Politics

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 6

Politics

Why?

1. CITO selects articles from major British and American newspapers (Guardian, Economist, Washington Post, Times) that deal with political and social issues.
2. Having more background information helps you get the "feel" of a text before reading and place certain terms in a relevant context. 

The United Kingdom

First, take a look at the following clip.

Afterwards, we'll discuss the different parts of British Parliament.

3 parts

Britain has no written constitution. ( > Magna Carta, 1215)

Political power lies with Parliament, which consists of
1. House of Commons    (NL 2e kamer)
2. House of Lords             (NL 1e kamer)
3. Sovereign                        (King)

House of Commons

- 650 elected members

- Members are called Member of Parliament (MP)

- They represent a constituency

The House of Commons is the main law-making body of Parliament

House of Lords

- Around 800 members

- Consists of:

   - Life peers (awarded by the Queen)

   - Hereditary peers (inherit)

   - (Arch)Bishops

 

- Review bills, can decide to delay a bill for 6 months.

Sovereign

- Monarch

- King Charles II

- Symbolic power only

- Speech from the Throne

- The eldest son of the monarch is called the Prince of Wales (now Prince William)

Elections

- take place at least every 5 years

- Winner takes all 

- That party's leader is Prime Minister (PM), now Rishi Sunak

- Members of other parties form the opposition

Westminster / Whitehall / 10 Downing Street

Political parties

Only three political parties play a significant role in Parliament:

1. The Conservative Party (or Tories), right-wing
   
2. The Labour Party, left-wing
3. The Liberal Democrates (or Lib Dems), centre
   

What to call them

Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales

The United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (= Ulster)

The British Isles: United Kingdom ánd the Republic of Ireland (= Eire), the Channel Islands, the Orkneys and the Shetlands.

The Commonwealth

an association of 54 states; all members were at one time part of the British Empire.

Most have become independent states (e.g. Cyprus, Zimbabwe), some others still recognise the British monarch as Head of State (e.g. Canada and New Zealand).

The United States

Now, let's switch to the United States of America.

Here's another clip to introduce the subject.

Federation of states

Each state (50) has its own governor, independent court system and can make its own laws.

The White House, Supreme court and Congress are all located in Washington D.C. (= District of Columbia)

Checks and balances

To ensure a separation of powers, the U.S. Federal Government is made up of three branches:

- legislative

- executive

- judicial

The three different branches and their tasks

Political parties

The two leading political parties are:

The Democrats: left-of-centre/ liberal, currently in power: Joe Biden

The Republicans: right-wing

However, the Representatives and Senators are not bound to their party programme (voters' interests).