Washington d.C.

The United States is a federal union which is made up of fifty states and one independent district – the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia is the territory of the national capital of the USA, Washington, with its own laws and regulations. Washington, D.C. is situated on both banks of the Potomac river, between the two states, Maryland and Virginia.

This place was chosen by the first American President George Washington. The plot of land of a hundred square miles was bought from owners by the state. In 1790 George Washington laid the corner-stone of the Capitol where the Congress sits.

Washington is sometimes called the heart of America. It is the place where the federal government works and where each President of the United States lives. Washington is smaller in size than the largest cities of the USA, such as New York, Chicago, Detroit or Los Angeles. The population of Washington is about 11 million people. The buildings in Washington are not very tall because no building must be taller than the Capitol. But in political sense Washington is the centre of the country and the most important city of the United States.

The capital has world- known art galleries, museums and monuments. One of the most interesting museums in Washington is the National Art and Space Museum. The museum has aircraft and spacecraft that were important in aviation history. There are even rocks that the astronauts brought to the Earth after their Moon landing.

Political System of Kazakhstan

Having gained the political independence Kazakhstan became a democratic republic with presidential form of government. The President is elected. The Power in the Republic consists of two branches- legislative power represented by the Parliament and executive power represented by the President and the government. The Parliament consists of two chambers-the Upper Chamber-Senate and the Lower Chamber - Majilis. The Senate is formed by 47 deputies .Majilis consists of 107 deputies, elected according to Parties lists and members and members of Kazakhstan’s Peoples Assembly. The period between parliamentary elections is four years. The Government implements the executive power in the country. It is headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President with the approval of the Parliament. The Government is responsible for its work to the President and is accountable to the Parliament. The Supreme Court and the local courts of the state execute the judicial system of the republic. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body on civil and criminal cases. Control of Constitutional laws is implemented by the Constitutional Council, which consists of 7 members and is elected for a period of 6 years.

Political System of Great Britain

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State .The present British monarch is Queen Elizabeth 2, who succeeded to the throne in 1952. The monarch has very little power and can only reign with support of Parliament, which consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of the country. In reality, the House of Commons is the only one that has true power, it introduces new bills. Then they go to the House of Lords for approval and finally the monarch signs them. Only then they can become laws. The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members, known as Members of Parliament, each of whom represents an area of the UK. The political parties choose candidates in elections. The party, which wins majority of seats in the House of Commons, forms the Government and its leader usually, becomes Prime Minister. The largest minority party becomes the Opposition. The Prime Minister chooses about twenty MPs from his or her party and forms his or her Cabinet Ministers. Each minister is responsible for a particular area of government.

The House of Lords consists of more than 1,000 hereditary lords and peers. It has very little power. The two main political parties in Great Britain are the Conservative and the Labour party. Now the Conservative Party is in power. Among other political parties there is the Liberal party and the Social-Democratic party.