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a)What countries are mentioned in the text?

b)What question is central in elections?

BRead the text. Mark the statements True or False according to the information in the text. Justify your answer by reference to the text.

1.As a rule, the entire population of the country takes part in elections.

2.Jurisdictions of all countries require a minimum age of voting.

3.Women have always been eligible for public office.

4.In a direct democracy any eligible person can be nominated.

5.In a representative democracy some positions are filled through appointment.

10.2 Characteristics of Elections

The question who may vote is a central issue in elections. The electorate does not usually include the entire population; for example, many countries prohibit those judged mentally incompetent from voting, and all jurisdictions require a minimum age for voting.

Suffrage is typically only for citizens of the country. Further limits may be imposed: for example, in Kuwait, only people who have been citizens since 1920 or their descendants are allowed to vote, a condition that the majority of residents do not fulfill. However, in the European Union, one can vote in municipal elections if one lives in the municipality and is an EU citizen; the nationality of the country of residence is not required.

In some countries, voting is required by law; if an eligible voter does not cast a vote, he or she may be subject to punitive measures such as a small fine.

Normally there is a citizenship requirement, an age requirement, a residency requirement, and, perhaps, a non-felon requirement. Before the Second World War, in most countries women were not eligible for public office.

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Non-partisan systems tend to differ from partisan systems as concerns nominations. In a direct democracy, one type of nonpartisan democracy, any eligible person can be nominated. In some non-partisan representative systems no nominations take place at all, with voters free to choose any person at the time of voting in the jurisdiction.

As far as partisan systems, in some countries, only members of a particular political party can be nominated, or an eligible person can be nominated through a petition, thus allowing him or her to be listed on a ballot.

The government positions for which elections are held vary depending on the locale. In a representative democracy, such as the United States, some positions are not filled through elections. For example, judges are usually appointed rather than elected to help protect their impartiality. There are exceptions to this practice, however; some judges in the United States are elected, and in ancient Athens military generals were elected.

In some cases, there may exist an intermediate tier of electors between constituents and an elected figure. However, in most representative democracies, this level of indirection is usually nothing more than a formality. For example, the President of the United States is elected by the Electoral College, and in the Westminster System, the Prime Minister is formally chosen by the head of state (and in reality – by the legislature or by their party).

COMPREHENSION

AThe requirements to those who can be eligible to hold an office are mentioned in the text. What are they?

BThe text states the difference between non-partisan and partisan systems. What is this difference?

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

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

BLook at these derivatives. Use your knowledge of English and logical reasoning to explain the meaning of each word below. Translate these word combinations into Russian.

elect –– > elections –– > electoral –– >elected

to elect smb chairman; to hold elections; an electoral system; an elected figure

nominate –– > nomination –– >nominee

to nominate an eligible person; a nomination day; to become a nominee

to appoint members; to hold an appointment; appointed time

represent –– > representative –– > representation

to represent a majority; a representative democracy; a large representation

CFind in the text the equivalents for the following words and word combinations, read the sentences containing these words and word combinations and translate them into Russian.

избиратели; запрещать голосовать; избирательное право; страна проживания; имеющий право быть избранным; выдвижение кандидата; требования к; вносить в избирательный бюллетень; назначать на должность; глава государства.

E Make a summary of the text.

UNIT 11

POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF STATES READING PRACTICE

AScan Text 11.1 and answer the questions:

a)What types of political systems does political organization of states suggest?

b)What countries are mentioned in the text?

BRead the text paying attention to the words in italics. What do these words mean?

11.1Political Systems of States

1.Political system is the set of formal legal institutions that constitute a “government” or a “state”. More broadly defined, the political system is seen as a set of “processes of interaction” or as a subsystem of the social system interacting with other nonpolitical subsystems, such as the economic system.

2.The most important type of political system in the modern world is the nation-state. The world today is divided territorially into more than 175 states, in each of which a national government claims to exercise sovereignty and seeks to compel obedience to its will by its citizens. The world’s political organization suggests the distinction among supranational, national, and subnational political systems.

3.Supranational relations is the result of the division of the world into a number of separate national entities, or states, that have contact with one another, share goals or needs, and face common threats. In some cases, as in many alliances, these relationships are short-lived. In other cases, they lead to interstate

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organizations and supranational systems. Examples of supranational political systems are:

4.Empires which are composed of peoples of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. They are characterized by the centralization of power and the absence of effective representation of their component parts. The history of the ancient world is the history of great empires-Egypt, China, Persia, and imperial Rome whose autocratic regimes provided relatively stable government for many subject peoples in immense territories over many centuries.

5.Leagues are one of the commonest forms of supranational organization in history. Leagues are composed of states seeking to resist some common military or economic threat by combining their forces. Common features of leagues include the existence of some form of charter or agreement among the member states, an executive organ, and an arbitral or judicial body for handling

disputes. The League of Nations was one of the great experiments in supranational organization of the 20th century and the predecessor in several important respects of the United Nations.

6.Confederations are voluntary associations of independent states that agree to certain limitations on their freedom of action and establish some joint machinery of consultation or deliberation. Historically, confederations have often proved to be a first or second step toward the establishment of a national state, usually as a federal union. Thus, the federal union of modern Switzerland was preceded by a confederation of the Swiss cantons; the federal constitution of the United States is the successor of the Articles of Confederation. In some other cases confederations have replaced more centralized arrangements, as, for example, when empires disintegrate and are replaced by voluntary associations of their former colonies. The British Commonwealth, or Commonwealth of Nations, and the French Community are cases of this type.

COMPREHENSION

AThe text gives the distinction between political systems. What are these systems?

BMatch each headword on the left with its characteristics on the right.

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

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

BReplace the underlined items with the words and phrases from the text that have a similar meaning.

1.Political system is a set of formal legal institutions that make up a “government” or “state”. (para 1)

2.The political system is viewed as a set of “processes of interaction”. (para 1)

3.The world today consists of more than 175 states. (para 2)

4.Separate national entities have contact with one another, share aims and face common threats. (para 3)

5.Leagues are formed of states which combine their forces to resist common military or economic threat. (para 5)

6.In some cases confederations have substituted more centralized arrangements. (para 6)

CMatch these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the text.

DComplete these sentences using an appropriate phrase from Exercise C.

1.Each of more than 175 states ......................................... .

2.Supranational relations means that states share goals and .............................................................................. .

EWork out questions you could ask about political systems of states. Begin your questions like this:

DISCUSSION

What type of political system is in your opinion the most effective one?

AScan Text 11.2 and answer the questions:

a)What types of political systems are mentioned in the text?

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b) What factors contribute to radical political change?

BRead the text and answer these questions:

1.What political systems have proved stable political systems?

2.What does internal warfare lead to?

3.What is one of the stimulus to revolutionary outbreaks?

4.What tests the stability of political system?

5.What is the main cause of failures of unstable political systems?

11.2 Stable and Unstable Political Systems

The simplest definition of a stable political system is one that survives through crisis without internal warfare. Several types of political systems have done so, including despotic monarchies, military regimes, and other authoritarian and totalitarian systems. The key to their success is their ability to control social development, to manage and prevent change, and to bring under governmental direction all the forces that may result in innovations that are threatening to the system.

In some systems, survival does not depend on the detailed management of the society or close governmental control over social processes. It is the result of sensitive political response to the forces of change and of open political processes that allow gradual and orderly development. Much of the western democratic world has achieved peaceful progress in this way, despite new political philosophies, population increases, industrial and technological innovations, and many other social and economic stresses.

In modern times the great majority of the world’s political systems have experienced one form or another of internal warfare leading to violent collapse of the governments in power. Many factors in such a situation, including the cheapening of human life, the ready availability of arms, the discrediting of the national leadership, material scarcities, and a sense of wounded national pride, contribute to the creation of an atmosphere in which radical political change and violent mass action are acceptable to large numbers of people. Economic crisis are another common stimulus

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to revolutionary outbreaks, for they produce a threat to the individual’s social position, a sense of insecurity and uncertainty as to the future, and an aggravation of the relationships among social lasses. Crisis situations test the stability of political systems, for they place extraordinary demands on the political leadership and the structure and processes of the system.

Unstable political systems are those that prove vulnerable to crisis pressures and that break down into various forms of internal warfare. The fundamental cause of such failures is the absence of some general agreement on appropriate forms of political action. Governments suffer their gravest handicap when they must govern without consent or when the legitimacy of the regime is widely questioned. This is often the case in systems that have experienced prolonged civil war, that are torn by tensions among different national or ethnic group, in which there are divisions along sharply drawn ideological or class lines.

COMPREHENSION

AAnswer the questions:

a)Inwhat waycana stablepolitical system becharacterized?

b)Inwhat waycananunstablepolitical systembecharacterized?

BChoose the most suitable word in each sentence.

1. A stable political system is one that surrounds / survives / supplies through crisis without internal warfare.

2. In some systems, survival / support / source does not depend on governmental control over social processes.

3. Many political systems have experienced external / internal / important warfare that led to collapse of the government in power.

4. Crisis situations examine / control / test the stability of political systems.

5. The main / great / different cause of failures of unstable political systems is the absence of agreement on political actions.

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VOCABULARY PRACTICE

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

BMatch these verbs with an appropriate preposition down, on, to, by:

depend, lead, contribute, break, be torn

CGive the Russian equivalents for the following words and word combinations.

to survive; to depend on; an internal warfare; wounded national pride; to produce a threat; to test the stability; to prove vulnerable; to be torn by.

DFind the equivalents 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.

UNIT 12

PARTY SYSTEM

READING PRACTICE

A Scan Text 12.1 and answer the questions: