001183_713598_er3

9.to be made up of smth. и) королевство, государство

EWhich of the phrases below do not associate with a form of government?

a coalition government; a grand duchy; public administration; direct elections; a federal republic; autocracy; policy decisions; a commonwealth; a constitutional monarchy.

FLearn the active vocabulary.

READING PRACTICE

AScan Text 7.2 and answer the questions:

a)What contemporary forms of government are mentioned in the text?

b)What countries are described as having constitutional government?

c)How many countries have monarchs as heads of state?

BRead the text. Find in the text the information referring to:

1. definition of a constitutional government;

2. powers of monarchs in different countries;

3. the countries the constitutions of which predate the 20th century;

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4.responsibility of those who govern under constitutional government.

7.2 Contemporary Forms of Government

Constitutional government is defined by the existence of a constitution-which may be a legal instrument or merely a set of fixed norms or principles generally accepted as the fundamental law of the politythat effectively controls the exercise of political power. Virtually all contemporary governments have constitutions, but possession and publication of a constitution does not make a government constitutional. Under constitutional government, those who govern are regularly accountable to at least a portion of the governed. Accountability can be enforced through a great variety of regular procedures, including elections, systems of promotion, fiscal accounting, recall, and referendum. In constitutional democracies, the accountability of government officials to the citizenry makes possible the citizens’ responsibility for the acts of government.

Few states in the modern world have constitutional arrangements that are more than a century old. The vast majority of all the world’s states have constitutions written in the 20th century. This is true of states such as Germany, Italy, Japan, and of some other states, such as Spain and China, that have experienced civil war and revolutions in the course of the century. Great Britain and the United States of America are almost alone among major contemporary nation-states in possessing constitutional arrangements that predate the 20th century.

In the contemporary world, constitutional governments are generally democracies, and in most cases they are referred to as constitutional democracies or constitutional-democratic systems.

A monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in an individual (the monarch), who is the head of state, and “is wholly set apart from all other members of the state.” The person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch.

There is no clear definition of monarchy. Holding unlimited political power in the state is not the defining characteristic, as many constitutional monarchies such as the United Kingdom and

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Thailand are considered monarchies. Currently 44 nations in the world have monarchs as heads of state, 16 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognize Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as head of state.

Different nations grant different powers to their monarchs. In the Netherlands, Denmark and in Belgium, for example, the Monarch formally appoints a representative to preside over the creation of a coalition government following a parliamentary election, while in Norway the King chairs special meetings of the cabinet.

There also exist today several federal constitutional monarchies. In these countries, each subdivision has a distinct government and head of government, but all subdivisions share a monarch who is head of state of the federation as a united whole.

COMPREHENSION

For sentences 1-6 choose the right variant (a, b) which fits best according to the text.

1.Constitutional government is defined by ……………………

a)the existence of systems of promotion.

b)the existence of a constitution.

2.Under constitutional government those who govern ………..

a)are accountable to the government.

b)have unlimited political power.

3.The majority of states have constitutions written in …………

a)in the 20th century.

b)before the 20th century.

4.Holding unlimited power in a monarchy is …………………..

a)not a defining characteristic.

b)is a defining characteristic.

5.Monarchs in different countries have ………………………..

a)the same powers.

b)different powers.

6.In federal constitutional monarchies all subdivisions have ….

a)a common head of government.

b)a distinct head of government.

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VOCABULARY PRACTICE

A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.

BFind in the text the verbs that complete the expressions below. Translate these word combinations into Russian.

….…. as the fundamental law; ……. the constitution; ……….

constitutional arrangements; ………. a monarchy; ……….

political power; ………. different powers; ………. a representative; ………. meetings.

CGive the Russian equivalents for the following word combinations.

contemporary governments; to be accountable to; a responsibility for; the vast majority; an experience a war; to be referred to as; a supreme power; to grant powers; to preside over; to appoint a representative.

DFind the words and word combinations from Exercise C in the text, read and translate the sentences containing these words and word combinations.

ELearn the active vocabulary.

F Make a summary of the text.

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UNIT 8

CONTEMPORARY DIVISION OF GOVERNMENT

READING PRACTICE

AScan Text 8.1 and answer the questions:

a)What is the role of legislature?

b)Which legislature is one of the largest?

BRead the text and answer these questions.

1. What is the function of the legislature in parliamentary systems?

2. What is the function of the legislature in presidential system of government?

3. Which legislatures are among the smallest?

4. How is legislature with one house called?

5. What countries have abolished their second chamber?

8.1 The Legislature

The three branches of government are: legislature, executive, and judiciary.

A legislature is a type of representative assembly with the power to create, amend and ratify laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In most systems, however, legislatures also have other tasks, such as selection and criticism of the government, supervision of administration, ratification of treaties, impeachment of executive and judicial officials. Legislatures, then, are not simply lawmaking bodies. In most systems the executive has a power of veto over legislation, and even where this is lacking, the executive may exercise original or delegated powers of legislation.

Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress. In parliamentary systems of government, the legislature is formally supreme and appoints the executive. In presidential system of government, the legislature is considered a power branch which is equal to, and independent of, the executive.

Legislatures differ greatly in their size, the procedures they employ, the role of political parties in legislative action. In size, the

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British House of Commons is among the largest; the Icelandic lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, and the Senate of Nevada are among the smallest. The primary components of a legislature are one or more chambers or houses- assemblies that debate and vote upon bills. A legislature with one house is called unicameral. A bicameral legislature possesses two separate chambers, usually described as an upper house and a lower house, which often differ in duties and powers. Most legislatures are bicameral, although New Zealand, Denmark, the state of Queensland in Australia have all abolished their second chamber.

In most parliamentary systems, the lower house is the more powerful house while the upper house is merely a chamber of advice or review.

However, in presidential systems, the powers of the two houses are often similar or equal. In federations it is typical for the upper house to represent the component states; the same applies to the supranational legislature of the European Union. For this purpose the upper house may either contain the delegates of state governments or be elected according to a formula that grants equal representation to states with smaller populations, as is the case in Austria and the modern United States.

In general, the legislature has a supervisory role over the actions of the executive, and may replace the Head of Government and/or individual ministers by a vote of (no) confidence or a procedure of impeachment. On the other hand, it may be dissolved by the Head of State, leading to new elections.

COMPREHENSION

Match the sentence beginnings (1-5) to the correct endings (a-e).

1.A legislature has the power to ………………………………...

2.In parliamentary systems of government, the legislature ……..

3.In presidential systems of government, the legislature ………..

4.The primary components of a legislature are …………………

5.In general, the legislature has …………………………………

a)……………………………………….. appoints the executive.

b)…………. a supervisory role over the actions of the executive.

c)……………………………….. create, amend and ratify laws.

d)………………………………………. one or more chambers.

DISCUSSION

What is the role and structure of legislature in Belarus?

AScan Text 8.2 and answer the questions:

a)What countries are mentioned in the text?

b)What is the role of the executive?

c)What facts are figures 1958, the 20th century connected with?

BRead the text and complete the information below.

1. The executive branch is responsible for …….…….…..… .

2. The executive is subject to …………………….….…..… .

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3.Political executives include ……………….……….….… .

4.The executive is often delegated some …………..…...… .

5.The executive may also have powers to ………..….….… .

8.2 The Executive

In political science and constitutional law, the executive is the branch of government responsible for the day-to-day management of the state. The executive branch acts by and with the advice and consent of the legislative made by the legislature and thus is subject to the legislative branch.

Political executives are government officials who include heads of state and government leaders-presidents, prime-ministers, premiers, chancellors, and other chief executives, and many secondary figures, such as cabinet members, ministers, councilors. The executive is identified by the head of government. In a presidential system, this person (the President) may also be the Head of State, whereas in a parliamentary system he or she is usually the leader of the largest party in the legislature and is most commonly termed the Prime Minister (Taoiseach in the Republic of Ireland, Chancellor in Germany and Austria). In France, executive power is shared between the president and the prime minister and this system has been reproduced in a number of former French colonies, while Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina have collegiate systems for the role of head of state and government. The head of government is assisted by a number of ministers, who usually have responsibilities for particular areas (e.g. health, education, foreign affairs), and by a large number of government employees or civil servants.

The crucial element in the organization of a national executive is the role assigned to the chief executive. In parliamentary systems, such as in Great Britain, the prime minister is the national political leader, but another figure, a monarch or elected president, serves as the head of state. In mixed presidential-parliamentary systems, such as that established in France under the constitution of 1958, the president serves as head of state but also wields important political powers, including the appointment of a prime minister and Cabinet to serve as the government.