6.1. POLITICAL SYSTEMS AND GOVERNMENT

6.1. POLITICAL SYSTEMS AND GOVERNMENT

6.1.1

Reading

Read the text and answer the following questions.

Learn the words in bold.

What is Politics?

On hearing the word politics what usually comes to mind are images of government, politicians and their policies or more negatively the idea of corruption and dirty tricks. The actual definition seems to have been obscured and almost lost by such representations and clichés that tend not to pinpoint the true essence, which defines this thing, called politics.

The word ‘politics’ comes from the Greek word ‘police’, meaning the state or community as a whole. An ideal society is in practice a rather difficult aim and even an impossible aim to achieve. Politics implies measures which could and should be implemented in the hope to create a better society, than which is already present.

To begin with, the basest premise that underpins the notion of politics should be considered in order to arrive at a fair definition. Man is self-preserving by nature. He thinks and acts, whether that is an individual or a group who share interests, with foremost regard to his own interests. Self-perpetuation is the number one rule. He therefore possesses his own interests, ideas and preferences, which may differ to those of his contemporaries. ‘Politics presupposes the diversity of view, if not about ultimate aims, at least about the best ways of achieving them’ (Miller, 1987). The world has its limits; all material wealth within it is exhaustible. Who, therefore, gets how large a share, of those resources, which are present on the earth in limited supply? If man were permitted to act on and pursue his own selfish interests, snatching that, which he desires, a society would quickly become under rule of violence.

Politics is a way of combating the degradation of society into a violent and unstructured mess by reducing it to be governed by the primitive instincts of men in order to resolve conflict. Politics therefore may be defined as a means to resolving this conflict through various means. If ‘people (were to) agree spontaneously on a course of action … they (would) have no need to engage in politics’ (Miller, 1987). Thus, politics exists due to the broad spectrum of ideas and opinions within any society.

To resolve conflicting opinions, a consensus must be agreed upon by all parties affected. This means that politics tries to act as a peacemaker by offering solutions to conflict to the parties involved by means of discussion with them.

Politics implies power. Certain members of a society must have the authority over other members in order to enforce civil discussion in the first place. It seems to follow that for certain individuals to exert more power than others they must have the support of a large proportion over those which they have authority. Politics could therefore be defined as a power struggle between those in influential positions. Power can only be obtained by obtaining the support from as many groups and individuals as possible. This can be achieved by providing tempting solutions to conflict that already exists in a society, whether this is in an honest or dishonest way. By appealing to members of a society with solutions to their problems and promises to act in their interests, a group or an individual can gain support and ultimate authority over other groups and individuals. Politics could thus be defined as a calculating art of power gain or power retention or more simply as power struggle.

The ultimate power is found in government. It is within this institution that all of the aforementioned takes place. Thus, politics could be defined as the working of government as a guarantor to a peaceful society. The government is run by the politicians, it is the politicians who form the ideas to hopefully settle conflict in the society they govern. Thus politics is present in every community and is used to manage workings and disagreements.

Politics occurs in all kinds of communities, whether it is the sports club or the state government, and is concerned with devising a method of organization and attempting to implement that method within the community over which it acts. It is present in these communities as a necessary measure to avoid conflict due to those inevitable diversities in opinion and therefore ultimately needed to promote as peaceful an existence as possible.

Politics is the means to creating a more organized and peaceful society, by providing methods to resolve conflict that naturally occurs between men, by means of civil discussion and rational compromise.

What do you associate with the word ‘politics’?
What is the origin of the word?
What is your definition of politics?
What are the aims of politics?
Why do we need politics?

6.1.2

Preparation

How much do you know about these governments?

Fill in the blanks in the first column.

Britain The USA Belarus
Consists of	____ countries; each is divided into countries	50 states; each is divided into counties
Is governed from	London
Laws are made by
Which consists of	House of Commons and House of Lords
Members are called	_____s of ______ (‘MPs’) (‘Commons’)
They are elected	Every five years or less (Commons)
Head of government is called	______ Minister (‘PM’)
Is head of government separately elected?	No; leader of majority party in House of Commons becomes PM
Real power is held by	PM and his/her ministers (‘Cabinet’)
Do local or regional government bodies have any power?	Partly responsible for education, health care, police, roads
How many large political parties are there?	Three; Labour ( ____-wing), ______ (right-wing) and Liberal Democrats (centre)
Ceremonial head of state?	King or ______

Making Notes

Try to explain what the brief notes below mean.

US federation 50 states: 48 between Canada, Mexico; + Alaska, Hawaii

Fed cap Washington, S of NY, near E coast

Washington centre federal govt, but each state has own cap

State govts make own laws, responsible for…

Suggest abbreviations for the words: Congress, Representatives, Senate, Senators, Democrats, Republicans, President.

Listening

Listen to the talk on the government of the

United States. Make notes and complete the grid.

Practice

Add all the necessary information about the

political system of Belarus to the last column

of the table.

6.1.3

Vocabulary

Complete the text with the following words:

capital, differences, elections, every, federation,

governed, government, laws, own, Parliament,

parties, power, President, responsible, state, whole.

How Fantasia is Governed

Fantasia is a ______ of three states: Moldenia, Stranvegan and East Mork. San Fantastico, the ______ , is the centre of ______ for the ______ of Fantasia, but each state has its _____ government. State governments make their own ______ , and are ______ for education, roads, health, the police and a number of other things.

Fantasia has seventeen ______ ; there are very large ______ between them. ______ are held _____ seven years. Each state sends a hundred representatives to the Federal ______.

The Fantasian Parliament has little real ______. The country is ______ by a Council of fifteen ministers (five from each ______ ), under the country’s ______ for life, MRS Kirsten Rask.

Word Use

Fill in the blanks in the chart with the following words:

selected, nominated, election, stand for, represent,

councillor, cabinet, candidate, opposition

The Getting-Ahead-In-British-Politics Chart

6.1.4

Preparation

The Politician Questionnaire.

Tell the others about a politician (living or dead) whom you admire.
Think of some adjectives to describe politicians who you like.
Give some adjectives to describe politicians you don’t respect.
Would you like to be a politician? Why? Why not?
What are the arguments for and against a political career?

Definition

Match these words with their dictionary

definitions. Can you give examples from history

or current affairs of any of these types of

government?

a. democracy

1. government by a small group of people, often for their own

interests

b. totalitarianism

2. government by the people or the elected representatives of

the people

c. monarchy

3. derogatory: a country in which most activities of the

citizens are controlled by (secret) police force

d. dictatorship

4. a political system in which every citizen is subject to the

power of the state, which exercises complete control

e. oligarchy

5. a system ruled by someone with complete power, especially

if that power was gained by force

f. tyranny

6. the system of rule by a king or queen

g. police state

7. the use of power cruelly and/or unjustly to rule a person or

country

6.1.5

Meaning

Decide where these words should go in the

diagram. Where would you put yourself?

Word Form

Complete the chart.

Noun (concept)	Noun (person)	Adjective
democracy	democrat	democratic
	totalitarian
monarchy
	dictator
		oligarchic
	tyrant
anarchy
		conservative
	fascist
liberalism
		nationalist
	liberal
social democracy

Practice

Use the right form of the words in these sentences.

1. We should always fight to maintain our (democracy)_______ institutions.

2. I hate (extremist)_________ in any form. It never solves anything. I am all for (moderate)______.

3. The spectre of (totalitarianism)_______ rule hangs over this troubled country.

4. For someone who is supposed to be a (radicalism)_______ you seem to have a very (conservatism)_______ way of thinking.

5. What we need in this country is (socialist)_______. We don’t need (monarchy)_______ sitting on a throne telling us what to do.

6.1.6

Activate

Choose one of the characters on the list and add

some slogans that could be used in their political

campaign.

1. Jo Nichol, Anarchist: ‘A was at the beginning, and A will be in the end’.

2. Gloria II, Monarch: ‘It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice’.

3. Mark Tango, Fascist: ‘Don’t let socialism grow!’

4. Sal Rodd, Socialist: ‘All should be equal!’

5. Pako Pendi, Dictator: ‘We’ll make you be happy’.

6. Sir Richey-Powerton, Liberal: ‘Every person counts’.

B Argue in favour of ‘your’ candidate’s political views.

Metaphor

Explain what each of the speakers is talking about:

Oh I think she’s quite liberal in her views except when it comes to her own children.
There’s complete anarchy in our household.
Let’s make a fairly conservative estimate. We don’t want to go over the top!
I remember my grandmother. She was a real tyrant.
Yeah. The head teacher’s a real fascist!
This problem needs a radical solution.
There’s no reason to be so dictatorial about this. Surely we can discuss the situation.

6.1.7

Collocation

Tick the boxes matching the verbs with their

compliments.

1	Parliament	election	a candidate	your local party	a constituency
stand for
stand as
nominated by
represent
resign from

2	victory	defeat	majority
sensational
landslide (landslip)
crushing
humiliating
slim
small
unassailable
large
overwhelming

Interaction

Use the following phrases to answer the questions:

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

2. What is there if someone wants to bring down the government?

3. What do you do if you don’t want to agree and you don’t want to disagree?

4. What happens if the Yes and No votes are equal?

Word Use

Fill in the blanks. Can you invent a scenario to fit

the facts in this story? What was the committee

for? Why did the narrator feel relieved when

George resigned?

The Downfall of Chairman George

George was very confident. He thought that he had an _______ 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 _______ 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 _______. 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 _______ vote with half the members voting one way and half voting he other. Of course George saved it by using his _______, but it was the beginning of the end. Ten days later Maureen tabled a vote of _______ and in the wake of his _______ 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.

6.1.8

Translation

Translate and give your opinion on the following

extracts:

1. ‘Humankind always hungered for perfection. People would endure unendurable pain, live in constant and abject terror – if only they were convinced that their sufferings were the tolls that must be paid on the highway to Utopia, to Heaven on earth.’

2. ‘Perhaps those extremists who insisted that the population of the earth be expediently reduced by 90%, by any means, to save the ecology were onto something. What quality of life could anyone have in a world that civilization had utterly despoiled?’

3. ‘By now Roy understood the primary thing about Bosley Donner that so annoyed him: the cartoonist was just too damned self-confident and independent. Even disabled, he was utterly self-possessed and self-sufficient. Such people were a grave danger to the system. Civil order was not sustainable in a society populated by rugged individuals. The dependency of the people was the source of the state power, and if the state didn’t have enormous power, progress could not be achieved or peace sustained in the streets.’

6.1.9

Speaking

Read thefollowing information about Belarus from

an Internet site. Speak about the Belarusian state

organization as compared to British, or any other

country’s system of government.

The Republic of Belarus is a unitary democratic social and legal state which protects its independence and territorial integrity.

According to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, the sole source of state power is its people that exercise their power both directly and via representative bodies.

Constitutionally state power is divided into legislative, executive and judicial powers. The President of Belarus is the head of the state power.

The Belarusian Parliament consists of two chambers: the lower chamber is the House of Representatives and the upper chamber – the Council of the Republic. The deputies are elected every four years.

The Council of Ministers is formed under the president to implement the executive powers at the top level. The Head of the Council of Ministers is Prime Minister.

Local administration and self-government are carried out by people via local Soviets of Deputies, executive and leading bodies, civilian territorial self-government, local referenda, meetings and other forms of participation in state and social matters.

Local Soviets of Deputies, executive and leading bodies make decisions within their jurisdiction on local matters based on nation-wide interests of people residing on the associated territory and implement decisions of the upper-level state bodies.

Judicial power in the Republic of Belarus is in the hands of courts. When exercising justice judges are independent and subordinate only to law.

The Constitutional Court exercises control over observance of constitutionality of standard acts in the state.

Presidency has been first introduced according to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus in 1994. Any citizen of Belarus who is at least 35 years old enjoys electoral franchise and has been living in Belarus at least 10 years can be elected President.

6.1.10

Interaction

Choose one of these activities:

Suggest the idea of a new party, a serious or funny one (for example: the antitelevision party; the cats for Congress party; the anti-shoe party).
Prepare a political speech – serious or funny – to try to get yourself elected president of your English class. Give your speech to the class. The students and teacher each have one vote. State the aims, and describe the ways to achieve your goals.

6.1.11

Writing

Is there something you would like to change in

another country – the killing of certain animals, or

the making or testing of certain types of weapons

or chemicals, for example? Write a letter to the

head of that country, to express your wishes and

make suggestions.