This week, I had the following e-mail from a student in Russia:<\/p>\n
“Hello! I have read your short guide to the British political system, and I wanted to ask what you think about this statement: “The capacity of the UK’s constitution to evolve is its major strength”. Do you agree with this, as I am a foreign student and want to find out more on this topic. Thank you very much!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I replied:<\/p>\n
“This a major subject that can hardly be dealt with in a brief e-mail.<\/p>\n
Formally the UK does not have a constitution. It simply has lots of constitutional laws that can be amended by Parliament at any time by a simple majority vote.<\/p>\n
This is probably a <\/em>major strength but not necessarily the<\/em> major strength of the British democratic system. In fact, you could argue that the absence of written constitution would be a major weakness if it was not for the fact that the British system has so many other strengths including the rule of law, an independent judiciary, a free media, a strong civil society, and a sense of tolerance.<\/p>\n
In fact, the British did not choose not to have a written constitution. It is just an accident of our unique history.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You can check out my “Short Guide To The British Political System” here<\/a> and contrast it with my “Short Guide To The Russian Political System” here<\/a>. I know which I prefer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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