Seminar Comparative Politics in the Commonwealth

The British Empire extended across every continent and occupied a third of the globe. However, it was effectively dissolved in less than 30 years following the end of the Second World War. Despite such relentless change and the rapid dissolution of Empire, the British Westminster model of parliamentary democracy was applied across the globe. The British may have left, but their institutions remained. The Westminster system and model became one of Britain’s most famous and enduring exports. As one scholar commented: ‘No other nation’s system of government – certainly not the United States’ – has been copied so extensively in such a wide variety of societies and continents. The sun had set on the British Empire but not on Westminster-style government.’ This seminar examines the institutions and conventions that make the Westminster system and how it operates in the United Kingdom and across the world. This seminar has two objectives: Firstly for students to understand the conventions and institutions that characterise the Westminster system and; Secondly by using case examples from across the world to understand how and why the Westminster developed and has endured in contexts outside of the United Kingdom and the difficulties of exporting a system from one country to another. Bodnanor, Vernon (2009) The New British Constitution, Oxford: Hart King, Anthony (2007) The British Constitution, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lijphart, Arend (1999) Patterns of Democracy – Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, New Haven: Yale University Press. Rhodes, R.A.W., John Wanna and Patrick Weller (2009), Comparing Westminster, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bemerkung Blockveranstaltung Anmeldung Anmeldung zur Veranstaltung über Coremato von 24.09. bis 30.09.2014 unter: http://www.gsi.uni-muenchen.de/studium/organisation/ole/index.html Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politikwissenschaft LMU München WiSe 1415 Dr. Kumarasingham Harshan