Regimes of the Modern World (110

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UNIT 1

Lead-in

Comment on the quotations:

1.“Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first” (Ronald Reagan).

2.“A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen” (Sir Winston Churchill).

3.“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river” (Nikita Khrushchev).

4.“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).

5.“Politics is too serious a matter to be left to politicians” (Charles de Gaulle).

6.“I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office” (Thomas Jefferson).

7.“Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society” (Niccolo Machiavelli).

8.“Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation” (Henry Kissinger).

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1. Complete the following questionnaire in groups.

THE POLITICIAN QUESTIONNAIRE

1.Tell the others about a politician (living or dead) who you admire.

2.Think of three adjectives to describe politicians who you admire. a _____________

b _____________

c _____________

3.Think of three adjectives to describe politicians who you do not admire. a _____________

b _____________

c _____________

4.Would you like to be a politician? Why? Why not? Discuss your answer with a partner.

5.What are the arguments for and against a political career? Record the arguments in the table below.

2. Complete this character reference, using the appropriate adjectives from the

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To whom it may concern

Alexander the Great

I have known Alexander professionally for many years, since I accompanied him on his expedition against Persia. His army was very 0 __disciplined__ during that campaign, reflecting a fundamental quality of the man himself. Furthermore, I 1(consider + always) __________ Alexander to be a 2 __________ leader, in that he researches his campaigns in meticulous detail beforehand. It goes almost without saying that Alexander is tremendously 3 __________ in battle, often risking his own life before that of others. As a military commander, he is utterly 4 __________, an essential quality in the heat of battle, when instant action can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Alexander is generally 5 __________ of the cultures and civilizations of those he conquered, although I 6(suspect) __________ that many residents of Thebes 7(argue)

__________ against this view.

Alexander is almost a legend in his own lifetime. Only the other day, his court historian Callisthenes 8(observe) __________ that even the sea has been known to draw back at Alexander’s command. It 9(believe) __________ that this extraordinary event took place in Cilicia, but I cannot personally vouch for this.

I have no doubt that, at the age of 32, Alexander has a long and distinguished career ahead of him and I am happy to recommend him to you without reservation.

3. Choose some other political / historical figure to write a character reference, using the previous one as a model. While completing the task, use the adjectives from the list and the politician questionnaire.

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4. Use the phrases in the box to answer the questions.

a)What do you do if you don’t agree with a motion or a bill?

b)What is there if someone wants to bring down the government?

c)What do you do if you don’t want to agree and you don’t want to disagree?

d)What happens if the Yes and No votes are equal?

5.Which of the words go together? Tick the boxes.

sensational landslide crushing humiliating slim

small unassailable large overwhelming

6. Use words from exercises 4 and 5 to fill in the blanks in the text.

The Downfall of Chairman George

George was very confident. He thought that he had an a) _____ majority on the committee and so he was not worried when Jack resigned. But to his horror Maureen Washington stood for election and, with her radical politics, won a b) _____ victory, completely defeating her main rival. As soon as she arrived on the committee she began to cause trouble; votes on this, votes on that. Whatever George advised them to vote in favour of, she c) _____. And as the weeks went by others began to support her. Finally, some weeks later, at the end of a long discussion, there was a d) _____

vote with half the members voting one way and half voting the other. Of course George saved it by using his e) _____, but it was the beginning of the end. Ten days later Maureen tabled a vote of f) _____ and in the wake of his g) _____ defeat George had no alternative but to resign. He felt bitter and betrayed and went off to live in his luxury villa in Santa Lucia. But the rest of us felt saved.

7. Invent a scenario to fit the facts in this story. What was the committee for? Why did the narrator feel relieved when George resigned?

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8.Here are some newspaper headlines. Explain each of them in everyday language.

e.g. Premier backs peace moves in docks → The Prime Minister has announced that (s)he supports the attempts to reconcile both sides in the port workers’ dispute.

1.Tories set to win poll.

2.Key MP held on bribes charge.

3.Government majority wins the day.

4.Election humiliation for disgraced minister.

5.From councilor to cabinet minister in just five years.

9.Tell the stories behind these headlines.

UNIT 2

Lead-in

Comment on the quotations:

1.“Man is by nature a political animal” (Aristotle).

2."Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you" (Pericles).

3.“The method of political science is the interpretation of life; its instrument is insight, a nice understanding of subtle, unformulated conditions” (Woodrow Wilson).

4.“It is always easy to find fault with a classification. There are a hundred ways of arranging any set of objects, and something may almost always be said against the best, and in favour of the worst of them. But the merits of a classification depend on the purposes to which it is instrumental” (John Stuart Mill).

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Pre-reading

Work in pairs. Do you think the following statements are true or false?

1.Before examining how different systems have been classified, it is necessary to reflect on both what is being classified and why such classifications have been undertaken.

2.A social system is, in effect, a sub system of a larger political system.

3.A regime is a ‘system of rule’ that endures despite the fact that governments come and go.

4.All systems of classification have their drawbacks.

5.The political contours of the new world are quite unclear.

6.Different systems of classification have tended to prioritize different sets of criteria.

Look the text through to find the answers to the true / false statements.

Traditional Systems of Classification

A.Before examining how different systems have been classified, it is necessary to reflect on both - what is being classified, and why such classifications have been undertaken. First, what is ‘government’, and how do governments differ from ‘political systems’ or ‘regimes’? ‘Government’ refers to the institutional processes through which collective and usually binding decisions are made. A political system or regime, on the other hand, is a broader term that encompasses not only the mechanisms of government and the institutions of the state, but also the structures and processes through which these interact with the larger society.

Apolitical system is, in effect, a subsystem of the larger social system. It is a ‘system’ in that there are interrelationships within a complex whole, and ‘political’ in that these interrelationships relate to the distribution of power, wealth and resources in society.

Aregime is therefore a ‘system of rule’ that endures despite the fact that governments come and go. Whereas governments can be changed by elections, through dynastic succession, as a result of coup d’etats and so on, regimes can only be changed by military intervention from without or by some kind of revolutionary upheaval from within.

B.Why classify political systems? The interest in classifying political systems stems from two sources. First, classification is an essential aid to the understanding of politics and government. The second purpose of classification is to facilitate evaluation rather than analysis. In other words, understanding is closely tied up with normative judgements: questions about ‘what is’ are linked to questions about ‘what should be’.

All systems of classification have their drawbacks, however. As with all analytical devices, there is a danger of simplification. The classification of regimes under the same heading draws attention to the similarities that they share, but there is a risk that the differences that divide them will be ignored or disguised. A related problem is a possible failure to see that a phenomenon may have different meanings

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in different contexts. For instance, in Japan and throughout East Asia, ‘the state’ may be different in kind and significance from ‘the state’ as generally understood in the context of the West classification process. Finally, all systems of classifications have the drawback that they are necessarily state-bound: they treat individual countries as coherent or independent entities in their own right. Although this approach is by no means invalid, it is now widely viewed as incomplete in the light of the phenomenon of globalization.

С. Since the late 1980s, the regime-classification industry has been in limbo. Older categories, particularly the ‘thrее worlds’ division, were certainly redundant, but the political contours of the new world were far from clear. The image of a ‘world of liberal democracies’ suggested the superiority of a specifically western model of development, based perhaps especially on the USA, and it implied that values such as individualism, rights and choice are universally applicable. One result of this was a failure to recognize the significance, for instance, of Islamic and Confucian political forms.

However, one of the difficulties of establishing a new system of classification is that there is no consensus about the criteria upon which such a system should be based. No system of classification relies on a single all-important factor. Nevertheless, particular systems have tended to prioritize different sets of criteria. Among the parameters most commonly used are the following:

1.Who rules? Is political participation confined to an elite body or privileged group, or does it encompass the entire population?

2.How is compliance achieved? Is government obeyed as a result of the exercise or threat of force or through bargaining and compromise?

3.Is government power centralized or fragmented? What kinds of check and balance operate in the political system?

4.How is government power acquired and transferred? Is a regime open and competitive, or is it monolithic?

5.What is the balance between the state and the individual? What is the distribution of rights and responsibilities between government and citizens?

6.What is the level of material development? How materially affluent is the society, and how equally is wealth distributed?

7.How is economic life organized? Is the economy geared to the market or to planning, and what economic role does government play?

8.How stable is a regime? Has the regime survived over time, and does it have the capacity to respond to new demands and challenges? Nevertheless, five regime types can be identified in the modern world:

1.Give your understanding of the underlined words and phrases:

1.It is necessary to reflect on both what is being classified etc

2.Government refers to the institutional processes through which collective and usually binding decisions are made.

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3.A regime is a term which encompasses [ ] not only the mechanisms but also …

4.A regime is a system of rule that endures despite the fact that governments come and go.

5.Governments can be changed as a result of coup d’etats [ ] (Rus)

6.Regimes can be changed by some kind of revolutionary upheaval from within.

7.The second purpose is to facilitate evaluation rather than analysis.

8.There is a risk that the differences that divide them will be disguised.

9.All systems of classification are state-bound. (Paraphrase)

10.This approach is by no means invalid. (Paraphrase) 11.The ‘three worlds’ division is redundant.

12.These values are believed to be universally applicable. (Paraphrase) 13.Political participation is confined to an elite body. (Paraphrase) 14.Compliance is achieved through bargaining.

15.Check(s) and balance(s) (Rus)

16.The economy is geared to the market.

Comprehension Check

A.1. What is the difference between ‘government’ and a ‘political system’?

2.What is ‘political’ in a political system?

3.Through which means can a regime be changed?

B.

1.Name two reasons for classifying political systems.

2.All systems of classification have their drawbacks. Name three of them given in the text.

3.Give an example of different interpretations of the same thing in different contexts in the text.

С

1. The regime classification industry has been in limbo lately. Find facts accounting for it.

Discussion

Give your set of priorities of the parameters listed in the text for classification of a system. While speaking on the priorities, make use of the words and phrases below.

… takes the (first) place… to give priority to …

to be of major / primary / utmost importance=significance

to attach great importance to … We must not lose sight of … … is predetermined by …

a predominant factor

a precondition=prerequisite of / for …