The Model And Conditions Of The Establishment Of British Democracy

As a kind of superstructure, democracy needs certain historical and social conditions. Even the economic and social conditions are approximately the same, the process and model of the establishment of democracy in each country is often different. The discussion of western experience will help us to deepen the knowledge of the democratic development and realize the historical situation of Chinese democratic development. This thesis studies the British democratic development which is typical among western countries and focuses on the model and the conditions of the establishment of popular democracy in the late 18^th century and 19^th century.The character of British democratic development is peaceful and gradualism. This is a rather smooth road to democracy. In recent years, many scholars showed their strong interests in this issue and put forward the notion of British model of modernization or democratic development.At present, most of the researches on this topic are historical. On the basis of current studies, this thesis means to put main factors for the British model of democratic development into a political analytical structure from the perspective of political science and democratic development so as to make it become a comprehensive and systematic study on this issue. The study will focus on five aspects: economic foundation, class structure, civil society, political culture and political system with the emphases on the transformation of class structure and the evolution of political system. This comprehensive analysis can help us to realize the causes of British model of democratic development from various perspectives as well as to acknowledge the mutual action between them in the process of British democratic developmentThe structure of this thesis follows this logical thread: from economy to society and culture, then to political system. To begin with economy is because the economic foundation has the essential influences on other social aspects especially the superstructure. To large degree, the evolution of class structure is the direct reflection of these influences. The transformation of economic foundation and the evolution of class structure add new motive and class factor to civil society which act as the main body for political culture. Finally, all the influences of above aspects boil down to the evolution of political system.This thesis have two main questions, the first is why Britain achieve democracy earlier than many other countries? The second is why the road of Britain to democracy so peaceful, steady and gradual? These two main questions act as the main thread and will run through the discussion of all five aspects.Firstly, from the perspective of the economic foundation, the influences of the transformation of economic foundation on British democratic development come from the collective action of three aspects: agricultural capitalism, industrial revolution and economic development. The association of economic development and industrial revolution, the great improvement of material condition and the emergence of industrial society offered the economic foundations for democratic development. It is the special situation that agricultural capitalism happened ahead of industrial revolution in Britain which caused smooth evolution of social structure during industrial revolution. Industrial society offers solid bases for democratic development and leads to the achievement of popular democracy. Both economic development and the improvement of material condition are requirements for democratic development, but only when they come with the transformation of social structure and the independent economic interests and the improvement of political capability. Democracy can be seen as a kind of natural demand of individual development in society which is the result of the combination of political interests, political capability and political consciousness. Only in industrial society, most people of society have those three qualities.Secondly, from the perspective of class structure, in 19th century, the situation of class politics in Britain presents a kind of complicate relationship among aristocrats, Bourgeoisie, working class and middle class. Those four main classes formed the certain class structure in the process of British democratic development. In this class structure, most forces are democratic, such as working class, middle class and entrepreneur. This is the important social bases for democratic development. The main class force which opposes democracy is aristocrats and landlords, but they are more negative resistance than stubborn confrontation to democratic forces. Due to the parliamentary system and the blend of the interests between aristocrats and entrepreneurs, big and middle entrepreneurs were entitled political rights earlier; it is mainly the middle class or petty bourgeoisie and working class who drive the democratic movement forward. Another character of the class structure in Britain is balanced and intercrossed, which made democratic development mainly in a model of political game and compromise, with a strong characteristic of peace and gradualism.Thirdly, from the perspective of civil society, the existence and development of societies of civil society often depend on public sphere and most of the social movements are launched and led by social organizations. In 18^th and 19^th century, the civil society in Britain already rather developed. As a result of long tradition of social autonomy, the civilian organizations in Britain were very active. Influenced by the industrial revolution, the rise of new classes and social groups established more civil organizations and societies which enhanced the social bases of British democratic development. All three significant social-political movements in 19^th century—parliamentary reform movement, anti-corn law movement and Charter movement—have strong background of societies and civil organizations and advanced British democratic development greatly. Especially the parliamentary reform movement and Charter movement, their direct aims are universal suffrage. The effect of civil society on British democratic development indicates that developed civil society and pluralistic social organization will not certainly cause violent conflict between state and societies.Fourthly, from the perspective of political culture, the richness and complicacy of political culture in Britain have various influences. In Britain, there are conflicts as well as integration between liberty and conservatism, radicalism and prudence. The political culture had an equilibrious effect on British democratic development. Otherwise, the development of education and the increase of public media, promote the political capability of the public.Fifthly, from the perspective of political system, the peaceful and gradual development of British democracy is closely related with the character of "old regime" and the selection of the model of political reform. The social forces which aim at political reform made full use of positive factors of "old regime" rather than use radical or extreme model, and the ruling class also carries out political reform timely. All the classes in Britain seldom deviate from the parliamentary system in the process of fighting for political rights. In most cases, they aimed at suffrage. So broaden suffrage became the main thread during the establishment of popular democracy.In conclusion, the analysis on five aspects of economic foundation, class structure, civil society, political culture and political system indicate that British political democratic development in 19^th have solid foundation and strong motives, and the character of peace and gradualism also have validate guarantee. Democratic development is the result of collective influences of different factors but not only one or two factors. The motives of British democratic development mainly can be seen in the influences of industrial revolution and the formation of industrial society. The transformation of economic foundation and social structure make the universal suffrage and popular democracy become the strong political demand among vast public especially for new emerging classes, and the other factors such as civil society, political culture and political system offered favorable conditions for the achievement of this political demand.The road of British democratic development have kind of particularity, especially the long tradition of rule of law which had great advantage to the development and consolidation of parliamentary system as well as to the peaceful and steady development of democracy. Nevertheless, the model of British democratic development is not unique. The particularity in British democratic development doesn't deny the universality s and the value of British experience as references to other countries.