- •«Political Systems of different countries»
- •Us legislative branch of power
- •Exercises
- •1. Give equivalents of the following:
- •2. Find as many synonyms as you can:
- •3. Translate into English:
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •Uk Legislative Branch of Power: Law-making in theory and practice
- •Exercises
- •1. Find the equivalents for the following:
- •2. Give as many synonyms as you can:
- •3. Translate into English:
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •Listen, read and discuss Exercises
- •Describe the procedure of legislating in the British Parliament.
- •Listen to the text and consider this particular case.Say what other factors should be taken into consideration for a bill to become a law. Listening I.
- •Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
- •David Steel attacks Nick Clegg's reform of the House of Lords
- •Disscussion Point 1
- •Executive Branch of Power of the usa
- •Exercises
- •1. Give the equivalents to the following:
- •2. Give as many synonyms as you can:
- •3. Translate into English:
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •The British Government: The Structure of Her Majesty's Government
- •Exercises
- •1. Read the text and complete these sentences:
- •2. Speak about these appointments and their responsibilities. Translate the names of the titles into Russian.
- •3. What is the difference between Ministers of State, Junior Ministers and Non-Departmental Ministers? The Cabinet
- •1. Find equivalents of the following:
- •2. Give as many synonyms as you can:
- •3. Translate into English
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •Listen, read and discuss
- •Speak about Presidential powers and the ones of a Prime Minister.
- •Listen to the text and consider this particular case. Say what powers are exercised by the Monarch and by the British Prime Minister. Listening II
- •Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
- •Us legal system
- •Exercises
- •1. Find equivalents of the following.
- •2. Give as many synonyms as you can.
- •3. Translate into English
- •4. Translate the underlined passage. Lesson 10. Uk legal system
- •Exercises
- •1. Answer the following questions.
- •Speak about criminals which should be sentenced to death penalty. Do you think there have been more or less hard criminals recently?
- •Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
- •Miscarriages of justice are slipping off the public radar
- •Judicial systems of different countries
- •Elections in the usa
- •1. Find equivalents of the following:
- •2. Continue the following phrase as you wish:
- •3. Translate into English
- •4. Translate the underlined passage into Russian.
- •General elections in the United Kingdom
- •Polling Day
- •Exercises
- •Speak about Barack Obama’s electoral campaign. Which party does he represent? Who were his main rivals? What do you know about their political careers?
- •Listen to the text and answer the following questions. Listening IV.
- •Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,
- •Analysis: European elections can bring a cash bonanza for the far Right
Judicial systems of different countries
Lesson 13.
Elections in the usa
Before you read. Think over the following questions:
Say some words about major changes that have recently taken place in the political life of your native country or the country your studies are connected with. What were the reasons for them? What have they resulted in?
Read the following text.
The nature of the electoral system in the United States of America is complex as there are many elections and not all of which are held at the same time. The president and vice-president, one-third of the Senate, and every member of the House of Representatives are elected at the same time every four years, and two years later the mid-term elections involve all representatives and one-third of the Senate. Voters must meet a number of legal requirements or qualifications. Candidates who appear in the ballot must also have qualified under state law.
Voting is a basic right guaranteed by the US Constitution, but individual states set many requirements for voting, concerned with residence, the need to register, the holding of primary elections, and the form of the ballot.
The US Constitution provides for the popular election of members of the House of Representatives, but senators initially were appointed by state legislatures.
All members of the House are elected every two years, as well as one-third of the Senate is elected also every two years. A senator’s full term in office is six years. The Constitution does not provide for the popular election of the president.
Instead of voting directly for a president, the Constitution provides that each state shall appoint electors equal in number to their representation in Congress, and the electors’ votes are cast every four years in early November .
The presidential candidate receiving the most votes in a state obtains the whole of the Electoral College vote of that state. Each state sends its results to Washington, where the electoral votes are counted by Congress in joint session on 6 January. The candidate with a majority of the electoral votes is elected president.
The presidential election is the most important election, and it can, and has, been criticized on several grounds.
First, the fact that if a candidate carries a state by a handful of votes he or she wins all of the electoral votes of that state. It is therefore possible for a president to be elected if he has not received the largest number of popular votes.
Second, the ‘winner-takes-all’ system further distorts the popular vote in that some small states have a larger electoral college vote than their population might warrant (each state having two senators irrespective of population), while candidates are tempted to seek to win in the populous states with large electoral college votes, perhaps appealing to small voting blocs whose support could be decisive in these states.
Third, electors are not constitutionally bound to vote for the candidate to whom they are ostensibly pledged. In 1968 and 1972 single electors did defect. It is also possible for no candidate to win a majority of the electoral college vote necessary for election. Should this occur, the election is decided by the newly elected House of Representatives, each state delegation having one vote.
Exercises