2.5.6 According to the meaning given in brackets find the only word to fill in the gap in the sentence.

1. ______ has been a concern of philosophers since Plato. (a science of governing or a political science ) (A) a policy; (B) a politician; (C) Politics; (D) politics.

2. I have always been open about my _______. (political beliefs and opinions) (A) policies; (B) politicians; (C) Politics; (D) politics.

3. It would not be _______to ignore the reporters. (sensible and likely to bring advantage)

(A) politicised; (B) politicking; (C) politic; (D) political.

4. It makes no _______ sense at all! (connected with trade, industry, and the management of money)

(A) economy; (B) Economics; (C) economical; (D) economic.

5. We flew _______ class. (the cheapest type of seats in a plane)

(A) economy; (B) economical; (C) economic; (D) economist.

6. _______ is the study of the way in which money and goods are produced and used. (a science)

(A) economies; (B) economics; (C) Economics; (D) economy.

7. The _______ of the scheme are to be looked at very carefully. (the way in which money influences whether a plan or a business will work effectively)

(A) economies; (B) economics; (C) Economics; (D) economicals.

2.5.7 Use the plan and helpful phrases given in Appendix 1 to profile the UK’s political history, political structure and economy. Surf the Internet, find extra information and base your presentation on it.

2.5.8 Comment on the presentation given by your colleague. Make use of the points and helpful phrases given in Appendix 2.

2.5.9 Make up a questionnaire to survey the class into their opinions about the UK economy’s sluggish recovery from 2008 crisis. Write a report summarizing the main viewpoints and giving your comments on them.

2.7 Reading for Cross-Cultural Associations

2.7.1 Read and translate the texts A-B given below.

A. A key instrument for the expression and execution of government economic policy

The external finance of nationalized industries and public corporations also has to be financed by the government from taxation or borrowing. One of the most important tasks of any government is to manage the public money efficiently. All governments have budgets, the major instruments of any financial system, which are plans for raising and spending funds and comprise the amounts of revenue, or money income, as well as the sources from which this revenue will be collected. The budget also lists the expenditures, or money to be spent, for various public purposes.

A government budget is the forecast by a government of its expenditures and revenues for a specific period of time. In national finance, the period covered by a budget is usually a year, known as a financial (BrE) or fiscal (AmE) year, which may not correspond with the calendar year. Usually financial or fiscal year is the 12-month period used by government departments for calculating budgets, accounts, etc. In Britain, it ends on April 5, but many British companies have the end of March or the end of December as the end of their financial year. The word budget is derived from the Old French boudgette ("little bag"). When the British Chancellor of the Exchequer makes his annual financial statement, he is said to "open" his budget.

In a market - oriented economy, the budget is the most significant tool for achieving priorities and goals through the allocation and distribution of resources, and the maintenance of a stable macroeconomic environment. The government budget usually performs its accounting function in the economy, which is called budgetary accounting. Traditionally the budget is presented to allow scrutiny (by taxpayers, voters and legislature) of the resources raised by a government and the uses to which these resources will be put. The publications of the budget thus perform the role of generating accountability for the action of the government at various levels.

Historically, the focus of budgets has been to ensure that expenditures and revenues are properly authorized; more recently, the budget has been developed as a framework within which complex decisions on the allocations of recourses can be made effectively. The budget is a key instrument for the expression and execution of government economic policy. Government budgets have wide implications for the national economy. By their very nature they effect a redistribution of income; by their scale they may promote or retard economic growth in general or in certain areas of economy. They are, therefore, political as well as economic documents and are products of the overt and covert political processes by which competing interests in any nation achieve agreement.

The budgetary process is the means by which the executive and legislative branches together formulate a coherent set of taxing and spending proposals. The mechanics of this process, and the relative roles of the two parts of government, differ considerably among countries.

B. A short guide to the American political system

Unlike Britain but like most nation states, the American political system is clearly defined by basic documents. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 and the Constitution of 1789 form the foundations of the United States federal government. The Declaration of Independence establishes the United States as an independent political entity, while the Constitution creates the basic structure of the federal government. Both documents are on display in the National Archives and Records Administration Building in Washington, D.C. which I have visited several times.

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 - 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' - the 55 delegates 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.