Has the Prime Minister got too much power?

The power of the Prime Minister largely comes from the royal prerogative, where what the monarch said was law. The prime minster is said to be first among equals, which means to describe the Prime Ministers position is largely greater to other ministers of state. However over the last hundred years, this has been less accurate description of the role and influence of the Prime Minister. First among equals implies an equal status among the minsters and that he is simply the ‘first' and represents the ministers and therefore the government and the country. However, the Prime Minister in reality is far more powerful than what he looks to be. The Prime Minister can hire anyone that is a UK citizen to become part of the cabinet through appointing someone as a peer in the House of Lords. Although he picks solely from the House of Lords and Commons, he can appoint anyone who is a peer to then join the cabinet. There is one case, where a former MP, Peter Mandleson, recently joined the cabinet as Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform for a third time in 2008 despite not being an MP or a peer. This power certainly erodes the idea of ‘first among equals'. However, it must be noted that cabinet could have taken this decision as a whole, though it is unlikely. Further the Prime Minister decides the policy of the cabinet and thus the government, the party and the country. Such power, is argues, is too much for one person to comprehend and bear. The Prime Minister as the leader of his political party is subject to the parties support and his ability to whip his majority in the House of Commons to pass his policies and legislation into law. However, the Prime Minister's reliance on the strong party whip system can sometimes be more of a weakness than strength. If his largely loyal party and Members of Parliament vote with his 95% of the time, then they may vote differently on the most important issues that matter to them. If the Prime Minister is always creating a party political vote on legislation going through Parliament, then the occasions when he may need to whip on most may not necessarily be as secure as it would be otherwise, he may be forced to rely on opposition support, an embarrassing political situation that he would be in. One example is the rebellion of over 120 Labour MP's on the plan to partially privatise Royal Mail. However, the Prime Minister can in some cases overcome rebellions by giving concessions to the aggrieved parties i.e. those who rebelled. One example of this was the row over the ‘ten pence' tax rule, a commitment brought in after Labour's success in the 1997 General Election to help poorer wage earners pay taxes, which came to the fore after Prime Minister, Gordon Browns reversed this policy commitment despite it being outlined in Labour's manifesto. The ‘Strong Party Whip System' however, doesn't necessarily exist in the key decisive polices and legislatives proposals presented to Parliament. Indeed, many comments have been made of Tony Blair's proposals of 90-day detention without trial defeat, his first in the House of Commons as Prime Minister; saw a huge blow to his power and ability to rule as Prime Minister. Especially considering when Labour passed every policy and legislation it proposed into law. After the defeat of the 90 day detention without trial legislation in 2005, not only did policies start to become harder to pass into the law system, the actual position of Tony Blair as an actual Prime Minister was called into question. Thus, the Prime Minister is not as powerful as he first appeared – as it can be said that once a Prime Minister has overstepped his power, his ability to lead as Prime Minister becomes substantially limited. This would imply that the Prime Minister is restrained in what he can actu ally do, and therefore is not ‘too powerful' at all. On the other hand, many would argue that the point of ‘overstepping the line' of being powerful is a lot further than other political leaders, especially across the continent, such as the United States where the people are strongly opposed to any sort of detention without trial and the President is restrained by the Constitution. The fact that the point at which the Prime Minister oversteps the moral boundaries is harder to cross than other world leaders is why many want to fragment the power of the PM to institutions like the Cabinet, Parliament and the European Union. However, I would argue that this devolution of power should go to lower institutions such as Borough Councils and Parliament in every aspect except income tax, legislation national law and national security. A greater likelihood of having your views heard has been demonstrated to show an increase in participation, not just in politics, but decision making as a general. Thus, the Prime Minister is too powerful and he must have a fragmentation of his power. Arguably, however, this would be a threat to the leadership of a country. This implied in a modern day world, where the businesses in the UK are global, and interconnected, needed national coordination, and ruling. This on the other hand shows that the Prime Minister should not garment his power, as it is essential to the country to retain is competitive feature. However, like the President in US, there are examples which highlight the fact that a leader doesn't necessarily have to be overly powerful to ensure the prosperity of a nation. Therefore, the Prime Minister is indeed, too powerful.

Marx and Habermas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marx and Habermas - Research Paper Example A belief or theory may produce successful predictions, as in the case of Newtonian mechanics, and yet not be true; that is, rationally justifiable in the long run. Indeed, Thomas Kuhn's study of scientific revolutions, which Habermas cites, indicates that the most basic propositions of a scientific theory are worked out in advance of evidential confirmationThis happens in conversations between scientists about what counts as a pressing problem, how such a problem ought to be conceptualized, and so forth. Such propositions are irreducible to empirical predictions. For it is only when they are taken in combination with one another that they yield testable hypotheses. Consequently, their truth would have to be captured in terms of an ideal consensus. Thus, true propositions are those which anyone would agree to in the long run, given sufficient time for rational reflection. (Deborah 2004) The fact that scientific truth presupposes the existence of a communicative community leads Haberma s to consider the categorical framework in which intersubjective meaning, value and validity are constituted. It is obvious how predictive science is related to the context of instrumental action. (Allen, 2009) It is also obvious that the anthropological usefulness and transcendental validity of science resides in its successful satisfaction of a technical interest. However, it is unclear what, if any, interest is satisfied by communication. Equally unclear is the relationship between communication and those sciences of man associated with history, literature, cultural anthropology, etc. Nevertheless, Habermas will argue that the kind of textual interpretation preferred by these sciences is essentially related to communication. The latter, in turn, will be shown to satisfy a practical interest in procuring intersubjective agreement, regarding shared norms and values. This is a necessary condition, not only for the creation and maintenance of personal and social identity, but also fo r the achievement of individual freedom. Peirce provided the necessary link connecting the logic of causal explanation to Marx's notion of labor as an activity underlying self-realization and world constitution. (Moore and Robin, 1964) Dilthey provides a similar link connecting communication and symbolic understanding to Hegel's master-slave dialectic. This dialectic shows how one's identity is defined and confirmed through recognition by other. For Dilthey, this dialectic is as essential to the methodological grounding of history, philology, and literary criticism-sciences concerned with understanding the spiritual life of humankind—as causal explanation is to the methodological grounding of the natural sciences. The method of understanding grounding the human sciences is none other than the circular interpretation of textual wholes in terms of their parts, and the interpretation of these parts in terms of more inclusive wholes. This circular dialectic also encompasses the i nterpreter. The interpreter is responsible for much of the meaning contained in the text. At the same time, the text is responsible for opening up new meaning for the interpreter. Stated somewhat paradoxically, text and interpreter mutually constitute one another as meaningful identities. This activity of symbolic reproduction, Habermas will argue, is capable of advancing moral knowledge. Yet, it can do so only to the extent that the dialectic between text and interpreter assumes the form of a simulated dialogue. (Habermas, 1872) According to Dilthey, the understanding of the past, or the interpretation of an ancient text, is an elaboration of the sort of retrospective self interpretation that an individual continually engages in, while reconstituting the continuity of his or her life history--the very substance of one's unique identity. (Hodges. 1944) To begin with, the generation and maintenance of a stable, personal identity involves assigning one's

History of the United States Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

History of the United States - Research Paper Example This meant that there would be a federal government—the president and Congress—but also state governments. Each would have various powers. The country that the Founding Fathers set in motion would soon dominate North America, sweeping across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean in the east, to the Pacific and the West, and eventually incorporating Alaska and Hawaii. It would contain the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains, the Florida Everglades and the Smoky Mountains, the Redwood forests of California and the Great Lakes. The climate and geography range dramatically across the country, as do the people who come from all around the world as immigrants. Over the last hundred years the population has grown dramatically as people from all the countries of the world sought out a better life on America's shores. The population is diverse and freedom-loving. One of the aspects of the United States that sets it apart from other countries is its fascinating political history . The first European settlers had to make accommodations with the Natives who had settled the land thousands of years ago. Sometimes there was peace between these groups and sometimes there was war. In the end, the Natives were marginalized, and the Europeans began to dominate. They built cities and plantations and developed a vibrant economy and trade links. Soon enough the settlers had another foe, their British colonial masters, who were intent on taxing them without representation. The British became increasingly repressive and Americans began to feel their oats. This soon led to conflict and a declaration of independence. The Revolutionary War went on for nearly a decade, but in the end America was free. In the period between independence and the Civil War of the 1860s, the United States expanded dramatically. During the brutal Civil War between North and South over the issue of slavery, industrialization occurred at a rapid pace (Kennedy, 125). Much of New England developed a manufacturing sector; and, following the war, many people moved north to take up factory jobs. These jobs were hard, but they paid more than work picking cotton. This left the South short of resources for some time and increased resentment between the two main regions of the country. The 20th century saw more change as the World Wars forced the United States to look outwards at the world. These wars dramatically increased the size of the American economy and the sophistication of its technologies. The Depression showed how entwined the American economy was with the rest of the world's. It marked some of the darkest days in American history. The post-war history of America was perhaps the most dramatic, as America became a superpower and developed nuclear weapons and built military bases around the world. The Cold War saw the United States face off against the Soviet Union and its communist allies, a face-off the U.S. won with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 (Cowley, 157). S ince that time, the U.S. has been the only superpower in the world. America today has many challenges, among them terrorism and managing the rise of new powers such as China and India. Today, although facing financial problems, America is still a major power and a force for good in the world. It is a country whose people can be proud to be called its

Compares and contrasts the kernels of different operating systems Essay

Compares and contrasts the kernels of different operating systems - Essay Example This operating system is developed for common users. However, there are many other kinds of operating systems which serve specific operations and functions of individual users and organizations. In this scenario, Kernel is the most important element of an operating system. It allows an operating system to carry out some specific routines and tasks. The basic purpose of this research is to compare and contrast kernels of different operating system. This paper presents a comparative analysis of different operating systems and their kernels. An operating system is the most important element of a system. It runs all the software applications and tools installed on a computer (Tanenbaum, 2008). In this scenario, the kernel is the "core" or inner most important part of any OS (operating system). In fact, an operating system uses the capabilities of the kernel to offer a wide variety of callable routines that facilitate other applications to display text, access files and graphics, get input from a mouse or keyboard, and some other similar routines and tasks. As discussed above, at the present there are numerous kinds of operating systems which are developed for different environments. For instance, some of them include existing freeware and commercial OSs, and others are being developed at various universities as technology and research based projects. In the same way, these operating systems have some powerful features as well as flaws which make them suitable for diverse kinds of functions and hardware. In view of the fa ct that in the past few years, there have been massive developments and advancements in computers, as a result kernels have improved as well. In this scenario, some of the earlier operating systems are yet based on low-performance hardware of the 60s and 70s; however they do offer constancy as newer operating systems require advanced capacity of contemporary processors and still have

Laura Mericer Cosmetics Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Laura Mericer Cosmetics - Research Proposal Example It was 1996 when Mericer developed an own line which was designed to suit women of all the ages and all skin types. The specificity of her products is that their color themes are based on classic palette and usually don’t follow the seasonal trends – according to Laura’s vision classics is always in fashion. Currently Laura’s products are available in more than six hundred stores of twenty four countries all over the world, and the line has developed and grown to include skincare, bath, body, and fragrance lines. The founder of the line spends much time traveling, making public appearances at such stores as Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel among others. She spends most of the free time in New York City or Paris. Currently among her clients are Cameron Diaz, Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts, and Mariah Carey to name a few. All of Laura’s artists were gaining experience through backstage access, editorial work or television before joining her team. She hires only experienced and creative individuals in order to provide clients with the best qualified service and the brand with those to continue the tradition of excellence. The preference is always given to diversified people experienced in cosmetics industry and with a successful track record. The images presented by the artist are those carrying confidence in oneself combined with lightness and some shades of glamour.

THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS - Essay Example It made more than 60 acquisitions to become the second biggest long distance company in the U.S. LDDS later became a public company in 1989 after its purchase of advantage companies. WorldCom’s plan was to bring in economies of scale that were desperately needed to become successful in the flourishing telecom market at the time (Monks and Nell 577) (Fernando 218). LDDS then changed its name in May 1995, to WorldCom Inc. Nearly every one of WorldCom’s possessions were paid for by its stock. At first WorldCom was in the voice telephony business, however, novel technology as well as growing competition decreased revenues in addition to profits of the business. WorldCom consequently sought to broaden its horizons in mid-1990 by buying companies that facilitated it venture into data, satellite communications as well as webhosting market among others. Nevertheless, these businesses experienced their own slow down then making it difficult for WorldCom to meet its earnings fore cast as well as its own revenue (Monks and Nell 577) (Fernando 218). Besides being seventy percent better than Enron in terms of assets, WorldCom Inc. was also the second biggest telecommunications company in the United States. ... In June 25, 2002; WorldCom announced that it had deliberately furthermore inappropriately inflated its cash flow by $ 3.8 billion (Brooks and Paul 122) (Fernando 218). The declaration followed the resignation of WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers in the midst of questions of his personal loans from WorldCom as we as the launch of SEC’s investigations into WorldCom’s accounting. WorldCom later filed for liquidation protection in July, 2002. A year after rising from bankruptcy protection WorldCom amended its name from MCI to Verizon (Monks and Nell 576). The major personalities embroiled in accounting manipulations at WorldCom include: Bernard J. Ebbers (CEO), Scott D. Sullivan (CFO), Burford Yates (Director general accounting), David F. Myers (Controller), Betty, L. Vinson (Director of management reporting) and Troy M. Normand (Director of legal entity accounting) (Brooks and Paul 122). WorldCom’s financial meltdown took place at the center of the uproar emanating from e vents at the time that can be enumerated as follows: (a) the looming depression of stock markets at the time. (b) Enron’s liquidation in December 2, 2001 as well as the linked senate and congress hearings; plus the fifth amendment by Enron executives. (c) Petitions by president Bush as well as business leaders for reinstatement of trust in addition to reliability to financial markets, reporting as well as corporate governance. (d) Receptive introduction of governance guide lines by Stock and Exchange Commission (SEC). (e) Deliberations by U.S senate as well as congress of separate bills to enhance accountability in corporate governance. (f) Condemnation of Arthur Andersen, auditor of both

Philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Essay Example for Free

Philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Essay The philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had different points of-view but they were also similar in some ways. For example, all three philosophers had their own thoughts on the subject of justice and government. Socrates belief on this matter was that democracy was an unwise form of government. He thought that the electing of the people was unfair justice. Plato had some of the same beliefs. He believed that government should only have rulers who had the intelligence and education appropriate for the matter. His thoughts were that a job should be done only by those who are best suited for it. To him aristocracy was a perfect form of government. The point of Socrates philosophies were to make people think about the questions he would often ask. The reason for these questions being asked were to have people to their own thoughts and opinions toward life. He did not think a person with the right mind should follow the steps of their ancestors. Instead of going around asking questions, Plato, another philosopher, would write his own conversations with imaginerary people. These conversations would cover much of the same topics that Socrates had tried to cover earlier. These topics mostly dealt with life such as government, opinions toward justice and how people really viewed education. Aristotle also had his own theories towards his belief of the right government. He wanted his results to show happiness among the people. Hed mainly collect information from studying living creatures and observing their living habits. He would do this so that he could see what brought them happiness. His opinion toward life was that all people should live a fair and happy life. After many attempts of forming the perfect government , his facts allowed him to believe that a perfect government could be formed only by those who have a middle class. The middle class would consist of those who were not rich yet not poor. Both Aristotle and Plato had different thoughts on the division of the government. Aristotle claimed to believe that a government should consist  of many classes for the protection of the people and the state. While Plato disagreed and thought that dividing of power was unfair and cruel. In his mind, he felt that those in the lower class could never have the chance to get any higher in life. Though all three philosophers felt that the government should be based on the equalness of all the people, they all had different views on what equality really meant. These philosophers all had their own way of gathering information and passing it through the minds of others.