June 13 

Eng 209 
" Lecture 10 "

Development of the representative Government in Britain

A government where there is democracy is a representative Government. The other name of
representative government is the existence of democracy. Now, what is democracy? Democracy
is a representation of the people. The most important component of democracy is the people. The
people form the nation, government, state, and representative government parliament through
election process. And, representative Government is elected by the people through the election
process.
How do people form representative governments?

Through the election process at various levels like union level, city council, parliament, etc. At
the national level, people form a parliament through election. 

How did democracy start in Britain and how did the representative Government in Britain
finally come in shape? 
 
Thousands of years ago the representative Government selection was not like today because
there was no voting system. But still, we can see that democracy started in Britain. Britain is
considered to be the birthplace of democracy.
Before 1969, those who were above 21 could vote. But in 1969, it was declared that those who
are 18 and above can vote in Britain. In Scotland now, the government is trying to make the age
16 eligible for voting.
 
There are 7 major phases or stages by which  Britain's representative government finally got
into shape. They are - 

 Magna Carta - Magna Carta is the first document of democracy in modern time. It took
place in 1215, King John signed for Magna Carta with his barons. At that time, there was
no prime minister or parliament members but there were kings and feudal lords
(Feudalism). Feudal lords had lands and states with the help of which they used to give
 army and tax to the King. In exchange, they used to enjoy power in that particular land
area. However, at that time the king used to do a lot of work on his whim. For example,
the kings used to demand a large amount of tax which sometimes barons felt unable to
pay. So later, the barons started protesting against it. Since the King had all power within
his hand so initially they began to arrest those barons who opposed to their decisions.
However, in the time of King John, things went to a different dimension. When barons
and the clergy protested, Barons marched with their army to London to capture the King.
And when King John was captured he signed the Magna Carta with these barons and
clergies in order to save his life. After this, the barons, and clergy gained some power.
For example, after Magna Carta, the King could not arrest anyone without a warrant or a
valid reason. ( a council of 25 barons )

 Parliament gained power during the Stuarts - There were 59 or 74 kings and queens in
Britain and some were tyrants, for example, Henry 8 (can kill whoever he wants). As
against this, the parliament selected 10%-15% of the population who could vote and
could pay the taxes. By the vote of this rich population, parliament rose its head against
these tyrant authoritarian kings. So the parliament tried to control the kings by gradually
gaining more and more power from the king. For example, parliament beheaded Charles I
to gain power. 

 Petition of rights in 1688 - In 1602, when Mary and William became the king and
queen, parliament signed a petition of rights from them. After this, the parliament got
more power but still, the king had the power to abolish parliament at any time. But in
1688, Mary and William signed a document named the triennial act in which it was
written that the king cannot abolish the parliament in 3 years.

 Act of 1832- Before 1832 only 10% of the population could vote. But in 1832, there was
a demand to expand vote rights. The parliament and government itself decided to expand
the vote rights. They decided to reduce the rights of the voters and select new areas for
the MP's. Because there were some areas where there was a large population but no
parliament seat. On the other hand, maybe a feudal lord in the village had 2 parliament
seats with 10-20 people living in that area. So the feudal lords used to sell these seats. As
a result, there was malpractice and corruption. To remove all these things in 1832, finally,
the British parliament passed an act. As a result of this act, we will see that every 1 of 12
people could vote which was before every 1 of 76 people. That's how the voting right
expanded. If the number of voters increased, the government would be more
representative.
  Representation of people's act in 1918 - In 1918, the England parliament passed
another act in which it was said that women from 30 years and above could vote and all-
male from all backgrounds from 21 years and above could vote.

 Representation of peoples Act of 1928 - After 10 years, in 1928, it was declared that all
males and females from 21 and above could vote in England.

 Act of 1969 - In 1969,  it was again declared that all males and females from 18 and
above can vote now in England. This practice of voting still prevails all over the world.

This is how the development of representative government in Britain took place and got in shape.

Lecture 12
Development of the cabinet system

What is cabinet and how it is developed in Britain?

Definition- Cabinet is responsible executive having control of the administration in a country. 
Cabinet is basically a council of ministers. They work either under the president or under the
prime minister. 
So, cabinet is the body executive who executes or takes the decisions under one or more
ministries and they are the ministers. 
Second thing, the cabinet is responsible to the parliament. In any parliamentary system there is
election.
Election through political parties, not one single party but more than one political party. From
there election holds and the parliament party that gets the majority they form the government.
And the party that forms the government forms the cabinet. 
Cabinet is responsible to the parliament because if there are any accusitions against any ministers
then the parliament members, they complain about it in the parliament. And in the parliament the
minister has to answer. For this reason, cabinet is responsible to the parliament. 

Cabinet has an exception in Britain as in Britain cabinet is Known as the royal advisors. In
Britain since there is monarchy, there everything is royal, for example- British army- royal army,
British navy - royal navy. In everything there is the name  of monarchy. For this reason the
cabinet of Britain is called royal advisors. But they are chosen by the prime minister although the
royal does not select them, the prime minister select them. Prime minister select them and take
them to the king or queen and a sitting is held with the king or queen. So, that is the practice.
There was a time when king or queen used to select ministers but the system is no more
practiced. 
Second exception is the cabinet is formed in the name of the crown. Those who were majority
they form it .
In British Parliament there are two bodies. House of Lords - jeta seniors der . House of
Commons ( which actually is the powerful body )like our shangshod. With the approval of the
house of Commons they form the cabinet. 
This cabinet system didn't grow in one single day or Year , it took more than two hundred years
to take its present shape. 
Now how this cabinet system is formed - there are six stages

First stage is called the stage of Normans ( France) the great council of the Normans. When the
Normans first came to Britain and were in power, initially they had a tribal culture. There were
feudalism in that time. There was a council called the great council of Norman, whenever they
wanted to take a decision they called this council. The advisor probably was a senior or the
person who is experienced in war
From this the cabinet is formed, so sometimes cabinet is also called the council of
ministers( another name of cabinat).
(They used to take advice from the advisor when they go to war )

Second stage - the moots and gemot 

Witana comes from anglo Saxons phrase. Anglo Saxons are from Germany, they also had their
council that was known as Witana - Gemot. 
Witana and Gemot Which means meeting of the wise men.
In stage two anglo Saxons has another body that was known as the moots ( s for plural that
means there were many moots and they were locals ) they are local assembly.
The moots were early Anglo-Saxon local assemblies held in each country (or shire) to discuss
local issues and hear legal cases.
In these shires they had local council known as the moots.
So the difference is witana gemot is in the center and moots are at the local areas in each country
or shire , they used to work.
So , moots are anglo Saxons local assemblies where they used to live in each country shire .

Stage 3 - in 10th or 11th century there developed another body known as Privy Council. Privy
council is another body that is formed by the Kings.
Raja tar pochondo moto lok der niye 
 privy council er members banato.
 Raja proyojon Mone na korle onk shomoi privy council daktoi na.
 Rani Victoria er privy council chilo , uni India thekeo member korechilo .
 Akhon r privy council nei .
 Privy council is another body of advisor , who advices king,
 akhon thekei porobortite cabinet form hoyeche .
Francis Bacon for the first time used the word cabinet.
From the fear of the death of Charles l, Charles ll used to keep some people around him who
were known as "Cabal" and he used to take advice from the 5 people . And the word cabal came
from the first letter of these people's names - Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and
lauderdale . 
Cabal was actually a small group those who are the direct descendents of today's council of
minister was Cabal.
When Charles died , cabal gone also.
One this that continued that is the practice after Charles then James them Willam , Mary they
used to take advice from parliament members.
Stage 5 - when Hanover came to power from Germany. As the first two Hanover kings didn't
know English so they used handover the meeting upon Robert Walpole's hand. That started the
practice of prime minister, he he used to fullfil the responsibilities in place of the king.

Robert Walpole was a whig mp , when George l , and George ll was the king this whole time
Robert Walpole was the parliament whig leader.

Robert Walpole became the first prime minister in 1721 ( 1721 became the advisor ) he
continued in this position for 21 years.
In 1742's election the whigs lost majority so Tories now came to power so Walpole resigned. He
never claimed the position of prime minister for himself ever .
From there two very interesting thing developed that is seen all around the world now prime
minister is the head of the government and is separate from king and president. But powerful is
prime minister. Prime minister is directly elected, is responsible to the parliament, and to people.
And the prime minister is always the majority leader. The whigs was majority for 21 years and
Walpole was the majority leader and whenever the party lost majority the prime minister gone.
There was a new prime minister and this practice is still in action a around the world. That's why
whenever the prime minister lost majority in the parliament or in the election then there is a new
prime minister. This practice developed with Robert Walpole. So in stage 5 now we got clear
prime minister position from Walpole.

Stage 6 - after Walpole, George lll , George iv next kings and queen Victoria er shomoi this
practice became more more more district and Sharp and ultimately Britain got some very very
powerful prime ministers.

Lecture 11
Lecture 11 (16 July)

Rise of the political parties of Britain

The whig and the Tory 
Political parties in England that grew over 200 years
There are 3 points here 
What are the political parties?
We know that political parties are the group or an organization that is formed politically with
some programs for the people for the purpose of materializing some issues with some programs
it is also known as manifesto - these are the things we want to do if we go to power.
Political parties with those manifestos - they take part in election and with those manifesto they
go to the people
Once they are in power they want to materialize those demands one by one so that after 4/5 years
they again come back to the people and claim the percentage they've done and the importance of
again coming into power to get the rest of the manifestos to be done.
So political party is another very important pillar of democracy.
The second thing is that there must be more than one party so that the people can have
choice
These political parties actually first grew gradually in England or later Britain. It didn't grow in
one single day, rather it took 200 years to get these political parties into their present shape.
There were 6 stages - in these 6 stages the political parties finally grew in England.
Stage 1. In 1641, civil war in Britain took place , civil war was between Charles l and the
parliament.
With Charles there was fight with the parliament this is known as civil war 
Civil war er shomoi prothom people in England got divided broadly into the groups one group
was the cavaliers (long hair, fancy clothes; supporters of the king Charles l) they were also
royalists and the another group was the round headers ( supporters of the parliament , with short
round hair cut ).
Stage 2 . After the civil war, Civil war ended with the defeat and death of Charles l . Then the
restoration took place and Charles ll came .
In times of Charles ll , there were 2 group in politicians
Charles ll was afraid as his father was beheaded. That's why he tried to take advice from a group
of people those who loved his father, those who were royalists, tader k she tar pashe rekhe he
tried to rule .
So a group of people was around him and they were known as court party. 
In first stage those who were royalists, cavaliers now become the Court party.(Rajar dorbar)
Opposite party known as county party those who were the supporters of the parliament. At the
second stage they are came to be known as the country party.
(as at that time there were no big cities)
Stage 3. When Charles ll was in power, he declared that after him his brother James ll will be the
king 
Since he didn't have any son 
This declaration made the parliament worried. As parliament knew that James ll was catholic, so
if he became king he will try to revive Catholicism and he actually tried that then the parliament
removed him. From the beginning the parliament anticipated that if he became the king than he
would do something like that. So when he was declared as the next king a group of people in
parliament ( round heads , country party) they submitted a petition to the king Charles ll.
Tara parliament a alochona korte shuru korlo j if James ll become the king he will revive the
catholicism.
Tara cheyechilo Amon akta law korte jate James ll next king hote na pare . 
When the parliament was trying to do that tokhon porjonto  still the king had the power to
abolish the parliament.
Petition of rights a ai ta change hoye gelo .
They sent a petition to the king to call the parliament again. Those who submitted the petition
they were known as the petitioners. Petitioners are the country party and the round heads.
Whose who were supporters of the king they alerted the king not to call the parliament , they
were known as the abhorrers - court party- cavaliers.

Stage 4. After the glorious revolution the parliament became more powerful.
They won the election.but they started accepting each other. Gradually they change their names 
One group came to be known as the whigs ( country party, round heads, petitioners) the
opposition party gave them this name. Whig means in Scotland - horse thieves, protestant
group, sour milk .
The Tory ( court party, abhorrers, cavaliers) it has also 3 meaning- in Ireland - cow
thieves, protestant group, robbers.
Gradually they accepted this name given by their opposite party
Stage 5. After William and Mary the parliament gradually became more and more powerful 
Because of their ideological position they came to be known as with two new name
Whigs - liberals
Tory - conservative party
So stage 5, developed on ideological position.
Stage 6. Rise of a new political party  apart from these two party .
And the name of the new party is the labor party . After industrial revolution huge number of
labor people formed a group name labor party. They were not political parties. initially they
voted for whigs .
At one point they need a political party of their own.so in 1906 a new political party grew in
England labor party.
And in 1925 the labor party came to power.
So ajke England a prodhan 3 ta political parties are whigs, Tory and the labor party.
So these are the 6 stages of the growth of the political parties.