Political Science

Britain
       
The  political  system  in  Britain  has  seen  the  dominance  of  two  parties  and  hence  traditionally,  Britain  has  a  bi-party  system.  The  Conservative  Party,  also  known  as  the  Tories  has  existed  since  the  17th  century  while  the  present  Labour  Party  has  existed  since  the  20th  century.  Earlier,  the  principal  opposition  to  the  Conservatives  was  the  Liberal  Party,  which  later  merged  with  the  Social  Democratic  Party,  forming  the  Liberal  Democrats.  Although  Britain  has  a  bi-party  system,  there  are  a  number  of  other  parties  and  the  Liberal  Democrats  form  the  third  largest  party.  The  Conservative  Party  has  been  extreme  rightist  in  political  terms,  in  favour  of  complete  privatization.  This  was  particularly  prominent  during  the  Prime  Minister-ship  of   Margaret  Thatcher  who  came  to  power  defeating  the  Labour  Party  in  1979.  Under  the  Conservative  leadership  of  Thatcher  and  subsequently  John  Major,  the  government  followed  policies  of  privatization  and  monetarism.  The  two  policies  were  together  known  as  Thatcherism.  The  Labour  Party  on  the  other  hand   belongs  to  the  leftist  orientation.  In  recent  years  however,  it  is  adopting  a  more  centre-left  approach.
         
Although  the  Labour  has  functioned  since  1906,  it  came  into  prominence  in  the  post  World  War  II  scenario  with  electoral  win  in  1945.  however,  the  Labour  went  into  opposition  during  1951-1964  and  1979-1997.  the  Social  Democratic  Party  was  formed  as  a  break  away  party  by  right-wing  Labour  MPs.  under  the  leadership  of  Tony Blair,  the  policies  of  the  Labour  Party  were  changed  considerably.  Political  parties  first  appeared  in  Britain  during  the  English  Civil  Wars  of  1640  and  1650.  among  the  first  political  parties  in  Britain  were  the  Royalists  and  Parliamentarians,  after  that  came  the  Tories  (who were  the  patriotic  party)  and  the  Whigs  (who  wanted  to reduce  monarchical  powers).  The  Conservative  Party  holds  the  claim  to  being  the  largest  political  party  in  the  world.  Apart  from  the  two  dominant  parties  and  the  third  largest  party,  there  are  a  number  of  other  parties  that  function  within  the  political  milieu  of  Britain.  These  parties  are  -  the  UK Independence  party,  the  Green  Party,  the  Plaid  Cymru  (belonging  to Wales)  the  Socialist  Nationalist  Party,  the  Sinn  Fein  and  the  Democratic  Unionist  Party.
       
However,  it  is  the  Labour  and  the  Conservatives  who are  taken  into  account  broadly,  during  the  elections.  The  party  which  secures  a  majority  of  the  votes  polled  is  called  upon  to  form  the  government  and  the  leader  of  the  winning  party  becomes  the  prime  minister  of  Britain.  Since  the  parliamentary  form  of  government  prevails  in  the  UK,  there  is  one  real  executive,  the  prime  minister  and  the  one  nominal  executive,  the  monarch.  Also,  the  executive  works  in  close  collaboration  with  the  legislative,  with  the  prime  ministers  Cabinet  being  formed  by  people  who  are members  of  the  legislature.
       
The  grounds  on  which  the  major  parties  share  similar  views  are  -  a  free market  economy,  rule  of  law,  nationalized  health  services  and  regarding  Britains  membership  of  the  European  Union  and  the  NATO.   However,  the  factors  on  which  these  parties  are  divided  are  taxation  laws,  dealing  with  poverty,  the  extent  of  state  intervention   in  the  economy  and  how  to strike  a  balance  between  individual  and  collective  rights.  Although  the  politics  and  electoral  process  of  the  UK  appears  to  be  simple  and  straight  forward,  there  has  been  one  or  two  occasions  when  things  were  not  as  simple.  For  instance,  in  the  1951  and  1974  elections,  the  party  with  the  fewer  votes  secured  more  seats  in  the  polls.  It  shows  that  politics  is  unpredictable  even  in  an  apparently  straight-jacketed  political  system  having  a  political  tradition  that  goes  back  hundreds  of years.

Germany
Politics  in  Germany  or  the  political  system  in  Germany  is  very  different  from  that  existing in  both  Britain.  While  there  is  a  bi-party  system  in  Britain,  Germany  is  largely  a  multi-party  system.  However,  unlike  the  multi-party  political  systems  existing  in  other  countries  of  the  world,  the  German  one  is  a  dominant  multi-party  system,  that  is,  politics  is  dominated  to  a  great extent  by  two  parties  despite  greater  representation  provided  by  other parties.  Also,  where  as  the  political  system  in  Britain  has  been  in  existence  for  centuries  with  minor  changes  over  the  years,  the  German  political  system  is  rather  recent.
     
The  political  system  in  Germany  has  been  through  two  major  shifts.  Firstly,  since  its  inception  in  its  present  form  in  1949,  German  politics  was  dominated  by  the  communist  forces  in  the  area  under  Russian  control  and  the   non-communist  forces  in  the  area  jointly  held  by  Britain,  France  and  the  US.  The  second  shift  occurred  in  1990  when  Britain,  France,  US  and Russia  withdrew  from  the  country.  Despite  the  second  shift,  the  dominance  of  the  Socialist  Democratic  Party  and  the  Christian  Democratic  Union  often  in  alliance  with  the  Christian  Socialist  Union,  both  in  existence  since  1949,  is  there  still.
       
Nevertheless,  since  there  are  other  parties  and  fragmented  or  multi-party  representation,  it  has  never  been  possible  for  either  the  SDP  or  the  CDUCSU  to  win  a  complete  majority  in  the  elections.  It is  at  this  juncture  that  the  role  of  the  other  parties  assumes  importance  because  the  support  of  these  parties  to  either  the  SDP  or  the  CDU  helps  form  the  coalition  government.  Germany  therefore,  is  an  example  of  perpetual  coalition  politics.  The  other  parties  include  the  Free Democratic  Party,  the  Left  Party  and  the  Alliance  90  or  The  Greens.  The  centre-right  is  represented  by  the  CDUCSU  and  the  centre-left  by  the  SDP.
         
The  SDP  and  the  Greens  were  in  a  coalition  government  from  1998-2005,  after  a  sixteen  year  long  government  of  Helmut  Kohl,  which  was  toppled  by  the  grand  coalition  between  the  CDUCSU  and  the  SDP  since  2005. SDP  registered  its  lowest  results  since  World  War  II  in  the  wake  of  sweeping  labour  reforms  that  were  announced  in   Agenda  2010.  One  important  characteristic  of  German  politics  is  the  fact  that funds  for  elections  are  essentially  drawn  from  the  public  purse.  The  current  Chancellor  of  Germany  is  Angela  Merkel  who  had  become  the  first  female  chancellor  after  winning  the  2005  elections.

France
The  French  political  system  is  probably  one  of  the  most  colourful  political  systems  in  the  world  in  that  it  has  a  vibrant  history.  The  left  wing  in  France  has  gone  through  several  phases  starting  with  the  Anarchists,  Revolutionaries  and  Reformists  of  the  early  19th  century  giving  way  to  further  splits  in  the  post  World  War  I  period.  Three  broad  divisions  of  the  Old  Left,  the  New  Left  and  the  Centre-left  can  be  drawn  today.  The  New  Anticapitalist  Party  has  been  the  culmination  of  the  fragmented  left  in  France  and  seeks  to  bring  about  a  unity  between  the  various  bifurcations  of  the  French  left.  The  right wing  can also  be  classified  into  three  broad  clusters  of  the  Legitimists,  the  Orleanists  and  the  Bonapartists.
           
The  dominant  issue  in  French  politics  is  that  of  the  extent  of  government  intervention  in  the  economy.  Naturally,  the  liberals  are  in  favour  of  free market  while  the  socialists  prefer  a  limited  governmental  intervention  and  a  welfare  society.  The  political  sphere  comprises  two  parts  -  the  left  wing  represented  mainly  by  the  French  Socialist  Party  and  the  right  wing  represented   previously  by  the  Rassemblement  pour  la Republique  (RPR)  and  presently  by  the  Union  for  a  Popular  Movement  (UMP)  which  is  neo-Gaullist  in  approach.
         
The  constitution  of  the  Fifth  Republic  has  transformed  to  a  great  deal  over  the  years  with  further  institutional  reforms  on  the  cards.  The  people  have  been  influenced  by  the  left  wing  for  years  but  following  trends  of  globalization,  the  left  has  found  it  difficult  to hold  its  ground.  Like  in  Germany,  coalition  governments  have  more  often  than  not  been  the  order  of  the  day.

In  the  end,  one  can  conclude  that  while  multi-party  systems  offer  more  representation,  bi-party  systems  are  more  stable.  Also,  ideological  differences  are  in  most  cases  not  rigid  as  has  been  demonstrated  over  time  and  can  become  accommodative  according  to  the  demands  of  the  day.