UK Political System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

UK Political System - Essay Example Fifth, there is a two-party system which keeps the party in power continually on its guard lest the Opposition should make political capital out of just one of its tumbles on policy; sixth and last, there is a culture of democracy that preceded formal establishment of democratic institutions. Parenthetically, checks and balances are a lot more than mere separation of powers: the essence of the latter is autonomy for every branch, which can only ensure that one branch of the government does not poach on the particular preserves of endeavour of any other. But checks and balances ensure that no branch of the Constitution lets another overreach its powers. For example, parliament makes laws and the judiciary interprets them in the light of the Constitution, even though in the case of Duport Steel versus Sirs in 1980 the judges said "it is parliament's opinion on these matters that is paramount". Interestingly, under the British Constitution judges cannot be removed from office except by impeachment which has been very rare. Also, the executive is discouraged from criticising judicial decision. The US President is often called the world's most powerful functionary. However, the federal structure of the USA curbs his powers. That, at least in theory, is not the case with the British Prime Minister. The powers of Congress and the Supreme Court balance those that a President might exercise; the US Constitution lays down what the President can and cannot do, and the codified document can be changed only by the Supreme Court. Such constraints do not obtain in the UK; the general powers exercised by a British Prime Minister include that to appoint, reshuffle or dismiss Cabinet ministers, create peers in the House of Lords, give out honours, appoint ambassadors, top civil servants, bishops and judges, determine government business and Cabinet discussions and agendas, withhold information from parliament deemed necessary, use the media via a lobby system, terminate the life of a government and call a general election. Thus, the British Prime Minister would appear to have abundant powers. . The Prime Minister's position as leader of the majority party in the House of Commons, together with his position as head of government, thus combining legislative and executive powers, apparently amount to immense accretion of power. Additionally, many of the Prime Minister's powers derive from the prerogative powers of the Monarch. These extensive powers are wielded independently of parliament, and effectively give every Prime Minister the powers of a head of State, which include being in charge of the armed forces and security services, negotiating treaties. All this suggests that the Prime Minister can act like a virtual autocrat. Constraints However, this is not so, as there are constraints on his/her powers. For instance, he/she cannot afford to be seen to surround himself/herself with "nodding donkeys", as a political commentator put it. The party he/she leads will not

American Indian Philosophy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

American Indian Philosophy - Research Paper Example In the literal meaning, philosophy refers to the love of wisdom. In fact, philosophy is derived from a word that means love of wisdom (Fixico 2). As a result of many roles and tools that philosophy plays, different meanings of philosophy have arisen. Therefore, it can be defined as a set of theories that study of the elementary nature of knowledge, existence, reality, mind, values, language and reason. It is a tool that tries to seek the truth by questioning why things are done in a certain manner. It uses the science of reasoning to scrutinize the ideas, statements, thoughts, and most importantly the way things are done. American Indian philosophy is an association whose members are professional philosophers and students studying philosophy. Their main aim is to promote and further the study of all issues of philosophy that affect the indigenous people and the community (Fixico 7). This is a philosophy paper that summarizes some of the ideas of the great philosophical thinkers and with their major contribution to the many beliefs of the American Indian. According to Fixico (11), philosophy is fundamental because besides being used for teaching, it is a rational tool for investigative purposes of the being, knowledge and conduct. Philosophy is used as a tool used to convince people especially when they are in the wrong. Through its tools of reasoning it is able to subject people’s opinion to the rigor of scrutiny and eventually it can identify a flaws reasoning and they can be convinced otherwise. Philosophy also serves to develop intellectual abilities which are important in life. Other than h aving the requisite skills for a particular profession, the knowledge of philosophy helps an individual to become analytical, interpretive and critical in human capacity context and to any subject matter. Philosophy has made it possible for people to classify what they believe in by thinking about ultimate questions about the existence of God. Philosophy makes it possible for a person to study the about the past and able to discover why the people thought as they did and scrutinize the value they thought may have been based on (Fixico 22). Philosophy also influences the everyday lives by affecting the languages we speak and gives it a classification. For example philosophy holds an idea that there is a difference between things and action which is used to classify a language into nouns and verbs. Therefore we make a philosophical inquiry each time we try to find the difference between noun and verbs. Philosophy has helped in many ways to transform many institutions such as governmen t, marriage, religion, family, education and business as reported by Fixico (29). Philosophical arguments have led to putting to an end system of government that is delivering to expectations. It is bringing prompt changes in the laws and the changing of the whole economic system. These changes have been effective because the leaders of these institutions have been able to hold beliefs about what is considered essential, true and real about how the institution should be led and how life should be. Fixico (48) asserts that the education system is based on philosophical ideas about the development of what students should learn about and for which purpose. Democratic society which has been developed by society philosophy hold it firmly that people should be left to think and make choices for themselves. However, non democratic societies do not apply the use of philosophy in the leadership thus discourage democratic rule whilst insisting on citizens to surrender their own interests at t he expense of the state’s interest (Fixico 51). Therefore, the values and skills of philosophic ideas that are taught by the educational system of society have been developed as a result of philosophy. Branches of philosophy Philosophy is divided into various branches, which include the following. First, is the epistemology which is the