Political systems: belarus, uk, usa

Task 9. What do you know about political systems of Belarus, Britain and USA?

Match the words which describe three political systems with the state:

UK	US		RB
the President Indirect democracy the Congress the House of Representatives the Council of the Republic Congressmen/women/people/person Constitutional Court Secretaries (never Ministers) Courts: the Supreme Court, Federal courts Justice		the Queen the National Assembly the House of Commons the National Assembly the Council of Ministers the House of Lords Cabinet (Administration) Deputies Ministers and Secretaries the Government Constitutional Court		President + Vice President the House of Parliament Constitutional monarchy the Senate Senators Ministers (never secretaries) Prime Minister Departments and offices Courts

Task 10. In case you have problems with the task above, and read the texts about the Political Systems of Belarus, the UK and the USA, filling in the charts, outlining three structures. Be ready to describe the political systems of each country.

Head of the state

Legislative branch Executive branch Judicial branch

head

Text 1

POLITICAL SYSTEM AND STATE STRUCTURE

OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus says that the Republic of Belarus is a unitary, democratic, social state based on the rule of law.

According to the Constitution the state power in the republic is exercised on the principle of divisions of power between the legislature, executive and judiciary.

The parliament, the National Assembly, is a representative and legislative body of the Republic of Belarus. It consists of two chambers – the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic. The House of Representatives includes 110 deputies. The elections of deputies is carried out in accordance with the law on the basis of universal, direct electoral suffrage. The Council of the Republic is a chamber of territorial representation. Eight deputies are elected at the meetings of local Councils of deputies, and eight other are appointed by the President of the Republic of Belarus.

The right of legislative initiative belongs to the President, members of the House of Representatives, Council of the Republic, Government.

The executive power in the Republic of Belarus is exercised by the government – the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus. The government in its activity is accountable to the President and to the National Assembly. The head of the government, the Prime Minister, is appointed by the President with the consent of the House of Representatives.

The courts exercise judicial power in the Republic of Belarus. The judicial system is based on the principle of the territorial delineation. In administering justice judges are independent and subordinate to law alone. Supervision of constitutionality of the enforceable enactments of the state is exercised by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus.

(from the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, 2001)