ENGLISH FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Составители Добролет Ольга Васильевна
Жорова Алла Ростиславовна
2
УДК 811.111(078):35
ББК 81.2 Англ. я 73
Е – 56
Рецензенты:
Канд. филол. наук, доцент, доцент кафедры германо-романского
языкознания Белорусского государственного педагогического
университета им. М. Танка Л. Н. Баданина
Канд. филол. наук, доцент, доцент кафедры теории и практики
перевода (английский язык) Минского государственного
лингвистического университета В. Н. Винокурова
Составители О.В. Добролет, А.Р. Жорова
English for Public Administration: учеб.-методич.
пособие для слушателей специальности
«Государственное управление». / сост. /
Е – 56 Сост. О.В. Добролет, А.Р. Жорова. – Мн.: Акад. упр.
при Президенте Респ. Беларусь, 2008. – 128 с.
ISBN 978-985-457-900-9
Цель
данного
пособия
–
формирование
и
совершенствование навыков чтения и перевода аутентичных
текстов по специальности «Государственное и местное
управление», расширение и закрепление у обучающихся
лексического запаса по специальности.
Пособие предназначено для слушателей Института
государственной службы, обладающих знаниями в объеме
вузовской программы, а также для лиц, самостоятельно изучающих
английский язык в сфере государственного управления.
УДК 811.111 (078):35
ББК 81.2 Англ. я 73
ISBN 978-985-457-900-9
ISBN 978-985-457-900-9
© Добролет О.В., Жорова
составление, 2009
© Академия управления
при Президенте Республики
Беларусь, 2009
А.Р.
3
UNIT 1
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 1.1 and answer the questions:
a) In what connection are the names of Lorenz von Stein and
Woodrow Wilson mentioned?
b) What do the years of 1855, 1887 stand for?
B Read the text and match the questions below (1-6) with the
paragraphs in the text.
1. What are the main responsibilities of public administration?
2. What levels is public administration practiced at?
3. What constitutes a growing problem of public administration?
4. In what way did Lorenz von Stein define the science of
public administration?
5. Who was the first to consider the science of public
administration in the United States?
6. What features are common to all civil services?
1.1 What is Public Administration
1. Public Administration can be broadly described as the
development, implementation and study of government policy.
Today public administration is often regarded as including also
some responsibility for determining the policies and programs of
governments. Specifically, it is the planning, organizing, directing,
coordinating, and controlling of government operations.
2. Public administration is a feature of all nations, whatever
their system of government. Within nations public administration
is practiced at the central, intermediate, and local levels. Though
public administration has historically referred to government
management, it increasingly encompasses non-governmental
organizations that are not acting out of self-interest.
3. From the 16th century, the national state was the reigning
model of the administrative organization in Western Europe.
These states needed an organization for the implementation of law
and order and for setting up a defensive structure. The need for
4
expert civil servants, with knowledge about taxes, statistics,
administration and the military organization, grew.
4. Lorenz von Stein, since 1855 professor in Vienna, is
considered the founder of the science of public administration.
According to him, the science of public administration was an
interaction between theory and practice and combined several
disciplines, such as sociology, political sciences, administrative law
and public finance.
5. In the United States Woodrow Wilson was the first to
consider the science of public administration. In an 1887 article
entitled “The Study of Administration” Wilson wrote “it is the
object of administrative study to discover, first, what government
can properly and successfully do, and secondly, how it can do
these proper things with the utmost possible efficiency and at least
possible cost either of money or of energy”.
6. In most of the world the establishment of highly trained
administrative, executive classes has made public administration a
distinct profession. The body of public administrators is usually
called the civil service. Traditionally the civil service is contrasted
with other bodies serving full time, such as the military, the
judiciary, and the police. In most countries a distinction is also
made between the home civil service and those persons engaged
abroad on diplomatic duties. A civil servant, therefore, is one of a
body of persons who are directly employed in the administration
of the internal affairs of the state and whose role and status are not
political, ministerial, military, or constabulary.
7. Certain characteristics are common to all civil services.
Senior civil servants are regarded as the professional advisers to
those who formulate state policy. Civil servants in every country
are expected to advise, warn, and assist those responsible for state
policy and, when this has been decided, to provide the
organization for implementing it. The responsibility for policy
decisions lies with the political members of the executive (those
members who have been elected or appointed to give political
direction to government). By custom, civil servants are protected
from public blame for their advice.
5
COMPREHENSION
Mark the statements True or False according to the information
in the text. Justify your answer by reference to the text.
1. Not all nations have public administration.
2. Public administration is practiced at the central level only.
3. Historically, public administration has referred to government
management.
4. Lorenz von Stein is considered to be the opponent of the
science of public administration.
5. A civil servant is directly employed in the administration of
the internal affairs.
6. There are certain features common to all civil services.
7. It is the responsibility of civil servants to make policy decisions.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'national
adminis'tration
'civil
ad'ministrative
'program
fi'nance
'status
e'fficiency
'management
his'torically
B Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text.
1. include
a) a growing problem
2. determine
b) the science of public administration
3. constitute
c) decisions
4. consider
d) responsibilities
5. formulate
e) members
6. appoint
f) policies and programmes
7. make
g) state policy
C Find in the text the words having the same meaning as those
listed below.
to be considered as (para 1); realization (para 3); the subject of
study (para 5); to be compared with (para 6); diplomatic missions
(para 6); to serve (para 6); features (para 7); as a rule (para 7).
6
D Give the Russian equivalents for the following words and
word combinations.
to be responsible for; at the level; to consider, internal affairs; to
be contrasted with; to be employed in; to be common; to make
policy decisions; to serve full time; to formulate state policy.
E Complete these sentences using an appropriate phrase from
Exercise D.
1. Public administration .............. studying and implementing
the government policy.
2. Woodrow Wilson was the first to ................ the science of
public administration in the United States.
3. The civil service ........... the military, the judiciary, and the
police services.
4. Civil servants ......... in the administration of the home affairs.
5. There are certain features which ......... to all civil services.
6. Senior civil servants advise to those who ......................... .
7. Civil servants are employed in the administration of .......... .
F
Learn the active vocabulary.
internal affairs
to be engaged in
common features
to implement government policy
civil service
to make decisions
a civil servant
to determine state policy
responsibility for
to regard as
DISCUSSION
What are the responsibilities of public administration in Belarus?
A Scan Text 1.2. Find in the text the information referring to:
a) major principles of public administration;
b) organizational principles of public administration;
c) characteristics a person should possess to be engaged in
civil service;
d) the fields in which budget plays a great role.
7
B Read the text and match the questions below (1-7) with the
paragraphs in the text.
1. What is a major goal of public administration?
2. What other values are of great importance to public
administration?
3. Where did many organizational principles originate from?
4. What is the attitude of critics to principles of public
5. administration?
6. What is “meritocracy”?
7. When did the struggle for control over budget begin?
8. Why is control over budget so important?
1.2 Principles of Public Administration
A prominent principle of public administration has been
economy and efficiency, that is, the provision of public services at
the minimum cost. This has usually been the stated objective of
administrative reform. Despite growing concern about other kinds
of values, such as responsiveness to public needs, justice and
equal treatment, and citizen involvement in government decisions,
efficiency continues to be a major goal.
Public administration has focused frequently on questions of
formal organization. Many organizational principles originated
with the military, a few – from private business. They include, for
example: (1) organizing departments, ministries, and agencies on
the basis of common or closely related purposes, (2) grouping like
activities in single units, (3) equating responsibility with authority,
(4) ensuring unity of command (only one supervisor for each
group of employees, (5) limiting the number of subordinates
reporting to a single supervisor, (6) employing the principle of
management by exception (only the usual or problem case is
brought to the top), and (7) having a clear-cut chain of command
downward and of responsibility upward.
Public administration has also laid stress upon personnel. In
most countries administrative reform has involved civil service
reform. Historically, the direction has been toward “meritocracy”the best individual for each job, competitive examinations for
entry, and selection and promotion on the basis of merit. Attention
has increasingly been given to factors other than intellectual merit,
8
including personal attitudes, incentives, personality, personal
relationships.
In addition, the budget has developed as a principal tool in
planning future programmes, deciding priorities, managing current
programmes, linking executive with legislature, and developing
control and accountability. The contest for control over budgets,
particularly in the Western world, began centuries ago and at times
was the main relationship between monarchs and their subjects.
The modern executive budget system in which the executive
recommends, the legislature appropriates, and the executive
oversees expenditures originated in 19th century Britain. In the
United States during the 20th century, the budget became the
principle vehicle for legislative surveillance of administration,
executive control of departments, and departmental control of
subordinate programs. It has been assuming a similar role in many
of the developing countries of the world.
COMPREHENSION
Match the sentence beginnings (1-6) to the correct endings (a-f).
1. A major principle of public administration has been ….…… .
2. Other kinds of values of the administrative reform are …..… .
3. Organizational principles of public administration are similar
to …………………………………………………….……… .
4. Public administration pays great attention to ………....….…. .
5. Attention has also been given to ……………..……………... .
6. Budget is important in ……………………..……..…………. .
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
……….……….…………. formal organization of the military.
…………..………… personal characteristics of an individual.
……………… .personal incentives and collective bargaining.
…….....… provisions of public services at the minimum cost.
……..……………………………. justice and equal treatment.
…………………………………….. planning future programs.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
e'conomy
indi'vidual
organi'zation
perso'nnel
sub'ordinate
'personal
9
'modern
reco'mmend
perso'nality
inte'llectual
B Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text.
1. provide
a) priorities
2. involve
b) expenditures
3. decide
c) civil service reform
4. oversee
d) public services
5. plan
e) public needs
6. respond to
f) responsibility
7. equate
g) future programs
C Complete these sentences with the word combinations
from Exercise B.
1. A major principle of public administration is to ............... .
2. One of the principles of public administration is also to ...... .
3. An organizational principle includes .......... with authority.
4. In most countries administrative reform has ..................... .
5. Budget plays an important role in ..................................... .
6. Budget is also an important tool in ................................... .
7. The system in which the executive ................ originated in
Britain.
D Find in the text the equivalents for the following words
and word combinations.
предоставление услуг; равное обращение; способность
реагировать; основная цель; происходить (брать начало);
уравнивать обязанности; отчитываться перед кем-либо;
придавать особое значение; конкурсные экзамены; отбор
и продвижение, руководитель.
E Make a summary of the text.
C Learn the active vocabulary.
a major goal
promotion
a prominent principle
unity of command
to decide priorities
to provide public services
to lay stress on
to equate responsibilities
to oversee expenditures
to respond to public needs
10
UNIT 2
CIVIL SERVICE
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 2.1 and answer the questions:
a) Who does the term ‘civil service’ refer to?
b) What are the principles of appointing civil servants?
B Read the text and complete the information below.
1. The term ‘civil servants’ refers to employees who are ....... .
2. In earlier times, civil servants were .................................. .
3. In the 19th century appointments of civil servants
depended on ..................................................................... .
4. In the 20th century public administration became ........... .
5. Today civil servants are mainly appointed on the basis
of ...................................................................................... .
6. A civil servant is not allowed to ..................................... .
7. Civil servants are also prohibited from .......................... .
2.1 The History of Civil Service
Civil service is the body of government officials who are
employed in civil occupations that are neither political nor
judicial. In most countries the term refers to employees selected
and promoted on the basis of a merit and a system which may
include examinations.
In earlier times, when civil servants were part of the king’s
household, they were literally the monarch’s personal servants. As
the powers of monarchs and princes declined, appointment
became a matter of personal choice by ministers and heads of
departments.
In Europe in the 19th century, appointment and promotion
frequently depended on personal or political favour, but tenure
was common in the lower and middle ranks once appointment had
been made.
Recruitment in many European countries corresponded to the
national educational systems: the highest class of civil servants
entered service after graduation from a university, the executive
class – after full completion of secondary school, the clerical class
11
– after the intermediate school examination. As public
administration became more complex in the 20th century,
specialized categories of civil servants were created to bring into
the service doctors, scientists, architects, naval constructors,
lawyers, and so on.
All countries base appointments on some kind of competition.
In some countries great emphasis is placed on formal written
examinations supplemented by interviews. Such is the situation in
France, where entry into the higher civil service is channeled
through specialist schools. In Great Britain, the Civil Service
Commission relies more on informal tests and a series of
interviews and tends to measure the candidate’s intellectual
competence by the quality of his university degree. The
conventional written examination is dispensed with also in such
European countries as Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and
Portugal.
Most federal countries try to ensure an equitable distribution
of posts among their constituent elements. In Switzerland the
federal authorities try to maintain a balance of posts not only
between the cantons but also between the political parties,
religions, and languages.
There are certain standards which are placed upon a civil
servant’s conduct. As a general rule, a civil servant is not allowed
to engage directly or indirectly in any trade or business and may
engage in social or charitable organizations only if these have no
connection with official duties. There are always strict limits on a
civil servant’s right to lend or borrow money, and they are
prohibited from accepting gifts. There are also different attitudes
about the extent to which civil servants may engage in political
activities. The United Kingdom bans its senior civil servants to
engage in any form of political activity. The prohibition becomes
progressively less strict, however, for the medium and lower
grades of the service.
COMPREHENSION
Mark the statements True or False according to the information
in the text. Justify your answer by reference to the text.
1. Civil servants can’t be employed in political occupations.
12
2. Civil servants are usually promoted on the basis of their merits.
3. In the 19th century appointment often depended o the results
of interviews.
4. Today all countries base appointments on some kind of
competition.
5. Civil servants are not restricted in their conduct by any standards.
6. Civil servants are allowed to engage in business.
7. Civil servants are not allowed to accept gifts.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'civil
re'cruitment
'personal
po'litical
'category
uni'versity
'element
exami'nation
'specialize
distri'bution
B Give the Russian equivalents for the following words and
word combinations.
to be employed in; to make appointments; to depend on;
tenure; lower (middle) ranks; personnel management; to bring
into the service; to place emphasis on; intellectual
competence; university degree; performance of duties; to
engage in; to prohibit from.
C Complete these sentences using an appropriate phrase
from Exercise B.
1. Civil servants can’t ......... political or judicial occupations.
2. In earlier times ......... were a matter of personal choice.
3. In the 20th century doctors, lawyers, architects were ........ .
4. Today many countries .............. on formal examinations
and interviews while making appointments.
5. In Great Britain a candidate’s ............. is measured by the
quality of his ..................... .
6. Usually, a civil servant is not allowed to ............ any trade
or business.
7. In the UK civil servants are ................. from taking part in
political activities.
13
D Learn the active vocabulary.
a tenure
performance of duties
a civil occupation
a lower (middle) rank
entry by examinations
to bring into service
to engage in
to place emphasis on
to measure competence
to make appointments
E Make a summary of the text.
DISCUSSION
A Are the requirements to civil servants in Belarus similar to those
in other countries?
B Make a list of traits which are peculiar to civil servants.
Compare it with the lists of your partners.
A Scan Text 2.2 and answer the questions:
a) What is the role of civil servants?
b) Who controls the work of civil servants?
c) What services do civil servants provide to the public?
B Read the text. Formulate the key idea of each paragraph.
2.2 Civil Service in Great Britain
The Civil Service carries out the practical and administrative
work of government. Civil servants are politically impartial
employees, who carry out the policies of the government
departments under the control of elected ministers.
In general use, the term “civil servant” in the United Kingdom
does not include all public sector employees; although there in no
legal definition, the term is usually defined as “a servant of the
Crown working in a civil capacity who is not the holder of a
political (or judicial) office”. As such, the Civil Service does not
include government ministers (who are politically appointed),
members of the British Armed Forces, police officers, local
government officials, members of a National Health Service, or
staff of the Royal Household.
14
There are two other separate Civil Services in the United
Kingdom, one for Northern Ireland and another for foreign affairs
known as Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service.
Like all servants of the Crown, civil servants are legally
barred from standing for election as Members of Parliament or any
other political office. Also, members of the Senior Civil Service
are barred from holding office in a political party or publicly
expressing controversial political viewpoints, while less senior
civil servants at an intermediate level must generally seek
permission to participate in political activities.
The Civil Service has no separate responsibility. The duty of a
civil servant is to the minister in charge of the department where
they are serving. A change of minister does not involve a change in
staff. About half of all civil servants provide services direct to the
public. These include paying benefits and pensions, running
employment services, staffing prisons, issuing driving licences, and
providing services to industry and agriculture. Around one in five
are employed in the Ministry of Defence and its agencies. The rest
are divided between central administrative duties, support services,
and services that are largely self-supporting.
In June 2006 a current Civil Service Code was introduced
which outlines the core values and standards expected of civil
servants. The core values are defined as integrity, honesty,
objectivity, and impartiality. The Civil Service Commissioners’
Recruitment Code is based on the principle of selection on merit
on the basis of fair and open competition.
As Minister for the Civil Service, the Prime Minister is
responsible for central coordination and management of the Civil
Service. He is supported by the Head of the Home Civil Service,
who chairs the Civil Service Management Board.
COMPREHENSION
For sentences 1-7 choose the variant (a, b), which fits best
according to the text.
1. Civil servants carry out the policies of the government
departments under ……………………………………………..
a) the supervision of Members of Parliament.
15
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
b) the control of elected ministers.
The term ‘civil servant’ in the UK ……………….……………
a) does not cover all public sector employees.
b) includes all public sector employees.
Civil servants are legally barred from ………………..……….
a) holding office in a political party.
b) taking part in recruitment based on some kind of
competition.
The duty of a civil servant is to ………………………………
a) the Prime minister.
b) the minister in charge of the department where they
are serving.
A change of minister of the department where civil servants
are serving ……………………..………………………………
a) does not mean changing in staff.
b) involves a change in staff.
The document which outlines the core values and standards
expected of civil servants is …………………………………...
a) Civil Service Act.
b) Civil Service Code.
Minister for the Civil Service is supported by ………………...
a) the Head of the Home Civil Service.
b) the Queen.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'minister
diplo'matic
'industry
po'litical
'principle
po'lice
'senior
se'lection
'policy
in'tegrity
B Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text. Translate these word combinations into Russian.
1. carry out
a) the core values
16
2. include
3. provide
4. outline
5. involve
6. hold
7. participate in
b) services
c) political or judicial office
d) a change in staff
e) political activity
f) public sector employees
g) administrative work of
government
C Complete these sentences using an appropriate phrase
from Exercise B.
1. Civil servants are politically impartial employees who ….
2. Civil servants are public sector employees who can not …
3. The Civil Service in the United Kingdom does not ……
all ……………………………………………………….. .
4. Civil servants at an intermediate level must seek
permission to ……………………………………….…… .
5. About half of all civil servants ……… direct to the public.
6. A change of minister of a department does not ………… .
7. The current civil service code ……….… expected of civil
servants.
D Find in the text the equivalents for the following word
combinations.
беспристрастные служащие; внешняя политика; проводить в
жизнь курс; главные принципы: на гражданском положении;
должностное лицо: основные принципы (законы);
баллотироваться на выборах; предоставлять услуги; выплата
пособий; политические взгляды; излагать (перечислять);
честность и объективность; конкурсный отбор; заслуги;
участвовать в чем-либо.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
core values
civil capacity
a holder of an office
benefits
a civil service code
to express viewpoints
to provide services
to stand for election
to bar from
to participate in
17
F
Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 3
CONSTITUTION
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 3.1 and answer the questions:
a) How many definitions of a constitution are given in the text?
b) Which constitution is the oldest one?
c) What countries have no written constitution?
B Read the text. Mark the statements True or False
according to the information in the text. Justify your
answer by reference to the text.
1. All states are governed according to some fundamental
rules.
2. Almost every country possesses a constitution.
3. The British Constitution is the oldest one.
4. The British Constitution is a written document which is
considered the highest law of the country.
5. All constitutions differ from each other.
6. The only definition of a constitution is that provided by
the Oxford English Dictionary.
7. There are only a few countries which have no written
constitution.
3.1 Constitutions
Constitutions describe the fundamental rules according to
which states are governed. They set out how decisions are made,
how power is distributed among the institutions of government,
the limits of governmental authority and the methods of election
and appointment of those who exercise power. Constitutions also
define the relationships between the state and the individual and
usually include the listing of the rights of the citizens.
There are wide variations between different types of
constitution and even between different constitutions of the same
type. In essence, the British constitution can be described as
unwritten, parliamentary, monarchial and flexible, whereas the
18
American one can be seen as written, federal, presidential,
republican and rigid.
Every country has a constitution of some kind, but the term is
used in two different but related ways. There are many definitions
of a constitution, such as that provided by the Oxford English
dictionary: ‘the system or body of fundamental principles according
to which a nation state politic is constituted and governed’. In other
words, the constitution is concerned with the way in which
decisions are made, and how powers are distributed among the
various organs of government, be they central or local. It usually
determines the boundaries of governmental authority, and the
methods of election/appointment of those who are in power.
In a more precise and narrower sense, the ‘constitution’ refers
to a single document which sets out the rules governing the
composition, powers and methods of operation of the main
institutions of government. Almost every country currently
possesses a constitution. The oldest one is the American
Constitution, the writing of which introduced ‘the age of
constitutions’. Britain does not have such a written statement. It is
almost alone among modern states in that it does not have ‘a
constitution’ at all. Of course, there are rules, regulations,
principles and procedures for the running of the country. But there
is no single written document which can be appealed to as the
highest law of the land. Nobody can refer to ‘article 6’ or ‘the first
amendment’ or anything like that, because nothing like that exists.
Written constitutions are important in states which have been
subjected to internal dissention and upheaval over a long period.
The American Constitution followed in the aftermath of the War
of Independence, just as the Japanese and West German
documents were devised after World War II.
Most constitutions are written down and embodied in a formal
document. The American one is much briefer than many, having
some 7000 words, expressed in seven long articles, and a mere ten
pages. Few democratic countries today have unwritten
constitutions. Apart from the United Kingdom, only Israel and
New Zealand lack formal documents.
19
COMPREHENSION
Choose the most suitable word in each sentence.
1. Constitutions describe the fundamental rules according to
which states are executed / managed / governed.
2. The constitution sets out how power is distributed / divided /
organized among the institutions of power.
3. It also determines the methods of nomination / election / choice
of those who are in power.
4. Today nearly all countries possess / provide / set out a constitution.
5. There is no single written document in Britain which can be
discussed / appealed to / governed as the highest law of the
country.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'principle
demo'cratic
'politic
in'ternal
'federal
ope'ration
'method
funda'mental
'document
insti'tution
B Match the English and Russian equivalents.
1. fundamental rules
a) управлять страной
2. to make decisions
б) распределять полномочия
3. to define relationships в) внутренняя междоусобица
4. to run the country
г) ссылаться на
5. to distribute powers
д) обращаться к
6. a single document
е) переворот
7. upheaval
ж) принимать решения
8. internal dissention
з) определять взаимоотношения
9. to refer to
и) единый документ
10. to appeal to
к) основные правила (положения)
C Find the sentences containing the words from Exercise B
in the text, read and translate them.
20
D You are all journalists. Choose someone to act as an expert
on constitutions and answer your questions.
Does every country
Could you explain to me
Could you tell me (about)
I’d like to know what
I wonder
What does
if there are rules and regulations
in Britain for the running of the
country.
what countries have no written
constitution?
a constitution refer to?
which constitution is the oldest
one?
if Britain is the only country
which has no written constitution.
in what countries the written
constitutions are important?
possess a constitution?
a constitution define?
a constitution refers to.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
amendments
the listing of the rights
boundaries of authority
to run the country
to appeal to
to exercise power
to make decisions
to refer to
to distribute power
to be concerned with
DISCUSSION
Speak on the role of constitution in governing a state.
A Scan Text 3.2. Which paragraphs describe:
a) the term of office of the President;
b) the role of the law;
c) the main guarantees to the people of Belarus;
d) the facts which prove that Belarus is a part of the world
community.
B Read the text. Formulate the key idea of each paragraph.
21
3.2 The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus
The Constitution is the Fundamental Law of the Republic of
Belarus. The present-day Constitution of Belarus is the
Constitution of the Republic of Belarus of 1994 with amendments
and addenda adopted at the republican referenda on November 24,
1996 and October 17, 2004.
According to the Constitution, Belarus is a presidential
republic. The head of the state and the executive power is the
President who is elected for a five-year term. The Constitution
consists of a preamble and nine sections:
I. Principles of the Constitutional system
II. The Individual, Society and the State
III. Electoral System. Referendum
IV. The President, Parliament, the Government, the Court
V. Local government and self-government
VI. The Procurator’s office. The State Supervisory Committee
VII. Financial and credit system of the Republic of Belarus
VIII. The application of the Constitution of the Republic of
Belarus and the procedure for amending the
Constitution
IX. Final and transitional clauses.
The Constitution defines the Republic of Belarus as a unitary
democratic social state with the rule of law which possesses
supremacy and absolute authority in its territory. The Republic of
Belarus independently carries out domestic and foreign policy.
The Constitution establishes the principle of the supremacy of
law. The State and all its bodies and officials act within the limits
of the Constitution and the laws adopted in accordance with it.
The Constitution states that securing the rights and freedoms
of citizens is the supreme goal of the State.
The Constitution of Belarus proclaims that all are equal before
the law and have the right to equal protection of their rights and
legitimate interests.
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus guarantees the
citizens of Belarus the right to health care and social security in
old age as well as free general education and professional
technical training. Secondary special and higher education is
accessible to all, depending on the abilities of each person. Each
22
person has the right to receive education at state educational
institutions on the basis of contest and free of charge.
The Constitution establishes the principle of separation of
powers into legislative, executive and judiciary. State bodies act
independently and cooperate with one another, and restrain and
counterbalance one another.
The Constitution establishes that no one may be pronounced
guilty of a crime unless his guilt has been proven by law. The
Constitution reproduces the provisions of the Declaration of
Human Rights with regard to presumption of innocence.
The Republic of Belarus is a part of the world community. It
recognizes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN
Charter, the International Convents on Civil and Political Rights
and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The principles
established by the major international legal instruments have
found their reflection in the provisions of the Belarusian
Constitution.
COMPREHENSION
Which paragraphs describe:
1. the rights of the citizens of Belarus;
2. the supreme goal of the Republic of Belarus;
3. the Republic of Belarus as a part of the world community.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
consti'tution
co'mmittee
re'public
refe'rendum
funda'mental
decla'ration
Bela'rusian
fi'nancial
pre'amble
uni'versal
B Add nouns to the following adjectives to form phrases as
they occur together in the text. Translate these phrases
into Russian.
fundamental
equal
23
executive
democratic
legal
absolute
supreme
present-day
foreign
electoral
C Match the English and Russian equivalents.
1. a fundamental law
2. state sovereignty
3. to adopt a declaration
4. a local government
5. the basis of the
constitution
6. a
domestic
and
foreign policy
7. the supremacy of law
8. an international law
9. the principle of
separation of powers
10. equal conditions
11. the rights and duties
of the citizens
а) права и обязанности
граждан
б) внутренняя и внешняя
политика
в) принцип разделения
власти
г) равные условия
д) международное право
е) превосходство закона
ж) основа конституции
з) местное правительство
и) принимать декларацию
к) государственный
суверенитет
л) основной закон
D Complete these sentences with one of these the words:
security, supremacy, equal, carry out, presidential, elected,
executive, fundamental, unitary.
1. The Constitution is the …… law of the Republic of Belarus.
2. According to the Constitution, Belarus is a ………
republic.
3. The head of the state and the ……… power is President.
4. The President is ……… for a five-year term.
5. The Constitution defines the Republic of Belarus as a …..
democratic state.
6. Belarus independently ……… domestic and foreign policy.
7. The Constitution establishes the principle of the …… of law.
8. The Constitution proclaims that all are …..… before the law.
24
9. The fundamental law guarantees the citizens of Belarus
the protection and social ……… in old age.
E Ask questions on the Constitution of the Republic of
Belarus using the word combinations given below. Work
in pairs.
to adopt a Constitution; a presidential republic; to consist
of smth; a unitary democratic state; the principle of
supremacy of law; the supreme goal of a state; the principle
of separation of powers; to be equal before the law; the right
to health care; social security in old age; the part of the
world community; to recognise the Declaration of Human
Rights.
F
Learn the active vocabulary.
a fundamental law
supremacy of law
domestic and foreign policy
a supreme goal
separation of powers
to adopt the declaration
to secure the rights and freedoms
to carry out policy
to act independently
the right to health care and
social security
G Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 4
DEMOCRACY AS A FORM OF GOVERNMENT
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 4.1 and answer the questions:
a) What events are the years of 1863, 1780s, 1900 connected
with?
b) When and what country did the term democracy come into
use?
B Read the text and complete the information below:
1. The word democracy has ......................................... origin.
2. A true democracy means a society in which ..................... .
25
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
A true democracy was defined by ..................................... .
The term democracy came into use in .............................. .
Direct democracy was the government adopted by .......... .
Ancient Greek had no true democracy because ................ .
Britain became genuine democracy only .......................... .
4.1 Origin of Democracy
1. In his Gettysburg Address of November 1863, President
Abraham Lincoln defined the kind of society he wanted the United
States to preserve: “government of the people, by the people, for
the people.” He was defining democracy, but not as it existed
anywhere in the world at that time. He was describing an ideal,
which increasingly became realized in the next century. The ideal
was based upon a basic concept of the Declaration of
Independence- all human beings are created equal and are
endowed with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness.
2. The word democracy is derived from two Greek words:
dēmos, meaning “the people”, and krātos, meaning ‘rule’. A
democracy is a way of governing in which the whole body of
citizens takes charge of its own affairs. As citizens of towns,
cities, counties, states or provinces, and nations, the people are the
sovereigns, the source of power. Democracy means that they can
freely make the decisions about what is best for them: what
policies to adopt and what taxes to pay. A true democracy, as
Lincoln was defining it, means a society in which all the people
are citizens with the same rights to participate in its government.
3. As a term for a type of government, democracy came into
use during the 5th century BC in Greece. Since then it has acquired
a number of different meanings, most of which have common
elements. The most basic and original sense is direct democracy- a
government in which political decisions are made directly by all the
citizens and policies are decided by majority rule.
4. Direct democracy was the government adopted by some
ancient Greek city-states. Many centuries later, during the colonial
era in North America, the New England townships chose direct
26
democracy as their form of government. All the townspeople
gathered at one time and place to decide public policies.
5. Neither ancient Greek nor colonial New England had a true
democracy because some segments of the population did not have
the rights of citizenship. Certain members of Greek society were
considered either non- citizens or second-class citizens. Women
and slaves, for example, were denied participation in government.
In New England, only property-owning white males were active in
government. Women, poor whites, and slaves were nonparticipants.
6. To the extent that any segment of the population is
deliberately excluded from citizen participation, a government fails
to be a true democracy. It is really an oligarchy, or government by
the few. In the United States, for example, women were not granted
suffrage until the 20th century, after World War I. Although the
United States became a constitutional republic in the 1780s, about a
century after Britain became a constitutional monarchy, neither was
a genuine democracy until after 1900.
COMPREHENSION
For sentences 1-7 choose the variant (a, b) which fits best
according to the text.
1. A democracy is a way of governing in which ……………..…
a) the government takes charge of its own affairs.
b) the citizens take charge of their own affairs.
2. Democracy came into use during the 5th century BC in ……
a) Greece.
b) Italy.
3. Direct democracy means a government in which political
decisions are made by ………………………………………..
a) representatives of all the citizens.
b) all the citizens.
4. Women in ancient Greece ……………………………………
a) did not participate in government.
b) had equal rights with males.
27
5. In New England women and slaves …………………………..
a) took active participation in government.
b) were denied participation in government.
6. In the United States women received the right to vote ……….
a) in the 20th century.
b) in the 19th century.
7. Britain became a genuine democracy …………..…………….
a) after 1900.
b) before 1900.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'monarchy
i'deal
'realize
decla'ration
'concept
cre'ate
'equal
o'riginal
'policy
co'lonial
B Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text.
1. define
a) decisions
2. come
b) the kind of society
3. acquire
c) public policies
4. make
d) suffrage
5. grant
e) a number of meanings
6. decide
f) into use
7. deny
g) participation
C Complete these sentences using an appropriate phrase
from Exercise B.
1. Democracy means that people can freely .............. about
what is best for them.
2. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln .............. he wanted
the United States to preserve.
3. As a term for a type of government democracy …….........
during the 5th century BC in Greece.
28
4. Since then democracy has ………........ most of which
have common elements.
5. In the United States women were not ................ until the
20th century.
6. All the townspeople gathered at one time and place to ......... .
7. In ancient Greece women were .................. in government.
D Choose the most suitable word in each sentence.
1. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln defined the kind of
society he wanted the United States to keep / preserve /
possess.
2. The word democracy is descended / derived / divided from
two Greek words.
3. A democracy is a track / means / way of governing in
which the whole body of citizens takes charge of its own
affairs.
4. A true democracy, as Lincoln was defining it, means a
society in which all the people are citizens with the same
rights / votes / positions to participate in its government.
5. Direct democracy was the government assumed / adopted
/ proposed by some ancient Greek city-states.
6. Democracy has acquired a number of different meanings,
most of which have general / total / common elements.
7. Political decisions are made straight / directly /
immediately by all the citizens.
E Replace the underlined items with words and phrases from
the text that have a similar meaning.
1. Lincoln was depicting an ideal which became realized in
the next century. (para 1)
2. The ideal was grounded on a basics concept of the
Declaration of Independence. (para 1)
3. The most fundamental and original sense is direct
democracy. (para 3)
4. Women and slaves were refused participation in
government. (para 5)
29
5. To the extent that some people are excluded from citizen
participation, a government doesn’t succeed to be a true
democracy. (para 6)
6. In the United States women were not granted vote until
the 20th century. (para 6)
F
Learn the active vocabulary.
a basic concept
an original sense
public policies
suffrage
inalienable rights
to make decisions
to take charge of
to deny participation
to participate in
to pay taxes
DISCUSSION
What is your idea of a true democracy?
A Scan Text 4.2.Which paragraphs describe:
a) the types of democracy;
b) the country which is the strongest example of modern
democracy;
c) the forms a liberal democracy can take.
B Read the text and answer these questions.
1. What context is the term “democracy” usually used in?
2. What types of democracy exist in modern world?
3. What is direct democracy characterized by?
4. Which countries provide the strongest examples of
modern direct democracy?
5. What is liberal democracy?
6. What forms can liberal democracy take?
4.2 Types of Democracy
Democracy is a system of government by which political
sovereignty is retained by the people and either exercised directly
by citizens or through their elected representatives.
There are several varieties of democracy, some of which
provide better representation and more freedoms for their citizens
30
than others. Though the term “democracy” is typically used in the
context of a political state, the principles are also applicable to
private organizations and other groups.
Some types of democracy existing in modern world are:
 Defensive democracy, a situation in which a democratic
society has to limit some rights and freedoms in order to
protect the institutions of democracy.
 Democratic centralism, an organizational method where
members of a political party discuss and debate matters of
policy and direction and after the discussion is made by
majority vote, all members are expected to follow that
decision in public.
 Direct democracy, implementation of democracy in more
pure forms; classically termed pure democracy.
 Illiberal democracy, a type of representative democracy
where there are no or only weak limits on the power of the
elected representatives to rule as they please.
 Liberal democracy, a form of representative democracy
with protection for individual liberty and property by rule
of law.
 Parliamentary democracy, a democratic system of
government where the executive branch of a
parliamentary government is typically a cabinet, and
headed by a prime-minister who is considered the head of
government.
 Republican democracy, a republic which has democracy
through elected representatives.
 Totalitarian democracy, a system of government in which
lawfully elected representatives maintain the integrity of a
nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote,
have little or no participation in the decision-making
process of the government.
Modern direct democracy is characterized by three pillars:
 Initiative
 Referendum
 Recall
31
Switzerland provides the strongest example of modern
democracy at both the local and federal levels. Another example
comes from the United States, where, despite being a federal
republic where no direct democracy exists at the federal level, the
vast majority of the states have either initiatives and/or
referendums.
Liberal democracy is a form of government, a political
system. A liberal democracy has elections, a multiplicity of
political parties, political decisions are made through an
independent legislature, and an independent judiciary. A liberal
democracy may take the form of a constitutional republic or a
constitutional monarchy.
COMPREHENSION
The text states different types of democracy. Match these types
with the definitions according to the text.
1. direct
a) a democratic system of government
where the executive branch of a
parliamentary government is usually a
cabinet
2. liberal
b) a republic which has democracy
through elected representatives
3. illiberal
c) a system of government in which the
citizens have little or no participation in
the process of making decisions
4. parliamentary
d) implementation of democracy in more
pure forms
5. republican
e) a form of democracy with protection
for individual liberty and property by
rule of law
6. totalitarian
f) a type of democracy where there are no
or weak limits on the power of those
who rule
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'liberal
represent'tation
de'mocracy
demo'cratic
situ'ation
parlia'mentary
32
re'publican
refe'rendum
consti'tutional
totali'tarian
B Find in the text the verbs that complete the expressions
below. Translate these word combinations into Russian.
……… freedoms; ………. the institutions of democracy;
.……. matters of policy; ……. individual liberty and property;
….…. the right to vote; ….…. in the decision-making process;
……. the form of a constitutional republic.
C Complete these sentences using an appropriate phrase
from Exercise B.
1. Some democracies …….…… more ………… than others.
2. Democratic centralism is an organizational method where
members of a political party ……… .
3. Defensive democracy is a situation in which a democratic
society has to limit some rights in order to ……… .
4. Liberal democracy may …..… or a constitutional
monarchy.
5. Totalitarian democracy is a system of government in
which citizens, while ……… , have little or no
participation in making decisions.
6. Liberal democracy is a form of democracy aimed at
……… by rule of law.
7. Totalitarian democracy does not grant or grants little
……… to its citizens.
D Find in the text the equivalents for the following word
combinations.
осуществлять; предоставлять свободу; ограничивать права
и свободы; принимать решения; большинством голосов;
защита свободы и собственности; избранный законным
путем; предоставлять право голоса; процесс принятия
решений; на местном и федеральном уровне;
подавляющее большинство; законодательная власть.
33
E Learn the active vocabulary.
political sovereignty
to make decisions
matters of policy
to grant the right to vote
a majority vote
to implement democracy
an individual liberty
to provide freedoms
a legislature
to participate in
F
Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 5
LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 5.1 and answer the questions:
a) What countries are mentioned in the text?
b) What are unitary states?
c) How many levels of government do federal states have?
B Read the text and match the questions below (1-5) with the
paragraphs in the text.
1. What constitution do federal states require?
2. In what way can states with two levels o government be
distinguished?
3. How many levels of government are there in all modern
states?
4. What states are called unitary?
5. What jurisdiction do regional governments possess?
5.1 Unitary, Federal, and Regionalist Systems
No modern state can govern a country only from a central
point. In all modern states there are at least two levels of
government: the central government and the local governments.
But in a number of states between the two levels there exists still a
third one consisting of governments that take care of the interests
of, and rule over, more or less large regions.
34
The distribution of powers among different levels of
government is an important aspect of the constitutional
organization of a state. States with two levels of government can
be distinguished on account of the greater or lesser autonomy they
grant to the local level. Great Britain’s respect for local selfgovernment has always been a characteristic of its constitution.
France, instead, at least until recently, used to keep under strict
central control its local authorities. In states with three levels of
government the distribution of powers among the central and the
intermediate governments varies. States formed through the union
of formerly independent states usually maintain considerable
legislative, executive and judicial power at the intermediate level:
the United States and Switzerland fall into this category. However,
other states with three levels o government grant few powers to
the intermediate level.
States with two levels of government are called unitary, with
three levels of the first category-federal, and with three levels of
the second type-decentralized or “regionalist”. A great majority of
the world’s nation-states are unitary systems, including Belgium,
Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Japan, Poland,
the Scandinavian countries.
The model ‘federal state’ requires the existence, at the
national level, of rigid constitution guaranteeing not only
independence of the several intermediate governments but also the
amplitude of their legislative, executive, and judicial powers. The
national constitution must delegate to the central government only
enumerated powers; the remaining powers are reserved to the
intermediate governments.
Regionalist states are also based, as a rule, on written rigid
constitutions granting some limited legislative and administrative
powers to the intermediate or regional governments. But because
regional governments possess jurisdiction only over enumerated
matters, their actual role and political weight within the system
largely depend on the will of the central government.
COMPREHENSION
Match the sentence beginnings (1-7) to the correct endings (a-g).
35
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
All modern states have …………………………..……….……
States with two levels of government ………….…….………..
States with two levels of government …………..……………..
Some states with three levels of government ………….……...
The model ‘federal state’ …………………………..………….
Regionalist states are also based on ……………………..…….
The role of regional governments largely depends on …….….
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
…………………………………………….. are called unitary.
………………….. requires the existence of rigid constitution.
……………………………. at least two levels of government.
………………….. grant few powers to the intermediate level.
…………………………………………….. rigid constitution.
……………………………….. the will of central government.
………….. grant greater or lesser autonomy to the local level.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'modern
characte'ristic
'central
consti'tution
'local
po'litical
'category
organi'zation
'union
au'tonomy
B Match the English and Russian equivalents.
1. to take care of smb
а) предоставлять независимость
2. distribution of
powers
б) промежуточный уровень
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
в) местные органы власти
г) делегировать полномочия
д) иметь право
е) жесткая конституция
ж) заботиться о ком-то
з) политическое влияние
и) распределение
полномочий
to grant autonomy
intermediate level
independent states
local authorities
to delegate powers
a rigid constitution
to possess
jurisdiction
36
10. political weight
к) независимые государства
C Complete these sentences using an appropriate phrase
from Exercise B.
1. In some countries between the two levels of government
there exist ……… .
2. The intermediate level of government ……… the interests
of more or less large regions.
3. States with two levels of government ……… greater or
lesser…to the local level.
4. In states with three levels of government ……….. varies.
5. Some states with three levels of government ……… few
……… to the intermediate level.
6. The model ‘federal state’ requires the existence of …….. .
7. Regional governments ……… only over enumerated
matters.
D Which of the phrases below do not associate with levels of
government?
to govern a country; unitary states; central government; local
educational authorities; a rigid constitution; to grant
autonomy; civil service; intermediate governments; a
системlimited legislative power; limited resources;
distribution of powers.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
distribution of powers
a unitary state
a rigid constitution
political weight
local authorities
to take care of
to grant autonomy
to govern a country
to possess jurisdiction
to delegate powers
DISCUSSION
Speak about the levels of government in Belarus.
A Scan Text 5.2 and answer the questions:
a) What countries are mentioned in the text?
37
b) What are the most important functions of city government?
B Read the text. Mark the statements True or False
according to the information in the text. Justify your
answer by reference to the text.
1. Cities do not provide museums, parks, and other cultural
facilities.
2. One of the important functions of government activities is
city planning.
3. Governments of modern cities form a larger constitutional
regime.
4. Public utility services are provided only by a city
government.
5. In federal constitutions city government falls within the
jurisdiction of the state government.
6. Counties and districts in Britain perform separate
functions.
7. The municipalities in Japan have the same structure and
legal status.
5.2 City Government
City government is a system of governmental institutions that
serve an urban area. Modern cities are almost always contained
within the boundaries of modern states, and their governments
form parts of a larger constitutional regime that usually includes
state or provincial governments and a national government.
A city government’s most important functions are to provide
law enforcement and fire prevention; elementary and secondary
education; water supply, sewage and refuse collection and disposal;
construction, maintenance, and lighting of the streets; regulation of
building safety and housing standards; the provision of public
housing; various welfare services for the needy; health protection;
and environmental services. Cities also provide museums, parks,
play grounds and other cultural and recreation facilities. Publicutility services that supply water, electricity, gas, and public
transport may be provided by a city government or by commercial
companies that are closely regulated by the government.
38
City planning, which involves the coordination of all
governmental activities, is another important function. City
governments typically achieve their land-planning goals by
enacting zoning laws that govern the use of land and buildings, the
density of population, the height and spacing of structures.
There are three principal types of city or municipal systems of
government: (1) the decentralized system found in federal
constitutions; (2) the decentralized system found in unitary
constitutions; (3) the supervisory system found under the Frenchtype administration.
In federal constitutions, city government tends to fall within
the jurisdiction of the state or provincial government rather than of
the national government. This is a position of the United States,
and it accounts for the great diversity of municipal organization
existing in that country.
In Britain Local Government Act of 1972 created a two-tier
system of counties and districts. Both counties and districts have
independent, locally elected councils that perform separate
functions: county authorities are generally responsible for largescale services, while district authorities are generally responsible
for more local ones.
In Japan the municipalities consist of cities, towns , and
villages. All have the same structure and legal status but differ in
powers. A city must have a population of not less than 50,000 , of
which at least 60 percent must engage in commerce and industry;
and it must possess civic halls, a sewage system, libraries, and
other public amenities.
In Latin American countries the tendency is to adopt the basic
principles of the supervisory system. This involves appointing
central government officers who exercise control over local
authorities.
COMPREHENSION
A The text states different types of municipal systems of
government. Match these types with their characteristics
according to the text.
1. systems
found
in
a) locally elected councils at two
39
federal constitutions
2. systems found in
unitary constitutions
3. supervisory systems
tiers
perform
separate
functions
b) involve appointing central
government officers who
exercise control over local
authorities
c) city government falls within
the jurisdiction of the state or
provincial government
B Choose the best alternative to compete these sentences.
1. City government supplies / serves an urban area.
2. One of the functions of city government is to provide /
maintain cultural and recreation activities.
3. City planning consists of / involves the coordination of all
government activities.
4. In federal constitutions city government falls / keeps within
the jurisdiction of the state or provincial government.
5. In Britain, locally elected councils perform / provide
separate functions.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'urban
const'ruction
'tendency
co'mmercial
'commerce
pre'vention
'civic
co'llection
'typically
mi'nicipal
B Give forms derived from these verbs.
serve, form, provide, collect, protect, achieve, exist, create,
elect, perform, possess, appoint.
C Complete these sentences. Use the correct form of the
words from Exercise B.
1. After World War II, a radical reform of local government
took place directed towards ……… of political democracy
in Japan.
40
2. The new constitution provided that local authorities
should ……… by popular vote.
3. In heavily populated areas in Britain ……… of certain
services falls upon more powerful metropolitan district
authorities.
4. The city-manager system typically consists of a small
elected council that decides the budget and ……… a
manager.
5. The services now ……… by city governments are
different in nature and wider in scope than in the past.
6. Municipal, or city, governments are responsible for
delivering most ……… .
D Find in the text the equivalents for the following word
combinations.
обеспечивать соблюдение законности; водоснабжение;
коммунальные услуги; достигать цели; плотность
населения; подпадать под юрисдикцию; большое
разнообразие; двухуровневая система; как…так и…;
выполнять функции; отвечать за; заниматься торговлей;
осуществлять руководство.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
an urban area
law enforcement
welfare services
public-utility services
recreation facilities
F
to provide services
to achieve goals
to fall within the jurisdiction
to perform functions
to exercise control
Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 6
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 6.1 and answer the questions:
41
a) What levels of government is local government contrasted
with?
b) Local governments of what countries are mentioned in the
text?
B Read the text. Find the information referring to:
1. sources of local government financing;
2. the names used for local government entities;
3. the names used for the system of local government in the
United Kingdom.
6.1 What is Local Government
Local governments are administrative offices that are smaller
than a state. The term is used to contrast with offices at nationstate level, which are referred to as the central government,
national government, or (where appropriate) federal government.
In modern nations, local governments usually have some
power to raise taxes, though these may be limited by central
legislation. In some countries local government is partly or wholly
funded by subventions from central government taxation. The
question of Municipal Autonomy – which powers the local
government has, or should have, and why – is a key question of
public administration. The institutions of local government vary
greatly between countries, and even where similar arrangements
exist, the terminology often varies. Common names for local
government entities include state, province, region, department,
county, prefecture, district, city, town, borough, parish,
municipality and village. However, all these names are often used
informally in countries where they do not describe a legal local
government entity.
Local government is the third tier of government in Australia,
after Federal and State.
According to its constitution, France has 3 levels of local
government:
 22 Régions and 4 Régions d’outre-mer;
 96 départements and 4 départements d’outre-mer;
 36 679 municipalities (in French: Communes).
The Netherlands has three tiers of government. There are two
levels of local government in the Netherlands, the provinces and
the municipalities.
42
The system of local government is different in each of the four
countries of the United Kingdom. The oldest and largest divisions in
England and Wales are called counties. In Scotland, the largest
divisions are regions. Northern Ireland is sometimes known as the
Six Counties, but local government there is based on districts.
Local government of the United States refers to the
government at the city, town or village level.
COMPREHENSION
A Some countries are mentioned in the text. What are they?
B Different terms are used for offices at nation-state level.
What are they?
C For sentences 1-6 choose the variant (a, b) which fits best
according to the text.
1. The term local government is used to contrast with ………….
a) city government.
b) national government.
2. Local governments are usually financed by …………………..
a) receiving contributions from charity organizations.
b) raising taxes.
3. The system of local governments in different countries ………
a) varies greatly.
b) is the same.
4. Common names for local government entities include ……….
a) region, department, county, district, city, etc.
b) federation, union, state, confederation.
5. Australia and the Netherlands are countries with ……………..
a) two tiers of government.
b) three tiers of government.
6. The system of local government in each of the four countries
of the United Kingdom is ……………………………………
a) the same.
b) different.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'contrast (n)
cont'rast (v)
43
'national
'federal
'modern
'legal
in'formally
mu'nicipal
munici'pality
au'tonomy
B Match the words with their definitions.
1. municipality (n)
2. region (n)
3. parish (n)
4. province (n)
5. county (n)
6. village (n)
7. town (n)
a) a place with many houses, shops
and other buildings that is larger than
a village but smaller than a city
b) an administrative division of
Britain, the largest unit of local
government
c) an area that has its own church
and clergyman
d) a town, city or district with its
own
local
government;
the
governing body of such a town
e) an administrative division of a
country
f) any of the parts into which a
country is divided for the purpose of
government
g) a group of houses, shops, etc.
usually with a church and situated
in a country district
C Match the verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text.
1. raise
a) powers
2. include
b) the national government
3. have
c) nation-state level
4. refer to as
d) the names for local government entities
5. describe
e) legislation
6. contrast with
f) taxes
7. be limited by
g) a legal local government entity
D Complete these sentences using the word combination
from Exercise C.
1. Today local governments usually have the power ……… .
44
2. Sometimes the power of local governments to raise taxes
is ……… .
3. Common names for local government entities ………
state, region, county, city, town, etc.
4. In modern nations, modern governments ……… to raise
taxes.
5. The term local government is used to ……… the central
government.
6. Such names as state, province, prefecture, district, etc. are
often used informally in countries where they do not …... .
7. Offices at the nation-state level ……… as the central
government.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
a municipal authority
a tier of government
a local government entity
a common name
municipality
to raise taxes
to vary greatly
to refer to (as)
to be limited by
to include government entities
DISCUSSION
Speak about the system of local government in Belarus.
A Scan Text 6.2 and answer the questions:
a) What geographical names are given in the text?
b) What events are the years of 1985, 1995, 1998 connected
with?
B Read the text and complete the information below.
1. The oldest and largest divisions in England and Wales are
called ………………………………………………….… .
2. Counties and districts are run by …………………..…… .
3. Councils consist of ……………………………………… .
4. Councillors are elected for a period of ……………..…… .
5. Councils make policies for ……………………………… .
6. Local government officers have a role similar to that of
…………………………………………………………… .
7. Local councils and committees are responsible for …….. .
45
6.2 Local Government in Britain
For administrative purposes Britain is divided into small
geographical areas. The oldest and largest divisions in England
and Wales are called counties. In Scotland, the largest divisions
are regions. Counties and regions are further divided into districts.
Parishes, originally villages with a church, are the smallest units of
local government in England. These are called communities in
Scotland and Wales. Boroughs were originally towns large enough
to be given their own local government. Now, only boroughs in
London have political power, which they took over in 1985 when
the Greater London Council was abolished.
Counties and districts are run by councils, which have powers
given them by central government. A system of local councils was
first established in the 19th century, but since then there have been
many changes to their structure and powers. Councils have a twotier structure (= two levels of government), with both county and
district councils. The county council is the more powerful. Unitary
authorities have only one tier of government. The first unitary
authorities were created in 1995. Since then, all of Wales and
Scotland and many parts of England have become unitary
authorities.
Councils consist of elected representatives, called councilors.
They are elected by the local people for a period of four years (in
Scotland for three years). Most councilors belong to a political
party and, especially at a county level, people vote for them as
representatives of a party, not as individuals. County councils
meet in a council chamber at the local town hall. Councilors elect
a chair person from amongst themselves. In cities, he or she is
called the Lord Mayor. Members of the public are allowed to
attend council meetings.
Councils make policies for their area. Decisions are made by
the full council or in committees. Policy is carried out by local
government officers, who have a similar role to that of civil
servants. Local authorities(= councils and committees) rather than
central government are responsible for education, social services,
housing, transport, the police and fire services, town planning,
recreation facilities and other local services.
Councils employ about 1,4 million people. Formerly, staff
employed by the council carried out most activities, but now
46
councils often give contracts to private firms. Many local
government functions, e.g. rubbish collection, must be put out to
tender (= competed for by private companies). This procedure is
called compulsory competitive tendering intended to save money.
Central government provides a lot of money spent by councils
in the form of grants. It also collects taxes on commercial
properties throughout the country and then shares the money out
between local authorities according to their population.
Councils also charge local people a council tax. This is the only
tax that they are allowed to collect. The council tax has existed
since 1993 and is based on the actual value of a person’s house.
COMPREHENSION
For sentences 1-9 choose the right variant (a, b), which fits
best according to the text.
1. The largest administrative divisions in England are called …..
a) communities.
b) counties.
2. In Scotland, the largest divisions are …………………………
a) regions.
b) districts.
3. A system of local government was first established in ………
a) the 15th century.
b) the 19th century.
4. Councilors are elected by local people for a period of ……….
a) four years.
b) six years.
5. Councils make policies for …………………………………..
a) the whole country.
b) their area.
6. Now councils often give contracts to ………………………...
a) private firms.
b) individuals.
7. Central government provides a lot of money spent by councils
in the form of …………………………………………………
a) taxes.
b) grants.
8. Money is shared between the local authorities according to ….
47
a) the size of the territory.
b) their population.
9. The council tax is based on ……………………………………
a) the value of a person’s house.
b) the value of the income.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'region
po'litical
'structure
po'lice
'unitary
geog'raphical
'period
co'mmittee
'central
co'llection
B Match the verbs and the nouns as they occur together in
the text.
1. take
a) services
2. establish
b) a political party
3. elect
c) decisions
4. belong to
d) political power
5. make
e) a system of local councils
6. collect
f) taxes
7. provide
g) representatives
8. carry out
h) the money
9. share
i) policy
C Give the Russian equivalents for the following words and
word combinations.
to divide into; to elect representatives; to be run by; to belong
to; to provide services; to take the power; counties; a two-tier
structure; unitary authorities; a chair person; to establish; to
attend meetings; to make policies; to carry out policy; to be
responsible for; to employ the staff; according to; to charge a
tax.
D Open the brackets. Use the correct word forms and word
combinations from Exercise C.
1. For administrative purposes Britain (делиться на) small
geographical areas.
48
2. The largest divisions in England and Wales are called
(округа).
3. Councils and districts (управляться) by councils.
4. A system of local councils first (создавать) in the 19th
century.
5. Councils have (двухуровневая структура).
6. Councils consist of (избираемые представители), called
councilors.
7. Most councilors (принадлежать) a political party.
8. Local authorities (отвечать за) education, social
services, town planning, transport.
9. Central government shares the money between local
authorities (в зависимости от) their population.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
a local authority budget
a local government officer
a two-tier structure
to divide into
to be responsible for
F
to collect taxes
to provide services
to employ staff
to make decisions
to make policies
Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 7
FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 7.1 and answer the questions:
a) What do figures 33 and 132 stand for?
b) How many states do not use the name of their government
form in their official names?
B Read the text and complete the information below.
1. Synonyms of a form of government include ……………… .
2. The general attributes of the forms of government are …….. .
49
3. Not all states ………………………. in their official names.
4. There ate 33 kingdoms in the word, but only 18 ……….… .
5. The word ‘republic’ is used by …………………..…..…… .
7.1 Forms of Government
A form of government is a term that refers to the set of
political institutions by which a government of a state is organized
in order to exert its powers over a community politics. Synonyms
include “regime type” and “system of government”. This
definition holds valid even if the government is unsuccessful in
exerting its power. But a failed government is still considered a
form of government. Churches, corporations, clubs, and other subnational entities also have “government” forms.
Beyond official typologies it is important to think about
regime types by looking at the general attributes of the forms of
government:
 traditional or modern;
 autocracy (totalitarianism or authoritarianism), oligarchy,
or democracy;
 direct or indirect elections;
 republic or monarchy;
 constitutional monarchy or absolute monarchy;
 majority government or coalition government;
 parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential;
 confederation, federation, or unitary.
Nineteen states in the world do not explicitly name their
government forms in their official names (the official name of
Jamaica, for instance, is simply “Jamaica”), but most have an
official name which identifies their form of government, or at least
the form of government toward which they are striving:
 Australia, the Bahamas, and Dominica are each officially
a commonwealth.
 Luxemburg is a grand duchy.
 Russia and Switzerland are each a federation.
 There are 33 kingdoms in the world, but only 18 named as
such. The other 15 are known as realms. Jordan is
50





specifically titled the “Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,”
while Britain is formally the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland.
Andorra, Liechtenstein, and Monaco are each a
principality.
The word “republic” is used by 132 nations in their
official names. Many specify a type of republic: China is
titled a “people’s republic; North Korea- a “democratic
people’s republic”, Egypt and Syria-“Arab republics”;
Algeria is a “democratic and popular republic”; Vietnam-a
socialist republic.
States that wish to emphasize that their provinces have a
fair amount of autonomy from central government may
specifically state this: Germany and Nigeria are each a
federal republic, Ethiopia is a federal democratic republic,
the Comoros is a federal Islamic republic, and Brazil is a
federative republic. Besides the Comoros, four other
nations dictate that they are Islamic republics.
Eleven nations simply refer to themselves as states, but a
handful specify what kind of state. Papua New Guinea and
Samoa emphasize that they are independent states, while
the United States of America and the United Mexican
States are made up of constituent states.
Brunei and Oman are sultanates.
COMPREHENSION
A The text states different attributes of the forms of
government. Match these attributes with the countries
according to the text.
1. Monaco, Liechtenstein a) Arab republics
2. Egypt, Syria
b) a people’s republic
3. Luxemburg
c) a democratic people’s republic
4. China
d) a principality
5. North Korea
e) a federal republic
6. Germany, Nigeria
f) a commonwealth
7. Australia
g) a grand duchy
51
B In which paragraphs does the author:
a) give the definition of the term ‘form of government’?
b) specify a type of republic?
c) explain the usage of the name ‘kingdom’?
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'organize
co'mmunity
'synonym
re'gime
'unitary
o'fficial
'national
tra'ditional
'monarchy
au'tonomy
B Match the words with their definitions.
1. democracy (n)
a) a country ruled by a king or
queen
2. federation (n)
b) an organization consisting of
countries that have joined
together for mutual benefit
3. principality (n)
c) a system of government by all
the people of the country
4. confederation (n) d) a union of states in which
individual states keep control of
many internal matters
5. monarchy (n)
e) a country ruled by a prince
6. realm (n)
f) a system of government by a
monarch
C Add nouns to the following adjectives to form phrases as
they occur in the text.
political, official, constitutional, direct, traditional, socialist,
independent.
D Match the English and Russian equivalents.
1. to refer to
а) по меньшей мере
52
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
to exert powers
a majority government
to identify
at least
a principality
a realm
a handful
to be made up of smth.
б) правительство большинства
в) княжество
г) состоять из чего-л.
д) относиться к чему-л.
е) горсть, маленькая кучка
ж) опознавать, отождествлять
з) проявлять власть, влиять
и) королевство, государство
E Which of the phrases below do not associate with a form of
government?
a coalition government; a grand duchy; public administration;
direct elections; a federal republic; autocracy; policy
decisions; a commonwealth; a constitutional monarchy.
F
Learn the active vocabulary.
direct elections
indirect elections
a majority government
independent states
a commonwealth
to exert powers
to refer to smth.
to be made up of smth.
to consider smth.
to fail to do smth.
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 7.2 and answer the questions:
a) What contemporary forms of government are mentioned
in the text?
b) What countries are described as having constitutional
government?
c) How many countries have monarchs as heads of state?
B Read the text. Find in the text the information referring to:
1. definition of a constitutional government;
2. powers of monarchs in different countries;
3. the countries the constitutions of which predate the 20th
century;
53
4. responsibility of those who govern under constitutional
government.
7.2 Contemporary Forms of Government
Constitutional government is defined by the existence of a
constitution-which may be a legal instrument or merely a set of
fixed norms or principles generally accepted as the fundamental law
of the polity- that effectively controls the exercise of political
power. Virtually all contemporary governments have constitutions,
but possession and publication of a constitution does not make a
government constitutional. Under constitutional government, those
who govern are regularly accountable to at least a portion of the
governed. Accountability can be enforced through a great variety of
regular procedures, including elections, systems of promotion, fiscal
accounting, recall, and referendum. In constitutional democracies,
the accountability of government officials to the citizenry makes
possible the citizens’ responsibility for the acts of government.
Few states in the modern world have constitutional
arrangements that are more than a century old. The vast majority of
all the world’s states have constitutions written in the 20th century.
This is true of states such as Germany, Italy, Japan, and of some
other states, such as Spain and China, that have experienced civil
war and revolutions in the course of the century. Great Britain and
the United States of America are almost alone among major
contemporary
nation-states
in
possessing
constitutional
arrangements that predate the 20th century.
In the contemporary world, constitutional governments are
generally democracies, and in most cases they are referred to as
constitutional democracies or constitutional-democratic systems.
A monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power
is actually or nominally lodged in an individual (the monarch), who
is the head of state, and “is wholly set apart from all other members
of the state.” The person who heads a monarchy is called a
monarch.
There is no clear definition of monarchy. Holding unlimited
political power in the state is not the defining characteristic, as
many constitutional monarchies such as the United Kingdom and
54
Thailand are considered monarchies. Currently 44 nations in the
world have monarchs as heads of state, 16 of which are
Commonwealth realms that recognize Elizabeth II of the United
Kingdom as head of state.
Different nations grant different powers to their monarchs. In
the Netherlands, Denmark and in Belgium, for example, the
Monarch formally appoints a representative to preside over the
creation of a coalition government following a parliamentary
election, while in Norway the King chairs special meetings of the
cabinet.
There also exist today several federal constitutional
monarchies. In these countries, each subdivision has a distinct
government and head of government, but all subdivisions share a
monarch who is head of state of the federation as a united whole.
COMPREHENSION
For sentences 1-6 choose the right variant (a, b) which fits best
according to the text.
1. Constitutional government is defined by ……………………
a) the existence of systems of promotion.
b) the existence of a constitution.
2. Under constitutional government those who govern ………..
a) are accountable to the government.
b) have unlimited political power.
3. The majority of states have constitutions written in …………
a) in the 20th century.
b) before the 20th century.
4. Holding unlimited power in a monarchy is …………………..
a) not a defining characteristic.
b) is a defining characteristic.
5. Monarchs in different countries have ………………………..
a) the same powers.
b) different powers.
6. In federal constitutional monarchies all subdivisions have ….
a) a common head of government.
b) a distinct head of government.
55
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
the 'Netherlands
consti'tutional
'Belgium
funda'mental
'Germany
e'ffectively
'Italy
refe'rendum
'Norway
Ja'pan
B Find in the text the verbs that complete the expressions
below. Translate these word combinations into Russian.
….…. as the fundamental law; ……. the constitution; ……….
constitutional arrangements; ………. a monarchy; ……….
political power; ………. different powers; ………. a
representative; ………. meetings.
C Give the Russian equivalents for the following word
combinations.
contemporary governments; to be accountable to; a
responsibility for; the vast majority; an experience a war; to be
referred to as; a supreme power; to grant powers; to preside
over; to appoint a representative.
D Find the words and word combinations from Exercise C in
the text, read and translate the sentences containing these
words and word combinations.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
a fundamental law
a supreme power
a contemporary world
to appoint a representative
to chair a meeting
F
Make a summary of the text.
to be responsible for
to grant powers
to be accountable (to)
to hold political power
to be referred to as
56
UNIT 8
CONTEMPORARY DIVISION OF GOVERNMENT
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 8.1 and answer the questions:
a) What is the role of legislature?
b) Which legislature is one of the largest?
B Read the text and answer these questions.
1. What is the function of the legislature in parliamentary
systems?
2. What is the function of the legislature in presidential
system of government?
3. Which legislatures are among the smallest?
4. How is legislature with one house called?
5. What countries have abolished their second chamber?
8.1 The Legislature
The three branches of government are: legislature, executive,
and judiciary.
A legislature is a type of representative assembly with the
power to create, amend and ratify laws. The law created by a
legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In most systems,
however, legislatures also have other tasks, such as selection and
criticism of the government, supervision of administration,
ratification of treaties, impeachment of executive and judicial
officials. Legislatures, then, are not simply lawmaking bodies. In
most systems the executive has a power of veto over legislation,
and even where this is lacking, the executive may exercise original
or delegated powers of legislation.
Legislatures are known by many names, the most common
being parliament and congress. In parliamentary systems of
government, the legislature is formally supreme and appoints the
executive. In presidential system of government, the legislature is
considered a power branch which is equal to, and independent of,
the executive.
Legislatures differ greatly in their size, the procedures they
employ, the role of political parties in legislative action. In size, the
57
British House of Commons is among the largest; the Icelandic
lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, and the
Senate of Nevada are among the smallest. The primary components
of a legislature are one or more chambers or houses- assemblies that
debate and vote upon bills. A legislature with one house is called
unicameral. A bicameral legislature possesses two separate
chambers, usually described as an upper house and a lower house,
which often differ in duties and powers. Most legislatures are
bicameral, although New Zealand, Denmark, the state of
Queensland in Australia have all abolished their second chamber.
In most parliamentary systems, the lower house is the more
powerful house while the upper house is merely a chamber of
advice or review.
However, in presidential systems, the powers of the two
houses are often similar or equal. In federations it is typical for the
upper house to represent the component states; the same applies to
the supranational legislature of the European Union. For this
purpose the upper house may either contain the delegates of state
governments or be elected according to a formula that grants equal
representation to states with smaller populations, as is the case in
Austria and the modern United States.
In general, the legislature has a supervisory role over the
actions of the executive, and may replace the Head of Government
and/or individual ministers by a vote of (no) confidence or a
procedure of impeachment. On the other hand, it may be dissolved
by the Head of State, leading to new elections.
COMPREHENSION
Match the sentence beginnings (1-5) to the correct endings (a-e).
1. A legislature has the power to ………………………………...
2. In parliamentary systems of government, the legislature ……..
3. In presidential systems of government, the legislature ………..
4. The primary components of a legislature are …………………
5. In general, the legislature has …………………………………
a)
b)
c)
d)
……………………………………….. appoints the executive.
…………. a supervisory role over the actions of the executive.
……………………………….. create, amend and ratify laws.
………………………………………. one or more chambers.
58
e) …………………... is considered to be equal to the executive.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'ratify
ratify'cation
'minister
presi'dential
'equal
fede'ration
'modern
repre'sent
'formula
Euro'pean
B Find in the text the equivalents for the following word
combinations.
создавать
законы;
законодательная
власть;
законодательство; вносить поправки в законопроект;
ратифицировать
договор;
законодательный
орган;
делегировать полномочия; быть независимым от кого-л.;
нижняя палата / верхняя палата; гарантировать; вотум (не)
доверия.
C There are many phrases with the word ‘law’. Look
through this list of words, make phrases and give their
Russian equivalents. Use dictionary if necessary.
a) break
become
keep within
the law
issue
law
go beyond
make
go to
unmake
b) business
domestic
unwritten
territorial
election
law
equity
nations
law of property
persons
honour
D Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text.
1. amend
a) the executive
2. supervise
b) equal representation
59
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
appoint
debate
grant
dissolve
exercise
c) administration
d) the legislature
e) laws
f) powers
g) bills
E Translate these word combinations.
to appoint
представители / исполнители /
члены комиссии
to grant
права / равное представительство /
право голоса
to debate
законопроект / важные вопросы /
результаты голосования
to dissolve
парламент / комиссию / собрание
to supervise
работа комиссии/
исполнительная власть /
процесс голосования
to amend
конституция / закон / законопроект
F
Learn the active vocabulary
a judicial official
a power branch
a bi(uni) cameral chamber
a lower house
an upper house
to be dissolved by
to supervise administration
to appoint the executive
to exercise powers
to grant equal rights
DISCUSSION
What is the role and structure of legislature in Belarus?
A Scan Text 8.2 and answer the questions:
a) What countries are mentioned in the text?
b) What is the role of the executive?
c) What facts are figures 1958, the 20th century connected
with?
B Read the text and complete the information below.
1. The executive branch is responsible for …….…….…..… .
2. The executive is subject to …………………….….…..… .
60
3. Political executives include ……………….……….….… .
4. The executive is often delegated some …………..…...… .
5. The executive may also have powers to ………..….….… .
8.2 The Executive
In political science and constitutional law, the executive is the
branch of government responsible for the day-to-day management
of the state. The executive branch acts by and with the advice and
consent of the legislative made by the legislature and thus is
subject to the legislative branch.
Political executives are government officials who include
heads of state and government leaders-presidents, prime-ministers,
premiers, chancellors, and other chief executives, and many
secondary figures, such as cabinet members, ministers, councilors.
The executive is identified by the head of government. In a
presidential system, this person (the President) may also be the
Head of State, whereas in a parliamentary system he or she is
usually the leader of the largest party in the legislature and is most
commonly termed the Prime Minister (Taoiseach in the Republic
of Ireland, Chancellor in Germany and Austria). In France,
executive power is shared between the president and the prime
minister and this system has been reproduced in a number of
former French colonies, while Switzerland and Bosnia and
Herzegovina have collegiate systems for the role of head of state
and government. The head of government is assisted by a number
of ministers, who usually have responsibilities for particular areas
(e.g. health, education, foreign affairs), and by a large number of
government employees or civil servants.
The crucial element in the organization of a national executive
is the role assigned to the chief executive. In parliamentary
systems, such as in Great Britain, the prime minister is the national
political leader, but another figure, a monarch or elected president,
serves as the head of state. In mixed presidential-parliamentary
systems, such as that established in France under the constitution
of 1958, the president serves as head of state but also wields
important political powers, including the appointment of a prime
minister and Cabinet to serve as the government.
61
In nearly all political systems the 20th century has seen an
alarming increase in the powers of chief executives. The office of
the presidency in the United States, like the office of prime
minister in Britain, has greatly enlarged the scope of its authority.
The executive is often delegated some legislative power,
mainly the power to issue regulations or executive orders which
complete a piece of legislation with technical details or points
which might change frequently (e.g. fees for government
services). The executive may also have powers to issue legislation
during a state of emergency.
COMPREHENSION
Make the sentences True or False according to the information
in the text. Justify your answers by reference to the text.
1. The executive is responsible for the day-to-day management
of the state.
2. The executive is identified by the leader of a political party.
3. Political executives include not only chief executives.
4. Sometimes the executive is delegated some legislative power.
5. The executive may not have to issue legislation, even in
emergency cases.
VOCABULARY TASKS
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'presidency
egu'lation
'cabinet
o'fficial
'system
repro'duce
'technical
a'ssist
'ministers
parlia'mentary
B Make these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text.
1. issue
a) powers
2. delegate
b) executive power
3. include
c) the role
4. share
d) legislation
5. assign
e) heads of state
62
C Translate these word combinations.
to issue
деньги / законы / приказ
to delegate
полномочия / ответственность /
представитель
to include
главы государств/ важные вопросы /
различные задачи
to share
власть / обязанность / ответственность
to assign
роль / ответственность / обязанности
D Give the Russian equivalents for the following word
combinations.
to be responsible for; day-to day management; to include
heads of state; to issue legislation; to share power; whereas; to
be subject to; with the consent; a chief executive; a
government employee; to wield political power; to delegate
powers; the scope of authority; a state of emergency.
E Learn the active vocabulary
a government employee
a chief executive
the scope of authority
a state of emergency
day-to-day management
F
to be subject to
to share power
to assign the role (to)
to wield powers
to delegate powers
Make a summary of the text
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 8.3 and answer the questions:
a) What countries are mentioned in the text?
b) In what connection are the United States and Germany
mentioned?
c) find the sentences which describe:
 the definition of the judiciary under the doctrine of the
separation of powers;
 the structure of established court systems;
 types of local courts.
63
B Read the text. Formulate the key idea of each paragraph.
8.3 The Judiciary
In the law, the judiciary is the system of courts which
administer justice in the name of the sovereign or state, a
mechanism for the resolution of disputes. The term is also used to
refer collectively to the judges, magistrates and other adjudicators
who form the core of a judiciary, as well as the support personnel
who keep the system running smoothly.
Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, ‘the judiciary
is the branch of government primarily responsible for interpreting
the law’. It construes the laws enacted by the legislature.
Like legislators and executives, judges are major participants
in the policy-making process. The process of judicial decision
making, or adjudication, is distinctive, however, for it is concerned
with specific cases in which an individual has come into conflict
with society by violating its norms or in which individuals have
come into conflict with one another.
In common law jurisdiction, courts interpret law, including
constitutions, statutes, and regulations. In civil law jurisdictions,
courts interpret the law, but are, at least in theory, prohibited from
creating law. In socialist law, the primary responsibility for
interpreting the law belongs to the legislature.
Established court systems are found in all advanced political
systems. Usually there are two judicial hierarchies, one dealing with
civil and the other with criminal cases, each with a large number of
local courts, a lesser number at the level of the province or the
region, and one or more courts at the national level. This is the
pattern of judicial organization in Britain, for example. In some
countries-for example, in France- the distinction is not between
courts dealing with criminal cases and other courts dealing with
civil cases but rather between those that handle all civil and criminal
cases and those that deal with administrative cases. Reflecting the
federal organization of its government, the United States has two
court systems: one set of national courts and 50 sets of state courts.
By contrast, Germany, which is federal in government organization,
possesses only a single integrated court system.
Local courts are found in all systems and are usually of two
types. The first type deals with petty offences and may include a
traffic court, a municipal court, a small-claims court. The second
64
type, sometimes called trial courts, are courts of first instance in
which most cases of major importance are begun.
In all systems there are national supreme courts that hear
appeals and exercise original jurisdiction in cases of the greatest
importance.
COMPREHENSION
Arrange these sentences in the logical order according to the
information in the text.
1. Local courts are usually of two types.
2. Usually, there two judicial hierarchies in established court
systems.
3. Judicial system is the system of courts which administer
justice in the name of the sovereign or state.
4. Judges are major participants in the policy-making process.
5. The judiciary construes the laws enacted by the legislature.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'sovereign
sepa'ration
'mechanism
spe'cific
'doctrine
mu'nicipal
'conflict
indi'vidual
'instance
ad'ministrative
B Which of the word combinations below associate with the
judiciary
characteristics? Translate
these
word
combinations into Russian.
to create laws; to administer justice; to deal with civil cases; to
grant equal rights; to dissolve Parliament; small-claims courts;
to hear appeals; to possess two chambers; to resolve disputes;
to interpret the law; to amend laws.
C Match the first half of each sentence with the most
appropriate second half.
1. Judicial system is …………………………………………
2. The judiciary is ……………………………………………
3. Judges are …………………………………………………
4. In common law jurisdiction, courts ………………………
65
5. There are usually two judicial hierarchies in ……………..
6. Established court systems ………………………………...
7. National supreme courts ………………………….………
a) ……………………………………………... interpret law.
b) ………………………… are found in all political systems.
c) ……………………………….. the branch of government
responsible for interpreting the law.
d) ……………………………………………… hear appeals.
e) …………….. a system of courts which administer justice.
f) ………………………………... established court systems.
g) ………... major participants in the policy-making process.
D Find in the text the equivalents for the following word
combinations.
судебная система (власть); отправлять правосудие;
разрешать спорные вопросы; разделение власти; отвечать
за что-л.; толковать закон; вводить закон (постановлять);
принятие решений; нарушать нормы; обычное право;
запрещать; иметь дело с; гражданские дела; уголовные
дела; суд первой инстанции; верховный суд;
рассматривать апелляционные жалобы.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
judiciary
to administer justice
power separation
to resolve disputes
a legislator
to interpret the law
a common law
to hear appeals
a civil law
to exercise jurisdiction
F
Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 9
STATE STRUCTURE OF BELARUS
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 9.1. Which paragraph describe:
a) the document that lines out the structure of the
Government of Belarus and their duties.
66
b) the measures that the President takes to protect the
sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus.
B Read the text and answer these questions:
1. What is the central body of state administration?
2. What branches is the Government of Belarus divided into?
3. Who represents the Republic of Belarus in the relations
with other states?
4. Who appoints and recalls diplomatic representatives of the
Republic of Belarus in foreign countries?
5. In what cases can the President introduce the state of
emergency?
9.1 The Government of Belarus
The Government-the Council of Ministers of the Republic of
Belarus-is the central body of state administration, the executive
power in the Republic of Belarus. The Government performs daily
functions for the organization of the state. In its activity, the
Government is accountable to the President and responsible to
Parliament.
The structure of the government and their duties are lined out in
the Belarusian Constitution and by laws passed since its adoption.
The Government itself is divided into three branches: the
executive, legislative, and judicial.
The President of the Republic of Belarus is the official Head of
State and is considered the highest government official. The
President embodies the unity of the people, guarantees the
implementation of the guidelines of home and foreign policy. The
President represents the Republic of Belarus in the relations with
other states and international organizations. The President takes
measures to protect the sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus, its
national security and territorial integrity, ensures political and
economic stability, continuity and interaction of bodies of state
power. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces of the Republic of Belarus.
In conformity with the Constitution the President of the
Republic of Belarus:
67


appoints national referenda;
appoints regular and extraordinary elections to the
House of Representatives, the Council of the Republic
and local representative bodies;
 forms, abolishes and reorganizes the Administration of
the President of the Republic of Belarus, other bodies of
state administration;
 appoints the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus
with the consent of the House of Representatives;
 with the consent of the Council of the Republic appoints
the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, the Chairman
of the Supreme Court, and the Chairman of the Supreme
Economic Court from among the judges of these courts;
 conducts negotiations and signs international treaties,
appoints and recalls diplomatic representatives of the
Republic of Belarus in foreign countries and
international organizations.
The President is also entitled to:
 introduce the state of emergency in the territory of the
Republic of Belarus in case of a natural disaster or a
catastrophe;
 abolish acts of the government;
 exercise directly or through the bodies created by him
supervision of observance of laws by local organs of
administration and self-government;
 exercise other powers entrusted to him by the
Constitution and the laws.
COMPREHENSION
Match the sentence beginnings (1-6) to the correct endings (a-f).
1. The central body of state administration in the Republic of
Belarus is ……………………………..……………………... .
2. In its activity, the government is responsible to ………..…… .
3. The President exercises powers entrusted to him by ……..…. .
4. The Prime-minister is appointed by the President ……..……. .
5. The President is entitled to …………………………..……… .
68
6. The state of emergency in the territory of Belarus is
introduced ……………………………………….………….. .
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
…………… with the consent of the House of Representatives.
……………………………………………………. Parliament.
………………………………. abolish acts of the government.
…………… only in case of a natural disaster or a catastrophe.
………………………………… the Constitution and the laws.
……………………………………... the Council of Ministers.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'central
inter'national
'functions
ca'tastrophe
'parliament
terri'torial
'guarantee
sta'bility
'territory
repre'sentative
B Look at these derivatives. Use your knowledge of English
and logical reasoning to explain the meaning of each word
below. Translate these word combinations into Russian.
represent –– >
representative –– >representation
to represent the country; a representative democracy; a large
representation.
appoint
–– > appointment –– > appointed –– >appointee
to appoint a representative; hold an appointment; appointed time;
to become an appointee.
protect
–– > protection
–– > protective
to protect national security; social protection; protective measures.
negotiate –– > negotiations
–– > negotiated
to negotiate entry into WTO; to conduct negotiations; negotiated
peace.
supervise –– >
supervision
–– > supervisory
to supervise the performance; under the supervision; a supervisory
body.
govern –– >
government
–– > governor
to govern a country; a local government; the governor of a state.
69
C
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Match the English and Russian equivalents.
to perform functions
а) внутренняя политика
to take measures
б) вести переговоры
to exercise powers
в) подписать договор
to embody the unity
г) назначать представителей
home policy
д) внешняя политика
to ensure stability
е) принимать меры
foreign policy
ж) выполнять задачи
to conduct negotiations
з) олицетворять единство
to appoint representatives и) гарантировать стабильность
to sign a treaty
к) осуществлять полномочия
D Learn the active vocabulary.
to perform functions
to embody the unity
to conduct negotiations
to protect national security
to exercise powers
to appoint representatives
to be entitled to smth.
to sign a treaty
to ensure stability
to introduce the state of emergency
E Make a summary of the text.
A Scan Text 9.2 and answer the questions:
a) What are the powers of the House of Representatives?
b) What are the powers of the Council of the Republic?
B Read the text. Formulate the key idea of each paragraph.
9.2 The Legislative Branch
The legislative body of the Republic of Belarus is Parliament.
Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of
Representatives and the Council of the Republic, with the
Constitution stipulating the composition and the procedure of
forming the chambers.
The House of Representatives consists of 110 deputies elected
on the basis of universal, free, equal and direct suffrage, by secret
ballot. Any citizen of the Republic of Belarus who has reached the
age of 21 may be a deputy of the House of Representatives. The
70
House of Representatives is entitled to hear the reports of the Prime
Minister on the Government’s programme of activity, to give a vote
of no confidence to the Government upon the request of the Prime
Minister. The House of Representatives appoints elections of the
President and accepts the resignation of the President.
Any draft law, unless otherwise provided by the Constitution,
is first considered by the House of Representatives and then by the
Council of the Republic. A draft law becomes a law upon adoption
by the House of Representatives and then by the Council of the
Republic with the majority of votes of the total composition of
each Chamber.
The Council of the Republic is a chamber of territorial
representation. Eight members of the Council of the Republic are
elected from each region and the city of Minsk by secret ballot at
the meetings of deputies. A deputy of the Council of the Republic
must be a citizen of the Republic of Belarus who has reached the
age of 30 and has been a resident in the territory of the
corresponding region or the city of Minsk no less than 5 years.
The Council of the Republic has the power to select various
government officials, conduct an impeachment trial of the
president and the ability to accept or reject the bills passed from
the House of Representatives.
The Council of the Republic cancels the decisions of local
Councils of Deputies not conforming to the legislation and also
takes a decision regarding the dissolution of the local Council of
Deputies in case the requirements of the legislation are regularly
and grossly violated by it, as well as in other cases provided for by
the law.
The Constitution embodies the right of the Council of the
Republic to consider decrees of the President on imposing the
state of emergency, martial law, total or partial mobilization and to
take the respective decision not later than 3 days after their
submission.
The sessions of Chambers are held separately. Each chamber
has its own Chairman, his/her Vice-Chairman who manages the
meetings and standing order of the Chambers.
The term of office of Parliament is 4 years. The Parliament’s
term of office may only be extended in case of war.
COMPREHENSION
71
A Match the sentence beginnings (1-7) to the correct endings
(a-g).
1. The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus stipulates …..
2. The House of Representatives is elected …………………
3. The House of Representatives appoints and ……………...
4. Any draft law is first considered by ………………………
5. The members of the Council of the Republic are elected ….
6. The Council of the Republic has the power ………………
7. The Council of the Republic has the right ………………..
a) ……………………………. the House of Representatives.
b) ………………… to consider decrees of the President on
introducing the state of emergency.
c) ………………………………. at the meetings of deputies.
d) ………………………………. the composition and the
procedure of the two chambers of Parliament.
e) …………………. accepts the resignation of the President.
f) …………………………… to select government officials.
g) …………………………………………... by secret ballot.
B Choose the most suitable word in each sentence.
1. Deputies of the House of Representatives are appointed /
chosen / elected by secret ballot.
2. The House of Representatives is able / entitled / appointed
to hear the reports of the Prime Minister on the
Government’s programme of activity.
3. Any draft law is first considered / composed / selected by
the House of Representatives.
4. The House of Representatives makes / chooses / appoints
elections of the President.
5. The Council of the Republic has the ability / power / title
to conduct an impeachment trial of the President.
6. The Council of the Republic adopts / embodies / cancels
the decisions of local Councils of Deputies not
conforming to the legislation.
7. The sessions of the House of Representatives and the
Council of the Republic are introduced / held / met
separately.
72
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'secret
compo'sition
'minister
terri'torial
'deputy
repre'sentatives
'total
uni'versal
'territory
ac'tivity
B Find in the text the verbs that complete the expressions
below. Translate these word combinations into Russian.
……… 110 deputies; ….….. the age of 21; ……… a law with
the majority of votes; …….. an impeachment trial; ……… the
bills; ……… the decisions; ……… the right; ………. the term
of office.
C Find in the text the sentences containing the word
combinations from Exercise B, read and translate these
sentences.
D Learn the active vocabulary.
direct suffrage
a secret ballot
majority of votes
a vote of no confidence
a term of office
to reach the age
to appoint elections
to reject a bill
to accept the resignation
to conform to the legislation
E Make a summary of the text.
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 9.3 and answer the questions:
a) Who does the judicial branch in Belarus belong to?
b) What determines the court structure?
c) What body exercises the supervision over correspondence
of laws in the State to the Constitution?
73
B Read the text and complete the information below.
1. Justice in the Republic of Belarus is exercised on the
basis of ........................................................................... .
2. Interference into the activity of judges is .......................
and .................................................................. by the law.
3. Judges are not allowed to perform .................................. .
4. If a person doesn’t agree with the court judgments, he
has the right to ................................................................ .
5. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus is
formed of ........................................................................ .
6. The Chairman of the Constitutional Court is appointed
by ................................................................................. .
7. The members of the Constitutional Court may hold
office till ......................................................................... .
9.3 The Judicial Branch
The judicial power in the Republic of Belarus belongs to
courts.
The court structure in Belarus is determined by the law. The
formation of emergency courts is prohibited in the Republic. In
administering justice judges are independent and obey the law
only. The independence of the judiciary is a fundamental principle
of constitutional law.
Justice in the Republic is exercised by courts on the basis of
the Constitution and other standard laws adopted in conformity
with it. Cases are tried in court collegially, and in some cases,
determined by law, by judges individually.
The Constitution establishes the right of courts to raise the
issue of considering certain standard laws as unconstitutional if the
court comes to the conclusion on non-conformity of the law to the
Constitution.
Interference into the activity of judges engaged in judicature is
prohibited and punishable by the law. Judges may not be engaged
in entrepreneurial activity or perform any other paid jobs, except
teaching and research.
The court judgments are obligatory for all citizens and
officials. If a person doesn’t agree with the sentence, he has the
right to appeal to a higher court.
74
The supervision over correspondence of laws in the State to
the Constitution is exercised by the Constitutional Court of the
Republic of Belarus. The Constitutional Court is formed of 12
judges from among highly qualified specialists in the field of law,
who as a rule have a scientific degree. Six judges of the
Constitutional Court are appointed by the President with the
consent of the Council of the Republic and six judges are elected
by the Council of the Republic. The Chairman of the
Constitutional Court is appointed by the President with the consent
of the Council of the Republic. The term of office of the members
of the Constitutional Court is 11 years and they may hold office
till the age of 70. The Constitutional Court gives evaluation on
correspondence of standard laws to the Constitution upon the
request of the President, the House of Representatives, the Council
of the Republic, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Economic Court
and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus.
The Procurator’s Office of the Republic of Belarus is a unified
centralized system of bodies headed by Procurator-General. It
exercises supervision over the exact and uniform execution of the
laws, decrees, resolutions and other standard enactments by
ministries and other bodies subordinated to the Council of
Ministers, by local representative and executive bodies,
enterprises, organizations and institutions, public associations,
officials and citizens. The competence, organization and procedure
of activity of the Procurator’s Office bodies are determined by the
legislation.
COMPREHENSION
A Mark the statements True or False according to the
information in the text. Justify your answers by reference
to the text.
1. Justice in the Republic of Belarus is exercised on the basis
of the Constitution.
2. In their work judges are independent and obey the law
only.
75
3. Interference into the activity of judges is not prohibited by
the law.
4. The Chairman of the Constitutional Court is elected by the
Council of the Republic.
5. The term of office of the members of the Constitutional
Court is 11 years.
B Choose the best suitable word.
1. The court structure in Belarus is divided / determined /
decided by the law.
2. The independence of the judiciary is a granted / adopted /
fundamental principle of constitutional law.
3. Interference into the activity of judges is prohibited /
specified / granted by the law.
4. The court judgments are fundamental / unitary /
obligatory for all citizens and officials.
5. Each person has the right to address / appeal / speak to a
higher court.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'standard
ad'minister
'Belarus
a'ppeal
'structure
su'bordinate
'basis
consti'tutional
'qualified
co'llegially
B Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
belong
obey
adopt
appeal
perform
exercise
appoint
a) laws
b) to a higher court
c) supervision
d) judges
e) to courts
f) paid jobs
g) the law
76
C Complete these sentences with the word combinations
from Exercise B.
1. The judicial power in Belarus ........................................... .
2. In administering justice judges ......................................... .
3. Justice is exercised by courts on the basis of laws which
are ............................. in conformity with the Constitution.
4. Judges may not .................. , except teaching and research.
5. If a person doesn’t agree with a court judgment, he has the
right ................................................................................... .
6. The Constitutional Court .......................................... over
correspondence of laws in the State to the Constitution.
7. The President ......... six .......... of the Constitutional Court.
D Translate these word combinations.
to appoint
to supervise
члены комиссии / судьи / представители
работа судей / процесс голосования /
соответствие законов конституции
to belong to
суды / исполнительная власть /
законодательная власть
to adopt
законы / конституция /
большинством голосов
to be subordinated to Совет Министров / Президент /
Конституционный Суд
E Choose someone to answer your questions.
I wonder if
What other paid jobs
Can you tell me
Could you explain
What is
What is the function of
I’d like to know
judges obey in administering justice?
the Prosecutor’s office?
who judicial power in Belarus belongs to?
the Prosecutor’s Office perform?
the term of office of the members of the
Constitutional Court?
if court judgments are obligatory for all
people.
judges may be engaged in entrepreneurial
activity.
77
What functions does
What do
F
are judges allowed to perform?
what body exercises the supervision over
correspondence of laws to the Constitution?
Learn the active vocabulary.
a term of office
a judicial power
judicature
a Prosecutor’s Office
a Prosecutor-General
to administer justice
to obey the law
to adopt laws
to hold office
to subordinate to
G Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 10
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 10 .1 and answer the questions:
a) What is the role of electoral system?
b) What is the main goal of voting in Great Britain?
c) What is the main goal of voting in European countries?
B Read the text. Mark the statements True or False
according to the information in the text. Justify your
answer by reference to the text.
1. The type of electoral system is of no importance in our
democracy.
2. The choice of electoral system is closely connected with
the purpose of elections.
3. The choice of system also depends on what it is supposed
to achieve.
4. All electoral systems can be divided into four categories.
5. Each country has only one type of elections.
10.1 Types of Electoral Systems
78
The choice of the electoral system is a question of great
importance in our democracy. To a significant degree electoral
systems define how the body politic operates. As Farell points out:
‘they are the cogs which keep the wheels of democracy properly
functioning’. The choice of system raises issues about the nature
of representative government and the purpose of elections.
In making that selection, much depends on what the electoral
system is supposed to achieve. Obviously, it is desirable that it
produces an outcome which is acceptable to as many people as
possible. Fundamental to the issue is the question ‘What is the point
of voting?’ Is it primarily choose a government, or is it to choose
membership of the legislature? Is the emphasis placed upon electing
a strong administration which has broad support in the community,
or is it to elect an assembly which accurately reflects prevailing
opinion? On the continent the emphasis is upon choosing a
representative assembly, and then from its midst finding a
government which commands sufficient support-usually, a coalition
government. In Britain, which has tended to pride itself upon its
tradition of strong, single-party government, importance is attached
to ensuring that there is an effective administration in place.
There are two broad categories of electoral system. It is,
however, possible to combine elements of the two categories. The
two categories are:
1. Majoritarian systems, which are designed to leave one party
with a parliamentary majority. In this category, we may
include:
 First Past the Post (FPTP);
 The alternative vote (AV);
 The double ballot.
2. Proportional systems. There are many different forms of
proportional representation, all of which are designed to
ensure that the number of seats allocated in the legislature is
broadly in the line with the number of votes won by each
party in the election.
3. Mixed systems. These represent a compromise between
majoritarian and proportional systems.
79
There is no perfect electoral system, appropriate to every
country at every time. Indeed, it is quite possible to have different
types of election within a particular country.
COMPREHENSION
The text states different types of electoral systems. Match
these types with the characteristics according to the text.
1. majoritarian
2. proportional
3. mixed
a) the number of seats in the legislature equals
to the number of votes won by each party
b) represents a compromise between
majoritarian and proportional systems
c) one party wins with the majority of votes
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'continent
de'mocracy
'category
pro'portional
'element
e'lectoral
'compromise
re'flect
'system
e'ffective
B Match the words with their definitions.
1. electoral (a)
a) the number by which votes for one side
are more than for the other side
2. voting (n)
b) the action of formally indicating one’s
choice of candidate
3. legislature (n) c) relating to elections or electors
4. majority (n)
d) a body of people with the power to
make and change laws
5. ballot (n)
e) choose smb. by voting
6. win (v)
f) the system of secret voting
7. elect (v)
g) be successful in smth.
C Which of the phrases below do not associate with electoral
system characteristics?
80
a point of voting; a representative assembly; a coalition
government; a parliamentary majority; a proportional
representation; sovereignty of the state; a double ballot; the
number of seats; scarce resources.
D Match the first half of each sentence with the most
appropriate second half.
1. The choice of the
a) the nature of representative
electoral system
government.
2. Electoral systems define
b) one
party
has
parliamentary majority.
3. The choice of systems
raises issues about
4. In choosing the electoral
system much depends on
c) appropriate
to
every
country.
d) is of great importance in
our democracy.
5. In majoritarian systems
e) what the electoral system
is supposed to achieve.
6. Mixed systems represent
f) how the
operates.
7. There is no
electoral system
g) a compromise between
majoritarian and
proportional systems.
perfect
E Learn the active vocabulary
a purpose of elections
a majoritarian system
a sufficient support
a double ballot
a proportional representation
body
a
politic
to allocate seats
to parliamentary majority
to single-party government
to reflect the opinion
to win votes
DISCUSSION
What are the main characteristics of the electoral system in
Belarus?
A Scan Text 10.2 and answer the questions:
81
a) What countries are mentioned in the text?
b) What question is central in elections?
B Read the text. Mark the statements True or False
according to the information in the text. Justify your
answer by reference to the text.
1. As a rule, the entire population of the country takes part in
elections.
2. Jurisdictions of all countries require a minimum age of
voting.
3. Women have always been eligible for public office.
4. In a direct democracy any eligible person can be
nominated.
5. In a representative democracy some positions are filled
through appointment.
10.2 Characteristics of Elections
The question who may vote is a central issue in elections. The
electorate does not usually include the entire population; for
example, many countries prohibit those judged mentally
incompetent from voting, and all jurisdictions require a minimum
age for voting.
Suffrage is typically only for citizens of the country. Further
limits may be imposed: for example, in Kuwait, only people who
have been citizens since 1920 or their descendants are allowed to
vote, a condition that the majority of residents do not fulfill.
However, in the European Union, one can vote in municipal
elections if one lives in the municipality and is an EU citizen; the
nationality of the country of residence is not required.
In some countries, voting is required by law; if an eligible
voter does not cast a vote, he or she may be subject to punitive
measures such as a small fine.
Normally there is a citizenship requirement, an age
requirement, a residency requirement, and, perhaps, a non-felon
requirement. Before the Second World War, in most countries
women were not eligible for public office.
82
Non-partisan systems tend to differ from partisan systems as
concerns nominations. In a direct democracy, one type of nonpartisan democracy, any eligible person can be nominated. In
some non-partisan representative systems no nominations take
place at all, with voters free to choose any person at the time of
voting in the jurisdiction.
As far as partisan systems, in some countries, only members
of a particular political party can be nominated, or an eligible
person can be nominated through a petition, thus allowing him or
her to be listed on a ballot.
The government positions for which elections are held vary
depending on the locale. In a representative democracy, such as the
United States, some positions are not filled through elections. For
example, judges are usually appointed rather than elected to help
protect their impartiality. There are exceptions to this practice,
however; some judges in the United States are elected, and in
ancient Athens military generals were elected.
In some cases, there may exist an intermediate tier of electors
between constituents and an elected figure. However, in most
representative democracies, this level of indirection is usually
nothing more than a formality. For example, the President of the
United States is elected by the Electoral College, and in the
Westminster System, the Prime Minister is formally chosen by the
head of state (and in reality – by the legislature or by their party).
COMPREHENSION
A The requirements to those who can be eligible to hold an
office are mentioned in the text. What are they?
B The text states the difference between non-partisan and
partisan systems. What is this difference?
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
83
'mental
e'lectorate
'typically
ma'jority
'limits
mu'nicipal
'formal
munici'pality
'practice
nomi'nation
B Look at these derivatives. Use your knowledge of English
and logical reasoning to explain the meaning of each word
below. Translate these word combinations into Russian.
elect –– > elections –– > electoral –– >elected
to elect smb chairman; to hold elections; an electoral system; an
elected figure
nominate
–– > nomination
–– >nominee
to nominate an eligible person; a nomination day; to become a
nominee
require
–– > requirements
to require by law; citizenship requirements
appoint
–– > appointment
–– > appointed
to appoint members; to hold an appointment; appointed time
represent
–– > representative
–– > representation
to represent a majority; a representative democracy; a large
representation
C Find in the text the equivalents for the following words
and word combinations, read the sentences containing
these words and word combinations and translate them
into Russian.
избиратели; запрещать голосовать; избирательное право;
страна проживания; имеющий право быть избранным;
выдвижение кандидата; требования к; вносить в
избирательный бюллетень; назначать на должность; глава
государства.
D Learn the active vocabulary.
a nomination
an eligible person
a partisan system
to hold elections
to nominate a candidate
to prohibit from voting
84
a non-partisan system
a requirement
to impose limits (on)
to appoint smb.
E Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 11
POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF STATES
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 11.1 and answer the questions:
a) What types of political systems does political organization
of states suggest?
b) What countries are mentioned in the text?
B Read the text paying attention to the words in italics. What
do these words mean?
11.1 Political Systems of States
1. Political system is the set of formal legal institutions that
constitute a “government” or a “state”. More broadly defined, the
political system is seen as a set of “processes of interaction” or as
a subsystem of the social system interacting with other
nonpolitical subsystems, such as the economic system.
2. The most important type of political system in the modern
world is the nation-state. The world today is divided territorially
into more than 175 states, in each of which a national government
claims to exercise sovereignty and seeks to compel obedience to
its will by its citizens. The world’s political organization suggests
the distinction among supranational, national, and subnational
political systems.
3. Supranational relations is the result of the division of the
world into a number of separate national entities, or states, that
have contact with one another, share goals or needs, and face
common threats. In some cases, as in many alliances, these
relationships are short-lived. In other cases, they lead to interstate
85
organizations and supranational systems. Examples of
supranational political systems are:
4. Empires which are composed of peoples of different cultures
and ethnic backgrounds. They are characterized by the
centralization of power and the absence of effective representation
of their component parts. The history of the ancient world is the
history of great empires-Egypt, China, Persia, and imperial Rome
whose autocratic regimes provided relatively stable government for
many subject peoples in immense territories over many centuries.
5. Leagues are one of the commonest forms of supranational
organization in history. Leagues are composed of states seeking to
resist some common military or economic threat by combining
their forces. Common features of leagues include the existence of
some form of charter or agreement among the member states, an
executive organ, and an arbitral or judicial body for handling
disputes. The League of Nations was one of the great experiments
in supranational organization of the 20th century and the
predecessor in several important respects of the United Nations.
6. Confederations are voluntary associations of independent
states that agree to certain limitations on their freedom of action
and establish some joint machinery of consultation or deliberation.
Historically, confederations have often proved to be a first or
second step toward the establishment of a national state, usually as
a federal union. Thus, the federal union of modern Switzerland
was preceded by a confederation of the Swiss cantons; the federal
constitution of the United States is the successor of the Articles of
Confederation. In some other cases confederations have replaced
more centralized arrangements, as, for example, when empires
disintegrate and are replaced by voluntary associations of their
former colonies. The British Commonwealth, or Commonwealth
of Nations, and the French Community are cases of this type.
COMPREHENSION
A The text gives the distinction between political systems.
What are these systems?
B Match each headword on the left with its characteristics
on the right.
86
1. empires
a)
voluntary
associations
independent states
of
2. leagues
b) centralization of power and the
absence of effective representation of
their component parts
3. confederations
c) include states which combine their
forces to resist common military and
economic threat
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'separate
terri'torially
'contact
sub'national
'culture
centrali'zation
'nation
confede'ration
'national
em'pire
B Replace the underlined items with the words and phrases
from the text that have a similar meaning.
1. Political system is a set of formal legal institutions that
make up a “government” or “state”. (para 1)
2. The political system is viewed as a set of “processes of
interaction”. (para 1)
3. The world today consists of more than 175 states. (para 2)
4. Separate national entities have contact with one another,
share aims and face common threats. (para 3)
5. Leagues are formed of states which combine their forces
to resist common military or economic threat. (para 5)
6. In some cases confederations have substituted more
centralized arrangements. (para 6)
C Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the
text.
1. claim
a) common threats
2. share
b) disputes
3. face
c) national state
4. provide
d) common economic threat
87
5. resist
6. handle
7. establish
e) sovereignty
f) stable government
g) goals and needs
D Complete these sentences using an appropriate phrase
from Exercise C.
1. Each of more than 175 states ......................................... .
2. Supranational relations means that states share goals
and .............................................................................. .
3. The regimes of great empires ............................ for many
subject peoples.
4. Leagues include states that seek .................................... .
5. Leagues have a judicial body for ................................... .
6. Confederations were a first step towards ....................... .
E Work out questions you could ask about political systems
of states. Begin your questions like this:
What is…?
What can you say about…?
How is…?
What countries are…?
What distinction does…?
What do…?
What do national states…?
What was the constitution of
the United States…?
F
Learn the active vocabulary.
to exercise sovereignty
to share goals
to face common threats
to resist a military threat
to combine forces
to handle disputes
to independent states
to establish a national state
to replace smth.
to common features
DISCUSSION
What type of political system is in your opinion the most effective
one?
A Scan Text 11.2 and answer the questions:
a) What types of political systems are mentioned in the text?
88
b) What factors contribute to radical political change?
B Read the text and answer these questions:
1. What political systems have proved stable political
systems?
2. What does internal warfare lead to?
3. What is one of the stimulus to revolutionary outbreaks?
4. What tests the stability of political system?
5. What is the main cause of failures of unstable political
systems?
11.2 Stable and Unstable Political Systems
The simplest definition of a stable political system is one that
survives through crisis without internal warfare. Several types of
political systems have done so, including despotic monarchies,
military regimes, and other authoritarian and totalitarian systems.
The key to their success is their ability to control social
development, to manage and prevent change, and to bring under
governmental direction all the forces that may result in
innovations that are threatening to the system.
In some systems, survival does not depend on the detailed
management of the society or close governmental control over
social processes. It is the result of sensitive political response to the
forces of change and of open political processes that allow gradual
and orderly development. Much of the western democratic world
has achieved peaceful progress in this way, despite new political
philosophies, population increases, industrial and technological
innovations, and many other social and economic stresses.
In modern times the great majority of the world’s political
systems have experienced one form or another of internal warfare
leading to violent collapse of the governments in power. Many
factors in such a situation, including the cheapening of human life,
the ready availability of arms, the discrediting of the national
leadership, material scarcities, and a sense of wounded national
pride, contribute to the creation of an atmosphere in which radical
political change and violent mass action are acceptable to large
numbers of people. Economic crisis are another common stimulus
89
to revolutionary outbreaks, for they produce a threat to the
individual’s social position, a sense of insecurity and uncertainty as
to the future, and an aggravation of the relationships among social
lasses. Crisis situations test the stability of political systems, for
they place extraordinary demands on the political leadership and the
structure and processes of the system.
Unstable political systems are those that prove vulnerable to
crisis pressures and that break down into various forms of internal
warfare. The fundamental cause of such failures is the absence of
some general agreement on appropriate forms of political action.
Governments suffer their gravest handicap when they must govern
without consent or when the legitimacy of the regime is widely
questioned. This is often the case in systems that have experienced
prolonged civil war, that are torn by tensions among different
national or ethnic group, in which there are divisions along sharply
drawn ideological or class lines.
COMPREHENSION
A Answer the questions:
a) In what way can a stable political system be characterized?
b) In what way can an unstable political system be characterized?
B Choose the most suitable word in each sentence.
1. A stable political system is one that surrounds / survives /
supplies through crisis without internal warfare.
2. In some systems, survival / support / source does not
depend on governmental control over social processes.
3. Many political systems have experienced external /
internal / important warfare that led to collapse of the
government in power.
4. Crisis situations examine / control / test the stability of
political systems.
5. The main / great / different cause of failures of unstable
political systems is the absence of agreement on political
actions.
90
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'stable
con'trol
'crisis
in'dustrial
'military
demo'cratic
'human
ideo'logical
'stimulus
re'gime
B Match these verbs with an appropriate preposition down,
on, to, by:
depend, lead, contribute, break, be torn
C Give the Russian equivalents for the following words and
word combinations.
to survive; to depend on; an internal warfare; wounded
national pride; to produce a threat; to test the stability; to
prove vulnerable; to be torn by.
D Find the equivalents from Exercise C in the text, read and
translate the sentences containing these words and word
combinations.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
a sense of uncertainty
material scarcities
national pride
an internal warfare
to depend on
F
to prove vulnerable
to place demands on
to achieve progress
to survive
to lead to
Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 12
PARTY SYSTEM
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 12.1 and answer the questions:
91
a) What is the difference between the pressure groups and
political parties?
b) What is the main purpose of political parties?
B Read the text. These phrases summarize the main idea of
each paragraph. Match each phrase with the correct
paragraph.
1. peculiar functions of parties
2. the difference between political parties and pressure groups
3. the role of parties
12.1 The Functions of Parties
The prime purpose of political parties is to win elections. This
is what distinguishes them from pressure groups, which may try to
influence elections but do not usually put up candidates for office.
They articulate the needs of those sections of society which have
created them and look to them to advance their interests. But they
must go further, for to win an election they need wider support. If
they wish to be in government-either in a single-party
administration or some form of coalition- then they cannot afford
to follow a narrow doctrinal programme, for this would make it
difficult for other parties to contemplate cooperation with them. In
the words of an old quotation: Pressure groups articulate and
political parties aggregate the various interests in society.’
European and other democracies are party democracies.
Parties perform important functions in forging links between the
individual and those in office. Without them, individual voters
would have less control over those in power than they do today,
and governments would function in a less cohesive and effective
manner. When that cohesiveness breaks down, government is
likely to be ineffective and more remote from the needs and
wishes of the people.
Much party activity is concerned with the election period, but
parties offer other opportunities for participation and involvement
over a continuous period. Among their specific functions, they:
 contest elections in order to compete with other parties for
elective office;
 coordinate political campaigns;
92
 put together coalition of different interests, for a variety of
groups and individuals can come together under one broad
umbrella, so that any government that emerges is likely to
have widespread support in the community;
 activate voters by mobilizing their support via campaigning,
rallies and emblems of identification, giving them an
opportunity for political involvement;
 incorporate policy ideas from individuals and groups which
are outside the political mainstream, responding to changes
suggested by third parties and protest movements;
 articulate policies, educating the voters and providing them
with a choice of alternatives.
COMPREHENSION
Complete the following by inserting one word in each gap; the
first letter of each missing word is given.
a) The prime p______ of political parties is to win elections.
b) Pressure groups do not usually put up c_____ for office.
c) To win elections, pressure groups need wide s_________ .
d) Political parties aggregate the various interests in s______
society.
e) European and other countries are party d______________ .
f) Much party activity is concerned with the e_______ period.
g) One of the functions of parties is to provide the voters with a
choice of a ________ .
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'candidates
al'ternative
'period
con'troll
'emblem
indi'vidual
'protest
spe'cific
'pressure
e'ffective
B Give nouns derived from these verbs.
elect, create, support, cooperate, perform,
participate, involve, coordinate, identify, educate.
function,
93
C Match the English and Russian equivalents.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
to win elections
to influence elections
to put up candidates
interests of society
to perform functions
in a cohesive manner
to have a support
to respond to changes
to provide smb. with a choice
а) интересы общества
б) связующим способом
в) реагировать на изменения
г) предоставлять выбор
д) победить на выборах
е) иметь поддержку
ж) влиять на выборы
з) выполнять функции
и) выставлять кандидатуру
D Find the sentences containing the word combinations from
Exercise C in the text, read and translate these sentences.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
a prime purpose
widespread support
political involvement
participation in election
to win elections
to put up candidates
to perform functions
to respond to smth.
READING PRACTICE
A Scan Text 11.2 and answer the questions:
a) In which countries the significance of parties is great?
b) In which countries parties are rather weak?
B Read the text and complete the information below.
1. Today political parties exist in different forms under …... .
2. Parties are an essential feature of any …………………... .
3. In many countries of Western Europe parties have a large
…………………. and a high degree of …………………. .
4. In the USA, parties are noticeably …………………….... .
5. Britain is the country which has ……………………….... .
12.2 The Role of Parties in Modern Democracies
94
Political parties are now accepted as an essential feature of
any liberal democracy. They are existing in different forms under
different political systems. They bring together a variety of
different interests in any society, and by doing so, ‘overcome
geographical distances’. Via the electoral process, they determine
the shape of governments.
Parties have contrasting significance in different democracies.
In Britain and the rest of Western Europe they are much stronger
than in the USA, where they are noticeably weak. In much of
Western Europe they have a large membership, a reasonably
coherent ideology and a high degree of discipline among members
of parliament. In the USA, none of these factors apply. In parts of
the country they hardly seem to exist between elections. Britain
has party government. At election time, a party seeks to capture
the reins of power and win a mandate to govern. To do this, it
requires a majority of seats in the House of Commons. If it obtains
a working majority, it can then expect to control the machinery of
government until the next election is called. Having control of the
executive branch and being in a position to dominate the
legislature, it will be able to carry out its manifesto. Its leaders
know that they can normally count on the support of their MPs to
ensure that their programme passes through Parliament.
The situation is different in the United States. America lacks
the concentration of power possessed by the British Executive and
has a more dispersed system of government. Presidents may have
grand ideas for action, but they cannot anticipate such a relatively
easy ride for their plans. Because Congress has the role of acting
as a counter-balance to the executive branch, it takes the task of
scrutinizing White House proposals seriously. In any case, the
President’s policies must be approved by the House of
Representatives and the Senate before they can become law. In
domestic as well as in foreign policy, the President can seldom
count upon the automatic support of Congress, even when his own
party has a majority in both the Senate and the House. Therefore,
he must be able to convince Congressmen, the Representatives
and the Senators of his point of view. He must bargain and
compromise. This is a major difference between the American
system and those in which the nation’s leader represents the
majority party or parties, that is, parliamentary systems.
95
In terms of size and number, political parties are growing
nowadays. At the beginning of the century, they were confined
mainly to Europe and North America, elsewhere they were quite
weak or nonexistent. In the late 20th century, parties are found
practically everywhere in the world. Today they are larger,
stronger and better organized than those of the late 19th-the
beginning of the 20th centuries.
COMPREHENSION
Mark the statements True or False according to the information
in the text. Justify your answer by reference to the text.
1. Today political parties are considered an essential feature of
any liberal democracy.
2. Via electoral process, parties determine the living standard
of people.
3. Parties have the same significance in different democracies.
4. In many countries of Western Europe, parties have a large
membership and a high degree of discipline.
5. In the USA, as well as in the rest of Western Europe, parties
are rather strong.
6. Britain has party government.
7. In the USA, the President can seldom count upon the
support of Congress.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'liberal
mani'festo
'interest
auto'matic
'compromise
parlia'mentary
'discipline
geo'graphical
'distance
ma'jority
B Add nouns to the following adjectives to form phrases as they
occur together in the text. Translate these phrases into Russian.
essential
automatic
executive
political
liberal
electoral
coherent
foreign
96
domestic
major
C Which of the phrases below do not associate with political
parties?
executive branch; electoral process; different democracies;
administer justice; call the election; large membership; civil
occupations; provide public services; the majority party; carry
out manifesto; coherent ideology; win a mandate; hire an
employee; bring different interests together.
D Complete these sentences using the word combinations
from exercise C.
1. Parties have different significance in ……………..…… .
2. Via the ……… , parties determine the shape of
government.
3. In many countries of Western Europe, parties have
……… and a reasonably ……………………………...… .
4. Having control of ……………………………..…… , a
party will be able to carry out its manifesto.
5. In parliamentary systems, the nation’s leader represents
…………………………………………………………... .
6. At election time, a party seeks to …………….. to govern.
7. Political parties …………………………... in any society.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
an essential feature
domestic and foreign policy
coherent ideology
an executive branch
a majority of seats
F
to carry out manifesto
to win a mandate
to obtain a working majority
to count upon support
to be approved by
Make a summary of the text.
UNIT 13
SOCIAL SECURITY
READING PRACTICE
97
A Scan Text 13.1 and answer the questions:
a) In which way can social security be provided?
b) What are the ultimate aims of social security?
c) In which way is the cost of social security financed in
most countries?
B Read the text. Find the information referring to:
1. the three criteria defining a social security system;
2. sources of financing the cost of social security;
3. fundamental purpose of social security.
13.1 Social Security
Social security is any of the measures established by
legislation to maintain individual or family income. Social security
may provide cash benefits to persons faced with sickness and
disability, unemployment, crop failure, loss of the marital partner,
maternity, responsibility for the care of young children, or
retirement from work. Social security benefits may be provided in
cash for medical need, rehabilitation, domestic help during illness
at home, or funeral expenses. Social security may be provided by
court order (e.g., to compensate accident victims), by employers,
by central or local government departments.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) uses three
criteria to define a social security system. First, the objective of
the system must be to grant curative or preventive medical care, to
maintain income in case of involuntary loss of earnings, or to
grant supplementary income to persons having family
responsibilities. Second, the system must be set up by legislation
that attributes specified individual rights to a public, semipublic,
or autonomous body. And third, the system should be
administered by a public, semipublic, or autonomous body.
An alternative but wider term for social security in the
countries that are members of the European Union is social
protection, which includes voluntary schemes not set up under
legislation. For example, in the United Kingdom, only statutory
benefits are regarded as social security. The term social services is
used to cover social security; health, education, and housing
services. In the United States the term social security is restricted
to the federal social insurance system which in Europe would be
98
called social assistance. In some countries (for example, Denmark
and the United Kingdom) the reduction of poverty historically has
been a central aim of social security policy.
A report prepared by 10 international experts appointed by the
director of the ILO, set out the ultimate aims of social security. Its
fundamental purpose is to give individual and families the
confidence that their level of living and quality of life will not be
greatly eroded by any social or economic eventuality. This
involves not just meeting needs as they arise but also preventing
risks from arising, and helping individuals and families to make
the best possible adjustment when they are faced with disabilities.
Approximately 140 countries have some type of social
security scheme. Nearly all of these countries have schemes
covering work-related injury and old-age pensions. Over half have
provisions for sickness, and nearly half have family allowances.
In most countries the major part of the cost of social security
is paid for by proportional contributions of earnings from
employers and employees. The maximum varies from around 50
percent above average earnings (e.g., France, Ireland, and Italy) to
twice average earnings (e.g., Germany, the United Kingdom, and
the United States) or higher (Norway).
COMPREHENSION
A 1. In what connection are Denmark and the United Kingdom
mentioned?
2. In what connection are France, Italy and Ireland mentioned?
B Arrange these sentences in the correct order according to
the information in the text.
1. In some countries the alternative term ‘social protection’
is used.
2. The size of contributions to pay the cost of social security
differs in different countries.
3. Social security may be provided by central or local
government departments, by employers, by court order.
4. Nearly 140 countries have some type of social security
scheme.
99
5. Three criteria are used by the International Labour
Organization to define a social security system.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'social
rehabil'tation
'medical
pre'vent
'compensate
indi'viduals
'specified
contr'bution
'central
pro'portional
B Match the English and Russian equivalents.
1. a family income
a) основная цель
2. accident victims
b) потеря заработка
3. to grant medical care
c) производственная травма
4. a loss of earnings
d) колебаться в пределах
от…до…
e) пособия по болезни
5. a social insurance system
6. an ultimate aim
7. to be faced with
8. a work-related injury
9. provisions for sickness
10. to vary from … to …
f) система социального
страхования
g) предоставлять
медицинский уход
h) доход семьи
i) потерпевшие от
несчастного случая
сталкиваться с чем-либо
C Find the sentences containing the words from Exercise B
in the text, read and translate these sentences into Russian.
D You are all journalists. Choose someone to act as a
representative of the International Labour Organizartion
and answer your questions.
100
What is social security
Who can social security
What does the ILO
report use
What is
How many countries
I wonder what
Which countries
Could you tell me
to define a social security system?
the main purpose of social security?
pay 50 percent above overage
earnings?
social security schemes cover?
established for?
what sources the cost of social
security is paid for?
provided by?
have social security schemes?
E Learn the active vocabulary
a retirement from work
a security benefit
a loss of earnings
a level of living
a work-related injury
to maintain individual income
to provide cash benefits
to be faced with
to grant medical care
to pay contributions
DISCUSSION
The social security system of the Republic of Belarus.
A Scan Text 13.2. Formulate the key idea of each paragraph.
B Read the text and match the questions below (1-5) with the
paragraphs in the text.
1. Who does the social insurance system cover?
2. What categories of citizens are covered by special
insurance systems?
3. Who determines the wage base in the country?
4. What does the sickness benefit equal to?
5. What do medical services granted by government health
providers include?
13.2 Social Security Programmes in Belarus
To some extent, all modern countries have social security
programmes. And so does the Republic of Belarus.
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Social security programs in Belarus include:
 Social insurance system. It covers all employed persons
residing permanently in Belarus, including priests and
employees of religious organizations, members of
cooperatives and farmers. There are also special systems
for aviators, teachers, artists, professional athletes,
government employees, specific categories of medical
personnel, and persons injured in the Chernobyl
catastrophe. An insured person pays 1% of earnings.
 Old-age pensions: Age 60 with 25 years of insurance
coverage (men) or age 55 with 29 years of insurance
coverage (women). Qualifying conditions are reduced
for those in hazardous work, war veterans, parents of
disabled children, persons disabled since childhood,
mothers of five or more children, and mothers of
military servicemen killed in action.
 Old-age benefits: The monthly old-age pension is equal
to 55% of the wage base, plus 1% of the wage base for
each year of insurance coverage in excess of the
required number of years of insurance coverage, plus
1% of the wage base for each year of insurance
coverage in excess of 10 years in hazardous work (7.5
years for women), up to 20%. The minimum pension is
equal to 25% of the national average per capita
subsistence income level. The maximum pension is
equal to 75% of the wage base. The wage base is
determined by the Council of Ministers of the Republic
of Belarus.
 Disability pensions: The minimum disability pension is
equal to 100% of the minimum old-age pension for
Groups I and II and 50% of the minimum old-age
pension for Group III.
 Sickness and maternity benefits: The sickness benefit is
equal to 80% of average earnings for the first 6 days of
incapacity; thereafter, 100%.
 Maternity benefits: Employed women receive 100% of
average monthly earnings; students on leave from
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
employment receive 100% of the education grant;
women who are registered as unemployed and are
currently receiving the unemployment benefit receive
100% of the unemployment benefit.
Workers’ medical benefits: Medical services are
provided directly by government health providers and
include general and specialist care, hospitalization,
medication and other medical care services.
COMPREHENSION
Match the sentence beginnings (1-5) to the correct endings (a-e).
1. All employed citizens residing permanently in Belarus ….
2. An insured person ………………………………………...
3. The wage base is determined by ………………………….
4. Qualifying conditions for old-age pensions are …………..
5. Workers’ medical benefits include ……………………….
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
……. the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus.
…... medical services such as hospitalization, medication, etc.
…………………………………. those in hazardous work.
…………………. are covered by social insurance system.
……………………………………... pays 1% of earnings.
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
A Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.
'person
spe'cific
'equal
pro'fessional
'category
perso'nnel
'register
re'ligious
'specialist
ca'tastrophe
B Add nouns to the following adjectives to form phrases as
they occur in the text. Translate these phrases.
employed
medical
qualifying
average
specific
national
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disabled
hazardous
maximum
medical
C Give the Russian equivalents for the following words and
word combinations.
to reside permanently; insured persons; an insurance coverage;
a hazardous work; an old-age pension; the wage base; a
disability pension; a sickness benefit; a maternity benefit.
D Find the equivalents from Exercise C in the text, read and
translate the sentences containing these words and word
combinations.
E Learn the active vocabulary.
an insurance system
an insurance coverage
a sickness benefit
a maternity benefit
a disability pension
F
an old-age pension
an unemployment benefit
the wage base
a per capita income level
a hazardous work
Make a summary of the text.
TEXTS FOR INDIVIDUAL READING
Objectives of Public Administration
What is public administration? What are its objectives?
The classic answer has always been the efficient, economical,
and coordinated management of such services as education, social
services, housing, transport, the police and fire services, town
planning, recreation facilities and other social services. The focus
has been on top-level management (city management as an
example) or the basic auxiliary staff services (budgeting
organization and management, planning, personnel, purchasing).
New public administration adds social equity to the classic
objectives. Classic public administration seeks to answer either of
these questions: (1) How can we offer more or better services with
available resources (efficiency)? Or (2) How can we maintain our
level of services while spending less money (economy)? New
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public administration adds this question: Does this service
enhance social equity?
Social equity emphasizes responsibility for decisions and
program implementation for public managers. Social equity
emphasizes change in public management. Social equity
emphasizes responsiveness to the needs of citizens rather than the
needs of public organizations. Social equity emphasizes an
approach to the study of and education for public administration
that is interdisciplinary, applied, problem solving in character.
One of the basic concerns of new public administration is the
equitable treatment of citizens. Social equity works from these
value
premises.
Pluralistic
government
systematically
discriminates in favour of established bureaucracies and their
specialized minority clientele and against those minorities (farm
laborers, both migrant and permanent, as an example) who lack
political and economic resources. The continuation of widespread
unemployment, poverty, disease, ignorance, and hopelessness in
an era of economic grow is the result. This condition is morally
reprehensible and if left unchanged constitutes a fundamental
threat to the viability of this or any political system. Continued
deprivation breeds widespread militancy. Militancy is followed by
repression, which is followed by greater militancy, and so forth. A
public administration that fails to work for changes to try to
redress the deprivation of minorities will likely eventually be used
to repress those minorities.
The Nature of Public Policy
Part of the difficulty in describing how administrators make
policy is that the term public policy is itself ambiguous. If, as is
commonly thought, public policy is synonymous with law, then
public administrators are not policy makers. But policy is not the
same as law, court decisions, or even administrative rules and
regulations. Rather, public policy is all of these and more. A
leading policy analyst describes policy as an “existential
phenomenon . . . much too complex and dynamic to be fully
caught in concepts, models, and themes.” Some scholars see
105
public policy as the intentions of what officials would like to
accomplish.
Policy is never “set in concrete.” It is constantly changing
and highly subjective. It is how people interpret various actions –
a rationalization of actions taken – rather than some objective
characteristic of these actions. Public policy expert Laurence
Lynn, Jr. writes, “Authoritative decision makers act first then
rationalize the completed action and its consequences.” They may
start with goals and objectives in mind, but there is no public
policy until governmental actions produce consequences that are
perceived by various publics. According to Lynn, “Public policy
can be said to comprise the meanings or interpretations ascribed
by various affected politics to identifiable sequences of
governmental actions based on the perceived or anticipated
consequence of these actions.” The goals of the Education of All
Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was to provide free,
appropriate education in a regular classroom for all handicapped
children. In fact, a number of compromises had to be made
because of lack of resources. The end result was quite different. In
some cases, only a select few were served; in others, only
inexpensive services were provided.
Thus, some saw the legislation as a step in the right direction
while others saw it as a less-than-earnest attempt to help the
handicapped.
Like beauty, public policy is somewhat in the eye of the
beholder. Actual change in governmental actions is not always
necessary for a policy maker to claim success; often “the creation
of a favorable impression is enough”. Some people are better at
this than others. President Reagan and his administrative officials
claimed that they did not have a policy of promoting
discrimination against blacks and women, for example, and yet his
administration tried to remove the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
ruling that denied tax-exempt status to schools practicing racial
discrimination and tried to get the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that
racial or gender preferences in hiring and promotion – affirmative
action – were unconstitutional. The Reagan administration’s
public interpretation of its own policy regarding discrimination
106
was quite different from others’ perceptions of these same actions
– and from the facts themselves.
The Stages of Policy Making
Several developments in policy studies during the 1980s help
us conceptualize how administrators make policy. One is the
classification of policy making as a process that involves several
stages and the other is the clarification of the role of lower-level
administrators in policy making.
Administrators do not just implement policy as was once
believed; they are involved in each stage. These stages typically
include (1) agenda setting or problem definition and legitimation,
(2) policy formulation, (3) implementation, (4) evaluation, and (5)
termination.
Agenda setting is determining which issues will receive
priority treatment for government action and therefore will be
placed on the public agenda. The public agenda is always crowded
with issues left over from previous policy debates – issues that
once were acted upon but which have been brought up again by
the opposition, or new items.
Problems are defined during agenda setting. How a problem
is defined is very important because the definition determines the
direction that policy will take.
Issues will not be acted upon if they do not get onto the
agenda. There are several ways items can be placed on this
agenda. Administrators play a large role in placing issues as well
as in defining the problems once they are on the agenda.
Administrators often bring up a problem by contacting legislators
about it, working with interest groups, and helping define the
problem before legislative committees during hearings.
Policy formulation is the stage at which alternative means of
handling problems are considered and a particular alternative or
set of alternatives is selected and legitimized through legislation.
Although administrators do not make laws, they have a large
impact on defining the alternatives and in influencing the
alternative that is finally selected. Moreover, by adopting
administrative rules and regulations they give concrete meaning to
107
what often are vague and broad statutes. They thus play a crucial
role during the formulation stage.
Implementation is the stage in which policies are turned into
programs and carried out – in other words, the stage during which
administration, as traditionally defined, occurs. Public
administrators are the principal implementors, of course, but they
certainly are not the only ones. As noted above, legislators,
interest groups, and a host of private agencies (both profit and
nonprofit) are involved during implementation, and politics
continues unabated during this stage. Because administrators are
the key actors, they play a more visible role in policy making
during implementation than they do during any other stage.
Evaluation is the stage in which programs are assessed as to
how well they have been implemented and what kind of impact
they have had. Evaluation is typically done formally by
government agencies such as the Program Evaluation Division of
the General Accounting Office, by the departments themselves, by
outside consultants or research firms, or by university-based
researchers. Program evaluation is a large enterprise in the United
States with its own professional association, the American
Evaluation Association.
Termination of programs occurs rarely. It most often occurs
when new administrations come to power; for example, the
Reagan administration terminated several alternative energy
programs such as that involving solar energy credits. Programs
may also be terminated if they are deemed failures through
program evaluation, although the more likely reason for
termination is political opposition.
Involvement of Administrators. Administrators are involved in
policy making at each of its stages. Administrators often bring up
issues that become part of the agenda, sometimes as a result of
problems encountered during the implementation of a program or
because of pressures brought by interest groups that are a part of
the iron triangles we described above. Administrators become
involved in formulating public policy through their testimony
before legislative committees. Their expertise is relied upon in
designing policies because they are the ones who have the
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technical competence to make recommendations regarding
alternatives for achieving policy goals. For example, in the food
stamp program several administrators from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture decided that recipients would have to pay for their
stamps. This restricted the number and kinds of people who
received the stamps and had a major effect on the policy.
Implementing public policy is, of course, an area in which
administrators play the major role. They operationalize goals and
in so doing sometimes substitute goals in a process known as
“goal displacement”. They issue rules and regulations that
determine what policy will be.
Of course, administrators are not the only implementors of
policy. As we noted above, many programs are implemented by
third parties under contract with government. The role of
administrators in these cases is to set the conditions of the contract
and monitor its implementation.
Legislators and interest groups also are involved in
implementation. Legislators often contact agency officials directly
to ensure that their states and districts are receiving the benefits of
specific programs. Interest groups continue applying their pressure
during implementation to see that their interests are protected. In
other words, the politics that take place during the agenda-setting
and formulation stages do not suddenly stop when a program is
being implemented; they simply shift to a different and more
administrative arena.
Finally, administrators play a vital role during evaluation of
programs. Programs may be evaluated informally or formally by
the agencies themselves, by congressional staff, the Congressional
Budget Office, the General Accounting Office, and outside
agencies. In all of these cases, only the agency that runs the
program has the data required for an evaluation. An evaluation
obviously cannot succeed without agency cooperation.
Thus administrators are involved in policy making at all
stages of the policy cycle. They are policy makers as well as
program managers. And it is not just the top-level administrators
who are involved; middle- and street-level administrators also play
an essential role.
109
Civil Service
Government employees in the executive branch who are not
elected, not in the military and who are paid with public funds; in
the United States the term includes employees of federal, state and
local governments.
Civil service goes back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt,
Asia and the Middle East. China had the same civil service for
almost 2,000 years, ending only in 1912. The Roman Empire had
five ministries in its civil service: foreign affairs, finance, justice,
military affairs and internal affairs. Later, civil service institutions
were set up in the Holy Roman Empire, in Russia by Peter the
Great and in France, where schools were developed to supply
qualified employees.
In Great Britain the term refers only to employees of the
national government. Until the middle of the 19th century in
Britain, it was the aristocrat who was usually chosen for top-level
civil service positions. In the mid-19th century, reforms made topand mid-level positions attainable by competitive examination.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the president has broad discretion
to select executive personnel. Although early presidents made
many appointments on the basis of merit, later the "spoils system"
became the norm. Under this system, appointments were handed
out as political favors regardless of qualification. Increasing abuse
and public dissatisfaction finally led to reform. In 1883 Congress
passed the Civil Service Act which laid the foundation for much of
today's civil service. The act created a Civil Service Commission
to oversee the system, provided for open competitive examinations
for positions and prohibited political interference or influence on
civil service employees. Positions that became available were to
be filled according to merit from lists of those who passed the
related examination. It was left to the president, however, to
decide which positions would come under the Commission. From
1883 to 1990 the number of these jobs went from 10 to 85 percent
of executive branch positions. Today, top departmental positions
are still filled by presidential appointment (subject to Senate
110
confirmation) and personnel in these positions are usually political
appointees removed by the succeeding administration.
Further civil service reform included the Lloyd-La Follette
Act of 1912, which gave employees the right to form unions and
made it more difficult to fire them. Other reform measures
prohibited civil service employees from participating in political
campaigns, gave veterans and certain members of their families
preference in hiring, and mandated that federal salaries be equal to
those of similar jobs in the private sector.
In 1978 the Civil Service Reform Act replaced the Civil
Service Commission with the Office of Personnel Management.
This act institutionalized labor-management relations, based pay
raises for mid- and high-level employees on merit rather than
longevity, and made it easier for senior employees to change jobs.
Today all 50 states have merit-driven civil service systems similar
to those of the federal government.
The number of federal employees has remained constant for
several decades at about 3 million; the number of state and local
civil servants is currently estimated at about 15 million.
Civil Service in the United States
In the United States, civil service systems operate at the
federal, state, and local levels. For most positions, these systems
seek to hire and promote the most qualified person. Hiring and
promotion comes without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual
orientation (inclination), or political loyalty.
Federal civil service employment provides jobs throughout
the United States and in government offices abroad. A large
majority of all federal civilian employees work in agencies of the
government's executive branch. Such agencies include the
Department of Defense and the United States Postal Service.
The federal civil service includes hundreds of occupations.
For example, skilled artists and engravers design and print
government maps, books, and currency. Plant and animal experts
help improve the quality and nutritional value of foods. Engineers,
scientists, and technicians conduct research on road materials,
111
missiles, ceramics, and aviation safety devices. Air traffic
controllers guide aircraft at airports.
Competitive service positions make up the vast majority of all
U.S. civil service jobs. These positions are filled by written or oral
examination or by evaluation of an applicant's education, training,
and experience. Some exams include performance tests. The
Office of Personnel Management helps the departments and other
agencies manage the exams. The office compiles lists of qualified
applicants. An agency with a job opening may then choose from
among the highest scorers on the appropriate list.
In addition to taking a test, applicants must fill out an
application form. For some positions, jobseekers must apply
directly to the government agency that has an opening. For other
positions, they must apply through the Office of Personnel
Management.
When compiling lists of qualified applicants, the government
gives extra points to veterans, disabled veterans, and certain
dependents of veterans. Some people object to the policy of giving
extra points to nondisabled veterans. They believe this practice
works against women, who are much less likely to be veterans
than are men and therefore less likely to get extra points.
However, veterans claim that the hiring preference is an earned
reward for their previous national service.
Some people have questioned whether civil service
examinations always test job-related skills. Also, some people
doubt whether the examinations are fair to members of minority
groups. The government has tried to give special consideration to
women and minorities to remedy past discrimination in hiring.
However, some people claim such efforts result in discrimination
against whites and men.
Jobseekers can get information about federal civil service
exams from Federal Job Information Centers throughout the
United States. State employment offices, local-government
personnel offices, and many public libraries also have such
information. In addition, the government advertises civil service
exams in newspapers and in other media.
112
Excepted service positions are outside the scope of civil
service laws because: (1) they have a high level of authority; (2)
they require professional training; or (3) the work of the agency
involved is specialized or involves access to secret information.
Presidential appointees, assistants to Cabinet members, and
other top aides are appointed by the President and may be
dismissed by the President at any time. This method of filling
positions helps ensure that government leaders agree with the
President's priorities. Such professionals as chaplains and
attorneys are also in the excepted service.
Some federal agencies maintain a separate personnel system.
These agencies include the Foreign Service, the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), and the Government Accounting Office.
Features of Ideal Democracy
At a minimum, an ideal democracy would have the following
features:
Effective participation. Before a policy is adopted or rejected,
members of the demos have the opportunity to make their views
about the policy known to other members.
Equality in voting. Members of the demos have the
opportunity to vote for or against the policy, and votes are counted
as equal.
Informed electorate. Members of the demos have the
opportunity, within a reasonable amount of time, to learn about the
policy and about possible alternative policies and their likely
consequences.
Citizen control of the agenda. The demos, and only the demos,
decides what matters are placed on the decision-making agenda
and how they are placed there. Thus, the democratic process is
“open” in the sense that the demos can change the policies of the
association at any time.
Inclusion. Each and every member of the demos is entitled to
participate in the association in the ways just described.
Fundamental rights. Each of the necessary features of ideal
democracy prescribes a right that is itself a necessary feature of
113
ideal democracy: thus every member of the demos has a right to
communicate with others, a right to have his vote counted equally
with the votes of others, a right to gather information, a right to
participate on an equal footing with other members, and a right,
with other members, to exercise control of the agenda.
Democracy, therefore, consists of more than just political
processes; it is also necessarily a system of fundamental rights.
Ideal and representative democracy. In modern representative
democracies, the features of ideal democracy are realized through
a variety of political institutions. These institutions, which are
broadly similar in different countries, were entirely new in human
history at the time of their first appearance in Europe and the
United States in the 18th century. The most important institutions
include:
Free, fair and frequent elections. Citizen may participate in
such elections both as voters and as candidates.
Freedom of expression. Citizen may express themselves
publicly on a broad range of politically relevant subjects without
fear of punishment.
Independent sources of information. There exist sources of
political information that are not under the control of the
government or any single group and whose right to publish or
otherwise disseminate information is protected by law.
Freedom of association. Citizens have the right to form and to
participate in independent political organizations, including parties
and interest groups.
As these institutions developed, it became increasingly
apparent that they were necessary for achieving a satisfactory level
of democracy in any political association as large as a nation-state.
Theories about Constitutions
Constitution is defined as the body of doctrines and practices
that form the fundamental organizing principle of a political state.
In some cases, such as the United States, the constitution is a
specific written document; in others, such as the United Kingdom,
it is a collection of documents, statutes, and traditional practices
that are generally accepted as governing political matters.
114
The general idea of a constitution and of constitutionalism
originated with the ancient Greeks and especially in the theoretical
and descriptive writings of Aristotle. In his Politics, Constitution
of Athens, and other works, Aristotle used the Greek word for
constitution (politeia) in several different senses. The simplest and
most neutral of these was “the arrangement of the offices in a
polis” (state). In this purely descriptive sense of the word, every
state has a constitution, no matter how badly or erratically
governed it may be.
Aristotle’s classification of the “forms of government” was
intended as a classification of constitutions, both good and bad.
Under good constitutions-monarchy, aristocracy, and the mixed
kind to which Aristotle applied the same term politeia-one person,
a few individuals, or the many rule in the interest of the whole
polis. Under the bad constitutions-tyranny, oligarchy, and
democracy-the tyrant, the rich oligarchs, or the poor demos-rule in
their own interest alone.
Britain and the United States both have old constitutions, the
one being the oldest in the world, the other being the oldest written
constitution in the world. The British constitution comprises an
accumulation of traditions, customs, conventions, precedents and
Acts of Parliament. They all have been built up, bit by bit, over the
centuries. Some of them are written down in laws agreed by
Parliament, some of them have been spoken and then written
down and some of them have never been written down at all. For
example, there is no written law in Britain that says anything
about who can be the Prime Minister or what the powers of the
Prime Minister are, even though he or she is probably the most
powerful person in the country. Similarly, there is no single
written document which asserts people’s rights. Some rights which
are commonly accepted in modern democracies ( for example, the
rights not to be discriminated against on the basis of sex or race)
have been formally recognized by Parliament through legislation;
but others (for example, the rights not to be discriminated against
on the basis of religion or political views) have not. Nevertheless,
it is understood that these latter rights are also part of the
constitution.
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Constitutional Republic
Constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and
other officials are elected as representatives of the people, and
must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the
government’s power over citizens. In a constitutional republic,
executive, legislative, and judicial powers are separated into
distinct branches and the will of the majority of the population is
tempered by protections for individual rights so that no individual
or group has absolute power. The fact that a constitution exists
that limits the government’s power makes the state constitutional.
That the head of state and other officials are chosen by election,
rather than inheriting their positions, and that their decisions are
subject to judicial review makes a state republican.
Constitutional republics were first advocated in the 18th and
19th centuries by liberals, who were engaged at the time in a
political and ideological conflict against conservative supporters
of traditional monarchy. Since the beginning of the 20th century,
constitutional republics have entered the political mainstream and
have gathered the support of many other ideologies in addition to
liberalism.
The United States of America is one of the oldest republics in
the world. According to James Woodburn in The American
Republic and Its Government, “the constitutional republic with its
limitations on popular government is clearly involved in the
Constitution, as seen in the election of the President, the election
of the Senate and the appointment of the Supreme Court.” That is,
the ability of the people to choose officials in government is
checked by not allowing them to elect Supreme Court justiceshowever in reality, such justices are appointed by the popularly
elected president, and approved by the popularly elected Senate.
Woodburn says that in a republic, as distinguished from a
democracy, the people are not only checked in choosing officials
but also in making laws. A Bill of Rights exists in the U.S.
Constitution which protects certain individual rights. The
individual rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights cannot be voted
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away by the majority of citizens if they wished to oppress a
minority who does not agree with the restrictions on liberty that
they wish to impose. To eliminate these rights would require
government officials overcoming constitutional checks as well as
a two-thirds majority vote of Congress and ratification by threefourths of the States in order to amend the Constitution.
A constitutional republic is a form of democracy, but not all
democracies are constitutional republics. For example, though the
head of state is not elected in a monarchy, it may still be a liberal
democracy if there is a parliament with elected representatives that
govern according to constitutional law protecting individual rights
(called a constitutional democratic monarchy). Also, a
representative democracy may or may not be a constitutional
republic. For example, “the United States relies on representative
democracy, but its system of government is much more complex
than that. It is not a simple representative democracy, but a
constitutional republic in which majority rule is tempered by
minority rights protected by law.”
Local Government
Local government generally refers to the government of an
area smaller than a country, state, or province. Such areas include
counties, cities, towns, and villages.
Each unit of local
government has some important responsibility for the welfare of
its citizens and provides certain services. Most local governments
are run by elected officials and have some power of taxation. In
the United States, each state government creates and has legal
control over all local governments in the state.
Traditionally, Americans have strongly supported the
principle of local self-government. Some scholars argue that
small local governments are more responsive to citizens' wishes
than are large units of government. They also feel that local
governments encourage people to become involved in the life of
their community. Other scholars believe that local governments
have certain weaknesses. For example, they claim that an
individual local unit often cannot deal effectively with such
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problems as transportation and pollution when they require the
cooperation of other local units in the area.
Units of local government. The United States has about
87,000 units of local government. There are four types of local
governments: (1) counties, (2) municipalities, (3) school districts,
and (4) special districts.
The county is the largest unit of local government in most
states. The United States has about 3,000 counties. In Louisiana,
these units are called parishes.
There are about 19,000 municipalities in the United States,
including cities, villages, and townlike units called boroughs. They
lie within each county or extend into two or more counties.
Municipalities, often called city governments, are chartered by
state governments to provide such services as police and fire
protection.
School districts are responsible for running public school
systems. There are about 15,000 school districts in the United
States. Most school districts operate independently of city
governments. The city governments of New York City and a few
other communities in the Northeast operate their own public
school systems.
Special districts are organized to provide one or more public
services, such as mosquito control or transportation. There are
about 33,000 special districts in the United States. The governing
boards of these districts have the authority to levy taxes and to
spend public money.
Functions of local government. Most of the activities of local
government in the United States can be classified into three main
groups: (1) health and safety functions, (2) welfare functions, and
(3) housekeeping functions.
Health and safety functions of local government in the United
States began with law enforcement by local police forces and
through local courts. Today, most local governments also have
responsibility for fighting fires, immunizing people against
contagious diseases, and providing and maintaining hospital
services, local roads, garbage collection, and safe drinking water.
In addition, they conduct inspections and educational campaigns
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in the areas of health, housing, traffic safety, sanitation, and fire
prevention. They are also concerned with reducing air pollution
and water pollution.
Welfare functions. Early in U.S. history, local governments
began to provide public education. Today, they spend more
money on education than on any other function. Local
governments also provide libraries, museums, parks and other
recreational and athletic facilities, and buses and subways for mass
transportation. They cooperate with other levels of government in
providing public housing for low-income families. Many local
governments have zoning restrictions to protect and promote the
beauty and land values in their area. Many also try to stimulate
economic growth by attracting business and industry to their area.
Providing health, safety, and welfare services is an important
part of the American political process. Such questions as how
much to spend for schools or whether to allow a factory to be built
in a certain part of the city often cause conflicts among citizens
and groups.
Housekeeping functions are administrative activities. They are
essential to the function of a governmental unit but are not part of
its main activities. One housekeeping function is keeping official
records of births, deaths, marriages, and property transfers and
assessments. Local governments also collect taxes, hire public
agency workers, and administer elections.
State and Local Government in the USA
Because the U.S. Constitution establishes a federal system, the
state governments enjoy extensive authority. The Constitution
outlines specific powers granted to national government. In some
areas, the authority of the federal and state governments overlap;
for example, the state and federal governments both have the
power to tax, establish courts, and make and enforce laws. In other
areas, such as the regulation of commerce within a state, the
establishment of local governments, and action on public health,
safety, and morals, the state governments have considerable
discretion. The Constitution also denies to the states certain
powers; for example, the Constitution forbids states to enter into
119
treaties, to tax imports or exports, or to coin money. States also
may not adopt laws that contradict the U.S. Constitution.
The governments of the 50 states have structures closely
paralleling those of the federal government. Each state has a
governor, a legislature, and a judiciary. Each state also has its own
constitution.
State governors are directly elected and serve varying terms
(generally ranging from two to four years); in some states, the
number of terms a governor may serve is limited. The powers of
governors also vary, with some state constitutions ceding
substantial authority to the chief executive (such as appointment
and budgetary powers and the authority to veto legislation). In a
few states, however, governors have highly circumscribed
authority, with the constitution denying them the power to veto
legislation bills.
State governments have a wide array of functions, including
conservation, highway and motor vehicle supervision, public
safety, regulation of agriculture and of intrastate business and
industry, and certain aspects of education, public health, and
welfare. The administrative departments that oversee these
activities are headed by the governor.
Each state may establish local governments to assist it in
carrying out its constitutional powers. Local governments exercise
only those powers that are granted to them by the states, and a
state may redefine the role and authority of local government. The
country has a long tradition of local democracy and even some of
the smallest areas have their own governments. There are some
85,000 local government units in the United States. The largest
local government unit is the county. Counties range in population
from as few as 100 people to millions. They often provide local
services in rural areas. Smaller units include townships, villages,
school districts, and special districts (e.g., housing authorities and
water authorities).
Municipal, or city, governments are responsible for delivering
most services, particularly in urban areas.
Election
Election is the process by which people vote for the candidate
or proposal of their choice. The basis of democratic government is
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that citizens have the right to choose the officials who will govern
them. Elections thus rank as one of the most important political
activities. Elections also serve as a means of peacefully
transferring power from one person or group to another.
Most countries hold elections to select governmental officials.
But in countries without democratic government, the people have
little real choice. The only candidates allowed on the ballot are
those approved by the leaders or by a single political party. In such
countries, elections are held for propaganda reasons and to
demonstrate popular support for the government.
In addition to public elections, nongovernmental elections are
also held to select the officials of many organizations. Labor
unions, social clubs, and the student bodies of schools hold
elections to select their officers.
Elections in a democracy. Election procedures differ from
country to country. However, certain principles characterize
elections in democratic nations. In the United States, Canada, and
other democratic countries, nearly all adults can vote. Those not
permitted to vote include certain criminals and people with severe
mental illness or mental retardation. Citizens vote by secret ballot
so that they can vote without fear of how others will react. The
mass media – which include radio, television, magazines, and
newspapers – freely discuss the candidates and issues.
In most democratic countries, political parties select
candidates for public office and propose public policies. However,
in some countries and in parts of the United States, local elections
are nonpartisan – that is, candidates appear on the ballot without
being identified by political party.
Voters elect officials by either direct or indirect elections. In
direct elections, the people themselves vote for public officials. In
the United States, for example, citizens vote for members of
Congress and for state and local officials in this way. In indirect
elections, people elect representatives called electors to choose
public officials. The U.S. President and Vice President are chosen
in an indirect election. The voters of each state select electors, who
make up the Electoral College. The electors in turn choose the
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President and Vice President based on the popular vote in the
states they represent.
Under a parliamentary system of government, also called a
cabinet system, citizens elect members of the legislature. The head
of state--the king or queen of a monarchy or the president of a
republic--then selects a prime minister from the members of the
legislature. Australia, Canada, and certain other Commonwealth
nations regard the British ruler as head of state. In such nations,
the governor general makes the appointment, acting as the
representative of the monarch. In most countries, the head of state
can appoint only the leader of the majority party in the legislature
or the head of a coalition of parties.
Elections in the United States
The Constitution of the United States requires that a
congressional election be held every two years. At that time,
voters elect all the members of the House of Representatives for a
two-year term and about one-third of the Senate members for a
six-year term. The Constitution also requires the election of a
President and a Vice President every four years. Federal law states
that national elections are to be held on the first Tuesday after the
first Monday of November.
State laws regulate all elections, including national and local
ones. Such laws establish the eligibility requirements for state
officials and the date on which state and local elections are to be
held. They also establish the qualifications for voters. However,
the Constitution gives Congress the right to change state voter
requirements if they violate constitutional guarantees.
At one time, political parties nominated nearly all candidates
at national, state, and local conventions or in closed meetings of
party members called caucuses. Today, candidates for most state
and local offices are nominated in direct primary elections. A
direct primary is a contest in which voters choose the candidates
who will represent each political party in the upcoming general
election. Other candidates may run in the general election, where
voters make their final choice. However, only the candidates who
win the primaries become official party nominees. A runoff
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election may be held if no candidate in the original primary
receives more than half the vote. The two candidates with the
most votes run against each other, and the winner becomes the
party nominee.
Voting and Elections
Voting is the primary symbol of citizenship in a democratic
society; indeed, ‘one person, one vote’ is one of the core principles
of democracy. A voting system allows voters to choose between
options. Voting can be also used to award prizes, to select between
different plans of action.
A voting system contains rules for valid voting. The study of
formally defined voting system is called voting theory. Voting
theory began formally in the 18th century and many proposals for
voting systems have been made.
Voting systems are either majority rule, proportional
representation or plurality voting. Different voting systems may
give very different results, particularly in cases where there is no
clear majority preference.
All Western countries hold regular elections. Elections are the
major way by which those who rule are made answerable to the
mass of people.
Some countries hold many types of election, others few. In the
United Kingdom, electors can vote in local and European
elections, as well as in a general one every four or five years. In
the United States, Americans elect people for offices which in
most states would be filled by appointment. It has been estimated
that there are a million elected offices in the USA. Americans
clearly have a great enthusiasm for the ballot box. They have
always feared a concentration of power in too few hands. Even
when they elect officials, they do not in most cases allow them to
serve for too long.
In several countries, elections are used by those in power to
give the illusion of popular participation. However, the object of
elections is the same, to confer legitimacy on the government.
A democratic general election is distinguished by several
characteristics. These include such features as:
123
 a universal franchise;
 a secret ballot;
 a time limit on office;
 the freedom to form parties;
 contests in every constituency;
 campaigns regulated by strict and fair rules.
Whatever the system it is likely that some voters will not be
registered. Of those who are registered, others will be unable to
cast their vote because of illness, absence or other circumstances.
Some people are just unwilling to make the effort. Hence the
remedy introduced in several countries: compulsory voting.
Australia, Austria, Belgium and some Latin American states are
among those which have resorted to this method, but in most cases
its effectiveness is limited by the low level of fines and the
difficulties in collecting those fines.
Political Parties
A political party is an organized group of people who control
or seek to control a government. In democratic countries, political
parties compete against one another in elections to keep or gain
control of a government. In the United States and Canada, political
parties are active on the national, state or provincial, and local
levels.
Political parties are absolutely necessary to democratic
government. Most modern democracies are representative
democracies. That is, the people elect representatives to act as
their agents in making and enforcing laws. In a representative
democracy, some means is needed for nominating candidates for
public office and for selecting issues for public debate. Political
parties perform these functions. At election time, the people vote
into office the candidates of their choice. Political parties are
voluntary organizations and want as many members as possible.
Some of these parties have rules and membership dues. Others
have practically no rules and require no dues.
124
Most dictatorships allow only one political party – the party
that controls the government. That party also tightly controls who
may run for election.
In democratic countries, political parties perform several
important tasks. (1) They select candidates to run for public office.
(2) They help organize the government. (3) They provide
opposition to the party in power. (4) They raise funds to conduct
election campaigns. Other functions of parties in democratic
countries include informing voters about public affairs and about
problems that need government action. In one-party nations, the
chief functions of political parties are to select candidates for
office and organize the government.
In one-party nations, the candidates the party selects to run for
office automatically win election because they have no opposition.
In China, for example, the Communist Party – the only party
allowed – chooses the candidates for office.
In nations that have two or more parties, each party selects
candidates for the various public offices. The voters then decide
which candidates among the parties win office. Party leaders try to
select candidates who have voter appeal and experience for the
office.
During the early history of the United States, party leaders
selected candidates for office in meetings called caucuses. But the
caucus system became unpopular because it gave other party
members little voice in the selection of candidates. In addition, one
person or a small group of persons sometimes gained control of a
caucus and used it for private gain.
By about 1840, the convention system for nominating
candidates was in general use. Under this system, party members
chose delegates to represent them at nominating conventions. But
party bosses and political machines (organizations within a party)
gained control of many conventions. Many delegates voted the
way they were told or paid to vote. Today, conventions are held in
only a few states to make some nominations for state and local
offices and to discuss party affairs. The two major U.S. political
parties – the Democratic and Republican parties--still hold a
125
national convention every four years to officially nominate
candidates for President and Vice President.
During the early 1900's, many states began to replace the
convention system with primary elections to select candidates for
office. The aim was to reduce party control in the selection of
candidates. Today, all states hold either open or closed primary
elections for state offices. In an open primary, each voter receives
the ballots of all parties holding primaries. In the voting booth, the
voter selects which ballot to use. In a closed primary, voters
receive only the ballot of the party to which they belong. In recent
years, the Republican and Democratic parties have relied on
primary elections--and, in some states, caucuses--to select their
presidential candidates. The parties then formally nominate the
candidates at their national conventions.
Organizing the government is a major function of political
parties. But how the parties do this depends on the government's
established structure and on how the powers of government are
divided.
Welfare State
Welfare state is the concept of government in which the state
plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic
and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of
equity of opportunities, equitable distribution of wealth, and
public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the
minimal provisions for a good life. The general term may cover a
variety of forms of economic and social organization.
A fundamental feature of the welfare state is social insurance,
a provision common to most advanced industrialized countries
(e.g., National Insurance in the UK, Disability and Health
Insurance in the US). Such insurance is usually financed by
compulsory contributions and is intended to provide benefits to
persons and families during periods of greatest needs.
The welfare state also usually includes public provision of
basic education, health services, and housing (in some cases at low
cost or without charge). In these respects the welfare state is
126
considerably more expensive in western European countries than
in the US.
Antipoverty programs and the system of personal taxation
mea also be regarded as aspects of the welfare state. Personal
taxation falls into this category because its progressivity is used to
achieve greater justice in income distribution and also because it is
used to finance social insurance payments and other benefits not
completely financed by compulsory contributions. In socialist
countries the welfare state also covers employment and
administration of consumer prices.
The modern use of the term is associated with the
comprehensive measures of social insurance adopted in1948 by
Great Britain on the basis of the report on Social Insurance and
Allied Services. In the 20th century laissez-faire state was
gradually abandoned, almost all states sought to provide at least
some of the measures of social insurance associated with the
welfare state. The welfare state provides state aid for the
individual in almost all phases of his life-“from the cradle to the
grave”-as exemplified in the Netherlands and the Social
Democratic governments of the Scandinavian countries. Many less
developed countries have the establishment of some form of
welfare state as their goal.
The principal problems in the administration of a welfare state
are: determining the desirable level provision of services by the
state; ensuring that the system of personal benefits and
contributions meets needs of individuals and families while at the
same time offering sufficient incentives for productive work; the
equitable provision of resources to finance the services over and
above the contributions of direct beneficiaries.
127
SOURCES
1. Agranoff, R. Election / R. Agranoff // The World Book
Encyclopedia. – London, Sydney, Tunbridge, Wells, Chicago,
1999. – Vol. 6. – P. 138-139.
2. Benjamin, G. Civil service / G. Benjamin // The World Book
Encyclopedia. – London, Sydney, Tunbridge, Wells, Chicago,
1999. – Vol. 4. – P. 42.
3. Benjamin, G. Government / G. Benjamin // The World Book
Encyclopedia. – London, Sydney, Tunbridge, Wells, Chicago,
1999. – Vol. 8. – P. 267-277.
4. Dixon, R.G. Constitution / R.G. Dixon // The World Book
Encyclopedia. – London, Sydney, Tunbridge, Wells, Chicago,
1999. – Vol. 4. – P. 308-309.
5. Encyclopedia Britannica [Электронный ресурс] :
энциклопедия. – Deluxe Edition, 2006.
6. Groth, A. Democracy / A. Groth // The World Book
Encyclopedia. – London, Sydney, Tunbridge, Wells, Chicago,
1999. – Vol. 5. – P. 101-103.
7. Jones, C.O. Political Parties / C.O. Jones // The World Book
Encyclopedia. – London, Sydney, Tunbridge, Wells, Chicago,
1999. – Vol. 5. – P. 102.
8. Public administration. – 4 th Ed. – Guilford : Dushkin
publishing group, 1996. – 240 c. – (Annual Editions).
9. Saffell, D.C. City Government / D.C. Saffell // The World
Book Encyclopedia. – London, Sydney, Tunbridge, Wells,
Chicago, 1999. – Vol. 4. – P. 25-36.
10. Watts, D. Understanding US/ UK Government and Politics /
D. Watts. – Manchester University Press, 2003. – 344 p.
11. Информационный Интернет-портал Республики Беларусь
сайт [Электронный ресурс] – Режим доступа :
www.belarus.by/en/belarus/government/ – Дата доступа :
20.12.2008.
128
CONTENTS
UNIT 1. Public Administration
3
UNIT 2. Civil Service
10
UNIT 3. Constitution
17
UNIT 4. Democracy as a Form of Government
24
UNIT 5. Levels of Government
33
UNIT 6. Local Government
40
UNIT 7. Forms of Government
48
UNIT 8. Contemporary Division of Government
55
UNIT 9. State Structure of Belarus
66
UNIT 10. Electoral System
77
UNIT 11. Political System of States
84
UNIT 12. Party System
90
UNIT 13. Social Security
96
TEXTS FOR INDIVIDUAL READING
103
SOURCES
127
129
ENGLISH FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Учебно-методическое пособие
Составители: Добролет Ольга Васильевна
Жорова Алла Ростиславовна
В авторской редакции
Художник обложки О. А. Стасевич
Технический редактор Т. В. Жибуль
Компьютерная верстка Н. П. Драчёвой
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