Government
I had to describe the system of government in Great Britain, in USA and in
our republic.
So I begin with the political system in Great Britain. Britain is a constitutional
monarchy. It means that the head of the state is the Queen but she can act only
on advice of her ministers. The Constitution of United Kingdom is unwritten; it
is based on custom, tradition and common law.
The supreme law-making body in the country is Parliament. It consists of: the
House of Commons and the House of Lords. British parliamentary system is one of
the oldest in the world; it developed slowly during 13th century
after King John?s signature of Magna Charta.
The Commons has 650 elected and paid Members of Parliament – about 520 from
England, about 70 from Scotland, about 40 from Wales and about 20 from Northern
Ireland. The Lords is made up of hereditary and life peers (Lords Temporal), 2
archbishops and 24 bishops of the Church of England (Lord Spiritual).
The Prime Minister chooses about 20 ministers to from special advisory group
called the Cabinet. Most cabinet ministers are heads of government departments.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is head of the finance department, it?s called
also the Treasury, and the Foreign Secretary is the minister in charge of
foreign affairs.
There are two main parties – Labourists and Liberals. General elections to
choose Members of Parliaments are every five years. Voting is not compulsory and
is from the age of 18. There are also local elections, when people vote for
councillors to represent them in their city, borough or district.
Now I?ll talk about the system of government in the USA. The USA with the
President as the head of state is a federation of 50 states. United States
rose on the basin of the Constitution. The constitution went into effect in the
year 1787. This document guarantees freedom of religion, free speech, the right
of citizens to bear arms, the right to a fair trial and protection against
cruel and unusual punishment. It gave the USA the principle of a balance
power divided into three branches – legislative, executive and judicial.
The legislative branch is made up of elected representatives. The main body
is called the Congress – its seat is in Capitol. The Congress is divided into
two parts – the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of
Representatives consist of about 450 lawmakers who are elected according to the
population of each state and serve for two years. The Senate has 100 members – 2
members from each state, who serve six years. The main task of the Congress is
to make federal laws, declare war and deal with foreign treaties.
The President and 13 executive departments represent the executive branch.
The President together with his Vice-President is chosen in nationwide elections
every 4 years. The President can be elected only to two terms. Presidential
powers are rather big – he proposes bills, can veto or refuse a bill, he is
the Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces, makes treaties, and appoints federal
judges and ambassadors. The present departments are: State, Treasure, Defence,
Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labour, Heath and Human Services,
Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education.
There are also two parties. There are The Republican Party and The Democratic
Party.
And now about our republic. The Czech Republic is a sovereign, and
democratic state. Its government is divided into three branches – the
legislative, represented by Parliament, the executive, represented by the
president ant the government, and the judicial, represented by courts at various
levels.
The Parliament consists of two chambers – the Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate. There are 200 Deputies and 81 Senators. The elections to the Chamber of
Deputies take place every four years while every two years one third of the
Senators is renewed. When this time comes, every citizen from the age of 18 can
exercise the universal, equal, direct, and secret right to vote. The Parliament
is a law-making body.
The President is elected every five years by the Parliament but no one serves
more than two terms in office in row. The President represents the state abroad
and concludes foreign treaties. He has also many duties in relation to the other
bodies of government. The President is also the commander-in-chef of the army,
He can say veto to bills and can return the bill to the Parliament.
The government is composed of the premier, the vice-premiers, and ministers.
The several ministries, headed by ministers are Interior, Foreign Affairs,
Defence, Justice, Commerce, Agriculture, Education, Finance, Transport, Labour
and Social Affairs, Culture, and Health.
There are many parties. The strongest are Civic Democratic Party and Social
Democratic Party.