Political profile of a country

When we speak about the (1) … system of any country we take into consideration three (2) … of power – legislative, executive and judicial irrespective of the head of the state.

The legislative branch is usually (3) … by the Parliament and its main function is to make laws. In most countries the parliament includes two (4) … or houses. The members of the parliament are (5) …for different terms according to the regulations of the sovereign country.

The (6) … branch is, actually, the government or the Cabinet of Ministers. The Prime Minister is often at the head of the executive. The main function of this branch of power is to implement (7) … which are adopted by the Parliament.

The (8)… is empowered to observe and control if the laws are executed according to the Constitution of the country.

The system of adopting the law works as follows. The bill (draft) is introduced by the department of the government or some committee to the lower chamber of the Parliament. If it is (9) … the bill goes to the upper chamber. The bill becomes the law only after it is approved and signed by the head of the state. The way how the law is (10)… is supervised by the Court.

Task 14. Read the list of different functions of the branches of power.

1. Sort out the functions into four categories as belonging to the

• head of state

• legislative branch

• executive branch

• judicial branch

1. introduces a bill	8. determines if a law violates the Constitution
2. is an integral part of the legislature	9. elaborates the basic guidelines of the domestic and foreign policy
3. approves laws	10. is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces
4. implements laws	11. adopts laws
5. watches the laws observe	12. levies taxes
6. gives consent for the appointment of the top officials	13. appoints top officials
7. is the head of the executive branch	14. has the right of veto

Task 15. Work in pairs. Compare the state structures of the Republic of Belarus, The UK and the USA according to the following outline:

• the type of the statehood;

• the head of the state and his / her powers;

• the organization and main functions of the main branches of power;

  • legislative

  • executive

  • judicial

WATCHING VIDEO FOR KNOWING MORE

Task 16.a. Watch a YouTube video fragment “Form of Governance” and

Arrange the political spectrum of the forms of the government according to the given explanation:

	Form of government		explanation
a	monarchy	1	rule of majority
b	oligarchy	2	no government
c	democracy	3	rule by one
d	republic	4	rule by a group
f	anarchy	5	rule of law

Task 16.b. Work in groups of 3 or 4. Share your ideas with your group mates on the following issues:

• What examples of the history of Ancient Greece and Rome given in the video illustrate the idea that “the essence of freedom is the proper limitation of government”?

• Why is there no word “democracy” either in “The Declaration of Independence” or in the American Constitution?

Task 17. Complete the text with the proper word, making a derivative from the word on the right.

CHECKS AND BALANCES One of the unique characteristics of the American systems of … is the system of “checks and balances”. The men who wrote the …were afraid that one person or branch of government might get too …. After all, they had just finished fighting a bloody war against the powerful King of England because the king had taken away many of their rights. So they made sure that each branch of government could control the other branches. For example, the … can ‘check’ Congress by … or rejecting laws it passes. On the other hand, Congress can … the President if enough members feel that he is not doing a good job. And the Supreme Court can decide a law is ….

govern constitute power preside veto move constitute

WATCHING VIDEO

Task 18. You have recently read the text “Checks and Balances”. Watch a You Tube video lecture “Separation of Powers” and find out how the principle of checks and balances works in the USA. Think of the examples of how this principle can be applied in different states.

Write several lines about the principle of Checks and Balances:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SPEAKING

Task 19. Imagine, that you went to a summer language school. You took part on the discussion about the effectiveness of different political structures. Act on behalf of the Belarusian / Britain / American part. Describe the political system of the country you represent.

THEMATIC SCHEME ANALYSIS AND MAKING A THEMATIC SCHEME

Task 20. Read the text “Defining Democracy” below.

Find the answers to the following questions:

1. What is the dictionary definition of the term ‘democracy’?

2. What is the difference between the direct and representative democracies?

3. Why are the ideas of democracy and freedom used interchangeably?

4. What does each group of freedom (political, social, economic) implement?