System of government
Great Britain
Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen as the head of state. Britain is divided into four parts: England (London capital), Wales (Cardiff), Scotland (Edinburgh) and Northern Ireland (Belfast).
The head of state is Queen but she can act only on the advice of her ministers. Queen Elizabeth II. lives in Buckingham Palace in London. She has four children – Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward.
The Constitution of the 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: 650 Members (523 from England, 72 from Scotland, 38 from Wales and 17 from Northern Ireland)
–the House of Lords: made up of hereditary and life peers (Lords Temporal), 2 archbishops and 24 bishops of the Church of England. (Lords Spiritual).
British parliamentary system is one of the oldest in the world, it developed slowly during 13th century after King John’s signature of Magna Carta in 1215.
From Monday to Thursday all ministers must answer MPs´ questions for one hour. It is called Questioning time. Two days a week the Prime minister must answer MPs´ questions. Another important parliamentary task is law-making. A proposal of some new law – a bill – must pass through both Houses and then is sent to the Queen for Royal Assent.
General elections to choose MPs are every five years. Voting is not compulsory and is from the age of 18 and candidates for election must be over 21. There are four main political parties: Conservative, Labour, Liberal and Social Democratic parties. The winning party forms the Government. The leader of winning party becomes the Prime Minister (the present prime minister is Tony Blair) and choose the other ministers. The second party becomes official Opposition and forms the Shadow-Cabinet. MPs who are members of the Opposition are called back-benchers.
British national flag symbolises the Union of England, Scotland and Ireland. Each country has its cross in the flag.
The name of national anthem is „God Save the Queen!“ British national flag is sometimes called Union Jack. The origin of the name is uncertain.
The USA
The USA with the President as a head of state is a federation of 50 states with 48 on the continent, Alaska in the North and Hawaii in the Mid – Pacific. There is also one district, DC – district of Columbia – this territory is not a state, the state capital is situated here.
The state government takes control of laws, education and taxes and the federal government takes after foreign affairs, defence and finance.
It is an indirect democracy-people rule through representatives they vote. There is practised the system of Check and Balances- the Congress makes the laws, president can veto them and the Supreme Court can decide a law is unconstitutional.
There are 3 branches:
- legislative (makes laws, declare war, deal with foreign affairs), the main body is called the Congress (seat in Capitol) – House of Representatives (435 lawmakers based upon the population of each state, voted for 2 years)
- Senate (100 members, 2 from each state,
voted for 6 years)
- executive – the President (chosen by direct election, 538 voters – 435 representatives, 100 Senators and 3 from Washington D.C., elections are on Tuesday in November, on the 20th of January President swears into office), he has right to veto, can refuse a bill, proposes bills, is a Commander-in-Chief of the army, makes treaties, appoints federal judges and ambassadors
– the Vice-president
– 13 executive departments (Treasury, Defence, Interior, Education, Transportation, Agriculture, Justice, State,…)
– judicial – The Supreme Court, Federal districts Courts and 11 Federal courts of Appeals
The Constitution: It guarantee certain rights to the people and determines power and duties of the government. It was officially adopted in 1789 and it can be amended. The first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights.
There are two main political parties: The democratic Party is more liberal – they think that the government should provide wide social and economic programmes for those who need them (Clinton, Kerry, Catholics) The republican Party is conservative, puts more emphasis on private enterprise. (Protestants-Bush).
Flag and Anthem: The flag consists of two parts – one smaller blue oblong with 50 white stars symbolising 50 American states and one larger oblong consisting of 6 white and 7 red stripes symbolising the original 13 states. The flag is sometimes called Old Glory or Stars and stripes. The American Anthem is “The Star – Spangled Banner.”
The Czech Republic
Czech republic is a democratic state.
The power is divided into three branches:
-the legislative = Parliament – the Chamber of deputies (200 members, voted every 4 years)
– the Senate (81 senators, every two years one third is changed)
-the executive = president and government
president – voted by parliament every five years only twice
– represents country abroad
– commander-in-chief of the army
– has the right of veto, can refuse a bill, can declare amnesty
government – premier, the vice-premier, ministers
-the judicial = represented by courts (Supreme Court, Constitutional Court)
parties – the leader of the winning party becomes the Prime Minister
– main parties: Civic Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party
Elections– public, secret, democratic, equal, direct, universal
National anthem: “Kde domov můj?”
Flag: it consist of three colours, red, blue and white, the red is at the bottom, the white is at the top and the blue makes a triangle at the left side.
Vocabulary: common law……………………zvykové právo
hereditary………………………dědičný
House of Commons……………dolní sněmovna
life peer……………………… ..šlechtic s nedědičným titulem
assent…………………………..schválení
compulsory…………………….povinný
emphasis………………………..důraz
oblong………………………….obdélník