Huntingdon College | Political Science | Courses
PSC 321: British Politics.
Sample Questions.
Actual test questions may differ, but will be of similar style.
Revised 25 Apr. 2006, compiled by Jeremy Lewis .

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Sample Questions from Norton, The British Polity.

• Parliamentary Government
• role of the Prime Minister
• characteristics of British political culture
• Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867
• Welfare State and Managed Economy
• Managed Economic Decline arguments
• Education system, pre 1970s and now
• Race, Class and Religion in British Politics
• participant and deferential orientations
• Established church versus separation of church and state
• Essay: How was modern British society formed -- and which are more important, ancient or modern influences?
• Essay: Explain -- and order by importance -- these influences on modern British society and politics: religion, race, class, gender, region.
• Essay: How is the contemporary landscape rooted in Britain's past?

European currency union

Joining the euro: briefly explain the pros and cons for the UK

Essay: Does Britain have a role at the heart of Europe?

Essay: what are the advantages and disadvantages of the UK joining the Euro?

Essay: Should a referendum be called before any decision for Britain to join the Euro?

Essay: Discuss the merits of the Labour government's 1997 programme of constitutional reform.

Essay: "Thatcherism has opened the way for the radical modernizing leadership of new Labour."  Discuss fully.

empirical, allegiant culture

cooperative, trusting culture

occupation in British politics

mass media in British politics

declining civic culture argument

Essay: Is the civic culture in Britain declining, what are the argument raised about it -- and if so what will be the result?

Essay: Describe the civic culture in Britain -- and explain its differences with the United States.

Essay: What are the causes of a civic culture and how have they influenced the British?

massive economic crises and Labour governments

Blair’s government's different view of “classes”

Old Labour, King says, was a party that kept its distance from what groups in society?

In the 1997 general election, Labour secured the support of what surprising groups?

the two pillars of traditional British socialism

Blair government's policy on nationalization

organizational links between the Labour Party and trade unions.

Essay: in what sense was Blair's New labour administration of 1997 still a socialist administration?

Essay: "New Labour boasted a new organization, new leader new policies, and new voters.  Was it still Labour?  Discuss fully.

post war consensus

Third Way

Essay: Differentiate between the post war consensus and the Third Way of New Labour.  Was the Third Way really just a label for Labour acceptance of Thatcherism?

conservative citizenship

new democratic citizenship

“joined up govt.”

collective group power

Essay: Explain the difference between conservative and new democratic citizenship.  Do these actually corespond to positions of the two major parties?

Essay: Explain the New Labour view of citizenship and culture.  How far does it differ from the previous understandings?

Essay: In what ways has the long democratic past of Britain influenced its present politics?

Essay: Does New Labour represent the rejection of Britain's feudal history in favor of a new, democratic future?

In what sense does the Battle of the Falklands illustrate what happens when an old colonial commitment is challenged?

"The Battle of the Falklands illustrated the dominance of short-term politics over strategy, and expertise over numbers of troops."  Discuss fully.

How did these factors interact to produce the outcome of the battle of the Falklands /Malvinas: strategy, technology and expertise?

In what sense did the battle of the Falklands /Malvinas indicate a British "muddling through" (or failure to break with the past)?

"The Battle of the Falklands /Malvinas was a ridiculous contest for one nation to preserve a lost empire, and for the other nation to recover land it never held."  Discuss fully, taking a sttrategic view of the battle.

Essay: How has British politics been transformed since about 1990?

Essay: Has there been constutional change in Britain -- and how can that occur without a constitution?

Essay: In what does the British constitution consist?

Essay: Does "constitutional" in Britain mean anything other than a claim that tradition should be respected?

Essay: Does the European Union reduce British sovereignty?

Essay: What are the sources of the constitution and how do they differ from the United States?

Essay: In what sense is the British Uncodified Constitution written?

Blair's constitutional reforms

reform of the House of Lords in the 1990s

Essay: was the Blair first administration the most active constitutional reforming goverment in Britain?

Essay: How does the British process of constitutional reform differ from the American, and how rapid was the pace of change in the UK in the late 1990s?

To what degree is the Blair administration committed to a constitutional revolution?

Britain as a multi-layered, pluralistic democracy

deregulation, privatization, and agencies.

new public management

reform of the composition of the Lords

Essay: What choices did New Labour face up to in reforming the law and the constitution?

Essay: Is the Blair administration the most reforming government in a hundred years?

constituencies of the House of Commons

extension of the franchise

characteristics of British campaigns

candidate selection

causes of voting behavior

Essay: In what sense if any is the British electoral system a dysfunctional system?

Essay: Can a winner take all (first past the post) system ever be fair?  If not, are there other advantages?

Essay: What are the differences between British and American campaigns?  Which type of campaign gives voters better type of choice among policies?

Essay: Is the British electoral system fair and workable?

Essay: Is the British electoral system fair and workable?  What other systems could replace it?

The withdrawal from the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)

How the 20th Century can be characterized as the “Conservative Century,”

Hague’s new strategy for conservatives

state of the conservatives by 2000

Essay: By 2000, how did the British conservatives resemble their predecessors of the 1980s?

Essay: In what sense if any is New Labour the new Conservative party of power?

Political alignments and party performance in 1997 election

weak roots of Labour's dominance since 1997

"two-party system"

Essay: Is New Labour now the natural party of government?

Essay: "New Labour's dominant position is the product not of a solid realignment but only of superficial shifts in the parties' positions on policy."  Discuss fully.

How do government - party relationships vary between the Labour party and the Conservative party?

Essay: Is New Labour really just old labour with a new image?

fluid political environment

trends in partisan loyalties

Maurice Duverger on political parties before democratic era

cadre party and caucus, versus mass-branch party

professional political marketing in British parties

Labour's dependence on the trade unions

Essay: How have British parties adapted in recent years to marketing themselves?

Essay: Which is now the most professional party in Britain, and why?

Essay: Do interest groups hold more or less privileged positions in Britain than in the US?

Essay: How has the status of interest groups been changing in Britain?

Essay: In British interest group politics, is it still more effective to take an inside strategy  -- or is this now out of date?

Essay: Does the integration of powers lead to an excessively strong executive?

Essay: Is the prime minister gaining power at the expense of civil servants?

Essay: Is British local government suffering from a democracy deficit?

Essay: Has British local government been strengthened or weakened in recent decades, and why?

Essay: Is the European Community suffering from a democracy deficit?

Essay: Does the European Union reduce British sovereignty?

Enlargement of EU

scope of EU regulation of British economy

British party and newspaper stances on European integration

Essay: "Together the British parties have colluded to keep Britain in the EU -- and prevent the popular majority from pulling out."  Discuss fully.

Essay: Can one really distinguish between the Third Way and British Way when it comes to policy towards the EU?

Essay: Does Britain still enjoy a truly bicameral system?

Essay: Are the Commons and Lords still "efficient" -- or only "dignified" -- today?

Essay: How should Parliament be reformed, if at all?

Essay: Are the Commons and Lords merely a fig leaf covering prime ministerial government?

Essay: How has the role of the monarch changed over time and what is its future?

Essay: Is the monarchy an anachronism?

Essay: Does the monarchy perform any function that could not be performed by a republican presidency?

Essay: WIll Queen Elizabeth II prove to have been both the most adaptable -- and last -- British monarch?

Essay: Do the British courts and police offer any useful lessons for the United States?

Essay: Do the British courts and police respect individual rights as they should?

Essay: How has the structure and functions of the British court system changed since 1970?

Essay: Compare the British and American justice systems.

Essay: Do the British mass media play a greater role in democracy than the American?

Essay: What is the political stance of the newspaper and television channels in Britain?  Overall does this balance favor the Left or Right?

Essay: Should the British system of quasi-public and commercial television channels be reformed, and why?

Essay: "In Britain, the television services -- but not newspapers -- play a better role in politics than their US counterparts."  Discuss fully.

Essay: Where is the British political system headed in the next generation?

Essay: Are the signs of continuity in British politics greater than the signs of change?

role of the cabinet

role of the shadow cabinet

lrole of the back benchers

role of the cross benchers

"My Right Honorable friend"

"The honourable and gallant gentleman."

role of the Speaker

Prime Minister's Question Time

"Mr. Speaker, I will begin my remarks again."

issue of unparliamentary remarks.

Queen-in-parliament

Royal Assent

the liberal democrats' party

the Conservative party

New Labour as distinct from Labour party

the categories of gutter, middle brow and quality press

First past the post electoral system

boundaries of parliamentary constituencies

British defense policy for environmental security [Wg Cdr. Luck]

official secrets act, 1911

freedom of information act, 2000.

Essay: How did Blair win re-election?

Essay: Did the Conservatives lose the recent election, or did New Labour really win?