The History of the National Parliament - Essay Example

National Parliament Essay 22nd June, National Parliament Introduction & Background One of the most oldest and unique building of the world, that is full of British heritage and culture. A building that is the representation of how the society of Britain has evolved over the years, a historical heritage that has given meaning to the image of British nationality and has been a place of many important decision; The history of the house goes back to 900 years, from the Anglo Saxon to the present. The history of the present day palace starts with the reconstruction of architect Charles Barry after the great fire of 1834. The present day palace is built in Gothic style; the style was popular during the 15th and 19th century (B. Sources, The architects ). The Royal commissioner was appointed in 1835 to study and make a plan about rebuilding the place. The style was opted to be Gothic because it was considered to be more conservative and had a true reflection of the Britain history and culture. The commissioner than announced publically to compete for the design of the palace and out of 97 entries that were registered four were short listed and after a unanimous decision Charles Barry was selected for the job. There was a committee established that looked after the future interest of the palace, and the significant work that needs to be done in order to protect the heritage and history of the country to ensure that it continues to be a place for UK parliament in the 21st century and beyond. The reason for the making the committee was that no restoration has been done since the construction of the building in 1850, even the recent restoration work took place in 1940. Now the place faces real risk of irreversible damage. Few of the areas that need special attention include the heating, ventilation, electrical and water drainage system. Work also needs to be done on cast-iron roofs to prevent from further damages, installation of proper and new fire system and to ensure that risk caused by fire is reduced. Lastly to restore latest technological system in the building to ensure the functioning of the place as a parliament In the initial years it was used at a place for talk and not a place to make rules. It was a place where people would come together and talk on various topics and the meeting could take place anytime and could last for indefinite period of time. Further it was converted in to people who did not only unite for talk but also to make constitutions. It was during the period of Henry’s VIII which changed the face of the parliament and English Government. Laws were made under the supervision of the king and were related to all field of life, religion and related issues. In the years 1672 till 1689 saw political conflicts that gave room for foreign invasion; it gave rise to the glorious revolution (S. Britain, Overview of the Glorious Revolution ). The revolution went under many transformations over the years reaching to the act of settlement in1688, which gave alteration in the successor of the throne and elected a king. The act of settlement was introduced which stated that no catholic or a person with catholic spouse could be a part of the throne. In 1264 the first parliament were held in England and Ireland, it was the start of the long and ending development of the complex parliamentary traditions. The early council was one where the king used to consult his nobles, and over the time period it evolved in to meeting held by the representatives of the democracy. In the last 750 years there has been constant interaction between the two main leading bodies, for the Ireland where the crown takes the stand and the Britain where the democracy is voted by the public (S. Britain). It was after the 1801 the parliament of Ireland and Britain were united, and the parliament also started controlling the matters in the Ireland till the 1960s. It has influenced the Irish parliament of the past several years due the Ponying’s’ law, civil war, constitutional differences, parliamentary reunion, repeals, legislative reforms, great feminine, disestablishment, home rule, two home rule bills, third home rule bills till the time Ireland became a republic and started direct ruling. The act of union was passed in 1707 by the English and the Scottish which further led to the creation of United Kingdom of Great Britain. During the act it was the collaboration between the two parties in the 16th and 17th Century. It was one of the key at creation of the parliament. Like the House of Common, the House of Lords played an important role in the development of the parliament till the time palace was being constructed (B. Sources, House of Lords). The parliament Act was written and composed in 1911 and changed the power and composition of the House. The act was revisit in 1949 and the first 14 of the life peers included the trade unionist, economists and governors. Sir Robert John was the first in line of the peer ending with Barbara Frances. The reforms also went change in the 1960s and it was in the year 1999 that the house excluded most of the peers from the Upper House and new reforms were made. It was time when the outside world started impacted the debates and decision that took place inside the parliament. It was with time that the two started to learn and live with each other, the media reported all the events that took place inside the parliament and that had huge impacts on the society outsides and then it was decided that the two would work with collaboration with each other. The proceedings were formalized and the new technology allowed the live transmission of the parliament on the radio and television and further it was directly linked through the internet. The traditions of the parliament goes way beyond than a 100 years, although these ceremonies have evolved over the years but the basic were the same, it was the influence of time that compelled to make the changes. These ceremonies were marked with dress code, color and choreographed. Few of the parliament officers that made an impact to shape the parliament and the business that took place are the Lord Speaker, Lord Chancellor, Clerk of the Parliament, Black Rod, The Speaker, Speaker’s officer staff, Chairman of ways and means, Clerk of the House, Sergeant at Arms, State Opening, Prorogation, Speaker’s procession and Lord Speaker’s Procession and the lying-in-state (Memorandum). Cultural Development Parliament is the place defining the relationship between the people governing the state and people establishing the state. It has been the focal point at making the people and nations successful. People were given the power to makes changes in the parliament and provide with fair means by voting for the people who would represent the states. It was in the year 1918 when the people were given the right to vote, petitions were filed and amendments were made, the people of the state were given proper education about the political happening and how can be an influence on the matters of the state. Social reforms were made and improve over the years to improve the standard of living in the society, the first and foremost priority was given on making and establishing a strong education system that would give the basic education and awareness to the people about their rights. Else for the education rights related to other social events were also highlighted. These events included the economic indicators, respect for women, right of the citizens and other human right issues (S. Britain, People & Parliament transforming society). Parliament started focusing on establishment of their towns and cities, to develop their countryside; they started focusing and planning on how the towns should be created and established. Landscape was being managed. Importance was given on different channels of transportation and communication which included canals and rivers, road and railways, communication through air and other means (Campbell). All channels were improved according to the need of the common people. Trade and industries were build and established that created jobs for the middle class and started circulation of money in the society. Import and Exports were improved many reforms were written to ensure effective trade between different countries. This led to an increase in the living standard of the common people and was exposed to many services and industries. Last but not the least laws and regulations were created, proper courts were created, police and army was made and laws related to all field of life were established to protect human rights (B. Sources, Communicating parliamentary business). Voter Apathy Political apathy is a term usually associated with the youth of the country. It is identified that whether it is lower vote turnaround, disengagement from the democratic process, lack of knowledge to make informed decisions, young people have been cited. One of the studies conducted by Hansard Society has reported that only 12% of the people under the age of 25 have claimed to vote in the year 2015 (Post). It is not a fact that they are not engaged in political reforms but the conventional metrics used to measure their involvement does not include such activities as politically active. Voting is one of the activities that are the connection between the people and the relationship they have with politics. It shows the level of interest and trust the people show in forming of their government. More the voters turnaround more strong and confident is the parliament formed. The people who don’t vote gives a clear message that they are either not interested in voting or the present people are not good enough to vote. And if the same people form the electorate they don’t find a positive response within people to accept their reforms and other decisions. There are some countries which have kept is as their legal right to vote for people who are eligible to vote, Britain has not yet passed any such order (Ilie). They believe that to force people is as good as people not voting. They might get a 100% turnaround in voting but that will not signify that they are interested in the political activities or they trust the government that is formed in the national parliament. There are many sites online that provide the facility of filing petitions to the government and it is believed that the introduction of internet and World Wide Web has given space to people who would have never been a part of the system otherwise. There have been various studies on what had made the young generation of Britain to lose interest in the political activities. One of the researches conducted shows a total of 39% of the population of age 18 voted in the election of 2001 (Foard). One of the reason was high distrust was due to speculations in the market about “Formal Politics” in particularly professional politics. The government as concerned about people, young generation not showing great interest in the political activities; based on the concerned another study was conducted in the year 2011 to focus on the new generation. The focus was to take in to account why there is huge resentment and why they are not taking active part in the voting cycle. The study established an online questionnaire survey which takes into account the opinion of 1,025 18 years voters and nonvoters. In the general election of 2001 only 59% of the eligible voters came to vote, this has marginally increased to 61% in 2005 general election and during the year 2010 approximately 65% of the people who were eligible voted. Although these figures might sound encouraging but at the same time the historical turnaround of voters were much high, 75% of the people voted in the year 1987 and approximately 78% of the people voted in 1992. It was considered that at that time people were more interested and took active part in political activities. It is with time that the government had to dig deep into searching for reason that has caused the voters to back out and to lose their devotion to the country with respect to the political happenings. When the voting list was further bifurcated it was noted that the young public is less participative than the older public (Foard). Further investigated it was noted that the young people are not only less interested in the political activities but at the same time they have less knowledge about their current and historical political background. This lack of knowledge and interest has resulted in a low turnaround for the customers. This study also showed that the political interest was rapidly decreasing with the increasing young population and the trend was becoming very common within the society. The people do not trust the government because they don’t find any positive results in the government reforms over the years. They voted for change but the reason of voting was not duly met by the national parliament and this led to further disengagement of people to vote and find other sources to participate in the political reforms. The young generation was self-confident that they have the ability to make the changes and that is why they took matters to their hands. They filed online petitions, they took out rallies on subjects they didn’t approve and related matters. What and how was it done? In order to address the focus the government is still under review of coming up with effective measures. The campaigns run by the campaigners is believed to have a great impact on people, they have the power to inspire, especially the young people. Another survey was conducted by 1200 people from 27 countries across the globe under the title of “Global Millennial Survey”. According to the survey, 74% of the population was not hopeful of the current political and social scenario but at the same time they were positive about themselves that they would make global change if given the opportunity. It is a known fact that the political turnout has decreased over the years, but the reason to decrease along with the lack of trust in the government is that people have founded other sources to participate in the government than to physically vote for the national parliament. It is believed that government has made much stronger promises to the government than they could actually fulfill. With the decrease in the economic and financial indicators the government had to take drastic measures that affected the normal working class (Bill). Tax burdens were forced on middle class, and job market declined which resulted in many other social issues. The next government could also not find space to correct them and that is why over a period of time the meaning of voting did not find any meaning in United Kingdom. The people did not find any good reason to make a new national parliament if they did not find any encouraging results. The key issue that was faced by the people was economic migration and unemployment (Blog). Elections of 2014 have given rise to many political parties, but the dilemma of the trust remains unattended. It is believed by the public that national and Europeans will have to come up with more compelling views on how they will bring change and improve the unions. If these changes are still ignored and not place on priority level the government would further see a decrease in the reform made and accepted. According to the electorate calculation in the year 6.8 million young Britain are eligible to vote. The young generation has to be convinced into voting because if they don’t vote they would not be able to put their voice across into making valuable reforms for themselves. An effort can be placed by the campaigners to promote them in a manner that they are able to motivate the youth to vote. Conclusion The problem wasn’t addressed timely and for that reason it will not make an impact immediately, it would require sometime before the message of the parliament comes across in the minds of the voters. Young minds are rigid and they believe that their ancestors have done much worse to the world and blame the elected bodies for all that has happened. The program would be effective in due course of time and the parliament needs to be patient till the time it makes an impact. Bibliography Bill, Dog Control. House of Lords. Informative. London: parliment.uk, 2011. Blog, GMF. "Euroskepticism, Apathy, and Change: Views on the 2014 European Parliament Elections." 2014. GMF Blog. 2014 . Britain, Source. "Parliament and Ireland ." 2014. Parliament.uk. 2014 . Britain, Sources. "Overview of the Glorious Revolution ." 2014. Parliament.uk. 2014 . —. "People & Parliament transforming society." 2014. Parliament.uk. 2014 . Campbell, A. International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Informative. London: British institute of Internal and coorporative law, 1986. Foard, Matt Henn and Nick. "Young people, political participation and trust in Britain." Informative. 2011. Ilie, Cornelia. "Strategic uses of parliamentary forms of address: The case of the U.K. Parliament and the Swedish Riksdag." 2010. Google Scholar. 2014 . Memorandum. THE COMPANIES ACT 2006. Law. London: Scottish Sports Association - Memorandum, 2009. Post, Huffington. "Voter Apathy." 2014. Huffington Post. 2014 . Sources, Britain. "Communicating parliamentary business." 2014. Parliament.uk. 2014 . —. "House of Lords." 2014. Parliament.uk. 2014 . —. "The architects ." 2014. Parliament.uk. 2014 . —. "The first Parliaments ." 2014. Parliament.uk. 2014 . Sources, ESRC. "Young people and politics in Britain: How do young people participate in politics and what can be done to strengthen their political connection?" 2014. Economic and Social Research Council. 2014 . Read More