages
File Size : 36,25 MB
Release : 2007-07-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780101719322
Reply to the 1st report, HC 513 (ISBN 9780215034168)
Author : Sir John Fortescue
Publisher :
Page : 424 pages
File Size : 17,41 MB
Release : 1979
Category : History
ISBN :
Author : Great Britain: Ministry of Justice
Publisher : Stationery Office
Page : 63 pages
File Size : 39,82 MB
Release : 2007-07-03
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780101717021
This green paper presents the Government's proposals for constitutional renewal. The four main themes are: limiting the power of the executive; making the executive more accountable; re-invigorating democracy; the relationship between the citizen and the state. The Government will surrender or limit powers that should not be exercised exclusively by the executive, including: deploying troops abroad, dissolution/recall of Parliament, ratifying international treaties without decision by Parliament; determining the rules governing entitlement to passports; restricting parliamentary oversight of the intelligence services; choosing bishops; having a say in appointment of judges; and establishing the rules governing the Civil Service. There will also be increased Parliamentary scrutiny of some public appointments, and a review of the role of the Attorney General to ensure the office retains the public's confidence. Proposals to make the executive more accountable include publishing a National Security Strategy, introducing a pre-Queen's Speech consultative process on the legislative programme, simplifying the reporting of Government expenditure, annual Parliamentary debates on the objectives and plans of government departments, and limiting pre-release of official statistics to ministers to 24 hours before publication. For democratic reform, the Government will: develop a substantially or wholly elected House of Lords; better enable local people to hold service providers to account; place a duty on public bodies to involve local people in major decisions; assess merits of giving local communities the ability to apply for devolved or delegated budgets; consult on moving election days to the weekend; complete and publish a review of voting systems; review the provisions that govern the right to protest near Parliament. A consultation to develop a British statement of values, coupled with a review of British citizenship, a Youth Citizenship Commission to look at citizenship education and reducing the voting age, and the consideration of a Bill of Rights and Duties, complete the proposals.
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 136 pages
File Size : 19,73 MB
Release : 2008
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780215514479
This report follows on from the Committee's report of May 2007, HC 513, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780215034168). Both in that report and the Government's reply to it, support was expressed in principle for an e-petitioning system for the House of Commons. Historically it has always been seen as the right of every commoner to prepare and present petitions to the House of Commons in case of grievance and the House to receive and respond to them. The suggested scheme retains the direct involvement of constituency Members of Parliament in the petition procedure. It is proposed that: E-petitions are submitted via the Parliamentary website; if they comply with the House's rules, the petitioner's constituency MP will be asked to act as facilitator; the e-petition is then posted on the website for a set period - allowing others to add their name if they wish; at the end of the period, it is closed; it is then presented to the House; petitioners and signatories may opt in to receive updates; e-petitions will be printed in Hansard and sent to select committees and may be considered by them; the Government will normally be expected to reply within 2 months; on three occasions each year; certain e-petitions will be debated by the House of Commons in Westminster Hall. The Committee acknowledges that setting up an e-petitions scheme is not without risks. Its successful implementation will require new ways of working and novel forms of governance. However, e-petitioning is also seen as having the potential to open up proceedings and make a major contribution to the House's strategic objective to 'make itself more accessible, to make it easier for people to understand the work of the Parliament and do more to communicate its activity to the general public'
Author : Mark Hailwood
Publisher : Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 35,97 MB
Release : 2014
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1843839423
This book provides a history of the alehouse between the years 1550 and 1700, the period during which it first assumed its long celebrated role as the key site for public recreation in the villages and market towns of England. In the face of considerable animosity from Church and State, the patrons of alehouses, who were drawn from a wide cross section of village society, fought for and won a central place in their communities for an institution that they cherished as a vital facilitator of what they termed "good fellowship". For them, sharing a drink in the alehouse was fundamental to the formation of social bonds, to the expression of their identity, and to the definition of communities, allegiances and friendships. Bringing together social and cultural history approaches, this book draws on a wide range of source material - from legal records and diary evidence to printed drinking songs - to investigate battles over alehouse licensing and the regulation of drinking; the political views and allegiances that ordinary men and women expressed from the alebench; the meanings and values that drinking rituals and practices held for contemporaries; and the social networks and collective identities expressed through the choice of drinking companions. Focusing on an institution and a social practice at the heart of everyday life in early modern England, this book allows us to see some of the ways in which ordinary men and women responded to historical processes such as religious change and state formation, and just as importantly reveals how they shaped their own communities and collective identities. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the social, cultural and political worlds of the ordinary men and women of seventeenth-century England. MARK HAILWOOD is Lecturer in Early Modern British History at St Hilda's College, University of Oxford.
Author : Daniel Carpenter
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 649 pages
File Size : 44,86 MB
Release : 2021-05-04
Category : History
ISBN : 0674247493
This pioneering work of political history recovers the central and largely forgotten role that petitioning played in the formative years of North American democracy. Known as the age of democracy, the nineteenth century witnessed the extension of the franchise and the rise of party politics. As Daniel Carpenter shows, however, democracy in America emerged not merely through elections and parties, but through the transformation of an ancient political tool: the petition. A statement of grievance accompanied by a list of signatures, the petition afforded women and men excluded from formal politics the chance to make their voices heard and to reshape the landscape of political possibility. Democracy by Petition traces the explosion and expansion of petitioning across the North American continent. Indigenous tribes in Canada, free Blacks from Boston to the British West Indies, Irish canal workers in Indiana, and Hispanic settlers in territorial New Mexico all used petitions to make claims on those in power. Petitions facilitated the extension of suffrage, the decline of feudal land tenure, and advances in liberty for women, African Americans, and Indigenous peoples. Even where petitioners failed in their immediate aims, their campaigns advanced democracy by setting agendas, recruiting people into political causes, and fostering aspirations of equality. Far more than periodic elections, petitions provided an everyday current of communication between officeholders and the people. The coming of democracy in America owes much to the unprecedented energy with which the petition was employed in the antebellum period. By uncovering this neglected yet vital strand of nineteenth-century life, Democracy by Petition will forever change how we understand our political history.
Author : Martin Loughlin
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 153 pages
File Size : 30,82 MB
Release : 2013-04-25
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0191642649
The British constitution is regarded as unique among the constitutions of the world. What are the main characteristics of Britain's peculiar constitutional arrangements? How has the British constitution altered in response to the changing nature of its state - from England, to Britain, to the United Kingdom? What impact has the UK's developing relations with the European Union caused? These are some of the questions that Martin Loughlin addresses in this Very Short Introduction. As a constitution, it is one that has grown organically in response to changes in the economic, political, and social environment, and which is not contained in a single authoritative text. By considering the nature and authority of the current British constitution, and placing it in the context of others, Loughlin considers how the traditional idea of a constitution came to be retained, what problems have been generated as a result of adapting a traditional approach in a modern political world, looking at what the future prospects for the British constitution are. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author : Christopher Fletcher
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 393 pages
File Size : 10,85 MB
Release : 2015-04-20
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1107089905
A detailed comparative study of how kings governed late-medieval France and England, analysing the multiple mechanisms of royal power.
Author : Great Britain: Department for Communities and Local Government
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 68 pages
File Size : 20,95 MB
Release : 2006-10-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0101693923
The government proposes to give local authorities more freedom and powers to meet the needs of their citizens and communities. Local authorities will be encouraged to develop neighbourhood charters setting out local standards and priorities; to manage services at the level of the neighbourhood; to work more closely with neighbourhood policing teams. Local people will receive more information about services and standards, and will be able to question and get a response from local councilors through a new service, Community Call for Action. Executive power will be invested in the leader of the council, and there will be three choices of leadership model: a directly elected mayor, a directly elected executive of councillors, or a leader elected by fellow councillors with a four year mandate. New training opportunities will be provided for councillors. The making of byelaws will be fully devolved to local authorities. The authorities will be encouraged to bring together local partners to help improve services, and to develop a delivery plan - the Local Area Agreement - setting out a single set of priorities for local partners, for the Sustainable Community Strategy that they are already required to prepare. The performance framework for local government will be simplified: there will be about 35 priorities for each area, with a set of some 200 outcome based indicators replacing the many hundreds of indicators currently required by central government. Ambitious efficiency gains will be required as part of the 2007 comprehensive spending review. The second volume shows how these proposals will apply to major local public service areas and cross-cutting issues: community safety; health and well-being; vulnerable people; children and families; climate change; and economic development, housing and planning.
Author : Brodie Waddell
Publisher : UCL Press
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 30,47 MB
Release : 2024-05-21
Category : History
ISBN : 1800085508
The ‘humble petition’ was ubiquitous in early modern society and featured prominently in crucial moments such as the outbreak of the civil wars and in everyday local negotiations about taxation, welfare and litigation. People at all levels of society – from noblemen to paupers – used petitions to make their voices heard and these are valuable sources for mapping the structures of authority and agency that framed early modern society. The Power of Petitioning in Early Modern Britain offers a holistic study of this crucial topic in early modern British history. The contributors survey a vast range of sources, showing the myriad ways people petitioned the authorities from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. They cross the jurisdictional, sub-disciplinary and chronological boundaries that have otherwise constrained the current scholarly literature on petitioning and popular political engagement. Teasing out broad conclusions from innumerable smaller interventions in public life, they not only address the aims, attitudes and strategies of those involved, but also assesses the significance of the processes they used. This volume makes it possible to rethink the power of petitioning and to re-evaluate broad trends regarding political culture, institutional change and state formation.
