In this article you will learn about the Importance of Conventions in Political Science.
Importance of Conventions
Conventions play a very essential part in the actual operation of the Constitution.
Conventions lessen the rigidity of the laws.
Conventions are natural necessities for all laws because without conventions these cannot be operationalised and used in actual practice. Laws by nature are rigid and formal rules of behaviour which for their application need conventions as much as machines need lubrication for their operation. Every constitutional law has to operate in the environment and this becomes possible only when it is supplemented and operationalised with the help of conventions.
Conventions are essential for keeping the Constitution in true with changing circumstances.
A constitution has to change with every major change in the environment in which it operates. Such changes can be easily brought about by conventions. Conventions as such perform the essential function of helping the constitution to keep pace with the times. Conventions provide for flexibility and informality which is always required for implementing the provisions of the constitution and the laws.
Conventions are natural and essential products of social and political evolution.
Conventions are natural to all constitutions. In particular, these are natural and essential for an unwritten and evolutionary constitution like the Constitution of Britain. In the absence of a written constitution, conventions provide the means for an orderly and systematic organisation and working of the British government. The US Constitution has been both a very brief and very rigid constitution. Conventions have helped it to change and develop in accordance with the needs of the people as well as the big changes which have been continuously coming in the socio-economic environment of the American Society.
Conventions are essential for all mixed constitutions.
Constitutional Law is always rigid, definite and fixed. It can never really permit a mixture of two extreme forms of government like Democracy and Monarchy. Such a mixture can be used and made only with the help of conventions. In the UK, a mixture of monarchical, aristocratic and democratic features in the constitution has been possible only because of the emergence of several suitable conventions.
Conventions govern the actual working of the Constitution.
The actual working of a constitution largely depends upon conventions. Conventions determine the actual operation of the laws of the constitution. Every student of politics is interested not only in understanding the legal and constitutional framework of the state but also in analysing the actual working of the constitutional system. For this purpose, he has to study both the laws and the conventions. This alone can help him to analyse and explain the gap between the legal framework and the actual working of that framework.
During May 2010 to May 2015, a coalition government (Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition government) remained in power in the Political System of the UK. It worked on the basis of some existing conventions as well as involved the development of some new conventions. As such, the study of Conventions of the Constitution always forms an integral part of the study of every Constitution.
This article on Importance of Conventions in Political Science is contributed by Dipshikha Anand. If you like LawStudyPoint.com do follow us on our Twitter handle.