Roskin Ch. 2

I find it interesting when learning about the British politics, that they don’t have a bureaucracy. They do have different status sets. I find it interesting that they have this and it usually causes role perceptions. Role perception is a sociological term that describes how an individual perceives their role which could differ considerably from their actual role that is prescribed to them. This is shown in the Prime Minister’s position.  They are elected as the prime minister from the House of Commons and they are given the powers of party chief, top parliamentarian, and head of government combined which applies towards the minister’s status, role perception and the quote from Lord Acton. Because the Prime Minister has such a high status in British politics, it is possible for them to perceive themselves more important than they really are, which in turns causes them to become corrupt by their power and in the words of Acton “Absolute power corrupts  absolutely”.

Below is a link relevant to this topic as the Prime Minister tried to have the U.K. aid the U.S in the situation with Libya however he was thwarted by the House of Commons, showing that the Commons believe that he is attempting to use his position to his advantage to go to war alongside with the U.S against Libyan rebels.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/british-prime-minister-david-cameron-loses-parliamentary-vote-on-syrian-military-strike/2013/08/29/4fabb080-10f7-11e3-bdf6-e4fc677d94a1_story.html