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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,nb 6 commonly known
as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain (/ˈbrɪ.tən/), is a sovereign state located
off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the
island of Great Britain (a term sometimes loosely applied to the whole state),
the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with
another state: the Republic of Ireland.nb 7 Apart from this land border, the UK
is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea in the east, the English
Channel in the south and the Irish Sea in the west.
The UK's form of
government is a constitutional monarchy1112 with a parliamentary system, and its
capital city is London.13 The current British monarch¡ªsince 6 February 1952¡ªis
Queen Elizabeth II. The United Kingdom consists of four countries: England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.14 The latter three have devolved
administrations,15 each with varying powers,1617 based in their capital cities,
Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of
Man are Crown dependencies and are not part of the UK.18 The United Kingdom has
fourteen British Overseas Territories.19 These are remnants of the British
Empire which, at its height in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire
in history. British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal
systems of many of its former colonies.
The United Kingdom is a developed
country and has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and
eighth-largest by purchasing power parity. It was the world's first
industrialised country20 and the world's foremost power during the 19th and
early 20th centuries.21 The UK remains a great power with considerable economic,
cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally.2223 It
is a recognised nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth
in the world.24
The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations
Security Council since its first session in 1946. It has been a member of the
European Union (EU) and its predecessor the European Economic Community (EEC)
since 1973; it is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of
Europe, the G7, the G8, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The UK has a parliamentary government based on the Westminster system that has
been emulated around the world: a legacy of the British Empire. The parliament
of the United Kingdom that meets in the Palace of Westminster has two houses; an
elected House of Commons and an appointed House of Lords. All bills passed are
given Royal Assent before becoming law.
The position of prime minister, the
UK's head of government,148 belongs to the member of parliament who can obtain
the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons, usually the leader of the
largest political party in that chamber. The prime minister chooses a cabinet
and they are formally appointed by the monarch to form Her Majesty's Government.
By convention, the Queen respects the prime minister's decisions of government.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own devolved government or
executive, led by a First Minister (or, in the case of Northern Ireland, a
diarchal First Minister and deputy First Minister), and a devolved unicameral
legislature. England, the largest country of the United Kingdom, has no such
devolved executive or legislature and is administered and legislated for
directly by the UK government and parliament on all issues.
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