ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to set the scene of the British political system by explaining briefly how its major elements – voting, parties, the media and so forth – interact with each other. It is important to appreciate that British democracy was never planned; rather, it evolved out of a completely different original autocratic system. Britain is a representative democracy: citizens vote for representatives, who formulate the laws of the land and also serve to form its government. In a country of 66.6 million people, any kind of direct democracy substantially involving every citizen is not possible. So representatives are elected to a national parliament, where the issues of the day are discussed and new laws are debated before being passed into law. The legislature is the body which makes the laws and is the platform on which the affairs of the nation are conducted.
