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Collective responsibility

is a principle of British Cabinet Government in which the members of the Cabinet must support all Governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with them.

On occasion, this principle has been suspended, most notably in the 1930s when the National Government allowed its Liberal members to oppose the introduction of protective tariffs and again in the 1970s, when Harold Wilson allowed Cabinet members to campaign both for and against Britain joining the EEC.

The term collective responsibility is also used to describe a policy of criminal deterrence implemented by the government of North Korea in which immediate neighbours and family members of convicted criminals are subject to similar punishment.

Last updated: 05-07-2005 01:59:27
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04