The Rise of Democracy in Britain Essay -- British Politics Papers

The Rise of Democracy in Britain The dynamic course of the nineteenth century set off a revolution in spite of appearance the realm of British politics. Foreign influence and domestic transformation created a situation where individual interests were forced into the public sphere for political reconciliation. The shift towards egalitarian government was largely unscripted because Britain had no written constitution to guide its path. Thus, Britains pursuit of democracy was not prescribed by any rules or written precedents. Instead, it was the outgrowth of an immediate national responsibility to fulfill the demands of the disenfranchised. Britains journey towards democracy cannot be explained without taking into account the many factors that spurred its development. The forces responsible for move democratic government in Great Britain were the diverse products of a unique set of evolving social, economic, and political structures. To understand the f orces that propelled Britain towards democracy in the nineteenth century, one must(prenominal) first look back to the preconditions that fostered contemporary social change. The development of democratic government and the rise of capitalism are intrinsically linked. Necessary to the ideology of capitalism was the notion that the free individual was making a personal investment of labor or service and receiving the means with which to purchase property in return. Thus, a person of property was politically invested. Industrialization, however, changed the economic climate that had defined the way politics operated prior to the nineteenth century. Suddenly, society contained groups of people who were worki... ...tension that pushed forward the original reforms of 1832. This tenderness of public demand for political representation would be essential in propelling the future advances of British democracy. As the political demands of the middle and working household came into the public sphere for the first time, the second track of political change arose. Political organizations placed their goal at giving public demands a parliamentary voice. The subsequent evolution of political parties and interest groups shaped the composition of Parliament and its attitude towards reform. In the final analysis, the influence of the public and the interests of the parties that had developed to represent their take came together to push through the great nineteenth century reforms that later stood as buttresses to the structure of British democracy.