Language practice and comprehension check

TASK I Study the meanings of “government” and determine in which one it is used in the text and in the exercises below:

• The government is but an agency of the state, distinguished as it must be in accurate thought from its scheme and the machinery of government.

• The system of poliсy in a state; that form of fundamental rules and principles by which a nation or state is governed, or by which individual members of a body politic are to regulate their social actions.

• The sovereign or supreme power in a state or nation;

• The machinery by which the sovereign power in a state expresses its will and exercises its functions.

• The framework of political institutions, departments and offices, by means of which the executive, judicial, legislative and administrative business of the state is carried on.

• The whole class or body of officeholders or functionaries considered in the aggregate, upon whom devolves the executive, judicial, legislative, and administrative business of the state.

• The regulation, restraint, supervision, or control which is exercised upon the individual members of an organized jural society by those invested with authority.

• The act of exercising supreme political power or control.

(BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY)

TASK II Use the following words to complete the “government”-phrases in the sentences below:

a) HER MAJESTY’S; b) DEMOCRATIC; c) DEPARTMENTS; d) BILLS; e) SUCCESSIVE; f) INTERVENTION; g) EFFECTIVE; h) FUNCTIONS; i) CENTRAL; j) ACTIVITIES; k) POLICY; l) DEPARTMENTS; m) NEW:

1. People want ... government.

2. The leader of the Opposition is promising to provide ... government.

3. The ... government has decided to introduce new immigration laws.

4. Government ... in the spheres of health, employment, education and social security became far-reaching in the twentieth century and ... Governments assumed additional responsibilities in relation to economic planning, technological development, transport facilities, fuel and power supplies, housing, agriculture, protection of the environment and the systematic planning of land use.

5. Although new departments have been created from time to time to deal with expanding Government ..., the growth of Government ... has tended to lead to an expansion of separate Government ....

6. The number of staff in Government ... - “Civil Servants” – has grown very considerably.

7. Outside both the departmental structure and the Civil Service there are activities in which the ... Government is involved, but in which the actual administration is carried on by local authorities.

8. ... Government is the body of ministers charged with the administration of national affairs.

9. Cabinet is responsible for overall government ....

10. Government ..., with certain rare exceptions, are eventually passed and become part of the law of the land, though they may be heavily amended in the process.

TASK III Connect the following notions to make up sentences:

• Conventions – the executive and Parliament – Parliamentary democracy.

• Prime Minister – majority party – Commons – other ministers.

• The Prime Minister – Senior Ministers – Cabinet.

• Prime Minister – Cabinet – Commons.

• The Crown – Parliament – Prime Minister.

• Prime Minister – the Crown – Parliament – vote of confidence.

• Prime Minister – Parliament – general election.

• Prime Minister’s power – ministers – source of power.

• The Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Chief Ministers – their governments.

TASK IV Sum up the idea of each paragraph in one or two sentences.

TASK V Insert the missing GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT and translate the text:

Ministerial responsibility has two broad aspects. Collective responsibility traditionally means that all members of the cabinet and probably other 1) ... ministers must loyally support the policies of the 2) ... even if they, as individuals, had no share in drawing them up. Individual responsibility means that individual ministers must answer to 3) ... for the conduct of 4) ... departments under their formal control. It also means that permanent officials, who in practice make the majority of 5) ... decisions must be absolutely loyal to ministers and are not directly accountable for their actions except within their own departments. This may be one reason for the anonymity and secrecy that surrounds British 6) ....

Ministerial responsibility to 7) ... does not mean that 8) ... controls the day-to-day business of 9) ... or that 10) ... gives orders to the 11) .... The word “responsible” means many things, but in this context- it means “accountable”, so that the 12) ... must explain its actions to 13) .... In the last resort 14) ... can dismiss the 15) ... on a vote of no confidence.

16) ... is confrontational in two senses. Firstly, 17) ... as such confronts the executive. Secondly, within 18) ... there is confrontation between 19) ... supporters and the opposition, and to a lesser extent between Lords and Commons. In theory ministerial responsibility is buttressed by the convention that ministers must be members of 20) .... In practice this may have the opposite effect by making it easier for ministers to dominate 21) .... Many other countries (e.g. the Netherlands) have a principle of parliamentary accountability coupled with separate memberships of executive and 22) ....

TASK VI a) Find in the text and compare the usage of the words: 1) (the, a, -) government; (the) executive; (the) Cabinet. Compare the following definitions, choose the most complete one and justify your choice.

Cabinet – Those Privy Councillors who, under the name of cabinet ministers or cabinet council, actually transact the immediate business of the Government, and assemble for that purpose from time to time as the public exigencies require. The Cabinet is a body first established by Charles I.

Executive – The branch of government which is entrusted with carrying the laws into effect. The supreme executive power is vested in the King or Queen for the time being who by convention acts on ministerial advice.

Government – This word is most frequently used to denote the principal executive officer or officers of a State or territory. Thus, in England, “the government”, generally is understood to mean the Ministers of the Crown for the time being.

Mozley & Whiteley’s Law Dictionary

Cabinet – committee formed of the most important members of the government, chosen by the Prime Minister or President to be in charge of the main government departments.

The Executive – section of a government which puts into effect the laws passed by Parliament.

Government – (a) way of ruling or controlling a country; (b) organization which administers a country.

P.H. Collin Dictionary of LAW

Cabinet – A body of ministers consisting mostly of heads of chief government departments but also including some ministers with few or no departmental responsibilities; it is headed by the Prime Minister, in whose gift membership lies. As the principal executive body under the UK constitution, its function is to formulate government policy and to carry it into effect (particularly by the initiation of legislation). The Cabinet has no statutory foundation and exists entirely by convention, although it has been mentioned in statute from time to time, e.g. in the Ministers of the Crown Act 1937.

Government department – An organ of central government responsible for a particular sphere of public administration (e.g. Treasury). It is staffed by permanent civil servants and is normally headed by a minister who is politically responsible for its activities and is assisted by one or more junior ministers, usually responsible for particular aspects of departmental policy.

Oxford Dictionary of LAW

b) Use (the, a, -) government; (the) executive; (the) Cabinet in the following sentences:

1. The head of the ... became known as the Prime Minister during the eighteenth century.

2. It is the duty of the Prime Minister to preside over the ....

3. The prime Minister speaks for the ... in the House of Commons on the most important topics.

4. Ministers not in the ... are called to attend its meetings when matters affecting their departments are under discussion.

5. Any decision by a departmental minister binds the ... as a whole.

6. In normal times the ... meets for a few hours once or twice a week during parliamentary sittings, and rather less frequently when Parliament is not sitting.

7. The Prime Minister, the Ministers of State in the ... and their ... departments manned by civil servants are known as the ....

TEXT 2 THE CABINET AND THE PRIME MINISTER

All major government decisions are taken by the Cabinet, a committee of senior government ministers. It is for the Cabinet to determine the policies, to be submitted to Parliament, to determine the content and priorities of legislative proposals, and to ensure that the relevant policies are carried out.

By convention all members of the Cabinet are collectively responsible for decisions taken. While the matter is under discussion ministers can air their views but once the matter is decided all members of the Government, whether within the Cabinet or not, must support it. If they are unable to do this then they should resign as Michael Heseltine did during the Westland affair. The force with which this convention is observed has varied with the political climate. Indeed it was formally suspended during the campaign prior to the referendum on continuing membership of the E.U.

There are no rules prescribing the size of the Cabinet. It varied last century from small war time cabinets where the ministers had no departmental responsibilities, to cabinets consisting of more than 20 ministers representing all the main departments of state. Increasingly the Cabinet operates through a network of committees, the result being that ministers may be bound by decisions in which they have had little more than nominal participation. The terms of reference of these committees and their membership were made public for the first time in 1992.

As with the Cabinet itself, the office of Prime Minister is one which is barely recognised in law. Last century saw a steady increase in the powers of the Prime Minister who is now in a very strong position.

(a) As leader of the party in power, he has been chosen by the electorate, has control over the party machinery and can normally rely on the strength of party loyalty to maintain his position. His public profile is higher than that of any other minister.

(b) As chairman of the Cabinet, he can to a large extent determine the nature of discussions within the Cabinet. No votes are customarily taken. Rather, the Prime Minister sums up the sense of the meeting. Matters can be referred to sub-committees and the agenda manipulated to ensure the desired result.

(c) As ultimate head of the civil service, the Prime Minister has powers over senior appointments and access to all information.

(d) The Cabinet Office, although technically providing a service for all members of the cabinet, has grown in recent years into the Prime Minister's special source of assistance and information. This greatly strengthens the Prime Minister's ability to argue against proposals put forward by departmental ministers who are forced to rely almost entirely on the briefs, prepared for them by their departmental civil servants. This has been supplemented in recent years by a substantial increase in the use of "special advisers".

(e) The Prime Minister is the source of much patronage. He appoints and dismisses government ministers and has at his disposal a wide selection of public appointments, honours, etc.

It is, however, wrong to think of the Prime Minister as having absolute power. However dominant, he must keep the support of his party both inside and outside Parliament. Ultimately his strength will depend on his personality, but as Rodney Brazier points out, when affairs go badly his authority will wane and if luck deserts him he may well be finished. The removal of Prime Minister Thatcher in 1990 following her failure to win conclusively in the first ballot of the leadership election, emphasises the Prime Minister's ultimate dependence on continued party support.