STATE AND POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE USA

Monarch government legislative political conventions constitutional monarchy Parliament judiciary Prime Minister uncodified

Politics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland take place in the framework of a ___________ in which the ______ is head of state and the _______ of the United Kingdom is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the _______. ______ power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of ________, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The _________ is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Constitution of the UK is _______, its sources being ___________ (accepted practices or unwritten rules), laws, statutes and Acts of Parliament.

Exercise 2. Enumerate at least 7 official functions of the Queen.

Exercise 3. Fill in the table about the Parliament, its structure and functions.

Exercise 4. Comment on each of the stages in the process of law-making.

1. Introduction of the bill

2. First Reading

3. Second Reading

4. Committee Stage

5. Report Stage

6. Third Reading

7. House of Lords

8. Royal Assent

Exercise 5. Decide whether the following statements are true or false?

1. The work of the Parliament is divided into two sessions.

2. The maximum duration of the parliament is 4 years.

3. The House of Lords may not veto money bills.

4. The House of Lords may suspend a bill for 1 year.

5. The Queen may refuse to sign a bill.

6. A bill may be introduced by one MP.

7. Peers receive salary for their work in the House of Lords.

8. The Queen is the head of the Parliament.

9. There is an electronic voting system in the British Parliament.

10. The sitting of the House of Commons are open for the general public.

11. There are special people who control the attendance and voting of party members.

12. A “whip” is a document notifying MPs of the weekly agenda.

13. In some cases an MP can miss a vote if he finds a member of the Opposition who also intends to be absent from the division.

14. The Speaker never votes.

Exercise 6. Match the questions 1-10 with the answers A-J

1. What is the Government?

2. What is the Cabinet?

3. Who chooses the Cabinet?

4. Which positions are included in the Cabinet?

5. When and where does the Cabinet meet?

6. Can Governments include members of more than one party?

7. What are Government Departments?

8. What is the relationship between Parliament and the Government?

9. Who are the Opposition?

10. What role does the Opposition play?

Exercise 7. Fill in the names of the current members of Her Majesty’s Cabinet and the Leader of her Majesty's opposition.

Exercise 8. Answer the following questions about the parliamentary elections in the UK.

1. Which electoral system is used?

2. What is a general election?

3. Who can stand as a candidate in a general election?

4. Who is able to vote in parliamentary elections?

5. What is a constituency?

6. How many constituencies are there in the UK?

7. How often are general elections held?

8. What happens during the election campaign?

9. What happens on polling day?

10. What is a by-election?

Exercise 9. Fill in the table with information about major parties in the UK.

Exercise 10. Fill in the information in the diagram and describe the functions of the different types of courts in England and Wales.

Further Reading

1. Britain’s System of Government. – London: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1993. – 36 p.

2. Focus on Britain. – London: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1993. – 40 p.

3. Jones B. Politics UK / B. Jones, D. Kavanagh, P. Norton, M. Moran. – [4-th ed.]. – London: Longman, 2000. – 736 p.

4. Kingdom J. Government and Politics in Britain: an introduction / John Kingdom. – [3-d ed.]. – Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003. – 800 p.

5. McLean I. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics / I McLean, A. McMillan. – [2-d ed. revised]. – Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. – 624 p.

6. Parliamentary Elections in Britain. – London: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1993. – 20 p.

7. Sheerin S. Spotlight on Britain [2-d edition] / S. Sheerin, J. Seath, G. White. – Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. 140 p.

* Constitutional monarchy is a form of government (Not to be confused with the form of territorial-political organization – unitary state)

* * This is a result of a long process of evolution, during which the monarchy’s absolute power has been progressively reduced. William of Orange became the first King-in-Parliament after the Glorious Revolution as a result of which Parliament became more powerful than the king. Its power over the monarch was written into the Bill of Rights in 1689.

* ** This is enacted under the Act of Settlement (1701). According to it only a Protestant could inherit a crown. The Act of Settlement was very important and it has remained in force ever since. Even today, if a son or a daughter of the monarch becomes a Catholic, he or she cannot inherit the throne.

* *** Signed in 1215 by King John, Magna Carta (or the Great Charter) was a very important symbol of political freedom: the King promised all “freemen” protection from his officers and the right to a fair and legal trial. Hundreds of years later, Magna Carta was used by Parliament to protect itself from a powerful king.

* Hereditary peers are aged 21 years and over. Anyone succeeding to peerage may, within 12 months of succession, disclaim that peerage for his or her lifetime. Disclaimants lose their right to sit in the House but gain the right to vote and stand as candidates at parliamentary elections.

* The official residence of the Prime Minister is at 10 Downing Street, London.

STATE AND POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE USA

The United States is the longest-surviving existent constitutional republic*.

The Constitution of the USA (1789) creates the basic structure of the federal system, in which political power is divided between the national government and the government of each state**. So, there are three levels of political power: the federal, the state and the local. The constitution contains 7 original articles; the Bill of Rights (the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution (1791)) which is about the fundamental rights of any American: the freedom of religion, speech, and the press, the right of peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government to correct wrongs, etc.; further 17 Amendments to the Constitution.

The US Constitution has proved to be a remarkably stable document. If one accepts that the first 10 amendments were in effect part of the original constitutional settlement, there have only been 17 amendments in over 200 years. One of the major reasons for this is that – quite deliberately on the part of its drafters – the Constitution is a very difficult instrument to change. First, a proposed amendment has to secure a two-thirds vote of members present in both houses of Congress. Then three-quarters of the state legislatures have to ratify the proposed change (this stage may or may not be governed by a specific time limit).

At the heart of the US Constitution is the principle known as “separation of powers”, a term coined by the French political, enlightenment thinker Montesquieu. This means that power is spread between three institutions of the state (branches of power) – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary – and no one institution has too much power and no individual can be a member of more than one institution.

This principle is also known as “checks and balances”, since each of the three branches of the state has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches, and has some of its own authority, in turn, regulated by the other branches.

Not only is power spread between the different branches; the members of those branches are deliberately granted by the Constitution different terms of office which is a further brake on rapid political change. So the President has a term of four years, while members of the Senate serve for six years and members of the House of Representatives serve for two years. Members of the Supreme Court effectively serve for life.

The great benefit of this system is that power is spread and counter-balanced and the “founding fathers” who drafted the Constitution clearly wished to create a political system which was in sharp contrast to, and much more democratic than, the monarchical system of absolute power then in force in Britain. The great weakness of the system is that it makes government slow, complicated and legalistic which is a particular disadvantage in a world – unlike that of 1776 – in which political and economic developments are fast-moving.

Under the system of checks and balances each branch of power acts within its constitutional limits and has the following powers:

The legislative (Congress) has the power to:

· propose new laws;

· decide upon taxes and how money is spent;

· overrule presidential veto by two-thirds majority;

· bring impeachment to the President.

· Senate confirms presidential appointments to executive and judicial posts

· Congress exerts oversight of executive activities

• Can impeach and remove judges and justices

• Sets size of Supreme Court

• Can initiate constitutional amendments

• Creates federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court

The executive (the President) has the power to:

· veto laws;

· appoint Supreme Court Justices;

· grant pardons to federal offenders.

· Represents federal government before the court

· Vice President is President of the Senate and can break tie votes

The Judiciary (the Supreme Court) has the power to:

· determine which laws apply to any given case;

· determine whether a law is unconstitutional.

• declare presidential acts unconstitutional

• Chief Justice presides over trials of presidential impeachment

1. The USA legislature. The parliament of the Unites States – the Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the US, consisting of two houses – the Senate and the House of Representatives.

1.1. The House of Representatives is the lower chamber in the bicameral legislature.

The House consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are proportional to the population of states. Typically a House constituency would represent around 500,000 people.

Members of the House are elected by first-past-the-post voting in every state except Louisiana and Washington, which have run-offs. Elections are always held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even numbered years. Voting levels in congressional elections – especially to the House – are generally much lower than levels in other liberal democracies. In a year when there is a Presidential election, turnout is typically around 50%; in years when there is no Presidential election (known as mid-terms), it usually falls to around one third of the electorate.

In the event that a member of the House of Representatives dies or resigns before the end of the two-year term, a special election is held to fill the vacancy.

The House has four non-voting delegates from American Samoa (1981), the District of Columbia (1971), Guam (1972) and the Virgin Islands (1976) and one resident commissioner for Puerto Rico (1976), bringing the total formal membership to 440.

The House is presided over by the Speaker.

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 2313