Comparative Politics of Europe

EURO302: Comparative Politics of Europe Topic 3: Overview of Western European States WARNING The following slides are only to remind you what happened in class. THEY ARE NOT ENOUGH BY THEMSELVES FOR YOU TO PASS THE COURSE. You must still use the Course Book and the Lecture Notes. (There is a copy of the Course Book in “Harmony” and from time to time there will be Lecture Notes on this web site.) And you must still come to class! 23/02/2008 West European Monarchies Ten West European countries are Monarchies. This means that the Head of State is hereditary (i.e. they are there because their Father or Mother was Head of State before them). They are born to the job, not appointed or elected. But because all ten countries are democracies today, the Monarchs have no political power; they are purely symbolic. All the other countries in Europe are Republics. (A Republic is simply a state without a monarch.) 23/02/2008 West European Monarchies United Kingdom: Spain: Belgium: Netherlands: Luxembourg: Norway: Sweden: Denmark: Monaco: Liechtenstein: Queen (Elizabeth II) King (Juan Carlos I) King (Albert II) Queen (Beatrix ) Grand Duke (Henri) King (Harald V) King (Carl XVI Gustaf) Queen (Margrethe II) Prince (Albert II) Prince (Hans-Adam II) 23/02/2008 Five Western European States 23/02/2008 The United Kingdom 23/02/2008 The United Kingdom 23/02/2008 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland England is one of the oldest nation states in Europe having first been united in 927 in what had been Roman Britain. Later, In 1535 it took over Wales and in 1707 Scotland (another old European country) joined with England and Wales to form the United Kingdom. Ireland was incorporated in 1801 but in 1922 most of Ireland became independent again. However Northern Ireland is still a part of the UK. The UK has been of the most successful states in history. It was the first country to industrialise. During the 16th and 17th centuries it built a world-wide empire and can be said to have been the world‟s first „superpower‟. 23/02/2008 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 23/02/2008 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland However, following the Second World War and the loss of empire from the 1950s onwards, the UK slowly declined as a world power. It also suffered from economic and social changes for a number of years although it has been more successful recently. Today, it is still an important European country. It is the second most important country in NATO after the United States and still has world-wide economic and political interests. In1972 it joined the European Union, essentially for economic not political reasons, and has sometimes found this a rather difficult thing to adjust to. 23/02/2008 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The UK is a Monarchy with a Parliamentary System. There is no formal written constitution (although most of the system of government is in fact written down in various laws). Constitutionally, Parliament is supposed to be supreme but in practice it is controlled by the Government led by a powerful Prime Minister (at present Gordon Brown). There is a strong sense of - and respect for - Human Rights in the UK and a very strong sense of tradition (and sometimes therefore a reluctance to modernise). 23/02/2008 Key Points about the Uniyted Kingdom Continuity A Multi-National State (England, Scotland and Wales all still have their separate national identities) (But Northern Ireland is a special problem) High political legitimacy Strong central government (although recently there has been devolution to Scotland, Wales and NI) Strong sense of Human Rights Few social divisions A conservative society reluctant to change • • • • • 23/02/2008 France 23/02/2008 France 23/02/2008 République Française – French Republic France has some similarities with the UK. It is also an old European nation state; most of the country was united during the 12th and 13th centuries and all of it by 1532 when Brittany in the north-west was united with the rest of France. It then quickly became a powerful European country. However, unlike England, it was an absolute monarchy and in 1789 there was a Revolution. Since then France has had 14 different regimes, Republics, Monarchies, two Empires - and many of them failed. But today‟s system, the so-called “Fifth Republic”, is very successful. 23/02/2008 République Française – French Republic Unlike the other West European states, the Fifth Republic does not have a classic Parliamentary system. But it does not have a US-style Presidential system either. Instead there is both a powerful elected President and a strong government led a Prime Minister who is answerable to Parliament. They have to share power. In other words, it is a mixture of both systems but, because the President is usually more powerful than the Prime Minister, this system is known as “SemiPresidentialism”. France is the only example in western Europe but there are now several similar cases in the formerly communist east. 23/02/2008 Key Points about France • Lack of continuity (14 regimes in 200 years) • A strong central state • But a strong sense of individualism and Human Rights • Strong executive and weak parliament • Weak and divided interest groups • Two-‟bloc‟ party system 23/02/2008 Italy 23/02/2008 Italy 23/02/2008 Repubblica Italiana - Italian Republic Italy has often been seen almost as the centre of European culture, certainly in the classical sense. Art, especially sculpture and painting but also music, has always been associated with this part of Europe and of course it was the centre of the Roman Empire and the home of the Latin language. But it was never a European state until as late as 1861 when it was conquered by the northern Italian Kingdom of Sardinia. Since then, Italy has been a single state, but it has had a rather difficult history. 23/02/2008 Repubblica Italiana - Italian Republic During the 1920s, there was an economic collapse and 1926 Benito Mussolini took power and introduced the world’s first fascist state. Italy joined the Second World War on Nazi Germany‟s side and like Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945. A new Italian Republic was declared in 1948 and, although it has been economically successful – Italy is one of the world‟s richest countries today – it has had many political problems. There was a lot of corruption and for many years Governments were highly unstable However, during the 1990s things seemed to be getting better but there seem to be more problems again today. 23/02/2008 Key Points about Italy A very short existence as a state; A classic parliamentary system (symbolic President and powerful Prime Minister); Powerful Parliament; Powerful Interest Groups; Low level of political legitimacy but a strong attachment to democracy; Strong regional differences, especially between North and South. 23/02/2008 Germany 23/02/2008 Germany 23/02/2008 Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Federal Republic of Germany During the 1800s there were more than 100 German-speaking states in Europe. Obviously, most of them were very small, but one of them, Prussia in the north-east, was rather large and militarily very powerful. Over time Prussia was able to take control of most of the area and in 1871 the German Empire was proclaimed. In other words, like Italy, Germany can be said to be an old civilisation but a young state. The new state was rather aggressive and often used war as an instrument of state policy. 23/02/2008 Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Federal Republic of Germany However in 1918, Germany lost the First World War and, after losing a lot of territory in the east, a new democratic Republic was declared. This proved to be highly unstable and in 1933 it collapsed and the Nazis under Adolf Hitler took power. The Hitler dictatorship then became one of the most terrible regimes in history. Following Hitler‟s attack on Poland in 1939 the Second World War broke out and in 1945 Germany was defeated again. The country was then broken up into four military Occupation Zones, i.e. US, British and French in the west and Soviet in the east. 23/02/2008 Th Division of Germany into Four Occupation Zones in 1945 23/02/2008 Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Federal Republic of Germany In 1948, following a breakdown of trust between the western powers and the Soviet Union a new „Federal Republic of Germany‟ was declared in the western zones. A few weeks later, the Soviet Union declared the „German Democratic Republic‟ in its zone. There were now two German states, a free market liberal democracy in the west, and a communist state in the east. This situation lasted until 3 October 1990 when the two Germanies reunited under the (western) Federal Republic‟s constitution. 23/02/2008 Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Federal Republic of Germany The Federal Republic in the west soon became one of the most successful states in the world, both economically and politically. However, because the formerly communist East Germany was relatively poor, there have been some problems since the 1990 unification but these are slowly being overcome. Because of its history, both as a country with strong regional identities dating from before 1871, and because of the highly centralised nature of the Nazi dictatorship, today‟s Germany is a fully federal state with a strong form of parliamentary government. 23/02/2008 Spain 23/02/2008 Spain 23/02/2008 Reino de España - Kingdom of Spain Spain has had a rather complicated history. It was first united as a modern state in 1492 and soon built a huge empire, mostly in Central and South America. However, during the 1800s most of this empire was lost and Spain became a mainly European power. There was then a long series of changing regimes and constitutional crises and a military dictatorship during the 1920s. A democratic Republic was declared in 1931 but the Monarchists refused to accept this and a terrible Civil War broke out. This ended in 1939 and Spain became a Fascist state under the dictatorship of General Francesco Franco. 23/02/2008 Reino de España - Kingdom of Spain General Franco was extremely conservative and under his rule Spain became a closed society largely cut off politically and socially from the rest of Europe. This isolation lasted until 1975 when Franco died and, with some difficulty, a constitutional monarchy and a democratic constitution were introduced. 23/02/2008 Reino de España - Kingdom of Spain Spain joined the European Union in 1975 and over the following years there was a kind of „economic miracle‟. It had been one of the poorest countries in Europe but today it seems very successful both economically and politically. However, because it still has many languages and different regional identities, it is today a highly decentralised state and there is still a strong independence movement in the Basque region which has sometimes been violent. 23/02/2008 Overview of Western Europe The Nordic Countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland Benelux: Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg Others: Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey The Islands: Malta, South Cyprus, TRNC The Microstates: Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco With one exception all these countries are parliamentary democracies with Prime Ministers and governments responsible to elected parliaments. The exception is (South) Cyprus which has a US-style Presidential system - the only one in Europe. 23/02/2008 The Microstates Europe has five states which are so small that it is difficult to find them on a map. In order of size they are : Andorra Liechtenstein San Marino Monaco 468sq km 160sq km 61sq km <2sq km 71822 (2007 est.) 35375 (2008 est.) 29615 (2007 est.) 32671 (2007 est.) There is also the Vatican City State 0.44sq km 800 (2007 est.) (But this is not really a „country‟; it is just the administrative Headquarters of the Catholic Church) 23/02/2008 The Microstates 23/02/2008