Politics

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• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

Politics

Kennis van Land en Volk

Van eindexamenleerlingen wordt verwacht dat zij elementaire kennis hebben met betrekking tot de traditionele moederlanden op de volgende gebieden:

- hoofdzaken van staatsinrichting

- zeer belangrijke gebeurtenissen uit de recente geschiedenis

- belangrijke geografische gegevens

- hoofdzaken van het onderwijssysteem

- opvallende verschillen met de eigen cultuur

The United Kingdom

First, take a look at the following clip.

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

3 parts

In Britain there is no written constitution. (-> Magna Carta)

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

House of Commons

- Dutch: Tweede Kamer

- 640 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

- Dutch: Eerste Kamer

- Around 800 members

- Consists of:

   - Life peers (awarded by the Queen)

   - Hereditary peers (inherit)

   - (Arch)Bishops

   -  Senior judges (Law Lords)

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

Sovereign

- Monarch

- Queen Elizabeth II (95/ 70)

- Symbolic power only

- Speech from the Throne

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

Elections

- takes place at least every 5 years

- Winner takes all and forms government

- That party's leader is Prime Minister (PM), now Boris Johnson

- Members of other parties form the opposition

Westminster/ Whitehall - "Den Haag"

Political parties

Only three political parties play a significant role in Parliament:

1. The Conservative Party (or Tories), right-wing, Dutch VVD, currently in power.
   
2. The Labour Party, left-wing, Dutch PvdA.
   
3. The Liberal Democrates (or Lib Dems), center, Dutch D'66.
   

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, Dutch PvdA, currently in power: Joe Biden

The Republicans: right-wing, Dutch VVD

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