Translate the following sentences in writing paying attention to the underlined words and constructions
1)Elections in which the opposition is barred from the
airwaves, has its rallies harassed or its newspapers cen
sored are not democratic.
2) A government chosen by a small, exclusive group is
not a democracy — no matter how democratic its internal
workings may appear.
9-Английский язык для философов
_____ Учебное пособие для философов и политологов
3) No matter who wins, both sides agree to cooperate in
solving the common problems of society.
4) In addition, a pluralistic society, one in which the
reach of government is limited, tends to offer election
losers alternatives for public service outside government.
7. Find in the text passive constructions and translate them.
| 8. Give related words. Verb Noun compete — |
Adjective
competitive
inclusive
define — definitive
— opposition —
— — accountable
exclude — exclusive
— constitution —
— legislature —
— objections —
— alternative —
9. Summarize the text in three sentences.
_______________________ UNIT 6 ________________
1. Read and translate the text.
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT
Checks and Balances
1. One of the most important American contributions to democratic practice has been the development of a system of checks and balances to ensure that political power is dispersed and decentralized. It is a system founded on the deeply held belief that government is best when its potential for "abuse is curbed, and when it is held as close to the people as possible.
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| Part I |
Political science
2. As a general term, checks and balances has two mean
ings: federalism and separation of powers.
Federalism is the division of government between the national, state or provincial, and local levels. The United States, for example, is a federal republic with states that have their own legal standing and authority independent of the federal government. Unlike the political subdivisions in nations such as Britain and France, which have a unitary political structure, American states cannot be abolished or changed by the federal government. Although power at the national level in the United States has grown significantly in relation to state authority in the 20th century, states still possess significant responsibilities in such fields as education, health, transportation and law enforcement. In centralized or «unitary» systems, these functions are administered by the national government.
3. In the second sense, checks and balances refer to the
separation of powers that the framers of American Consti
tution in 1789 so painstakingly established to ensure that
political power would not be concentrated within a single
branch of the national government. James Madison, per
haps the central figure in the drafting of the Constitution
and later fourth president of the United States, wrote: «The
accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and ju
diciary, in the same hands ... may justly be pronounced in
the very definition of tyranny».
4. Separation of powers in some ways a misleading term,
because the system devised by Madison and the other fram
ers of the Constitution is more one of shared rather than
separate powers. Legislative authority, for example, belongs
to the Congress, but laws passed by Congress can be voted
by the president. The Congress, in turn, must assemble a
two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives
and the Senate to override a presidential veto. The presi
dent nominates ambassadors and members of the Cabinet,
and negotiates international treaties — but all are subject
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_____ Учебное пособие для философов и политологов
to approval by the Senate. So is the selection of federal judges. As another example, the Constitution specifies that only the Congress has the power to declare war, although
the president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces -
a source of tension between the two branches that was apparent during the protracted Vietnam War of the 1960s and early '70s, and in the brief Gulf conflict of 1990-91. Because of the need for congressional approval to enact a political program, political scientist Richard Neustadt has described presidential power in the United States as «not the power to command, but the power to persuade».
5. Not all the checks and balances within the federal
government are specified in the Constitution. Some have
developed with practice and precedent. Perhaps the most
important is the doctrine of judicial review, established in
an 1803 court case, which gives the U.S. Supreme Court
the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.
6. The separation of powers in the American system is
often inefficient, but it provides an important safeguard
against the potential abuse of power by government - an
issue that every democracy must confront.
2. Answer the followingquestions.
1)What is the main goal of the checks and balances
system?
2) What does the term checks and balances mean?
3) What is federalism?
4) What tendency is seen concerning separation of powers
in the 20th century in the USA?
5) What responsibilities do the states possess in the USA?
6) What is the difference between a federal (republic)
state and unitary political structure?
7) How do they formulate the second sense of the term
'checks and balances'?
8) What misleading sense lies in the term separation of
powers?
| Part I |
Political science
9) When was the doctrine of judicial review established?
10) What power did the U.S. Supreme Court get accord
ing to this doctrine?