What is the two-party system in Britain?

Britain was the first country in the world where bourgeois political parties emerged and where the two-party system was first established and practiced.

History During the restoration of the Stuarts in Britain, political factions representing different class interests were formed in Parliament. 1679, there was a heated debate in Parliament over the succession to the throne of the Duke of James (later James II), and the MPs who were against the Duke of James's right to the throne were denounced by their political opponents as Whigs (Scottish robbers), while those who were in favor of the Duke of James' right of succession were scolded by their opponents as Torys (Tory). Those in favor of Duke James's right to the throne were called Tory by their opponents (Tory, an Irish Catholic outlaw). Later on, the two parties gradually called themselves as such, forming two political factions. The Whigs represented the interests of the new bourgeoisie and the new nobility, and advocated the restriction of sovereignty and the increase of parliamentary power; the Tories represented the interests of the landed gentry and defended the privileges of the monarch. 1688, the two parties came to cooperate because of their unanimous opposition to James II, and **** together launched the "Glorious Revolution" by a coup d'état. The Whigs played a major role in the coup and became the ruling party after the coup. With the development of British capitalism, the composition of the Tories gradually changed, some of the landed aristocrats, bankers, arms dealers and bureaucratic politicians of the Whig Party joined the Tories, which strengthened the party, while the Whig Party gradually lost its dominant position in the political life of the country due to its split. 1783-1830 the Tories were in power. During the period when the Whigs and the Tories took turns to form the government, party activities were limited to the parliamentary arena, and in the 1830s, when the Industrial Revolution was basically completed, the class structure of the British society underwent a major change, with the formation of two antagonistic classes, the industrial bourgeoisie and the industrial proletariat. At the same time, changes also took place within the British ruling class, resulting in the formation of conservative forces representing the interests of the landed aristocracy, the financial aristocracy and the big businessmen, and reform forces representing the interests of the industrial bourgeoisie. The former took the landed aristocracy as its core and formed the Conservative Party on the basis of the former Tory Party; the latter took the factory owners who were enthusiastic about free trade as its core and formed the Liberal Party on the basis of the former Whig Party. 1832 saw the expansion of the right to universal suffrage after the electoral reform. In order to compete for voters and gain a parliamentary majority, the two parties competed to develop their own extra-parliamentary organizations and set up constituency associations as campaigning bodies. With the establishment and development of the parliamentary and two-party system, both parties became national parties with tight central and local organizations in the mid-19th century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when liberal capitalism was replaced by monopoly capitalism, the Conservative Party gradually changed from the party of the landed aristocrats to the party of the monopoly bourgeoisie. At the same time, the Liberal Party gradually declined, the party advocated the free trade policy, so that Britain lost the monopoly of the "factory of the world", a large number of industrial capitalists turned to the Conservative Party. in the early twentieth century, with the development of the Industrial Revolution and the growing ranks of the workers, the rise of the Labor Party. From 1924, the Labor Party replaced the Liberal Party and took turns ruling with the Conservative Party. By the end of the 1980s, in addition to the Conservative Party and the Labor Party, there were also the Social Liberal Democrats, the Social Democratic Party, the British ****production Party, the Co-operative Party, the Welsh National Party, the Scottish National Party, the National Front, and the Revolutionary ****production League of Great Britain, etc.

The two major parties were the Conservative Party and the Labor Party.

The formation, development and characteristics of the two-party system The formation and development of the two-party system in the United Kingdom has experienced three stages: the first stage is the Whig and Tory successive period of government. 1714 George I came to the throne, the United Kingdom has gradually formed the king does not attend the cabinet meeting, by the leader of the parliamentary majority party to preside over the cabinet's constitutional practice, so that the cabinet is controlled by the parliamentary majority party. The Whigs and the Tories took turns to form the cabinet according to the number of seats in the parliament, laying the foundation for the formation of the two-party system. The second stage was the period when the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party alternated in power. In this stage, the two parties developed from parliamentary parties to national and mass parties, which was the basic condition and important symbol of the formation of the two-party system. After a number of parliamentary reforms, the ratio of power between the Lower House and the Upper House and the royal family was completely changed, and the king became a virtual monarch, weakening the power of the Upper House and raising the status of the Lower House. A two-party system was established on this basis. The third stage began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the two-party system was gradually completed. The Conservative Party created the Shadow Cabinet in 1907, and later on, any party that won a second majority of seats in the House of Commons in a general election became the statutory opposition party. The opposition party has the possibility of replacing the ruling party in parliament through a vote of no confidence.

The British two-party system combined with the cabinet system, has the following characteristics: ① Cabinet by the House of Commons general election won a majority of seats in the party alone. ② The leader of the majority party in the House of Commons is the Prime Minister. (iii) The one-party cabinet and its members are responsible only to the House of Commons. If they lose the confidence of the House of Commons, the whole cabinet resigns; or the prime minister asks the king to dissolve the parliament, hold a new general election, and form a new one-party cabinet. ④ The largest opposition party in the House of Commons may establish a shadow cabinet.

There have also been coalition cabinets formed by two or three parties in British history, mainly in the special circumstances of war.

Major political parties The major political parties in Britain are:

The Conservative Party of Britain Formerly known as the Tory Party, the Conservative Party merged with the National Unity Party (NUP) in 1912 and was called the Conservative Unity Party (CUP), or Conservative Party for short.

The Conservative Party of Britain (CUP), which alternated with the Liberal Party from 1868 onwards, has gradually turned to be the representative of the interests of the big bourgeoisie, the big landowners and the aristocrats. During the First World War, the Conservative Party formed a coalition government with the Liberal Party, and after 1924, it alternated with the Labor Party, and before the general election of July 1945, the Conservative Party was always in power or the largest party in the coalition government, except for two short periods of time in 1923-1924 and 1929-1931, when it was ruled by the Labor Party. However, from 1945 to 1979, the Conservative Party was in opposition, except for two short periods of government, from 1951 to 1964 and from 1970 to 1974, when Mrs. M.H. Thatcher was elected leader of the party in February 1975, and put forward the policies of self-reliance, free enterprise and reduced government intervention, etc. In the general election of May 1979, the party won an absolute majority of seats, and Mrs. Thatcher became the first woman in the history of Britain and Western Europe to be elected leader of the party. Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister in the history of the United Kingdom and Western Europe, and was re-elected twice, in 1983 and 1987, before winning again in the 1990 general election. After the party came to power in 1979, it further emphasized the traditional credo of "opposing state ownership and socialist centralization, and defending individual freedom", changed the Keynesianism practiced by successive governments in the post-war period for more than 30 years, and pursued monetarist-oriented economic policies, thus reappearing the traditional characteristics of conservatism. [The leader of the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher, served as Prime Minister for more than 11 years (May 1979-November 1990)]

The Conservative Party's organization consists of the Leader, the Parliamentary Group, the National Coalition, and the Central Office. The Leader, who had a great deal of power and was not bound by any of the party's organizational structures, was Prime Minister when in power and Leader of the Opposition when in opposition. The Parliamentary Group consists of all Conservative members of the House of Commons, and it organizes the Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet. There is an Operations Committee (also known as the 1922 Committee), a Committee of Backbenchers and a Steering Committee. The National Alliance is the extra-parliamentary organization of the Conservative Party, which includes the Conservative Party Annual Conference, the Central Convocation, the Executive Committee, the District Organizations and the Constituency Association. The National Alliance only plays the role of discussing and advising, and has no right to decide the party's policy. Its main task is to engage in propaganda and organization work outside the Parliament in order to expand the party's power and influence. The Central Office is the administrative body of the party. In addition, the Conservative Party has peripheral organizations such as the Calden Club and the Primrose Club. The Conservative Party has never announced the number of its members. It is estimated that there were 1 million members in 1945, 2.8 million in 1954, 2.25 million in 1970, and about 2 million since the 1980s. 1990 onwards, J. Major was the leader.

The British Labour Party (BLP) was founded in February 1900 by the Trades Union Congress (i.e. the General Workers' Union), initially known as the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), which consisted of trade union organizations affiliated to the Trades Union Congress, the Fabian Society, the Independent Labour Party, and the Social Democratic Alliance. 1906, it was renamed the Labour Party, and was dependent on the Liberal Party in the 1906-1914 parliamentary session. After the outbreak of the First World War, it supported the government's war policy and joined the coalition cabinet of the Liberal Party. After the war, it joined the Berne International, and in the beginning of the 20th century, it gained strength and gradually replaced the Liberals. In February 1918, it adopted a new constitution, which was drafted with the help of S.J. Webb, the founder of the Fabian Society, stipulating that in addition to retaining the original system of collective party membership, it would set up organizations in each constituency to absorb individual members. In June of the same year, the Labor Party and the New Social Order, a programmatic statement drafted by Weber and others, was adopted, proposing for the first time the burial of private ownership, and in January 1924, with the support of the Liberal Party, the party formed a cabinet for the first time, and from then on began to take turns with the Conservative Party in power. before 1945, the party was in power only twice, for a short period of time, in 1923-1924 and 1929-1931. Two cabinets were organized. During this period, it initiated the re-establishment of the Socialist International, and from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1979, it organized four cabinets, which were the two longest periods of government in the history of the Labor Party. 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1990 were the four consecutive defeats in the general elections. The traditional theoretical basis of the Labor Party's program was Fabian socialism. It advocated public ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and planned management for fair distribution. After the Second World War, the Labor government of Airdrie put this into practice and declared the establishment of a welfare state in 1948. However, from the 1950s onwards, with the development of the British economy, ideological differences emerged within the Labor Party. The rightists believed that capitalism had changed and that socialism should "increase social welfare and realize social equality" rather than aiming at public ownership of the means of production; they opposed the replacement of the existing social system by a new one and advocated the pursuit of a higher degree of perfection on the basis of the existing system. Labor Party. However, the left still insisted on nationalization, believing that there could be no socialism without nationalization, and at the beginning of the 1960s the "New Left" criticized capitalism from a cultural point of view, believing that the cultural domination of the bourgeoisie had led to a state of total alienation and that it was therefore necessary to launch a full-scale cultural offensive against the bourgeoisie and to carry out a general transformation of capitalist society. The idea was that the bourgeoisie must be attacked with a total cultural offensive and a general transformation of capitalist society. This had an impact on the Labour left, which became active again after the 1970s, and the latter accordingly proposed that nationalization should be supplemented by the democratization of industry and the democratization of lifestyles, complementing the traditional socialism of the Labour Party.

The organization of the Labour Party consists of a leader, a parliamentary caucus, an extra-parliamentary organization, and a headquarters. When in opposition, the Leader is elected annually and has a Deputy Leader; when in government, there may be no re-election and no deputy. The Parliamentary Group consists of all Labor members of the House of Commons. The Leader, Deputy Leader and Chief Inspector are elected at the beginning of each Parliament. In opposition, the Leader, the Deputy Leader, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the House of Commons, the Leader of the Labor Party in the House of Lords, the Governor of both Houses, and the representatives of the Labor Party MPs form a Parliamentary Committee to lead the activities of the Parliamentary Group. When in government, it is replaced by the Labor Cabinet, with a separate Liaison Committee to maintain contact with backbenchers. Outside of Parliament, the National Congress (the annual meeting of the Labor Party) is the highest authority of the Labor Party. Under it are the National Executive Committee, Regional Conferences, Constituency Organizations and the National Labour Council. The Labor Party Headquarters is the administrative body. Number of members: 5 million in 1947, 6.6 million in 1957, 6.5 million in 1975 and 6.22 million in 1984. Leader N. Kinnock (since 1983).

The British Social Liberal Democrats (BLD) was formed in March 1988 by the Liberal Party and the majority within the Social Democratic Party that supported a merger with the Liberal Party. Its internal and external policies are mainly adjusted on the basis of the former Liberal Party's policies, emphasizing the balance between economic development and social justice, and the "fairness" of distribution, as well as the protection of the environment and the ecology; externally, it opposes racial discrimination, advocates improving relations with the Third World, and stresses the preservation of peace and the development of the **** together. The party has more than 100,000 members. Leader P. Ashdown (since 1988).

The British Social Democratic Party (BSPD) was founded on March 26, 1981. The founders were four right-wingers who split from the Labor Party. Representing the interests of the small and medium-sized bourgeoisie. Most of the participants are company managers, employees, business executives, freelancers and private practitioners. They advocated a reform of the parliamentary election system and the introduction of a "mixed economy" in which state-run and private enterprises coexisted, encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises and expanding employment opportunities. In March 1988 the party split, with the majority merging with the Liberals to form the Social Liberal Democratic Party (SLDP), leaving about 30,000 members who continued to use the name Social Democratic Party (SDP). The new Social Democrats made nuclear deterrence and defense, a social market economy, and proportional representation in parliamentary elections their main policies. Leader D.A. Owen (since 1983).

British ****production party 1920 July 31, 1920 by the British Socialist Party, Socialist Labour Party and the South Wales ****productivist Committee merged to form. After its formation, it joined the Third International and became the British branch of the Third International. 1936, it organized a British detachment to Spain to participate in the war against F. Franco. In 1936, it organized a British detachment to Spain to participate in the war against F. Franco, followed by a campaign of solidarity with China's war of resistance against Japan, and a campaign against A.N. Chamberlain's policy of "appeasement" and the demand for a peaceful alliance with the Soviet Union. During the Second World War, the Party fully supported the anti-fascist war and pushed for the early opening of the second front, and the Party's strength grew greatly, with the number of members increasing to 56,000 in 1942 at one time. After the war, the party's strength declined, and in 1947 it was proposed that Britain should follow a British-style socialist path different from that of the Soviet Union's October Revolution. 1951 saw the publication of the first Peaceful Transition Program, "Britain's Path to Socialism", which declared that Britain could make the transition to socialism through the transformation of Parliament into a democratic body that genuinely represented the will of the people, and the establishment of a people's government. 1977 saw the deaths of some members of the party who did not agree with the party's line. In 1977, some members of the party resigned because they disagreed with the party line, and a new British New **** Producers' Party was formed.In September 1988, the British **** published the document "Facing the Future", which advocated the abandonment of the old forms of "class struggle" in order to adapt to the "new order" produced by the consumer and technological revolutions. The document advocated the abandonment of the old forms of "class struggle" in favor of a "new order" arising from the consumer and technological revolutions. The party's congresses are held every two years. The organization is divided into three levels: the National Executive Committee, regional committees and branches. 1988 saw some 9,700 members. The party's general secretary is N. Temple (since 1990). The central organ is the Morning Star (a daily newspaper); and the theoretical journal Marxism Today (a monthly magazine).

Britain is the birthplace of the modern Western parliamentary system and party system. Compared with the two-party system in the United States, the British two-party system is more typical and has a more far-reaching impact on many countries in the world, especially on the party system of former British colonial countries.

When it comes to Britain's two-party system, it must first be clear that the two-party system in the United Kingdom is definitely not the invention of certain politicians or political organizations, nor is it the result of a certain revolutionary movement or political event; Britain's two-party system is the product of the long-term development of the British parliamentary system. The history of the British Parliament can be traced back to the 13th century, while political parties did not appear in Britain until the end of the 17th century. The first two major political parties to emerge in Britain were actually two factions in Parliament, when the group loyal to the king was known as the Court Party, also known as the Tory Party; its opposite was known as the Country Party, also known as the Whig Party. The Tories represented the conservative forces in Parliament and were the forerunners of the Conservative Party; the Whigs were the radicals in Parliament and were the forerunners of the Liberal Party. At that time, the two parties were merely active in Parliament and could not be said to have had a two-party system in the modern sense. It was not until after the 1830s, when a series of parliamentary reforms were legislated, that the organization of the two parties developed nationally; in 1832 the Tories founded the Carlton Club, which was renamed the Conservative Party the following year. Almost simultaneously, the Whigs changed their name to the Liberals and formed the Reform Club in 1834, and in 1867 the Tories established the National Union of Conservative Central Constituency Associations, and in 1877 the Liberals formed the "In 1877, the Liberals formed the National Liberal League. By this time, the basic features of the modern British two-party system were in place. These basic features are: (1) among the many political parties that legally exist, only two have the strength to compete for a majority of seats in Parliament; (2) the two major parties have permanent organizations inside and outside Parliament, both centrally and locally, and these organizations and the electorate are constantly influencing each other; (3) the two major parties recognize the British Constitution and aim at coming to power through parliamentary elections; (4) the opposition parties are recognized by the Constitution and become an indispensable part of the institutions of the State.

It can be seen that the two-party system in Britain is not artificially created, but naturally formed in the process of social development. The two-party system is closely and inextricably linked to the history and society of Britain and other aspects of the political system. To talk about the two-party system in isolation from the historical conditions and actual environment at that time is bound to fall into one-sidedness.

The two-party system has worked well in Britain for hundreds of years. Compared with other types of party systems, the main effects of the two-party system are:

First, the two-party system can produce a long-term stable government. In the British parliament, although there is no lack of representatives of other parties other than the two major parties, there are always only two major parties that really have the power to organize a government without the support of a third party, first the Tories and the Whigs, then the Conservatives and the Liberals, and from the 1920s of this century onwards, the Conservatives and the Labour Party. Under the current system, the party with a majority of seats in the House of Commons at a general election is the party in power. It is entrusted with the task of organizing the government. In this case, the majority of MPs in Parliament are governmentalists, which makes it very difficult for Parliament to oust the government, and this provides a fundamental guarantee of governmental stability. This is not the case with multi-party countries. Italy after World War II and France before the Fifth **** and State are examples.

On the other hand, because the parties in the parliament are operating within the scope of the constitution, the opposition parties have the opportunity to come to power through the election, which makes the violent seizure of power and palace coup lose the conditions and momentum. In the history of British party politics, one of the most striking changes was the replacement of the Liberal Party by the Labor Party at the beginning of this century. But this process of replacement was entirely gradual and peaceful, during which there was no major political upheaval, let alone armed conflict, and not even a change in the statutory procedures of Parliament. This is incomparable to totalitarian politics.

Second, a two-party system provides effective government. In general, the British government is formed by a party that has a majority of seats in Parliament. Except in major crises, such as the two world wars and the period of great economic crisis in the 1930s. With a one-party majority government, the executive and the legislature are closely intertwined, resulting in a high degree of centralization. In this way, the government could control the decision-making and the passage of bills by virtue of its majority in the parliament, which was conducive to the effective management of the country and the improvement of the efficiency of the government. Within this century, Britain has experienced a series of serious crises, none of which has caused violent reactions or social unrest in the country, which cannot but be related to the fact that it has always had a strong and responsible government.

Third, a two-party system creates a government that is effectively monitored. The existence of "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition" not only provides the country with a back-up government that can take over the responsibilities of the government in the event of a change in policy demanded by the electorate, but also, and more importantly, allows the government to be subjected to effective scrutiny. The real aim of the opposition party is to defeat the present ruling party in the next general election in order to come to power. Therefore, its main task is to make every effort to pick "faults" with the government, that is, to seriously review and criticize government policies, and in particular, it must oppose those policies or motions which are unnecessary, extreme, and may even open the door for a dictatorship, and at the same time, it must expose the government's infringement of the individual rights of the voters, as well as bureaucratic and corrupt practices of the government officials. bureaucratic and corrupt behavior. Since the opposition party is independent, it will never show any mercy, nor will it be hesitant to look back or shrink from this task. On the one hand, the opposition party can hold the Government accountable for its inappropriate activities through debates and questioning in the Parliament and demand serious and reasonable explanations from the Government; on the other hand, outside the Parliament, the opposition party can conduct publicity and monitoring through the central or local party organizations and by means of the media and public meetings. At the same time, since the activities of the opposition party are also aimed at coming to power and are within the permitted scope of the British Constitution, the criticisms it makes must be clearly targeted and responsible, and must not be based solely on the interests of its own party; moreover, its criticisms must be based on knowledge and experience, so as to gain credibility with the people. Because of the presence of the Opposition, the Government must be careful and dutiful and always stay on the right track.

As seen above, the two major parties in the British Parliament are both rivals and partners in government. They are both antagonistic and consistent, interdependent and complementary. The essence of the two-party system is to use two political parties to take turns to maintain the ruler's rule and the country's political stability. The two-party system can produce a stable and effective government as well as flexibility and maneuverability, which is conducive to regulating the contradictions between the various classes and groups in the society and maintaining the stable development of the society.

However, the two-party system in Britain is not ironclad and perfect, and it has many drawbacks. First of all, the ruling party emerged from the two-party system cannot fully represent public opinion. The two-party system of the United Kingdom is safeguarded by the electoral system of the United Kingdom. The existing electoral system in the United Kingdom is a single-constituency line system, whereby the winner is determined by the number of seats won in the general election, rather than by the number of votes cast. This creates such a paradoxical phenomenon: sometimes the opposition party gets more votes than the ruling party, for example, in the 1951 general election, the Conservative Party got only 48% of the votes, while the Labor Party got 48.8%, but the Conservative Party came to power because of the 26 seats it got more than the Labor Party. This means that sometimes the party supported by the majority of the voters cannot come to power. Of course, the chances of this happening are few. But in few general elections has the party in power received more than half the votes.

Second, the two-party system is extremely unfavorable to the growth and development of small parties. The percentage of votes won by small parties in elections is disproportionate to the number of seats they get in the House of Commons. For example, in 1983, the Labor Party won 27.6 percent of the vote, but won 209 seats, accounting for 32.1 percent of the total number of seats, while the Liberal Party-Social Democrat coalition won 25.4 percent of the vote, which is only 2.2 percent worse than the Labor Party, but won only 17 seats, accounting for 3.5 percent of the total number of seats, and the gap between the Labor Party and the 28.6 percent. The gap with Labor was 28.6%. In this situation, the number of votes needed for a small party to win a seat is almost 10 times that of a large party. This shows that under the two-party system, small parties can only be a kind of political embellishment, and small parties are the victims of the two-party system. With no opportunity for small parties to take part in politics, the will of the voters it represents cannot be expressed directly through legislation and policy making. In the local power of Britain, the Liberal Democratic Party can compete equally with the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, and sometimes the number of local councils under its control even exceeds that of a major party, which shows that the Liberal Democratic Party has a fairly strong mass base. However, because of the two-party system, the state power is not related to the Liberal Democrats.

Thirdly, the two-party system has resulted in political conservatism in Britain. As mentioned earlier, the two-party system favors the two major parties, so that the two major parties can take turns to sit comfortably. According to statistics, in the various constituencies of the country, the safe constituencies belonging to the Conservative and Labor parties are as high as 70%. At the time of the general election, many voters who support the Liberal Democratic Party or other small parties from the bottom of their hearts have to choose the lesser of two evils and vote for one of the two major parties which they dislike less because they know that the party which they support will not be able to win. The monopolization of power by the two major parties has made them both tend to rest on their laurels and not make any progress. In terms of policy formulation, they also try to play safe and get by, unwilling to engage in anything risky. Since the post-war period, people have recognized the "British disease" has not been cured, can not be said to have nothing to do with this value orientation of the two major parties.

Finally, the two-party system has contributed to political apathy among the British public. The two major monopolies of power have left many people who dislike both parties with no choice. In general elections, a portion of such a person casts his vote for the major party he dislikes less, while a significant portion of the electorate does not turn out to vote at all. Low voter turnout is a prominent phenomenon in Britain. Although turnout has been on the decline throughout the West, Britain is among the lowest. In all but two of the general elections since the post-war period, the voter turnout rate has been below 80%, with the lowest being the 1970 general election, which was only 72%. In Britain today, there are more and more "politically illiterate" people and political apathy prevails, which is y related to the long-term role and influence of the two-party system. The degree of public interest in politics reflects, to a certain extent, the level of national morale in the country. The most fundamental cause of the "British Disease" is the demoralization of the British nation, which is in stark contrast to countries such as China and Japan.

To summarize, although the two-party system in Britain is effective, it also has great disadvantages. However, everything is divided into two, the unity of opposites, the political system is no exception. By adopting a certain model, one gains its efficacy and at the same time accepts its drawbacks. It should be seen that any model of system is a product of the historical, political, economic and social environment of this country.