Examining the United Kingdom and South Africa

Comparing Political Regimes & Societies: Examining the United Kingdom and South Africa Allison Brown INST 1250 Professor Taylor 26 June, 2020 Both considered leaders in their respective global regions, both the United Kingdom and South Africa’s governmental regimes are based out of similar parliamentary bodies and executive branches. Both states have additionally faced their own unique challenges and threats to government integrity. In this paper, I will briefly examine how the U.K. and South African governments function and then explore the role of their societies in the political spectrum to understand their governments further. In short, the United Kingdom could be called a constitutional monarchy. Beginning with 1 the Magna Carta in 1215 , the government commonly referred to as “her majesty’s” is primarily composed of two governing bodies, the executive and what could be referred to as legislative. With the executive branch, the monarch (currently Elizabeth II) serves as the head of state and the Prime Minister (currently Boris Johnson) as the head of government. The monarch is unable to be politically affiliated with a party and publicly cannot have any strong opinions. The Prime Minister oversees civil service, appoints members of government, guides the law-making process, and is appointed due to being the leader of the majority party in parliament. The parliament is based from two houses, the upper and lower. The lower house, or the House of Commons, has 650 members and can be compared to the United States House of Representatives. The upper house, or the House of Lords, are seats that are appointed by the Monarch with 775 members, the majority of which holding land and titles that granted them their seats. Currently, the Conservative Party (288) or the “Tories” hold the lower house and the upper house (234), closely followed by the Labour Party in the lower house (247) and the Crossbench 2 in the upper house (182) . Welsh groups like Plaid Cymru (1 seat in the upper house) and the 1 “Magna Carta.” Accessed June 27, 2020. https://www.parliament.uk/magnacarta 2 Taylor, Zachary, “United Kingdom Overview” May 2020 1 Scottish National Party (35 in the lower house) fight for equal representation and legitimacy in the United Kingdom’s central government. The textbook for the course prefaces the section on South Africa with the following; “South Africa cannot yet boast a fairy-tale ending . The decades of political violence, social partition, and economic deprivation that victimized over 80 percent of the population left some horrible and lasting scars. Compounding the legacies of racism and authoritarianism is a host of pernicious social problems, such as rampant violence crime, brooding racial tension, endemic 3 corruption, and the pandemic of HIV/AIDS” . South Africa over the years has been faced with many different trials to test and push their government. The Republic of South Africa was formed on the 31st of May in 1961, following a separation from the United Kingdom’s 4 monarchy that legitimized the country . Often referred to as a parliamentary republic, the three- tier system of government is composed of a legislative, executive, and judicial branch. The legislative branch of the South African government, similar to the United Kingdom, is bicameral, and consists of the National Assembly (lower house) and the National Council of provinces (upper house). The National Assembly consists of 400 voting members that are elected by popular vote using a system of party list proportional representation. The executive branch consists of the President, Deputy President and the appointed Ministers. The President is elected through the Parliament and acts as the head of state, head of government, and commander-in5 chief of the South African National Defence Force . The judicial branch acts as an independent judiciary in their governmental system. The branch interprets the laws with knowledge from the 3 O’Neil, Patrick H.; Fields, Karl; and Share, Don. Cases and Concepts in Comparative Politics. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2018 (pg. 299) 4 O’Neil, Patrick H.; Fields, Karl; and Share, Don. Cases and Concepts in Comparative Politics. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2018 (pg. 304) 5 “President Jacob Zuma: Responsibilities.” President Jacob Zuma: Responsibilities | The Presidency. 2020. http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/responsibilities/president-jacob-zuma. 2 country’s constitution and the debate that followed the passing of the legislation in the houses. Together the three branches of government act to govern and create the laws of South Africa. In both the United Kingdom and South Africa, political societies are complex and have centuries of development and even violence behind them. Political societies, or cultures, are 6 defined as “basic norms relating to politics … a societal pattern of basic norms about politics” . Within the United Kingdom, centuries of oppression and lack of agency affect Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. This sort of resentment that some of the voters and politicians from those political societies carry often guides and impacts decision making from the legislative chambers of parliament to political protests that advocate for a break from the main United Kingdom governmental systems. These political societies, the Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish’s political cultures can often lead to disagreements in parliament and a larger sense of discontent with referendums for independence, such as the Scottish Referendum of 2014 that led 7 to a thin margin of Scotland staying in the U.K. with a vote of, “2,001,926 … [to] 1,617,989” . South Africa has no lack of political cultures and societies that impacts the government’s decisions and how the country functions together. Race relations that are derived from Apartheid, with the small population of whites in South Africa ruling over the overwhelming majority of indigenous and black South Africans and creating a system of systematic racism that is still prevalent today8. These relations and a dominant white class for the majority of South Africa’s existence heavily impact the political cultures that are prevalent in both the government and voters of South Africa. 6 O’Neil, Patrick H.; Fields, Karl; and Share, Don. Cases and Concepts in Comparative Politics. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2018 (pg. 16, 31) 7 “Scottish Referendum: Scotland Votes 'No' to Independence.” BBC News. BBC, September 19, 2014. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-29270441 8 History.com Editors. “Apartheid.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, October 7, 2010. https://www.history.com/topics/africa/apartheid 3 In conclusion, by comparing the United Kingdom and South Africa’s government system and understanding their political regimes, it is clear that their political societies impact their governments and states in the present, and that political cultures are inherent in any states due to past government relations, movements, and decisions. 4