The political activities of the Government prior to 1960 and with Britain in view

By saying the political activities of the government, we mean the areas at which the government formations are based and the level of controls such formations are done within the echelon of authority in the government so to say.

Jere in this article, we shall be looking at some of these political formations and the areas at which they work together and effect or compliment eachother's efforts to produce the best or optimum political institution overtime and using Great Britain as a case study, we shall start with;

The Armed Forces.

Beside or behind the police for keeping order at home, and behind the work of diplomacy, stand the Armed Forces, the organised power of the state.

In Britain, the Navy - the "Senior service, the -Army and the Air Force, the newsest of the three of the rest have each one of them, a separate history and organisation.

For an easy understanding and the convienience of learning, it will be wiser if i state in brief how and the ways in which each of these forces are been controlled and then to examine some common features and the problems common with them all, so we start with the Army.

The Army

Here, the controlling authority is the Army ruling council which is organised on the same board as the Admirality of the Navy which we shall be discussing later.

The political body or members are the Secretary and under the Secretary of State for War and the Financial Secretary and with them sit a number of military members.

The Navy

This body of the armed forces was once under the control of the Lord High Admiral hence this office like that of the Lord High Treasurer has been put into commision and the Navy is now been ruled by the Board of Admirality, who is now charged with the responsibilty of taking care of the Naval affairs and is also responsible to the Parliament, the Parliamentary and the Financial Secretary and the Civil Lord.

Their colleagues on the board are the are the "Five Sea Lords", who are sialors and not politicians.

while the first Lord determines policy, the Five Sea Lords are expected to carry it out and to see to the building of Ships, the recruitment and disciplining of men and the desposition of the Navy over all the trade routes it is intended to protect.

The Air Force

In the early century, it appeared that flying was going to play a very key and an important part in warfare, both the Navy and the Army developed the Air services which were first brought under one authority during the first world war of the 1914's.

However, the control of this very part of the Armed Forces- the Air Force still largely belongs to the Air Council and it was presided over by the Secretary of State and with the under Secretary as the Vice President.

They are assisted by the Chief of Air Staff and several Air members of the Naval Force and at that time, the Civil Aviation is now been controlled and onwed by the government through the Ministry of Transport but the contacts betwewn this very government owned department and the Air Ministry are just very close by natural equation gievn a dispatch of what I call a Same Duty call.

The needs of the forces for equipment are duly met by the Ministry of Supply which was created during the 1939-1945 world war.

This department is also concerned with the supervision of the iron and steel industry, the conduct of the research into the Atomic energy and the provisions of supplies for housing and its functions and organisations will probably under some changes further.

General considerations

It is a clear indication that these different Armed forces bodies happens to be a mixture of Politicians in the government institutions and establishments and esperts in their areas of scientific proficiency and mastery hence, the latter cannot properly be compared with the Civil Servants of the other Departments.

Indeed, each of the Defence organisations has a Secretary who alongside his assistants would perform the Civil Service work and ensure it is done as appropriate.

In these three Departments however, there is what is known as a real sharing of control; in the first Lord and Secretary of State are responsible for their Departments but they are usually far more under the control and influence of expert advice than the other Ministers.

The overwhelming important of efficieny in defence makes them very afraid to go against the experts unless they are very very sure of their grounds.

Further more, the sailors, the soldiers and the airmen enjoy so much amount of respect from the public which is not usually given to the Civil Servants.

The reason for this so much respect given to these men on uniform (the military men) is largely explained given the fact that they give up a larger chunck of their time for pleasures with themselves and their family members as much as they are also ready to lay down their lives in the Defence of their country's sovereingty and intergrity against all forms of external agression from the countries of the other world.

Another reason for this ultimate respect the Mlitary draws than their Civil servanta counterpart is that hence we will continue to live in a world that is currently and largely being ruled by force and fear, the experts in the Force will always command so much respect and fear for themselves.

This expertise influence is rather too noticeable in the Navy particularly because the prestige for which in an Island country is naturally great.

The Sea Lords' opposition for disarmament in 1927 is well known, and it was partly on their advice that Sedition Act was passed hence there are two dangers in this situation.

First of the dangers is that, it may lead to Militarism- that is, the belief that war is the only ways of settling dusputes and that the country existed for the sake of the Armed Forces, not the Armed Forces for the country.

Meanwhile, the Second of the dangers is that it may actually weaken the Armed Forces efficiency as their whole training encourages the habits and acts of obedience and those of accepting situations the way they are after a great part of such trainings are not easy to keep the mind open to new ideas hence the reluctance of the Navy in realizing the importances of the submarines and the slowness of which the Army had adopted using the Armoured Tank remains a mirage till date.

This is how far I can go for today untill the next time out when I will be giving more accounts as regards this strong Armed forces and their roles and efficiencies in the British polity over time.

Thanks for reading, good morning and may God bless you all❤

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Happy chritsmas and a properous new year to you all in advance.